
        This is an introduction to an ingenious and creative cipher system
to be found in the works of William Shakespeare.

	A DOS disk is available containing the programs to be described.
It also includes the full text of my book, `The Second Cryptographic Shake-
speare'. Ordering instructions are at the end of this file.

        Here it is necessary to explain that cryptography is a very old
technique. Even in antiquity the rule was, whenever the name of a place or
person must be repeated in a message, it must always be misspelled. Therefore
Bacon's name is never spelled correctly, and there are many alternate forms.
Sometimes it is preceded by "F" or "FS," as he abbreviated his first name in
his signature. Bacon was himself a cryptographer, if not a cryptanalyst as
his brother Anthony was.

        All of which brings us to a short article about Francis Bacon,
William Shakespeare, and many examples of the name of the author hidden
in the ciphertext. Italicized letters in the original text, or others
marked for emphasis, are shown in <   >.

July 1, 1995                                   Penn Leary


             --Are there Ciphers in Shakespeare?--

                 Copyright 1993 By Penn Leary

     It is considered by some (yet certainly not by all) academicians that it
is a lunacy to question the authorship of the Works of William Shakespeare
--a  comical  1984 thought-crime, a preposterous and radical  and  specious
view  of  the  obvious, a conspicuous deviation  from  normal  and  proper
opinion.
     But  Charles  Dickens, a student of human nature, had  this  to  say:
"The  life  of  Shakespeare is a fine mystery, and I tremble  every  day  lest
something should turn up."
     Ralph  Waldo  Emerson wrote: "As long as the question is  of  talent
and  mental  power,  the world of men has not his equal to  show.  .  .The
Egyptian  verdict of the Shakespeare societies comes to mind that he was  a
jovial actor and manager. I cannot marry this fact to his verse." John Green-
leaf  Whittier said, "Whether Bacon wrote the wonderful plays or not, I  am
quite sure the man Shakspere neither did nor could."
     James  M. Barrie put it more whimsically: "I know not,  sir,  whether
Bacon  wrote  the works of Shakespeare, but if he did not it  seems  to  me
that  he  missed the opportunity of his lifetime."  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge
said,  "Ask your own hearts, ask your own common sense, to  conceive  the
possibility  of  the author of the Plays being the anomalous,  the  wild,  the
irregular  genius  of our daily criticism. What! are we to  have  miracles  in
sport? Does God choose idiots by whom to convey divine truths to man?"
     And there yet remains a band of doubters. If someone else wrote  the
plays and poems, then who?
     Let us consult a calendar of years:

     The Reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
 ++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|++|
                                  |--  Publication of the Plays --|
  1560     1570      1580     1590|     1600      1610      1620  |1626
 |+|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++|
      Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford (1550-1604)
 --|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++|
        Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
       |+++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|++|
                 William Shaksper, of Stratford (1564-1616)
       |+++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++|
                          Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
    |++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++++++|+++++|

     The  1623  edition of the First Folio contained twenty new  plays.  At
that  time Shakespeare had been dead for seven years, Edward De Vere  for
nineteen  and Christopher Marlowe for thirty. Only Francis Bacon  survived
the 1623 publication.
     This  is hardly enough to credit the authorship to Bacon, but it  casts
some suspicion upon the prospects of the other three leading contenders.
     There is also considerable doubt about the facts of Shakespeare's own
life.  Let us read what Mark Twain had to say about that (From  Is  Shake-
speare Dead? 1909)

     He was born on the 23rd of April, 1564.
     Of  good  farmer-class parents who could not read, could  not  write,
  could not sign their names.
     At  Stratford, a small back settlement which in that day  was  shabby
  and  unclean,  and  densely illiterate. Of  the  nineteen  important  men
  charged  with the government of the town, thirteen had to  "make  their
  mark"  in  attesting important documents, because they could  not  write
  their names.
     Of  the first eighteen years of his life <nothing> is known. They  are  a
  blank.
     On  the  27th  of November (1582) William Shakespeare  took  out  a
  license to marry Anne Whateley.
     Next  day  William  Shakespeare took out a license  to  marry  Anne
  Hathaway. She was eight years his senior.
     William  Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. In a hurry. By  grace
  of  a reluctantly granted dispensation there was but one  publication  of
  the banns.
     Within six months the first child was born.
     About two (blank) years followed, during which period nothing at all
  happened to Shakespeare, so far as anybody knows.
     Then came twins--1585. February.
     Two blank years follow.
     Then--1587--he makes a ten-year visit to London, leaving the  family
  behind.
     Five  blank  years follow. During this period  <nothing  happened  to >
  <him>, as far as anybody actually knows.
     Then--1592--there is mention of him as an actor.
     Next year--1593--his name appears in the official list of players.
     Next year--1594--he played before the queen. A detail of no  conse-
  quence: other obscurities did it every year of the forty-five of her  reign.
  And remained obscure.
     Three pretty full years follow. Full of play-acting. Then.
     In 1597 he bought New Place, Stratford.
     Thirteen or fourteen busy years follow; years in which he accumulat-
  ed money, and also reputation as actor and manager.
     Meantime his name, liberally and variously spelt, had become associ-
  ated  with a number of great plays and poems, as (ostensibly) author  of
  the same.
     Some of these, in these years and later, were pirated, but he made no
  protest.
     Then--1610-11--he  returned to Stratford and settled down for  good
  and  all, and busied himself in lending money, trading in tithes,  trading
  in  land and houses; shirking a debt of forty-one shillings, borrowed  by
  his  wife during his long desertion of his family; suing debtors for  shil-
  lings  and  coppers; being sued himself for shillings  and  coppers;  and
  acting  as a confederate to a neighbor who tried to rob the town  of  its
  rights in a certain common, and did not succeed.
     He  lived  five  or six years--till 1616--in the joy  of  these  elevated
  pursuits. . .
     When Shakespeare died in Stratford <it was not an event>. It made  no
  more stir in England than the death of any other forgotten  theatre-actor
  would  have  made. Nobody came down from London;  there  were  no
  lamenting  poems,  no  eulogies, no  national  tears--there  was  merely
  silence,  and nothing more. A striking contrast to what happened  when
  Ben  Jonson and Francis Bacon, and Spenser, and Raleigh and the  other
  distinguished  literary  folk of Shakespeare's time passed  from  life!  No
  praiseful  voice  was lifted for the lost Bard of Avon;  even  Ben  Jonson
  waited seven years before he lifted his.
     <So  far  as anybody actually knows and can  prove>,  Shakespeare  of
  Stratford-on-Avon never wrote a play in his life.
     <So  far as anybody knows and can prove> he never wrote a  letter  to
  anybody in his life.
     <So far as any one knows, he received only one letter during his life>.
     So  far as anyone can <know and can prove>, Shakespeare of  Stratford
  wrote only one poem during his life. This one is authentic. He did write
  that  one--a fact which stands undisputed; he wrote the whole of it;  he
  wrote  the  whole of it out of his own head. He  commanded  that  this
  work  of  art be engraved upon his tomb, and he was obeyed.  There  it
  abides to this day. This is it:

               Good frend for Iesus sake forbeare
                to digg the dust encloased heare!
               Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones
               And curst be he yt moves my bones.

     Richard  Bentley,  writing in the American  Bar  Association  Journal,
("Elizabethan  Whodunit," February, 1959) abridges Francis Bacon's  biogra-
phy:

     The  facts  of Bacon's life are well known. He was born  three  years
  before  Shaksper (1561) and died ten years after him (1626).  Bacon  was
  educated at Cambridge University (1574-6). He then went to Paris in  the
  suite  of  the English Ambassador. After his return he studied  law  and
  was admitted to the Bar at the age of 21 years. He became a Bencher  at
  Gray's Inn. . .
     Bacon came into royal favor with James I. He was knighted almost at
  once, became Solicitor General (in 1607), Attorney General (in 1613),  Lord
  Keeper  of the Great Seal (in 1617) and then (in 1618)  Lord  Chancellor.
  Within four years, however, he confessed to a charge of bribery and was
  imprisoned; but was released after a few days [by order of James I  who
  had required him to confess for political reasons]. Thereafter he  devoted
  himself  to literature, writing on jurisprudence, science  and  philosophy.
  His  education,  his breadth of learning, knowledge  of  law,  familiarity
  with Court circles both abroad and in England, and his unusual  literary
  ability  made  him the natural choice of those who were  convinced  the
  Shakespeare  works  must have been written by  someone  possessed  of
  these advantages, and not by Shaksper of Stratford, who apparently had
  none of them.

     Oxfordians,  seeking the prize for their idol who died nineteen  years
too soon, complain that Bacon is ineligible. He was too busy, they say, with
other things to write The Works.

     Bacon  became a barrister in 1582, age 21. He had almost no  practice
and  survived by becoming a special counsel to the Queen in 1588. He  was
a  member of Parliament for many years, but the House met very infre-
quently and attendance was not considered a profession. In 1605, at age  44,
he  published The Advancement of Learning; before that he had  published
nothing  but a book of Essays and of meditations, a matter of 8000  words.
Two  years later his public life began when he was made  Solicitor  General
by  James  I. His twenty-two major works were not printed until  1621  and
after.

