Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -61- Mispaginations

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28)  Continuing on in this same play (Hamlet) we’ll go back a few pages and see that there are pages for 276, 277, 278, and then when the next page would be 279, we instead are faced with the mispagination of 259, the Kay value for “Shakespeare”. So there are three mispaginations in a row (157, 259, and 282) that are significant numbers associated with Francis Bacon, two of them seeming to represent either a symbolic name or a pseudonym.

There are a lot more mispaginations than these and most of them I haven’t connected to anything related to Bacon. Nor have I tried much since my focus is primarily on significant signature numerals. Here’s my list. The Red-Bold numbers are mispaginations. Those that are underlined are Bacon significant numbers. Some play names are present to give a sense of location in the First Folio. These can be reviewed on the following website using the “Pages” drop down box.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=2

Comedies

Merry Wives of Windsor   [1-48, 49, 58, 51, 52, 53, …58, 51, 60, …]

[85, 88, 87, 88, ] The Comedie of Errors

A Midsommer nights Dreame [159, 160, 163, 162, 163, 162, 163, 166,] (Merchant of Venice)

As you like it [186, 187, 188, 187, 190, 191, 192, …]

All’s Well that Ends Well [248, 251, 252, 251, 252…, 264, 273, 266…303]

Histories

[1-46, 49 (no page 47 or 48) ] Henry the Fourth part 1 (52 is actually 50, 54 is actually 52, 55 is actually 53)

50-88, 91, 92, 91, 92-100 2^nd part Henry the fourth  [page 89 is missing, and no page 90 just as there is no Page 90 in the 1640 Advancement of Learning]

After page 100 there are two unnumbered pages.

Then page 69 for Henry the Fifth thru to 232, then two unnumbered.

Tragedies

Troilus and Cressida began with the second of the above mentioned unnumbered page.

Then pages 79,80, and then 26 unnumbered pages through the end of the play.

Then with Coriolanus we have pages 1-76. [then no page 77 or 78]

Then 79, 80, 81, 82 [actually 77, 78, 79, 80]. Then 81-98, then two unnumbered.

Then 109-156, Hamlet then 257 [actually 157]-278, then 259 [actually 279], 280, 281, 280 [actually 282], then 283-307, then 38, then 309-378, then 389 [actually 379] (Recall that this pg 389 was where the geometrical ‘Rosiecross’ name cipher was found). then 380-398, then 993.

The missing pages of 47, and 48 in the Histories enabled the correspondences between pages 50, 52, 53, and 55 discussed earlier.  Interestingly, on page 199 of the Comedies in As You Like It we read “…the oath of Lover is no stronger than the word of a Tapster, they are both the confirmer of false reckonings”. There is a declared cipher on page 264 of the Comedies where Malvolio ponders the hidden meaning of M.O.A.I.  I haven’t found a meaningful solution but page 264 in The Advancement is all about ciphers.

There may be some slight variation in mispaginations among the extant copies of the First Folio but I can’t imagine that any would change the above important findings. To give these page number cipher candidates a better test would require a closer examination of them in the various extant First Folios. But then any studies may also need to determine their order of printing and as well be done by unbiased researchers.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -60- page 282

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27) Returning to the play Hamlet and going to the very end of this play we come to the last three pages beginning with 280 and then 281. Then what should be next is page 282. Except that it is mispaged as another 280. The number 282 equals the Kay count for “Francis Bacon” and this page number also is missing. Instead it is “hidden” in a sense behind the second page of 280.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=789

or try this site:

http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/facsimile/book/SLNSW_F1/790/

You’ll find also on this page that the last column of dialogue has 111 (Bacon in Kay cipher) words in Roman type, (so the name of Hamlet is not counted as are not the words in the last two lines of stage directions).

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -59- Spirit

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26)  Next we have some more mispaginations. This time in the Tragedies. The play Hamlet begins on page 152 and this is followed by the pages 153, 154, 155, and 156. At the bottom of the second column of page 156 the play depicts the characters Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus discussing the time and realizing that midnight has struck. The character Horatio says:

“Indeed I heard it not; then it drawes neere the season,

Wherein the Spirit held his wont to walke.”

Then the next page should be 157, but it’s missing. It’s mispaged as 257. There are a couple interesting things about this. First is the obvious difference of 100 (“Francis Bacon” in the Simple count) counted between 157 and 257. Then the number 157, as already mentioned, is the Simple Cipher count of “Fra Rosiecross” whose Kay count is 287, providing some additional support for the symbolic name. The suspicion here is that the missing page 157 replaced with 257 is meant to attract attention to these numbers. Then there is the appearance on this next page of 157/257 of the Ghost or Spirit, a being usually unseen, resembling an unseen playwright possibly.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=764

As mentioned in section 8 when discussing the concealed “wit”, this idea of a hidden entity is also hinted at in the play The Comedie of Errors. In the last scene of this play, on page 99 at the bottom of the first column where the two Dromios are finally being revealed as twins. We have:

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?

