Key to the bi-literal cipher of Francis Bacon

n

GIFT OF

;

Key

to the

i-literal Cipher

o/ FRANCIS BACON

By CHARLES LOUGHRIDGE

DENVER, COLORADO

Key to the

Bi-literal Cipher

of FRANCIS BACON

CHE Translation of Biliteral Cipher states that Francis Bacon
and the Rev. Wm. Rawley, his Chaplain, Secretary and
Literary Executor, kept a diary in a system of shorthand
writing, which Bacon invented and named Biliteral Cipher. Ac-
cording to the Cipher Story, the System was devised while Bacon
was a youth in Paris, 1576 to 1579. The Alphabets were kept
private and secret, until 1623, when standard alphabets and a
Key Example were made known by publication in De Augmentis
Scientiarum.

An Example of a Bi-literal Alphabet

O

awaa. 00000 • wpp

v as y

Example of Solution

F U G E

aabab baabb aabba aabaa

To gain secrecy and allay curiosity, the Example of Solution :

aababbaabbaabbaaabaa,

was resolved, by printing, into Bi-formed fonts of Script letters.
The letters were engraved from letters in a special Bi-formed
Alphabet, which was designed by Francis Bacon and is repro-
duced in facsimile as follows :

368746

Key tc the Si-UterM Cipher of Francis Bacon

An Example of a Bi-formed Alphabet

.a.D. <L. h. <L.0.<t p.a[>.<t. P.4-.D*

C C C C * C C £* £

{& P,4,.P. A. £>.&J>*<L*P* d-P' & P.I.D.

/^f * £ ^(j&j^j^P (^ [f^TCP

. p. &.P* &* p. a. p. <i. p. a. P. 4.. p. <t. p.

p. Os.p.Atp.ap. a,. p.4,J>+<i. P.&.0.&P.

&. P. <t. p. <t , /. &.£. a,. P. a.b. 4,p. a.

catteris saMsmcio ottmwit'. JmM tpstnun*

•^ - *^

\

C/

tuorim WM, me

am &i) nisifsrftda re, d&mencn
&j ego

i Jwttmm

S w»

ae

jpteosaetn t

Mm tern,

dtfawi yolmvk.
*/

4ionis caktmnwffy nmrsfiawe

comfrofvfc. &c.

Key to the Bi-literal Cipher of Francis Bacon

Bacon prepared an ample Example of Biliteral Cipher,
Omnia per Omnia, i. e., using the entire text of the exterior or
infolding letter.

The hidden, interior or infolded message is a Spartan Letter
which was sent once in a Scytale or round cipher staff.

Perditae res. Mindarus cecidit. Milites Esuriunt. Neque
hinc nos extricare, neque hie diutius manere possumus.

Bacon ciphered the Spartan Letter in Biliteral Cipher, in a
part of Cicero's Epistle, as the Standard or Key-Example. The
Letter was first ciphered into the Bi-literal Alphabet, as in the
Example of Solution. Next, the Example of Solution was resolved
or ciphered into the engraved letters of the Epistle, employing
the Bi-formed Script Alphabet shown in the foregoing Epistle of
Cicero.

The engraver varied slightly from some of the designs of the
Standard Bi-formed Alphabet. The variations may be a masque
to make it harder to understand the Cipher.

Bacon's use of Bi-literal Cipher remained an undisclosed
secret until 1895, when it was discovered and made public by
Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup.

By a stroke of genius, Mrs. Gallup evolved from the Standard
Alphabets and Key-Examples, a system of design and rules on
which to assemble Bi-formed Alphabets for use in deciphering.

A Bi-formed Alphabet is required for each new Work and
for each font of Italics. The Italic type used are cut from Bi-
formed Alphabets designed by the cipherer. The type which
were used in printing the Italics in Novum Organum 1620, Henry
VII 1622, De Augmentis 1623, and Shakespeare were cut after
designs made by Bacon. The standard of design is embodied in
the Bi-formed Alphabet, given in De Augmentis Scientiarum.