     Bacon was interested in ciphers and invented one of his own that he
called the "Biliterarie  Cipher."  His system  anticipated  the  Binary  Scale
supposedly  invented  by Leibniz in 1671. Any two unlike things  could  be
used, such as "a" and "b", "0" and "1", or even signal flags. An extended 
version is called the ASCII code and is the basis for computer science. 
He offered this example:

       A=aaaaa B=aaaab C=aaaba D=aaabb E=aabaa F=aabab G=aabba H=aabbb
       I=abaaa K=abaab L=ababa M=ababb N=abbaa O=abbab P=abbba Q=abbbb
       R=baaaa S=baaab T=baaba V=baabb W=babaa X=babab Y=babba Z=babbb

     In the <Advancement of Learning> (1623) Bacon had this to say:

     <The  knowledge of Cyphering>, hath drawne on with it a  knowledge
  relative  unto it, which is the knowledge of <Discyphering>, or of  Discret-
  ing  <Cyphers>, and the Capitulations of secrecy past between the  Parties.
  <Certainly> it is an Art which requires great paines and a good witt and is
  (as  the  other was) consecrate to the Counsels of Princes:  yet  notwith-
  standing  by diligent prevision it may be made unprofitable, though,  as
  things  are, it be of great use. For if good and  faithfull  <Cyphers>  were
  invented  & practised, many of them would delude and forestall  all  the
  Cunning of the <Decypherer>, which yet are very apt and easie to be read
  or  written:  but  the  rawnesse and  unskilfulnesse  of  Secretaries,  and
  Clarks  in  the Courts of Princes, is such that many  times  the  greatest
  matters are Committed to futile and weake Cyphers.

     At another place Bacon continues on the same subject:

     For  CYPHARS; they are commonly in Letters or Alphabets, but  may
  bee in Wordes. <T>he kindes> of CYPHARS, (besides the SIMPLE CYPHARS
  with Changes, and intermixtures of NVLLES, and  NONSIGNIFICANTS)
  are many, according to the Nature or Rule of the infoulding:  WHEELE-
  CYPHARS,  KAY-CYPHARS,  DOVBLES, &c. But the  vertues  of  them,
  whereby  they are to be preferred, are three; that they be not  laborious
  to  write and reade; that they bee impossible to discypher; and in  some
  cases, that they bee without suspition. The highest Degree whereof, is to
  write  OMNIA  PER  OMNIA; which is  vndoubtedly  possible,  with  a
  proportion  Quintuple at most, of the writing infoulding, to the  writing
  infoulded, and no other restrainte whatsoever. This Arte of  <Cypheringe>,
  hath for Relatiue, an Art of <Discypheringe;> by supposition  vnprofitable;
  but,  as  things  are, of great vse. For suppose that  <Cyphars>  were  well
  mannaged, there bee Multitudes of them which exclude the <Discypherer>.
  But  in  regarde  of  the rawnesse  and  vnskilfulnesse  of  the  handes,
  through  which they passe, the greatest Matters, are many times  carryed
  in the weakest <CYPHARS>.

     By  ciphers  "without suspition," Bacon  meant  <steganography.>  This
may  be accomplished by the use of acrostics, whereby the  first  capitalized
letter of each line in a poem may convey the message; the strategy included
his own Biliterarie Cipher. Here the very existence of a cipher writing  may
never be noticed.
     Francis Bacon was not a poet: so say modern critics. Perhaps they are
unaware  of  these quotations collected by Mrs. Henry Pott  <(Francis  Bacon >
<and his Secret Society>, Schulte & Co., Chicago 1891):

     #  It is he that filled up all numbers [lines of verse],  and  performed
  that which may be compared or preferred to insolent Greece or haughty
  Rome (Ben Jonson).
     #  His  Lordship was a good poet, but <concealed,# as appears  by  his
  letters (John Aubrey).
     #  The author of "The Great Assises Holden in Parnassus"  [attributed
  to  the  playwright John Day] ranks Lord Verulam next  to  Apollo  [the
  Greek god of all the Arts].
     # The poetic faculty was strong in Bacon's mind. No imagination was
  ever at once so strong and so subjugated. In truth, much of Bacon's  life
  was  passed in a visionary world. . .magnificent day-dreams. .  .analogies
  of all sorts (Macauley)
     #   Few  poets  deal  in  finer  imagery  than  is  to  be   found   in
  Bacon. . .His prose is poetry (Campbell).
     # The varieties and sprightliness of Bacon's imagination, an  imagina-
  tion piercing almost into futurity, conjectures improving even to prophe-
  cy.  . .The greatest felicity of expression and the most  splendid  imagery
  (Basil Montagu).
     #  "The Wisdom of the Ancients. . .a kind of parabolical beauty. .  .To
  the  Advancement  of  Learning he brings every  species  of  poetry  by
  which  the  imagination can elevate the mind from the dungeon  of  the
  body  to the enjoying of its own essence. . .Metaphors,  similitudes  and
  analogies  make  up  a great part of his reasoning.  .  .Ingenuity,  poetic
  fancy,  and the highest imagination and fertility cannot be  denied  him
  (Craik).
     #  The  creative  fancy of a Dante or Milton  never  called  up  more
  gorgeous images than those suggested by Bacon, and we question much
  whether their worlds surpass his in affording scope for the  imagination.
  His extended over all time. His mind brooded over all nature. .  .unfold-
  ing to the gaze of the spectator the order of the universe as exhibited to
  angelic intelligences (Devey)
     # The tendency of Bacon to see analogies is characteristic of him, the
  result  of  that mind not truly philosophic but truly  poetic,  which  will
  find similitudes everywhere in heaven and earth (Dr. Abbott).
     #  I  infer from this sample that Bacon had all  the  natural  faculties
  which a poets wants: a fine ear for metre, a fine feeling for  imaginative
  effect  in words, and a vein of poetic passion. . .The truth is  that  Bacon
  was not without the "fine phrensy" of a poet (Spedding).

     Sir Tobie Matthew, writing to his friend Francis Bacon in 1618, states:
"The most prodigious wit that ever I knew of my nation, and of this side of
the sea, is of your Lordship's name, though he be known by another."
     In  the  <Scourge of Folly>, John Davies of Hereford  (1565-1618)  wrote
this epigram:

         <To the Royall Ingenious and All-learned Knight-- >
                      <Sr Francis Bacon>

     Thy <bounty> and the <Beauty> of thy Witt
     Compris'd in Lists of <Law> and the learned <Arts>,
     Each making thee for great <Imployment> fitt,
     Which now thou hast, (though short of thy deserts)
     Compells my pen to let fall shining <Inke>
     And to bedew the <Baies> that <deck> thy <Front>;
     And to thy health in Helicon to drinke
     As to her <Bellamour> the <Muse> is wont;
     For thou dost her embozom; and dost vse
     Her company for sport twixt graue affaires.
     So vtter'st Law the liuelyer through the <Muse>.
     And for that all thy <Notes> are sweetest <Aires>;
     <My Muse thus notes thy worth in ev'ry Line.>
     <With ynke which thus she sugers; so, to shine.>

     Thus  John  Davies in 1610 states plainly that Francis  Bacon  was  a
poet and that he had woven into his works spirited illustrations of the  law.
John Davies was the same man to whom Bacon had written a letter  which
concluded, "so desiring you to be good to concealed poets."
     Francis  Bacon had a great respect and affection for poetry; here  are
his words:

     . . .<Poesy> cheereth and refreshes the soule; chanting things rare,  and
  various, and full of vicissitudes. So as <Poesy> serveth and  conferreth  to
  Delectation,  Magnaminity,  and  Morality; and  therefore  it  may  seem
  deservedly  to have some Participation of Divinenesse, becauwse it  doth
  raise the mind, and exalt the spirit with high raptures, by  proportioning
  the shewes of things to the desires of the mind; and not submitting  the
  mind to things, as <Reason> and <History> doe.

     Why  might Bacon have concealed his creations? George  Puttenham
in <The Arte of English Poesie> (1589) wrote, "I know many notable  Gentle-
men  in  the  Court  that have  written  commendably,  and  suppressed  it
agayne, or else suffered it to be publisht without their owne names to it, as
if it were a discredit for a Gentleman to seem learned, and to shew  himself
amorous  of any learned Art." In addition, the Plays were written  during  a
very dangerous period. The airing of some political doctrine might offend a
royal sensibility, and death or mutilation was the penalty.
     What did Bacon's contemporaries think of his poetic talents? Here  is
a statement made by Edmund Howes in 1615:

     Our  moderne, and present excellent poets which worthely florish  in
  their  owne  workes, and all of them in my owne knowledge  lived  to-
  geather in this Queenes raigne, according to their priorities as neere as I
  could,  I  have  orderly  set  downe  (viz)  George  Gascoigne,   Thomas
  Churchyard,  Edward Dyer, Edmond Spencer, Philip Sidney,  John  Har-
  rington,  Thomas  Challoner, <Frauncis Bacon>, John  Davie,  Iohn  Lillie,
  George  Chapman,  W.  Warner,  <Willi  Shakespeare>,  Samuell   Daniell,
  Michaell Draiton, Christopher Marlo, Benjamine Johnson, Iohn  Marston,
  Abraham  Frauncis,  Frauncis Meers, Joshua Siluester,  Thomas  Deckers,
  John  Flecher,  John  Webster,  Thomas  Heywood,  Thomas  Middleton,
  George Withers.

