THE FOLGER MANUSCRIPT
A LECTURE
by
S. Brent Morris
Transcript of the public lecture given by S. Brent
Morris at the CMRC on 8th September 1999. S. Brent Morris is the Editor of Heredom, the transactions
of the Scottish Rite Research Society, Washington D. C. USA
I am delighted to be here this evening. Let me begin not with an
apology - one of my school teachers taught me never to begin with an
apology - so I will begin with an explanation. I grew up in Texas - we
speak in the United States a language very similar to English, but there
are often phrases and pronunciations that are unique to our part of the
world.
I am going to be talking about an aspect of Freemasonry - cryptography.
I am going to be looking at cryptanalysis. I am going to be focusing at
the art of cryptanalysis - the techniques we go through to analyse the
secret coded messages. This is a science that has largely been kept in the
dark, because you don't want anyone to know that you can read their mail.
This had as you are probably aware a dramatic impact in World War Two -
both in the European theatre and in the Pacific theatre. Alies were able
to read German Enigma machine as well the Japanese Purple machine. And it
was those successes that saved hundred of thousands if not millions of
lives. For those reasons cryptography has largely been kept in the black
chamber.
Well tonight I am going to talk about some of the 'black' skills that
are used in the cryptanalysis. In masonic cryptanalysis - I don't know
whether Freemasons that were making the signs that I will be talking about
- really thought that they were doing something secure. More importantly,
it was symbolic secrecy - in other words you have achieved another step in
the ladder therefore we are going to teach you a new cipher to protect
those secrets. Whether in fact we talk about what is known as classical
masonic cipher, or some other cipher, is not of primary importance - it is
the symbolism of secrecy that is important.
The following is, to a large extent the text which has been presented
during the lecture; it has been taken from the various parts of the book
'The Folger Manuscript', written by S. Brent Morris. You can order copy of
the book, by writing to us at CMRC.
Background
Historians always say that the era of Modern Freemasonry began on June
24, 1717, when four Lodges in London met together and formed themselves
into a Grand Lodge. Evidently these four lodges must have existed before
that date. It is clear also that, in some sense, they were the successors
of men called Masons who were organised into groups in Britain from about
1350 on.
There is some dispute about what these groups did, and why they were
formed. In the present writer's view, the evidence suggests that they were
made up of operative stonemasons, the cathedral builders of the later
Middle Ages. In the course of time these groups took the name 'lodges',
from the lodge or shelter that was built on the south side of the project.
The organisation served the function of a union, not so much to protect
the welfare of the labourers as to maintain the quality of their
stonework. These lodges had a set of written regulations and a traditional
history, of which over a hundred copies have survived to our time; they
are usually written on a scroll of paper or parchment. Apparently they
were read to each new member at his admission. The operative lodges also
had a rudimentary ceremony of admission, including an invocation and a
promise to obey the regulations. It seems also that, as time passed, the
lodges adopted signs of recognition. When the members moved to a new job
in a different location, they would use the signs to show that they were
regular skilled workmen.
Enough documents survive to show that the ritual was constantly
growing, evolving, expanding, becoming more elaborate, adopting new
symbols, abandoning former practices. And all over the world, the ritual
has continued to develop. That is why distinctive rituals are used today
in various parts of the British Isles, of Europe, and of America.
The Folger Manuscript contains the Rituals for the 'Blue' Degrees or
grades of Disciple, Fellow, and Master Mason from a Masonic system unlike
any widely known in the United States. It can be inferred from a note on
the cover page of the Baden translation that Ward K. St. Clair
(1899-1966), a noted student of Masonic Ritual, identified the manuscript
as a 'French Blue Lodge Ritual'. A detailed examination of the text shows
that it is a very good interpretation of the first three Degrees of the
Rectified Scottish Rite, whose six Degrees are Apprentice, Fellow, Master
Mason, Scottish Master, Squire Novice, and Knight Beneficent of the Holy
City.
In fact, the Folger Manuscript represents that earliest evidence of the
Rectified Scottish Rite or R. E. R. in the United States. While the R. E.
