When the first edition of The Cryptographic Shakespeare was finished, I had time again to modify and enhance my cryptographic computer programs. These, and more labor with facsimiles of Shake-speare's works, have produced a harvest. I will abstract some of these gleanings, but first a review is in order. Bear with me for some repetition.

Francis Bacon, sometime before 1593, adopted a truncated key alphabet for his cipher system, in the same manner as Johannes Trithemius had done long before him. Bacon used only 21 letters of the Elizabethan 24 letter alphabet, which itself omitted J and U. It is as follows:

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V Y

Bacon also used one of Trithemius' favorite ciphers, the Caesar. This is an elementary exercise in which each letter stands for one of the letters which precede or follow it in the alphabet. Thus "A B C" may become "b c d", or "c d e", or any such following series. Bacon chose, almost exclusively, the fourth series in which "A B C" becomes "e f g".

Bacon's cipher, primitive though it may seem, may be interpreted from this table:

Ciphertext is: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V Y

Plaintext is:. E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V Y A B C D

From previous chapters, I will excerpt two examples which demonstrate the general system.

The first (and previously unpublished) play in the first (1623) edition of Shake-speare's complete works is "The Tempest." The first word of dialogue in "The Tempest" is "BOte-swaine." The first letter, "B", is a great capital, a kind of large ornamental initial that heads the first page of almost all of the plays; it was printed upside down in one copy of the book, and an odd replacement appeared in the second edition. The script, after some "scene setting" instructions, gives the Master the first word to speak:

Master.

BOte-swaine.

Botes. Heere Master: What cheere?

Mast. Good: Speake to th'Mariners: fall

too't, yarely, or we run our selves a ground,

Bacon used the fourth letter forward in a Caesar cipher to produce his plaintext. The letter "W" was not included in his key alphabet but it was often typeset as "VV" in the Folio and in the Sonnets. We shall install "BOTESVVAIN" as the ciphertext and run our computer program:

The ciphertext is:

B O T E S V V A I N E

The first four iterations of the plaintext are:

C P V F T Y Y B K O F 1
D Q Y G V A A C L P G 2
E R A H Y B B D M Q H 3
F S B I A C C E N R I 4

"F S B I A C C E N" (the plaintext) appears on the fourth line in which the letter "A"'"e". "FS" is Bacon's own signature abbreviation of his first name while "BIACCEN" is yet another phonetic spelling of his surname.

Another variation of Bacon's cipher is the use of alternate letters to convey the message, a device also adopted from Trithemius.

Let us consider again the italicized poem from "The Tempest" (ii, 2, 185). Caliban, "a savage and deformed slave" sings it "drunkenly":

Cal. No more dams I'le make for fish,
Nor fetch in firing, at requiring,
Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish,
Ban'ban' Cacalyban
Has a new Master, get a new Man.

There is a purpose to this ditty, as we shall see. We will take all the capitalized words, beginning on the third line, and string them together:

The ciphertext is:

N O R B A N B A N C A C A L Y B A N H A S M A S T E R M A N

The computer screen shows:

N O R B A N B A N C A C A L Y B A N H A S M A S T E R M A N
O P S C B O C B O D B D B M A C B O I B T N B T V F S N B O 1
P Q T D C P D C P E C E C N B D C P K C V O C V Y G T O C P 2
Q R V E D Q E D Q F D F D O C E D Q L D Y P D Y A H V P D Q 3
R S Y F E R F E R G E G E P D F E R M E A Q E A B I Y Q E R 4

On the fourth line we find the word "SYFER" and, when we transcribe every other letter beginning at the first, we read:

R Y E F R E E D E M A E B Y E

"FREEDEM" confirms the existence of this "SYFER;" the line just after Caliban's song is (literally) as follows:

"Freedome,high-day,high-day,freedome,freedome high-day,freedome."

Of all of the examples I have inspected, this one seems the most arresting. The author of this cryptographic puzzle has convincingly provided an opentext, immediately subsequent, cipher solution and with astonishing redundance. He has proven his adoption of a 21 letter, fourth letter forward Caesar cipher, and he has coupled it with Johannes Trithemius' alternate letter maneuver.

A friendly critic has found fault with such a use of alternate letters to convey a word or name, but he did not explain this definitive specimen. Perhaps he hadn't seen Trithemius' Steganographiae, a famous cryptographic book of 1606. The author was very fond of his Latin phrase, alternatis dictionibus significatius literis; here is an example of one of his methods:

PAMERSIEL ANOYR MADRISEL EBRASOTHEAN ABRULGES
ITRASBIEL NADRES ORMENU ITULES RABLON HAMORPHIEL .

The first and last "words" being nulls, the message, in German, is: "Nym die ersten Bugstaben de omni uerbo."

A related technique is described by John Wilkins in his cryptographic compendium, Mercury: or the Secret and Swift Messenger (1641): "There are likewise some other Inventions to expres any inward Sense by barbarous Words, wherein only the first, and middle, and last Letters shall be significant."

It has also been suggested that a proper cipher solution can only be read in a forward direction, never backward. Yet old-fashioned printers still read their type forward in their copy, and backward and upside down in the composing stick. Schoolboys still write their secret messages in that inverse fashion, and are mightily confident that no one can decipher them.

Also from Mercury:

The second Way of Secresy in Speech, is by an Alteration of any known Language, which is far more easie, and may prove of as much Use for the Privacy of it, as the other. This may be performed Four Ways.

1. By Inversion, when either the Letters or Sylables are spelled backwards.

Mitto tibi METULAS cancros imitare legendo, where the Word SALUTEM is expressed by an inversion of the Letters.

As I have progressed through these later experiments in Baconian cryptography, I have learned some lessons which may be profitable. First, the discerning reader should never underestimate the subtlety of our encipherer: he knew of ways to mislead him, to challenge his imagination and to reward his analysis. He was versatile in the secretion of the locus but he was invariable in the "general cipher system," as it is now called. Modern ciphers mostly depend upon "keys," such as a word used repeatedly to alter the ciphertext; the keys must be known, or discovered by cryptanalysis, in order to read the messages. Bacon did not use such keys, so far as the decryptions shown herein. He used a keyed, twenty-one letter alphabet and the fourth iteration of the Caesar cipher as his constants; and he used steganography. He had learned that insidious technique by reading contemporary publications describing Trithemius' cryptographic inventions.

Second, Bacon's methods cannot be judged by systems of cryptography devised hundreds of years after the span of his lifetime. His own previous creation, of the ingenious "biliterarie" cipher, shows that his thoughts in this field were both unconventional and innovative. However, the education and experience of modern cryptanalysts is much more mathematical and depends upon discoveries made hundreds of years after his death. We must remember that Francis Bacon had beseeched his own community of the literate to open their minds to fresh scientific thought; we must train ourselves to reason cryptographically within the world that he inhabited.

Third, we habitually judge the literary quality of any thesis upon current, proper spelling. But if we insist upon that purity, we must be appalled while reading Shakespeare in the original imprint. Spelling was not, in Francis Bacon's age, studied or practiced according to Twentieth Century lesson books, nor were the ways he openly spelt his own handwritten name. And, in ciphertext, he abundantly varied that spelling so that no duplicate and damning succession of letters would prematurely give him away.

Last, I will not comment upon his reasons for concealing the authorship of Shakespeare's Works. He had a purpose; it is enough to know that he accomplished it. The reader may enjoy considering, in a modern edition, the surrounding context cited for each example and noting the often enigmatic, suggestive and provocative language; however the text used here is from a facsimile of the original 1623 edition and may not agree with the wording and spelling shown in recent publications of the Works.

A final word of advice from Shakespeare himself: Put thyself into the tricke of singularitie, as he declares twice in "Twelfe Night" (ii, 5, 152; iii, 4, 79).

* * *

To begin a discussion of new matter, consider a line from "The life and death of King John" (i, 1, 194):

"Thus leaning on mine elbow I begin . . ."

This appears to be a harmless observation of the "Bast.", later identified as Philip Falconbridge, bastard son of Richard I. A few lines before, King John asks him, "What is thy name?" and he replies, "Philip my Liege, so is my name begun."

In 1893 a physician, Orville W. Owen, M.D., chose this line, which begins "Thus leaning. . .", as the beginning of a bizarre series of books which he claimed he had deciphered from the works of Wiliam Shakespeare. Dr. Owen may have selected this passage because of a statue he had seen in the Parish Church of St. Michael, St. Albans. The building is very old and stands at a place near the center of the Roman city of Verulamium; it has changed since then but in its foundations are Roman walls, some of them five feet thick.

The Normans enlarged the original (A. D. 948) church in the Twelfth Century. In the Sixteenth Century Sir Nicholas Bacon's manor house was built a few miles away. His son Francis was made Viscount St. Alban in 1621 and his will directed that he be buried there. According to an "Illustrated History" of the church, by John C. Rogers, A.R.I.B.A. it contains:

. . . a world famous monument, namely that of Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam and Viscount St. Alban, whose country house was Gorhambury, near-by. The monument occupies a part of the north wall of the chancel [or did in 1935] and consists of a statue of Bacon seated in a chair, which stands upon a pedestal within a semi-circular headed niche. The sculptor who made this alabaster statue is unknown, though he is said to have been Italian. It was erected soon after Bacon's death in 1626 by his 'faithful friend and secretary' Sir Thomas Meautys, who is buried in the chancel. The pedestal of the monument, which originally projected some two feet, is inscribed in Latin, supposedly composed by Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton (1624-1639); a translation is given upon a card which hangs in the chancel:

Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam. Viscount: Saint: Alban:
or by more conspicuous titles.
of Science, the Light. of Eloquence the Law.
thus he sat
Who after all Natural Wisdom
and secrets of Civil Life he had unfolded
Nature's Law fulfilled.
Let the compounds be dissolved.
In the year: of our Lord: 1626.
at the age of 66.
Of such a man that the
memory might remain:
Thomas Meautys,
living his attendant,
dead his admirer,
placed this monument.

H. P.

In 1924 it was discovered that the statue was in danger of falling because of dampness in its foundation. Funds were collected from members of the Francis Bacon Society and the monument was moved temporarily out onto the floor of the church. At the time a "receptacle" was located within the pedestal with a capacity of two cubic feet. Lamentably, it was found to be empty except for some debris.

That there is something odd about all this is suggested by Gilbert Wats in his 1640 translation of the "Advancement of Learning." Dedicatory poems and monographs (Manes Verulamiani), precede the text but these were left in Latin. The final one he translated into English:

In proper order would follow a description of the tomb of Verulam, the monument of the most noble Meautys. . .This tomb has not yet been inspected, but an Interpreter will come [Busta haec nondum invisit Interpres, sed invisurus]. Meanwhile, reader, make thine own arrangements and go about thy business.

Spreads like a tree in hidden growth

The fame of Bacon.

Sic sedebat: "Thus he sat," an habitual posture for which this pensive and renowned judge was noted. The full Latin version may be worth setting down:

FRANCISCUS BACON BARO DE VERVLA. STI: ALBNI: VICMS:
SEV NOTIORIBVS TITVLIS.
SCIENTIARVM LVMEM. FACVNDIAE LEX.
SIC SEDEBAT
QVI POSTQVAM OMNIA NATVRALIS SAPIENTIAE
ET CIVILIS ARCANA EVOLVISSET
NATVRAE DECRETVM EXPLEVIT.
COMPOSITA SOLVANTVR.
ANo: DNI: M.DC.XXVI.
AETATis LXVI.
TANTI VIRI
MEM:

THOMAS MEAVTYS

SVPERSTITIS CVLTOR.

DEFVNCTI ADMIRATOR

H. P.

The last few lines translate as, "Of such a man, that the memory might remain, Thomas Meautys, living his attendant, dead his admirer, placed this monument." Observe the signature, "H. P." These letters, when enciphered in the +4 Baconian alphabet and then reversed, represent Meauty's initials.

Meautys, we will discover, was aware of one of Bacon's cipher methods: that of inserting the plaintext as alternate letters of the ciphertext; therefore this inscription is deserving of more careful examination. Take "MEAVTYS SUPERSTITIS," for example:

The ciphertext is:

M E A V T Y S S V P E R S T I T I S

The +4 text is:

Q I E C B D A A C T I Y A B N B N A

Skipping letters:

Q E B A C I A N N

* * *

To return to Dr. Owen and his first book, Sir Francis Bacons's Cipher Story (Howard Publishing Co., Detroit, 1893), here are the first lines of his imaginative "Sir Francis Bacon's Letter to the Decipherer":

MY DEAR SIR:

Thus leaning on my elbow I begin the letter scattered wider
than the sky and earth;

Dr. Owen said that he produced his five volumes of decipherments by examining the works of Shakespeare, Green, Peele, Marlowe, Spencer and Burton (all of whose books, he argued, were written by Bacon), and by switching from one place to another whenever a "key word" was encountered. These were HONOUR, NATURE, REPUTATION and FORTUNE. However he was guilty of violating these "rules" more often than not, and, in The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined, William and Elizebeth Friedman showed the good doctor to be a humbug.

But it is strange that Dr. Owen chose this particular line to begin his cipher story while, underlying it, Francis Bacon had thrice uttered his name.

The plot of "King John" opens with a controversy over an inheritance. Robert Faulconbridge's title to his father's estate is disputed by Philip who claims to have been the eldest son. The dialogue is much concerned with mistaken identity and names: the "Bast." (Philip) remarks, "And if his name be George, Ile call him Peter; / For new made honor doth forget mens names.."

A few lines later, Philip says:
My picked man of Countries: my deare sir,
Thus leaning on mine elbow I begin,
I shall beseech you; that is question now,
And then comes answer like an Absey booke:
Oh sir, sayes answer, at your best command,
At your employment, at your service sir:
No sir, saies question, I sweet sir at yours,

All of this doesn't make much sense, including the reference to the "Absey booke." This was a horn-book, a shingle on which the letters of the alphabet were written and protected by a thin sheet of animal horn; it was used to teach children their ABC's.

Let us apply our methods to this passage. We will see what letters of the alphabet were insinuated ("W" and "U" are shown as "V," and "J" as "I," in conformity with Bacon's cipher alphabet):

Ciphertext is:

T H V S L E A N I N G O N M I N E E L B O V I B E G I N I S H A L L B E S E E C H Y O V T H A T I S Q V E S T I O N N O V A N D T H E N C O M E S A N S V E R L I K E A N A B S E Y B O O K E O S I R S A Y E S A N S V E R A T Y O V R B E S T C O M M A N D A T Y O V R E M P L O Y M E N T A T Y O V R S E R V I C E S I R N O S I R S A I E S Q V E S T I O N I S V E E T S I R A T Y O V R S

Plaintext, +4 is:

B M C A P I E R N R L S R Q N R I I P F S C N F I L N R N A M E P P F I A I I G M D S C B M E B N A V C I A B N S R R S C E R H B M I R G S Q I A E R A C I Y P N O I E R E F A I D F S S O I S A N Y A E D I A E R A C I Y E B D S C Y F I A B G S Q Q E R H E B D S C Y I Q T P S D Q I R B E B D S C Y A I Y C N G I A N Y R S A N Y A E N I A V C I A B N S R N A C I I B A N Y E B D S C Y A

Plaintext reversed is:

A Y C S D B E Y N A B I I C A N R S N B A I C V A I N E A Y N A S R Y N A I G N C Y I A Y C S D B E B R I Q D S P T Q I Y C S D B E H R E Q Q S G B A I F Y C S D B E Y I C A R E A I D E A Y N A S I O S S F D I A F E R E I O N P Y I C A R E A I Q S G R I M B H R E C S R R S N B A I C V A N B E M B C S D M G I I A I F P P E M A N R N L I F N C S F P I I R N Q R S L R N R E I P A C M B

Here we read Bacon's NAME three times, in three spellings, and we have an explanation for the peculiar language of these lines (King John, i, 1, 194). Hereafter, words shown in bold print were not bold in the original; those in italics were so printed, unless followed by "[emphasis supplied]."

