Striking the Second “HEAT”

Upon the Muses’ Anvil

Ben Jonson’s “No end-V” Cipher is Confirmed
Figure 1: Ben Jonson’s “No end-V” Cipher in the Second Folio (1632)

________________________________________

(Figure 2 follows)
Figure 2: The Unique and Specially-Manufactured Letter “V”;
This was clearly intended to suggest half of a letter “W”

(The Article continues below)

 Striking the Second HEAT upon the Muses’ Anvil
To draw no envy (Shakespeare) on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame;
While I confesse thy writings to be such
As neither Man, nor Muse, can praise too much:
Tis true, and all mens suffrage. But these wayes
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise1

In a previous article about the First and Second Folios of 1623 and 1632, The
Secret of Four Centuries, I outlined my discovery that in the autumn of 1623, the
Heading above Ben Jonson’s famous poem To the memory of my beloved The
AVTHOR2 was altered for reasons of security; this decision was made soon after the
publication of King James’s Royal Proclamation 247 in September of that year. The
new Proclamation renewed the authority of the dreaded Court of Star Chamber over
the printing presses and all published books, with particular emphasis on any content
that might be deemed blasphemous, heretical or seditious. Alarmed by this new
danger, the sponsors of the First Folio evidently decided to withhold the “No end-V”
Cipher, lest its identification of Christopher Marlowe as the true author of the works
of “Shakespeare” might be discovered. The Cipher was not reinstated until nine
years later, in the Second Folio of 1632, when it was much safer to take the risk,
because Marlowe’s patrons, including the Earls of Pembroke and Southampton and
Sir Thomas Walsingham, were all deceased. I must ask the reader to refer to my
previous article for further information.

Thirty years earlier, in the spring of 1593, Marlowe had been arrested by order of
the same powerful Court, on capital charges of Atheism and Heresy. Although
released on bail for a few days, on condition of daily attendance, he was in a most
perilous situation, facing execution on the gallows or at the stake. Fortunately,
however, the playwright had some powerful and devoted friends, and they were able
to help him to escape into exile in Italy; they included his patron Thomas
Walsingham and possibly the young Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, who
had been the recipient of the seventeen “Marriage Sonnets” in October 1590
(Sonnets 1-17).

1
The opening lines of Ben Jonson’s Ode To the memory of my Beloved, the AVTHOR
2 The poem is reproduced in its entirety in Appendix One, below
 It has often been remarked that Jonson’s poem is strangely ambivalent (“small
Latin and less Greek”, for example), and he seems very reluctant to praise the
supposed “AVTHOR”, William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. Professor Leah
Marcus of Vanderbilt University comments that “the First Folio opens with an implicit
promise to communicate an authorial identity, which it instead repeatedly displaces”.3

Ben Jonson’s Skilful Use of Ambiguity

Marlowe’s fellow-playwright and friend Ben Jonson was known as a master
of ambiguity and double meanings4. He had been in serious trouble with the
authorities on several occasions; “[He] was twice imprisoned for his share in two
plays,5 and five times he faced accusations for other writings” (Annabel Patterson) 6.
In the repressive environment of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, penalties for
writers and printers could be severe, including imprisonment, mutilation and ruinous
fines. “The effect of censorship on the writerly psyche was the creation of what the
Yale scholar Annabel Patterson calls a “functional ambiguity”; the result was that
ambiguity became “a necessary creative instrument“ for authors.7

In preparing the introductory material to the Shake-speare First Folio, the editors
had the challenging task of protecting themselves and others from prosecution,
whilst at the same time disclosing vital information for future generations - for those
who could “read between the lines”. In her remarkable and scholarly book
Shakespeare Was A Woman and other Heresies (Simon & Schuster, 2023),
Elizabeth Winkler has made an in-depth study of the Front Matter in the First Folio,
paying particular attention to Jonson’s cryptic verses8 – for example, his strange
reticence in “praising” the author, and his repeated warnings about possible
misunderstanding of such praise (and especially praise of the author’s “name”);
Jonson cautions the reader against “seeliest Ignorance”, “blind Affection” and “crafty
Malice”, and he hints that his own statements should not necessarily be taken at face
value. Winkler also points out that “by constructing lines of double meaning, writers
could maintain a certain plausible deniability”9; and this tactic is used very skilfully in
Jonson’s famous Ode To the memory of the author.

