The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-01-25

counter intrigues were q necessity.
Owing to the condition Of the times
under Elizabeth and James /, promi-
nent men could express their real Views
only under cover, by the substitution o.
false names. by anonymous correspond
ence, by nom de plume and various
cryptic devices.
An elaborate Book on Ciphers' was
published in Holland In 1923, the very
year the folio of Shakespeare appeared.
Burton's Anatomy Of Melancholy" was
published in 1921 under a pseudonym.
Some OF Spencer's poems were published
anonymously, and did not bear his
name until he had been dead a dozen
years. Seventeen plays of Shakes
peare's collection never saw the light
until they appeared in the Shakespeare
folio of 1923, seven years after Shakes
peare's death, nine of which plays were
heard of then for the first time. A
number were originally brought out
without the authors name being at
tached to them. "Othello" was first
published in 1922. six years after the
supposed authors death. It was re-
published in 1923 with many changes,
additions, etc. BY whose authority was
this done? More than a dozen other
plays than those found in the Shakes
peare folio appeared in his lifetime with
either his name or initials on the title
pages-such plays as "The London
Prodigal," 'Sir John Oldcastle," "A
Yorkshire Tragedy" Fair EN-" Arden
of Feversham," "The Two Noble Kinds
men," the last being the joint produc-
ton of Shakespeare and Fletcher.
So, in whatever direction we explore,
Shakespeare is continuous mystery.
Truly does Emerson say: "Our poets
mask was impenetrable."
But what of the epitaph and its mys-
terry? That the inscription signifies
more than what, specifically consider
ed, appears on the surface, has long
been surmised. 1t was placed there no
one knows when or by whom. It does
its one line Of curse, it seems, was so
effective as to prevent Mrs. Shakes
peare from being buried by the side of
her husband, although she greatly de-
sired it.
Entering into the spirit of the times,
experts of today have sought to re-read
its lines, and If possible, to reveal it's
obscure meaning. Hon. Ignatius Don
nelly whose microscopical insight, phe-
nomenal industry and mate love 1f re-
search have heretofore been lully DEM
onstrated in various directions, has
sought to throw calcium light of
strongest intensity upon this subject.
Conceiving it to contain secret he, by
the law of association, applied to it the
biliteral cipher alphabet invented by
Bacon, which is fully described in his
de Augmentis.'
His was, in truth, "nimble mind"
He had much to do with ciphers AS
state papers received were in ciphers,
which had to be translated and answer
ed in ciphers.
This particular biliteral alphabet de-
ponds upon the commingling of two sets
of different letters distinguished by the
size or shape of the letters. Bacon
says: "The perfection of cipher is to
make anything signify anything, sub
ject, however, to the conditions, that the
Unfolding writing shall contain at least
five times as many letters as the writ
ing infolded. The way to do it is this.
First, let all the letters OF the alphabet
be resolved into transpositions of two
letters only. For the transportation of
two through five places will yield 80
differences-much more than the num-
Der of letters in our alphabet" He
proceeds to give several examples and
illustrations which meet all require
ments and which it is said really forms
the working basis of the present tele-
graphic alphabet of dots and dashes.
Mr.. Donnelly says: If there be
cipher on Shakespeare's tombstone, and
that cipher Is precisely the one invented
by Francis Bacon, then it follows that
it must have been put there by Bacon
or some of his friends to tell some hid
den story. The dead man, Shakespeare,
was not likely to have prepared, before
he died, cipher for his own grave
stone, and framed it according to the
formula of the philosopher of Verulam.
If Shakespeare was Shakespeare he
would have had no secret to reveal in a
cipher. All that would have been need
ed on his gravestone, so far as he was
concerned, was his own name; and that,
strange to say, did not appear upon it."
But what do we find? Following the
instructions laid down by Bacon-ap-
plying the Bacon biliteral cipher to the
epitaph on Shakespeare's headstone, Mr..
Donnelly finds revealed, no less to his
own than to the worlds amazement,
these words: FRANCIS BACON