* * *

From the "First Part of Henry the Fourth" (v, 3, 160) we can find "name" and a version of "cipher" (reversed) in the plaintext:

Reig. And I againe in Henries Royall name,
As Deputy vnto that gracious King,
Giue thee her hand, for signe of plighted faith,
Suf. Reignier of France, I giue thee Kingly thankes,
Because this is in Trafficke of a King.

Ciphertext is:

A N D I A G A I N E I N H E N R I E S R O Y A L L N A M E A S D E P V T Y V N T O T H A T G R A C I O V S K I N G G I V E T H E E H E R H A N D F O R S I G N E O F P L I G H T E D F A I T H R E I G N I E R O F F R A N C E I G I V E T H E E K I N G L Y T H A N K E S B E C A V S E T H I S I S I N T R A F F I C K E O F A K I N G

Plaintext, "4 is:

E R H N E L E N R I N R M I R Y N I A Y S D E P P R E Q I E A H I T C B D C R B S B M E B L Y E G N S C A O N R L L N C I B M I I M I Y M E R H K S Y A N L R I S K T P N L M B I H K E N B M Y I N L R N I Y S K K Y E R G I N L N C I B M I I O N R L P D B M E R O I A F I G E C A I B M N A N A N R B Y E K K N G O I S K E O N R L

* * *

An exceptional "name" manifestation is found in the last paragraph of "Timon of Athens" (v, 4, 65). A messenger enters to explain what he carries:

Mes. My Noble Generall, Timon is dead,
Entomb'd vpon the very hemme o'th'Sea,
And on his Gravestone, this Insculpture which
With wax I brought away: whose soft Impression
Interprets for my poore ignorance.
The next five lines are typeset entirely in italics:

Alcibiades reades the Epitaph.

Heere lies a wretched Coarse, of wretched Soule bereft,
Seek not my name: A Plague consume you, wicked Caitifs left:
Heere lye I Timon, who aliue, all liuing men did hate,
Passe by, and curse thy fill, but passe and stay not here thy gate.

Only the first line of this epitaph need be deciphered--the one just preceding "Seek not my name" We shall disobey that command.

Ciphertext is:

H E E R E L I E S A V R E T C H E D C O A R S E O F V R E T C H E D S O V L E B E R E F T

Ciphertext reversed is:

T F E R E B E L V O S D E H C T E R V F O E S R A O C D E H C T E R V A S E I L E R E E H

Plaintext, +4 is:

B K I Y I F I P C S A H I M G B I Y C K S I A Y E S G H I M G B I Y C E A I N P I Y I I M

* * *

"Shake-speare" is an equivocal name; it is ambiguous because it disguises the identity of the author. In "The Tragedie of Macbeth" (ii, 3, 21) a form of the word "equivocate" is recorded five times in twenty-six lines.

Then, urgently and significantly, someone knocks at the door twelve times. After the last knock, these words are spoken:

Anon, anon, I pray you remember the Porter.
Macd. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to Bed,
That you doe lye so late?
Port. Faith Sir, we were carowsing till the second Cock.
And Drinke, Sir, is a great prouoker of three things.

The "three things" arise in the following manner:

Ciphertext is:

A N O N A N O N I P R A Y Y O V R E M E M B E R T H E P O R T E R V A S I T S O L A T E F R I E N D E R E Y O V V E N T T O B E D T H A T Y O V D O E L Y E S O L A T E F A I T H S I R V E V E R E C A R O V S I N G T I L L T H E S E C O N D C O C K

Plaintext, "4 is:

E R S R E R S R N T Y E D D S C Y I Q I Q F I Y B M I T S Y B I Y C E A N B A S P E B I K Y N I R H I Y I D S C C I R B B S F I H B M E B D S C H S I P D I A S P E B I K E N B M A N Y C I C I Y I G E Y S C A N R L B N P P B M I A I G S R H G S G O

Three names and three spellings once more.

* * *

"Venus and Adonis" was, according to Shakespeare's dedication to the Earle of Southampton, "the first heire of my invention" (1593). It has been alleged that "he saw it through the press," though how we know that is nowhere illuminated. On the last page of this poem (line 1177) we may uncover three signatures of the man who borrowed his "guise," and each is spelled differently.

Poore floure (quoth she) this was thy fathers guise,
Sweet issue of a more sweet smelling fire,
For euerie little griefe to wet his eies,

Ciphertext is:

P O O R E F L O V R E Q V O T H S H E T H I S V A S T H Y F A T H E R S G V I S E S V E E T I S S V E O F A M O R E S V E E T S M E L L I N G F I R E F O R E V E R I E L I T T L E G R I E F E T O V E T H I S E I E S

Ciphertext reversed is:

S E I E S I H T E V O T E F E I R G E L T T I L E I R E V E R O F E R I F G N I L L E M S T E E V S E R O M A F O E V S S I T E E V S E S I V G S R E H T A F Y H T S A V S I H T E H S H T O V Q E R V O L F E R O O P

Plaintext, +4 is:

A I N I A N M B I C S B I K I N Y L I P B B N P I N Y I C I Y S K I Y N K L R N P P I Q A B I I C A I Y S Q E K S I C A A N B I I C A I A N C L A Y I M B E K D M B A E C A N M B I M A M B S C V I Y C S P K I Y S S T

In three lines, three names--three spellings.

* * *

We may find the name three more times in "The Life of Henry the Fift" (iv, 1, 147):

King. So, if a Sonne that is by his Father sent about Merchandize, doe sinfully miscarry vpon the Sea; the imputation of his wickednesse, by your rule, should be imposed vpon his Father that sent him; or if a Seruant, vnder his Masters command,

Ciphertext is:

S O I F A S O N N E T H A T I S B Y H I S F A T H E R S E N T A B O V T M E R C H A N D I E D O E S I N F V L L Y M I S C A R R Y V P O N T H E S E A T H E I M P V T A T I O N O F H I S V I C K E D N E S S E B Y Y O V R R V L E S H O V L D B E I M P O S E D V P O N H I S F A T H E R T H A T S E N T H I M O R I F A S E R V A N T V N D E R H I S M A S T E R S C O M M A N D

Ciphertext reversed is:

D N A M M O C S R E T S A M S I H R E D N V T N A V R E S A F I R O M I H T N E S T A H T R E H T A F S I H N O P V D E S O P M I E B D L V O H S E L V R R V O Y Y B E S S E N D E K C I V S I H F O N O I T A T V P M I E H T A E S E H T N O P V Y R R A C S I M Y L L V F N I S E O D E I D N A H C R E M T V O B A T N E S R E H T A F S I H Y B S I T A H T E N N O S A F I O S

Plaintext, +4 is:

H R E Q Q S G A Y I B A E Q A N M Y I H R C B R E C Y I A E K N Y S Q N M B R I A B E M B Y I M B E K A N M R S T C H I A S T Q N I F H P C S M A I P C Y Y C S D D F I A A I R H I O G N C A N M K S R S N B E B C T Q N I M B E I A I M B R S T C D Y Y E G A N Q D P P C K R N A I S H I N H R E M G Y I Q B C S F E B R I A Y I M B E K A N M D F A N B E M B I R R S A E K N S A

* * *

"He was of a middling stature; his forehead spacious and open, early impressed with the marks of age; his eye lively and penetrating; his whole appearance venerably pleasing: so that the beholder was insensibly drawn to love, before he knew how much reason there was to admire him." So Bacon (who was middle-aged and also overweight) was portrayed by a biographer.

Study this description of a character in "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth (ii, 4, 468):

Falst. A goodly portly man yfaith, and a corpulent, of a chearfull Looke, a pleasing Eye, and a most noble Carriage, and as I thinke, his age some fiftie, or (byrlady) inclining to threescore; and now I remember mee, his Name is Falstaffe;

Of course, Falstaffe is supposed to be describing himself. But "Falstaffe" followed by an "i" becomes "BEKKIN," as we will perceive; he continues:

. . his Name is Falstaffe: if that man should be lewdly giuen hee deceiues mee; for Harry, I see Vertue in his Lookes. If then the Tree may be knowne by the Fruit, as the Fruit by the Tree, then peremptorily I speake it, there is Vertue in that Falstaffe:

Ciphertext is:

H I S N A M E I S F A L S T A F F E I F T H A T M A N S H O V L D B E L E V D L Y G I V E N H E E D E C E I V E S M E E F O R H A R R Y I S E E V E R T V E I N H I S L O O K E S I F T H E N T H E T R E E M A Y B E K N O V N E B Y T H E F R V I T A S T H E F R V I T B Y T H E T R E E T H E N P E R E M P T O R I L Y I S P E A K E I T T H E R E I S V E R T V E

Plaintext, +4 is:

M N A R E Q I N A K E P A B E K K I N K B M E B Q E R A M S C P H F I P I C H P D L N C I R M I I H I G I N C I A Q I I K S Y M E Y Y D N A I I C I Y B C I N R M N A P S S O I A N K B M I R B M I B Y I I Q E D F I O R S C R I F D B M I K Y C N B E A B M I K Y C N B F D B M I B Y I I B M I R T I Y I Q T B S Y N P D N A T I E O I N B B M I Y I N A C I Y B C I

Plaintext reversed is:

I C B Y I C A N I Y I M B B N I O E I T A N D P N Y S B T Q I Y I T R I M B I I Y B I M B D F B N C Y K I M B A E B N C Y K I M B D F I R C S R O I F D E Q I I Y B I M B R I M B K N A I O S S P A N M R N I C B Y I C I I A N D Y Y E M Y S K I I Q A I C N I G I H I I M R I C N L D P H C I P I F H P C S M A R E Q B E M B K N I K K E B A P E K A N I Q E R A N M

Three names, three spellings again.

* * *

Dowglas suspects that King Henry IV is an impostor, in "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth" (v, 4, 27):

Dow. . .What art thou
That counterfeit'st the person of a King?
King. The King himselfe: who Dowglas grieues at hart
So many of his shadowes thou hast met,
And not the very King. I have two Boyes
Seeke Percy and thy selfe about the Field:
But seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
I will assay thee: so defend thy selfe.
Dow. I feare thou art another counterfeit:

Ciphertext is:

V H A T A R T T H O V T H A T C O V N T E R F E I T S T T H E P E R S O N O F A K I N G T H E K I N G H I M S E L F E V H O D O V G L A S G R I E V E S A T H A R T S O M A N Y O F H I S S H A D O V E S T H O V H A S T M E T A N D N O T T H E V E R Y K I N G I H A V E T V O B O Y E S S E E K E P E R C Y A N D T H Y S E L F E A B O V T T H E F I E L D B V T S E E I N G T H O V F A L L S T O N M E S O L V C K I L Y I V I L L A S S A Y T H E E S O D E F E N D T H Y S E L F E I F E A R E T H O V A R T A N O T H E R C O V N T E R F E I T

Plaintext, +4 is:

C M E B E Y B B M S C B M E B G S C R B I Y K I N B A B B M I T I Y A S R S K E O N R L B M I O N R L M N Q A I P K I C M S H S C L P E A L Y N I C I A E B M E Y B A S Q E R D S K M N A A M E H S C I A B M S C M E A B Q I B E R H R S B B M I C I Y D O N R L N M E C I B C S F S D I A A I I O I T I Y G D E R H B M D A I P K I E F S C B B M I K N I P H F C B A I I N R L B M S C K E P P A B S R Q I A S P C G O N P D N C N P P E A A E D B M I I A S H I K I R H B M D A I P K I N K I E Y I B M S C E Y B E R S B M I Y G S C R B I Y K I N B

Plaintext reversed is:

B N I K Y I B R C S G Y I M B S R E B Y E C S M B I Y E I K N I K P I A D M B H R I K I H S A I I M B D E A A E P P N C N D P N O G C P S A I Q R S B A P P E K C S M B L R N I I A B C F H P I N K I M B B C S F E I K P I A D M B H R E D G Y I T I O I I A A I D S F S C B I C E M N L R N O D Y I C I M B B S R H R E B I Q B A E M C S M B A I C S H E M A A N M K S D R E Q S A B Y E M B E A I C I N Y L A E P L C S H S M C I K P I A Q N M L R N O I M B L R N O E K S R S A Y I T I M B B A B N I K Y I B R C S G B E M B C S M B B Y E B E M C

Three more occurrences of this "naame." This word "counterfeit" will be encountered often.

* * *

Ursula questions Anthonio:

Vrsula. I know you well enough, your are Signior Anthonio.
Anth. At a word, I am not.
Vrsula. I know you by the wagling of your head.
Anth. To tell you true, I counterfeit him.
Vrsu. You could neuer doe him so ill well vnlesse you were the very man: here's his
ry hand vp and down, you are he, you are he.
Anth. At a word I am not.
Ursula. Come, come, doe you thinke I doe not know you by your excellent wit? can vertue hide it selfe? goe to, mumme, you are he, graces will appeare, and there's an end.

This debate is from "Much adoe about Nothing" (ii, 1, 112). Only one line will be examined, and in this "counterfeit" is misspelled; however it is not misspelled in the 1600 Quarto edition:

Ciphertext is:

T O T E L L Y O V T R V E I C O V N T E R F E I T H I M

Plaintext, +4 is:

B S B I P P D S C B Y C I N G S C R B I Y K I N B M N Q

Our disguised name appears twice in one line.

* * *

Still another "name" example may be found in "The Winters Tale" (iv, 3, 47):

Clowne. . .Foure pound of prewyns, and as many of Reysons o'th Sun.
Aut. Oh, that euer I was borne.
Clowne: I'th name of me.

Ciphertext is:

O H T H A T E V E R I V A S B O R N E I T H N A M E O F M E

Plaintext, +4 is:

S M B M E B I C I Y N C E A F S Y R I N B M R E Q I S K Q I

"name of me" and "M E B I C I Y N" have an intriguing affinity.

