The New York herald., 1874-09-06
WHO WROTE "SHAKESPEARE?"
From Fraser's Magazlne.1

From Fraser's MagazineI
| The late Lord Palmerston maintained that the
| plays OF Shakespeare were written by Lord Veru.
lam, who passed them on under the name OF an
actor for lear Of compromising his professional
prospects and philosophic gravity.
During the past eight years evidences OF Lord
Palmerston's theory have been accumuiatng in
skilful hands; but by far the most mastery work
upon the subject is that OF the Hon. Nathaniel
Holmes, Judge and Professor of Law in Harvard
University, Cambridge, United States of America.
His book-the authorship OF Shakespeare" :" an
octave OF 600 pages-seeks to ground this belief
upon scientific rather than circumstan tial evil
dence, and is logically divided into parts. begin
ming with the 'Preiimnaries-Shakesp and
Bacon" which settle, so far as the researches OF
that day were concerned, their relative lives, edu-
cations and occupations Immediately following
are the "ProOis" OF The theory, which lead to the
next department-"More Direct PrOofs.r Then
succeeds a series of .'Models." philosophical
Evidences" and the Spiritual Illumination"
while the Conclusion" contains treatl upon
the philosopher and Poet.n
Under the first head-"The Early Life OF Snake
spearen-our author concludes that, beyond that
primary instruction which could be obtained at
the tree grammar school at Stratford, In which
Latin was taught by one OF the masters, it is
pretty certain tnat Shakespeare had no education
from public institutions or from private tuition.
Sdch is the view maintained by the mass OF the
bographers with the exception oil Lord Campbell
Messrs. Rushton, Heard and others, who would
have seven years OF the poets life after his sud.
den withdrawal from school at the age of fourtee
devoted TO the study Of the law Drs. Bucknin and
Stearns, an equal amount OF time to the acquiring
OF the medical art; while Bishop Wordsworth con-
nltt h,o into aaffp
''raKe the entire range OF English literature, put
together our best authors VINO have written uDOn
subjects not proiessedly religious theological
and we shall not ind, believe, in them all united
so much evidence OF the Bible having been read
and used as We have found in Shakespeare alone. ("
Indeed, one commentator asserts that volumes
| may be filed. seyeraiiy with proofs o. the dram
/ atist's familiarity with husbandry, farming,
nautical AFFAIRS the fine arts, trade pOlitIcs and
government; handcrat, horses and neld sports
and even the language and arts OF thieves and
exhaustive knowledge OF court etiquette OF which
the plays give evidence. which would be quite as
hazardous for untutored manipu ulation as matters
OF the legal profession; as TO which Lord Campbell
says There is nothing so dangerous as for one
not OF the craft to tamper with our free masonry
These historical facts are adduced to prove that
the boy William could have received no ''private
tuitionh at the parental knee and that the fatner
Dequeathed not so much as printed page to his
son.
The assertion is made that there exists no writ
ten compositions OF Shakespeare belonging to the
time previous to his going TO London, no proof
tnat there ever was any, except mere tradition
OF o iampoon upon Sir Thomas Lucy, OF which no
scrap has been authentcally preserved. s'The
verses which later traditions have attributed TO
him, whether as fragments of this supposed lam.
poon or as epitaphs and eplgrams written toward
the close OF his career are, any one may see,
but miserable doggerel at the best and might have
been written by the sOrriest pOetaster." Snake
speare Is SAID by Rowe and Aubrey to have made
in late lie the well known lines upon JOhn-a-
MIR. Richard Grant White is constrained
he tsnaKespeare) did crack this innocent Joke
upon his friend, using, as he would De likely to
use, an old well known Jest, and giving 1t new
turn upon the money lenders name.
Mr. DowdalI, In an existing letter to Edward
Sou hwell, dated April TO- 1862. remarks tnat
shakespeare's epitaph was written by the poet
himself little before his death. Furthermore, 1t
is mentioned by Mr.. Stevens, as a singular cir
cumstance' that that Shakespeare does not ap.
the the living, or IN ..I.g honor & ol the dead
attributed to Shakespeare which are so unworthy
OF his exalted muse that Mr. Halhweu considers
power for which no one las assigned q suf1cient
reason.r
speare are quoted who were unable to lind agree
ment In the accounts OF Tue poets strange
Bohemian life and the products OF his genius,
which have become as it were the very spine OF
modern literature.
The German critic schlege equally amazed at the ex
OF these plays of shasespeare te author Of whsh ny
could not but consider one who had mastered aIl
to declare the received ACCOUNTS Of his life to be "a
mere fabulous story, blind and extrsvagant error"
his arrival in London a! the Of three with
cation studies and pursuits could have begun almost
We know S as mashsss ns msrey he
as o C Of art ns s as r re
eps % Il. nr sna the 4 S
oT cr.e thar swafded al; Osh high
sS az me 1csm oaisy5 as @py %
tn sa bsys Of the traditional biography are
idiots by whom to convey divine truths to p
hs hs , WI aa s
a,. was good natured sort OF man ioval actor.
that he was "a yeritabIe farmer" withaL is ap-
the significant confession - marry this iac TO
his verse other admirable men have led lives
contrast" In Ike manner Jean Paul KichIer would
S s wssi "n hs like @ v n
the human race in the best earth Of
Carlyle that other master e ce se Ssep Of our Son m.
chewing the cud OF this careless mortal open to the
open himself; who, Prone metheusike, viii scale esven
di i must be so, and satisfied y he herewith
st las, with the brief exclamation, AN unparalleled
Our author maintains that IL does not appear by
any direct proof tnat the original manuscript OF
any one Of the plays or poems was ever seen even
under such circumstances as to AFFORD any con-
elusive evidence, however probable, that he was
the original author.
remember says Ben Jonson) the players have often
writings whatsoever he pennd) he never bloted out
n we hsge only to % qr mao aW been
copied by him from some unknown complete ana ana
Wo b Wonder Of e players 1g we be az
explained"