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^eing a curious, or novel, discovery, with an illustrative description, oj an Jinagram, in the ^iliteral characters, of the name, William Shakespeare, covertly infoulded within another infoulded cypher in Francis Bacons original London folio edition of T>e JJagmentis Scientiarum, S published, notably, at the same time as the First Folio edition of the Immortal "Plays.
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CONTEMPORARY REFERENCES.
" He, who hath fill'd up all numbers, and perform'd that in our tongue, which may be compar'd or preferr'd either to insolent Greece or Haughty Rome." — ^Ben JoNSON, on Bacon, in " Discoveries," 1641.
" The most prodigious wit that I ever knew of any nation, and of this side the sea, is of your Lordship's name, though he be known by another." — Sir Tobie Matthew, in a letter to Bacon.
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A Cypher Within a Cypher,
" By indirection find thy clear direction out," — Bacon.
" Perspectives . . . rightly gaz'd upon, Show nothing but confusion — ey'd awry, Distinguish form." — Shakespeare.
BACON ELABORATES AN OLD CYPHER.
I have elsewhere shown, by historical precedent, how Francis Bacon, following on the heels of the Colonna cypher,* has curiously insinuated his signature into the text of The Tempest, the first play in the First Folio collection; and I shall now attempt to show that he has, with similar ingenuity, concealed the signature William Shakespeare in the text of his oj>enly-acknowledged work, De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientia/rum, published at London, in folio, earlier in the same year.
HE INVENTS A NEW ONE.
In Baconiatm, published in 1679, and attributed to Archbishop Tenison, the author of the lengthy preface, signed " T. T.," is at pains to direct attention to this edition of De Augmentis as the best one. He writes : — " Whosoever would understand the Lord Bacon's cypher, let him consult that accurate edition. For, in sotme other editions which T have perused, the form of the letters of the Alphabet, in which much of the mystery consisteth, is not c':served ; but the Eoman and Italic shapes of them are confounded."
Taking this hint for something more than meets the eye — inasmuch as a com- parison of the several editions does not appear to justify the alleged confusion of types referred to; as well as finding two slightly different impressions, as to some of the cypher letters, of the 1623 edition itself; and, moreover, being solicitous to discover a law for the double differences in the variatien of forms of the italic letters presented in the body of the book, by a reference to the peculiar variations of form observable in the script characters which are employed to illustrate the cypher — I made a close observation of these respective differences, and in doing so discovered, quite incident- ally, that Francis Bacon had made a covert use of the cypher in his overt illustration of it, which may serve as a mirror to reflect a side-light upon the vexed question of Bacon's and Shakespeare's dual personality. The very subtlety of this resort was well calculated to screen it from general view, and it is small matter for wonder that it has hitherto escaped attention, as far as I am aware.
MRS. ELIZABETH QALLTTP'S OVERSIGHT.
Even Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup — ^who, in her remarkable book, The Biliteral (Cypher of Francis Bacon, informs us that she has devoted most of her life to the deciphering of secret Elizabethan history from the italic print in Francis Bacon's books — affirms in regard to her deciphering from De Augmentis, that no part of the cypher story is embodied in the script, or pen-letters, used for purposes of illustration
* nypnerotomQchia Poliphili, published anonymously at Vejuce, in 1499,
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in that work. This is doubtless true, for the isolated signature, William Shakespeare, which I have found in the form of an anagram, was reserved exclusively for the script characters, as I shall presently show ; and it in nowise interferes with any other cypher matter said to he emibodied in the italic letters of the book. It is therefore proper to point out that nothing in this essay will be^ found which necessarily detracts from or is inconsistent with Mrs. Gallup's averment that Francis Bacon not only illustrated his Biliteral Cypher, and its modus operandi, but actually used it, as well as other cyphers, in his printed books; on the other hand, the evidence which I shall adduce will be found to corroborate that statement by a specific instance.
THE BILITERAL ALPHABET.