* * *

From "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" (iii, 2, 27):

Their sense thus weake, lost with their fears thus strong,
Made senselesse things begin to do them wrong.
For briars and thornes at their apparell snatch,
Some sleeues, some hats, from yeelders all things catch,
I led them on in this distracted feare,
And left sweete Piramus translated there:

Piramus does translate, when followed by a "t," just as Falstaffe does with an "i":

Ciphertext is:

T H E I R S E N S E T H V S V E A K E L O S T V I T H T H E I R F E A R S T H V S S T R O N G M A D E S E N S E L E S S E T H I N G S B E G I N T O D O T H E M V R O N G F O R B R I A R S A N D T H O R N E S A T T H E I R A P P A R E L L S N A T C H S O M E S L E E V E S S O M E H A T S F R O M Y E E L D E R S A L L T H I N G S C A T C H I L E D T H E M O N I N T H I S D I S T R A C T E D F E A R E A N D L E F T S V E E T E P I R A M V S T R A N S L A T E D T H E R E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E R E H T D E T A L S N A R T S V M A R I P E T E E V S T F E L D N A E R A E F D E T C A R T S I D S I H T N I N O M E H T D E L I H C T A C S G N I H T L L A S R E D L E E Y M O R F S T A H E M O S S E V E E L S E M O S H C T A N S L L E R A P P A R I E H T T A S E N R O H T D N A S R A I R B R O F G N O R V M E H T O D O T N I G E B S G N I H T E S S E L E S N E S E D A M G N O R T S S V H T S R A E F R I E H T H T I V T S O L E K A E V S V H T E S N E S R I E H T

Plaintext, +4 is:

I Y I M B H I B E P A R E Y B A C Q E Y N T I B I I C A B K I P H R E I Y E I K H I B G E Y B A N H A N M B R N R S Q I M B H I P N M G B E G A L R N M B P P E A Y I H P I I D Q S Y K A B E M I Q S A A I C I I P A I Q S A M G B E R A P P I Y E T T E Y N I M B B E A I R Y S M B H R E A Y E N Y F Y S K L R S Y C Q I M B S H S B R N L I F A L R N M B I A A I P I A R I A I H E Q L R S Y B A A C M B A Y E I K Y N I M B M B N C B A S P I O E I C A C M B I A R I A Y N I M B

* * *

In Elizabethan times, many authors concealed their names through the use of acrostics. Often, such names or messages were hidden in the initial capitals of succeeding lines of verse. Bacon, so far as I know, used this device on only seven occasions. He hints at it with suggestive words, in "The Life of Henry the Fift" (ii, 2, 53); and, compared to the 1600 Quarto, these lines were painstakingly rearranged when edited for the 1623 Folio:

In the earlier Quarto he had written:
If litle faults proceeding on distemper should not bee winked at,
How should we stretch our eye, when capitall crimes,
Chewed, swallowed and digested, appeare before vs:
Well yet enlarge the man, tho Cambridge and the rest
In their deare loues. . .

Now we may glimpse the cryptogapher at work as he redrafts this excerpt, so as encipher the intial capital letters of each line for the 1623 Folio:

If little faults proceeding on distemper,
Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye
When capitall crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested,
Appeare before vs? Wee'l yet inlarge that man,
Though Cambridge, Scroope, and Gray, in their deere care

Ciphertext is:

I S V A T

Ciphertext reversed is:

T A V S I

Plaintext is:

B E C A N

The sense of these lines was scarcely modified, and the remainder of this speech of King Henry V was not altered.

In the edited version the clues have been preserved for the benefit of the most intractable academicians. The lower case letters in the original version have been "inlarged." By the use of "capitalls" the writer has directed our attention to these newly minted upper case letters. For what reason were these transformations made, unless to encipher the author's name?

A cardinal measure of cipher authenticity--intention--has been demonstrated. The author has left behind an unmistakable "smoking pistol."

Cambridge and Gray's Inn (which was added) happen to be the University and the Law College that Francis Bacon attended.

* * *

Here is another specimen, in which the capital letters are employed, from "Measure for Measure" (i, 3, 40); they are shown in bold type:

I have on Angelo impos'd the office,
Who may in th'ambush of my name, strike home,
And yet, my nature never in the fight
To do in slander: And to behold his sway

A signature is hidden "in th'ambush of my name." Reading all capitals downward, the

Ciphertext is:

I A W A T A

Ciphertext reversed is:

A T A W A I

Plaintext is:

E B E C E N

* * *

"Caps" is a word long used by printers as an abbreviation for upper case type. This word, or "cap," is used six times in thirty lines in "The Taming of the Shrew" (iv, 3, 68).

Fel. Heere is the cap your Worship did bespeake.
Pet. Why this was moulded on a porrenger,
A veluet dish: Fie, fie, 'tis lewd and filthy,
Why 'tis a cockle or a walnut-shell,
A Knacke, a toy, a tricke, a babies cap.
Away with it, come let me have a bigger.

Then follow these five lines:

Kate. Ile haue no bigger, this doth fit the time,
And Gentlewomen weare such caps as these.
Pet. When you are gentle, you shall haue one too,
And not till then.
Hor. That will not be in hast.

Let us examine these "caps," the initial capitalized letters of each line:

Ciphertext is:

I A W A T

Ciphertext reversed is:

T A W A I

Plaintext is:

B E C E N

* * *

Published in 1640 by John Benson was a book of "POEMS: WRITTEN BY WIL. SHAKESPEARE. Gent." Many of the Sonnets were included, but in a different order, together with other poems. Most of the latter are rejected by the scholars as unjustly imputed. Several verses memorialize the Bard, as witness the following:

On the death of William Shakespeare, whodied Aprill, Anno Dom. 1616.

REnowned Spenser lie a thought more nigh
To learned Chauser, and rare Beaumount lie
A little neerer Spenser to make roome,
For Shakespeare in your three-fold, foure-fold Tombe;
To lodge all foure in one bed make a shift,
Vntill Dommes-day, for hardly shall a fift
Betwixt this day and that by Fate be slaine,
For whom your Curtaines may be drawne againe.
If your precedencie in death doth barre,
A fourth place in your sacred Sepulchre
Vnder this sacred Marble of thy owne,
Sleepe rare Tragedian Shakespeare, sleepe alone;
Thy unmolested peace in an unshar'd Cave,
Possesse as Lord, not Tennant of thy Grave.
That unto us, and others it may be,
Honour hereafter to be laid by thee.

W. B.

"For whom your Curtaines may be drawne againe." Consider the initial capitalized letters (bold) of the five lines following that one:

Ciphertext is:

I A V S T

Ciphertext reversed:

T S V A I

Plaintext is:

B A C E N

Or, we may choose all of the capitals in the four lines following "Curtaines":

Ciphertext is:

I A S V M S T

Ciphertext reversed:

T S M V S A I

Plaintext is:

B A Q C A E N

For the curious, there is also a cipher in the second line--more particularly a "CEIFIYEYHRE." Now the veil may be drawn againe.

* * *

The following is a comparison of two very similar versions of a Shakespeare sonnet. The lines printed in Roman type are from verse II of The Passionate Pilgrime, (1599) while the lines shown in italics are from Sonnet 144 of the 1609 Quarto:

1. TWo Loues I haue, of Comfort, and Despaire,
TWo Loues I haue of comfort and dispaire,
2. That like two Spirits, do suggest me still:
Which like two spirits do sugiest me still,
3. My better Angell is a Man (right faire)
The better angell is a man right faire:
4. My worser spirite a Woman (colour'd ill.)
The worser spirit a woman collour'd il.
5. To winne me soone to hell, my Female euill
To win me soone to hell my femall euill,
6. Tempteth my better Angell from my side,
Tempteth my better angel from my sight,
7. And would corrupt my Saint to be a Diuell,
And would corrupt my saint to be a diuel:
8. Wooing his purity with her faire pride.
Wooing his purity with her fowle pride,
9. And whether that my Angell be turnde feend,
And whether that my angel be turn'd finde,
10. Suspect I may (yet not directly tell:
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell,
11. For being both to me: both, to each friend,
But being both from me both to each friend,
12. I ghesse one Angell in anothers hell:
I gesse one angel in an others hel,
13. The truth I shall not know, but liue in doubt,
Yet this shal I nere know but liue in doubt,
14. Till my bad Angell fire my good one out.
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

There are minor changes in spelling, punctuation and one change in sense (faire in line 8 becomes fowle in the later version). The major change is in capitalization. Let us string all the capitals together and examine them:

Ciphertext of 1599 verse:

T V L I C D T S M A M M V T F T A A S D V A A S I F I A T I T A

Plaintext, +4 is:

B C P N G H B A Q E Q Q C B K B E E A H C E E A N K N E B N B E

Perhaps the earlier version of Bacon's plaintext name seemed too long; therefore, in editing the 1609 version, the author reduced fifteen of the capitals to lower case with this effect:

Ciphertext of 1609 verse:

T V I V T T T T A V A S I B I Y T

Plaintext, +4 is:B C N C B B B B E C E A N F N D B

* * *

Karl Andreassen, writing in Computer Cryptology (Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1988), discusses null ciphers of this variety:

An interesting type of cipher not often seen in the popular literature is the concealment, or null, cipher. Among its many variations is the use of prearranged letter positions in ordinary plaintext. Because the English language is so richly endowed with synonyms and capable of colloquial interpretation, it is particularly adaptable to null-cipher applications.

For instance, a plain language sentence may appear to convey an interesting but common statement of fact. While the sentence reads innocuously like simple plain language, the words used are carefully selected to divert attention, that of concealing [by steganography] a message other than the obvious one. . .

Engineers seek solid proof for their every assumption in furthering a technically complex project. In contrast, cryptanalysts are most successful when carrying multiple assumptions with no proof at all, and hunches are pearls to be treasured.

In Chapter Nine, I referred to Wiliam F. Friedman's discussion of the cryptographic methods of Sir John Salusbury. I will quote another of his examples from p. 99 of The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined:

We have already remarked that acrostics were popular in Elizabethan literature; it should also be stressed that spelling in those days was erratic. Sir John Salusbury, who was as devoted to acrostics as he was to a lady called Dorothy Halsall, enfolded her name in poem after poem [citing Bryn Mawr College Monographs, vol. XIV, 1913]. One of them runs [with critical letters shown in bold type]:

Tormented heart in thrall, Yea thrall to love,
Respecting will, Heart-breaking gaine doth grow,
Ever DOLOBELIA, Time will so proue,
Binding distresse, O gem wilt thou allowe,
This fortune my will Repose-lesse of ease,
Vnlesse thou LEDA, Over-spread my heart,
Cutting all my ruth, dayne Disdaine to cease,
I yield to fate, and welcome endles Smart.

This, with occasional irregularities, conceals the name CUTBERT (Dorothy's husband) reading the initial letters upwards from the seventh line, and the two parts of the name DOROTHY HALSALL as the letters on either side of the break in the middle of each line; the initials I.S. (for Iohn Salusbury) appear as the first letter of the first word and the first letter of the last word in the final line. . .In all, Salusbury uses six different versions of his own name in various acrostic signatures; spells the name Francis as Fransis wherever it suits him; regards I and IE as interchangeable with Y; and replaces J's with I's or I's with J's according to whim.

Thus Friedman does not insist upon proper name spelling and permits "occasional irregularities." The cipher does not read from top to bottom; it is reversed and the plaintext travels from bottom to top. Here, he says, is one "of a number of instances which could be cited; but what makes it true that they, and the others, are genuine cases of cryptography is that the validity of the deciphered text and the inflexibility of the systems employed are obvious. . .In each case, there is no room to doubt that they were put there by the deliberate intent of the author; the length of the hidden text, and the absolutely rigid order in which the letters appear, combine to make it enormously improbable that they just happened to be there by accident."

Friedman is speaking of null ciphers; these include all such acrostics. In The Advancement of Learning, Francis Bacon mentions them, among others:

Wherefore let us come to CYPHARS. Their kinds are many, as Cyphars simple; Cyphars intermixt with Nulloes, or non-significant Characters; Cyphers of double Letters under one Character; Wheele-Cyphars; Kay-Cyphars; Cyphars of words; Others.

In many of the cipher examples presented here we are dealing with "Cyphars of words. . .Intermixt with Nulloes." That it may be difficult to find the plaintext is not a defensible objection, particularly where a cue may be found in the ciphertext.

Readers of my book have asked why Bacon varied the spelling of his name in plaintext. One insisted that he would never, never misspell his own name, though there is no evidentiary justification for this conjecture. On the contrary, John Salusbury's example, of six different name spellings, shows this to be an acceptable Seventeenth Century acrostic practice.

There is a very good reason why Bacon did alter the spelling of his surname, and an example is given by David Kahn in The Codebreakers, p. 336. During WWI a German Signal officer by the name of Jaeger set out to stiffen code discipline. However his own name was not in the codebook and had to be spelled out in every transmitted order. "This was frequently. Its peculiar formation--the repetition of the high frequency e, for example-- permitted G.2 A.6 to identify it readily, and this in turn led to important clues concerning the superenciphering Geheimklappe. . .Jaeger was beloved by his adversaries because he kept them up to date with code changes, and it was with genuine regret that they saw his name disappear from the German traffic." Thus any word (a suspected "crib") routinely recurring in cipher messages is an apt key to a solution.

Kahn mentions another decryption accomplished by Charles Babbage: "For example, in 1846, he broke an enciphered letter from his nephew Henry by guessing that it began Dear Uncle and ended with nephew and Henry."

To assume that Francis Bacon was ignorant of such hazards is to overlook his awareness of the principles of cryptanalysis. And to demand that he follow Twentieth Century notions of proper cryptographic form (while neglecting steganographic acrostics) is absurd.

* * *

"Hamlet" in the 1623 Folio (v, 2, 403) was doctored twice, so as to remove the author's name. In the supposedly "bad" Quarto of 1603, six lines up from the very last line, is this part of the final speech of Fortinbras: Let foure of our chiefest Captaines Beare Hamlet like a souldier to his grave:

The name appears twice in this manner:

Ciphertext is:

L E T F O V R E O F O V R C H I E F E S T C A P T A I N E S B E A R E H A M L E T L I K E A S O V L D I E R T O H I S G R A V E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E V A R G S I H O T R E I D L V O S A E K I L T E L M A H E R A E B S E N I A T P A C T S E F E I H C R V O F O E R V O F T E L

Plaintext, +4 is:

I C E Y L A N M S B Y I N H P C S A E I O N P B I P Q E M I Y E I F A I R N E B T E G B A I K I N M G Y C S K S I Y C S K B I P

Plaintext, alternate letters:

C Y A M B I H C A I N B P E I E F I N B E B I I M Y S S Y S B P

However, after the first time these lines were amended, in the 1604 "good" Quarto they are shown as:

Let foure Captaines
Beare Hamlet like a souldier to the stage,

This removed the offending word "chiefest" and the consequential "BAIKIN." But the shadowy editor was not satisfied. In the 1623 Folio the lines are:

Let foure Captaines
Beare Hamlet like a soldier to the Stage,

This substitution of "soldier" for "souldier" eliminated "BIHCAIN" as well. No more did the author's name appear in the last few lines of his most famous play, "Hamlet."

