The New York herald., 1874-09-26

plunderfng rings and of1cal corruptions. Third,
II ne had mad the time to write the pays OF Shake
speare, ne had neither the genus the imagina.
tion the temperament, the training nor the the
strical experience and taste as skilled laborer
required TO produce Shakespeare's plays. Fourth,
from his extensive learning. Bacon even II cone
suited In the preparation OF these plays for the
stage, could not have committed ana would not
have tolerated their glarng and ridiculous chrone-
logical and geographical Dlunders, which, per-
haps more tnan any other intrinsic evidence,
prove them the work Of shakespeare. He was NOS
scholar. lie was genius poet, keen OBJ
server OF men and tn ngs; but he was practical
man, wlthal, and wrote his plays, not for glory or
posterity, but Tor so much money and for present
uses. Al for his blunders, we repeat they prove
the claim to his plays against Bacon beyond all
question. For instance. In the Midsummer
Nights Dream we nave Theseus, as a conten-
porary OF Hercules making this statement:-
ihhsAus-No DOUBT they rose up early to observe
Here Shakespeare refers to the old English May
day celebration OF the young people in their
dances around the May pole sc. mat there was
no month OF May in Greece and no dancing around
the May pole AZ Athens In the days of rheseus
Shakespeare did not know and did rot care. He
knew 1.-the rite OF May would be understood by
his London audience, ana Una was enough. Again,
ia the same play, Ne have thls:-
THEsEUs-Good morrow, friends; st. Valentine is past
Begin these wood birus but To couple
Now, a speech from Julius Cesar referring TO
Chrlstop opher COLUMBUS as man OF the past wonld
nave been about as near tue mark IN the matter
OF time "a this reference oil lheseus 70 81; Vaien.
tine. But, again. In the plav OF "As You Like IT,
and in the scenes located IN The Forest Of Arden'
"Ardennes." as immortalzed In B}ron's ue-
S,aSa RasaISa dscoverns 1 owe eet aoas on palm tree
and we have a green and gilded snake, shppine
- Under which bush's shade
lioness with udders ail drawn drY'
Bacon, had he been consulted about this palm tree
and THIS honess, would nave SAID, ''Stfike them
out, Tor there Is no evidence tnat palm trees or
iones- es ever aourlshed on the soil OF Belgium"
But shakespeare neither knew nor cared wheCher
they ever h0urished there or not. He was
a'sas seerrapnscal % society % geography iorsootSi
THAI sort Of tang was , not In, IN MS rs llne.
But asaln, in "rhe Winters Tale" We have
ScKsK 3-Bohemia: a desert country near the sea.
No doubt Shakespeare supposed that Bohemia
had a sea coast, and that 1t was nanked by desert
country; but, right or wrong wnat was the differ.
ence to the audience OF his London theatref What
dld they know ABOUT BohemiaS Bacon, however,
in getting up play located in Bohemia would not
have committed or permitted such blunder as
We turn next to the play of "cymbeline," the
some In Italy. Time, during the reign Of Angus
tus. Here we have (act l., scene 81 at Rome tho
etrSs OF Pn1laro' iacnmS' e ana tbera rrenGnmsn "a
sucn nationaitles IN existence. And we nave
Caius Lucus referring to tribute from Britain to
Rome OF s3,O0Q when there was no such currency
in the world. And then we have Gulderius singing
| IN Britain
Golden lads and lasses must,
As chimney sweepers come to dust,
| when there was not chimney in the whole
island Aud then we have trumpets all round.
but drums, too, In the time of Au sustus But why
not, when Max MaIet1eK, two hundred years after
Shakespeare, gave procession Of Druids t'Nor-
ma') IN Mexico armed with muskets and revOlvers,
|
gles2 The unites OF time and place, including
Barnum's Museum, IN Jonn brougham's "poca.
! them IN Shakespeare's "tymbenne."
| Bacon could not have been guilty rs play
writer Of any such geographical and chronological
! blunders as these we hnt IN Shakespeare's plays
Had Bacon understood the work of a play writer
the adventures OF SIR Water Raleigh in North
! Carolina, or or captain Joan Smith in
tory OF Ireland And how was it that Snake pc are
/ could find nothing IN the expeditions TO this Con-
tnent and their wonderful discoveries OF mis- day,
upon which to produce something more dehnitely
! American than the "Tempest9'' 1t was because
his time was occupied with his theatre. His
library was there, and IRON the musty plays OF that
library ana ITS dead manuscripts ne obtained the
rough drafts OF most OF MS pays. He took them,
revised them, coored the n, put his bright ancies
and happy thoughts into them, made them new In
the transformation, and 80 they became shake
he found no manuscripts or Old forgotton plays
about Sir Walter Raeigh's American adventures,
these adventures from Shakespeare. He was ION
the make and the rough dra.t OF play ready tt
his hand. in saving MIN 80 much time III It's prep
aration, was 80 niucn clear gam.
IL does not appear that shakespeare was evel
outside the boundaries of England. He fol
all the word and all time, IN his poTtraItNreS o.
human passions and characters, ana so on and
yet all his characters aud All their natural sur
roundings are essentially English. His Gi ieeks
Romans, Egyptians and Italians Mercutlo among
them are English. and it is because he knew
nothing from observation OF any other country OF
people than England ana the English. Bacon was
u scholar and a lawyer, and he could not have
glven, II he had tried to give, TO his Greeks and
Romans, the idiOras and the slang OF London as
We ind them In ShaAespeare's plays.
The 'divine Williams puided better than he
knew, or dOuOtless IN the compilation OF his plays
under his own supervision ne would have provided
copyright tor posterlty as unique estionable as
Disraells claim to "the Wonderlui Tale OF AlrCy.'
DNCrnR