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=117

There is the idea of an immaterial intelligence coupled with a “naturall man”. And when this entity, this “ghost” or “Spirit” appears in Hamlet, it is meant to be on page 157. This page being missing, and also seen to be a significant number related to Francis Bacon, could be a clue meant to emphasize the invisible presence of the author. It’s a repeated structural theme that looks as though the hidden bard is giving additional hints of his existence to go along with the many clues to his identity.

Following this line of thought, when we go to this page 157 that is now numbered 257 we soon see the stage direction of “Enter Ghost”. The next line is by Horatio and he says “Looke my Lord, it comes.” The command to ‘look’ along with ‘it comes’ suggested to me the possibility of a cipher. And as it happens the very next line by Hamlet has a letter count of ‘33’.

This was also found by David Ovason in his book Shakespeare’s Secret Booke, 2010. He found other instances of this number seeming to come and go with the Ghost’s visits, though he seems to connect the number more to esoteric philosophy than to a cipher signature for Bacon.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -58- Portrait

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25)  Following the “To the Reader” page we come to the Title Page with the supposed ‘Figure’ of the author. Here we find this page with a letter count of the significant number ‘157’, the simple alphabet counterpart to the Kay cipher of 287.

To see that the letter ‘W’ in William is made up of two ‘V’s let’s take a closer look.

And to give a clear count of the artist:

http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~53583~103994:-Droeshout-portrait-of-Shakespeare-

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -57- This Figure

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24)  This seems a good point to bring in the very first page of the First Folio. This is the one beginning “To the Reader” and signed B.I. The authors of Secret Shakespearean Seals found the letter count of this passage to equal 287.

One challenge might be that the count inconsistently counts a ‘w’ as either one letter or as two letters consisting of two ‘v’s. But in this enlarged passage, the two v’s in the 9^th line are clearly separated with gaps while the other w’s show no such gap. So the letter count is accurate. Then the word “Figure”, referring ostensibly to the accompanying drawing of the author Shakespeare, is prominent. Peter Dawkins, in his book “The Shakespeare Enigma” pointed out that this word ‘Figure’ happens to be the 67^th word counting from the end of the passage, beginning with the word ‘Booke’, the hyphenated ‘out-doo’ in this instance counting as one word. If a fixed rule on hyphenation was made one way or the other then still a highly unlikely result is obtained, either in this instance or with the long word as the 151^st word on Folio page 136 as discussed earlier which involved a count of 287. Then considering only the non-indented lines, the word ‘Figure’ becomes the 33^rd word from the end, beginning with the word ‘looke’. Thus we see encoded the name of ‘Francis Bacon’ as “This Figure”. This being the first page in the First Folio with the word Figure associated with both numbers 33 and 67 along with the letter count for the significant number 287 also associated with Bacon would all seem to be part of the cipher key for decoding his authorship. Note also that the word ‘hit’ in “hit His face” could also be read as ‘hid’ just as the word Herald is spelt ‘Herault’ on page 106, col 2, of Much Ado about Nothing.

Note we've had a couple variations already relating to this theme of a 'hidden' face:
"His face I know not" P. 38
"Who saw Cesario?" P. 44

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -56- Horne-book Part 2

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23)  Continued

Then, another noticed that the dialogue involved a lesson in Latin, and there’s an emphasis on the word ‘horne’. Then there followed a question and answer of:

Peda.  What is the figure? What is the figure?

Page.  Hornes

The word 'figure' is normally considered a reference to a figure of speech or of rhetoric. But,  naturally, it could also be a subtle reference to a figure of arithmetic.

So it looked like the correct response could be ‘cornu’ which is the Latin equivalent of ‘horn’.  Then the Ba with a ‘horn’ added becomes ‘Bacornu’ which, of course, resembles ‘Bacon’. But I was a bit more curious because of the question “What is the figure”, which should indicate a numeral. It turns out that the simple count for ‘cornu’ is ‘67’, the simple cipher for ‘Francis’. This provides for the full name of ‘Francis Bacornu’. The reference to “Thou consonant” (a dismissive sobriquet) may indicate a null letter which would be the letter ‘r’. Coincidentally, that line of  “What is Ab speld backward with the horn on his head?” is on line 33 of the page, counting all lines with text. The first analysis of this passage seems to have come from Edwin Durning-Lawrence in his Bacon is Shake-Speare, 1910.