* * *

Another NAME example may be found in "The Taming of the Shrew" (iv, 1, 127). Petruchio complains about the obedience of his servants, saying "Where is the foolish knave I sent before?" Grumio answers:

Gru. Heere sir, as foolish as I was before.
Pet. You pezant, swain, you horson malt-horse drudg
Did I not bid thee meete me in the Parke,

Ciphertext is:

H E E R E S I R A S F O O L I S H A S I V A S B E F O R E Y O V P E S A N T S V A I N Y O V H O R S O N M A L T H O R S E D R V D G D I D I N O T B I D T H E E M E E T E M E I N T H E P A R K E

Plaintext, +4 is:

M I I Y I A N Y E A K S S P N A M E A N C E A F I K S Y I D S C T I A E R B A C E N R D S C M S Y A S R Q E P B M S Y A I H Y C H L H N H N R S B F N H B M I I Q I I B I Q I N R B M I T E Y O I

* * *

In the same play (v, 1, 28) we find the following:

Petr. Nay, I told you your sonne was well beloued in Padua: doe you heare sir, to leaue friuolous circumstances, I pray you tell signior Lucentio that his Father is come from Pisa, and here at the doore to speake with him.
Ped. Thou liest his Father is come from Padua, and here looking out at the window.
Vin. Art thou his father?
Ped. I sir, so his mother saies, if I may beleeue her.
Petr. Why how now gentleman: why this is flat knauerie to take vpon you another mans name.

Ciphertext is:

N A Y I T O L D Y O V Y O V R S O N N E V A S V E L L B E L O V E D I N P A D V A D O E Y O V H E A R E S I R T O L E A V E F R I V O L O V S C I R C V M S T A N C E S I P R A Y Y O V T E L L S I G N I O R L V C E N T I O T H A T H I S F A T H E R I S C O M E F R O M P I S A A N D I S H E R E A T T H E D O O R E T O S P E A K E V I T H H I M T H O V L I E S T H I S F A T H E R I S C O M E F R O M P A D V A A N D H E R E L O O K I N G O V T A T T H E V I N D O V A R T T H O V H I S F A T H E R I S I R S O H I S M O T H E R S A I E S I F I M A Y B E L E E V E H E R V H Y H O V N O V G E N T L E M A N V H Y T H I S I S F L A T K N A V E R I E T O T A K E V P O N Y O V A N O T H E R M A N S N A M E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E M A N S N A M R E H T O N A V O Y N O P V E K A T O T E I R E V A N K T A L F S I S I H T Y H V N A M E L T N E G V O N V O H Y H V R E H E V E E L E B Y A M I F I S E I A S R E H T O M S I H O S R I S I R E H T A F S I H V O H T T R A V O D N I V E H T T A T V O G N I K O O L E R E H D N A A V D A P M O R F E M O C S I R E H T A F S I H T S E I L V O H T M I H H T I V E K A E P S O T E R O O D E H T T A E R E H S I D N A A S I P M O R F E M O C S I R E H T A F S I H T A H T O I T N E C V L R O I N G I S L L E T V O Y Y A R P I S E C N A T S M V C R I C S V O L O V I R F E V A E L O T R I S E R A E H V O Y E O D A V D A P N I D E V O L E B L L E V S A V E N N O S R V O Y V O Y D L O T I Y A N

Plaintext, +4 is:

I Q E R A R E Q Y I M B S R E C S D R S T C I O E B S B I N Y I C E R O B E P K A N A N M B D M C R E Q I P B R I L C S R C S M D M C Y I M I C I I P I F D E Q N K N A I N E A Y I M B S Q A N M S A Y N A N Y I M B E K A N M C S M B B Y E C S H R N C I M B B E B C S L R N O S S P I Y I M H R E E C H E T Q S Y K I Q S G A N Y I M B E K A N M B A I N P C S M B Q N M M B N C I O E I T A S B I Y S S H I M B B E I Y I M A N H R E E A N T Q S Y K I Q S G A N Y I M B E K A N M B E M B S N B R I G C P Y S N R L N A P P I B C S D D E Y T N A I G R E B A Q C G Y N G A C S P S C N Y K I C E I P S B Y N A I Y E I M C S D I S H E C H E T R N H I C S P I F P P I C A E C I R R S A Y C S D C S D H P S B N D E R

The last sentence of the ciphertext, as recorded above, is "Why how now gentleman: why this is flat knaverie to take vpon you another mans name." Indeed it is, and we may read his "NAME" three times. In fact he proclaims with each repetition, "I'm Bacon."

An unmistakable cue like this is a marker, the kind of pointer we should search for. And there are others, as will be seen.

* * *

The words "his father" are reiterated in "The Life and Death of Richard the Third" (ii, 3, 26), with the same result:

Why so hath this, both by his Father and Mother.
Better it were they all came by his Father:
Or by his Father there were none at all:

Ciphertext is:

V H Y S O H A T H T H I S B O T H B Y H I S F A T H E R A N D M O T H E R B E T T E R I T V E R E T H E Y A L L C O M E B Y H I S F A T H E R O R B Y H I S F A T H E R T H E R E V E R E N O N E A T A L L

Ciphertext reversed is:

L L A T A E N O N E R E V E R E H T R E H T A F S I H Y B R O R E H T A F S I H Y B E M O C L L A Y E H T E R E V T I R E T T E B R E H T O M D N A R E H T A F S I H Y B H T O B S I H T H T A H O S Y H V

Plaintext, +4 is:

P P E B E I R S R I Y I C I Y I M B Y I M B E K A N M D F Y S Y I M B E K A N M D F I Q S G P P E D I M B I Y I C B N Y I B B I F Y I M B S Q H R E Y I M B E K A N M D F M B S F A N M B M B E M S A D M C

Three more times, in three lines, "I'm Bekan." And, "they all came by his Father."

* * *

"The Life and Death of Richard the Third" (iii, 7, 77) contains this dialog:

But praying, to enrich his watchfull Soule.
Happie were England, would this vertuous Prince
Take on his Grace the Soueraigntie thereof.
But sure I feare we shall not winne him to it.

Ciphertext is:

B V T P R A Y I N G T O E N R I C H H I S V A T C H F V L L S O V L E H A P P I E V E R E E N G L A N D V O V L D T H I S V E R T V O V S P R I N C E T A K E O N H I S G R A C E T H E S O V E R A I G N T I E T H E R E O F B V T S V R E I F E A R E V E S H A L L N O T V I N N E H I M T O I T

Plaintext, +4 is:

F C B T Y E D N R L B S I R Y N G M M N A C E B G M K C P P A S C P I M E T T N I C I Y I I R L P E R H C S C P H B M N A C I Y B C S C A T Y N R G I B E O I S R M N A L Y E G I B M I A S C I Y E N L R B N I B M I Y I S K F C B A C Y I N K I E Y I C I A M E P P R S B C N R R I M N Q B S N B

Alternate letters:

F B Y D R B I Y G M A E G K P A C I E T I I I R P R C C H M A I B S A Y R I E I R N L E I M A C Y N R N B I I K C A Y N I Y C A E P S C R I N B N

Ciphertext reversed is:

T I O T M I H E N N I V T O N L L A H S E V E R A E F I E R V S T V B F O E R E H T E I T N G I A R E V O S E H T E C A R G S I H N O E K A T E C N I R P S V O V T R E V S I H T D L V O V D N A L G N E E R E V E I P P A H E L V O S L L V F H C T A V S I H H C I R N E O T G N I Y A R P T V B

Plaintext, +4 is:

B N S B Q N M I R R N C B S R P P E M A I C I Y E I K N I Y C A B C F K S I Y I M B I N B R L N E Y I C S A I M B I G E Y L A N M R S I O E B I G R N Y T A C S C B Y I C A N M B H P C S C H R E P L R I I Y I C I N T T E M I P C S A P P C K M G B E C A N M M G N Y R I S B L R N D E Y T B C F

Four names, four spellings in four lines.

* * *

On the last page of "A Midsommer nights Dreame"(v, 1, 405) there is a "Song," set entirely in italics; six lines will be quoted:

And the issue there create,
Ever shall be fortunate:
So shall all the couples three,
Ever true in loving be:
And the blots of Natures hand,
Shall not in their issue stand.

Appropriately, we find in these lines three enciphered names, and all spelt differently:

Ciphertext is:

A N D T H E I S S V E T H E R E C R E A T E E V E R S H A L L B E F O R T V N A T E S O S H A L L A L L T H E C O V P L E S T H R E E E V E R T R V E I N L O V I N G B E A N D T H E B L O T S O F N A T V R E S H A N D S H A L L N O T I N T H E I R I S S V E S T A N D

Plaintext, +4 is:

E R H B M I N A A C I B M I Y I G Y I E B I I C I Y A M E P P F I K S Y B C R E B I A S A M E P P E P P B M I G S C T P I A B M Y I I I C I Y B Y C I N R P S C N R L F I E R H B M I F P S B A S K R E B C Y I A M E R H A M E P P R S B N R B M I N Y N A A C I A B E R H

Plaintext reversed is:

H R E B A I C A A N Y N I M B R N B S R P P E M A H R E M A I Y C B E R K S A B S P F I M B H R E I F L R N C S P R N I C Y B Y I C I I I Y M B A I P T C S G I M B P P E P P E M A S A I B E R C B Y S K I F P P E M A Y I C I I B E I Y G I Y I M B I C A A N I M B H R E

* * *

As Wiliam F. Friedman wrote, the Elizabethan "disregard for absolute consistency" in their orthography "provides an argument for anti-Stratfordians, in that they are often able to cite genuine examples of the various spellings, abbreviations and forms of title to which they resort." (The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined, 1957).

This is to remind us, in a rather censorious way, not to demand that the Elizabethans conform to current standards of spelling and grammar that have been distilled and standardized during the last four hundred years. Read, for example, a letter written in 1601:

Suche a prelate if he come shuld be taugh a better leason than play so presumtius and bold a part afor he knewe your good liking thereof wich as i hope is far from your intent. So wyl his coming verefie to muche Good Mastar Simples asseverations at Rome of wich you have or now bene warned ynough. Thus you se how to fulfil your trust reposed in me wiche to infring I never mynde. I have sincerely made patente my sinceritie and thogh not fraught with muche wisedome yet stuffed with great good wyl I hope you wyl beare with my molesting you to long with my skrating hand as prociding from a hart that shal ever be filled with the sure affection of your loving and frindely sistar. (Add. MS. 18738 f. 39, British Library.)

Composed by a backward, poorly tutored student, do you think? No. The letter was addressed to James VI of Scotland, later to become James I of England. The writer was highly educated in the classics and had been schooled with the instructors of the "New Learning." She was referred to as "that bright Occidental Star" who was the authoress of poems written in Latin and Greek. The letter writer was Queen Elizabeth I.

There is a popular story about WWI cryptography; it seems there was a German general who insisted that everyone address him as "Your Excellency." The British had already solved the generic system of their cipher and, whenever the Germans changed the key, it was only necessary to apply the German term for "Your Excellency" to the first two words of the new messages to get a long way into solving them. This principle was known as early as the Fifteenth Century in Italy, as mentioned in an earlier chapter. Names of towns and people that occurred often in cipher messages were always misspelled. Bacon, I am sure, knew that; thus the variations in his last name.

August Wilhelm von Schlegel (1767-1845) was a famous German critic and a professor of literature at Jena and Bonn. His translation of the plays made Shakespeare a best seller and a great influence on German drama. He said, of Shakespeare's accepted resume, that it was "a mere fabulous story, a blind extravagant error." William Hazlitt (1778-1830), an English essayist, critic and lecturer on British drama, never directly attacked the authorship but he observed, "The wisdom displayed in Shakespeare is equal in profoundness to the great Lord Bacon's Novum Organum."

Isaac D'Israeli said of Bacon, "He was indeed one of those men who build great mornings for the world."

* * *

In "Loves Labour's lost" (v, 2, 42), Rosaline has just received a letter; the dialogue goes like this:

Qu. Who sent it? and what is it?
Ros. I would you knew
And if my face were but as faire as yours,
My Fauour were as great, be witnesse this,
Nay, I have Verses too, I thanke Berowne,
The numbers true, and were the numbring too,
I were the fairest goddesse on the ground.
I am compared to twenty thousand fairs.
O he hath drawne my picture in his letter.
Qu. Any thing like?
Ros. Much in the letters, nothing in the praise.
Qu. Beauteous as Incke: a good conclusion.
Kat. Faire as a text B. in a Coppie Booke.
Ros. Ware pensals. How? Let me not die your debtor,
My red Dominicall, my golden letter.

In the first two lines of Rosaline's speech we may find her red dominicall, her fair text B, her golden letter:

Ciphertext is:

I V O V L D Y O V K N E V A N D I F M Y F A C E V E R E B V T A S F A I R E A

Plaintext, +4 is:

N C S C P H D S C O R I C E R H N K Q D K E G I C I Y I F C B E A K E N Y I E

* * *

On the first and second leaves of SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS appear the title-page and the dedication, as described previously. In these we found our instruction "FORTH.", to search the fourth line of the Caesar printout for the plaintext. However, the number of letters in Bacon's cipher alphabet remained in doubt; we had to try many experiments to establish which letters had been omitted and to verify the proper number--21.

Much trouble might have been saved if we had examined more carefully the last page of the Sonnets for some peculiarity.

On this page appears the final Sonnet, number 154, which looks harmless enough. Following that is the word "FINIS." printed in capitals three times larger than normal; still there is nothing particularly odd about that. But below is an unexplained difference, apparently a glaring typographical error.

At the bottom of most of these pages is the "signature" notation that guided the bookbinder in assembling the printed pages. These were collated with the folded sheets which were cut apart before binding. For example, one series printed at the bottom of every other page in the Sonnets is "F", "F2", "F3". "F4" was usually omitted as unnecessary in the binding process. The letters and numbers were imprinted in this manner in an ordinary size of type.

On the last (recto) page of the Sonnets there is also a "signature." This is the first leaf of the next quarto, the eight pages which include the beginning of A Lovers complaint (another poem bound in at the end.) The series should have been "K", "K2", "K3" set in normal size type.

But this "K" is not normal. It is printed as a "great capital," three times the size of the other signatures. And it is followed by another great capital, an apparently meaningless, misplaced "A". There are six normal spaces between the letters, as if to add more stress to this bizarre imprint.

These two preeminent letters "KA" are hardly typographical errors; they were inserted as indicators, further keys to Francis Bacon's cipher alphabet. And now, we having come so far, they become confirmations.

The ancient Greeks had an unique way of writing their numbers. They simply used the letters of the Greek alphabet (some of which resembled the Roman). Alpha, Beta and Gamma represented the figures 1, 2 and 3; this continued to Theta which was 9. Then they began numbering by tens and adding these preceding, alphabetical digits to them. Iota, Kappa and Lambda were the numbers 10, 20 and 30; these continued until Koppa represented 90. The hundreds went from Rho to San, 100 to 900.

Thus the number 11 would be Iota Alpha, "IA". The number 55 was Nu Epsilon, "NE".

And the signature Kappa Alpha, "KA", becomes the number 21. This 21 was put there as a pointer, a signal by a scholar with a Grecian vocabulary. It is the number of letters in Francis Bacon's own keyed alphabet.

* * *

Sonnet 52 begins:

So am I as the rich whose blessed key,
Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure.

