BOOK REVIEWS
BACON-SHAKESPEARE.
Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup Throws New Light Upon the Mystifying Question—The Bi-Literal Cipher.
Detroit Free Press.
It is always difficult to make headway against a well-established tradition. Hence argument going to prove that Shakespeare did not write the dramas that have come down to us in his name, is discredited largely because we have so long accepted his authorship as a matter of fact. But the literature of the anti-Shakespeareans is increasing, and the time is past when a contemptuous ejaculation or a shrug of the shoulders can dispose of the evidence they have so carefully and patiently constructed. In truth, the opponents of Shakespeare have been met so often by this sort of rebuttal that they are becoming stronger and more numerous every year.
That Shakespeare’s plays were not written by the William Shaksper of Stratford, was probably first suggested by the discrepancy between the plays and what we know of the man. That Francis Bacon, the great scholar, profound thinker and literary genius of the Elizabethan era might be their author was first suggested by similarity of philosophy and sentiment, and parallelisms of thought and expression.
That Bacon’s was the greatest mind of his age is incontrovertible. Pope calls him “the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any other country, ever produced.” Lord Macaulay says: “Bacon’s mind was the most exquisitely constructed intellect that has ever been bestowed upon any of the children of men;” while Edmund Burke is even more eulogistic: “Who is there that, hearing the name of Bacon, does not instantly recognize everything; of genius, the most profound; of literature, the most extensive; of discovery, the most penetrating; of observation of human life, the most distinguishing and refined.”
If we can accept Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup’s new book, “The Bi-Literal Cipher of Francis Bacon,” as a genuine discovery and the story it tells for what it purports to be—Bacon’s own—the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy is forever at rest. There can be no further doubt that Bacon wrote not only the plays ascribed to Shakespeare, but also the works appearingunder the names of Spenser and Peele, Greene and Marlowe, and Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. Mrs. Gallup’s discovery of a cipher running through them all explains the remarkable similarities that have perplexed critics by demonstrating beyond a shadow of doubt—if we accept it at all—that Bacon’s genius originated them all.
Some inquiries naturally suggest themselves. The first and most natural question is, Was Bacon a writer of ciphers? The business of statesmanship required skill in ciphers in his day, and little important court and diplomatic business was carried on except under such cover. Bacon’s earliest public experience was with Sir Amyas Paulet for three years in the court of France, and his was one of the brightest intellects of his time.
The next question is, Did he possess the cipher here used? This must be answered in the affirmative, for it is found fully explained and its uses pointed out in his Latin work, “De Augmentis,” the original of which, published in 1624, has been submitted to the writer for examination. It is found also translated in full in the standard Spedding, Ellis & Heath edition of Bacon’s works, found in every library.
A third question is, What is the nature and method of the cipher? We cannot do better than quote directly from Bacon’s “Advancement of Learning,” copied from this volume:
“For by this art a way is opened whereby a man may express and signify the intentions of his mind at any distance of place, by objects which may be presented to the eye and accommodated to the ear, provided those objects be capable of a two-fold difference only—as by bells, by trumpets, by lights and torches, by the reports of muskets, and any instruments of a like nature.
“But to pursue our enterprise, when you address yourself to write resolve your inward infolded letter into this Bi-literarie alphabet, * * * together with this you must have a bi-formed alphabet, as well capital letters as the smaller characters, in a double form, as fits every man’s occasion.”
Bacon calls this the “omnia per omnia,” the all in all cipher, and speaks of it as an invention of his own made while at the Court of France, when he was but 16 or 18 years of age.
This cipher and its obvious adaptations, it is stated, is the basis of nearly every alphabetical cipher code in present general use—the alternating dot and dash of the Morse telegraph code, the long and short exposure of light in the heliographic telegraph and the “wig-wag” signals of flags or lights in the armies and navies of the world.
As used by Bacon, two slightly differing fonts of Italic type were employed, one font representing the letter a, the other the letter b. These were alternated in groups of five in his literature, each group of five letters representing one letter of the alphabet in the secret work. The full alphabet and several illustrations of the working of the cipher in the original works are given; in fact, every possible aid to the student and investigator who wishes to verify for himself the existence of the cipher and the mode of its deciphering is freely offered in the introduction, prefaces and fac-similes in Mrs. Gallup’s work.
Assuming that the cipher is Bacon’s and that it has been accurately transcribed, the story told the world in it is beyond the dreams of romance; it is simply astounding.
