New-York tribune., 1883-03-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Another great Veruamlty has +eiilien u n
of letters. The first was when MISS Deil' D"oon
published big book to prove mat nc, =" paoo,
kinsman Lord Veruam, commonly o"i'' - ~
80 ths ,lovs that William Shakespeare said he
wrote and for which he got well paid; SINCE "ion
.,,r boyo lsen other Verulamties of the same sor1
h,t I.ss annallna i'm magnitude, and now the las'
has come i'm the big book before us. It's Latih uie'
promus means steward guardian, dispenser comp
troller and indicates that the collection TO which
,tis applied was a sort of lit rary storehouse orp
try from which elegant phrases and forms oi
were dispensed. The manuscript has oeeh ioHs
known 70 exist in the British Museum, but IL mas
been hitherto left undisturbed by 0ooK-haheiS Vi
the parasite order, because 1t was "eeineu' roi'
sensibly not of sufficient interest Tor puonca'ion
II seems to he collection of brief memorandums OF
words, phrases and proverbs chiehy 'no '"''o-'
which was made by Bacon for some purpose as IN
scrutah,e as the ways of Divine Providence. 1t
,vonld never have seen the light. in this form at
1east but for the notion that it contained over
,vhe,minc proof that Bacon was the man who wrote
the great comedies histories and tragedies whlch
were plaved at the Globe Theatre on the bahks'uo
in the reiQns of Elizabeth and James,-tnau ho was
the Simon Pure, ard that William Shakespeare 'ne
player-fellow, was miserable sham ana hlPoS'oi'
The volume exhibits we are bound to say, inc
result on the one hand of an enthusiastic uc'o'''i'
TO an idea and on the other of great deal OF ooo'
literary work. Mrs Pott blows no uncertain 'r"ni'
net. beats no doubtful drum, ana she mas p
formed her self-imposed and self-sacrlnclng TASK
- -, tho ,boronghness and ability of which she
,s oonoble and the degree of her thoroughness ana
90 ber ability up to a certain point, Is not SMALL
prt n completer and more disastrous failure couid
not he fonnd in the annals of literature. ohce
more n mountainous parturient labor mas Ie
sulted in ridiculous muss. We nave mere al tuo
elements of great critical work. Inc suoocV III
wolves the names and the regulations OF TWO men VI
The first importance. There is an INTRODUCTION Nv
scholar of repute (who declines to commit nhHe'i
10 the theory of the book; preliminary cr''lc"
and historical essay of ninety pages appehuceS a.
r. C. and so on through the alphabet; an elaborate
index tables and what-not and as the outcome OF
all this dust and ashes. The book, except as
literary curios ty and as storehouse OF reference
ON certain subjects with which it deals, Is not
worth the paper on which it is printed.
The theory of the book is simply this: mat
Raeon made this collection of words, phrases ana
proyerbs 1855 in number, for use III literary
work and that the plays known as Shakespeare
contain hundreds and thousands of passages whlch
show that the passages were put to use III "r"'nE
them, whence the conclusion is that the plays were
written by the maker of the Promus memoranuuhs
Now il may he admitted, at least Tor tne SAKE VI
the argument, that If considerable huloet Vi 'ho
tbonpbts and the modes Of expression which are
characteristic of the plays and winch have gwen
them and their author their singular position III
literature were found in the Promus, and nOwh@e
,Ise a fair case would be made out for this theory
Rnt the fact is quite to the contrary. We have
made very thorough examination OF these 1000
Promus memorandums and of the passages whlch
are produced in illustration and elucldation oI
them we have read every word that the au'horess
has written in support of her theory, ana we nave
done So we are sure, in candid spirit, but WehaVe
To saw as the result OF examination, that we
have not found an instance, not one, IN winch
passage in the plays is shown to have lts origin III
the Promus The method of elucldatlng 'he frOnus
by Shakespeare" seems to have been to hx upon
the most salient word in one of Bacons notes, ana
then IN take ND Mrs. Cowden Clark's Concordance
10 Shakespeare and find by its aid passages In which
that word occurs or more rarely phrase which ex-
presses in some modified related form the ldea
conveyed by the Promus word or phrase. lhe re-
suit is the display of word or phrase on one sue
and several like words or phra es on the other; put
of anv necessary connection between them of any
inkling of growth of the latter from the 1orner'
there is an utter and total absence 1t is urged In
favor of the theory of the book that these words
and phrases are not to 6e found In the Writings OF
Baeon's contemporaries immediate successors.
were n concordance of Ben Jonson's plays and
beaumont and Fletcher's and the other dramatists
and poets and prosewriteTs of the Elizabethan and
POST Elizabethan periods (Heaven forfend that
there ever should be y just such another mass OF
illustrations and calculations of the Promus this
Is might be accumulated If the game were worth
the candle land the candle would have to be long
onel this might be done by any mOusng word
hunter ANY man acquainted with the literature of
Il. ~ hNrf ysFnf fl1Ip-
tiop of the actual evidence would be long aud
toiisome task and life is short it is to be hoped
that it will not be undertaken, for 1T IS quite
needless
We cannot waste time and space in anything like
detailed examination oven of characteristic ex-
amples OF the parallelism which is here pretended
between BacOn's PrOmus Ia not very admirable
performance in itself and Shakespeare plays but
lere.are one or two specimens of the sort OF work
which fills with great preence, 400 octave pages
We open the book literally at raudom On page
1O4, sec. 90. Is as follows
DioleRia qua Dulchra- E1as Adagia, 359 CThe beau
tifui or good is hard OF attainmcnt0
These oracles are hardly attained
And hardly understood. q Hen. w., l., l)
Ismy Cressid then so hard to wni tTr. Or, Ill, l)
Study il like the heavens glorious sun.
That will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks;
small nave continual po ders won. H. H. L,L ~
So study is won as towns with hrei 80 woh 80
lost. Qb)
Onp. 100. section ia is as follows:
We'll 10 forget
Will forget that Julia is alive,
Remembering that my love to her is dead tT o. Yer,
H., 81
There forget all griefs cancel all grudges. ub,v, d.
I would forget her. but fever she
Brings In my blood and VIII rememberedbe 49,
IL. l.. t.. iv., 81
Unless you teach me to forget you must not learn TO
remember. (AS Iou Lie H. l., ~
The next C15) Isl
Make much Of yourself.
Make much Of me. (Ant. and CieO., iY., p
The bird we have made much Of (OJnb. iy., 81
Aud so forth aud so forth. 1t is needless to waste
more of our readers patience or our such
fnlIv. for can we caM that other than folly whch