We have the suggestion of a "key" and a locked "treasure;" let us see if our cryptographic key fits the lock:

The ciphertext is:

S O A M I A S T H E R I C H V H O S E B L E S S E D K E Y C A N B R I N G H I M T O H I S S V E E T V P L O C K E D T R E A S V R E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E R V S A E R T D E K C O L P V T E E V S S I H O T M I H G N I R B N A C Y E K D E S S E L B E S O H V H C I R E H T S A I M A O S

Plaintext, +4:

I Y C A E I Y B H I O G S P T C B I I C A A N M S B Q N M L R N Y F R E G D I O H I A A I P F I A S M C M G N Y I M B A E N Q E S A

* * *

In "The First Part of Henry the Fourth" (ii, 4, 30), in the left-hand column, the name "Francis" is repeated nineteen times. Those favoring the authorship of Francis Bacon have often remarked upon this peculiarity.

The Prince and Poines are playing a joke upon Francis, their servant, the "puny Drawer." The Prince tells Poines to go into another room and begin calling for Francis; he does so and Francis enters. The Prince engages him in a nonsensical conversation, a sample of which is this:

Prin. Anon, Francis? No Francis, but tomorrow Francis: or Francis, on thursday: or indeed Francis when thou wilt. But Francis.

Poines continues to call him, and "The Drawer stands amazed, not knowing which way to go."

Two parts of this dialogue will be shown:

Prin. . .I prythee doe thou stand in some by-roome, while I question my puny Drawer, to what end hee gave me the Suger and do never leave calling Francis

Ciphertext is:

S T A N D I N S O M E B Y R O O M E V H I L E I Q V E S T I O N M Y P V N Y D R A V E R T O V H A T E N D H E E G A V E M E T H E S V G A R A N D D O N E V E R L E A V E C A L L I N G F R A N C I S

Ciphertext reversed is:

S I C N A R F G N I L L A C E V A E L R E V E N O D D N A R A G V S E H T E M E V A G E E H D N E T A H V O T R E V A R D Y N V P Y M N O I T S E V Q I E L I H V E M O O R Y B E M O S N I D N A T S

Plaintext, +4 is:

A N G R E Y K L R N P P E G I C E I P Y I C I R S H H R E Y E L C A I M B I Q I C E L I I M H R I B E M C S B Y I C E Y H D R C T D Q R S N B A I C V N I P N M C I Q S S Y D F I Q S A R N H R E B A

The second part of the conversation includes this:

Prin. But Francis, darest thou be so valiant, as to play the coward with thy Indenture and shew it a faire paire of heeles, and run from it?

Ciphertext is:

B V T F R A N C I S D A R E S T T H O V B E S O V A L I A N T A S T O P L A Y T H E C O V A R D V I T H T H Y I N D E N T V R E A N D S H E V I T A F A I R E P A I R E O F H E E L E S A N D R V N F R O M I T

Plaintext, +4 is:

F C B K Y E R G N A H E Y I A B B M S C F I A S C E P N E R B E A B S T P E D B M I G S C E Y H C N B M B M D N R H I R B C Y I E R H A M I C N B E K E N Y I T E N Y I S K M I I P I A E R H Y C R K Y S Q N B

* * *

There is something puzzling about the lettering on the Shakespeare monument in Westminster Abbey, as it is shown on the scroll to which the Bard is pointing. The words (some of them) are taken from the speech of Prospero as it appears in the 1623 Folio, "The Tempest", (iv, 1, 154):

Pro. You doe looke (my son) in a mov'd sort,
As if you were dismaid : be cheerefull Sir,
Our reuels now are ended : These our actors,
(As I foretold you) were all Spirits, and
Are melted into Ayre, into thin Ayre,
And like the baselesse fabricke of this vision
The Clowd-capt Towres, the gorgeous Pallaces,
The solemne Temples, the great Globe it selfe,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolue,
And like this insubstantiall Pageant faded
Leave not a racke behinde : we are such stuffe
As dreames are made on ; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleepe : Sir I am vext,
Beare with my weakenesse, my old braine is troubled:
Be not disturb'd with my infirmitie,
If you be pleas'd, retire into my Cell,
And there repose, a turne or two, Ile walke
To still my beating minde.

But on the monument's scroll, to which Shakespeare's index finger points, is this abridged and garbled version of the above lines:

The Cloud cupt Tow'rs,
The Gorgeous Palaces,
The Solemn Temples,
The Great Globe itself,
Yea all which it Inherit,
Shall Dissolve;
And like the baseless Fabrick of a Vision
Leave not a wreck behind.

This is the present lettering. However, according to the Librarian at Westminster Abbey (and my own recent inspection) the characters are only painted on the monument. During a restoration they were repainted, sometime after a photograph was published in 1923 (Frank Woodward, Francis Bacon's Cipher Signatures, Grafton & Co., London). As shown there, the third word was formerly "capt", not "cupt", as is confirmed by the version shown by Neale & Brayley, in The History. . . of the Abbey Church of St. Peter Westminster, 1823. Otherwise it is the same.

The wording on this scroll was dictated by Alexander Pope who appears to have had the audacity to edit the great Bard's language. The monument was financed by public subscription, and "Lord Burlington, Pope and Dr. Mead" were put in charge of its design, according to Margaret Whinney (Sculpture in Britain, 1530-1830, 1964). It was executed by one Scheemakers, a sculptor.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was not only a poet of great renown, but he published a collection of Shakespeare's plays in 1725. He was also a parodist and satirist. He prescribed this wording. For example, the lettering above the statue's head is:

GVLIELMO SHAKESPEARE
ANNO POST MORTEM CXXIVo
AMOR PVBLICVS POSVIT

The translation is, "To William Shakespeare in the one hundred and twenty-fourth year after his death, public love erected this monument." The monument was completed and dedicated in 1741, 125 years after the death, but Pope insisted on this erroneous computation and upon the inscription on the scroll. According to Dr. H.A.W. Speckman, writing in American Baconiana, Vol. II No. 4, 1926:

At the erection of the statue in 1741 a storm of indignation arose over the inadequacy of this Latin inscription, which mentioned neither the immortal works of the bard nor had a word to say about the years of his birth and of his death. Dr Mead himself publicly made known that he had most strongly opposed the use of the words "AMOR PVBLICVS," because they were not classic Latin. Dr. Mead was one of the greatest Latinists of the time, and he also republished the works of Bacon. But Pope, who was the author of the inscription, resisted to the utmost any alteration of it, so that Dr. Mead was finally compelled to give in, and did so saying: "Omnia vincit amor et nos cedemus amori," or "Love conquers all, and we yield to love."

Speckman complained, and properly so, that the legend on the scroll differed from the original blank verse: "one line is omitted, another misplaced, and still another divided in two parts; words are omitted, or altered and the spelling too." And "racke" has been changed to "wreck," a complete change in meaning.

It may be surmised, by those who genuflect before any graven image of their personal god of letters, that these are only mistakes. They are simply errors, done by the careless erectors of this 1741 Monument, they will explain.

Surely Alexander Pope knew better than to edit and tangle the words of the Bard in this manner. Yet he did so with a purpose: first to attract our attention, and second to infuse into the syntax the name of the genuine author. The line in which "fabricke" and "vision" occur is the only one in which the original text has not been divided; it has been displaced downward seven lines, so as to appear next to the last on the scroll, and these two words have been newly capitalized.

It is manifest that Alexander Pope knew that Bacon had used one of Trithemius' cipher methods, that of implanting a plaintext within a ciphertext series of words, so that every other letter spelled the message. And he had to omit the final "e" in "fabricke" to do it!

After coupling the two together, let us read the alternate letters beginning with the first:

F A B R I C K V I S I O N

F B I K I I N

There it stands, discreetly among the muniments in Westminster for all to observe. Pope knew what he was doing, and he was confident that "eyes not yet created shall o'er-read" this name. (The speech of Prospero, quoted above from the "Tempest," is worth further examination; it contains that familiar ciphered name, and three more are to be found in the next twenty-three lines.)

Perhaps not to be outdone, there is another statue of Shakespeare at the British Library, in the present "King's Library." This was executed by Roubillac in 1758 and was commissioned by David Garrick, the famous British actor, for his villa at Hampton.

Does it represent the scheme of Francis Bacon's private alphabet? Garrick's statue depicts the Bard's right hand as having two fingers extended, his left hand one. The latter digit is extended upward and laid to his cheek, as if to savor some private jest. But this is merely circumstantial evidence--hardly enough to shake the faith of a true Bardolater.

Notwithstanding, there were a few individuals living in Garricks's time who did not presume the authorship. They knew.

* * *

In Shakespeare's comedy "As you like it" (iii, 2, 298), those words are printed as the "running head" at the top of each page, except for one. That one says, "As yoa like it." Merely a printer's error?

Ten lines down from the beginning of the same page is the word "Cipher." Between this interesting cue and the "typographical error" are these lines:

Iaq. The worst fault you haue, is to be in loue.
Orl. 'Tis a fault I will not change, for your best vertue: I am wearie of you.
Iaq. By my troth, I was seeking for a Foole, when I found you.
Orl. He is drown'd in the brooke, looke but in, and you shall see him.
Iaq. There I shal see mine owne figure.
Orl. Which I take to be either a foole, or a Cipher.

The ciphertext is:

T H E V O R S T F A V L T Y O V H A V E I S T O B E I N L O V E T I S A F A V L T I V I L L N O T C H A N G E F O R Y O V R B E S T V E R T V E I A M V E A R I E O F Y O V

The plaintext is:

B M I C S Y A B K E C P B D S C M E C I N A B S F I N R P S C I B N A E K E C P B N C N P P R S B G M E R L I K S Y D S C Y F I A B C I Y B C I N E Q C I E Y N I S K D S C

Alternate letters are:

M C Y B E P D C E I A S I R S I N E E P N N
P S G E L K Y S Y I B I B I E C E N S D C

* * *

In "The Rape of Lucrece," verse 24, line 207 begins:

To cipher me how fondlie did I dote:
That my posteritie sham'd with the note
Shall curse my bones, and hold it for no sinne,
To wish that I their father had not been.

The last line of the verse betrays the author.

Ciphertext is:

T O V I S H T H A T I T H E I R F A T H E R H A D N O T B E E N E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E N E E B T O N D A H R E H T A F R I E H T I T A H T H S I V O T

Plaintext, +4 is:

I R I I F B S R H E M Y I M B E K Y N I M B N B E M B M A N C S B

We may remark the letters "IM" both before and after the name. Here the word "cipher" appears again directly in the ciphertext; we will witness many other samples in which a version of "cipher" occurs in the plaintext.

* * *

"The Rape of Lucrece" (1594) is also dedicated to the Earle of Southampton by Shakespeare. It is a long poem having 255 stanzas; the very last line (no. 1855) is concerned with the Roman's punishment of Tarquin for the murder of Lucrece.

Ciphertext is:

T O T A R Q V I N S E V E R L A S T I N G B A N I S H M E N T

Ciphertext reversed is:

T N E M H S I N A B G N I T S A L R E V E S N I V Q R A T O T

Plaintext, +4 is:

B R I Q M A N R E F L R N B A E P Y I C I A R N C V Y E B S B

Alternate letters are:

R Q A R F R B E Y C A N V E S

Bacon did, before 1621, sometimes abbreviate his first name as "Fr."

* * *

What secrets lie hid amid these lines? ("The First Part of Henry the Sixth," iii, 2, 81):

And as his Father here was Conqueror;
As sure as in this late betrayed Towne,
Great Cordelions Heart was buryed;
So sure I sweare, to get the Towne, or dye.

Ciphertext is:

A N D A S H I S F A T H E R H E R E V A S C O N Q V E R O R A S S V R E A S I N T H I S L A T E B E T R A Y E D T O V N E G R E A T C O R D E L I O N S H E A R T V A S B V R Y E D S O S V R E I S V E A R E T O G E T T H E T O V N E O R D Y E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E Y D R O E N V O T E H T T E G O T E R A E V S I E R V S O S D E Y R V B S A V T R A E H S N O I L E D R O C T A E R G E N V O T D E Y A R T E B E T A L S I H T N I S A E R V S S A R O R E V Q N O C S A V E R E H R E H T A F S I H S A D N A

Plaintext, +4 is:

I D H Y S I R C S B I M B B I L S B I Y E I C A N I Y C A S A H I D Y C F A E C B Y E I M A R S N P I H Y S G B E I Y L I R C S B H I D E Y B I F I B E P A N M B R N A E I Y C A A E Y S Y I C V R S G A E C I Y I M Y I M B E K A N M A E H R E

* * *

Now and then we may find directions to help us in our task. We are searching for a cue to find Bacon's name. Reflect upon these lines from the "Merry Wives of Windsor" (iii, 2, 45), the 1623 edition. They do not appear in the 1602 edition of the play:

The clocke giues me my Qu, and my assurance bids me search, there I shall finde Falstaffe: I shall be rather praisd for this, then mock'd, for it is as possitiue, as the earth is firme, that Falstaffe is there: I will go.

Ciphertext is:

T H E C L O C K E G I V E S M E M Y Q V A N D M Y A S S V R A N C E B I D S M E S E A R C H T H E R E I S H A L L F I N D E F A L S T A F F E I S H A L L B E R A T H E R P R A I S D F O R T H I S T H E N M O C K D F O R I T I S A S P O S S I T I V E A S T H E E A R T H I S F I R M E T H A T F A L S T A F F E I S T H E R E I V I L L G O

Plaintext, +4 is:

B M I G P S G O I L N C I A Q I Q D V C E R H Q D E A A C Y E R G I F N H A Q I A I E Y G M B M I Y I N A M E P P K N R H I K E P A B E K K I N A M E P P F I Y E B M I Y T Y E N A H K S Y B M N A B M I R Q S G O H K S Y N B N A E A T S A A N B N C I E A B M I I E Y B M N A K N Y Q I B M E B K E P A B E K K I N A B M I Y I N C N P P L S

For those who may nurture doubts about reversing the ciphertext or tolerating alternate letters, this example is faultless, as are many more which have been and shall be shown.

* * *

"Frs. is a fitting abridgement of "Francis," as it is found in "Anthony and Cleopatra" (iv, 12, 14). Two lines are:

Their wishes, do dis-Candie, melt their sweets

On blossoming Caesar:

Ciphertext is:

T H E I R V I S H E S D O D I S C A N D I E M E L T T H E I R S V E E T S O N B L O S S O M I N G C A E S A R

Ciphertext reversed is:

R A S E A C G N I M O S S O L B N O S T E E V S R I E H T T L E M E I D N A C S I D O D S E H S I V R I E H T

Plaintext, +4 is:

Y E A I E G L R N Q S A A S P F R S A B I I C A Y N I M B B P I Q I N H R E G A N H S H A I M A N C Y N I M B

* * *

In "The Taming of the Shrew," (iii, 2, 51) Biondello describes a horse upon which Petruchio is mounted:

. . besides possest with the glanders, and like to mose in the chine, troubled with the Lampasse, infected with the fashions, full of Windegalls, sped with Spauins, raied with the Yellowes, past cure of the Fives, starke spoyl'd with the Staggers, begnawne with the Bots, Waid in the backe, and shoulder-shotten . . .