In the Chapter on Cyphers (lib. vi., c.l.). Bacon presents an example of his Biliteral Cypher, and tells us that he invented it in his youth, .when at Paris. ■^ In order that the reader may easily grasp its principles, I cannot do better than repro- duce, in facsimile, the pages of the 1623 De Augmentis, | which explain them in the clearest manner. Plate I. shows an example of a Biliteral Alphabet, which is the first principle. All the letters of the common Alphabet are represented, by divers yet orderly and progressive transpositions of two letters only, a and h , into groups of five. These two letters are merely selected as symbols, and are not divested of their capacity to figure in the common Alphabet on that account.
THE BI-FORMED ALPHABET.
In the next place, it is necessary, for the practical application of this Cypher, to employ a Bi-formed Alphabet; that is, each letter of the covering matter, be it script or type, must be represented in at least two dissimilar forms, so that, when writing out a letter or setting up a page of print, either of these forms may be selected as occasion requires, in accordance with the alternating positions of the symbols, ae pointed out. This second principle is plainly exhibited on Plate II. The differences of configuration in the Capital double letters are conspicuous : some of those in the lower-case, or small, letters are not so, and will demand exacting attention.
A SIMPLE EXAMPLE.
The examination of Plate III. affords a simple example of the application of the Cypher. It is desired to send a secret message, " Fuge " [/^?/l, and any kind of exterior communication having at least five times the number of letters required to " infouJd " this word of four letters will serve. The sentence selected is: —
" Manere te volo donee venero" (Do not go till I come).
This sentence contains 23 letters, and therefore three are superfluous, which matters not, for these are to be regarded as " nulls," ae explained. It will be at once seen that the differing forms of the script characters in the above sentence answer very accurately to the example© in the Bi-formed Alphabet ; and that, when marked off as to their respective categories, and resolved into groups or divisions of five (so that each such group may be converted into a letter of the Biliteral Alphabet), the word " Fuge " will be presented. So far, so good; but what I specially desire to point out is that the decoded word ' ' Fuge ' ' itself ie illustrated by script characters,
* He also refers to an earlier Biliteral Cypher, a.s set forth, together with a Tri-literal and a Quinquiliteral Cypher, in Mercury; or, the Secret and Swift Messenger, ascribed to Bishop Wilkins, and dated 1641.
tThe illustrations are from the copy in the possession of Dr. J. Dane, which slightly differs, in some of the cypher-letter forms, from those of the two copies in the British Museum Library. It is said that only fifty copies of this edition were printed, and that only some half-a-dozen are now known to, be extant. I have also examined the copy formerly belonging U> Basil Montagiu, Esg., but now in the possession of Mrs, D. J. Kindersley, of Hove.
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and in the doiible forms ! Why such a peculiar and needless typographical irregu- larity ? Was i"t devised in that manner for the purpose of concealing a suggestion? Let us see. The first letter is a 6 symbol, and the remaining three are a symbols. Does not this suggest Bacon? Moreover, the first, being an F letter and a B symbol, furnishes us with an ingenious example of a double monogram in a single letter.
The question will arise : what does this signify : is not the author's name suffi- ciently disclosed on the title-page? Precisely; my point is to show tLat Bacon is here again follo\ving the Colonna precedent very closely; for in the E pitaphiiim Polia of Colonna's work, the initial letters of the- first words of the first lines are F, C, and they are conspicuously separated from the other letters of the words of which they are properly a part, for the obvious purpose of arresting attention and suggesting direc- tion. This, too, was accounted a quaint typographical procedure until someone thought of applying the hint, thus given out, to the initial letters of the initial lines of the several sections or chapters of the book, when, among other matters, the full name, Franciscus Columna, was progressively spelled out, thus establishing the author's identity by internal evidence.
AN ELABORATED EXAMPLE.
