Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -91- Play-Cipher Chart

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Besides “other factors of the situation “ that can be taken into account within the 51 examples  described above, there is also a mass of other connections that have been offered as proof of Bacon’s authorship, totally apart from any kind of cipher or coded signatures or name puzzles. Many, but not all, of these have been previously published here on this blog. 

Other supporting authorship evidence can likely be produced from other Baconian researchers without much difficulty. Below is shown the plays in which the various signature candidates were found.

Here are the cipher candidates and the plays they were found in:

As a reminder, there have been many other ciphers in the First Folio possibly connected to Francis Bacon, but I've intended, for the most part, to include only the strongest ones. Plus, my research was far from thorough. So I expect many more can be found.

And thus ends the 6th proposed proof of Francis Bacon as the disguised Shake-Speare.

END

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -90- Coincidences?

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I started this paper stating that “The findings in this paper, all together, and some in particular, seem to me beyond chance and exhibiting some intentional design…” Opponents of this evidence may argue that each case is one of simple coincidence and they are all just a collection of simple coincidences. If so, then we might also expect simple coincidences and seeming ciphers for Marlowe, Oxford, Neville, Sidney and others mentioned as possibly the ‘real’ Shakespeare. And if it’s argued that they all add up to what could only be a remarkable set of coincidences then they venture into the landmine of statistical improbability. I don’t know how much statistical probability can be applied to many of the signature cipher candidates here and especially to the many seeming allusions or correspondences. But keep in mind that the Friedmans also said, on page 148 of their book, that:

 “There are limits even to coincidence; if the mathematical probability is very small indeed, and we take other factors of the situation into account, it often becomes unreasonable to maintain that what happens is the result of accident. If a man continues to throw seven after seven at dice, and this happens again and again, it would be absurd not to think that the dice were loaded.”

Also keep in mind that the first and last names of Francis Bacon, or their similitudes, along with numerical equivalents were regularly found throughout the works with similarly attention-getting or advertising words such as ‘cipher’, ‘figure’, ‘count’ as well as “What’s your name”, and on their own significantly numbered pages.

The cipher candidates described above have special advantages:

1.     Five of the cipher candidates use cryptological terminology of either “cipher” or “unfold”.

2.     Nine of the cipher candidates occur with either the word “count” or “figure”.

3.     Eleven supposed errors in the Shakespeare works are provided with rational explanations based on Baconian authorship theory:

a.  10)  19 zodiacs vs. 14 years

b.  18) missing pages 47-48 enabling several page correspondences, especially page 53

c.  24) missing page 157;

d.  25) missing page 282;

e.  26) page 259 instead of 279;

f.   29) Last line of pg 170 repeated on 171 enabling “quick, draw the curtain strait”

g.  30) George to Francis Sea-coal;

h.  35) “L” in “lost” not capitalized;

i.   37) Missing comma between “two tree”

j.   45) Sonnet 76 “sel” instead of “tell”.

k.  51) Mispage of 993 instead of 399.

Plus the seeming error in Bacon’s Advancement-- 45) “Wats” with one “T” = 259. Also in 23)  we have a rational explanation for the capitalized ‘I’ amongst the lower case vowels.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -89- Summary

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We have now collected quite a number and variety of seemingly camouflaged sotto voce hints of identity that can all be associated to Francis Bacon. Here now is a Summary of signature cipher candidates and other correlations. Brackets hold significant cipher figures. Some key phrases are also included. Page numbers are italicized.

1)     The Bacon-Tobey acrostic. Page 9

2)      The Sonnets – 287. Enlarged letters K and A. Bacon’s Tomb count 287. Page 24

3)     “Sir France is bee Con” on Page 287 of Histories. Many counts of “33”.   Page 29

4)     Page 100 of the Comedies with “Thirtie three” very close by it. Page 34

5)     “Caesars three and thirtie wounds”.  