 An argument against this speculation is that the Page used the plural of Horne and that therefore the Latin equivalent would need to be ‘cornua’ which would have a count of 68. I don’t see that as a necessity and the ‘cornu’ answer seems to provide a reasonable explanation for the riddle. Maybe the plural of ‘hornes’ meant the plural of ‘67’ which would mean there was more than one embedded cipher.

It happens I was also interested in the emphasis on the Vowels and the strange ‘wit’ about them which isn’t clear. We note that the vowels ‘a e I’ were separated in the dialogue from the final two of ‘o u’. It turns out that ‘a e I’ sum to ‘15’ in the simple count and reduce further to a sum of ‘6’. Then the vowels ‘o u’ sum to ‘34’ and reduce to ‘7’, providing another clever embedding of ‘67’, and also answering what the “figure” is. Further, with the letter ‘I’ capitalized, unlike the other vowels, it can suggest the phrase “I, Francis”. And with the letter count of the second line, which equals 33, we find “I, Francis Bacon”.

 

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=154

Another pairing of 33 and 67 can be found on page 158 in A Midsommer Nights Dreame. It’s a weaker variant so I’m not going to give this its own number. In column two, paragraph two, is a passage spoken by Theseus. Here we might see ‘33’ represented by “three and three”. There is also the word ‘anon’ with its Kay value of ‘67’. The passage also has 67 spoken words. However the ambiguity comes in with its three italicized words as well as the hyphenated ‘over-beare’.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -55- Horne-book Part 1

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23)  Another riddling passage is found on page 136 of the Comedies, again in Love’s Labours’ Lost where we found the long word honorificabilitudinitatibus. There’s been much written and speculated by Baconians about this passage. The part I’ll focus on begins with a riddle on the Horn-book between a student, a boy or page, and a Pedant.

Page. Yes, yes, he teaches boyes the Horne-booke :

What is Ab speld backward with the horn on his head?

Then the Pedant answers:

Peda. Ba, puericia [child], with a horne added.
Pag.  Ba most seely Sheepe, with a horne : you heare his learning.

So the Baconians, suspicious as they are about such riddles, saw here the potential for an embedded signature of “Bacon”. One of them noticed that the “Ba with a horne on his head” appears to be portrayed as a rebus in Shake-Speares Sonnets. Here is the emblem:

Here we have the letter ‘A’ with a second crossbar which allows the semblance of the letter ‘B’ within the larger ‘A’. Then on the ‘head’ of this figure we can see a ‘horn’ added. This is easiest seen with the ‘A’ on the right side.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -54-

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22)  Then on page 67 of the Histories, in the play of The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, in the first column, about 13 lines from the bottom is “S. Albones”, referring to Saint Albans.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=386

If we know then that Bacon, would sign his name according to his title, then we can see his signature of “Francis St. Albans” in two parts (the page number and the town) on the page. Keep in mind that Bacon wrote that ciphers should be “without suspicion” and that ciphering is “an Art” requiring “a good witt” (pg. 270 of the 1640 Advancement). Here is his signature after he became Baron Verulam in 1618:

And then after he became Viscount St Alban is 1621:

And here is an instance of the spelling of St. Albones instead of Albans:

“one way, but the Wife goeth another. . . .

He loat his Peerage and Seal, and the Scale was wavering
whether he should carry the Tide of Viscount St. Albones  to his
grave, and that was all he did ; having only left a poor empty
fyeing, which lasted not long with him, his honour dying before him. “

The town is spelt 5 ways in the First Folio: Albans, Albones, Albone, Albons, Albon. Not counting the Parts 2 and 3 of Henry VI, as well as the play Richard III, which all have either a scene set in St. Albans or references to it related to the historical War of the Roses, there are 199 pages that could have it mentioned (since they all take place in England). These pages are from King John, Richard II, Henry Fourth parts I and II, Henry V, Henry VIII, Henry VI part 1, and Merry Wives of Windsor. In these 199 pages St. Albans is only mentioned twice, on pages 67 and 81, neither time being any kind of historical reference. Only significant signature page numbers of 33, 67, 100, and 111 exist within this set and only 67 (Francis) would provide the counterpart for his St Albans’ signature. Of minor interest, if Bacon and Shakespeare had some connection to Freemasonry, is that the number 81 is considered a very sacred number in the higher degrees of Freemasonry. This is stated in Albert Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences under the section on ‘nine’.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -53- Cipher function

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Fun with Baconian Ciphers

Part 10

 We continue with significant page numbers.

21)  Continuing with more “coincidences” in page numbering, on page 67 (“Francis” in Simple code) of the Comedies, in the play Measure for Measure, in the first column, eight lines from the bottom, we have the phrase

 “Mine were the verie Cipher of a Function”.