Let U6 now examine the second and fuller example of the Biliteral Cypher involved in the First Epistle of Cicero, shown an Plate IV. We begin to detect a departure from consistency between some of the forms of the Bi-formed Alphabet and the letters of the said Epistle; and had not the author himself given us (see Plate III.) the actual cypher words shown to be concealed in that Epistle, we might have been somewhat at sea in an attempt to decipher some of the letters for ourselves, with the aid of the " key" alone, and without a little more than ordinary mental perception. But since the author has thus disclosed the cypher message which the Epistle contains, we shall make no error in classification if we go through the letters thereof, one by one, and carefully mark them as a's or h's, in conformity with the predetermined letters of the cypher message. But if we thereafter compare the forms with those of the Bi-formed Alphabet, we shall not fail to note a few apparent inconsistencies, and mark the introduction of changed forms, and imagine that the author himself has confounded some of the shapes of the letters, cr has occasionally employed the symbols qmte indiscriminately.
To wit : the two letters i in the word officio on the first line are classified as h and a symbols respectively, but so small is the difference in their forms that an untraine-d eye will not detect it. Nevertheless, the first is slightly less obtuse in its angle of inclination from the base line, than the second, and its lower curve is slightly more acute. The example in the Biformed Alphabet merely illustrates the latter of the two aspects of form by exaggeration. The s in potius also appears to be an error, yet its thickness in the lower curve may indicate a new form of the b symbol. The ;• in ergate is also, apparently, wrongly classified, as a reference to the Alphabet will show. The two composite features of this letter which enable it to be discriminated as an a or 6 symbol are (a) a seriph at the foot of the stem, and the simple, right-hand, turnover limb, curving downwardly, and (b) the absence of the seriph at the foot of the stem, and a right-hand turnover limb with an acute reverse direction, curving upwardly. The r in ergate, although classified as an a symbol, answers, in these respects, to the b symbol, with this exception, viz., that its left-hand limb has taken on a new feature, being close, and almost solid with the stem ; unlike the next r in the word caeteris (b symbol) on the second line, which is very sharply defined, as to point the contrast. The first r in meritorum, on the fourth line, is also marked ae an a symbol, but its left-hand limb is sharply defined, as in the preceding instance, although classified as a 6 symbol. The right-hand Hmb, however, is more dwarfed, which suggests a law of compensation for the several variations in th« forme of a
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single 671111301. The seriphs of the remaining three r's in the line, different from the key, have an upward direction.
The next significant change in the form of this letter occurs on the eleventh line, in the word agehatur. Here, the upper part of the letter conforms to the regular h symbol, and it is classified as such; but note that it has the level seriph at the foot of the stem, which, by the " key," is one of the two characteristics of the a symbol.*
TIED LETTERS, DIPTHONGS, DIGRAPHS, &c.
A frequent and peculiar joining of some of the letters of words is observable in the examples, as well as in the cypher message of the Cicero' Epistle. I refer to this because Mrs. Gallup, in referring to a similar thing in the: Epistle, illustrated in the 1624 edition, says that two of the letters are wrongly classified, apparently, by the author ; yet, owing to their being tied letters, their symbols are tO' be reversed by " the law of tied letters." I have carefully examined all the tied letters in the 1623 edition, and am assured that none of the letters there require to be reversed in their classification for such reason ; moreover, it would be difficult to decide which or how many of such letters should be reversed by the fact of their conjunction. Lucem spero.
On the second line, the division of the dipthong plainly indicates the principle that dipthongs are to be treated as separate letters, which could not well be otherwise. And we are bound to assume that all these changes and modifications were a part of the Cypher plan, that they were really intentional by the author, and were not to be regarded as errors (except by the uninitiated) ; because only on such an hypothesis may the deciphered message with accuracy be extracted. Deciphering, as, Bacon telle us, is " an art which requires great pains and a good wit."
THE DECIPHERED MESSAGE.
