Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-04-02
BACON WROTE SHAKESPEARE.
No Says Ignatius Donnelly, Who Claims TO Have
Made Wonderful Climber Discoverjas


30 Says Ignatius Donnelly, Who Claims TO Have
Made Wonderful Cipher Discoveries.
Ignatius Donnelly is engaged in his
leisure while in Washington in writing
on his forthcoming book on the Shakes
peare-Bacon controversy. He claims TO
have discovered running through the
plays a cipher history of the times in
which they were written, the real secret
of Bacon authorship and Shakespeare
connection with them. Mr.. Donnelly,
in an interview with your correspond.
ent, says that his attention was drawn
to the subject by Boys Own book
that was given one of his sons. In this
book was a chapter on ciphers, and an
allusion to what Bacon had written
about them. Taking down his Bacon
he found that the philosopher showed
preference for a cipher of words, and
laid down the rule that the best cipher
is one where ''the secret story is unfold
ed by larger body of words. holding
quintuple relation to the writing I'M
folded, omnia per omnia.'
Said Mr.. Donnel,y: Bacon was a
man of secretise nature After Queen
Elizabeth's death, when he was advanced
to the CHARACTERISTIC of England by
King James, in that capacity and all
through his life previous he had had oc-
casion to use a cipher in his government
correspondence. In those times letters
were intercepted, and not only suspi-
cious language but that which bore any
signs of mystery would endanger the
writer's safety, Bacon was an expert
in ciphers, and the very year that the
Snakespearean plays appeared revised
with the cipher inserted in the folio edi-
ton, Bacon published his DE Aug
menlis, which contained an exhaustive
| treatise on ciphers. Thus the puzzle
and the key appeared together, but no
one opened the secret In study wing the
subject merely with historical evidence,
it occurred to me that possibly Bacon
had made some reference to his author
ship in a cipher woven in the text of
the plays, and with this in mind j began
reading them, and found that they were
from beginning to end one marvellous
Mosaic work of interesting narrative,
arranged by a system as accurate, un-
varying and precise as sum in arith-
metic. BY systematic method in Henry
~ | found the following sentence:
Francis Bacon, of st. Adams. Sir
Nicholas Bacon's son, Chancellor and
Lord Keeper of the Treasury The ci-
pher seemed so plain to Bacon that he
had no doubt as to its ultimate discov-
cry, and so he said in his will: AS to
my memory, leave it tomen's charita-
BILE speeches, to foreign nations, and to
my own countrymen after some time be
passed have not gone through all
the plays, but have now put together
pages of Il consecutive story dug out of
the cipher 1t tells the story of Shakes
peare's life, and how he stood before
the world as the author of the plays.
What he was paid for this is told, and
how Bacon trained the actors in secret.
When this system is revealed the wonder
of the world will be as great over the
marvellous mechanism of these plays as
it now is over their literary merits. u
Mr.. DoDnelly's book will contain the
plays of Henry VIZ and the MERRY
Wives of WINDSOR with the cipher
fully worked out. With the clue once
revealed, any one can pursue the task |
to completion successfully.
We quote the above from a recent
Washington dispatch. Ii Mr.. Donnelly
can fully sustain his theory, lovers of
the divine Shakespeare will be sadly at
sea for time, but the final effect will
be TO place Francis Bacon upon the
highest pinnacle of literary fame, in
whose temple he already holds an exalt-
ed place on account of his philosophical
writings. We confess ourselves scepti-
cal. and doubt that this greatest Of liter
AIRY surprises will be sustained by the
evidences