     Thus  did  Edmund Howes rank "Frauncis" Bacon  with  Shakespeare
among  these twenty-seven contemporary "excellent Poets." He put him  six
names ahead of "Willi."
     Are  there ciphers in Shakespeare's Works? Yes, dear  reader,  indeed
there are. Necessarily, the discussion that follows is not complete because it
is  very much condensed from my book <The Second  Cryptographic  Shakespeare>
(Westchester House, 218 So. 95, Omaha NE 68114, $15).
     Let us begin with the 1609 edition of "SHAKE-SPEARES  SONNETS."
Here is a copy of the title-page:

                      SHAKE-SPEARES

                         SONNETS.

                   Neuer before Imprinted.
                     ___________________
                     ___________________

                       AT LONDON
                   By G. <Eld> for <T.T.> and are
                 to be solde by <William Aspley>.
                           1609.

     And next, on the recto of the second leaf, the mysterious  Dedication
(all quotes are from facsimiles of the originals):

                 TO.THE.ONLIE.BEGETTER.OF.
                  THESE.INSVING.SONNETS.
                  Mr.W.H. ALL.HAPPINESSE.
                    AND.THAT.ETERNITIE.
                        PROMISED.

                           BY.

                   OVR.EVER-LIVING.POET.

                         WISHETH.

                    THE.WELL-WISHING.
                      ADVENTVRER.IN.
                         SETTING.
                          FORTH.
                                       T.T.

     What  were  all those periods doing there, stuck in  for  no  befitting
reason, after every word? Were they just someone's attempt at decoration, a
feeble example of the compositor's art? And why were there four  unneces-
sary  spaces between the lines? Why I couldn't guess, except that they  had
attracted my attention. Could that have been the reason?
     Using  the  title-page,  the Dedication and my computer,  I  found  a
message  containing  25 letters. The normal Elizabethan  24  letter  alphabet
(No  "J" or "U") had been shortened to 21 letters (No "W, X, or Z").  Bacon's
abbreviated key cipher alphabet was found to be this:

          A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V Y

     Here are the ciphertext letters:

       S S R D T N Y G D T T M Y A F I O E E R F E G S R

     Julius  Caesar  is said to have invented this  elementary  substitution
cipher. Here is the "Caesar cipher" -4 table (using the "FORTH." letter  back)
for decipherment:

Ciphertext alphabet:  E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V Y A B C D
Plaintext alphabet:   a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t v y

     It  has  been said that the solution to any  cryptogram,  once  found,
looks easy. Here is the easy solution:

          <o o n y p i r c y p p h r s b e k a a n b a c o n>

     The ciphertext  letters  are selected by using the last  letter  of  each
capitalized word (and a capitalized letter standing alone is to be recognized
as the last letter of a capitalized word) beginning with SHAKE-SPEARES on
the  title page and ending with the lower case, superscripted "r" in "Mr."  in
the Dedication. For the date, "1609", the letters "A F I" are entered  because
these  numbers represent the elementary, numerically corresponding  letters
of  the  Elizabethan alphabet (there is no letter equivalent  to  the  number
zero).
     Using a computer and my Baconian Caesar cipher program, you may
enter:

   |   (from title-page)     |date |(from Dedication)|
   |                         |1 6 9|                 |
    S S R D T N Y G D T T M Y A F I O E E R F E G S R

     The first four possible plaintext lines of the -4  (fourth  letter  back)
computer readout look like this:

     S S R D T N Y G D T T M Y A F I O E E R F E G S R
     R R Q C S M V F C S S L V Y E H N D D Q E D F R Q 1
     Q Q P B R L T E B R R K T V D G M C C P D C E Q P 2
     P P O A Q K S D A Q Q I S T C F L B B O C B D P O 3
     <O O N Y P I R C Y P P H R S B E K A A N B A C O N 4>

     The solution appears as the fourth numbered line. We notice that the
words "CYPPHRS," "BEKAAN" and "BACON" are directly adjoining. Bekaan
is a phonetic spelling of Bacon, while Cypphrs identifies this  plaintext  as
having been originally written in cipher.
     In  Elizabethan England, spelling was still in its infancy;  there  were
no standardized dictionaries. Words were spelt auricularly, as they  sounded
and one spelling was considered as no better than another.
     According  to  the comprehensive Oxford  English  Dictionary,  these
forms  of  the word "cipher" were also acceptable in the  Seventeenth  Cen-
tury: "sipher, cyfer, cifer, ciphre, sypher, ziphre, scypher, cyphar,  cyphre,
ciphar, zifer, cypher." Francis Bacon spelled it "ciphras" in Latin.
     As to "Bekann" for "Bacon," Francis once wrote his brother's name (in
a  legal document preserved in the London Lambeth Library) in  this  way:
"Anth.  <Bakon.">  Books dedicated  to  Bacon  spelled  his  first  name   as
"ffrauncis." His kinsmen were not particular about it either:

     It is worthy of notice that the Bacon family in early times spelt  their
  name  "Becon"  or "Beacon." Some of them seem to have  written  under
  this  name, and there is a work by Thomas Becon, 1563-4 in  which,  on
  the  title page of the second volume, his name changes from <Becon>  to
  <Beacon.> (Mrs. Henry Pott, <Francis Bacon and his Secret Society,> p. 341.)

     John  Florio  (1591,  <Second Frutes>) once alluded  to  a  "gammon  of
bakon." The Oxford English Dictionary gives these as valid spellings for the
period: <bacoun, bakoun, bacun, bakon, baken, bacon.">
     But  there  is  a much better reason for  the  misspelling  of  Bacon's
name, as it appears in this solution and in many others to be described.
     The  Italians,  in  the  15th Century,  discovered  that  their  wartime
ciphers were being broken by the "probable word" method. For some  good
reason, a guess might be made by the enemy that a letter was addressed  to
someone in Venice, or contained references to Venice. Then a search  could
be made in the ciphertext for repetitions of identical six letter groups. When
found,  these reliable six letter cipher conversions were used to  extend  the
unknown alphabet.
     Cipher  clerks have always been lectured on  cryptographic  security.
Whenever  a  place name or personal name appeared more than once  in  a
message  it had to be misspelled, and in as many ways as  possible.  Failure
to  follow  this rule would have disastrous results, as one  Lt.  Jaeger  once
found out.
     The example is given by David Kahn in <The Codebreakers,>  (Macmil-
lan Co., 1967, p. 336.) During WWI a German Signal officer by the name  of
Jaeger set out to stiffen code discipline. However his own name was not  in
the  codebook  and had to be spelled out in every transmitted  order.  "This
was frequently. Its peculiar formation--the repetition of the high  frequency
<e> for example--permitted G.2 A.6 to identify it readily,and this in turn led
to important clues concerning the superenciphering Geheimklappe. .  .Jaeger
was beloved by his adversaries because he kept them up to date with  code
changes, and it was with genuine regret that they saw his name  disappear
from  the  German  traffic." Thus any word  (a  suspected  "crib")  routinely
recurring in cipher messages is an apt key to a solution.
     Those who may mock such spellings must consider that the authenti-
cated  Shakespeare signatures spell the Bard's name in six different ways,  a
matter  the Shakespearean philologists have chosen to disregard.  According
to Charles Hamilton, a manuscript expert who says he can read the  untidy
scrawls <(In Search of Shakespeare,> Harcourt Brace, 1985),these are the
spellings:

   <Shackper, Shakspear, Shakspea, Shackspere, Shakspere, Shakspeare.>

     The  man  was  baptized  as <Shaksper,> gave  bond  for  marriage  as
<Shagspere,> was married as <Shaxper> and buried as <Shakspeare.>
     John Lyly as he is now known, in four successive editions of Euphues
and other works, spelled his name as Lyllie, Lily, Lylly,  Lilly,  Lilie
and Lylie, and never as Lyly.
     David Kahn, author of <The Codebreakers>, quotes Giovanni  Battista
Porta who published, in 1563, a famous cryptographic book, <De Furtivis>
<Literarum Notis:>
    He urged the use of synonyms in plaintexts, noting that "It  will
  also  make  for difficulty in the interpretation if  we  avoid  the
  repetition  of  the  same word." Like the  Argentis,  he  suggested
  deliberate misspellings of plaintext words: "For it is better for a
  scribe  to  be  thought ignorant than to pay the  penalty  for  the
  detection of plans," he wrote.
    Bacon was not so careless as to spell his name always in the same way,
as in the hundreds of examples I have located.
    In connection with Porta, some may have noticed the "double A"
printer's ornament on the title page of my own book. This "logo" showed two
capital letters "A" in a scroll design, with other decorations such as
rabbits, squirrels, archers and birds.
    According to W. T. Smedley's <The Mystery of Francis Bacon> (1910),
Porta's 1563 book was reprinted in England by one John Wolfe in 1591. It
was falsely dated 1563 as if it was the first edition, and the double A
ornament was added at the top of the dedication.
    This was the first use of this design. The general form was also
printed as a heading in Venus & Adonis, Lucrece, the Sonnets, most of
the quartos, in the 1623 edition of Shakespeare's works, and also in
some others that Smedley attributes to Bacon. It also appears in Napier's
book on logarithms and in another dedicated to Anthony Bacon, Francis'
brother. The last use of the "AA" device was in an edition of Bacon's
Essays published in 1720.
     In the Sonnet title-page and Dedication, Bacon's name appears  twice
more,  spelled as "Beakyn" and as "Baikehn," together with "Fs"  (his  signa-
ture abbreviation of his first name), and also "Fra." Space will not permit an
exposition;  however, following the solution given above, his cipher  system
afterward consistently used the  fourth  letter  <forward,>  rather  than  the
"FORTH." letter back.
     William  F.  Friedman was perhaps the most famous  cryptanalyst  of
modern  times.  During WWII he and a U. S. Army  Signal  Corps  crypto-
graphic  team  broke  the Japanese "PURPLE" cipher in  August,  1940.  The
enemy  never afterward materially changed the system. Our admirals  often
knew  the current position of every group of the Japanese battle  fleet;  the
messages  were  sometimes deciphered before the  enemy  commanders  re-
ceived them. The advantage gained was enormous.
     In 1916 Friedman had become interested in cryptography because  of
his study of certain ciphers claimed to be found in Shakespeare's works. He
retired in 1955 and, surprisingly enough, he became an historian of what he
considered  to  be false cipher methods. In 1957 he and his  wife  Elizebeth
(also  a  cryptanalyst)  published  <The  Shakespearean  Ciphers   Examined>
(Cambridge Univ. Press).
     It  is worth observing that, before the Second World War, and  espe-
cially  before  the  Friedmans,  the  science  of  cryptography  was   almost
unknown  to  the  universities and to the public. Except for  the  rare  and
scattered  and  concealed professional practitioners, there were  hardly  any
authorities for  those  interested to consult. Where it  was  taught,  it  was
taught  secretly.  Books explaining cryptography were mostly  out  of  print
and  never  had much circulation. The casual reader became aware  of  the
topic  through  Herbert O. Yardley's book, <The  American  Black  Chamber>
which was published in 1931. The U.S. State Department had closed its own
cipher  room in 1929. There was really no way for a reader to make  a  so-
phisticated  judgment  of the cipher "systems" which  were  invented.  Very
possibly some of the authors of these methods, in their ardor, had no better
way  to  innocently judge their own creations. It is too bad,  but  many  of
them actually harmed their cause.
     The  Friedmans,  using  wry  but cheerful humor,  took  aim  at  the
Baconian crypto-cryptologists and sank their frail, poorly armed, mostly 19th
century  vessels. The litany of the names of the drowned and the  dates  of
their too-early ventures into combat with the forces of science and  mathe-
matics,  not  to  mention the Friedmans, is a grievous  sorrow;  they  sailed
forth  almost unarmed. To wit: Ignatius Donnelly, 1887; Dr.  Orville  Owen,
1893;  William  Stone  Booth, 1909;  Sir  Edward  Durning-Lawrence,  1910;
Walter Arensberg, 1921; Frank and Parker Woodward, 1923; Elizabeth Wells
Gallup,  1899;  Mrs. Henry Pott, 1891. Their bones, already  bleached,  were
exhumed,  sorted, categorized, mounted, and illuminated by the  Friedmans
in their entertaining treatise.
     As  had  been  mentioned, Francis  Bacon  preferred  steganographic
ciphers  in which the occurrence of a hidden name would not  be  noticed.
What  better way to conceal that name than <within one word?>  And  where
should that word be placed so as to be most preeminent?
     The name of the real author of the First Folio of Shakespeare's  Plays
is concealed in the first spoken word. It stands alone as the <first> word of
dialogue on the <first> page of the <first> printing of the <first> play in the  First
Folio,  the  1623 first edition of Shakespeare's collected <Comedies Histories>
<and Tragedies.> It is a solitary word distinguished by its primal  detachment.
A  cipher method based upon whole words, rather than  designated  letters,
presents itself.
     "The Tempest," as recorded in the First Folio, is the sole authority for
the  language  and printing of that fanciful drama. The first  word  of  dia-
logue in "The Tempest" is <BOte-swaine>. The first letter, "B",  is  a  great
capital, the kind  of large ornamental initial that heads the  first  page  of
almost all of the plays. The script, after some "scene setting"  instructions
which are printed in italics, gives the "Master" the first word to speak:

                    <Master>.

               BOte-swaine.
               <Botes>. Heere Master: What cheere?
               <Mast>. Good: Speake to th'Mariners: fall
               too't, yarely, or we run our selves a ground,
               bestirre, bestirre.
                                             <Exit>.

     To  apply  the Caesar decryption here we must  remember  that  the
letter  "W"  is not included in our key alphabet but it was often  typeset  as
"VV"  in  the Folio and in the <Sonnets>. We shall install  "BOTESVVAIN"  as
the ciphertext and run our computer program:

          B O T E S V V A I N E
          C P V F T Y Y B K O F  1
          D Q Y G V A A C L P G  2
          E R A H Y B B D M Q H  3
          <F S B I A C C E N> R I  4

     The  plaintext,  then, is "F S B I A C C E N R I". It  appears  on  the
"FORTH."  (+4) line in which "A" = "e". Bacon's 21 letter  alphabet,  ending
in  "T V Y", remains the same. "FS" is Bacon's own abbreviation of his  first
name while "BIACCEN" is yet another phonetic spelling of his surname.
     <Two  different> versions were typeset and printed as the first page  of
"The  Tempest" in the First Folio. In both of them "Bote-swaine" appears  as
the  first  word, but something noteworthy happened to one  of  the  initial
great capital "B"s (preceding "ote-swaine") on at least one  of  this  play's
journeys to the press. <It was printed upside down.>
     We should keep in mind the typographical oddities that adorned  the
Dedication  of <SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS>, the decimal points  (or  periods
or full stops, if you will).Like pointers,these signals attracted our attention
to  that page so as to merit a suspicion that a cipher was concealed  in  the
text. Here again in "The Tempest" such an absurd, capsized great capital "B"
deserves  the  same  respect; the use of such signals  is  confirmed  by  the
discovery that Francis Bacon's ciphered name is to be found, and is entirely
contained,  within that word "Bote-swaine." It is the word that begins  with
this freakishly printed letter "B".
     We  shall  next be dealing with acrostic ciphers; here is  an  example
from the Friedman's book:

     We have already remarked that acrostics were popular in Elizabethan
  literature; it should also be stressed that spelling in those days was errat-
  ic.  Sir John Salusbury, who was as devoted to acrostics as he was  to  a
  lady  called  Dorothy  Halsall, enfolded her name in  poem  after  poem
  [citing  Bryn  Mawr College Monographs, vol. XIV, 1913]. One  of  them,
  with comments by Col. Friedman, runs:

               <T>ormented heart in thral<l>, <Y>ea thrall to love,
               <R>especting wil<l>, <H>eart-breaking gaine doth grow,
               <E>ver DOLOBELI<A>, <T>ime will so proue,
               <B>inding distres<s>e, <O> gem wilt thou allowe,
               <T>his fortune my wil<l> <R>epose-lesse of ease,
               <V>nlesse thou LED<A>, <O>ver-spread my heart,
               <C>utting all my rut<h>, dayne <D>isdaine to cease,
               <I> yield to fate, and welcome endles <S>mart.

     This,  with  occasional  irregularities, conceals  the  name  CUTBERT
  (Dorothy's husband) reading the initial letters upwards from the seventh
  line, and the two parts of the name DOROTHY HALSALL as the  letters
  on either side of the break in the middle of each line;  the  initials  I.S.
  (for  Iohn Salusbury) appear as the first letter of the first word  and  the
  first letter of the last word in the final line--In all, Salusbury uses six
  different  versions of his own name in various acrostic signatures;  spells
  the  name Francis as Fransis wherever it suits him; regards I and  IE  as
  interchangeable with Y; and replaces J's with I's or I's with J's according
  to whim.

     Thus  Friedman  does  not insist upon accurate  name  spelling  and
permits "occasional irregularities."  The cipher does not read  from  top  to
bottom; it is reversed and the plaintext travels from bottom to top. Here, he
writes,

     .  . .is one of a number of instances which could be cited;  but  what
  makes it true that they, and the others, are genuine cases of  cryptogra-
  phy is that the validity of the deciphered text and the inflexibility of the
  systems employed are obvious. . .In each case, there is no room to doubt
  that  they  were  put there by the deliberate intent  of  the  author;  the
  length  of  the hidden text, and the absolutely rigid order in  which  the
  letters appear, combine to make it enormously improbable that they  just
  happened to be there by accident.