Let us now confine attention to the deciphered message itself. Like those in the first example, the letters are set out in script characters with inconstant forms. A further departure from the previously illustrated forms of the script characters is also to be noted. In several instances, the double forms are " mixed by cootnpact." The Capitals N in Neque and B in Res, are turned into a new combination; as also are the small letters, d in Mindarus and s in passunins; thus conforming more nearly to the a symbols. The familiar Greek small e has vanished entirely, and another slightly differing form of the a symbol is substituted. It is larger, with a more pronounced tangent in ite tail. The first capital M, in the word, Mindarus, has been transformed into a hybrid, its first stem having one of the features of the a, and one of the h, symbols. The differentiation O'f this obvious h letter is shown in the capital M in the word, Milites, to the right hand stem of which is attached an unusual mark, which is a silent direc- tion to reverse the power of that letter. If we refer to the Bi-formed Alphabet, we may discover a back-handed precedent for this in the capital letter, 0 (the common symbol for cypher), for both the symbols are represented by a single form, exteriorly, and the only distinguishing feature about it is that the addition of a dot in its centre is sufficient to reverse its power. In this connection, the following extract from Mrs. Gallup's " cypher narrative " from the italic letters in Bacon's original (1622) edition of The Historic of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, is at least apropos: —
* Bishop Wilkins, in Mercury, noting the too conspicuous -distinction in the double forms of the letters in the Biliteral Cypher, informs us that for "a better secrecy in this particular, it were safer to mix them both bv compact, that they might not, in themselves, be distinguishable." And that "if this kiiid of writing be mixed with the latter way of secrecy, by two letters transposed through five places ; we may then -write Omnia per Omnia, which ... is the highest degree of this Cyphering."
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" You can marke these chang'd : capital W, C, L, D — c, small, as yon alreadie have some time noted, is at present, if unchanged by dots, in accorde with all, but h, d, g, disti'ctly alter their stile. After they attach some marke, all our letters, as if one ha' struck a gale, turn keel; a then becometh b, and h, a. Your quick eie catches, soon, all this that aids them greatly in working th' storie Qut in full. But in so much of th' cipher as is easilie foUow'd, it is too transparent. If, therefore, you find [i] it mo' trieth or oo'fuseth, seeke in some portio' o' our historick works (in th' Iamb.) a law relating to th' double cipher, as it, here, would at once bee seen."*
THE COMPLEXITY OF THE BILITERAL.
The inference to be drawn from this presumptive evidence is that the author had introduced misleading modifications into the Biliteral Cypher, for the purpose of greater concealment, at least a year before its principles were first publicly illustrated, by script characters, in De Augmeritis. A further inference is that the cipher had been in use for a considerable time before that, and in printed books. We do know for certain that the author invented it a quarter-of-a-oentury earlier, and he aleo specifically refers to it — but without giving any key — in The Advancement of Learning, published in 1605.
A cloee observation of other characters in the deciphered message shows a further gradual transition (or retrogression) from the script forms to those of the more conventional italic letter-press. The small letter d in Mindarus is very like in form to that of the a symbol in the Alphabet, but its fuller bearing, with its angular lower curve of the stem, stamps it as a 6 symbol, in effective contrast to the three other similar forms of the same letter, which are a symbols. The gradual passing of the foot eeriph of the small letter r, noted in the examination of the Cicero Epistle, is here entirely eliminated. The small letter t has undergone a similar transformation with regard to its connected tail-piece and crcss-bar. The small letter n has two distingmshing features, but are very subtle.
From the foregoing considerations we see that the Biliteral Cypher, as presented by its author, is a valuable object-lesson in the principles of his inductive method ; that the former depends upon the latter for its solution ; and that it is not, nor was intended to be, a merely mechanical artifice which any dunce might easily com- prehend.
It is a circumstance to be noted that in the Latin edition of this work, published at Paris in the following year, the cypher examples were illustrated in the usual script characters, whereas the Cypher message was printed in italic type in double forms. The rule was followed in the subsequent editions issued at Leyden in 1645, and at Amsterdam in 1662. A notable exception is the Gilbert Wats' English " transla- tion," published at Oxford, in 1640. In this edition, the cypher examples and the deciphered message are in the script characters.
