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

-91-

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?

-90-

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

-89-

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

-88-

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

-87-

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

-86-

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

-85-

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

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -84- Achilles Speare Part 1

-84-

50)  Signature moments (Part 1 of 2)

Another interesting coincidence concerns a book by a Shakespeare scholar, a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature, where we find an argument that Shakespeare, the author, used images to suggest “signature moments”. This discussion is found in Shakespeare's Literary Authorship, Patrick Cheney, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Here is what one reviewer wrote of one of his many arguments, and the one I’m focusing on:

“For example, in Chapter One, easily the most controversial of the book's eight chapters, Cheney claims that Shakespeare's authorship isn't simply "counter-laureate" but is also "self-concealing." He argues that the Achilles stanza in the Rape of Lucrece, which describes a picture of the hero's spear but not of his actual person, constitutes a "displaced, mythologized version of self-representation" that "specifies the precise character of [Shakespearean] authorship". In harking back to and pushing against Ovid, Dante, Petrarch, Chaucer, and Spenser, all of whom refer to Achilles' spear as a marker of authorship, the stanza operates as an authorial signature. In other words, Cheney sees the stanza's representation of invisible authorship--epic authorship in particular--as pointing to, even standing in for, Shakespeare's own invisible authorship.” 

http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/15-1/lambchen.htm

Now, Cheney thinks that the idea that the man from Stratford was not the author Shakespeare is “lunacy”.  However, when I look at his arguments I see again, as I have many times before, that he doesn’t even seem aware of the anti-Stratfordian evidence. He just mentions very simplistic arguments that are often tossed out as the arguments of non-orthodox believers. Next is shown the Lucrece passage as it appears in the 1594 printing:

For much imaginarie worke was there,
Conceipt deceitfull, so compact so kinde,
That for ACHILLES image stood his speare,
Grip’t in an Armed hand, himselfe behind
VVas left unseene, save to the eye of mind,
      A hand, a foote, a face, a leg, a head
      Stood for the whole to be imagined.

Cheney says on p. 38 “Most surprisingly, editors turn up little information on the crucial image of Achilles’ spear, and all neglect its authorial resonance.”  He even suggests that Shakespeare essentially signed his name to that of Achilles in this stanza.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -83- Sonnets

-83-

49)  The title page of the Sonnets volume sold by John Wright has 111 letters but the edition sold by William Aspley is not associated with any significant number. There are other examples with too much ambiguity to write about. Another cipher candidate needs to be mentioned. It turns out that the word “SONNETS” has a simple count of 100, the same as for “Francis Bacon”. And when placed as it has been in the title of the sonnet volume it has a similar meaningful effect as did the 111 count for “Will”-I am Shakespeare. For in this case we have:

SHAKE-SPEARES

SONNETS.

And if the last “S” in “SHAKE-SPEARES” is seen as serving a double duty of both indicating possessiveness and as a contraction we can also read it as “SHAKE-SPEARE IS FRANCIS BACON”.  Shakespeare used this contraction in Twelfth Night when he writes in Act 2, Scene 3 on page 261 that “Malvolios a Peg-a-ramsie”. If the name of “William” had been used here the effect would be lost. And this title, as sensible as it is, is not a logical necessity. Other sonneteers contemporary with Shakespeare had their works with these titles:

Barnabe Barnes  (1568? – 1609)

A Divine Centurie of Spirituall Sonnetts  (1595)

Parthenophil and Parthenophe, Sonnettes, Madrigals, Elegies and Odes (1593)

Michael Drayton  (1563 – 1631)

Idea's Mirror (1594)

Idea in Sixty-Three Sonnets (1619)

Thomas Lodge   (1558 – 1625)

Phillis honoured with Pastorall Sonnets, Elegies, and amorous delights

Philip Sidney

Astrophel and Stella  (1591)

Edmund Spenser  (1552 – 1599)

Amoretti and Epithalamion  

 Samuel Daniel

Delia  (1592)

Fulke Grevile

Caelica  (1633)

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -82- Sonnet 76

-82-

47)  This makes the next signature candidate especially interesting. In Sonnet 76 there is the line:

“That every word doth almost sel my name,

Shewing their birth, and where they did proceed?”

The word “sel” is not a misprint on my part. That’s how it reads in the Sonnet of 1609.

But it’s considered an “error” and modern editions use “tell”. And from the orthodox perspective of Shakespeare’s authorship it should be. But from the perspective of Bacon’s hidden authorship it is a perfect selection. From this perspective the poet would expect the word “sel” to stand out to the reader. And to some careful readers it could be seen as a clue to look into this phrase further. The word “tell” is used 18 other times in the Sonnets and only in Sonnet 12 does it have one letter “L”. The word “sell” is used twice in the Sonnets and both times with two “L”s. The casual reader would emend the “s” to “t” and add a second “L”. But the line stands out to authorship sleuths (the “Seals” authors wrote of it) because it suggests that his name is hidden and that the words he uses nearly give him away. We’ve seen this questioning of name or identity scenario in several other cipher candidates. So again we look at this line and note that it has only 32 letters. That is, the line is one letter short of a count of 33 which would equate to “Bacon” in the Simple alphabet. So in this case every word does “almost” tell his name. And when it is emended to ‘tell’ it does! Between the two possibilities of this being either a pure coincidence or being of design, which is really more likely?

Here are the other sonnets with the word “tell” or “tel”.

Tell: 3, 14 (2), 28, 30, 76 (telling), 82 (telling), 84, 89, 93, 95, 98, 103, 139, 140, 144, 151,

Tel: 12 (tels),

SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS can be viewed here:

http://isebeta.uvic.ca/Library/facsimile/book/UC_Q1_Son/1/?zoom=1

48)  The poem bound up with the sonnets, A Lovers complaint, is listed, unlike the Sonnet’s title, as by WILLIAM SHAKE-SPEARE. It covers eleven pages. After its title page each left hand page is led at the top with “A Lovers” and each right hand page is led at the top with “Complaint”.  This follows except for the very last left hand page on which the poem is ended. The last page is led at the top with “The Lovers” so that the word “The” has replaced the word “A”. The whole poem at the bottom ends with “FINIS”. The number 287 is again not difficult to arrive at though it is less convincing that it could have been intended because it uses numerical subtraction and this subtraction method I’ve been avoiding . So for what it’s worth, out of 47 total verses in this poem, the last three verses are on the last page, verses 45, 46, 47 which total 138. The number of letters in these three verses total 158, together this is 296. To arrive at 287 there would be a count of nine to deduct. The word FINIS is of no help, but the top page phrase of “The Lovers” has a count of 9 and can be deducted. And this number of “9” is only available because of the word change from “A” to “The”. I was thinking of not using this as it appears a weaker candidate to me. But the change in wording from “A Lovers” to “The Lovers” is a bit too questionable to let slip by. The number “100” can also be found here. The last sonnet in this poem, which would be 47 if it had a labeled number, has 53 words. Together this equals 100.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -81- Sonnet 111

-81-

Fun with Baconian Ciphers

Part 14

It’s now time to turn to the book of SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS, published in 1609. We’ve already loosely connected this volume with the number 287. The last sonnet numbered 154 together with the Kay count of 133 for the last word “FINIS” added to 287. The missing 6 sonnets in the 1640 edition added up to 287. And the letter K and A could be taken as a clue to use the Kay cipher in searching for numerical signatures. The Kay value for the word “Sonnets” is 126. This plus the last sonnet number of 154 = 280, and then the addition of the other 7 capital letters FINIS and K, A, also totaled 287, and this occurring on the final page of the Sonnets suggested an ending signature of a sort. Again, this may seem ridiculous to a skeptic but from all that we’ve seen so far, it should be understood that this is quite possibly intentional.

In addition, the total of all words (including the words Sonnets and FINIS) on the last sonnet page totals 111. This again involves a hyphenated word being counted as one word.

46) If we now look at Sonnett 111 we find something else of interest. In this sonnet the poet writes in line 5:

“Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,”

The negative connotation of having one’s name receive a brand has been applied to the actor from Stratford, as well as to several other authorship candidates. But it stands out in Bacon’s case because this name branding is associated with the Kay numerical count for “Bacon” of 111. And the word “brand” could refer to both this figure as well as a pseudonym that substitutes for his name. There are only three of the 154 sonnets with the word “brand” in them (the other two being 153 and 154) and this is the only one that associates the author’s name with it. Finally, the idea of one’s name receiving a brand is quite well known to Bacon since he used nearly that exact phrase when he wrote in his The Great Instauration: “All received or current falsehoods also (which by strange negligence have been allowed for many ages to prevail and become established) I proscribe and brand by name”. He wrote elsewhere “For from this root springs chiefly that evil, with which the learned have been branded”.  Baconian Rob Fowler has done some interesting research on the Sonnets’ numerical structure and one of his many findings is that the first letter of each line of Sonnet 111 (and this Sonnet only) sum to a Kay value of 259:

O    T    T    T    T   A    T    P   W    P   N   N   P   E

14+19+19+19+19+27+19+15+21+15+13+13+15+31 = 259 = Shakespeare

In Sonnet 72 there is the line “My name be buried where my body is.” This is an interesting thing to say when many times elsewhere the poet talks about achieving immortality through his body of works. But it makes perfect sense for a pseudonymous author whose name was buried metaphorically in cipher.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -80- Wats

-80-

45)  Then Theobald found that Gilbert Wats’ name (with only one “t”) in the Kay cipher added up to 259, numerically equivalent to “Shakespeare”. Now I’m not endorsing the whole of Theobald’s work as I haven’t read it. And the Friedmans may well have been logical in at least nearly all of their criticism of Theobald. I don’t know. But I do find it very interesting that his name was spelt with just one “t” and that led it to have the Shakespeare Kay value of 259.

G       I       L      B      E     R      T     W      A     T      S

33 + 35 + 11 + 28 + 31 + 17 + 19 + 21 + 27 + 19 + 18 = 259 = Shakespeare

Another early Baconian, William Francis Wigston, writing in 1890 some 40 years before Theobald, also became suspicious of this Gilbert Wats, but for entirely different reasons. He recognized Bacon’s “style, phraseology, and peculiarities of language” throughout the book and in his analysis of the “true” Bacon works mentioned by Bacon’s secretary William Rawley, who listed Bacon’s authentic works in a list at the end of his Resuscitatio, and which included this “Interpretation” by “Gilbert Wats” he concluded that it had to have been the original English version written by Bacon himself. This analysis can be read, beginning on page 111, of Wigston’s book Hermes Stella: or Notes and jottings upon the Bacon cipher. One caveat in all this is that Rawley listed the Interpreter’s name as Gilbert Watts, with two “t”s. One possible explanation for this is that Rawley had said he, at least partly, based his listing of Bacon’s authentic works on his recognition of Bacon’s clear style of writing, which elsewhere he had said could be recognized even if Bacon’s name was not on it. So he may not have given close attention to noting that the “Wats” in the preface had only one “t”.

http://books.google.com/books?id=RLM8AAAAYAAJ&lpg=PR17&ots=y16h1zTJod&dq=shakespeare%20mispagination%20bacon%2053&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q=authenticity&f=false

If Bacon did write this 1640 version of the Advancement himself, and no Gilbert Wats had anything to do with it, then the many allusions in it, not all of which I’ve covered, to Shakespeare and the First Folio make additional sense. They can then be seen as hints or possible clues to Bacon’s authorship. To strike them all down as coincidences doesn’t seem plausible. The Friedmans did not try to demonstrate that they can be explained by randomness. They seem to have been far more concerned with the lack of definitely established rules for decipherment, rules to which Bacon’s allusions and word/number puzzles may not be easily applied.

Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -79- Lawyer

-79-

42)  Now we return to significant page numbers. First we consider that page 103 of the Comedies can represent the name “Shakespeare” in the Simple alphabet. Then we find that on the previous page of 102, that the last word (not counting the turnover word) is “will”. This can give the coded reading of “Will Shakespeare”. There are only two page 103s in the whole First Folio. This could of course just be a coincidence, but there are quite a few other words that could have been in that location other than “will”.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=120

43)  Then we look at the only other page 103 in the First Folio. This is in the Histories, and the very last word (this time the Turnover word) on that page is the word “Lawyer” which was Bacon’s profession. So the collated page 103s together, along with the last spoken word on page 102 of the Comedies, can indicate “Will Shakespeare Lawyer”.

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=firstfolio&PagePosition=456

44)  There is no page 103 in the Tragedies. Though we return once more to the 1640 edition of Bacon’s “Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning”. On page 103 of this book, and only on this page, do we find the suggestive phrase of “revealed Will, and his Secret Will.”

http://www.archive.org/stream/ofadvancementp00baco#page/102/mode/2up

And to top off these seeming coincidences we return to Gilbert Wats himself. When I first mentioned him I referred to him as having “supposedly” been the “interpreter” or translator of Bacon’s work. One Baconian, Bertram Theobald, whose work the Friedmans criticized on page 177, became suspicious of this Gilbert Wats, and found that there was no Gilbert Wats that had just one ‘t’ in his last name, though it is possible that he could have spelt it with one ‘t’. And though the Gilbert Watts that is listed in the Dictionary of National Biography lists him as Bacon’s translator, this may have only been an assumption upon the editor’s part.

The DNB listing can be found here:  http://www.archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati60stepuoft#page/66/mode/2up