The cipher story asserts that Bacon was the grandson of Henry VIII., the son of Queen Elizabeth and rightful heir to the throne of England. That while imprisoned in the Tower of London, where Lord Leicester was also confined, Elizabeth, before becoming queen, was secretly married to Leicester. The issue of the marriage was two sons, the so-called Francis Bacon—whose life was, there is little reason to doubt, preserved through the womanly pity and compassion of Mistress Anne Bacon—and Robert Devereaux, afterward Earl of Essex. The political exigencies of the time did not admit the public acknowledgment of the marriage. Francis was raised as the son of Nicholas and Anne Bacon, and Elizabeth crowned as the Virgin Queen. It pleased her to continue the deceit and Francis remained ignorant of his descent until about sixteen years of age, when Elizabeth, in one of her historic rages, revealed the truth to him and banished him to France.
Thenceforward Bacon’s life was one long disappointed hope, which found expression in the secrecy of the cipher. This he interwove in every original edition of his works, hoping, and intending, that in the long future the cipher would be read, and he be justified in the opinion of mankind. If his cipher was discovered too soon, his life would pay the forfeit, if never, his labor would be in vain. In 1623, when 62 years of age and near his death, he published the key to the cipher in “De Augmentis” in the hope that it would lead to the unraveling. If this volume is correct, it took 300 years of time and a bright American woman to separate the web and woof.
If this story seems incredible, the literary claim is still more so. The literary and philosophical works of Bacon are sufficiently wonderful, without more. All reviewers and biographers regard him as possessing one of the most wonderful intellectsin the world’s history. These opinions were based upon his known works. We are now asked to believe that not only these, but the works ascribed to Shakespeare, Spenser, Marlowe, Greene, Peele, Burton, and part of Ben Jonson’s were written by him, and that in each and every one of them this bi-literal cipher was placed, to the end that his rights and claims, wrongs and sufferings could become known, at some time, to the world.
Not the least of these marvels is that the “Anatomy of Melancholy” of Robert Burton is found to have been published under the name of T. Bright, when Burton was 10 years of age. A later edition is now found to contain, in the bi-literal cipher, the Argument of the Iliad, with portions freely translated into blank verse, differing in form from any translation heretofore made and remarkable for elegance of style and diction. Take for example a passage describing the outbreak between the Greeks and Trojans, incited by Minerva by the order of Jove, at the solicitation of Juno:
“As in the ocean wide,A driving wind from the northwest comes forthWith force resistless, and the swelling wavesSucceed so fast that scarce an eye may seeWhere one in pain doth bring another forth,Till, on the rockie shore resounding loudThey spit forth foam white as the mountain snows,And break themselves upon the o’er-jutting rocks—Thus mightily, the Grecian phalanxesIncessantly mov’d onward to th’ battaile.It might not then be said that anie manPossessed power of human speech or thought,So silentlie did they their leaders followIn reverentiall awe. Each chief commandedThe troops that came with him—each led his owne—Glitt’ring in arms, bright shining as the sunne,While in well ordered phalanxes they mov’d.“The Trojan hosts were like unto a flockClose in a penne folded at fall of night,That bleating looked th’ waye their young ones wentAnd filled th’ avre with dire confusion—Such was the noyse among the Trojan hosts.No two gave utterance to the same crye,So various were the nations and the countriesFrom whence they came. * * *“Like wintry mountain torrent roaring loudThat frightes th’ shepheard in th’ deepe ravineMixing the floods tumultuously that poureFrom forth an hundred gushing springs at once,Thus did the deaf’ning battaile din arise,When meeting in one place with direful forceIn tumult and alarums th’ armies joyned.Then might of warriour met an equall might;Shields clasht on shields, the brazen spear on spearWhile dying groans mixt with the battaile cryIn awesome sound; and steedes were fetlock deepeIn blood, fast flowing as the armies met.”
“As in the ocean wide,A driving wind from the northwest comes forthWith force resistless, and the swelling wavesSucceed so fast that scarce an eye may seeWhere one in pain doth bring another forth,Till, on the rockie shore resounding loudThey spit forth foam white as the mountain snows,And break themselves upon the o’er-jutting rocks—Thus mightily, the Grecian phalanxesIncessantly mov’d onward to th’ battaile.It might not then be said that anie manPossessed power of human speech or thought,So silentlie did they their leaders followIn reverentiall awe. Each chief commandedThe troops that came with him—each led his owne—Glitt’ring in arms, bright shining as the sunne,While in well ordered phalanxes they mov’d.“The Trojan hosts were like unto a flockClose in a penne folded at fall of night,That bleating looked th’ waye their young ones wentAnd filled th’ avre with dire confusion—Such was the noyse among the Trojan hosts.No two gave utterance to the same crye,So various were the nations and the countriesFrom whence they came. * * *“Like wintry mountain torrent roaring loudThat frightes th’ shepheard in th’ deepe ravineMixing the floods tumultuously that poureFrom forth an hundred gushing springs at once,Thus did the deaf’ning battaile din arise,When meeting in one place with direful forceIn tumult and alarums th’ armies joyned.Then might of warriour met an equall might;Shields clasht on shields, the brazen spear on spearWhile dying groans mixt with the battaile cryIn awesome sound; and steedes were fetlock deepeIn blood, fast flowing as the armies met.”