     Friedman may not have known that Shakespeare's "Phoenix and  the
Turtle" <was  dedicated to John Salusbury>. This brings us to  a  number  of
acrostic  signatures  in the works of Mr. Shakespeare.  Remember  that  the
cipher  system,  after  the example given in the Sonnets,  now  follows  the
fourth letter (+4) forward:

   Ciphertext alphabet: S T V Y A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R
   Plaintext alphabet:  a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t v y

     Often the text includes curious language--hints to the existence of  a
cipher.  Here is a specimen in which the capital letters are employed,  from
"Measure for Measure" (i, 3, 40):

  <I> have on <A>ngelo impos'd the office,
  <W>ho may in th'ambush of my name, strike home,
  <A>nd yet, my nature never in the fight
  <T>o do in slander: <A>nd to behold his sway

     A  signature is hidden "in th'ambush of my name." Reading all  capi-
tals downward, the

     Ciphertext is:

     I A W A T A

     Ciphertext reversed is:

     A T A W A I

     Plaintext (+4) is:

     E <B E C E N>

     "Caps"  is a word long used by printers as an abbreviation for  upper
case type. This word,  or "cap," is used six times in thirty  lines  in  "The
Taming of the Shrew" (iv, 3, 68).

     <Fel.> Heere is the cap your Worship did bespeake.
     <Pet.> Why this was moulded on a porrenger,
  A veluet dish: Fie, fie, 'tis lewd and filthy,
  Why 'tis a cockle or a walnut-shell,
  A Knacke, a toy, a tricke, a babies cap.
  Away with it, come let me have a bigger.

     Then follow these five lines:

     Kate. <I>le haue no bigger, this doth fit the time,
  <A>nd Gentlewomen weare such caps as these.
     Pet. <W>hen you are gentle, you shall haue one too,
  <A>nd not till then.
     Hor. <T>hat will not be in hast.

     Let us examine these "caps," the initial capitalized letters of each line:

     Ciphertext is:

     I A W A T

     Ciphertext reversed is:

     T A W A I

     Plaintext is:

     <B E C E N>

     Published in 1640 by John Benson was a book of "POEMS: WRITTEN
BY WIL. SHAKESPEARE. Gent." Many of the <Sonnets> were included, but in
a different order, together with other poems. Most of the latter are  rejected
by the scholars as unjustly imputed. Several verses memorialize the Bard, as
witness the following:

          <On the death of> William Shakespeare, <who>
               <died in Aprill,> Anno Dom. 1616.

          REnowned <Spenser> lie a thought more nigh
          To learned <Chauser,> and rare <Beaumount> lie
          A little neerer <Spenser> to make roome,
          For <Shakespeare> in your three-fold, foure-fold Tombe;
          To lodge all foure in one bed make a shift,
          Vntill Dommes-day, for hardly shall a fift
          Betwixt this day and that by Fate be slaine,
          For whom your Curtaines may be drawne againe.
          <I>f your precedencie in death doth barre,
          <A> fourth place in your sacred Sepulchre
          <V>nder this sacred Marble of thy owne,
          <S>leepe rare Tragedian <Shakespeare>, sleepe alone;
          <T>hy unmolested peace in an unshar'd Cave,
          Possesse as Lord, not Tennant of thy Grave.
          That unto us, and others it may be,
          Honour hereafter to be laid by thee.
                                                  W. B.

     "For  whom  your Curtaines may be drawne  againe."  Consider  the
initial capitalized letters of the five lines following that one:

     Ciphertext is:

     I A V S T

     Ciphertext reversed:

     T S V A I

     Plaintext is:

     <B A C E N>

     Or,  we  may  choose all of the capitals in the  four  lines  following
"Curtaines," and just preceding <Shakespeare:>

     Ciphertext is:

     I A S V M S T

     Ciphertext reversed:

     T S M V S A I

     Plaintext (+4) is:

     <B A Q C A E N>

     The  following  is  a comparison of two very  similar  versions  of  a
Shakespeare  sonnet. The lines printed in Roman type are from verse  II  of
<The Passionate Pilgrime,> (1599) while the <lines shown in italics> are  from
Sonnet 144 of the 1609 Quarto:

1.  TWo Loues I haue, of Comfort, and Despaire,
    <TWo Loues I haue of comfort and dispaire,>
2.  That like two Spirits, do suggest me still:
    <Which like two spirits do sugiest me still,>
3.  My better Angell is a Man (right faire)
    <The better angell is a man right faire:>
4.  My worser spirite a Woman (colour'd ill.)
    <The worser spirit a woman collour'd il.>
5.  To winne me soone to hell, my Female euill
    <To win me soone to hell my femall euill,>
6.  Tempteth my better Angell from my side,
    <Tempteth my better angel from my sight,>
7.  And would corrupt my Saint to be a Diuell,
    <And would corrupt my saint to be a diuel:>
8.  Wooing his purity with her faire pride.
    <Wooing his purity with her fowle pride,>
9.  And whether that my Angell be turnde feend,
    <And whether that my angel be turn'd finde,>
10. Suspect I may (yet not directly tell:
    <Suspect I may, yet not directly tell,>
11. For being both to me: both, to each friend,
    <But being both from me both to each friend,>
12. I ghesse one Angell in anothers hell:
    <I gesse one angel in an others hel,>
13.    The truth I shall not know, but liue in doubt,
       <Yet this shal I nere know but liue in doubt,>
14.    Till my bad Angell fire my good one out.
       <Till my bad angel fire my good one out.>

     In this later version there are minor changes in spelling,  punctuation
and one change in sense (<faire> in line 8 becomes <fowle> in the later
version). The major change is in capitalization. Let us string all the
capitals together and examine them:

     Ciphertext of the 1599 verse:

     T V L I C D T S M A M M V T F T A A S D V A A S I F I A T I T A

     Plaintext, +4 is:

     B C P N G H B A Q E Q Q C B K <B E E A H C E E A N> K N E B N B E

     Perhaps  the  earlier version of Bacon's plaintext  name  seemed  too
long; therefore,  in editing the 1609 version, the author reduced  fifteen  of
the capitals to lower case with this effect:

     Ciphertext of the 1609 verse:

     T V I V T T T T A V A S I B I Y T

     Plaintext, +4 is:

     B C N C B B B <B E C E A N> F N D B

     Karl Andreassen, writing in <Computer Cryptology> (Prentice-Hall,  Inc.
1988), discusses null ciphers of this variety:

     An interesting type of cipher not often seen in the popular  literature
  is the concealment, or null, cipher. Among its many variations is the use
  of prearranged letter positions in ordinary plaintext. Because the English
  language is so richly endowed with synonyms and capable of  colloquial
  interpretation, it is particularly adaptable to null-cipher applications.
     For  instance,  a plain language sentence may appear  to  convey  an
  interesting  but  common  statement of fact.  While  the  sentence  reads
  innocuously  like  simple plain language, the words  used  are  carefully
  selected  to  divert  attention, that of concealing  [by  steganography]  a
  message other than the obvious one.

     A few years ago, Wayne Shumaker, Professor Emeritus of English  at
the  University of California at Berkeley, published a book entitled  Renais-
sance  Curiosa, (Center for Medieval Studies, S.U.N.Y. 1982).  The  Professor
shows himself to be a master of Medieval Latin and German.
     In  one of his fascinating chapters he discusses the  copious  writings
of  Johannes Trithemius (1462-1526) who was a German  monk.  Trithemius'
books,  written in Latin, were mostly concerned with history  and  theology
but  the author has been called "the first theoretician of cryptography."  His
"Steganographia" was circulated while the manuscript was still in composi-
tion  and  John  Dee, later to become a friend of Francis  Bacon,  copied  at
least half of it in 1563.
     Steganography  was the basis for most of Trithemius' schemes and  a
key, a hint, was customarily included in the ciphertext. Professor  Shumaker
explains  one method:

PAMERSIEL
A <N> O <Y> R  <M> A <D> R <I> S <E> L  <E> B <R> A <S> O <T> H <E> A <N>
A <B> R <U> L <G> E <S>  I <T> R <A> S <B> I <E> L  <N> A <D> R <E>
S <O> R <M> E <N> U  <I> T <U> L <E> S  <R> A <B> L <O> N
HAMORPHIEL.

     If we ignore the first and last words, which are nulls--that is,  insig-
  nificant for the meaning--and read only the alternate letters of the  rest,
  we  arrive at a key for the decoding of the following cryptogram:  <Nym>
  <die  ersten Bugstaben de omni uerbo,> or "Take the first letters of  every
  word."

     Thus <alternate letters> of the plaintext may be made significant, as in
this example from "The Comedie of Errors" (v, 1, 336):

     Duke. <O>ne of these men is genius to the other:
  <A>nd so of these, which is the naturall man,
  <A>nd which the spirit? <Who deciphers them?>
     S. Dromio. <I> sir am Dromio, command him away.
     E. Dro. <I> sir am Dromio, pray let me stay.
     S. Ant. <E>geon art thou not? or else his ghost.
     S. Drom. <O>h my olde Master, who hath bound him heere?
     Abb. <W>ho euer bound him, I will lose his bonds,
  <A>nd gaine a husband by his libertie:
  <S>peake old Egeon, if thou bee'st the man
  <T>hat hadst a wife once call'd AEmilia,
  <T>hat bore thee at a burthen two faire sonnes?
  <O>h if thou bee'st the same Egeon, speake:
  <A>nd speake vnto the same AEmilia.

     Of  the  two  Dromios, one is suspected of being  an  impostor;  this
affords  a convenient moment for the author to discard his mask. We  must
choose the initial capitals of each line of dialogue:

     Ciphertext is:

     O A A I I E O V A S T T O A

     Ciphertext reversed is:

     A O T T S A V O E I I A A O

     Plaintext, +4 is:

     E S B B A E C S I N N E E S

     Plaintext, alternate letters:

     E <B A C I N> E

     Who deciphers them? <We do.>

     <Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe,>
     <And art alive still, while thy Booke doth live,>

     So goes one of the lines of Ben Jonson's "To the memory. . ."  tribute
to  the author of the plays collected in the 1623 Folio. He hints  at  another
author's name, who  was still living, but veils the allusion  with  the  last
phrase.  However at that time Shakespeare <had> a splendid  monument  and
tomb  which had been erected at great cost in the chancel of  Holy  Trinity
Church, Stratford. Toward  the end of these  praises  Ben  Jonson  writes,
"Sweet Swan of Avon!" Some literary critics are still unaware that swans  are
<mute.> Still, they point with delight at this phrase to entangle the Avon man
with the author of the plays.

     Here is the caption of the poem and the first two lines:

                 <T>o the memory of my beloued,
                        <T>he <A>VTHOR
                   <M>r. <W>illiam <S>hakespeare:
                            <A>nd
                     what he hath left vs.

           <T>O draw no enuy (<S>hakespeare) on thy name,
             <A>m <I> thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame:

     The  true <AVTHOR's> name was well known to Ben Jonson, and it  is
concealed in the initial capital letters of each word, reading from the begin-
ning:

     Ciphertext is:

     T T A M W S A T S A I

     Plaintext is:

     B B E Q C A E B A E N

     Alternate letters are:

     <B E C E A N>

     Here is another acrostic from "The two Gentlemen of Verona," (iv,  1,
50):

  <B>ut to the purpose: for we cite our faults,
  <T>hat they may hold excus'd our lawlesse liues;
  <A>nd partly seeing you are beautifide
  <W>ith goodly shape; and by your owne report,
  <A> Linguist, and a man of such perfection,
  <A>s we doe in our quality much want.
     <2. Out.> <I>ndeede because you are a banish'd man,

     The capitalized first letters of each line produce the ciphertext:

     B T A W A A I

     Plaintext is:

     <F B E C E E N>

     Ciphertext of the last line is:

     I N D E E D E B E C A V S E Y O V A R E A B A N I S H D M A N

     Plaintext, +4 is:

     N R H I I H I F I G E C A I D S <C E Y I E F E R> N A M H Q E R

     Bacon's  fascination with acrostics led him to rewrite his own  previ-
ously  published works. He hints at ciphers with suggestive words, in  "The
Life of Henry the Fift" (ii, 2, 53), and, compared to the 1600  Quarto, these
lines were painstakingly rearranged when edited for the 1623 Folio:

     In the earlier Quarto he had written:

  If litle faults proceeding on distemper should not bee winked at,
  How should we stretch our eye, when capitall crimes,
  Chewed, swallowed and digested, appeare before vs:
  Well yet enlarge the man, tho Cambridge and the rest
  In their deare loues. . .

     Now  we may glimpse the cryptogapher at work, as he  redrafts  this
excerpt, so as to encipher the intial capital letters of each line for the
1623 Folio:

  <I>f little faults proceeding on distemper,
  <S>hall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye
  <W>hen capitall crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested,
  <A>ppeare before vs? Wee'l yet inlarge that man,
  <T>hough Cambridge, Scroope, and Gray, in their deere care

     Ciphertext is:

     I S V A T

     Ciphertext reversed is:

     T A V S I

     Plaintext is:

     <B E C A N>

     The sense of these lines was scarcely modified, and the remainder  of
this speech of King Henry V was not altered.
     In the edited version the clues have been preserved for the benefit of
the most intractable  academicians. The lower case letters  in  the  original
version have been "inlarged." By the use of "capitalls" the writer has direct-
ed our attention to these newly minted upper case letters. For what  reason
were these transformations made, unless to encipher the author's name?
     A  cardinal  measure  of  cipher  authenticity--<intention>--has   been
demonstrated. The author has left behind an unmistakable "smoking pistol."

     On at least two other occasions Bacon amended the ciphertext of  an
early quarto edition so as to include his name in the Folio plaintext. In the
1604  edition  of "Hamlet," Hamlet is warned of the Ghost  by  Horatio:  "It
<beckins> you to go away with it / As if it some impartment did desire / To
you alone." Hamlet replies, "It waves me <forth>... Then Bacon writes:

  That bettles ore his base into the sea,
  And there assume some other horrable forme
  Which might depriue your soueraigntie of reason,
  And draw you into madnes, thinke of it,
  The very place puts toyes of desperation
  Without more motiue, into euery braine
  That lookes so many fadoms to the sea
  And heares it rore beneath.
  Ham. It waues me still,
     Goe on, Ile followe thee.

     In the 1623 Folio version of the plays (i, 4, 55) the author strikes out
four lines of splendid metaphor in order to accomplish his purpose:

  <T>hat beetles o're his base into the Sea
  <A>nd there assumes some other horrible forme,
  <W>hich might depriue your Soueraignty of Reason,
  <A>nd draw you into madnesse thinke on it?
  Ham. <I>t wafts me still: goe on, Ile follow thee.

     The  initial capitalized letters of each line now disclose the author's
name:

     Ciphertext is:

     T A V A I

     Plaintext is:

     <B E C E N>

     Again,  the  1604  quarto  version of the  same  play  contains  these
words:

  Obserue my Vncle, if his occulted guilt
  Doe not it selfe vnkennill in one speech,
  <I>t is a damned ghost that we have seene,
  <A>nd my imaginations are as foule
  <A>s Vulcans stithy: giue him heedfull note,
  <F>or I mine eyes will riuet to his face,
  <A>nd after we will both our iudgements ioyne
  In [<To>] censure of his seeming.

     In the 1623 play (iii, 2, 87) Bacon altered a few minor spellings,  but
he most unnecessarily changed <In> in the last line to <To>.

     Now the ciphertext (reversed) is:

     T A F A A I

     Plaintext is:

     <B E K E E N>

     And again: in the 1594 Quarto of Titus Andronicus are these lines:

  Chiron. Thou hast vndone our mother
  Aron. Villaine I haue done thy mother.
  Deme. And therein helish dog thou hast vndone her,
  Woe to her chaunce, and damde her loathed choice,
  Accurst the offspring of so foule a fiend.
  Chi. It shal not liue.

     However,  in the 1623 Folio (iv, 2, 75) the second line is dropped,  so
as to invoke the author's name:

  Chi. <T>hou hast vndone our mother.
  Deme. <A>nd therein hellish dog, thou hast vndone,
  <W>oe to her chance, and damn'd her loathed choyce,
  <A>ccur'st the off-spring of so foule a fiend.
  Chi. <I>t shall not liue.

     Now the ciphertext of the initial capital letters is:

     T A V A I

     Plaintext is:

     <B E C E N>

     Here is a passage from "The Tragedie of Julius Caesar" (i, 2, 198):

     <Cas.> Would he were fatter; But I feare him not:
  Yet if my name were lyable to feare,
  I do not know the man I should auoyd
  So soone as that spare <Cassius.> He reades much,
  He is a great Obseruer, and he lookes
  Quite through the Deeds of men. He loues no Playes,
  As thou dost <Antony:> he heares no Musicke;
  Seldome he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
  As if he mock'd himselfe, and scorn'd his spirit

     Now,  having described a character to mistrust, these lines  continue.
Witness the initial letters:

  <T>hat could be mou'd to smile at any thing.
  <S>uch men as he, be neuer at hearts-ease,
  <W>hiles they behold a greater then themselves,
  <A>nd therefore are they very dangerous.
  <I> rather tell thee what is to be fear'd,
  Then what I feare: for alwayes I am <Caesar.>

     Ciphertext of these five initial capitals:

     T S V A I

     Plaintext, +4, is:

    <B A C E N>

     But we are not finished with this illustration. We shall repeat the last
two lines of the above:

  I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd,
  Then what I feare: for alwayes I am <Caesar.>

     Ciphertext is:

I R A T H E R T E L L T H E E V H A T I S T O B E F E A R D T H E N V H A T I
F E A R E F O R A L V A Y E S I A M C A E S A R

Plaintext, +4 is:

N Y E B M I Y B I P P B M I I C M E B N A B S F I K I E Y H B M I R C M E B N
K I E Y I K S Y E P C E D I A N E Q G E I A E Y

Plaintext, skip even letters:

N E M Y I P M I M B A S I I Y< B I C E N> I Y K Y P E I N Q E A Y

Plaintext, skip odd letters:

Y B I B P< B I C E N> B F K E H M R M B K E I S E C D A E G I E

     Here the author has inserted his name, first within the initial  capital
letters of each line, and then twice within the last two  lines  as  alternate
even  and  odd letters with identical spelling. And notice  the  reference  to
<Caesar,> as in "Caesar cipher."

     Shakespeare often included a clue to assist in the unveiling of his  21
letter cipher alphabet, or perhaps to confirm it. Consider a letter Malvolio
is reading, from "Twelfth Night" (II, 2, 86):

     <Mal.> By my life this is my Ladies hand: these bee her very  <C'>s,  her
  <U'>s, and her <T'>s, and thus makes shee her great <P'>s. It is in contempt
  of question her hand.
     <An.> Her <C'>s, her <U'>s, and her <T'>s: why that?
     <Mal. To the vnknowne belou'd, this, and my good Wishes:>
  [Then, four lines afterward:]
     <Mal. Ioue knowes I love, but who, Lips do not mooue, no man  must>
 <know.> What followes? The numbers alter'd: No man must know. . .