3
Quoted in Elizabeth Winkler, Shakespeare was a Woman and other Heresies, Simon & Schuster,
2023, p.71

4
See, for example, David Riggs, Ian Donaldson and Richard Dutton
5
These were The Isle of Dogs (1597) and Eastward Ho (1605)
6
Quoted in Elizabeth Winkler, op. cit., p.71
7
Annabel Patterson, quoted in Winkler, op cit, p71)

8
Winkler, op cit pp.90-95
9
Winkler, op cit, p.71
“Nature” and “Art”
Nature her selfe was proud of his designs
And joy’d to weare the dressing of his lines
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other Wit. (lines 47 to 50)

Yet must I not give Nature all: Thy Art,

My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the Poet’s matter, Nature be,
His Art must give the fashion. (lines 57 to 58)

In this context, “Nature” can be interpreted as the outward appearance (the text
of the poem, or the picture in the Droeshout Engraving), while “Art” represents the
skill involved in creating and re-creating the underlying design, the message hidden
beneath.

We recall, also, that in Jonson’s shorter poem in the First Folio, opposite the
controversial Droeshout Engraving, he told the reader to look beyond the picture -
beyond the external appearance - since the latter is actually designed to conceal the
true “Wit” behind the works of “Shake-speare”:

“O, could he but have drawne his wit

As well in brasse, as he hath hit
His face, the Print would then surpasse
All, that was ever writ in brasse.
But since he cannot, Reader, looke
Not on his Picture, but his Booke;

and in declaring that:

Nature herselfe was proud of his designs,

And joy’d to weare the dressing of his lines

Jonson is suggesting that “Nature” (in the Heading to the longer poem) bears the
name of the true author, and is proud to honour and acknowledge him in this way.10

10
The verb “Vouchsafe” means “to deign to bear; be prepared to bear” (OED 2, 3c);
“to acknowledge (a person) in some favourable relationship or manner”, (OED 4).
More Clues about the Cipher
To draw no envy [no end-V] (Shakespeare) on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame;
While I confesse thy writings to be such
As neither Man, nor Muse, can praise too much:
Tis true, and all mens suffrage. But these wayes
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise11
(my italics)

“Ample”
In using the word “ample”,12 Ben Jonson is telling us that, by means of the “No
end-V” Cipher, he has already given us MORE THAN ENOUGH information to
identify the true author! For the name of the poet is revealed in the Heading, if
only the reader will take the time to look for it, just as he was urged to do in Jonson’s
shorter poem:

“…Reader, looke
Not on his Picture, but his Booke.”

“Wayes” and “Paths”

“ …But these wayes
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise.”

This is a further hint about the Cipher. Because of the continuing danger of
investigation by the Court of Star Chamber, Ben Jonson was not free to praise the
true author in words, but only in “wayes” and “paths”, in a hidden design consisting of
“lines” and “tracks” - for as we will see:

…Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly shines

In his well turnèd, and true filèd13 lines:
In each of which, he seems to shake a Lance,
As brandisht at the eyes of Ignorance. (lines 66 to 70)

11
The first six lines of Ben Jonson’s Ode To the memory of my Beloved, the AVTHOR
12 Ample is derived from the Latin “amplus”, meaning “abundant”.
13
“Filed” means “arranged in consecutive order” (OED); thus “true filed” means “correctly arranged”.
How to Write a “Living Line”
(lines 54-70 of To the memory)

Figure 3 follows below:

Figure 3
Lines 54 to 70 of To the memory of my beloved
How to Write a “Living Line”
We can now begin to unravel the clues in these verses and to explore their
double meanings in Elizabethan and Jacobean English, with the assistance of the
Oxford English Dictionary and two Glossaries, Shakespeare’s Words (David Crystal,
Penguin Books, 2002) and A Shakespeare Glossary (C.T. Onions, Oxford, 1986),
with supporting evidence from the plays.