* This portion of Mrs. Gallup's deciphering from Henry VII. commences with the italic letter, o, in the word, Kingdome, on the 13th line of page 31. and ends with the last letter, s, in the word Councellors, on the 4th line of page 41. The italics in the page headings are used, but those in the occasional catchwords at bottoms of the pages are not. A count of the italics thus involved will be found to total 2.477, whereas those in the cypher extract total 495. There is thus a discrepancy of 2 italic letters to make the quintuple proportion hold good, which is easily explained by just two instances of obvious errors by author or printer which have to be corrected before the deciphering can proceed. The second c in Onvernement, on page 33, and the first s in thankesgivinns, on pa^^c 36, must ibe delete<l, as they otherwise lead to a false grouping— the latter, cspeciallv, bringing two h svmbols together at the commencement of the group, whereas no Biliteral-Alphabet letter commences with two b symbols. Another less unportant error may be noted in the wrong form of the letter tp, on the last line of page 31. The letter is properly an a, but is printed as a b, svmbol. The renetition of a letter, i, as shown in brackets, is another error. There are at least five dittering impressions of the original edition of Henv}/ VII.. all exteriorlv alike, and differino' only in respect of the forms of the same italic letters— the Roman tvpe, in which the body of the work is printed being undisturbed. The generous aid which Mrs. Kindersley gave, enabled me to identify the copy which Mrs. Oallup used. " / ? ;
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THE •♦KEY" ONLY A BLANK FORM.
If it be urged that so sweeping a departure from script to italics would effectually render the Bi-formefd Alphabet uselees as a " key," and that the Cypher might in these circumstances have remained forever undiscovered; I cannot reply to better purpose than to cite The Art of Secret Information disclosed without a Key, by John Falconer, published in 1685.
" 1. — You may discover from the number of characters in the writing, whether two Alphabets be used.
" 2. — After you have found out, that two Alphabets or more are used, you may, from the frequency of each particular character, etc, observe the differing letters that express the same power.
" 3. — ^And having by several Operations distinguished the Alphabets one from another, anything of new Difficulty vanisheth."
From which it plainly appears that the Bilitercd Alphabet, and not the Bi-formed Alphabet, is the only key needed for the deciphering of writing or printing, so long as the letters used, no matter how many the forms, are " capable of a two- fold differ- ence," as the author observes. In other words, the numerical ratio of the double symbols in the Alphabet — as 68+52 = 120 — is sufficiently an index for their correct classification in practice. The Bi-formed Alphabet was obviously never intended as a " key," except for the deciphering of the Cicero Epistle; and was probably only adopted to show a concrete example of the manner in which two differing forms of letters might, with the assistance of the Biliteral Alphabet, enable the Biliteral Cypher to be applied to written or printed communications.
TYPOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCES.
It is not unreasonable to assume that the presentation of the Cypher by the author in obsolete script characters was designed to direct attention to the italic letters in his books for cypher matter. That italic letter-press is a natural evolution from script characters, is indisputable. And the outstanding fact remains that the double and peculiar forms of the italic letters in the original editions of all of Bacon's and Shakespeare's books, are ubiquitous; the italic words (often extending to several pages) being used in such extraordinary and needless profusion that expert printers and literary reviewers have ever been puzzled by such a curious typographical innovation.
THE ANAGRAM.
To conclude: if we symbolize the characters of the Spartan dispatch, and divide them into groups of five, by the rules of the Biliteral Cypher, as herein set forth, the following Biliteral letters will progressively appear : —
EPKIEAALLSKWSAEHMI.
To the uninitiated, this will amount to little, no doubt; but those who are adept in reading Baconian anagrams will run their eyes along the line, of letters until they reach the 12th letter (this number being the count of the letters in Francis Bacon), when they will strike the letter W . In sequential proximity, the letter S will appear. These initials are suggestive, and the remaining letters to form the words, William Shakespeare, will be found to fall correctly into place by simple transposition.
That Francis Bacon should thus have concealed the signature, "William Shakespeare," in the text of his own acknowledged work is only paralleled in adroit- ness by the manner in which he has concealed his (?wn signature iu the text of the Shakespeare Plays,
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APPENDIX.
