National Republican., 1888-04-30

country is Mr.. Thomas Davidson. lie pro-
fesses higher range Of scholarship than thai
which is laid claim to by ordinary professors
like those In Yale AMI Harvard. In fact, Mr..
Davidson seems TO stands without PEER, If
You take his word for It, II was through him
that the world was first made acquainted
with the Great CrytOgram,' by which Mr.
Ignatus Donnelly is trying TO prove that
Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare. Mr..
Davidson wrote long article for the New
York World giving an account of visit to
Mr.. Donnelly in Minnesota and of the wonders
of his discovery. The DRIFT Of his argument
was all in favor of the gcnuinGuess of lIr.
Donnelly's discoyery-so much so that Mr..
Donnelly was entirely satisfied with the
article. But as soon as there was time
to recover from the first surprise
of an announcement from scholar who had
always made such exalted professions as Mr..
Davidson people began TO laugh at both him
and Donnelyand they have been laughing ever
since. They laughed n particularly dcrisivc,
loud laugh In England. At Stratford. Shake
speare's birthplace, they laughed first and then
got mad They had grown so mad when Mr..
Ionnclly arrived in London with his Great
Crytogram," n month or so ago, that they
sworc he should not be allowed to visit Strat.
their Shakespeare and have Francis Bacon
established as the author of Romeo aud
Juliet" Julius Caesar" AS You Like IT,"
and so on. Donnelly is aggressive in his be-
lief as TO the genuineneSs of his discovery,
and he has hit back with viSor
whenever he has been attacked. But David
son could not endure the food of ridcule and
adverse criticism and in order to preserve
lis eminent standing he has written another
article, which appeared in the New York
World Of yesterday, in which he performs the
act of desertion in the following language:
! said In the long article above alluded to
lthe one of last August that there were only
three ways of accounting for Mr.; Donnelly's
claim 20 have discovered a cipher in the
Shakespearian plays-1 that he was perpe.
trating huge conscious fraud, (2J that he was,
n h. his enthusiasm deeciying hm@self, @ or E ~
cluded in View of Mr.. Donnelly's character
and ability, that the. last hypothesis was the
whole cipher theory Is virtually before me,
am compelled to retreat from this conclusion
and TO substitute for II the second alterna.
say this with the utmost regret for, Mr.; Don
nelly's sake that he IL entirely mistaken In
thinking that he has discovered cipher in
the plays,
In other words, Mr.. Davidson now holds
Donnelly to be poor dcluded fool. A clearer
case Of trimming your sails to fit the wind
| never occurred than in this instance. Mr..
Davidson did not have the manliness and the
| courage to remain steadfast to his friend in
| his struggle against such overwhelming odds,
| although he had done mere than any one man
| to bring the "cryptogram" into notice. But
the best part of this piece Of literary cowardce
| and betrayal is the fact that on the very day
| that Is, ycsterday-on which Davidson de
t., y
| that Donnelly has not discovered cipher in
| Shnkesreare's plays, two competent authori
| ties, Prof. Elias Colbert. the American astror
mcr, and Mr.. George Parker Bidder, ~
mathematician of England, were 40
by telegraph TO have dYclarel\ eadint
Of a cipher by DGpncl,Y was| reported
| pears that som1& the discovery
| the Chicago genuine. 1t ap
| bert sen"' -r,,go the editor of one ol
..ewspapers wrote to Prof. Col
.rUlng him advance sheets of Mr. Don
| nclly's book, which is TO appear May /, stimuli
tNncously in England and America, request
ing him to make Il thorough investigation
Prof Colbert became so deeply interested
that he had long interview with Donnelly oil
the 10th of March. lie now writes to the edi
Tor of the Chicago paper as follows:
am Obliged to indorse the claim made b!
| DCnnelly that he has found cipher In SOM
OF the plays. II can be intelligently traced b,
the aid OF explanations given by him. some o
which are only limited at In the book. l do no
say, nor does he claim, that he has dlscovere'
the complete cipher and think it Is quite
probable that some of the readings he give
will bear modification in the light of subse
quent knowledge. But the cipher Is there n
claimed and he has done enough to prove it.
existence to nv satisfaction.
Mr.. Bidder who is also Il queens counsel o
London, the highest grade of lawyer In Eng
land, was induced to look into the sublec
through the solicitation Of Mr.. James Knowles
the editOrof the Nineteenth Century, whicl
Is the leading literary review published il
Europe. The proof sheets of Mr. Donnclly'
book were put into Mr.. Bidders hands the Is
of April, and he has just finished his cXami
nation and has written to Mr.. Knowles tina
Donnclly is right that there is a cipher 4
Shakespeare's plays, and that 1t was probabl
put there by Bacon, The conclusions Of Nj
Bidder and Prof, Colbert are reported simul
tancously and are almost identical. Biz
der says Donnelly's work Is not Vt
quite complete. So does Colbert. But bot
declare the cipher Is there, Now wha
is the position in which this leaves II
supCrlative Mr. DAVIDSON \ very sorry on
we fear, lie has probably missed the oppo
tunity of his life. What greater sensation
literature could occur than the dethronemel
q Shakespeare Is II to be demonstrate
, after all that Francis Bacon wrote the gro
plays that the world has attributed TO VILLA
Shakespeare for three hundred years, And
, Mr. lgnatius Donnolly, of the uuClassic prairi
| of Minnesota, TO become the greatest lite
= airy iconOolast of this or any other age' NJ
, | Thomas Davidson might have been NJ
, | DOEnely's pruphCt and might have shown
least In reflected splcndor. But now he h
+ forosworn the Great CryptoTam there Is not
/ ing for hmto do but 90 out and gnash /
teeth and tear his hair.
"A ENNEBEC Ter,