Bacon Shaker

I Play.
   Anon he finds him,
   Striking too short at Greeks: his antique sword,
   Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,
   Repugnant to command: unequal match'd,
   Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide;
   But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
   The unnerved father falls. Then senseless Ilium,
   Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top
   Stoops to his base; and with a hideous crash

   Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear: for lo! his sword,
   Which was declining on the milky head
   Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick :
   So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood;
   And, like a neutral to his will and matter,
   Did nothing.
   But as we often see, against some storm,
   A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,
   The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
   As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
   Doth rend the region; so, after Pyrrhus' pause,
   A roused vengeance sets him new a-work;
   And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall
   On Mars's armour, forg'd for proof eterne,
   With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
   Now falls on Priam.--
   Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,
   In general synod, take away her power;
   Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
   And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
   As low as to the fiends!

Ham.
It shall to the barber's, with your beard.--Pr'ythee say on.--
He's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps:--say on; come to Hecuba.

I Play.
   Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames
   With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
   Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
   About her lank and all o'erteemed loins,
   A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;--
   Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd,
   'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounc'd:
   But if the gods themselves did see her then,
   When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
   In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,
   The instant burst of clamour that she made,--
   Unless things mortal move them not at all,--
   Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven,
   And passion in the gods.

Pol.
Look, whether he has not turn'd his colour, and has tears in's eyes.--Pray you, no more!

Ham.
'Tis well. I'll have thee speak out the rest of this soon.--
Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear? Let them be well used; for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time; after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.

Ham.
Odd's bodikin, man, better: use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity: the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.

Ham.
We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which I would set down and insert in't? could you not?

--My good friends [to Ros. and Guild.], I'll leave you till night: you are welcome to Elsinore.

Ham.
Ay, so, God b' wi' ye! Now I am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wan'd;
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!

For Hecuba?
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech; Make mad the guilty, and appal the free;
Confound the ignorant, and amaze, indeed, The very faculties of eyes and ears.
Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face? Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this, ha?
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be But I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter; or ere this I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!

O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words
And fall a-cursing like a very drab,

Fie upon't! foh!--About, my brain! I have heard That guilty creatures, sitting at a play,
Have by the very cunning of the scene Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions; For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ, I'll have these players Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks; I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy,--
As he is very potent with such spirits,--
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this.--
the play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king .

October, 2002
Updated February 12, 2005

Fellow Baconians....

Recently, I have been playing around with
Psalm 46, Authorized King James Version...
You recall that Francis Bacon was, most likely, the final editor of the KJV project authorized by King James himself in 1604 soon after Queen Elizebeth's death and James' ascension (not Francis') to the throne...
– ( Re: Francis Bacon and the James 1st Bible ) –

And also recall the familiar -- but mysterious -- placement of "shake" and "spear" within the KJV text of Psalm 46 in the final 1611 edit.

Not only are they the 46th words up-'n-down, but there are 111 words inclusively betwixt them, (with the special note that the word "Selah" doesn't count.)

1611 "Authorized Version"
King James Bible

Click Here for Alfred Dodd's Numerological Cypher Chart.

So, You decide —
Francis Bacon's artful cryptographic design? – or random numerological cooincidence?

I love this game....
— Francis Bacon of Tupelo Mississippi.

October 23-25, 2002

Shakespeare, First Folio (1623)

This is so remarkably simple, I’m amazed that it hasn’t been seen before.
— But then maybe, that was the author’s intent.

First, verso folio, instructions are given:

To the Reader.	To the Reader.
This Figure, that thou here feeft put,	This Figure, that thou here seeist put,
It vvas for gentle Shakefpeare cut;	It was for gentle Shakespeare cut;
VVherein the Grauer had a ftrife	Wherein the Graver had a strife
vvith Nature, to out-doo the life :	with Nature, to outdo the life :
O, could he but haue dravvne his vvit	Oh, could he but have drawn his wit
As vvell in braffe, as he hath hit	As well in brass, as he hath hit
His face ; the Print vvould then furpaffe	His face, the Print would then surpass
All,that vvas euer vvrit in braffe.	All,that was ever writ in brass.
But, fince he cannot, Reader, looke	But, since he cannot, Reader, look
Noton his Picture, but his booke.	Not on his Picture, but his book.
B. I.	B. I.

(Which begs the question: is there a pattern to the comma's and the double-v's?)

The very next words at the top of the next recto folio...
     a.) Mr. VVILLIAM SHAKESPEARES
  …and 14 pages later at the top of the Principal Actors list. (above)
     b.) The VVorkes of VVilliam Shakespeare,

(Clearer image: Use 4x)

Note that in both cases, William Shakespeare’s name, as typeset in the first folio of 1623 used the double-“V” ligature for the letter “W” Note too, that other words in the text used a standard ‘W’ – so it was available for proper use. It seems, as if by choice -- that it wasn’t.

Further, if you examine more closely the list of Principal Actors, “VVilliam Shakespeare” is on the page twice – both with “VV”. But notice too, that there are four other “Williams” listed therein (see image at bottom) and all use a standard “W.”
Hmm-m-m. Strange 'coincidence,' indeed.

So, here we go…

—"Oh look, Roman Numerals!"

Sum the Roman Numerals thus: V+V+I+L+L = 111 = Kaye Cypher for “Bacon”

     VVILL
     IAM
     SHAKESPEARES

Becomes (verily, all too easily) –
     Bacon I am Shakespeare

Now what, in the Queen’s English, is the big mystery to that?
Just another coincidence, right? — As "Shakespeare" mused, 'Modest doubt is the beacon of the wise.'

(Also, take note of the above cited page from Hamlet in the 1623 folio. Cooincidence?)
— My illumined version of the same image.

(Clearer Image: Use 4x)

Here's another oddity.
Note that on Folio A3, "To the great Variety of Readers." that the Initial Cap "F" is followed by an upper-case "R". ["Hmm-m-m," he said, scratching his chin.]

Then, the first full sentance of that page reads:
"FRom the moft able,to him that can but fpell: There you are number'd."
(From the most able, to him that can but spell, There you are numbered.)

Doesn't that phrase possibly carry a bit more meaning in light of the above discovery?

And – oddly enough – it fits the alleged profiles of both men's literary capabilities.

(Clearer Image: Use 4x)
See Ben Ionson's Commas. Ben Ionson Bibliography

XLS Chart showing mathmatical design

Be sure to read the two pages under "Simple Arithmatic in Elizabethan Literature" by Alfred Dodd at the Cypher Chart link.

And this one is pretty much a stretch – but I thought I'd include it anyway.
      FRANCIS BACON in Simple Cypher =100.
As noted in red above, there are nine double-v's and ten over-sized commas in the original copy.
      (9 x 10) + 10 = 100

                                                                 -- FB

And last, but not least, isn't this interesting:
— Bard: A covering of fat bacon to render more flavor.

2B V ¬2B = ? — Francis Bacon