 

Not only do we have the teaser of the word “Cipher” in this line, but the letter count of the line = 33 (equal to “Bacon”), which added to the page number sums to ‘100’ and is equivalent to  “Francis Bacon”. We saw earlier the word Cypher also with a line count of 33 in the Henry V prologue.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=85

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -52- mispages

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So the early Baconian researchers looked into this further to see if there were additional such correspondences. They found more associations in the, just mentioned, 1640 edition of Bacon’s OF THE ADVANCEMENT AND PROFICIENCIE OF LEARNING, supposedly interpreted by Gilbert Wats. [Hereafter called the Advancement].

http://www.archive.org/stream/ofadvancementp00baco#page/50/mode/2up

Among their findings was that in this same play in the First Folio, page 52 of the Histories is actually mispaged since it should be page 50 because pages 47 and 48 are missing. They found that in the 1640 Advancement page 52 is also a mispage for a missing page 50. In the 1640 Advancement there are two pages 53 and the second page 53 should actually be page 55. In the First Folio play there is a similar confusion of pages, but by a different mechanism and a reversed result. In the Advancement where page 55 was marked as page 53, in the play it was page 53 that was wrongly marked as page 55.

To sum, we have:

“Advancement” 1640   -------- page 50 mispaged as 52.
1^st Part King Henry IV -------- page 50 mispaged as 52.
“Advancement” 1640   -------- page 55 mispaged as 53.
1^st Part King Henry IV -------- page 53 mispaged as 55.

Then on this second page 53 in the Advancement (actually page 55) is one of only three pages (out of 477) with Bacon’s name in the margin, and the only one that has his name capitalized. The other two pages are 122 and 123. Please note that there is no argument that mispaginations themselves were uncommon and that therefore these are rare. We know that they were common.

But that does not mean that they could not also sometimes be intentional. An example mentioned by William T. Smedley in his The Mystery of Francis Bacon is that in the 1605 first edition of Bacon’s The tvvoo bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the proficience and aduancement of learning, diuine and humane that the 45 leaves of the first book are all correctly numbered. But in the second book there are many unimaginable mispaginations with one sequence being: “70, 70, 71, 70, 72, 74, 73, 74, 75, 69, 77, 74, 74, 69, 69, 82, 87, 79, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 99, 97, 99, 102, 103, 103, 93, 106 and on correctly until the last page, 118, except that 115 is numbered 105.” Smedley comments “It is impossible to attribute this mispagination to the printer’s carelessness. This was the first work published bearing Bacon’s name, excepting the trifle of essays published in 1597. There does not appear to have been any hurry in its production. It is quite a small volume, and yet the foregoing remarkable mispaginations occur. There must be some purpose in this which has yet to be found out.”

Paying attention to column numbers also yields similar associations. In the First Folio Comedies the second column on page 53 is column 106 and it has the word “Bacon” on it. In the Histories on both columns 106 and 107 (the pages being wrongly labeled as 55 and 56, when they should be pages 53 and 54 since pages 47 and 48 are missing) we find the name “Francis”.  Then returning to the 1640 Advancement on pages 106 and 107 we find “Drama” and “Stage-plaies” mentioned, and these are the only pages in that book that were found to discuss them.

http://www.archive.org/stream/ofadvancementp00baco#page/106/mode/2up

One other thing to keep in mind as we continue is something Shake-speare himself had one of his characters say.

In a short scene, not relevant to the plot, on page 89 of The life of Henry the Fifth, the character Fluellen is comparing the lives of King Henry and Alexander the Great. In justifying his analogies he says:

And then in the next paragraph:

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=442

This is not much different than what Bacon came close to saying in the 1640 Advancement of Learning. On page 259 (the Kay value for ‘Shakespeare’) while writing how other cultures (like China and Egypt) have developed systems of writing that didn’t depend on Letters or Words, but rather used Characters or Figures which convey meaning by ‘Congruitie’.

http://www.archive.org/stream/ofadvancementp00baco#page/258/mode/2up

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -51- Hang-Hog Part 3

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20)  Continued

On the next folio page (54) where there are two other instances of the word “Bacon” one of them occurs in the phrase “On Bacon On’ (half way down the second column) and two of the meanings of ‘Bacon’ in this phrase are “a fat one” or a “porker”. This suggests that the earlier line of hanging a “fat pair” correlates with the idea of a “Hanged-hog”. See line 89 and then the definition for ‘bacon’ in the right column here, towards the bottom of the page.

http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Plays.aspx?Ac=2&SC=2&IdPlay=33

So Gadshill can be seen saying that he and fat [porker or hog] Falstaff will be “well hanged” and this in association with the word “Bacon” and the name of “S. Nicholas” on page 53. The associations between Bacon’s apophthegm and the scenes on the two page 53s are strong.

