Neitheris it asmall thing these cypher charactershave, andmay performe.Forby thisArt away isopened whereby a man may expresse and signifietheintentionsofhisminde at anydistance of place, by objects whichmay be presented tohis eye andeaccommodatedtothe eare providedthose objects becapable of a twofold difference only,as by bells,bytrumpets,by lights, bytorches, by thereportof muskets, and byany instrumentsof likenature.Butto pursue ourenterprisewhen....
Neitheris it asmall thing these cypher charactershave, andmay performe.Forby thisArt away isopened whereby a man may expresse and signifietheintentionsofhisminde at anydistance of place, by objects whichmay be presented tohis eye andeaccommodatedtothe eare providedthose objects becapable of a twofold difference only,as by bells,bytrumpets,by lights, bytorches, by thereportof muskets, and byany instrumentsof likenature.Butto pursue ourenterprisewhen....
Into this passage I have printed the following lines in cypher:
The star of Shakespeare pales; but, brighter far,Burns, through the dusk he leaves, an ampler star.
The star of Shakespeare pales; but, brighter far,Burns, through the dusk he leaves, an ampler star.
The star of Shakespeare pales; but, brighter far,Burns, through the dusk he leaves, an ampler star.
The star of Shakespeare pales; but, brighter far,
Burns, through the dusk he leaves, an ampler star.
Founts of italic type might be found the differences between which would be much more minute than those existing between the two used here, but which would yet be visible to the trained eye of a printer’s reader, and by means of which a cypher might be printed quite legible to the expert, but undistinguishable for all the world besides. If, therefore, a biliteral Bacon’s cypher does really exist in the first folio of Shakespeare, we must be prepared to find that the unravelling of it is a matter of considerable difficulty, and that the ocular evidences of its existence are a long time in becoming plain to us.
I must now draw attention to another aspect of the question. If the cypher does not really exist, the entire matter, amounting to between three and four hundred pages, which Mrs. Gallup professes to have deciphered, is an elaborate literary forgery. I recommend the reader to study these pages, and ask if their character is such as to suggest this conclusion. I can here quote one passage only, which is alleged to have been printed, not into the Shakespearian folio, but into theNew Atlantis. It refers to the writer’s supposed early love affair. If it be a forgery, it is one of extraordinary ingenuity; so full does it seem to me of pathetic and dignified beauty, and so strongly does it bear the marks of genuine and acute sincerity.
Th’ fame of th’ gay French Court had come to me even then, and it was flattering to th’ youthfull and most naturall love o’ th’ affaires taking us from my native land, insomuch as th’ secret commission had been entrusted to me, which required most true wisdome for safer, speedier conduct then ’twould have if left to th’ common course of businesse. Soe with much interessed, though sometimes apprehensive minde, I made myself ready to accompany Sir Amyias to that sunny land o’ th’ South I learned so supremely to love, that afterwards I would have left England and every hope of advancement, to remain my whole life there. Nor yet could this be due to th’ delight of th’ country by itselfe; for love o’ sweete Marguerite, th’ beautifull young sister o’ th’ king (married to gallant Henry th’ King o’ Navarre) did make it Eden to my innocent heart; and even when I learned her perfidie, love did keepe her like th’ angels in my thoughts half o’ th’ time—as to th’ other half she was devilish, and I myselfe was plung’d into hell. This lasted duri’g many yeares, and, not until four decades or eight lustres o’ my life were outliv’d, did I take any other to my sore heart. Then I married th’ woman who hath put Marguerite from my memorie—rather I should say hath banished her portrait to th’ walles of memorie only, where it doth hang in th’ pure undimmed beauty of those early dayes.W. H. Mallock.
Th’ fame of th’ gay French Court had come to me even then, and it was flattering to th’ youthfull and most naturall love o’ th’ affaires taking us from my native land, insomuch as th’ secret commission had been entrusted to me, which required most true wisdome for safer, speedier conduct then ’twould have if left to th’ common course of businesse. Soe with much interessed, though sometimes apprehensive minde, I made myself ready to accompany Sir Amyias to that sunny land o’ th’ South I learned so supremely to love, that afterwards I would have left England and every hope of advancement, to remain my whole life there. Nor yet could this be due to th’ delight of th’ country by itselfe; for love o’ sweete Marguerite, th’ beautifull young sister o’ th’ king (married to gallant Henry th’ King o’ Navarre) did make it Eden to my innocent heart; and even when I learned her perfidie, love did keepe her like th’ angels in my thoughts half o’ th’ time—as to th’ other half she was devilish, and I myselfe was plung’d into hell. This lasted duri’g many yeares, and, not until four decades or eight lustres o’ my life were outliv’d, did I take any other to my sore heart. Then I married th’ woman who hath put Marguerite from my memorie—rather I should say hath banished her portrait to th’ walles of memorie only, where it doth hang in th’ pure undimmed beauty of those early dayes.
W. H. Mallock.