Only an Elizabethan veterinarian might know the meaning of all these antique equine afflictions. We know that "the Bots" was an infection of maggots, while "Waid" (swaid) must refer to "swaybacked," an unnatural sagging of a horse's spine. But why is "Waid" both capitalized and so poorly spelled? This juxtaposition of "Bots" and "Waid" reminds us of the first spoken word in "The Tempest": "Boteswaine." We must examine this further:

The ciphertext is:

B E G N A V N E V I T H T H E B O T S V A I D I N T H E B A C K E A N D S H O V L D E R S H O T T E N

The plaintext +4 is:

F I L R E C R I C N B M B M I F S B A C E N H N R B M I F E G O I E R H A M S C P H I Y A M S B B I R

We must recall that, after 1621, "Fs" was Francis Bacon's signature abbreviation for his first name.

* * *

The word "counterfeit" figures prominently in such ciphers, as we shall see before long. In the following it is used only once, but the enciphered name appears twice in "A Midsommer nights Dreame" (iii, 2, 367):

Till ore their browes, death-counterfeiting, sleepe
With leaden legs, and Battie-wings doth creepe;
Then crush this hearbe into Lysanders eie,
Whose liquor hath this vertuous propertie,

Ciphertext is:

T I L L O R E T H E I R B R O V E S D E A T H C O V N T E R F E I T I N G S L E E P E V I T H L E A D E N L E G S A N D B A T T I E V I N G S D O T H C R E E P E T H E N C R V S H T H I S H E A R B E I N T O L Y S A N D E R S V I E V H O S E L I Q V O R H A T H T H I S V E R T V O V S P R O P E R T I E

Plaintext, +4 is:

B N P P S Y I B M I N Y F Y S C I A H I E B M G S C R B I Y K I N B N R L A P I I T I C N B M P I E H I R P I L A E R H F E B B N I C N R L A H S B M G Y I I T I B M I R G Y C A M B M N A M I E Y F I N R B S P D A E R H I Y A C N I C M S A I P N V C S Y M E B M B M N A C I Y B C S C A T Y S T I Y B N I

Plaintext reversed is:

I N B Y I T S Y T A C S C B Y I C A N M B M B E M Y S C V N P I A S M C I N C A Y I H R E A D P S B R N I F Y E I M A N M B M A C Y G R I M B I T I I Y G M B S H A L R N C I N B B E F H R E A L I P R I H E I P M B N C I T I I P A L R N B N I K Y I B R C S G M B E I H A I C S Y F Y N I M B I Y S P P N B

* * *

In Shake-speares Sonnets, verse 12 begins, "When I do count the clock that tels the time,"

Clocks have twelve hours. Perhaps some emphasis is implied by this beginning. Lines nine to twelve are revealing:

Then of thy beauty do I question make
That thou among the wastes of time must goe,
Since sweets and beauties do them-selues forsake,
And die as fast as they see others grow,

The ciphertext is:

T H E N O F T H Y B E A V T Y D O I Q V E S T I O N M A K E T H A T T H O V A M O N G T H E V A S T E S O F T I M E M V S T G O E S I N C E S V E E T S A N D B E A V T I E S D O T H E M S E L V E S F O R S A K E A N D D I E A S F A S T A S T H E Y S E E O T H E R S G R O V

The ciphertext reversed is:

V O R G S R E H T O E E S Y E H T S A T S A F S A E I D D N A E K A S R O F S E V L E S M E H T O D S E I T V A E B D N A S T E E V S E C N I S E O G T S V M E M I T F O S E T S A V E H T G N O M A V O H T T A H T E K A M N O I T S E V Q I O D Y T V A E B Y H T F O N E H T

The plaintext, +4 is:

C S Y L A Y I M B S I I A D I M B A E B A E K A E I N H H R E I O E A Y S K A I C P I A Q I M B S H A I N B C E I F H R E A B I I C A I G R N A I S L B A C Q I Q N B K S A I B A E C I M B L R S Q E C S M B B E M B I O E Q R S N B A I C V N S H D B C E I F D M B K S R I M B

Alternate letters are:

C Y A I B I A I B E A K E N H E O S A C I I Q M S A N C I H E B I A G N I L A Q Q B S I A C M L S E S B E B O Q S B I V S D C I D B S I B

These three plaintext versions of his name appear in lines nine to twelve of sonnet 12, and include a variant, phonetic spelling of "cipher." Another accidental miracle?

* * *

I will cite forty-one additional examples in which a Seventeenth Century version of "cipher" appears in the plaintext near Bacon's enciphered name.

"So to the Lawes at large I write my name." Seven lines following begins this passage from "Loves Labour's lost" (i, 1, 161):

Fer. I that there is, our Court you know is hanted
With a refined travailer of Spaine,
A man in all the worlds new fashion planted,
That hath a mint of phrases in his braine:

Ciphertext, +4 is:

I T H A T T H E R E I S O V R C O V R T Y O V K N O V I S H A N T E D V I T H A R E F I N E D T R A V A I L E R O F S P A I N E A M A N I N A L L T H E V O R L D S N E V F A S H I O N P L A N T E D

Plaintext, +4 is:

N B M E B B M I Y I N A S C Y G S C Y B D S C O R S C N A M E R B I H C N B M E Y I K N R I H B Y E C E N P I Y S K A T E N R I E Q E R N R E P P B M I C S Y P H A R I C K E A M N S R T P E R B I H

Having given us a plain signal, in three lines the author has confided his name, labeled it, and identified it as being written in cipher.

* * *

In "The third Part of King Henry the Sixt" (ii, 2, 148), the "Yong Prince Edward" is questioned about his parentage by Warwicke and the Queen. They suggest that he may be an impostor: "But thou art neyther like thy Sire nor Damme."

And ne're was Agamemnons Brother wrong'd
By that false Woman, as this King by thee.
His Father reuel'd in the heart of France,

Ciphertext is:

A N D N E R E V A S A G A M E M N O N S B R O T H E R V R O N G D B Y T H A T F A L S E V O M A N A S T H I S K I N G B Y T H E E H I S F A T H E R R E V E L D I N T H E H E A R T O F F R A N C E

Plaintext is:

E R H R I Y I C E A E L E Q I Q R S R A F Y S B M I Y C Y S R L H F D B M E B K E P A I C S Q E R E A B M N A O N R L F D B M I I M N A K E B M I Y Y I C I P H N R B M I M I E Y B S K K Y E R G I

Plaintext, +4 reversed is:

I G R E Y K K S B Y E I M I M B R N H P I C I Y Y I M B E K A N M I I M B D F L R N O A N M B A E R E Q S C I A P E K B E M B D F H L R S Y C Y I M B S Y F A R S R Q I Q E L E A E C I Y I R H R E

A few lines after this (ii, 2, 156) we read:

Even then that Sun-shine brew'd a showre for him,
That washt his Fathers fortunes forth of France,

Ciphertext is:

E V E N T H E N T H A T S V N S H I N E B R E V D A S H O V R E F O R H I M T H A T V A S H T H I S F A T H E R S F O R T V N E S F O R T H O F F R A N C E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E C N A R F F O H T R O F S E N V T R O F S R E H T A F S I H T H S A V T A H T M I H R O F E R V O H S A D V E R B E N I H S N V S T A H T N E H T N E V E

Plaintext, +4 is:

I G R E Y K K S M B Y S K A I R C B Y S K A Y I M B E K A N M B M A E C B E M B Q N M Y S K I Y C S M A E H C I Y F I R N M A R C A B E M B R I M B R I C I

* * *

Falstaffe is defending himself from a defamation uttered by the Prince, in "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth" (ii, 4, 516):

Falst. . .No, my good Lord, banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poines: but for sweete Iacke Falstaffe, kinde Iacke Falstaffe, true Iacke Falstaffe,

Ciphertext is:

N O M Y G O O D L O R D B A N I S H P E T O B A N I S H B A R D O L P H B A N I S H P O I N E S B V T F O R S V E E T E I A C K E F A L S T A F F E K I N D E I A C K F A L S T A F F E T R V E I A C K F A L S T A F F E

Plaintext, +4 is:

R S Q D L S S H P S Y H F E R N A M T I B S F E R N A M F E Y H S P T M F E R N A M T S N R I A F C B K S Y A C I I B I N E G O I K E P A B E K K I O N R H I N E G O K E P A B E K K I B Y C I N E G O K E P A B E K K I

* * *

In "Much Ado about Nothing" (iii, 1, 87) we read:

Vrsu. . .She cannot be so much without true iudgement,
Having so swift and excellent a wit
As she is prisde to haue, as to refuse
So rare a Gentleman as Signior Benedicke.

Ciphertext is:

S H E C A N N O T B E S O M V C H V I T H O V T T R V E I V D G M E N T H A V I N G S O S V I F T A N D E C E L L E N T A V I T A S S H E I S P R I S D E T O H A V E A S T O R E F V S E S O R A R E A G E N T L E M A N A S S I G N I O R B E N E D I C K E

Plaintext, +4 is:

A M I G E R R S B F I A S Q C G M C N B M S C B B Y C I N C H L Q I R B M E C N R L A S A C N K B E R H I G I P P I R B E C N B E A A M I N A T Y N A H I B S M E C I E A B S Y I K C A I A S Y E Y I E L I R B P I Q E R E A A N L R N S Y F I R I H N G O I

A few lines later Hero says, "Indeed he hath an excellent good name."

* * *

"There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, / Rough-hew them how we will." So says Hamlet in Shakespeare's play of that name, an observation to make us thoughtful.

George Puttenham in The Arte of English Poesie (1589) wrote, "I know many notable Gentlemen in the Court that have written commendably, and suppressed it agayne, or else suffered it to be publisht without their owne names to it, as if it were a discredit for a Gentleman to seem learned, and to shew himself amorous of any learned Art." Hamlet continues in the same vein, in "The Tragedie of Hamlet" (v, 2, 34):

Ham. Being thus benetted round with Villaines,
Ere I could make a Prologue to my braines,
They had begun the Play. I sate me downe,
Deuis'd a new Commission, wrote it faire,
I once did hold it as our Statists doe,
A basenesse to write faire; and laboured much
How to forget that learning . . .

The ciphertext is:

I O N C E D I D H O L D I T A S O V R S T A T I S T S D O E A B A S E N E S S E T O V R I T E F A I R E A N D L A B O V R E D M V C H

The plaintext is:

N S R G I H N H M S P H N B E A S C Y A B E B N A B A H S I E F E A I R I A A I B S C Y N B I K E N Y I E R H P E F S C Y I H Q C G M

The alternate letters are:

S G H H S H B A C A E N B H I F A R A I S Y B K N I R P F C I G G

Again we find the name and this time twice following the word "SIEFEAIR," although such orthography may daze the modern eye. In Shakespeare's works it is ordinarily spelled as "cipher" or "cypher", but those choices were not dictated by any Elizabethan dictionary. At that time there were other ways to spell the word. Francis Bacon, for example, spelled it both as "cyphers" and "cyphars" in English, and as "cyphras" in the Latin language with which he was eminently familiar. And, according to the comprehensive Oxford English Dictionary, these forms were also acceptable in the Seventeenth Century: "sipher, cyfer, cifer, ciphre, sypher, ziphre, scypher, cyphar, cyphre, ciphar, zifer, cypher, cipher." (Oddly enough, my very modern, phonetic computer spelling checker gives "cipher" as the probable intended meaning of most of these words.) At the same time, other acceptable spellings for the antonym were "dicipher, discypher, discipher, disipher."

Other moderns, counting on recent orthographic fashion, may object to the diverse spellings of Bacon's own name, as we have found it in these plaintext solutions to his ciphers. Nevertheless, Francis Bacon once wrote his brother's name (in a legal document preserved in the London Lambeth Library) in this way: "Anth. Bakon." Books dedicated to Bacon spelled his first name as "ffrauncis." His kinsmen were not particular about it either:

It is worthy of notice that the Bacon family in early times spelt their name "Becon" or "Beacon." Some of them seem to have written under this name, and there is a work by Thomas Becon, 1563-4 in which, on the title page of the second volume, his name changes from "Becon" to "Beacon." (Mrs. Henry Pott, Francis Bacon and his Secret Society, p. 341.)

John Florio (1591, Second Frutes) alluded to a "gammon of bakon." And, as we have seen, the Oxford English Dictionary gives these spellings for the period: bacoun, bakoun, bacun, bakon, baken, bacon."

The authenticated Shakespeare signatures spell the Bard's name in six different ways, a matter the Shakespearean philologists have chosen to disregard. According to Charles Hamilton, a manuscript expert who says he can read the untidy scrawls (In Search of Shakespeare, Harcourt Brace, 1985), these are the spellings:

Shackper, Shakspear, Shakspea, Shackspere, Shakspere, Shakspeare.

The man was baptized as Shaksper, gave bond for marriage as Shagspere, was married as Shaxper and buried as Shakspeare.

* * *

In "The third Part of King Henry the Sixt" (iii, 2, 1), the King enters and says, intriguingly, "Brother of Gloster, at S. Albons field. . ." Perhaps an inhabitant of St. Albans parish is holding the pen:

King. How many Children hast thou, Widow? tell me.
Clarence. I thinke he meanes to begge a Child of her.
Rich. Nay then whip me: hee'le rather giue her two.
Wid. Three, my most gracious Lord.
Rich. You shall have foure, if you'le be rul'd by him.
King. 'Twere pittie they should lose their Fathers Lands.
Wid. Be pittifull, dread Lord, and graunt it then. King. Lords giue vs leaue, Ile trye
his Widowes wit.
Rich. I, good leaue haue you, for you will have leaue,
Till Youth take leaue, and leaue you to the Crutch.

Ciphertext is:

Y O V S H A L L H A V E F O V R E I F Y O V L E B E R V L D B Y H I M T V E R E P I T T I E T H E Y S H O V L D L O S E T H E I R F A T H E R S L A N D S B E P I T T I F V L L D R E A D L O R D A N D G R A V N T I T T H E N L O R D S G I V E V S L E A V E I L E T R Y E T H I S V I D O V E S V I T I G O O D L E A V E H A V E Y O V F O R Y O V V I L L H A V E L E A V E T I L L Y O V T H T A K E L E A V E A N D L E A V E Y O V T O T H E C R V T C H

Ciphertext reversed:

H C T V R C E H T O T V O Y E V A E L D N A E V A E L E K A T H T V O Y L L I T E V A E L E V A H L L I V V O Y R O F V O Y E V A H E V A E L D O O G I T I V S E V O D I V S I H T E Y R T E L I E V A E L S V E V I G S D R O L N E H T T I T N V A R G D N A D R O L D A E R D L L V F I T T I P E B S D N A L S R E H T A F R I E H T E S O L D L V O H S Y E H T E I T T I P E R E V T M I H Y B D L V R E B E L V O Y F I E R V O F E V A H L L A H S V O Y

Plaintext, +4 is:

M G B C Y G I M B S B C S D I C E I P H R E I C E I P I O E B M B C S D P P N B I C E I P I C E M P P N C C S D Y S K C S D I C E M I C E I P H S S L N B N C A I C S H N C A N M B I D Y B I P N I C E I P A C I C N L A H Y S P R I M B B N B R C E Y L H R E H Y S P H E I Y H P P C K N B B N T I F A H R E P A Y I M B E K Y N I M B I A S P H P C S M A D I M B I N B B N T I Y I C B Q N M D F H P C Y I F I P C S D K N I Y C S K I C E M P P E M A C S D

Here we find a phonetic version of "decipher," followed by the familiar assertion, "I'm Bacon."