Five words provide the key to unlocking the meaning of this passage; they are:

CAST, STRIKE, HEAT, UPON and RACE.

CAST (verb) “to reckon, calculate” (A Shakespeare Glossary)

“to set to some action”; “to contrive, design to do”;
(OED V.3 & VII)
“to form (metal etc) into a shape, by pouring it when melted
into a mould (also figuratively)” (OED IX).

STRIKE (verb) “to hit” (OED V.2)

“to strike a line or path: to take a direction or course of
movement” (OED 2d)
“to mark with lines, to draw a line” (OED III)

In Troilus and Cressida we have the following phrase:

“Strike a free march to Troy! With comfort go” (V. x.18).

(Further definitions of strike are given below in Appendix Two)

HEAT (noun) “A single course in a race or other contest” (OED 10a)

As we will see, the noun heat can signify a “track” or “course”; the term is
derived from horse racing, which was then an increasingly popular sport.14

In Twelfth Night (1600), Valentine informs Duke Orsino that the Countess Olivia is
determined to remain in mourning for a full seven years:

14The best Race Course was at Newmarket in Suffolk, which benefitted from Royal patronage. King
James I and his entourage made a prolonged stay there in 1605. The early races were 4-mile heats,
with two heats needed for a win.
“The element itself [i.e. the sky], till seven years heat,
Shall not behold her face at ample view” (I. i. 26)

signifying the course or passage of seven years.

The connection with horse racing is confirmed in The Winter’s Tale (written 1609-
1611), in which Queen Hermione assures her husband, King Leontes, that

“ You may ride’s

With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere
With spur we heat an acre.” (I.ii.96)

The verbal form heat is defined as “race over, speed across” in Shakespeare’s
Words, and as “run a heat; (hence) race swiftly over” in A Shakespeare Glossary.

Readers will doubtless recall that in modern English, a “dead heat” is a race with
no clear winner; and likewise, in Athletics, a heat is a qualifying race.

UPON (prep.) “Immediately after, following upon” (OED 5d)

“Almost immediately after the event in question”
(Shakespeare Glossary)
In the Shake-speare plays, “upon” often means “after”:

In Hamlet: “It followed close upon” (I. ii. 79)

(Horatio is speaking of Queen Gertrude’s wedding, which took place soon after the
funeral of Hamlet’s father)
In Measure for Measure: “very near upon the Duke is entering” (IV vi 14)
In Troilus and Cressida: “the hour prefixt…comes fast upon” (IV iii 3)

The OED cites John Bourchier, Lord Berners: “[They] conquered …townes and
castels one upon the other” (Translation of Froissart’s Chronicles, 1523)

RACE (noun) “The course, line or path taken by a person or a moving body”
(OED III.2)
“A course in a tournament” (OED I.1)

In To the memory, the word “race” implies both “origin” and “a course, passage”
(Shakespeare’s Words), which cites the following example:

“if the midnight bell / did… sound on into the drowsy race of night”.
(King John III.iii.39)
The “Muses Anvil” Clue
In line 60, Ben Jonson uses the peculiar phrase “the Muses anvil”. This is a
strange and incongruous notion, since the Nine Muses of classical mythology were
never associated with an “anvil” of any kind. The only immortal associated with an
“anvil” is the god Hephaistos (“Vulcan” to the Romans), who was, of course, the
“smith” of the Olympian gods.

On a surface level, the passage describe the creative process in which a poet
“crafts” or “perfects” a line of verse (a “living line”), using the analogy of someone
“casting” an object in metal; but the analogy is not perfect, and throughout the poem
Jonson keeps hinting that there’s something else, a hidden “design”, a store of
secret information; “Reader, look!” But to find it, the reader must make an effort -
must work it out, must “sweat” (line 58).

