The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-01-25
The Mystery Of the Cipher
BY George A. Bacon.


letters, which created the most intense
and widespread feeling more than .
century ago, has succeeded in keeping
himself undiscovered. It is claimed,
however, by experts, with great show
Of probability, that the author hero Of
the revolution" Thomas Paine, was the
distinguished culprit.
Certainly he was known, both in Eng
land and in this country, to be pro-
life writer, sub rosa, and always in the
interest Of the people. In fact, all
through his life he wrote under as
sumed names. These various nom de
guerre were employed by him, as like
wise by Franklin, for obvious reasons
for protection, for public policy, as
we'll as for greater efficiency, freedom
and liberty Of expression.
+. Whether he was or was not the re-
spOnsible author of those famous and
classic phillipics against the king and
his ministry, is only incidentally ger
name to this connection.
Recent researches make It question
able whether it was Paine or Jefferson
who wrote the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, although the latter has always
had the credit for it. But supposing
there had been unearthed a long hid
den document in the hand writing OF
Paine, in which he affirmed himself to
be the original writer Of the Declare
ton. of independence, and explaining
how, by following certain rules, the fact
Of tie authorship would be established
within the body of the document itself.
As this would destroy one of the worlds
idols, how many, does the reader think,
would accept the real writer for the
hitherto supposed author?
If in Longfellow's Psalm of Life"
which Poe once intimated was literary
mosaic gathered from various writer's,
there were discovered within the body
of its lines hidden history, that told
with mathematical precision, a startling
story as to how this poem came into his
possession-it not being his own. Even
then, the world would have been disin
clined to believe him-such is the ten
acity with which we cling to our pre-
possessions; such Is the hold that our
prejudices have upon us; such is the
vitality of long-continued belief.
But these are only supposititious
cases. Granted. Well, take an incon-
testibly genuine instance-the original
epitaph on Shakespeare's tombstone:
Good Friend for Jesus SAKE forbere,
To diGG TIE Dust Enclo-Ased Here.
Blese be TIE Many spares TIES Stones
T
And curst be Hey moves my Bones"
Surely no stonecutter, however igno-
rant, unless specially instructed, would
naturally have carved on the headstone
Of so important a parsonage as we are
led to suppose Shakespeare was, such
an anomalous combination of small
and great letters, and such rude punctu-
alton as is here found. A very ignorant
cutter might have carved the word
Jesus" large, and sake" small; but he
would never have reversed this, as we
here find it. And the same is true of
inserting period e. In the middle of
the word "here," as thus Indicated
HER There could be no sense in
1t.
The reading world has always been in
despair at the impenetrability of the
mystery connected with Shakespeare.
His greatest and most conscientious
biographer, Halliwell-Phillips, confess
ed that "a fatal obscurity appears to
surround nearly every incident of
Shakespeare's life"
peare in London is by Green, the emil
nent playwright. In his "Groatsworth
OF W.T." published in 1892, he sneers at
the incongruity of the man with his
supposed writings. He speaks of
with the greatest contempt
and personal disparagement, referring
to him as an "upstart crow, beautified
with our feathers pretending to be a
dramatist when he was nothing of the
kind), that with a tygre's heart wrapt
in a players hyde, supposes he is as
well able to bombast out blank verse
as the best of you, and being an abso-
lutte Johannes Factotum is, in his con-
ceit, the only Shake-scene in the coun-
try" Again, he says: "He that cannot
write true English without the help of
clerks of parish churches, will needs
make himself the father of interludes."
Even Ben Jonson refers to him as "Poor
poet, ape, that would be thought our
chief"
Knight, in his sketch of Shakespeare,
In Appleton's Encyclopedia of Bio
graphy," says: There are not many
circumstances Of the mention of Shakes
peare, during his lifetime, by writer's of
his period" And to the same effect
we quote from Life of Shakespeare"
by DR.. Charles SIMMONS: IF it were
not for the record kept by the church
in its register Of births, marriages and
burials, we should at this moment be
as personally ignorant of the Sweet
Bard Of Avon,' as we are of the old
minstrel and rhapsodist of Meles."