R. Degrees still are worked actively in several other countries, including
France, Belgium, and Switzerland, the R. E. R. has never been a
significant force in American Masonry, though it has surfaced at least two
other times.
The meticulously prepared cipher manuscript shows an intent to preserve
information of great value, but there is no direct evidence that it was
ever used. There is only one clue pointing to a definite use of the
Ritual, and a few hints as to other places it may have been employed.
There are two most probable reasons for writing the manuscript in an
unknown cipher: external and internal. The external would possibly be that
as Freemasonry at the time was very unpopular, writing of a text of
masonic nature would expose the author to the possible unnecessary danger
[Morgan Affair, the rise of Antimasonic Movement]. 'Internally', it was
considered by Freemasons to be of utmost importance to save the secrets
referring to rituals intact.
The cryptanalysis of the Folger cypher
On a chilly day in 1955, Will Baden returned to his New York house and
fixed some hot lemonade. He then sat down and opened an envelope from
Harold Voorhis, Master of the American Lodge of Research, containing about
ten pages copies from Robert Folger's cipher writing. Baden earlier had
deciphered Mnemonics, the ritual book of Rob Morris's Conservators of
Symbolic Masonry, and Voorhis had found out about his cryptanalytic
abilities. Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co., Inc. owned a copy of
the Folger Manuscript, and Voorhis wanted to see the cipher broken, both
as a Vice-President of Macoy and as a student of
Masonry. He had, in fact, already published a paper in the 1952
Proceedings of the Ohio Chapter of Research, entitled 'Masonic Alphabet',
illustrated with two pages from the Macoy Book.
FIGURE 1. Page 84 from the Macoy Book
|
As Baden studied the pages, his initial enthusiasm turned to dismay.
The cipher had no readily identifiable characters and appeared
impregnable. Two of the pages were laid out similarly, with some of the
same text written in plain English on each. However, one had portions
encrypted where the other had text. Hoping for the best, he carefully
compared the phrase contains great treasures on one page with the matching
cipher on the other and discovered he could read the manuscript! In less
than thirty minutes Folger's cipher had fallen to the cryptanalytic
technique of 'matched plain and cipher'. Baden then translated the entire
manuscript but never published his solution. the enciphered phrase
essential to his solution was from page 84 of the Macoy Book (see Figure
1), and the page with the key phrase written in plain English came from
the Supreme Council Book, now lost.
In 1982, Donald H. Bennet sat down at his computer and
started a lengthy program. While it was running he read Brent Morris's
article 'Fraternal Cryptography', which showed page 21 of the Macoy Book
as an example of an exotic, unbroken, possibly Masonic cipher (Baden's
solution was unknown then to Morris or Bennett). The unsolved puzzle
challenged Mr. Bennett, and he set about applying classical cryptanalytic
techniques. In a few hours he had independently broken the cipher as it
yielded to his 'cipher text only' attack. Bennett published his results as
'An Unsolved Puzzle Solver' in Cryptologia magazine, and his work forms
the basis for the discussion which follows.
Assumptions
|
FIGURE 2. Page 21 from the Macoy
Book |
Before beginning the cryptanalysis of an unknown message like the one
on Figure 2, certain fundamental assumptions must be made. Little was
known to Mr. Bennett, except that the document was composed by Robert B.
Folger, M.D. in 1827. Because of his Masonic membership, the cipher was
assumed to conceal some message relating to Masonry. A number of words
commonly used by Masons, such as grand, lodge, council, brother,
companion, freemason, etc. had been suggested in Morris's article. Each
group or cluster of cipher symbols was suspected to represent a syllable
or word. There were other theories and speculations advanced regarding the
Folger cipher; but, after more than 150 years, its solution was unknown to
the public.
Some of the assumptions, explicit and implicit, are given below with
their reasons.
- The underlying language is English. This follows from the author
living in New York and having an English sounding surname.
