Concerning the bi-literal cypher of Francis Bacon discovered in his works

by Elizabeth Wells Gallup

Because the writer of this article has for seven years worked upon the Ciphers of Bacon, not as a dilettante, but as one who realized the importance and vastness of the undertaking, urged on by the fascination of a great discovery and a growing interest in the developments of it, the statements made concerning the “Bi-literal Cypher of Francis Bacon” are not “uninspired guesses,” nor mere conjecture, but such as come from knowledge gained by the hardest work and closest application, until the eye has been trained to that degree of discrimination by which, like that of the geologist, it is able to make hidden things plain.

In pursuit of the same objects as other students of things Baconian, my own investigations have been in quite a different field from theirs, and have met with most successful, as well as most surprising results, not less surprising to myself, than they will be to my readers. I have been glad to submit the results of my years of study for the edification of those interested in the same subject, for they supply missing links in the literature of that era and explain much, if not all, that has been mysterious and difficult of explanation.

The last two numbers of Baconiana have presented varied comments upon the published results of my investigations. Naturally opinions differ, according to the point of view. Although the things discovered and brought to light are those which have been so diligently sought for, and believed to exist by the deepest students, yet the wider field unexpectedly disclosed and the marvelousness of it all, prompt to incredulity.

The objections urged against a belief in the cipher disclosures appear in a variety of forms. The astounding revelations are beyond the dreams of the most ardent believers that Bacon’s sphere of action and achievements were far greater than had been acknowledged, and some have gone so far as to think the recent publication of the “Bi-literal Cypher” must have been a romantic creation of my own, the words made to fit the differing forms of the Italic letters in the old books, and written out in imitation of the forms of thought and manner of speech of the old English language, enriched by the vocabulary of the great Francis. To suggest such a thing, with all that it implies, would bring its own refutation.

It is true that the Cipher Story does not in all respects accord, or stop with what has been supposed to be the “facts of history.” Authorities do not agree as to what the “facts” were, nor is it believed that all have found place on the records, and historians have filled gaps with deductions and conjectures, some of which have been most extravagant and impossible. Especially does this appear to be true in the light of the cipher disclosures, and whatever of variation there may be will furnish a profitable field for the investigators, and there is little reason to doubt their ultimate harmony. Cyphers would not be used to hide known facts, and could be useful only in recording those that had been suppressed.

Some have given expression to the thought that the Cipher Story shows a most unpleasant phase of character in Bacon, and a lack of that princely spirit which should have actuated the son of Elizabeth, entitled to the throne, in not trying to possess himself of royal power at any cost. Essex, of a more martial spirit, essayed to seize it, when Francis refused to make open claim to being Prince, in the face of the denials of the Queen,—and Essex was beheaded for the attempt. The murder of two princes of the blood royal by Richard Third; the imprisonment and execution of another, by Henry Seventh; the juggling with all rights by Henry Eighth, were not remote,—quite near enough to chill the blood of the peace-loving student and deter him from making himself sufficiently obnoxious to invite a similar fate. Later, his own account, in the Cipher, of the reasons for not striving to establish himself upon the throne appear quite adequate,—the succession established by law, and quite satisfactory to the people,—“our witnesses dead, our certificates destroyed,” etc., (pages 33, 38, 47, 201, and other references). He submitted to the inevitable as did Prince Napoleon, and as others have done in our own time,—for “what will not a man yield up for his life.”

Whether or not Bacon has “told the truth” in the Cipher, is not in the province of the decipherer to discuss. A decipherer can only disclose what is infolded. As to “slandering the Queen” in the statements which the Cipher records,—if so, Bacon would not be alone, for the old MSS, and as reliable and recent an authority as the National Dictionary of Biography admit the motherhood of Elizabeth, though they do not give the names of the offspring. This is supplied by the Cipher, written by the one person most likely to know. If the Cipher exists, and we know that it does, there must be some more reasonable theory for its being written into so many published books for more than fifty years, than for the purpose of slander or falsification. The peril of its discovery in the early days of its infolding would be enhanced by its being a slander, and the head would have “stood tickle on the shoulders” of anyone guilty of so causeless a crime.

Francis would have been more “lunatic” for risking such matter in cipher if not true, than “coward” for not daring openly to proclaim the truth which was being so carefully suppressed.

Many inquiries have reached me, asking “how is the Cipher worked,” and expressing disappointment that the inquirer had been unable to grasp the system or its application. It would be difficult to teach Greek or Sanscrit, in a few written lines, or to learn it by a few hours study. It is equally so with the Cipher. Deciphering the Bi-literal Cipher, as it appears in Bacon’s works, will be impossible to those who are not possessed of an eyesight of the keenest, and perfect accuracy of vision in distinguishing minute differences in form, lines, angles and curves in the printed letters. Other things absolutely essential are unlimited time and patience, persistency, and aptitude, love for overcoming puzzling difficulties and, I sometimes think, inspiration. As not every one can be a poet, an artist, an astronomer, or adept in other branches requiring special aptitude, so, and for the same reasons, not every one will be able to master the intricacies of the Cipher, for in many ways it is most intricate and puzzling,—not in the system itself, but in its use in the books. “It must not be made too plain lest it be discovered too quickly nor hid too deep, lest it never see the light of day,” is the substance of the inventor’s thought many times repeated in the work.

The system has been recognized, and used, since the day that De Augmentis was published, and has had its place in every translation and publication since, but the ages have waited to learn that it was embedded in the original books themselves from the date of his earliest writings (1579 as now known) and infolded his secret personal history. To disbelieve the Cipher because not “every one” can decipher it, would be as great a mistake as it would be to say that the translations of the character writings and hieroglyphics of older times, which have been deciphered, were without foundation or significance, because we could not ourselves master them in a few hours of inefficient trial. I would repeat, Ciphers are used to hide things, not to make them plain.