The following is a brief summary of the principal disclosures made in Mr?. Gallup's deciphering (comprising 24 closely printed pages) from the italics in the 1623 Dt A uf/nientis : —
Francis Bacon avows that he was the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth and Robert Dudley, who were secretlj married, but for reasons of State, this was not openly acknowledged ; that at birth, his mother, in a tumult of passion, ordered his death ; that only the humane inter- cession of the Queen's nearest attendant. Lady Bacon, saved his life, who took him under her own care and protection, as a foster cliild ; that Rol>ert Devereux, tlie ill-fated Eail of Essex, was his younger brotiier, by the same parents ; that Robert Cecil, the first Earl of Salisbury, was the mortal enemy of them both, was really responsible for the execution of Essex by most dastardly means, and ever conspired against himself to prevent his rightful succession to the throne. His life, he says, was constantly in grave peril, and he employed his Cyphers to transmit the facts of history to posterity. All was dissimulation. He lu-ges his yet unknown decipherers to follow closely all his clues, and gives particulars of a new Cypher of far larger scope, in which the full story of his life will be found. He refei"s to his illustrated Bilit«ral Cypher in the present work: "Open, manifest to anj- who i>€rchance noteth, yet doth lesse observe then my own favoured decipherer, is the example you may find herein ; but not to them that have no intuition may a ciphre, soe like and founded on a principle like every waye, be reveal'd. A letter is, to eyes ill trained, onlie a sign of an idea — in a word, it is at best a character which conveyeth thought by th' valew thereof, rather than formes. Not so to a discerning vision. If it doth have only one form, th' same can have but one well-known pur^wse ; if it be in two formes, another significance must be found, since form is that to be noted. "These matters should be clear to any who would discypher this my hidden story and truthfully make knoAvn my sad condition." Reference is also made to his early and encouraged, though ill-requited passion for Margaret de Valois. " My adverse fortune withal seem'd the theame most suited to the Plaies (containing cypher) published by and in the names of other men. ' Winter's Tale ' showeth how eveiv an owne parent would have cast me out ; that unfortunate early love for ill-fated Margaret may be clearly scene through manie stage plays where the theme is a like unfortunate love — happy at the outset, unfortunate in the end ; kings that have bowed proud heads to endure a private fortune ; a prince dishonoured by his royale mother as was Hamlet ; men enjoying honour — such honours as but of late were mine — left naked and unfriended in their age." Not only Shakespeare, but Marlowe, Edmund Si>enser, Greene, Peele, Bright and Burton were " masks " employed by him. His plan to show all this was to conceal his M.S.S. of their works in their tombs ; in which way many of the Plays may l>e found in a rec-ept^le behind the stone of the Stratford Tablet, curiously cut for the purpose. Cypher directions will aid the quest. " Thence the plays mayst thou take, if the century be passed; if it be ere long, touch none."