* * *

Shakespeare added over four thousand new words to our language. It should not be surprising that an "English Dictionarie" was published simultaneously with the Folio (The English Dictionarie of 1623,--alleged to be by Henry Cockeram--a facsimile, Huntington Press, New York 1930.) What, we wonder, might be the definition of the word "decipher"?

Decipher. To write after a strange maner that none shall read it: also to find out the meaning of a thing so written.

The author seems to have defined both "cipher" and "decipher" under the same heading. Curious.

Ciphertext is:

T O V R I T E A F T E R A S T R A N G E M A N E R

Ciphertext reversed is:

R E N A M E G N A R T S A R E T F A E T I R V O T

Plaintext, +4 is:

Y I R E Q I L R E Y B A E Y I B K E I B N Y C S B

Alternate letters are:

Y R Q L E B E I K I N C B

* * *

Here are some lines which are taken from "The most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus," in the anonymously published 1594 Quarto (iv, 2, 4):

Puer. My Lords, with all the humblenes I may,
I greete your Honours from Andronicus,
And pray the Romane Gods confound you both.
Demetrius. Gramarcie Louelie Lucius, whats the news.
Puer. That you are both discipherd, thats the newes,

But when the play was published in 1623, the last line was missing. In the editor's haste to purge that glaring word "discipherd," Puer.'s lines were mistakenly given to Demetrius, although he is made to Exit. before speaking the next line (1623 Folio, iv, 2, 24):

Deme. What's heere? a scrole, & written round about: Let's see.
Integer vitae scelerisque purus, non egit maury iaculis nec arcus.
Chi. O 'tis a verse in Horace, I know it well.
I read it in the Grammer long agoe.
Moore. I iust, a verse in Horace: right, you have it,

Ciphertext is:

I I V S T A V E R S E I N H O R A C E R I G H T Y O V H A V E I T

Plaintext, +4, is:

N N C A B E C I Y A I N R M S Y E G I Y N L M B D S C M E C I N B

* * *

At the beginning of Chapter 10, I quoted part of a passage from "The Comedie of Errors" (v, 1, 336). Here are those lines and a few more:

Duke. One of these men is genius to the other:
And so of these, which is the naturall man,
And which the spirit? Who deciphers them?
S. Dromio. I sir am Dromio, command him away.
E. Dro. I sir am Dromio, pray let me stay.
S. Ant. Egeon art thou not? or else his ghost.
S. Drom. Oh my olde Master, who hath bound him heere?
Abb. Who euer bound him, I will lose his bonds,
And gaine a husband by his libertie:
Speake old Egeon, if thou bee'st the man
That hadst a wife once call'd AEmilia,
That bore thee at a burthen two faire sonnes?
Oh if thou bee'st the same Egeon, speake:
And speake vnto the same AEmilia.

Of the two Dromios, one is suspected of being an impostor; this affords a convenient moment for the author to discard his mask. We must choose the initial capitals of each line of dialogue:

Ciphertext is:

O A A I I E O V A S T T O A

Ciphertext reversed is:

A O T T S A V O E I I A A O

Plaintext, +4 is:

E S B B A E C S I N N E E S

Plaintext, alternate letters:

E B A C I N E

Who deciphers them? We do.

* * *

From "The two Gentlemen of Verona," (iv, 1, 50):

1. Out. And I, for such like petty crimes as these.
But to the purpose: for we cite our faults,
That they may hold excus'd our lawlesse liues;
And partly seeing you are beautifide
With goodly shape; and by your owne report,
A Linguist, and a man of such perfection,
As we doe in our quality much want.
2. Out. Indeede because you are a banish'd man,

The capitalized first letters of each line produce the ciphertext:

B T A W A A I

Plaintext is:

F B E C E E N

Ciphertext of the last line is:

I N D E E D E B E C A V S E Y O V A R E A B A N I S H D M A N

Plaintext, +4 is:

N R H I I H I F I G E C A I D S C E Y I E F E R N A M H Q E R

* * *

It has been argued that authors in the Seventeenth Century had no control over the printing of their books; some innocents believed that the printers were the publishers and that they dotted every "i." However, if we study the 60th page of "The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet." we will notice that the running head for that page is unique; it reads:

The Tragedie of Romeoand Juliet.

Two of the words are run together and the period is typeset upside down (ii, 2, 152). Another "tricke of singularitie"?

Just under these duplicate "errors", beginning on the top line of the right-hand column, we read:

(By and by I come)
To cease thy strife, and leaue me to my griefe.
Tomorrow will I send.

Ciphertext is:

B Y A N D B Y I C O M E T O C E A S E T H Y S T R I F E A N D L E A V E M E T O M Y G R I E F E T O M O R R O V V I L L I S E N D

Ciphertext reversed is:

D N E S I L L I V V O R R O M O T E F E I R G Y M O T E M E V A E L D N A E F I R T S Y H T E S A E C O T E M O C I Y B D N A Y B

Plaintext, +4 is:

H R I A N P P N C C S Y Y S Q S B I K I N Y L D Q S B I Q I C E I P H R E I K N Y B A D M B I A E I G S B I Q S G N D F H R E D F

* * *

"Oh, I beseech you pardon mee, my Lord, in that."

One of the Lords so addresses Timon in "Timon of Athens" (i, 2, 216). In passing I will note that this word "beseech" often precedes a cipher passage.

Tim. . . Ile tell you true, Ile call to you.
All Lor. O none so welcome.
Tim. I take all, and your seuerall visitations
So kinde to heart, 'tis not enough to giue:
Me thinkes, I could deale Kingdomes to my Friends,
And nere be wearie.

Ciphertext is:

I L E T E L L Y O V T R V E I L E C A L L T O Y O V O N O N E S O V E L C O M E I T A K E A L L A N D Y O V R S E V E R A L L V I S I T A T I O N S S O K I N D E T O H E A R T T I S N O T E N O V G H T O G I V E M E T H I N K E S I C O V L D D E A L E K I N G D O M E S T O M Y F R I E N D S A N D N E R E B E V E A R I E

Plaintext, +4 is:

N P I B I P P D S C B Y C I N P I G E P P B S D S C S R S R I A S C I P G S Q I N B E O I E P P E R H D S C Y A I C I Y E P P C N A N B E B N S R A A S O N R H I B S M I E Y B B N A R S B I R S C L M B S L N C I Q I B M N R O I A N G S C P H H I E P I O N R L H S Q I A B S Q D K Y N I R H A E R H R I Y I F I C I E Y N I

Plaintext reversed is:

I N Y E I C I F I Y I R H R E A H R I N Y K D Q S B A I Q S H L R N O I P E I H H P C S G N A I O R N M B I Q I C N L S B M L C S R I B S R A N B B Y E I M S B I H R N O S A A R S N B E B N A N C P P E Y I C I A Y C S D H R E P P E I O E B N I Q S G P I C S A I R S R S C S D S B P P E G I P N I C Y B C S D P P I B I P N

* * *

This is from "The Tragedie of Anthony and Cleopatra" (i, 2, 153):

Eno. Oh sir, you had then left vnseene a wonderfull peece of worke, which not to have beene blest withall, would have discredited your Trauaile.

Let's see what "wonderfull piece of work" has been left unseen.

Ciphertext is:

O H S I R Y O V H A D T H E N L E F T V N S E E N E A V O N D E R F V L L P E E C E O F V O R K E V H I C H N O T T O H A V E B E E N E B L E S T V I T H A L L V O V L D H A V E D I S C R E D I T E D Y O V R T R A V A I L E

Plaintext, +4 is:

S M A N Y D S C M E H B M I R P I K B C R A I I R I E C S R H I Y K C P P T I I G I S K C S Y O I C M N G M R S B B S M E C I F I I R I F P I A B C N B M E P P C S C P H M E C I H N A G Y I H N B I H D S C Y B Y E C E N P I

* * *

An Alarum: Excursions. Enter Sir Iohn
Falstaffe, and a Captaine.

Following this stage direction, "Alarum" (loud noises) and "Excursions" (much rushing about), this dialogue follows ("First Part of King Henry the Sixt," iii, 2, 104):

Capt. Whither away Sir Iohn Falstaffe, in such haste?
Falst. Whither away? to saue my selfe by flight,
We are like to haue the ouerthrow againe.
Capt. What? will you flye, and leaue Lord Talbot?
Falst. I, all the Talbots in the World, to save my life.

Ciphertext is:

V H I T H E R A V A Y S I R I O H N F A L S T A F F E I N S V C H H A S T E V H I T H E R A V A Y T O S A V E M Y S E L F E B Y F L I G H T V E A R E L I K E T O H A V E T H E O V E R T H R O V A G A I N E V H A T V I L L Y O V F L Y E A N D L E A V E L O R D T A L B O T

Plaintext, +4 is:

C M N B M I Y E C E D A N Y N S M R K E P A B E K K I N R A C G M M E A B I C M N B M I Y E C E D B S A E C I Q D A I P K I F D K P N L M B C I E Y I P N O I B S M E C I B M I S C I Y B M Y S C E L E N R I C M E B C N P P D S C K P D I E R H P I E C I P S Y H B E P F S B

Plaintext reversed is:

B S F P E B H Y S P I C E I P H R E I D P K C S D P P N C B E M C I R N E L E C S Y M B Y I C S I M B I C E M S B I O N P I Y E I C B M L N P K D F I K P I A D Q I C E A S B D E C E Y I M B N M C I B A E M M G C A R N I K K E B A P E K R M S N Y N A D E C E Y I M B N M C

* * *

"And long vpon these termes I held my Citty,
Till thus hee gan besiege me: Gentle maid
Haue of my suffering youth some feeling pitty
And be not of my holy vowes affraid,
Thats to ye sworne to none was euer said,
For feasts of loue I haue bene call'd unto
Till now did nere inuite nor neuer vovv.

This poem, A Lovers complaint, (verse 26, l. 175) is not credited to Shakespeare by most critics (notwithstanding that it is labeled "By William Shake-speare"), but the word "suffering" attracts our attention. A version of "suffer" is sometimes found within a Bacon cipher manifestation; "suffering" does sound a lot like "ciphering", after all.

Ciphertext is:

A N D L O N G V P O N T H E S E T E R M E S I H E L D M Y C I T T Y T I L L T H V S H E E G A N B E S I E G E M E G E N T L E M A I D H A V E O F M Y S V F F E R I N G Y O V T H S O M E F E E L I N G P I T T Y A N D B E N O T O F M Y H O L Y V O E V S A F F R A I D T H A T S T O Y E S V O R N E T O N O N E V A S E V E R S A I D F O R F E A S T S O F L O V E I H A V E B E N E C A L L D V N T O T I L L N O V D I D N E R E I N V I T E N O R N E V E R V O V

Plaintext, +4 is:

E R H P S R L C T S R B M I A I B I Y Q I A N M I P H Q D G N B B D B N P P B M C A M I I L E R F I A N I L I Q I L I R B P I Q E N H M E C I S K Q D A C K K I Y N R L D S C B M A S Q I K I I P N R L T N B B D E R H F I R S B S K Q D M S P D C S I C A E K K Y E N H B M E B A B S D I A C S Y R I B S R S R I C E A I C I Y A E N H K S Y K I E A B A S K P S C I N M E C I F I R I G E P P H C R B S B N P P R S C H N H R I Y I N R C N B I R S Y R I C I Y C S C

* * *

"Suffer" appears again in "The Tragedie of Macbeth" (ii, 3, 125) accompanied by two versions of the author's name:

Looke to the Lady
And when we haue our naked Frailties hid,
That suffer in exposure;

Ciphertext is:

A N D V H E N V E H A V E O V R N A K E D F R A I L T I E S H I D T H A T S V F F E R I N E P O S V R E

Plaintext, +4 is:

E R H C M I R C I M E C I S C Y R E O I H K Y E N P B N I A M N H B M E B A C K K I Y N R I T S A C Y I

Plaintext, alternate letters:

R C I C M C S Y E I K E P N A N B E A K I N I S C I

Notice that "suffer" is part of the ciphertext which produces the plaintext name of "BACKKIYN."

* * *

Another appearance of "suffer" is found in "The Tragedy of Coriolanus" (i, 1, 81):

Men. . . you slander The Helmes o'th State; who care for you like Fathers, When you curse them as Enemies.
2. Cit. Care for vs? True indeed, they nere car'd for vs yet. Suffer vs to famish, and their Store-houses cramm'd with Graine:

Ciphertext is:

T H E H E L M E S O T H S T A T E V H O C A R E F O R Y O V L I K E F A T H E R S V H E N Y O V C V R S E T H E M A S E N E M I E S C A R E F O R V S T R V E I N D E E D T H E Y N E R E C A R D F O R V S Y E T S V F F E R V S T O F A M I S H A N D T H E I R S T O R E H O V S E S C R A M M D V I T H G R A I N E

Plaintext, +4 is:

B M I M I P Q I A S B M A B E B I C M S G E Y I K S Y D S C P N O I K E B M I Y A C M I R D S C G C Y A I B M I Q E A I R I Q N I A G E Y I K S Y C A B Y C I N R H I I H B M I D R I Y I G E Y H K S Y C A D I B A C K K I Y C A B S K E Q N A M E R H B M I N Y A B S Y I M S C A I A G Y E Q Q H C N B M L Y E N R I

Plaintext reversed is:

I R N E Y L M B N C H Q Q E Y G A I A C S M I Y S B A Y N I M B H R E M A N Q E K S B A C Y I K K C A B I D A C Y S K H Y E G I Y I R D I M B H I I H R N I C Y B A C Y S K I Y E G A I N Q I R I A E Q I M B I A Y C G C S D R I M C A Y I M B E K I O N P C S D Y S K I Y E G S M C I B E B A M B S A I Q P I M I M B

* * *

"To be contracted in one brow of woe:
Yet so farre hath Discretion fought with Nature,"

In these two lines from "The Tragedie of Hamlet" (ii, 2, 4). "So farre" would also qualify as a homonym for "cipher." We will search for it.

Ciphertext is:

T O B E C O N T R A C T E D I N O N E B R O V O F V O E Y E T S O F A R R E H A T H D I S C R E T I O N F O V G H T V I T H N A T V R E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E R V T A N H T I V T H G V O F N O I T E R C S I D H T A H E R R A F O S T E Y E O V F O V O R B E N O N I D E T C A R T N O C E B O T

Plaintext, +4 is:

I Y C B E R M B N C B M L C S K R S N B I Y G A N H M B E M I Y Y E K S A B I D I S C K S C S Y F I R S R N H I B G E Y B R S G I F S B

No apologies for "BIYGAN"; "SYFIR" ratifies that spelling too.

In "Loves Labors lost" (ii, 1, 149) there is another brief example: "His requests so farre"

Ciphertext is:

H I S R E Q V E S T S S O F A R R E

Plaintext is:

M N A Y I V C I A B A A S K E Y Y I

Plaintext reversed:

I Y Y E K S A A B A I C V I Y A N M

* * *

Bacon's endorsement can be found almost adjacent to another "cipher" equivalent in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (iv, 4, 11), and these lines did not appear in the 1602 Quarto edition:

Page. 'Tis well, 'tis well, no more:
be not as extreme in submission, as in offence,

Ciphertext is:

N O M O R E B E N O T A S E T R E M E I N S V B M I S S I O N

Plaintext, +4 is:

R S Q S Y I F I R S B E A I B Y I Q I N R A C F Q N A A N S R

* * *

From "The Comedie of Errors" (v, 1, 108):

Ab. . .Therefore depart, and leaue him heere with me.
Adr. I will not hence, and leave my husband heere:
And ill it doth beseeme your holiness
To separate the husband and the wife.
Ab. Be quiet and depart, thou shalt not haue him.
Luc. Complaine vnto the Duke of this indignity.
Adr. Come go, I will fall prostrate at his feete,

Ciphertext is:

T H E R E F O R E D E P A R T A N D L E A V E H I M H E E R E V I T H M E I V I L L N O T H E N C E A N D L E A V E M Y H V S B A N D H E E R E A N D I L L I T D O T H B E S E E M E Y O V R H O L I N E S S E T O S E P A R A T E T H E H V S B A N D A N D T H E V I F E B E Q V I E T A N D D E P A R T T H O V S H A L T N O T H A V E H I M C O M P L A I N E V N T O T H E D V K E O F T H I S I N D I G N I T Y C O M E G O I V I L L F A L L P R O S T R A T E A T H I S F E E T E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E T E E F S I H T A E T A R T S O R P L L A F L L I V I O G E M O C Y T I N G I D N I S I H T F O E K V D E H T O T N V E N I A L P M O C M I H E V A H T O N T L A H S V O H T T R A P E D D N A T E I V Q E B E F I V E H T D N A D N A B S V H E H T E T A R A P E S O T E S S E N I L O H R V O Y E M E E S E B H T O D T I L L I D N A E R E E H D N A B S V H Y M E V A E L D N A E C N E H T O N L L I V I E M H T I V E R E E H M I H E V A E L D N A T R A P E D E R O F E R E H T

Plaintext, +4 is:

I B I I K A N M B E I B E Y B A S Y T P P E K P P N C N S L I Q S G D B N R L N H R N A N M B K S I O C H I M B S B R C I R N E P T Q S G Q N M I C E M B S R B P E M A C S M B B Y E T I H H R E B I N C V I F I K N C I M B H R E H R E F A C M I M B I B E Y E T I A S B I A A I R N P S M Y C S D I Q I I A I F M B S H B N P P N H R E I Y I I M H R E F A C M D Q I C E I P H R E I G R I M B S R P P N C N I Q M B N C I Y I I M Q N M I C E I P H R E B Y E T I H I Y S K I Y I M B

* * *

Now for a stanza from "The Rape of Lucrece" (1, 3, ln. 1695):

At this request, with noble disposition,
Each present Lord began to promise aide,
As bound in Knighthood to her imposition,
Longing to heare the hatefull Foe bewraide.
But shee that yet her sad taske hath not said,
The protestation stops, o speake quoth shee
How may this forced staine be wip'd from me?

(Tarqvin has done his dreadful deed.)

Ciphertext is:

A T T H I S R E Q V E S T V I T H N O B L E D I S P O S I T I O N E A C H P R E S E N T L O R D B E G A N T O P R O M I S E A I D E A S B O V N D I N K N I G H T H O O D T O H E R I M P O S I T I O N L O N G I N G T O H E A R E T H E H A T E F V L L F O E B E V R A I D E B V T S H E E T H A T Y E T H E R S A D T A S K E H A T H N O T S A I D T H E P R O T E S T A T I O N S T O P S O S P E A K E Q V O T H S H E E H O V M A Y T H I S F O R C E D S T A I N E B E V I P D F R O M M E

Ciphertext reversed is:

E M M O R F D P I V E B E N I A T S D E C R O F S I H T Y A M V O H E E H S H T O V Q E K A E P S O S P O T S N O I T A T S E T O R P E H T D I A S T O N H T A H E K S A T D A S R E H T E Y T A H T E E H S T V B E D I A R V E B E O F L L V F E T A H E H T E R A E H O T G N I G N O L N O I T I S O P M I R E H O T D O O H T H G I N K N I D N V O B S A E D I A E S I M O R P O T N A G E B D R O L T N E S E R P H C A E N O I T I S O P S I D E L B O N H T I V T S E V Q E R S I H T T A

Plaintext, +4 is:

I Q Q S Y K H T N C I F I R N E B A H I G Y S K A N M B D E Q C S M I I M A M B S C V I O E I T A S A T S B A R S N B E B A I B S Y T I M B H N E A B S R M B E M I O A E B H E A Y I M B I D B E M B I I M A B C F I H N E Y C I F I S K P P C K I B E M I M B I Y E I M S B L R N L R S P R S N B N A S T Q N Y I M S B H S S M B M L N R O R N H R C S F A E I H N E I A N Q S Y T S B R E L I F H Y S P B R I A I Y T M G E I R S N B N A S T A N H I P F S R M B N C B A I C V I Y A N M B B E

Plaintext, alternate letters:

I Q Y H N I I N B H G S A M D Q S I M M S V O I A A S A S B B I S T M H E B R B M O E H A I B D E B I A C I N Y I I K P K B M M I E M B R L S R N N S Q Y M B S M M N O N R S A I N I N S T B E I H S B I I T G I S B A T N I F R B C A C I A M B

* * *

Also from "The Rape of Lucrece" (line 862):

So then he hath it when he cannot vse it,
And leaues it to be maistred by his yong:
VVho in their pride do presently abuse it,
Their father was too weake, and they too strong

Ciphertext is:

H E C A N N O T V S E I T A N D L E A V E S I T T O B E M A I S T R E D B Y H I S Y O N G V H O I N T H E I R P R I D E D O P R E S E N T L Y A B V S E I T T H E I R F A T H E R V A S T O O V E A K E A N D T H E Y T O O S T R O N G

Ciphertext reversed is:

G N O R T S O O T Y E H T D N A E K A E V O O T S A V R E H T A F R I E H T T I E S V B A Y L T N E S E R P O D E D I R P R I E H T N I O H V G N O Y S I H Y B D E R T S I A M E B O T T I S E V A E L D N A T I E S V T O N N A C E H

Plaintext, +4 is:

L R S Y B A S S B D I M B H R E I O E I C S S B A E C Y I M B E K Y N I M B B N I A C F E D P B R I A I Y T S H I H N Y T Y N I M B R N S M C L R S D A N M D F H I Y B A N E Q I F S B B N A I C E I P H R E B N I A C B S R R E G I M

Plaintext, alternate letters:

L S B S B I B R I E C S A C I B K N M B I C E P R A Y S I N T N M R S C R D N D H Y A E I S B A C I H E N A B R E I

* * *

An odd place to find Francis Bacon's cipher signature is in "WILLOBI / HIS / AVISA / OR / The true Picture of a mo / dest Maid, and of a chast and / constant wife. This was published anonymously in 1594 by "Hadrian Dorrell" who acted as editor.

The second stanza of the introductory verse has attracted the attention of scholars because it contains the earliest direct mention of Shakespeare in the literature.

Though Collatine haue deerely bought,
To high renowne, a lasting life,
And found that most in vaine have fought,
To have a Faire, and Constant wife
Yet Tarquyne pluckt his glistering grape,
And Shake-speare, paints poore Lucrece rape.

The reference is to "The Rape of Lucrece," published in the same year. We will direct our attention to the last page which contains fifteen rhyming lines; only the following will be quoted:

Ciphertext of the fourth line is: "Now foolish fancie was the cavse. This Cryse did lament."

Ciphertext is:

N O V F O O L I S H F A N C I E V A S T H E C A V S E T H I S C R Y S E D I D L A M E N T

Ciphertext reversed is:

T N E M A L D I D E S Y R C S I H T E S V A C E H T S A V E I C N A F H S I L O O F V O N

Plaintext, +4 is:

B R I Q E P H N H I A D Y G A N M B I A C E G I M B A E C I N G R E K M A N P S S K C S R

Ciphertext of the eighth line is: "If fickle-headed Hellen covld at first have bene content"

I F F I C K L E H E A D E D H E L L E N C O V L D A T F I R S T H A V E B E N E C O N T E N T

Plaintext, +4 is:

N K K N G O P I M I E H I H M I P P I R G S C P H E B K N Y A B M E C I F I R I G S R B I R B

Ciphertext of the twelfth line is:

"This wisedome beares the chiefest sway to stay when we be well."

T H I S V I S E D O M E B E A R E S T H E C H I E F E S T S V A Y T O S T A Y V H E N V E B E V E L L

Ciphertext reversed is:

L L E V E B E V N E H V Y A T S O T Y A V S T S E F E I H C E H T S E R A E B E M O D E S I V S I H T

Plaintext, +4 is:

P P I C I F I C R I M C D E B A S B D E C A B A I K I N M G I M B A I Y E I F I Q S H I A N C A N M B

The anonymous author's name need no longer be unknown.

* * *

We may witness this author once more at work by comparing the text from the last two lines of the (anonymously published) Quarto edition of "The Chronicle Historie of Henry the Fift" (1600) and the same lines, plus a newly created Epilogue which follows, in "The Life of Henry the Fift," the 1623 Folio (v, 2, 372).

The Quarto shows these words:

Then will I sweare to Kate, and Kate to mee:
And may our vowes once made, vnbroken bee.
Afterward, for the Folio, these lines were rewritten:
Then shall I sweare to Kate, and you to me,
And may our Oathes well kept and prosp'rous be.
Now the fourteen lines of the new, 1623 Epilogue begin:
Thus farre with rough, and all-unable Pen,
Our bending Author hath pursu'd the Story. . .

We shall study these four lines from the Folio.

Ciphertext is:

T H E N S H A L L I S V E A R E T O K A T E A N D Y O V T O M E A N D M A Y O V R O A T H E S V E L L K E P T A N D P R O S P R O V S B E T H V S F A R R E V I T H R O V G H A N D A L L V N A B L E P E N O V R B E N D I N G A V T H O R H A T H P V R S V D T H E S T O R Y

Plaintext, +4 is:

B M I R A M E P P N A C I E Y I B S O E B I E R H D S C B S Q I E R H Q E D S C Y S E B M I A C I P P O I T B E R H T Y S A T Y S C A F I B M C A K E Y Y I C N B M Y S C L M E R H E P P C R E F P I T I R S C Y F I R H N R L E C B M S Y M E B M T C Y A C H B M I A B S Y D

Plaintext reversed is:

D Y S B A I M B H C A Y C T M B E M Y S M B C E L R N H R I F Y C S R I T I P F E R C P P E H R E M L C S Y M B N C I Y Y E K A C M B I F A C S Y T A S Y T H R E B T I O P P I C A I M B E S Y C S D E Q H R E I Q S B C S D H R E I B E O S B I Y E I C A N P P E M A R I M B

* * *

Here is a passage from "The Winters Tale" (iv, 4, 714):

Shep. I will tell the King all, every word, yea and his Sonnes prancks too; who, I may say, is no honest man, neither to his Father, nor to me, to goe about to make me the Kings Brother in Law.
Clow. Indeed Brother in Law was the farthest off you could have beene to him, and then your Blood had beene the dearer, by I know how much an ounce.
Aut. Very wisely (Puppies.)

Ciphertext is:

I S N O H O N E S T M A N N E I T H E R T O H I S F A T H E R N O R T O M E T O G O E A B O V T T O M A K E M E T H E K I N G S B R O T H E R I N L A V I N D E E D B R O T H E R I N L A V V A S T H E F A R T H E S T O F F Y O V C O V L D H A V E B E E N E T O H I M

Plaintext, +4 is:

N A R S M S R I A B Q E R R I N B M I Y B S M N A K E B M I Y R S Y B S Q I B S L S I E F S C B B S Q E O I Q I B M I O N R L A F Y S B M I Y N R P E C N R H I I H F Y S B M I Y N R P E C C E A B M I K E Y B M I A B S K K D S C G S C P H M E C I F I I R I B S M N Q

Plaintext reversed is:

Q N M S B I R I I F I C E M H P C S G C S D K K S B A I M B Y E K I M B A E C C E P R N Y I M B S Y F H I I H R N C E P R N Y I M B S Y F A L R N O I M B I Q I O E Q S B B C S F E I S L S B I Q S B Y S R Y I M B E K A N M S B Y I M B N I R R E Q B A I R S M S R A N

A "farthell" being a bundle or a parcel, the next line is:

Shep. Well: let us to the King: there is that in this Farthell, will make him scratch his Beard.

Thoughtfully scratching, we might assume.

* * *

In "Loves Labour's lost" (v, 2, 216) we read:

Rosa. . . Curtsie sweet hearts, and so the Measure ends.
Kin. More measure of this measure, be not nice.

Ciphertext is:

C V R T S I E S V E E T H E A R T S A N D S O T H E M E A S V R E E N D S M O R E M E A S V R E O F T H I S M E A S V R E B E N O T N I C E

Plaintext, +4 is:

G C Y B A N I A C I I B M I E Y B A E R H A S B M I Q I E A C Y I I R H A Q S Y I Q I E A C Y I S K B M N A Q I E A C Y I F I R S B R N G I

Plaintext, +4 reversed is:

I G N R B S R I F I Y C A E I Q A N M B K S I Y C A E I Q I Y S Q A H R I I Y C A E I Q I M B S A H R E A B Y E I M B I I C A I N A B Y C G

* * *

Did Francis Bacon write Shakespeare's Sonnet 148? Will you "say it is not so," as the author queried in the following quotation:

O Me! what eyes hath loue put in my head,
Which have no correspondence with true sight,
Or if they haue, where is my iudgment fled,
That censures falsely what they see aright?
If that be faire whereon my false eyes dote,
What meanes the world to say it is not so?
If it be not, then loue doth well denote,

Ciphertext is:

O H M E V H A T E Y E S H A T H L O V E P V T I N M Y H E A D V H I C H H A V E N O C O R R E S P O N D E N C E V I T H T R V E S I G H T O R I F T H E Y H A V E V H E R E I S M Y I V D G M E N T F L E D T H A T C E N S V R E S F A L S E L Y V H A T T H E Y S E E A R I G H T I F T H A T B E F A I R E V H E R E O N M Y F A L S E E Y E S D O T E V H A T M E A N E S T H E V O R L D T O S A Y I T I S N O T S O I F I T B E N O T T H E N L O V E D O T H V E L L D E N O T E

Plaintext, +4 is:

S M Q I C M E B I D I A M E B M P S C I T C B N R Q D M I E H C M N G M M E C I R S G S Y Y I A T S R H I R G I C N B M B Y C I A N L M B S Y N K B M I D M E C I C M I Y I N A Q D N C H L Q I R B K P I H B M E B G I R A C Y I A K E P A I