New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-13


different channels from the story OF the play
Yet again the tortuous labyrinth OF the ciphe
| will return upon its own tracks asd use the sam
words over and over again. Thus it Will ski
from one page TO another, sometimes backward
sometimes forward. In short, there never wa
such n tickle and altogether unstable cipher
Nevertheless Mr.. Donnelly is ready at every ste
| TO take his affidavit that 10 is as regular rs
| sidereal clock and as systematic as Babbage'
calculating machine; and certainly in grindin
ont the story which he, by the influence OF ex
pectant attention and unconscious cerebration, ha
mt into tho text, it docs proceed with curiou
| stimulation Of method.
| Mr. Jennings has shown what Mr.. Donnolly'
concealed primary number is, and In making
demonstration Of this he has incidentally dis
closed the interesting fact that the author OF TIT
" Great Cryptogram7 Is the victim Of an extraor
binary halucination. He has in fact fallen upor
| one of those arthmetical sums which waylay al
smatterers in mathematics and rash experiment
ers with the powers Of numbers Unconsclously
following his idol, Bacon, who took oil knowledge
for his provincc, this unfortunate Baconian ha:
taken the whole text OF the folio for his cipher
and in manipulating his root numbers and hi.
modfcrs has so thoroughly confused himself .:
70 be incapable Of percciving that by the methods
| he has Adopted every WOTu ChH NC oho"h w w q
cipber word The consequences Of this delusion
are OF course apparent. Take page OF almost
any nuthor: separate the words scverally from
their context; then approaching the di'ntesrated
mass with preconceved story, no difficulty will
he experienced in constructing phrases and SEN
t.nces which will seem to confirm and carry II on.
This is. briefly, MI Donnclly's receipt for
making a Bacon cipher Truly he has expended
VI ~ labor a r-Sult which
can hardly be accounted satisfactory
But let us now consider a little what II is that
he thinks he has revealed When Miss Della
Bacon and Mrs Pott rot the Bacoran bee into
their bonnets, neither Of them entertained any
doubt that the subject Of the supposed cipher was
some very important, high and mighty theme.
Naturally they thought first Of philosophy, and
sur,niscd that the author OF the Novum Organum
had taken this method OF concealing for time
some great and noble discovery in the realms Of
thought or science for the reception OF which inc
world was not prepared in the seventeenth cent
ury. Mr. Donnelly himself seems at ono time 10
have held this view but after he had thoroughly
saturated his mind with the casuistry. uncharlt-
able suggestion, and special pleading OF the hrst
part Of his book-which he says was written PIN
cipally before he had worked out enough OF the
cipher TO realize It's tcndencies-a change came
over him The whole story Of this cipher is really
a most interesting and instructive study In morbid
psychology. 1t Is perfectly clear that the story
developed from the aginary cipher OF Lord ia
con was first injected into the text OF Shakespeare
by Mr. Donnclly himself. He does not perceive
that he las placed Bacon before the nineteenth
century as an archaic prototype OF DR.. Jekyn ana
Mr. Hyde but this is one Of the things ne mas
done. The man he has in his argument en-
deavored to represent rs noble, magnanlinous,
lofty -mndcd, appears In the bogus story as one
Of the basest, meanest most slanderOns, maevolont
and 6neaking Of bnckbters and calumniators;
creature so inensbly isnoble, so eccentrically
vicious as to imbed IN his own writings accusations
against the putaLve author Of them which he
was afraid to utter while both were living, and
which could only be discovered when rcfutation
of them would be impossible. The world is asked
to believe that this great philosopher, moreover
put himself to incredible toll and trouble for no
worthier purpose than tho extremely doubtful
OF q scandalous chronicle, the char
ncter Of which must give the lie direct to the
claims Of authorship set up in IT, Surely the
contrast between the double-life OF Mr. Louis
Stevcnson's weird creation is not so unthiDkable
as That which Mr. Donnelly has so unconsciously
offered us between the writer Of this miserable
works. So great so conclusive, Is this contrast,
in fact, that it would be quite safe to say proof
Of the genuineness Of the cipher would be equally
proof that Francis Bacon did not write Shake
Speare.
But poor Mr.. Donnclly Is not responsible fJr
this dcplorable exhibition. Too much brooding
over Shakespeare in the aspects OF butchers ep-
prentice, Insurer. topper, and stoolpigeon, has
wrought mischief upon him, and under the strong
influence OF expectant attention he has found a
cipher by nvcnting one, while through the equally
potent pressure Of unconscious cercbration he has
evolved from his inner consciousness the trivial
ana shameful story which he soemnly
puts forward as the final message OF the great
Philosopher Of Induction to the modern world
Never was there such remarkable case OF per-
sistent research and unwearied industry Mr.
Donnelly's book is a monument Of application
4 at the same time it is destined to serve as a
warming and example TO ali such as, being color
blind, are tempted to go into the business OF
selecting shades 1t is also well calculated to
,nlighten despsers Of the laws OF evidence; a |
lass unhappily always numerous, and generally |
confident and persistent in proportion to their |
inability to judge the value Of testimony. 1t |
nay indeed be said that those who, like Mr. Don- |
lelIy and the other Baconians are constitution |
MY iHCdpdOltdttu luz tuc hOlullOn Oh literary |
problems involving discrimination between the |
Of different minds, should not |
&c held to account for their congenital defects |
his is true, within certain limitations But when |
olor-blind men take upon thcmsek cs to perform |
he duties Of engine-drivers on railways or look |
uts at sea- it is found necessary to interiors
or the protection OF the public against the normal
consequences OF their deficiencies; and when men
Tho are color-blnd as to literature in like manner
axe upon themselves to guide the public and to
verthrow existing beliefs on questions of interest
nd gravity, it seems only reasonable that such
mistaken and self-deluded zealots should be de-
led the right TO impose the result, OF their
Usual deformity upon the world as truth Asa
indy in morbid psychology, however, We cheer
lly admit the value Of Mr.. Donnellys curious
ook. Indeed, we regard it as the most naive
nd remarkable piece Of unconscious self-anaIysis |
nd viyisaction rAtnnt. and long after the
onnelly cipher Quoad cipher, has been forgotten,
e are confident that the students OF mental de-
cts and obliauities will turn to this handsome