     Why  did  Malvoli  choose these four letters, <C, U, T,  P,>  to  remark
 upon?  What's  all  this about the <vnknowne belou'd>  and  <No  man  must>
<know>? What number has been altered?
     Why, the number of letters in the 21 letter cipher alphabet, of course.
"T" follows four letters after "P", but "C" does not trail four letters after
"U" in the Elizabethan 24 letter alphabet (in which "I" is equivalent to  "J"
and "U" is equivalent to "V"). Not unless "W X Z" are omitted. The abbreviated
series, vital to Bacon's Caesar cipher, is:

     "V Y A B C"--<not> "V W X Y Z A B C."

     The odds against all of the letters in the 24 letter Elizabethan alphabet
appearing in any particular order are 24 x 23 x 22 x 21, or 255,024 to one.
Then, to choose these four successive letters from the alphabet of 24, we
must multiply by 24/4, or 6, again. The result is 1,530,144 to one.
     To  make  it more enlightening, Bacon has, in this way, shown the
<vnknowne belou'd> this  complete uninterrupted alphabetical succession:

     <P Q R S T V Y A B C>

     And, of course, <"P" = "T"> and <"V" = "C"> in Bacon's cipher process.

     The verse following is from <The Rape of Lvcrece,> lines 890-896:

  Thy <secret> pleasure turnes to open shame,
  Thy <priuate> feasting to a publicke fast,
  Thy smoothing titles to a ragged <name,>
  Thy sugred tongue to bitter wormwood tast,
  Thy violent vanities can neuer last.
     How comes it then, vile opportunity
     Being so bad, such numbers seeke for thee?

     (The clues are in < >). The  ciphertext  of the second and third
lines is:

T H Y< P R I V A T E >F E A S T I N G T O A P V B L I C K E F A S T T H Y S M O
O T H I N G T I T L E S T O A R A G G E D <N A M E>

Ciphertext reversed is:

E M A N D E G G A R A O T S E L T I T G N I H T O O M S Y H T T S A F E K C I
L B V P A O T G N I T S A E F E T A V I R P Y H T

Plaintext, +4 is:

I Q E R H I L L E Y E S B A I P B N B L R N M B S S Q A D M B B A E K I O G N
P F C T E S B L R N B A E I K I B E C N Y T D M B

Plaintext, alternate odd letters:

I E H L E E B I B B R M S Q D <B A K O N >F T S L N A I I E N T M

     "Bakon," we will recall, is how Francis spelt the name while  drawing
a Power of Attorney for the signature of his brother Anthony.
     Bacon  delighted in employing single words that contained a  version
of his name. In "As you like it"(iv, 3, 166), the word "counterfeit" is repeat-
ed six times in seventeen lines for no good reason except stress:

     <Oli.> Be of good cheere youth: you a man? You lacke a mans heart.
     <Ros.> I doe so, I confesse it: Ah, sirra, a body would thinke this was
  well <counterfeited>, I pray you tell your brother how well I
  <counterfeited>: heigh-ho.
     <Oli.> This was not <counterfeit>, there is too great testimony  in  your
  complexion that it was a passion of earnest.
     <Ros.> <Counterfeit>, I assure you.
     <Oli.> Well then, take a good heart, and <counterfeit< to be a man.
     <Ros.> So I doe: but yfaith, I should have beene a woman by right.
     <Cel.>  Come,  you looke paler and paler: pray you  draw  homewards:
  good sir, goe with us.
     <Oli.> That will I: for I must beare answere backe. How you excuse my
  brother, Rosalind.
     <Ros.> I shall deuise something: but I pray you commend my  <counter->
  <feiting> to him: will you goe?
                                             <Exeunt.>
     Ciphertext is:

A B O D Y V O V L D T H I N K E T H I S V A S V E L L C O V N T E R F E I T E
D I P R A Y Y O V T E L L Y O V R B R O T H E R H O V V E L L I C O V N T E R
F E I T E D H E I G H H O T H I S V A S N O T C O V N T E R F E I T T H E R E
I S T O O G R E A T T E S T I M O N Y I N Y O V R C O M P L E I O N T H A T I
T V A S A P A S S I O N O F E A R N E S T C O V N T E R F E I T I A S S V R E
Y O V V E L L T H E N T A K E A G O O D H E A R T A N D C O V N T E R F E I T
T O B E A M A N S O I D O E B V T Y F A I T H I S H O V L D H A V E B E E N A
V O M A N B Y R I G H T

     Plaintext, +4 is:

E F S H D C S C P H B M N R O I B M N A C E A C I P P G S C R <B I Y K I N >B I
H N T Y E D D S C B I P P D S C Y F Y S B M I Y M S C C I P P N G S C R <B I Y>
<K I N> B I H M I N L M M S B M N A C E A R S B G S C R< B I Y K I N> B B M I Y I
N A B S S L Y I E B B I A B N Q S R D N R D S C Y G S Q T P I N S R B M E B N
B C E A E T E A A N S R S K I E Y R I A B G S C R <B I Y K I N >B N E A A C Y I
D S C C I P P B M I R B E O I E L S S H M I E Y B E R H G S C R <B I Y K I N >B
B S F I E Q E R A S N H S I F C B D K E N B M N A M S C P H M E <C I F I I R >E
C S Q E R F D Y N L M B

     Here we see the name five times, followed by the word "CIFIIR." The
emphasis  is awesome. Even more accent is placed on the definitive  cipher-
text  word "counterfeit" in "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth"  (v,  4,
115), where it may be found <nine times in twelve lines.>

     <Falst.> Imbowell'd? If thou imbowell mee to day, Ile giue you leaue to
  powder  me, and eat me too to morrow. 'Twas time to <counterfet>, or  that
  hotte Termagant Scot, has paid me scot and lot too. <Counterfeit?> I am no
  <counterfeit>; to dye,is to be a <counterfeit>, for hee is but the
  <counterfeit> of a man, who hath not the life of a man: But to <counterfeit>
  dying, when a man  thereby  liueth,  is to be no <counterfeit>, but the
  true and perfect image of life indeede. The better part of Valour, is
  Discretion;  in  the which  better  part,  I  have saued my life. I am
  affraide  of  this  Gun-Powder  Percy  though he be dead. How if hee
  should  <counterfeit>  too, and  rise? I am afraid hee would prove the
  better  <counterfeit>: therefore Ile  make  him sure: yea, and Ile sweare
  I kill'd him. Why may  not  hee rise  as  well  as  I: <Nothing confutes>
 < me but  eyes,  and  no-bodie  sees me> . . . [Emphasis supplied.]

     For  every "counterfeit" in this passage, we may read  "BIYKIN",  and
nine  times.  Our  eyes have confuted the supposed author;  now  we  may
perceive who is truly holding the pen.
     So  that its significance may not be overlooked, here is the  Merriam-
Webster unabridged dictionary definition of this word:

  Counterfeit:  1.(a) SPURIOUS, not genuine or authentic; <esp:>  not  com-
  posed by the author indicated.

     Hereafter  we may leave the counterfeit labels on some old books  to
trustful schoolmasters.
     Another word that contains Bacon's enciphered name is "travail."
     "So  to  the Lawes at large I write my name." Seven  lines  following
that begins this passage from "Loves Labour's lost" (i, 1, 161):

     <Fer.> I that there is, our Court you know is hanted
  With a refined travailer of <Spaine,>
  A man in all the worlds new fashion planted,
  That hath a mint of phrases in his braine:

     Ciphertext, +4 is:

I T H A T T H E R E I S O V R C O V R T Y O V K N O V I S H A N T E D V I T
H A R E F I N E D T R A V A I L E R O F S P A I N E A M A N I N A L L T H E
V O R L D S N E V F A S H I O N P L A N T E D

     Plaintext, +4 is:
N B M E B B M I Y I N A S C Y G S C Y B D S C O R S C <N A M E >R B I H C N B
M E Y I K N R I H <B Y E C E N >P I Y S K A T E N R I E Q E R N R E P P B M I
C <S Y P H A R >I C K E A M N S R T P E R B I H

     Having given us a plain signal, in three lines the author has  confid-
ed his name, labeled it, and identified it as being written in cipher.