The phrase of “S. Nicholas Clarks [Clerks]” fits well with the standard interpretation with the scene action. This interpretation is that “Saint Nicholas was a patron saint of clerks or scholars; and hence, as Nicholas, or old Nick, was a cant name for the devil (perhaps because of the clerkes learning or maybe because they helped to collect taxes?), the robbers were equivocally called Saint Nicholas’ clerks.” Though this makes sense for the play, it doesn’t exclude the additional fit with the word Bacon in its connection to Bacon’s Apothegm. So it could be another “Stalking-horse”.

There’s other research by Baconians tying the number 53 to Bacon and to Freemasonry but I’ve decided to leave it out since it takes us unnecessarily away from the main cipher authorship evidence.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -50- Hang-Hog Part 2

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http://www.archive.org/stream/resvscitatioorbr00baco#page/228/mode/2up

Baconian rearcher N. B. Cockburn in his The Bacon-Shakespeare Question (1989), had this comment on the above:

“This charming Elizabethan joke may have had some oral circulation, especially in Sir Nicholas's lifetime. But is Shakspere, who was 14 when Sir Nicholas died in 1579, likely to have heard of it? There can be little doubt, as some Stratfordians recognize, that it prompted the lines by Evans and Mistress Quickly“.  Note—he uses the spelling of “Shakspere” to indicate the actor from Stratford as opposed to “Shakespeare” the author, whomever he may have been.

There were two Quartos of this play and this scene is not in the first Quarto of 1602. Nor was there any character named “William” in it. It was inserted into the second Quarto published in 1619, 3 years after the Stratford actor’s death.  Here’s the link to the first Quarto:

http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Annex/Texts/Wiv/Q1/work/

Now, on page 53 of the Histories, we’re in the play the 1^st Part King Henry IV. And in the first column (11^th line from the bottom), there is the phrase “Gammon of Bacon”, which, interestingly, is in a section of text after the word ‘rose’ and before the word ‘cross’ and which are separated by 100 words. “Anon” [Kay count of 67] is used twice just prior to this. In the second column we twice have the name “S. Nicholas” (resembling “Sir” Nicholas though modern editions emend this to “Saint Nicholas” or “St. Nicholas”). And both times on this page 53 is S. Nicholas associated with hanging. The second instance has the word “Hangman” beginning the line. Immediately following the second instance of S. Nicholas, the character Gadshill says: “What talkest thou to me of the Hangman? If I hang, Ile make a fat payre [pair] of Gallowes. For, if I hang, old Sir John [Falstaff] hangs with mee, and thou know’st hee’s no Scarveling.”

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=372

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -49- Hang-hog Part 1

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Fun with Baconian Ciphers

Part 9

 Here we begin some interesting “coincidences” with page numbering. We’ve already seen some Bacon signature candidates related to significant page numbers. The “Sir France is bee Con” signature was on page 287 of the Histories in King Lear. On page 100 of the Comedies had the number 33 very close to it.

20)  In the Friedman’s book on page 178 there is a passing reference to the Baconian finding that the word “Bacon” is found on page 53 of the Comedies as well as on page 53 of the Histories. It is also shown twice in the same play of King Henry IV Part 1 on page 54.  There is more in their resemblance than just the page numbers and we need to note this extra importance.

It turns out that the first of these page 53 instances of “Bacon”, in the play The Merry Wives of Windsor, has a very close association to a story (an apothegm; Bacon called them “Apophthegms”) from Francis Bacon. Several Baconians have written about this and I’ve added some observations to these. During the scene on this page, about two-thirds of the way down the second column, a character named William is getting a lesson in Latin and it includes these lines:

Evans: "I pray you have remembrance (childe), Accusativo hing, hang, hog."   

Mistress Quickly:   "Hang-hog" is latten for Bacon, I warrant you."

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=71

The story by Francis Bacon is listed as his 36^th Apothegm on page 228 in the 1671 Resuscitatio by Dr. Rawley, Bacon’s chaplain and executor. It is as follows:

“Sir Nicholas Bacon being appointed a judge for the Northern Circuit, and having brought his trials that came before him to such a pass, as the passing of sentence on malefactors, he was by one of the malefactors mightily importuned for to save his life; which, when nothing that he had said did avail, he at length desired his mercy on account of kindred. “Prithee,” said my Lord Judge, “how came that in?” “Why, if it please you, my lord, your name is Bacon, and mine is Hog, and in all ages Hog and Bacon have been so near kindred, that they are not to be separated.”. “Ay, but,” Replied judge Bacon, “you and I cannot be kindred except you be hanged; for Hog is not Bacon until it be well hanged.”