- The orientation of the page is correct as shown, with the cipher
reading from left to right and top to bottom. A paragraph seems to end
in the middle of the second line, and a new paragraph, indicated by the
illumination of its first few characters, starts on the next line. This
one ends on line 8, and another paragraph starts on the next line,
indicated by a slight indentation.
- The cipher is homogeneous throughout. Cipher symbols are repeated
throughout the text and are not limited to one part of the page.
- Clusters of symbols represent, in general, words rather than
individual letters or syllables. If clusters represent only letters,
then each cluster must contain many meaningless strokes, because
hundreds of discrete clusters can be identified. These clusters are
referred to as cipher words.
- There is no transposition of the order of letters within a cipher
word. If rearranging the order of symbols were part of the enciphering
process, then repeats of longer words would be rare, but in fact, exact
repeats of many words do occur.
- The order of the symbols within a cipher word is from top to bottom
and/or from left to right. This corresponds to the order of normal
English writing.
- A discrete set of approximately 26 cipher symbols represent English
letters.
- The size of and minor artistic variations in individual cipher
symbols is immaterial, but dark shading of certain strokes may have
special meaning.
Analysis
|
FIGURE 3. Possible Elemental Cipher
Symbols |
Folger disguised his cipher symbols well; little can be gained from
examining the individual characters. The symbols are angular, a
characteristic of most Masonic ciphers, and only a few curved strokes can
be found, each of which might be an elemental symbol (see Figure 3). Nine
other symbols which showed up repeatedly in the text are also shown. The
last three symbols, which occurred less frequently than the first six, are
assumed to be infrequent letters, the first six to be frequent ones.
Boxed-in symbols
The only other useful information gained from individual characters is
the observation that many words are surrounded by boxes (see Figure 4).
The box-like character is probably the first letter, with the rest of the
word inside the box. The dark shading on the sides of some boxes may or
may not be significant.
|
FIGURE 4. Boxed in
symbols |
Out of about 150 boxed-in symbols on the page, no less than forty two,
or 28%, contain a horizontal stroke just inside the box, near the top
(e.g., in Figure 4, row 1, words 3 and 4, and row 2, words 1, 2, 4, 6, and
7). The stroke appears to be the second letter in these words.
The most frequent letter in English is e and it most often occurs as
the second letter of a word; the horizontal stroke could be the symbol for
the letter e! This symbol occurs throughout the text but is relatively
inconspicuous, a desirable feature for a cipher character representing a
high frequency letter. However, it is too soon to firmly identify cipher
symbols.
The mystery digraph
The analysis continues by searching for digraphs or pairs of symbols
with noticeable positional limitations. In English the most striking
example of a positional limitation is qu: the letter q is always followed
by the letter u. A pronounced limitation is found with the crescent moon
(, and backward gamma : the crescent moon is always followed by the
backward gamma without exception! The backward gamma, however, is preceded
only occasionally by the crescent moon. Next, all cipher words containing
this "mystery digraph" are listed (see Figure 5). It appears twenty-three
times in thirteen different words. The first word on the list occurs seven
times, the second and third three times each, and all others only once.
The first three words should be fairly common, consisting of perhaps three
to five letters each.
The most distinctive feature of the digraph is that it occurs as Lhe
last two letters in fifteen times out of twenty-three, and as the first
two letters six times. Only twice (in words 4 and 6) does it occur within
a word, and word 4 appears to be the same as word 3 with a suffix added.
The crescent moon is probably an infrequent letter and the backward gamma
a common one, and, if so, then what is the mystery digraph? Certainly not
qu, because qu cannot occur at the end of words. It is most likely the
letters th, with the backward gamma as t and the crescent moon as h.
Word 1
Testing this hypothesis proves interesting and fruitful. Word 1 has th
or ht as its last two letters, with either one or two letters preceding.
Since no three-letter English word fits this format, it must be a
four-letter word, such as both, with, hath, or doth (taking into
consideration that verb forms such as hath, doth, goeth, doeth, etc.,
might occur more often in English written in 1827). There's no use
guessing which four-letter word this might be, but if the other cipher
symbols represent two letters of plain text, then the most logical way to
split this combination is into a cup, U, and a short, vertical line,
I.