Having seen that Jonson was known as a master of ambiguity and double
meaning, we need to look at the passage from a different angle; and one must ask:

Is this a Poet making a “living line”…

… or a “living line” making a Poet?
(“For a good poet’s made, as well as born” – line 63)

The truth is that in this passage, the reader is being told how to use “Art” (i.e.
Skill) to “fashion” or “frame” the name of the poet himself – to draw his “living line”
in the “No end-V” Cipher, which is his “line of life” (Hugh Holland’s phrase in the First
Folio).

The “living line” thus stands for M-A-R-L-O-W-E, the real “Shake-speare”, and
his immortal fame.

Figure 4 follows below:

Figure 4: The Interpretation of Lines 54 to 70
Interpretation and Notes
Yet I must not give Nature all: your Art,
My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the Poet’s matter is Nature,
His Art provides the way of fashioning it. And that person
Who reckons15 to write a living line, must work it out,
(such as yours are) and hit the second track16
After the M A; turn the line,
(And the authoR17 with it) whom he thinks to frame,
Or instead of the Laurel, he may get a mockery,18
For a goOd Poet’s made, as well as born,
And such WEre you.19 Observe how the fathers face
Lives in his offspring; even so, the course
Of Shakespeares mind and manners brightly shines
In his well-turned and correctly arranged lines,
In each of which he seems to shake a Lance,
As if being brandished20 at the eyes of Ignorance.

15
“casts” also suggests, in the reader’s imagination, the shaping in metal
of the missing “End-V” which completes the poet’s “living line”
16
just as we say, in modern English, “hit the road” or “hit the trail” (i.e. “get onto
the second track)
17
“Himselfe” stands for the AUTHOR; the line passes through “Shake” and
“speare” to touch the letter “R”
18 Or “foolishness”. In other words, “William of Stratford was a reliable man, but if
you put a poet’s laurel on his brow, you’ll end up with a mockery” (as with the
Droeshout Engraving); “Scorn (noun): An object of mockery” (A Shakespeare
Glossary); “Folly, foolishness” (Shakespeare’s Words).

19
Jonson used the subjunctive form “wert”, meaning “and such would you have
been”. Of course, he meant “And such wast thou” (“And such were you”), but he
needed the word “wert” for the W and E in the poet’s name]

20
“brandisht” refers to the “well-turned” lines of the cipher, which “pivot” on the full
stop after “what he hath left us” (Brandish: (verb): “to wave or flourish as a brand or
weapon” (Chambers Shorter English Dictionary)
Conclusion
It was clearly Jonson’s intention, in devising the “No end-V” Cipher, to honour the
memory of his friend Christopher Marlowe, the genius now known to the world as
“Shake-speare”, and to restore his reputation as “OUR EVER-LIVING POET”,
leaving a permanent record of the truth for the benefit of future generations.

Marlowe was the great innovator of the Elizabethan stage. He is famous for
transforming the style of English Iambic Pentameter verse and giving it fresh vigour;
he was also the first major playwright to break free from the straitjacket of the “Three
Unities” of classical drama, thus making it possible to write the great cycle of “Shake-
speare” plays on English history.

The background to the whole story of “Shake-speare” was Marlowe’s personal

tragedy - his sudden disgrace in 1593, leading to his flight into exile, which removed
him from his family and friends and also from his beloved patron, Thomas
Walsingham. Fortunately for the cause of literature and truth, he found the strength
to overcome the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, finding new inspiration in
the culture and traditions of Italy, and later in the New World (see my articles “The
Secret of Four Centuries” and “Virginia in The Tempest” at www.academia.edu).

© C.W.H. Gamble 2024

Appendix One
To the memory of my beloved The AVTHOR
Ben Jonson’s Longer Poem in the First Folio

Figures 5 and 6 follow:

Appendix Two
Some Further Definitions of “Strike” in the O.E.D.

Strike (verb)
I.1c Of a path: to take a specified direction (from 1456)
VII To impinge upon (i.e. strike, fall, touch)
VII.2 To come into forcible contact or collision with
VII.10 To hit or light on, upon
VII.11 To come upon, reach in travelling (Oxford English Dictionary)

Strike (verb) To take a course (Chambers Shorter English Dictionary)