A facsimile screen capture of this passage from the original Resuscitatio will be shown in the next post.



Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -48- Unfold yourself

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19)   This next signature candidate is found on the first page of Hamlet in the folio (Page 152 of the Tragedies) where it begins with another question of identity. The character Barnardo, a sentinel at Ellsinore castle, is relieving his fellow sentinel “Francisco”. As in a couple of earlier examples our thoughts are primed with a name like Francis in a context of uncertain identity. Francisco responds to Barnado and there is this exchange:

Bar. Who’s there?

Fran. Nay answer me: Stand & unfold your selfe.
Bar. Long live the King.
Fran. Barnardo?
Bar. He.
Fran. You come most carefully upon your houre.

 

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=759

It struck me that the term “unfold” is the inverse of the one Bacon himself used when discussing encryption in his Bi-literarie Alphabet: “It containeth the highest degree of Cypher, which is to signifie omnia per omnia, yet so as the writing infolding, may beare a quintuple proportion to the writing infolded; no other condition or restriction whatsoever is required.” This is found on page 265 of 1640 The Advancement of Learning.

 

Now, the word “unfold” is used elsewhere by Shakespeare to mean “disclose” and here it would mean the same. But it can have an extra meaning, as Bacon himself would be likely to use, and then “unfold your self” can mean “decipher (literally) your identity”.  Again, the variation of the name of Francis (in “Francisco”) at this important point in the text, with a question of identity, and a demand to reveal oneself using cipher terminology that Bacon has used, then followed closely by a phrase with one of the numerical counts for a Bacon signature, does seem to be an unlikely coincidence. This is the only scene in the play with Francisco in it. The name of Francis, or a variation on it, is only slightly used by Shakespeare and the few times that it is used there seem to be hidden signatures connected with it. Incidentally, the Friedmans also used the term ‘unfold’ in their book. On page 261 they write “What this meant, in all probability, was that in any given case the sense of the message as it unfolded itself would dictate whether a letter should be assigned …”

In this case we have “Fran” and then a letter count of 33, which can allude to “Francis Bacon”. This line is the only one in this column (I didn’t check the second column) with a letter count of 33. This is similar to the ‘Knight 33’ found several times in the “Sir France is bee Con” candidate as well as others with leading meaningful words or names in front of a line with a letter count of 33.

We can further the suspicion if we refer to non-cipher evidence connecting Bacon to this play. He’s the only authorship candidate known to have read the play’s main source from the Norse tale by Saxo Grammaticus. This source was not printed in English until 1608, after the known date of the play. Here’s more on this topic. Bacon, of course, could easily have read the French version, while the actor from Stratford would not be able to, nor likely have it read to him by another:

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sources/hamletsources.html

There are also numerous language and legal idea parallels of the play related to Bacon’s writings which increase the probability of this being an intentionally coded signature.

Next we’ll focus on some unusual likelihoods regarding paging.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -47- this disguise

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 18) We’ve seen the ‘Baconi’ cipher code of ‘146’ in the “Who is Sylvia” example and that it’s also associated with ‘St. Albans’. Now the full name of “Fra. Baconi” is found coded to  the number ‘222’. So now we look in the play The Taming of the Shrew and find on page 222  our next candidate. We find there  a speech about disguised identity along with a possible anagram for “F Bakn” in the first letters of each line (not counting the first which is indented). The combination of the significant page number along with the anagram and speech is what makes it fit neatly into the Signature Cipher theory and to be unlikely to be by chance.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -46- Jacques

-46-

17)  A second hidden signature code in this same play - As You Like It - is found near the top of the first column on page 197 in scene 3.2. Here the characters Jaques and Orlando are engaging in a bit of banter about which one of them is a fool, and includes this piece of their conversation:
 

Jaq. 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.
Jaq. There I shal see mine owne figure.
Orl. Which I take to be either a foole, or a Cipher.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=215

The solution here must consider that though Jacques will see his owne figure, what figure will he see? The simple count for Jaques is 69, the Kay count is 147. Neither of those fits the expected Bacon signature counts. But Jaques is also a “foole” according to Orlando. And Orlando takes the figure of Jaques to be either that of a “foole” or a Cipher. The simple count for “foole” is 50, the Kay count is 102. Neither of these make cipher sense either. But Orlando says that Jaques will see the foole or Cipher when he looks in the brooke. When Jaques looks in the brooke he sees his reflection and at that moment the “foole” or “Cipher” is seen. The “two fooles” together (himself and his reflection) add up to 100 which is the simple Cipher, and a figure, for “Francis Bacon”.

Additionally, the word “foole” as a reflection can be seen to contain the figure “100” in the reverse of “ool” or “loo” or “100”. This also has some semblance to the “Sir France is bee Con” candidate since in that passage is Lear found twice asking “Where’s my foole?”

Also, with the numerous play on similar sounding words in Shakespeare, the word “brooke” sounds similar to “book” and may be a hint that looking into, not at, the “book” of the first folio, that is, beyond surface appearances, one shall see the hidden bard. Interestingly, the “Sir France is bee Con” passage has the line “I will looke further intoo’t”.

We’ve seen that in this play of As You Like It two of the signature ciphers were related to the words “Clowne” and “Foole”. So it’s interesting that also in this play in the last scene, on page 206, second column about a third of the way down, there is Duke Senior saying:

Du.Se. He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.

Defintions of a “Stalking-horse” include the following:

1.     Something used to cover one's true purpose; a decoy.

2.     A person or thing that is used to conceal someone’s real intentions.
3.     Something used to mask a purpose.
4.     Something serving to conceal plans; a fictitious reason that is concocted in order to conceal the real reason
5.     A person whose participation in a proceeding is made use of to prevent its real design from being suspected.

In cryptology this idea has been termed the “cover” text concealing a “plain” text. So Duke Senior refers to the Clowne as one who pretends to be a fool in order to “shoot his wit”. Obviously the playwright understands the concept and uses the plays often to “shoot his wit”. Is it really that much more of a stretch to consider that a great wit as this playwright is could step up this “stalking horse” concept to camouflage more than he’s been given credit for? This thought of there being a concealed “wit” in the plays is found elsewhere and will be discussed again shortly. Spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham also used this term of a stalking-horse, so it seems to have had usage in intelligence circles at the time.

 

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -45- Clowne

-45-

16)  Another instance similar to this that involves a character name and a play on identity is found in the play As You Like It.  In Act 5, Scene 1, 1^st column of page 204 of the Comedies, there is a segment of the play that some authorship supporters for the Earl of Oxford, Christopher  Marlowe, as well as Bacon have thought seems to transcend the action of the scene itself. This is where the clown Touchstone is talking to the character “William”. William here is portrayed as a kind of unlearned oaf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchstone_(As_You_Like_It).  Touchstone, the wit of the play is competing with William for Audrey and in this scene he means to embarrass William and warn him off. Touchstone has these lines:

Clo. Then learne this of me, To have, is to have. For

it is a figure in Rhetoricke, that drink being powr'd out
of a cup into a glasse, by filling the one, doth empty the
other. For all your Writers do consent, that ipse is hee:
now you are not ipse, for I am he.

http://isebeta.uvic.ca/Library/facsimile/book/SLNSW_F1/222/?zoom=1

Orthodox scholars think it’s ridiculous that there could be any meaning beyond the play’s apparent plot. To me the internal evidence suggests the playwright is stepping in and showing himself to the audience somewhat. The mentioning of “it is a figure of Rhetoricke” could just be used to bring in the word ‘figure’ as a hint of a possible cipher. Does he really mean to give the country lad William a lesson in Latin? (In the play The Merry Wives of Windsor a character named William is given a lesson in Latin but there William is literally a student and the character giving instruction is literally a teacher and the scene is literally one of a lesson in Latin.) If so, then how does the following line about ‘ipse’ connect to the “figure in Rhetoricke”? And what is the meaning of “your Writers do consent”?  Does he really think the unlearned William understands who his “writers” are? Then in the next speech touchstone threatens William in what Shakespearean scholar Kittredge has said is statecraft terminology “bandy with thee in Faction” and “[o’er]-run thee with policy”, something that Bacon would definitely know. While other authorship skeptics have tried to construe the dialogue’s meaning to their authorship candidate, I thought the place to look would be in the character’s name. Normally, in modern editions the name of Touchstone is used throughout. But in the folio this name is not used to indicate him as a speaker. Instead it begins his entrance as “Enter Clowne” and then “Clo.” is used when he speaks. The simple count for “Clowne” is C=3, l=11, o=14, w=21, n=13, e=5 totaling 67, which equals the simple numerical count for “Francis”. So if the Clowne is “ipse” or “hee” and William is not “he” and the passage is about the concept of identity, then this has the feeling of a hidden signature about it.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -44- Cesario

  -44-

Fun with Baconian Ciphers

Part 8

 15)  Being alerted to possible clues in the text to a hidden signature earlier researchers knew that a number or the word ‘name’ or ‘count’ can indicate that one of Bacon’s significant numbers is very close by. In the ‘Rossilion’ candidate we have the words ‘name’ and ‘count’ together along with the number ‘one’.

Now in the play Twelfth Night, soon after Act 1, Scene 4 begins, on page 257 of the Comedies, in the first column, we have this exchange:

    Enter Duke, Curio, and Attendants

Vio. I thanke you: heere comes the Count.
Duke. Who saw Cesario, hoa?

