The Little Cryptogram: A Literal Application to the Play of Hamlet of the Cipher System of Mr. Ignatius Donnelly.Pyle, Joseph Gilpin
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The Little Cryptogram: A Literal Application to the Play of Hamlet of the Cipher System of Mr. Ignatius Donnelly.
Pyle, Joseph Gilpin
Donnelly, Ignatius, 1831-1901. Great cryptogram; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Authorship -- Baconian theory
Columns might be filled in an attempt to notice all the ingenuities of
this work. For instance, the bringing in of Ophelia with her flowers,
her “rosemary” and “rue,” and her “pansies for thoughts,” solely to
introduce the quaint word “daysie;” in order that Lord Bacon might tell
his opinion of his great discoverer and defender, in language that would
fit the ears of this modern and slangy age. Nor is it possible to do
more than barely mention that there can be no difficulty in finding the
whole life history of Mr. Donnelly in “Hamlet” and other plays. No doubt
the cipher, applied more fully to the pages already considered, would
recount his diversions in Minnesota politics. And he is mentioned
elsewhere. In “Titus Andronicus,” for example, we have “d’on,” and
repeatedly afterward, “kneel.” Still more marked is the reference in
Henry V. A French boy is lugged into that play for no purpose but to
jabber a language unfamiliar to and hated by an English audience of that
day. His “donne,” “donner,” “donnerai,” are repeated, parrot-like, to
weariness, obviously to fix attention on that prominent syllable, “don.”
And then, but a few pages away, we have, “He is married to Nell
Quickly;” “And shall my Nell keep lodgers?” This is no accident, for
accident is unknown to the so-called Shakespearian drama. “Don Nell,”
“Nell Quickly,” over and over again, are very mileposts leading to the
name of Donnelly, and to a cipher story that will reveal to the curious
the inwardness of his career. It is no trifle to work out the cipher. To
unearth a sentence, especially if you are at all particular as to what
that sentence should say, requires hours of the hardest labor. But labor
most arduous will not be in vain if applied to this significant and
inviting portion of Henry V, by those who bestow on Mr. Donnelly the
same reverential admiration that he cherishes for Lord Bacon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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