Everyone should learn the modus operandi or mechanism of
Biliteral Cipher. Few, not to exceed ten, have done original
deciphering. All can use to advantage the narrative revealed by
the Translations now made.

The Biliteral Alphabet, the Bi-formed Alphabet and the Key-
Example were published at London in 1623, contemporaneously
with The First Folio of Shakespeare.

Key to the Bi-literal Cipher of Francis Bacon

The publication in 1623 was in the London Edition of De
Augmentis Scientiamm ; in 1624, in the Paris Edition ; in London,
in the Latin Edition of 1638; and at London in the English
Edition 1640. The Alphabets in each are substantially the same.
The differences may result from the engraver's variations or from
tricks native to the Art of Cyphers.

To decipher the Spartan Letter, read the font of each letter.
Mark one font as " a"; the other, as "b". In the Key to the
Fonts, a-font is indicated by a small Roman letter and b-font, by
a Capital letter. Consult a printer, if the font rule is not clear.

The transcription is elaborately worked out in the Treatise
by Mrs. Fiske entitled, ' ' Studies in the Biliteral Cipher of Francis
Bacon/' published by John W. Luce & Co. of Boston.

Key to the Fonts of the Letters in Cicero's Epistle

eGOOm niOff Icioa cpoTI uSpie TatEe rgate caEte Rissa
tiSfa CiocoM nlbUS mlhii pSEnu nquAM satis Facio TanTA
EsteN immAg niTud otuOr uMerg ameME rltor UmvTq uOnIA
mTuni sIpEr fEcta RedEm enOnc Onqul esTie Goqul AnoNI
Demin tUaca UsaEF fICio VitAm mlHie ssEac eRBAM PutEM
inCau saHAE cSunt aMMon iusRe gISle gATuS AperT apEcu
NiAnO SopPu Gnatr eSagi turPe recsd Emcre diTor eSPer quOsc
uMTUA DerAS agEba tuRRE glsca UsasI quiSU nTqui VellN
Tqulp alJcis UntOM NesaD pOmPE inmre mDEfe rrlvo Lunts
enAtu sRELi glOnl ScalU MniaM NonRE UglO NesED MaleU
oLENt iaEtl ILius ReGia elarg ition isinu idiac ompro bat etc.
etc.

Note — Resolve each Symbol into terms of the Biliteral Alpha-
bet, thus: eGOOm reads abbba, which is the Symbol for P.;
niOff=aabaa=E ; Icioa=baaaa=r and so on to the end. Such
resolutions produce the Spartan Letter.

Perditae Res Mindarus cecidit. Milites esuriunt. Neque
hinc nos extricare neque his diutius manere possumus.

The discovery of how to assemble a Bi-formed Alphabet to
decipher with, is a work of first magnitude. The rules are fully
explained in the Work by Mrs. Fiske. The Key-Alphabets and
Examples were preserved in letters of Script design as a mask.
Other masks are used in the context in De Augmentis and in The

Key to the Bi-literal Cipher of Francis Bacon

Example itself to make it difficult to decipher and to conceal
Bacon 's use of the Cipher.

"Far fro' th' nest" the Lapwing crys, "away."
Mrs. Gallup deciphered the narrative in the Italic letters of
The Advancement of Learning 1605, Shepheards Calenders 1579,
King Henry VII 1622, The Folio of Shakespeare 1623, and other
Works. The translation was published in 1899 for private circula-
tion.

Mrs. Gallup, assisted by Miss Kate E. "Wells, continued the
work of transcription. Many rare volumes were deciphered, in
the Libraries of London, New York and Boston. The narrative
translated from some sixty volumes dating between 1579 and
1671 was published in 1910 as "The Biliteral Cipher of Francis
Bacon."

