Part 10-- Messages About the Murder of the Poet Christopher Marlowe; Possible Cipher Clue to Page 48 of The Merry Wives of Windsor

Well, I spoke too soon about writing my last post about the play As You Like It for awhile.  I found a little cipher that I want to share.

I went back to Act III, scene ii (p. 196-197 of the Comedies) to take another look at Orlando's line that Jaques will see a "cipher" if he looks in the brook.  (see Part 4 of my posts about the murder of the poet Christopher Marlowe.)  So, I decided to try take another look for a cipher in Act II, scene i (p. 190 of the Comedies) where Jaques is described laying by a brook.  (I am really hoping to find some sort of substitution cipher somewhere because it would be wonderful proof.)

Here is the dialogue again from Act III, scene ii: 

Iaq. By my troth, I was seeking for a Foole, when I

found you.

Orl. He is drown'd in the brooke, looke but in, and

you shall see him.

Iaq. There I shal see mine owne figure.

Orl. Which I take to be either a foole, or a Cipher.

http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/AYL/F1/scene/3.2

When I examined Act II, scene i (p. 190 of the Comedies) again I noticed a reference to a "sum of more."  Here is the text: 

Du.Sen. But what said Iaques?

Did he not moralize this spectacle?

1. Lord. O yes, into a thousand similies.

First, for his weeping into the needlesse streame;

Poore Deere quoth he, thou mak'st a testament

As worldlings doe, giuing thy sum of more

To that which had too must....

http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Texts/AYL/F1/scene/2.1

(underline added)

Taking this as a clue, I decided to use a simple cipher chart to sum the values of the letters in the word "more" to find a number.  I have found that summing this type of clue can be a clue to a page number in the First Folio.  Here is a simple cipher chart for the printed alphabet that was in use at the time the First Folio was printed: 

SIMPLE CIPHER
A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	V	W	X	Y	Z
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24

The value of the letters in word "more" is 48:

(M = 12) + (O = 14) + (R = 17) + (E = 5) = 48

In the Comedies part of the First Folio, page 48 is a page from The Merry Wives of Windsor. That page includes a comic scene where Dr. Casius confronts Sir Hugh Evans. Sir. Hugh is a Welsh clergyman (called a parson or priest in the script). Sir Hugh is an obvious satire of John Penry, the preacher caught up in and executed for the Martin Mar-prelate tracts. Penry was executed the day before Marlowe was killed. Penry was convicted of sedition based on a draft of a petition to Queen Elizabeth I that contained some harsh criticism.

On page 48 of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Dr. Casius says, "By gar, me vill kill de Priest, for he speake for a Jack-an-Ape to Anne Page."

The point is not that John Penry is associated with the play As You Like It. (The play does include a character named Oliver Mar-text.) The important point is that there seems to be a hidden cipher clue on page 190 of As You Like It to go to page 48 of The Merry Wives of Windsor to read more messages about Penry, and specifically Dr. Casius' statements about him.

There is also an interest mention in The Merry Wives of Windsor of  the legend of Herne the Hunter:

Mis.Page. There is an old tale goes, that Herne the
Hunter (sometime a keeper heere in Windsor Forrest)
Doth all the winter time, at still midnight
Walke round about an Oake, with great rag'd-hornes,
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And make milch-kine yeeld blood, and shakes a chaine
In a most hideous and dreadfull manner.
You haue heard of such a Spirit, and well you know
The superstitious idle-headed-Eld
Receiu'd, and did deliuer to our age
This tale of Herne the Hunter, for a truth.

This reminds me of the messages I wrote about in As You Like It concerning the murder of the poet Christopher Marlowe under an oak tree.  The tale of Herne the Hunter also reminds me of Act IV, scene ii, of the play (see Part 9). This is a very brief and seemingly insignificant scene where an unnamed "Lord" claims the credit for killing the deer.

Iaq. Which is he that killed the Deare?

Lord. Sir, it was I.

Iaq. Let's present him to the Duke like a Romane

Conquerour, and it would doe well to set the Deares

horns vpon his head, for a branch of victory; haue you

no song Forrester for this purpose?

In Part 9, I proposed that Edward de Vere is the Lord who killed Marlowe (the allegorical deer).  Is de Vere also Herne the Hunter?