“As in the ocean wide,A driving wind from the northwest comes forthWith force resistless, and the swelling wavesSucceed so fast that scarce an eye may seeWhere one in pain doth bring another forth,Till, on the rockie shore resounding loudThey spit forth foam white as the mountain snows,And break themselves upon the o’er-jutting rocks—Thus mightily, the Grecian phalanxesIncessantly mov’d onward to th’ battaile.It might not then be said that anie manPossessed power of human speech or thought,So silentlie did they their leaders followIn reverentiall awe. Each chief commandedThe troops that came with him—each led his owne—Glitt’ring in arms, bright shining as the sunne,While in well ordered phalanxes they mov’d.
“As in the ocean wide,
A driving wind from the northwest comes forth
With force resistless, and the swelling waves
Succeed so fast that scarce an eye may see
Where one in pain doth bring another forth,
Till, on the rockie shore resounding loud
They spit forth foam white as the mountain snows,
And break themselves upon the o’er-jutting rocks—
Thus mightily, the Grecian phalanxes
Incessantly mov’d onward to th’ battaile.
It might not then be said that anie man
Possessed power of human speech or thought,
So silentlie did they their leaders follow
In reverentiall awe. Each chief commanded
The troops that came with him—each led his owne—
Glitt’ring in arms, bright shining as the sunne,
While in well ordered phalanxes they mov’d.
“The Trojan hosts were like unto a flockClose in a penne folded at fall of night,That bleating looked th’ waye their young ones wentAnd filled th’ avre with dire confusion—Such was the noyse among the Trojan hosts.No two gave utterance to the same crye,So various were the nations and the countriesFrom whence they came. * * *
“The Trojan hosts were like unto a flock
Close in a penne folded at fall of night,
That bleating looked th’ waye their young ones went
And filled th’ avre with dire confusion—
Such was the noyse among the Trojan hosts.
No two gave utterance to the same crye,
So various were the nations and the countries
From whence they came. * * *
“Like wintry mountain torrent roaring loudThat frightes th’ shepheard in th’ deepe ravineMixing the floods tumultuously that poureFrom forth an hundred gushing springs at once,Thus did the deaf’ning battaile din arise,When meeting in one place with direful forceIn tumult and alarums th’ armies joyned.Then might of warriour met an equall might;Shields clasht on shields, the brazen spear on spearWhile dying groans mixt with the battaile cryIn awesome sound; and steedes were fetlock deepeIn blood, fast flowing as the armies met.”
“Like wintry mountain torrent roaring loud
That frightes th’ shepheard in th’ deepe ravine
Mixing the floods tumultuously that poure
From forth an hundred gushing springs at once,
Thus did the deaf’ning battaile din arise,
When meeting in one place with direful force
In tumult and alarums th’ armies joyned.
Then might of warriour met an equall might;
Shields clasht on shields, the brazen spear on spear
While dying groans mixt with the battaile cry
In awesome sound; and steedes were fetlock deepe
In blood, fast flowing as the armies met.”
Still another chapter in the romance of Bacon’s life is disclosed in the cipher. Because of a late and somewhat mercenary marriage, he has been considered as having a cold nature, a conclusion hightened by the loveless comments of his Essay on Love. But the cipher writing discloses an early disappointment as the cause. While in France, and 17, he was violently enamored of the beautiful but dissolute Marguerite, wife of Henry of Navarre, and his senior by something like eight years. A divorce from Henry and her union with Bacon, the rightful Prince of Wales, was actually planned. The fair Marguerite proved fickle also, but his writings are filled with references to his affection for her which her falseness could not, apparently, extinguish. He tells us himself that “Romeo and Juliet” was written to picture their love, saying: “The joy of life ebb’d from our hearts with our parting, and it never came againe into this bosom in full flood-tide.” Another interesting episode brought out is Bacon’s account of his brother’s treason and his self-justification and remorse at his own part in the punishment that was meted out to him.
The verity of the cipher Mrs. Gallup has so painstakingly and with such unwearied patience unfolded would seem to be sustained by the fact that it is Bacon’s own invention, fully—even elaborately—set forth in one of his later writings, when, Elizabeth being dead and he himself near his end, he had less fear of consequences should his secret be discovered—indeed, he came to fear it would not be discovered and that he would not be justified to posterity.
So much of reserve as is due to lack of personal demonstration is maintained by the writer, but here are 360 pages of deciphered matter, with sufficient means of proof to satisfy any investigator. There can be no middle ground; one must accept or deny it in toto. Either the decipherer has made a most remarkable discovery to which the key has been open for three centuries, or the book is equally remarkable from an entirely different point of view. If accepted, truly “th’ tardy epistle shall turn over an unknowne leaf of the historie of our land.”