6)     The tapster “Francis” and “Anon” repetitions in King Henry IV. [33 and 67]  Page 35

7)     “His name I pray you.” The Count Rossillion.   [letter count of 33] plus ‘S. Francis’. Page 38

8)       “What’s thy name?” Cleo.  Anthony   :  “Bacon” [letter count of 33].  Page 39

9)      Cleo. What’s your name?   :   “Lord Bacon”  [letter count of 33]  Page 39

10)    “ninteene Zodiacks”  “foureteene yeares” “‘tis surely for a name.” “I stumble in” [67]

11)    “And let us Cyphers,” “a crooked Figure” in Henry V Prologue. [count of 33]. Page 41

12)    “Free” as last spoken word in The Tempest.  [33, 111, 67, meaning of ‘Francis’] 

13)    A self-referential Letter to oneself that is an “Angry word” as well as a “figure”. [9 + 24]

14)    Pg. 33 Who is Sylvia = 146 = Baconi – “TIS FB”. Also p. 146 Histories—two St. Albans.

15)    Vio. heere comes the Count;   Duke. Who saw Cesario?  [Cesario = 67]. Page 44

16)    “now you are not ipse, for I am he”. “A figure in Rhetoricke”  [Clowne = 67]     Page 45

17)    “He is drown’d in the brooke, looke but in, and you shall see him. “There I shall see mine owne figure. A foole or cipher” = 100 = “Francis Bacon”. Page 46

18)   “I am not…as I seem to be….this disguise”. Page 222 = FraBaconi; plus “FBAKN”

19)   “Who’s there?” “Stand & unfold your selfe” Francisco and “Fran. 33”    Page 47

20)    "Hang-hog" is latten for Bacon,"  “Page 53”, “S. Nicholas”, ”Hanging”, etc. Page 49

21)    “Mine were the verie Cipher of a Function” [33] on page 67 of the Comedies.   Page 53

22)     “St Albones” on page 67 of the Histories.  Page 53

23)    ‘cornu’ = 67; [a e I o u  = 67]. Letter count of 33. What is the figure? “I, Francis Bacon” 

24)   ‘To the Reader’ preface. Counts of 287, 67, and 33. “This Figure”.  Page 57

25)    Title Page with letter count of 157. Page 58

26)    Missing page 157. “Wherein the Spirit held his wont to walke.” “Enter Ghost” count of 33.

27)    Missing page 282. “Francis Bacon”. Last column word count of 111.  Page 60

28)    Mispage 259 – “Shakespeare”, of the Tragedies, instead of page 279. 

29)    Page 259 -- “That is, Francis Bacon” in Baconiana.   Page 62

30)   “but we will draw the Curtain, and shew you the picture.” [count of 33] page 259.

31)    “Por. Goe, draw aside the curtaines, and discover”, --   leading into page 171. [‘Francis’] “Quick, quick, draw the curtain straight”  Page 65

32)    “George Sea-coale”  “Beacon” = “Francis Bacon” Page 111. Blest with a good name. Pg 67

33)    A Foole, a Lord, a Lawyer, a Philosopher, a Knight. From 80-13 [67] this spirit walkes in.

34)     “I am come to know your pleasure. “me” FBA CON.  Page 71

35)     “How many is one thrice told?” 3Elles=33 “A most fine Figure. To prove you a Cypher”.

36)    “Then ell to Sore makes fiftie Sores” “I an hundred make with one more L”. Page 73

37)    “Loues Labour’s lost” = 100,  “hid & bard”. Page 74

38)    “B A Three O N” plus [three - three]

39)    “sixe or seven, two tree howres” “Francisco”.   Page 75

40)    “VV I L L” adds up to “111” the Kay value for “Bacon”. Page 77

41)    The Northumberland MS. “By Mr. Francis Bacon”; “Your William Shakespeare” “Will”

42)    “will” bottom of page 102 of Comedies, before page 103 “Shakespeare”. Page 79

43)    “Lawyer” bottom of page 103 of Histories. “Will Shakespeare Lawyer”.

44)    Page 103 of Advancement and Proficience of Learning “Revealed Will and Secret Will”

45)    Gilbert Wats’ name counts to 259 in the Kay Alphabet.    Page 80

46)    Sonnet 111. “Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,” 259 Kay count. Page 81

47)   Sonnet 76.  “That every word doth almost sel my name,” Page 82

48)    A Lover’s Complaint changed to The Lover’s Complaint. Counts of 287 and 100 derived.

49)   Shakespeares “Sonnets” = “100” = “Francis Bacon” Page 83

50)  Lucrece’s image of Achilles’ Speare and its bi-fold powers – associated with ‘33’ and Bacon

51)  Signature moment 2 – Mispage 993 for 399. Bacon’s Advancement – ‘speare shakers’

52)   Bacon = Achilles=ShakeSpeare and disguised author

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -88- Achilles

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Another interesting connection (also found in Bormann’s book) with Bacon’s OF THE ADVANCEMENT AND PROFICIENCIE OF LEARNING is that in the earlier editions of 1605 and 1633 the quote from Virgil had been altered so that it read:

Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod inutile libro,

Nunc adsint.

So here his “telum inutile” is “a useless spear”.

And yet Shakespeare also speaks disparagingly of the power of his own writing. He wrote in the Epilogue chorus of Henry V:

“Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen,    [with his crude, inadequate writing]

Our bending author hath pursued the story,” 

So it seems Bacon used the metaphor of a spear to represent his pen that he shook at ignorance and as well jousted with his literary cohorts, whether or not they knew who “Shakespeare” actually was, and even if some of them somehow had shared in the writing of some of the plays. And like Shakespeare he belittled his own talent.  The only other alternative to the idea of this being another extremely fitting “coincidence” is that the printer, on the very last page of the First Folio, carelessly used “993” instead of 399 and totally overlooked this error afterward.

52)  Signature moment three

And finally, it’s further noteworthy that Bacon’s closest secretary and the posthumous publisher of much of his writing, William Rawley, said in The Epistle Dedicatory of his Resuscitatio, referring to the worth of Bacon’s “true Value”  that he did not feel up to portraying, that 

“There were more need, of another Homer, to be the Trumpet, of Achilles’ Virtues.”

http://www.archive.org/stream/resvscitatioorbr00baco#page/n19/mode/2up

This is an allusion to Bacon’s discussion of how Alexander and Achilles had achieved fame but that how  Alexander’s tutor Aristotle led a greater life since he was concerned with learning and knowledge rather than of power and empire. It’s on page 52 of the Advancement:

http://www.archive.org/stream/ofadvancementp00baco#page/52/mode/2up

However, this identification of Bacon with Achilles is striking considering these last several pages and where Prof. Chaney shows how Shakespeare is identified with Achilles and as a disguised author.  It otherwise does not seem fitting at all.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -87- Speare Shakers 2

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51)  Signature moment 2, Part 2

Prof. Cheney in his Shakespeare's Literary Authorship included a similar reference again involving Achilles. On page 48 he provides this quote from Homer, Book 22:  “Achilleus was shaking / in his right hand’ the pointed spear .. “

And we know that the name of Shakespeare itself means “a spearman.”

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=brandish

So we can see the mispage 993 signaling an authorial sign-off by an allusion to a battle of spearmen who brandish and hurl their spears. It may even represent a kind of motto for Bacon’s hidden literary efforts. Except that poets and playwrights who battle with their writings and wits reminds us that we need to think in terms of pens as Ben Jonson did, saying of Shakespeare:

“In his well turned, and true filed lines;

In each of which, he seems to Shake a Lance,

As brandish’t at the eyes of ignorance.”

And Shakespeare, too, identified pens with lances or speares:

Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, 

Your pens to lances, and your tongue divine 

To a loud trumpet and a point of war?

