The Portland daily press., 1874-09-22
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE,

Who but Shakespeare would have dared n
| change his sneer with the cant expression Of
making a quietus,' talk of tgrunting and
sweating, and descend to the ridiculous fg-
ure OF a Dodkin to render the sublime meoI-
tatlon more Intense? This is the handWrit-
ing OF Shakespeare; that any dramatist can
swear to. 1t cannot be initiated. Bacon was
philosopher, mind of analytical power.
one which investigated, took TO pieces and
subjected al matter to reason. Shakespeare's
mind was diametrically opposed to that of
Bacon; his was the mind of poet, one of
synthetic power, one which created. nut To-
gether and contemplated all things from an
aesthetic point of view."
But how do you account for his EXTRA
ordinary information on all subjects? Where
did he get t?"
''Sr," said Bret Harte," he adapted il
from the French. Some day when / have
time to go over there, shall show the hole
WhereIhe got it out, ,,and it will be found to
fit the hole exactly"
Seriously, Mr.. Harte, seriously, sir, we
implored, "where do you think he obtained
IL ailp He was little of everything"
Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, apothecary,
plowboy, thef-especially distinguished In
the business" drawled out Howard Paul.
HE made everything sublime, even theft. If
ne mad been alive now he is capable, sir, Of
s;.,e Ssnpe bene Lamar and making line play
We looked hopelessly and helplessly to the
dramatlst for assistance, but he nodded to
Mr.. Bret Harte to answer my question.
You must kuow," said the novelist,
that in our degenerate times the dives and
drinking saloons of the city have come down
10 politics and curbstone speculation. But in
those OF Shakespeare the Bowling Green and
Peari street were studded with inns, where
the choicest wits, poets and philosophers of
,, dne DAY were wont to drink their cocktails.
Inc conversation was jewelers. shop of wit.
and all the stock OF A. T. Stewart can't pre,
tend to figure the variety and richness of the
Information and opinion that flowed spon-
taneously, gushed and tumbled around. That
was the school where Shakespeare learned.
In that school, sir, nothing came out but the
choicest bits of each mans mind, the most
valuable and most curious information. It
was mother lode"
but, sir, he had read the Greek and Latin
classics, some OF which had never been trans
lated" we suggested.
Mr.. Bret Harte handed me back to Mr..
Boucicault.
Sir, he read nothing of the sort. Dozens
OF manuscript plays were sent into the thea
ter OF which Shakespeare was the reader.
Shakespeare selected those he thought had
some good in them, just as Dumas. Scribe.
Iom Taylor did and do in this day of ours. The
author gets few pounds; we cut up hi
work, remake it, refashion, rewrite, retain as
much as may be good. The original work
paers through the new form, and thus a dog
en- minds cooperate. Shakespeare plucked
as he read these works all the flowers and odd
tit-bits, and these went pel-mell into the i'm
mense store-house of his mind, from whence
they were poured out, their only real value
being the marvellous manner in which he ap-
piled them; but he sometimes applied them:
wrong, which Bacon never would hayedone.S
"You think then," we said, ''that Bacon
could not have written play if he had
tried?v
II am sure he could have written play,n
said Howard Paul, thoughtfully and slowly,
"and am equally sure it would have been a
very stupid one."
"Just such play" suggested Boucicault,
'as Professor Tyndall would write"
"Or," said Howard Paul, ''the Century
Clubs
NO." said Bret Harte, dejectedly, 'just
such play as l am writing"
At this moment a kind of melancholy
seemed to pervade the group, and so we arose
and took our leave.
MIR. Paul followed us to the staircase, and
suggested that we might mention promiscu-
ously:that he bad just come over from Eng
land and was here, generously offering to do
as much for US another time.