Word 2
Word 2 is a short word beginning with th (an ht beginning
isimpossible). Since the backward gamma is assumed to be t, Word 2 must
have the form th - t. Only one word fits this format--the word that-which
implies the dot,., stands for a. Before substituting an a for every dot,
however, it's wiser to analyze the mystery digraph words further.
Words 3 and 4
|
FIGURE 5. The 13 Words with the Mystery
Digraph |
The third word seems to begin with t and to end in either th or ht.
Since the cup, U, was assumed to be a single letter, all that remains to
decide is whether the gamma, represents one letter or two. Word 3 could be
of the form t--th, t--ht, t---th, or t---ht, with U representing one
letter or two. Some possibilities are tenth, troth, taketh, or taught, but
truth is just the sort of word a Mason might use three times on one page.
If truth is assumed to be correct, then and U equate to r and U in some
order. These assumptions however, present problems with Word 4, which
appears to be truths, but this leads to the unlikely situation where
represents both r and S. Rather than reject earlier, seemingly sound
assumptions, Word 4 is put aside for the moment and the analysis
continues.
Word 5
Word 5 has five 4 letters, four of which have been tentatively
identified. Its form is - art or - auto, depending on whether is r or U.
the only candidate is earth, which confirms the earlier idea of the
horizontal stroke as e and clearly indicates that stands for r. At this
point, the following cipher letters have been tentatively identified: a,
e, h, r, t, and U.
Words 6 and 7
An upper semicircle, begins Word 6 followed by three. This suggests
other; the only alternative, ether, begins with e, a horizontal stroke .
Thus semicircle is identified as 0. The seventh word contains fl followed
by Th. It seems to be a short word of the form - oh, like dot, or both,
but there is not enough information to decide. Word 7 does neither proves
nor disproves semicircle as o.
Synthesis
The semicircle symbol does not occur again in the word list, so a
different approach is needed to continue its analysis. The answer is to
synthesize a short, common word containing o and then to look for it in
the cipher text. The symbols for a, e, h, o, r, t, and u have been
identified, which allows (among other possibilities) the construction of
the words to and or (see Figure 7). The first possibility for to occurs
seventeen times in the message and the first possibility for or three
times, which pretty well confirms semicircle as o. As the text is searched
for or, a similar cipher word, our, can be found, and this leads to an
interesting discovery: a circle can be split into two parts: the top half,
representing o and the bottom half, U, representing U.
FIGURE 7. Synthesizing Short Words
Words 8 to 13
Returning to the list brings up Word 8, which is of the form the - or
the--. The word must be thus, but the last cipher symbol is difficult to
distinguish because it seems to merge with the bottom of the crescent
moon. Thus, the symbol for 5 could be either I or , but further analysis
is required. Words 9 through 12 are either too long or have too many
unknown symbols for good assumptions. Word 13, however, lends itself to
partial analysis. It is one of the "boxed-in" words and, if the box is the
first letter, it has the form - eat or - - eat. This
could be a five-letter word such as death or a six-letter word like
breath if the box is a combination of two symbols. A final decision must
wait. It is important to note a missing symbol from the upper left corner
of the box. Is this just an artistic variation of a plain box, or is it
significant?
Other interesting words
Word 13 exhausts the list, but analysis can continue by looking for
"interesting" words in which most of the symbols have been tentatively
identified. Such a word ends line 25. It begins with ru, followed by three
to five additional letters, one of which is e. The last character may be
s, if the analysis of Word 8 was correct. The word is of the form ru - es
or ru - ees, depending on whether the symbol L represents one letter or
two. Some possibilities are rules, runes, ruses, or rupees. The most
likely word is rules, which goes nicely with the earlier recovery of
truths. This means the symbol for 1 is, of all things, an 1!
FIGURE 8. Folger's Cipher Alphabet from Page
11
Another interesting word occurs in the middle of line 17. It starts
with e, followed by a repeated letter, and then ends with orts: e - -
orts. The obvious choice is efforts, which provides additional
confirmation of the backward I, as s and establishes the half mast flag,
as f.