Henry IV Part II, 4.1

Bacon certainly knew these concepts and metaphors, but he and his close friends would only allude to them in Latin. Here are a couple examples. The first is from Bacon’s Latin essay “De Vindicta (Of Revenge)”.

And the following is from his Latin essay “De Astutia” (Of Cunning)”:

Both of the above are from Francis Bacon's Cryptic Rhymes and the Truth They Reveal, By Edwin Bormann, 1906. Other translations than his are possible but the argument is that Bacon’s close literary friends would know which wording was intended.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -86- Speare Shakers Part 1

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51)  Signature moment two, Part 1

Continuing on this theme of “signature moments” we now turn to the very last page in the First Folio. This should be page 399. However it is mispaged as 993.

The last page, like the first, is a sensible place for an author to sign his work. But how might he sign it if he was also concealing his authorship? Perhaps by another fitting allusion. So, with the eye-catching mispage of 993 as a possible signal, we once again return to Bacon’s 1640 edition OF THE ADVANCEMENT AND PROFICIENCIE OF LEARNING. Turning now to page 399 of this book we find emphasized one quote from Virgil’s The Aeneid, book X, which is:

Dextra mihi Deus, & telum quod missile libro,

Nunc adsint----

http://www.archive.org/stream/ofadvancementp00baco#page/398/mode/2up

This has been translated as: “Now let this right-hand, my god, and the missive weapon which I poise, be my aid.”

Another translation is:

“My right hand a God to me and the dart which I poise about to send now be friendly to me.” 

A third translation is:

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433082191077;view=1up;seq=317

So the word ‘telum’ can also mean “speare” as it could “dart” or “weapon” or “javelin”. And in fact, the quote is from the battle between two “spear-shakers”, Mezentius and Aeneas, and Mezentius is preparing to cast his spear at Aeneas when he speaks the line above. A Little earlier in the same scene we find this translated line:

This is from page 223 of Virgil with an English Translation, by H. Rushton Fairclough, 1916.

Mezentius’ spear misses his target and then Aeneas fells him with his own spear. Another passage from another translation has:

The Twelve Books of Virgil's Æneid... By Virgil

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -85- Achilles Speare Part 2

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50)  Continued

Now, what is interesting is what Baconians had found some time ago in Henry Peacham's Minerva Britanna or A Garden of Heroical Deuises, furnished, and adorned with Emblemes and Impresas of sundry natures. London, 1612. Of special interest to Baconians is that this book contains another image of a “speare, Grip’t in an Armed hand, himself behind, Was left unseen, save to the eye of mind”. And this image (a hint of an authorial signature?) happens to be numbered ‘33’ and it is adjacent to an emblem in honor of Sir Francis Bacon:

Note also that the two page numbers added together equal ’67’, the simple count for ‘Francis’. Cheney further notes that Achilles’ spear had the power to heal as well as to wound and that Achilles himself can symbolize disguised authorship, since Ovid presents him as such. He quotes 2 Henry VI 5.1.100:

Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer’s staff
And not to grace an aweful princely scepter.
That gold must round engirt these brows of mine,
Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles’ spear,
Is able with the change to kill and cure.
Here is a hand to hold a scepter up.

He adds “… a second Shakespearean use of Achilles’ spear as an instrument of both wounding and curing”. This is from Edward III “…in a scene that scholars now attribute to Shakespeare”:

The poets write, that great Achilles’ spear
Could heal the wound it made: the moral is,
What mighty men misdo they can amend.

So, in the emblem for Bacon is shown this healing power taken directly from that which wounds, (and specifically, that which wounds the “Sheepheard Swaine” or ‘poet’), in this case, a viper. But the passage refers to laws that can either bite or heal, or prevent harm. So this seems to be a reference to Bacon’s desire to revise old statutes that may do more harm than good. The bi-fold power of Achilles’ spear here BOTH connected to Bacon and his cipher codes would not easily be a coincidence.

http://libsysdigi.library.uiuc.edu/OCA/Books2009-11/mineruabritannao00peach/mineruabritannao00peach.pdf