     And  how could the author have pointed out his name more  plainly
than in "The Tragedy of Cymbeline," (iii, 3, 59):

  And when a Souldier was the Theame, <my name>
  Was not farre off:

Ciphertext is:

A N D V H E N A S O V L D I E R V A S T H E T H E A M E <M Y N A M E >V A S N
O T F A R R E O F F

Ciphertext reversed is:

F F O E R R A F T O N S A V E M A N Y M E M A E H T E H T S A V R E I D L V
O S A N E H V D N A

Plaintext, +4 is:

K K S I Y Y E K B S R A E C I Q E R D Q I Q E I M B <I M B A E C Y I N >H P C
S A E R I M C H R E

     Not content with forcing his name into the first word of dialogue  in
"The Tempest" (Boteswaine), Bacon did it again in the <first fourteeen  lines>
of the "Comedy of Errors":

<I> am not partiall to infringe our Lawes;
<T>he enmity and discord which of late
<S>prung from the rancorous outrage of your Duke,
<T>o Merchants our will-dealing Countrimen,
<W>ho wanting gilders to redeeme their liues,
<H>ave seal'd his rigorous statutes with their blouds,
<E>xcludes all pitty from our threatning lookes:
<F>or since the mortall and intestine iarres
<T>wixt thy seditious Countrimen and vs,
<I>t hath in solemne Synodes beene decreed,
<B>oth by the Siracusians and our selues,

     Reading from the bottom to the top, the initial capitals are:

     B I T F E H V T S T I

     The plaintext is:

     F N B K I M C B A B N

     Alternate letters are:

     <F B I C A N>

     The  very  next line contains the word "trafficke"  which,  when  re-
versed, spells ek<CIFFAR>t.

     In the "History of Sir John Oldcastle" (1664 Folio, p. 53, col. 2, l. 9),
and  leading  up  to a passage we shall penetrate, there  are  a  number  of
words  and  phrases  to  put  us on our guard.  These  are  (col.  1)  "do  it
secretly,"  and  "make some sign," and "conceale our  names."  Sixteen  lines
later we read:

2. Iust. <B>ut how came your sharp edg'd knives unsheath'd?
L. Cob. <T>o cut such simple victual as we had.
Jud. <S>ay we admit this answer to those Articles,
<W>hat made you in so <private> a dark nook,
<S>o far remote from any common path,
<A>s was the thick where the dead corps was thrown?
Cob. <J>ourneying, my Lord, from London, from the Term,
<D>own into Lancashire, where we do dwell:
<A>nd what with age, and travel being faint,
<W>e gladly sought a place where we might rest.
<F>ree from resort of other passengers,
<A>nd so we stray'd into that <secret> corner.
Jud. <T>hese are but <ambages> to drive off time,

     Ciphertext of the initial capitals:

     B T S V S A I D A V F A T

     Plaintext, +4, is:

     <F B A C A E N> H E C K E B

     Here  we find an unexpected dividend; the name is doubly  inserted.
Reversing the plaintext, we read:

     <B E K C E H N> E A C A B F

     What  were  <Ambages>? The dictionary says,  <Secret  or  mysterious>
<ways  of action.> What was a <HECK>? In Middle English, <The lower half of a>
<divided door.>

     Bacon sometimes used <all> of the initial capitalized letters in
succeeding verses, as in this pregnant quotation from the Sonnets:

                76

WHy is my verse so barren of new pride?
So far from variation or quicke change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new found methods, and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, euer the same,
And keepe inuention in a noted weed,              weed=costume
<T>hat euery word doth almost sel my name,        sel=spell, or (sell)=betray
<S>hewing their birth, and where they did proceed?
<O> know sweet loue <I> alwaies write of you,
<A>nd you and loue are still my argument:
<S>o all my best is dressing old words new,
<S>pending againe what is already spent:
   <F>or as the <S>un is daily new and old,
   <S>o is my loue still telling what is told.

                 77

<T>Hy glasse will shew thee how thy beauties were,
<T>hy dyall how thy pretious mynuits waste,

     Reading all of the initial letters of the capitalized words, beginning at
the end and up to "Shewing their birth," we find:

     Ciphertext is:

     T T S S F S S A I O

     Plaintext is:

     B <B A A K A A E N >S

     Alternate letters are:

     <B A K A N >

     Many times Bacon combined the alternate letters and third letters
of the ciphertext to register his name more than once. Here is an example
from the first page of <The Merchant of Venice> (1,1,29) in which he
triply employed <all> of the capital letters:

  <T>o kisse her buriall; though <I> goe to <C>hurch
  <A>nd see the holy edifice of stone,
  <A>nd not bethinke me straight of dangerous rocks,
  <W>hich touching but my gentle <V>essels side
  <W>ould scatter all her spices on the streame,
  <E>nrobe the roring waters with my silkes,
  <A>nd in a word, but euen now worth this,
  <A>nd now worth nothing. <S>hall <I> haue the thought
  <T>hat such a thing <bechaun>c'd would make me sad
  <B>ut tell not me, <I> know <A>nthonio

     The ciphertext is:

     T I C A A V V V E A A S I T B I A

     Plaintext is:

     B N G E E C C C I E E A N B F N E

     Alternate letters are:

     <N E C C E A B> N (Baeccen reversed)

     Third letters are:

     <B E C E N> N

     <N E C E B> E (Becen reversed)

     The existence of such plain indicators, such as <BECHAUN> in the open
text, cannot  be  neglected. The  word "Cipher" is often such a clue, as in
"The History of Sir John Oldcastle" (1664 Folio, p. 46, col. 1, line 37).
Title-paged to William Shakespeare in  a  1619 quarto,  "it was certainly
not by him," say the knowing critics. One  says  it was written by Munday,
Drayton, Wilson and Hathaway; another claims  it was  composed by Kyd, but
rewritten by Peele, Greene and  Marlowe.  The critics confusion may now be
ended. Here are some lines:

  And sit within the Throne, but for a <Cipher>.
  <T>ime was, good <S>ubjects would not make known their grief,
  <A>nd pray amendment, not enforce the same,
  <U>nlesse their <K>ing were tyrant, which <I> hope

     Following  "Cipher,"  we may read the next six capital letters  in  the
familiar acrostic fashion of the times:

Ciphertext is:

     T S A V K I

Plaintext, +4 is:

    <B A E C O N>

     In  the  previous, 1600, edition of this play, the word  "Subjects"  was
not capitalized. The plaintext result is then <B E C O N> and this is how  one
of Bacon's relations once spelled his name.

                          Conclusion

     We  have reached a place where each of these signatures  cannot  all
be ascribed to happenstance. In my book I have described <one-hundred and>
<thirteen> similar illustrations; they must not all have  occurred  by  chance.
<Fourteen>  separate  examples  are shown in which  the  playwright's  name
appears  three  or more times. <Ten> times an abbreviation of his  first  name
just precedes his last. <Forty-three> times it is found in conjunction  with 
a version of "cipher." <Nine> times it is found twice within one line of text.
     In  addition,  this name appears on <twenty> occasions  together  with,
either in ciphertext or plaintext, the word "name." Must such subtlety forev-
er  escape the perception of the literary mind? While we follow the trail  of
these  vintage  etymological imprints, must we overlook  such  peculiarities?
Our  compass  points across the wake of an  immensely  informed  scholar;
shall  we still insist that he was innocent of cryptographic  design--helpless
to  reveal  his  name through the composition of such  coherent,  but  well
concealed, devices?
     Indeed, what does it matter who wrote the works of William  Shake-
speare  when  the  poems  and  the plays  remain  for  us  to  admire  and
enjoy--to venerate, as Mark Twain said, "until the last sun goes down"?
     It matters because truth matters. There is some elemental secret about
Francis Bacon's life, some basic circumstance still unexplained. At least  Ben
Jonson must have known. Had Bacon other friends, faithful to this  strange
trust, who never revealed his quiet deeds? Have the descendants of such  a
coterie persisted through the long ages? Do such initiates still quietly enjoy
this deception with cryptic smiles?
     In  1621,  when he retired from public life, he wrote a  letter  to  his
friend Count Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador:

     Now  indeed both my age, the state of my fortune, and also  that  of
  my genius, which I have hitherto so parsimoniously satisfied, call me, as
  I depart from the <Theatre> of Public Affairs, to devote myself to letters;
  to marshal the Intellectual <Actors> of the present, and to help  those  of
  future  time.  Perchance  that will be my honour; and  I  may  pass  the
  remainder of my life as if in the vestibule of a better one.

     It  is  amusing to contemplate in our imaginations the  scene  as  the
curtain rises for the first act of a faithful production of "The Tempest."
     According  to  Shakespeare's own stage  directions,  "<A  tempestuous>
<noise  of Thunder and Lightning heard: Enter a Ship-master and  a  Botes->
<waine.>"
     What is the first word that the "Master" shouts above the din?
     Not  really "Bote-swaine," <but the name of the author, Francis  Bacon>
--that  extraordinary  man of astonishing equivocacy, that  man  who,  Ben
Jonson wrote, "could never pass by a jest."

                            Finis

                      BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

	Penn  Leary  has  been a trial lawyer in his  native  city  of  Omaha,
Nebraska since 1947. During WW II he was a bomber test pilot assigned  to
Wright Field and later to O.S.S. He is a writer in the fields of law, electron-
ics,  weather  and aeronautics. His hobbies include  photography,  printing,
machine  shop work, electronics, Elizabethan history, computers  and  cryp-
tography.
	He wouldn't mind if you bought a copy of his book, <The  Second>
<Cryptographic Shakespeare,> available from the author. The book contains
313 pages, 16 photo illustrations, a bibliography and an index. The price
is $15.00 postpaid anywhere.

	The DOS disk is $3.00 pp. and contains the full text of the book, the 
cryptographic program and other probative files. Sorry, no credit cards.

Penn Leary
218 So. 95
Omaha NE 68114

Tel. 402-391-0188
Fax  402-398-9470
CIS  70665,1065
AOL  pennl@aol.com
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