58. MISSING WORDS
(Dedicated to the Fresh Air Fund)
Good ——— for City ———
My pipe ——— for — —— charms, that yield
Pictures and ——— of a children’s day.
Lest conscience ——— I —— — down to say
My ——— shall send some city ——— afield.
Each word or group is spelt with the same five letters.
No. XXXVI.—SHAKESPEARE’S PSALM
Quite as cryptic and convincing as any of the curious Shakespeare-Bacon cyphers is the evidence which connects our great English poet with the forty-sixth Psalm of the authorised Bible version.
Shakespear, spelt thus, as it often was, contains four vowels and six consonants. This is the key to the position. If, guided by these figures, we turn to the forty-sixth Psalm and count from the beginning, we find the forty-sixth word is “Shake.”
Then, counting from the end, disregarding the “Selah,” which is no part of the text, we find that the forty-sixth word is “spear.”
Thus, by a startling and perfect succession of affinities, the poet’s name-number is linked again and again with this Psalm, until it reveals his name.