And now we have the same word call coming out again at the touch of 338. Why? Because there are precisely 22 bracketed and hyphenated words in the column (79:2) above the word call; and the 22 b & h in the column exactly equalize the 22 b & h in the 167 in 74:2! Hence we have this result:

Another conundrum for the men who believe the sun is an accidental bonfire, and man a fortuitous congregation of atoms!

66

There are a few points I will ask the reader to note: First, the many shes and hers in this story. We could not have found these in the Cipher story in act i, for that entire act of four scenes does not contain a single she and but one her. And this illustrates that we cannot make everything out of anything. Again, I would note the great many a's: a 100," a dish,' a green wound,' a widow," "a pretty face," "a fair complexion," ‘a high color," "a gross and vulgar woman," "a loud tongue," etc. We find nothing like this in the preceding chapters, but where it was needed we have it. Some of the words used in the foregoing sentences are quite rare. found bat twice in this play, and but seven times besides in all the Historical Plays. People occurs but three times in this play. Arrested appears but this time in this play, and but ten times in all the Plays. Suit is found but four times in this play. Heavenly occurs but twice in this play, and this is the only time tread is found in this play. And thus we see that even so little a matter as Ann Hathaway's oath could not be constructed without bringing together this array of unusual words.

Throng is

It may be objected that the wife of Shakspere would not be called madam under any circumstances; but it must be remembered that Shakspere's father had been the chief officer of the town; and Shakspere's effort to obtain a coat-of-arms shows that he had a lively sense of all the dignities belonging to his family, and even of some that did not belong to it. In 1571, Shakspere's father was made chief alderman, and therefore he is entered on the parish records as "magistri Shakspere," and thereafter he is no longer “Johannis Shakspere," but Mr. John Shakspere." Indeed, a writer on Shakspere's life has remarked that it must have been quite an elevation for Ann Hathaway to have married "the high-bailiff's son.”

And Will's father, John Shakspere, is indignant at the whole business. He thinks his son has been entrapped by the widow, and that she is no better than she should be." And he calls his son sundry pet names:

24

338-30-308-285 (79:1)-23. 598-23-575+1— 576 338-30-308-284 (79:1)-24.

338-50-288-162-126. 523-12C-397+1=398

Is it not remarkable,— if this is all accident,— that we have here the very words to tell the real age of Shakspere's wife, at the time of her marriage, and the precise number of years' difference between her age and that of her husband? And this is the only time "eldest" occurs in this play? And it occurs just where it is needed. And seven is found but twice in this play. Years is disguised in the word 'ears, the pronunciation of the period slurring the y where it began a word. And the matter was much laughed over among the neighbors. It was

338-32-306-285 (79:1)-21-5 b (285)—16. 162-16-146 338-58 (80:1)=280.

78:1 reasonable

280

This is the only time reasonable is found in this play, and this is the only time virtue occurs in this act; and the same is true of seem; this is the only time surmise is found in this play; and this is the only time road-way appears in all the Plays!

But debt was a serious business in that day, for it meant imprisonment for years, with, oftentimes, no food provided for the unhappy wretches, who had to depend for life upon the charity of such passers-by as might be good enough to fill the basket lowered to them from the prison window. And so, with that threat hanging over him, "the bard of Avon" accepted the sweet bonds of matrimony. The Bishop

338-22 b & h-316-32-284-5b (32)-279-4 h col.-275 338-22b & h-316-32-284-50-234-32 b & h col.

forces

78:2

202.

461-202-259+1-260.

260

78:2

him

338-22 b & h=316-32-284-50-234-31 b & h col.=203

to marry; no great hardship, perhaps, for he had, we are told,

338-22 h & h-316-31-285-5-280-199 (79:1)— 338-22 b & h-316-32-284-5 b-279-199 (79:1)— 80 338-22 b & h=316—31—285-5 b-280-199—81.

81

weekly"

And observe here an astonishing fact: this is the only time the word " appears in all the nine hundred thousand words of the Plays! And sworn appears but this once in twenty-nine columns of this play, and but two other times in all the play. And see how precisely they move together. To even construct so simple a phrase of five words as the foregoing, the cryptologist had to import one word never used before or afterward in the Plays, and another word used but three times in this play. And then observe that sentence, “sworn weekly to marry her." Every word is 505-167-338—22b & h=316–31 or 32 (regularly alternated) minus the 56 in 31 or 32. And four of the words are found in that same fragment of a scene at the top of 78:1, and two of them are 80 and 81 down from the top of the fragment, and two of them are 80 and 81 up from the end of the fragment !

And then we have the whole story of the precipitate marriage. It must take place at once, or "the divine William" might fly again to Wales; but it was necessary to publish a notice of the bans three times in advance of the marriage:

The word publish is quite rare: itis found but eight times in all the Plays, and but once in this play; and notice is comparatively rare: it occurs but ten times in all the Histories, and but once in this play; and advance is also a rare word: it is found but twelve times in all the Histories, and but this time in this play! Here, then, are three words, publish― notice — advance― (together with the comparatively rare words three — times)—not found anywhere else among all the many thousand words of this play; and yet all brought together on the same page (page 78), and all tied together in a bunch by the same number:

And, more than all this, these significant words are thus bunched together, just where we have found all the other significant words that tell the story of Shakspere's marriage! And, historically, we know that the marriage was peculiar, to say the least; and that a bond had to be given to avoid the necessity of calling the bans more than once.

And we have here, also, the whole story of the bond. Here is the bond: 338-146-192-3 b (146)-189.

1-269+6 h col.-275.

457-189-268+

John Shakspere offered to go upon it, but he was not considered sufficient, and at last two friends of the family are found; and sweet Ann Hathaway enters into history, to be sung by poets and idealized by fools.

CHAPTER XIX.

BACON OVERWHELMED.

News fitting to the night,

Black, fearful, comfortless and horrible.

King John, v, 6.

Y publishers write me that the book now contains over 900 pages, and that the edition de luxe “looks like a Chicago Directory!" And, therefore, fascinating as the story is to me, I must condense the remainder of it into the smallest possible compass. I regret to leave the history of Shakspere unfinished. I have worked out fragments of it all the way through to the end of 2d Henry IV. It gives in detail his conversations with his father, his dread of being hanged, his flight to London, the poverty of his wife and children, his own wretchedness and distress in the metropolis, his begging on the streets in mid-winter with the tears frozen on his face; his being relieved by Henslow. I will try to give fragments from these narratives, if I have time and space after finishing the story announced in the prospectus of my publishers; if not, the particulars will have to go into some future work.

We turn back to the beginning of scene third (76:1), and we have to use now a Cipher-number different from that 505-167338 which has given us so much of the foregoing narrative; but even with so different a number we shall find the text responding with sentences just as significant as those already given. And the reader will note that, although we go over the same ground which gave us the Shakspere story, derived from 338, we flush always an entirely different covey of game, in the shape of Cipher words.

Bacon says:

Page and

Word.

Column.

505-29 (74:2)-476-457-19-9 b col.-10. 505-449-56—5 h (449)—51. 603-51-552+1= 553 505-146 (76:2)-359. 498-359-139+1-140.

10

140