The solution
From this point on, the rest of the alphabet can be recovered using the
ten known letters: a, e, f, h, 1, o, r, 5, t, and U. Only z cannot be
recovered from page 21, because it was not used. Folger seemed to have
used page 11 for practice and to have copied the alphabet there (see
Figure 8).
Note that the cipher symbol U is used for the letters u, V, and w. Thus
Word 1 from the list is with, even though the symbol U was originally
recovered as U. The letter h is represented by either of two symbols: the
standard symbol is fl, but a variant symbol, (,is used sometimes after t.
When Folger began writing his manuscript he used the standard h
exclusively. About page 15, however, he started using the variant more and
more often, after t. This variant could have been for ease of writing, but
the th digraph fl looks like the Hebrew letter tauv, and Folger may have
tried to introduce Hebrew into his cipher.
Summary
Folger's alphabet is unlike any other Masonic cipher, even though
several of his symbols can be found in some hauts grades ciphers. This,
however, is not surprising because of the small possible number of simple
geometric shapes. It is most likely that he invented his system on his
own, with inspiration from some other Masonic book or manuscript. However,
his technique of stacking his symbols is unique to him and greatly
increases the cryptographic security of the system. Based on the mixture
of good and bad cryptographic practices and on the evolving nature of the
cipher through the manuscript, it can be concluded that Folger was a
self-taught amateur who invented a rather good cipher.
Breaking this cipher and reading the text solves only part of the
puzzle. Some important questions are still unanswered: who was Robert
Folger and what kind of a person was he? Several interesting conclusions
can be reached from studying the Macoy Book, many of which are confirmed
in Chapter 6.
- Robert Folger was a well-educated man. His grammar, syntax, and
spelling are quite good. He was a meticulous draftsman; his characters
are well-defined and precise so that little ambiguity is encountered in
the deciphering process. There are virtually no errors on page 21; the
few misspelled words, such as hapy and intereresting, could be clerical
errors in encryption, while words like beautifull probably reflect the
spelling of the day. Using one cipher character for U, V, and w and
interchanging the symbols for i andj in the text hint at a knowledge of
Latin. The use of Hebrew letters elsewhere shows a crude knowledge of
that alphabet.
- Robet Folger was an experienced speaker. The homily on the Bible on
page 21 shows careful, simple wording of complex ideas, suitable for a
general audience.
- Robert Folger was an enthusiastic Mason. Many, many hours were
devoted to writing and decorating the manuscript, showing an intense
interest in Masonry.
- Robert Folger was a man of strong passions. The almost complete
obliteration of Ferdinand L. Wilsey's name in the preface goes well
beyond a simple revocation.
[ADDRESS ON THE BIBLE - Figure 2 and pages that follow]
W.M. This great light of Masonry is ever open in a proper Lodge, to
that end that we should be reminded of the duty, that of learning and
practicing the excellent precepts it contains. And if we, as far as we
can, scrupulously examine both the character of those who gave the
precepts and the influences they have had upon society and still have
upon it, if we examine the great ends and views of the doctrines here
written, and thus become acquainted with this volume, we shall
experience that this volume is an inestimable treasure and should be
viewed as such by all good men. It is in fact the book that contains the
rules of life pointing out to man his whole duty. This volume is of
great antiquity, and splendid monuments of the ancients have decayed and
nations who peopled the countries where these things were written have
vanished or are scattered over the face of the earth, their former
places of abode are desolate, the languages the book was written in are
dead, yet the book survives.
And the enemies of order and opposers of the good precepts this
volume contains have sought with astonishing obduracy and unwearied
pains, with jests, with philosophy falsely so-called, with misapplied
learning, with every effort of their genius to bring this volume into
contempt. But they have been engaged in a foolish work. All their pains
have been taken in vain. It stands deservedly now in higher estimation
than ever.