Mrs. Gallup furthermore claims to have traced the use of the Cypher, also, by Dr. Rawley (Bacon's Chaplain) and by Ben Jonson (Bacon's close friend); that the former supplied and signed a short confirmatory epistle at the end of the 1623 " De Augmeutis " ; that he used it in the " Apophthegmes " (1625) ; in the " Miscellany Works " which he published in 1629 ; in " The Felicity of Queen Elizabeth " (1651) ; and in " Resuscitatio " (1657 and 1671). Jonson is alleged to have signed a cypher letter in " The Fox " (1616 Folio edn.), which contains the statement: " My works do not all come from mine owne penne, for I shall name to you some plays that came forth fro' Sir F. Bacon, his worthy hand, or head, I bein' but the masque behind which he was surely hid. Th' play entitl'd ' Sejanus ' was his, and th' King's, Queene's, Prince's ' Entertainments ' ; the Queene's ' Masques ' are his, also th' short * Panegyre. ' "
The disclosures made in the foregoing cypher Summary are as startling as they are at variance with the generally accepted evidences of history. But the professed object of the cypher was to record a correction of history itself in many important particulars; in short, to give certainty to conjecture in the omissions to be read '■' between the lines." Therefore, the veracity of the historical traditions should demand as close a scrutiny as the statements in the cypher. The vulgar opinion that Elizabeth was a virgin queen can scarcely be supported by the recorded incidents cf her time. The question of the Succession being uppermost in men's minds, she procured an Act to make it penal to discuss that question. She was also a party to an enactment that the Succession should devolve on "the natural heirs of her body!" Strange proceeding for a Virgin queen, surely; but a question of
— 12 —
legitimacy might have arisen, inasmuch as the cypher says that she had been a second time clandestinely married shortly after the death of Amy Robsart (Dudley's iirst wife), and only four months before Bacon's own birth. Then, in a dangerous illness in October, 1562, she signified to the Council her desire of leaving Ix)rd Robert Protector of the Realm in event of her death ; which is recorded in De Quadra's letters to the Duchess of Parma and Philip II. of Spain. Referring to the enactment making it i>enal to speak of any other successor to the crown than the issue of the reigning queen. Miss Agnes Strickland, in her " Life of Queen Elizabeth," says: — " Elizabeth's fastidious delicacy in ref vising to have the word ' lawfixl ' annexed — as if it were possible that any other than legitimate children could be born of her — gave rise not only to unnecessary discvissions on the subject, but some defamatory reports as to her luotives for objecting to the customary word." A Norfolk gentleman named Marsham was tried for saying " that my Lord of Leicester had two children by the queen, and was condemned to lose both his ears, or else to pay a hundred pounds. In Vol. 16, p. 114, of the " Dictionary of National Biography," there occurs the following: — "Whatever were the Queen's relations with Dudley before his wife's death, they became closer after. It was reported that she was formally betrothed to him, and that she had secretly married him in Lord Pembroke's house, and that she was a mother already" (Januai-y, 1560-1). There is a mass of evidence to the same effect in the State Papers.
The first life of Bacon to appear in print was published at Paris in 1631, from which may be gleaned many important things not disclosed by Rawley in 1670, although Gilbert Wats has nothing but praise for the French account. I commend the English translation thereof contained in Mr. Granville C. Cuningham's illum- inating book, " Bacon's Secret Disclosed in Contemporary Books." In the Dedica- tion by " D. M.," Bacon is described as a " Prince-Philosopher," and elsewhere as ^' great in birth," "born in the purple," " brought up with the expectation of a great career," and "destined one day to hold in his hands the helm of the King- dom . ' '
A curious inscription on the top of the staircase at Canonbury Tower (Islington) also merits attention. It purports to be a genealogy of English Kings from the time of William I. to Charles I. It is painted, and in Latin. Everything is in order until the name of " Elizabetha " is reached, after which is a hiatus. For between ber name and that of " Jacobuo " (James) there is an adequate space for another name, which has been mutilated to such an extent that the only trace left is an initial capital F . I endeavoured, with the aid of a powerful glass, to trace any possible stains, through the stone, of succeeding letters, but in vain. The inscription was noticed in Nelson's " History of Islington," published a century ago, when the letters F K were then plainly discernible. Francis Bacon held a long lease of Canonbury Tower, and lived there some time.
An examination into the circumstances of the life of Robert Devereux should }>e made and considered with the omitted provision, as with Bacon, from the will of his supposed parent; his extraordinary favours and liberties at Coiirt, as with Bacon ; his trial for attempting to seize the throne by force ; his execution on Tower Green (a place reserved for private and royal executions); the cutting of his name, " Robaii; Tidir " [Tudor] in the stonework of his cell at the Tower; and many other matters of peculiar importance, which point to a confirmation of the cypher.
A further examination of the tombs of Bacon's friends, by whose names it is alleged he " masked " numerous dramatical, poetical, satirical, and other works (apart froan those dealing with Philosophy, and openly signed), ought to be taken up by those in authority ; by which means, the actual authorship of their several books, as well as the cypher statements referring thereunto, might be authenticated or otherwise cleared up.
Fiat justitia, ruat ccelum.
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