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=275

Now, the word “count”, or “Count” as the title of a character is used often in the plays. There’s no suggestion that each one would be a signal of some cipher or code. It’s just that sometimes the text is such that it seems to hint at this and so stands out from other instances. Here, the line count reveals nothing, but the name Cesario, being emphasized with “Who saw….” appeared to be the best place to test. This question of "seeing" the person whose identity is in question is similar to the earlier example in which we found "His face I know not". In this case, the simple count for “Cesario” is 67, the same count as for “Francis” in the simple alphabet. This finding wasn’t identified by earlier Baconians, nor was the Count Rossillion example but searching through the options with the key word ‘count’ led to them as promising candidates. To judge whether or not they are unlikely to be by coincidence we need to look at more examples.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -43B- Silvia

-43B-

14)  In this same play, on significant page number 33, we have a song beginning with a question of identity: “Who is Silvia”. The name Silvia has a Kay count of 146, which equals the Latin name of ‘Baconi’ which is used on some of his books. In addition, in the right column across from this poem, starting at the bottom of the column, the first letter capitals spell out “TIS FB”. ‘Tis’ is often used in the First Folio for “it is”.

Interestingly, on page 146 of the Histories, in The Second Part of King Henry the Sixt, there is in the first and last paragraphs, a mention of “St. Albans”.

At this link you can see several book titles with a version of his name of 'Baconi':
https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL23720A/Sir_Francis_Bacon?page=7

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -43A- figure and letter

-43A-

13)  This next candidate is in The two Gentlemen of Verona, on page 24. There are three characters speaking. Valentine, one of the Gentlemen in the play, is pursuing Silvia. His servant is named Speed. Silvia has asked Valentine to write love letters for her to give to her secret friend to whom she’s attracted. What Valentine doesn’t catch on to, and that his servant Speed uses banter to awaken this insight, is that Silvia’s secret friend is Valentine himself. And that she had asked him to write a love letter “to one she loves” and so it would be a letter to himself. Silvia is pleased with Valentine’s effort “ ’tis very Clerkly-done”. Valentine complains that he didn’t know who it was for so he wrote doubtfully. When he asks if she liked the letter he wrote, Silvia replies “Yes, yes” saying “the lines are very quaintly writ” but she observes that they were done unwillingly. Valentine persists and says “Madam, they are for you”. To which Silvia then responds with some frustration this time “I, I” [meaning Aye, Aye] and that he had only written them for her because it was at her request and that she now doesn’t want them. When Silvia leaves then Speed complains to him that he had missed the jest and tries to explain it to him.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=42

In their following banter we have:

Speed. To your selfe: why, she woes [woos] you by a figure.

Val. What figure?
Speed. By a Letter, I should say.
…………..
Val. She gave me none, except an angry word.
Speed. Why she hath given you a Letter.
Val. That’s the Letter I writ to her friend.
Speed. And y [that] letter hath she deliver’d, & there an end.

 So in these passages there is an emphasis on a Letter, and which Speed says is a ‘figure’ and that it’s being used to woo Valentine. Valentine never did get this jest or riddle and Speed stopped trying to get him to understand. Yet there seemed to be some more double meanings involved. A ‘Letter’ can also refer to a letter of the alphabet. And a figure can of course be a number. Modern editors assume that here ‘figure’ means a “figure of rhetoric” yet Speed doesn’t seem to be suggesting that Silvia was trying to woo Valentine with a rhetorical figure. “To woo” can also mean “to tempt or invite” as if the reader is somehow being tempted to figure something out. So if a letter of the alphabet was being referred to, then which letter was it? There seem to be clues suggesting that it is the letter ‘I’.  This letter is self-referential and in the scene the talk is about a letter being written to oneself. Valentine says that Silvia had given him “an angry word”. And when Silvia was a bit angry with Valentine’s denseness she says “I, I” [“aye, aye” for “yes, yes”] whereas just a few lines earlier the word is spelt as “Yes, yes”.  And when Speed said to Valentine that “she hath given you a Letter”, Valentine replied with “That’s the Letter I ….”

So why would the letter ‘I’ be hinted at in a jest? Well, the numerical figure associated with it is the number ‘9’. And why might the playwright want readers to derive this number?  The only thing I can see is that it combines with the page number 24 to sum to 33 and that makes it meaningful. The self-referential ‘I’ and the figure ‘33’ together can suggest “I, Bacon”. This is similar to the 19 zodiacs and 14 years candidate we looked at earlier. From the Baconian authorship perspective this solves the riddle. Otherwise the dialogue can seem lacking at the end.