Considering the character of the writers for this volume and finding
them to be good, even inimitably so, examining the doctrines contained
in this volume, and observing their unison with truth and their
beneficent influence upon society and upon individuals, thinking upon
the great antiquity of these writings and the many revolutions which
they have survived and their complete victory over the efforts of
enemies, therewith continually increasing in the estimation of the world
at large of the friends of good order and of truth,then it can be said,
even if there were no other reasons for so saying,. that this volume is
not to be neglected, but, on the contrary, that it ought to be examined
and should be made the subject of our attention and study.
And see how correct is its philosophy, how interesting the history,
how sublime and beautiful the poetry, how acceptable the doctrines of
religion and morality contained in this volume. It is calculated in
every point of view to engage our attention, and, if attended to, the
truths it contains make men better, wiser, and happier, and the benefits
arising from these sacred truths are not limited to the period of human
life. They point not forward to the grave as the boundary of our
existence, as the place where men shall cease to be.
No, the thick gloom of death is dissipated by divine truth. A ray of
sacred light makes visible tQ the eye of faith a state of existence
beyond the grave, a state of existence, at the approach of which all
must fear. For it lasts to all eternity, for it is a state of rewards
and punishments, for it is dependent upon Divine mercy, for no man can
claim a place there. Happy indeed is the man who has strove to subdue
his passions and to lay aside his prejudices, and thus is fitted for the
task of the Fellow.
And studying and executing the designs and rules of the Master, by
contemplating upon the image of the pillar of beauty, he may have
observed his own weakness and his own inability to make his work
according to the pattern given him by the Master. If he is sensible of
his own incapacity and imperfections, he has in truth made the first
step toward the light and has thus become more susceptible of the truth
than he was. Then he will have the trestleboard in his hands and use all
proper means for becoming acquainted with the designs which are drawn,
and no doubt he will not only direct others how to exert them, but he
will participate in the labour in the erection of the truly noble
edifice~a Temple sacred to the name of God.
And in this work he will use the implements of the Master. The
compasses will remind him to set proper limits to his duties, desires,
and actions, not to be eccentric in behaviour, but to preserve any even
line of conduct without irregularities.
We should, by example and persuasion, try to exact and encourage
fraternal love. This is the very cement of the Temple. If it is wanting
the whole becomes a heap of rubbish and is of no worth, but on the
contrary is an obstacle to those who pass where it lies and nuisance to
those who may have a habitation near it. Where fraternal love is not,
there must be many evils. There the ruffian passions are enthroned and
virtue is driven out or spurned with contempt or bound with thorns.
There folly derides wisdom, and truth is obliged to hide her fair face.
There religion or morality can not be found. There all is but
mockery.
Time we cannot recall, but we can and we ought to use that anght
which is to come. [Exhibits hourglass] See the sand. The particles run
rapidly, and, for aught we know, with the passing of one of them you or
I shall die. It is uncertain. We should not then neglect a moment, but
from henceforth do all we can do to the great end of being really happy.
For we shall die, and in the grave there is no working. There is no
device, no knowledge, no pardon there.
[Exhibits skull] See this emblem, this monitor. It is silent vacant
dead yet it speaks to our minds. The good hear a sound that even make
them tremble. To some it can be a great cause of terror. It reminds all
to remember death. We have crowned it with a green sprig, for we hope,
in partaking of immortality, immortality and happiness through faith in
the giver of every good and perfect gift, and by an earnest striving to
do His will.
Remembering that man was created in His image and, although, much
deformed, can be again restored to his pristine state, be made fit for
blissful enjoyments. Remembering that we should not be ashamed of truth
and religion, for that would make us unfit for fraternity on earth and
disqualify us utterly for the enjoyments of a future state, where love
is the most essential requisite. Remembering that we should be
charitable and sensible of the wants of our fellow men, for else we are
monsters even here, as although associated as
Brethren, and therefore would be hereafter unfit for lasting
joys.
We must have hope to be restored to pristine purity. We must have
faith. We must confess the truth. We must exercise love and charity with
all our might. These are the rounds of the mysterious ladder that
reaches from earth to heaven, and charity is the upper round.
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