The Irish standard., 1898-02-05
LORD BACON IS THE AUTHOR OF
SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.
he PROBABLY WROTE "DoN QuIxo1E. "
THE SAGE SAYS HE WILL PROVE HIS
BACONIAN THEORY.
AND SURPRISE THE LITERARY WORLD.
10 DE IN LOVE AND WRITE BOOKS
A DIFFICULT TASK.

Vague hints have been given out from
time to time about Ignatius Donnelly's
new book, which is expected to be pub
lished within few months, and it Is
needless to say that the tip from Mr..
Donnelly a week or two ago that it
| would be continuation of his Baconan
Cryptogram theory set the literary world
in some fever Of expectation.
Mr.. Donnelly says the abuse which his
hrst book received at the hands of GER
tain critics was unmerited, but that 1t
will in no way deter him from issuing
another work on the same subject, in
which he will take even wider and more
startling grounds than he did in his
first book. He claims to have discover
ed new rule governing the cipher.
In brief. he will claim that Bacon not
only wrote the Shakespeare plays and
sonnets, but that his facile pen was
probably responsible for the grea .,...,-
1sh work, Don Quixote." For this he
expects another castigation at the hands
of the critics. but as he believes he is
greater than the superficial writer's vino
have been censuring him, Mr.. Donnelly
says they will not worry him very much.
MIR. Donnelly gave the st. Paul Dis
patch the first authentic outline of what
the book will be, and when asked when
the work would be issued, he said. smil-
ingly:
"Well, I had expected to have it in
the hands of the publishers by the end
of February, but there are other .AAngs
in life besides literature, and, as have
1ncontinently tumbled into love with a
very charming young woman, find that
Slr Francis Bacon is not SO attractiv.
as he was. All this, of. course, breaks
! into my time, and delays the book How
ever, l expect to have it in the hands
OF the publishers about the middle OF
March, and perhaps before"
VIII You give the Dispatch a general
idea of the Forthcoming work?" was
| asked or Mr. DOnnelly
| Il had not intended to say much about
the new book until it was ready for nu..
llcation, for the reason that 7 fcarc1
the public would think | was deceivins
myself, inasmuch as some of the con-
clus1ons l have reached are very start
ing and extraordinary. For more than
| year past several newspaper publish
ers have been talking to me about he
propriety Of getting up an article con-
cerning the book just before it is placed
III the hands of the printer. 1t was ~
| gested that l give some extracts from
| the book to satisfy the public mind that
| my claims were founded on fact. But
the Dispatch has always treated me
! with courtesy and fairness, hence
| think may give you sketch of it with
! propriety.
Il have about 600 pages of typewrittoa
copy ready for the printer and have an
other 100 pages, part of Which are H.
ready in rough form, and when these
are completed. it will end the work.
can scarcely expect the public will a.
cept unqualifiedy my statements as to
| what expect the book will establish.
! think everything which I set forth in ,ly
first book, the Great Cryptogram, was
true, but in an incomplete form. | had
| found the cipher numbers upon which
the inner story of the Shakespearean
plays were based, and had worked out In
an imperfect way good deal of that mar
rative. At that time, however, had not
| discovered the rule on which the narra-
| tive proceeds, so that finding one word
| of the story, could tell just where to
. look for the next. During the past +oE
years all my spare time has been devoted
to the elaboration of new rule, and |
now have no doubt that my book will
establish in the minds of the people the
truth that cipher story really exists
In Shakespeare's plays, and are held to-
gether by a rule as inflexible and SELF
apparent as the multiplication table.
| But the new book will 20 beyond
! this In some respects. There was orig
inally over Shakespeare's grave a stone
containing this rude inscription:
Good friend, for Jesus sake forbcar.
To dig the dust enclose ed here.
Bles't be the man who spares these
stones
And curst be he who moves nv
bones.
"This," continued Mr. Donnclly, "was
given in what the biographers of an
carly period called a Strange mixture of
| large and small letters, distributed with
out rhyme or reason. Francis Bacon, in
one of his philosophical works, IN,
Augmentis, had set forth what he CALL
ed N-literal, Or two letter cipher,
whereby anything could be expressed as
by two different kinds of alphabets, Of
different sizes. l will show in my nev
book that the odd inscription on Shakes
peare's grave stone, when the Bacon
Bi-ltterl cipher Is applied, works out