The main function of Biliteral Cipher is to teach Word
Cipher and to preserve aids, rules and instructions for use in
writing it. A brief autobiography of Francis Bacon and com-
ments on contemporaries are also preserved in it.

The translation is a Work which is monumental in char-
acter. It may be termed the Rosetta stone of English; for it
reveals elements and methods of expression which herald the
dawning of a Second Golden Age of English thought and
language.

Under the magic influence, Shakespeare becomes more under-
standable than ever. The information revealed unlocks and ex-
plains, with surpassing interest, many of the dark and unf athomed
things in Shakespeare and Elizabethan Literature.

Key to the Bi-literal Cipher of Francis Bacon

Table of Works Deciphered

The narrative translated is published as "The Biliteral Cipher

of Francis Bacon," "Lost Manuscripts " and "Studies in the
Biliteral Cipher of Francis Bacon."

The narrative deciphered was ciphered in Biliteral Cipher

in the Italic letters of the works named as follows :

Shepheard's Calendar 1579 Anonymous

The Arraignment of Paris 1584 George Peele

The Mirrour of Modestie 1584 Robert Greene

Planetomachia 1585 Robert Greene

A Treatise on Melancholy 1586 T. Bright

Euphues Morando 1587 Robert Greene

Spanish Masquerade 1589 Robert Greene

Complaints 1691 Edmund Spenser

Colin Clout 1595 Edmund Spenser

Faerie Queene 1596 Edmund Spenser

Faerie Queene (second part) Edmund Spenser

Richard II 1598 Anonymous

David & Bethsabe 1599 George Peele

Knight of the Golden Shield 1599 George Peele

Midsummer Night's Dream 1600 Win. Shakespeare

Midsummer Night's Dream (Fisher

Edition) Wm. Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing 1600 Wm. Shakespeare

Sir John Oldcastle 1600 Wm. Shakespeare

Richard, Duke of York 1600 Wm. Shakespeare

Treasons of Essex 1601 Francis Bacon

London Prodigal 1605 Wm. Shakespeare

Advancement of Learning 1605 Francis Bacon

King Lear 1608 Wm. Shakespeare

Henry V 1608 Wm. Shakespeare

Pericles 1609 Wm. Shakespeare

Hamlet 1611 Wm. Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus 1611 Wm. Shakespeare

Shepheard's Calendar 1611 Edmund Spenser

Faerie Queene 1613 Edmund Spenser

Richard II 161§ Wm. Shakespeare

Plays in Folio 1616 Ben Jonson

Merry Wives of Windsor 1619 Wm. Shakespeare

Contention of York 1619 Wm. Shakespeare

Pericles 1619 Wm. Shakespeare

Yorkshire Tragedy 1619 Wm. Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet No date Wm. Shakespeare

A Quit for an Upstart 1620 Robert Greene

Novum Organum 1 620 Francis Bacon

The Parasceve 1620 Francis Bacon

Henry VII 1622 Francis Bacon

Edward II 1622 Christopher Marlowe

Historia Vitae et Mortes 1623 Francis Bacon

Historia Ventorum 1622 Francis Bacon

Folio of Shakespeare 1623 Wm. Shakespeare

De Augmentis Scientiarum 1623 Francis Bacon

De Augmentis Scientiarum 1624 Francis Bacon

Apopththegmes 1625 Francis Bacon

Essays 1625 Francis Bacon

Sylva Sylvarum 1627 Francis Bacon

Anatomy of Melancholy 1628 Robert Burton

The Miscellany 1629 Wm. Rawley

Folio of Shakespeare 1632 Wm. Shakespeare

New Atlantis 1635 Francis Bacon

Sylva Sylvarum 1635 Francis Bacon

Felicity of Queen Elizabeth 1657 Wm. Rawley

ResuBcltatio 1657 Wm. Rawlev

Resuscitatio 1671 Wm. Dugdale

U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARI

Gaylord Bros.

Makers
Syracuse. N. Y.

NT. JAN. 21. IW8

UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY