Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1888-02-09
BACON OR SHAKESPEARE

WI SWN6ESs 1870
The announcement of igDatius
DouneIly's forthcoming work
on the Bacon Shakespeare con-
troversy has awakened renewed
interest in that subject The fol
lowing 10 u synopsis of . paper
reeentiy read before the Bacon
Society Of London by Mr.. Fran
els Fearon. aud presents in a
compact form the reasons why
a great many intelligent students
Of the Shakespeare Plays as
cribe their authorship to Lord
Bacon:
4. DID FRANCIS Bacon WRITE
~SHAKEsPEAREf
The natural answer would be,
Certainly not. Can the iradi
ton ofthree centuries be wrongi
We're our ancestors ignorant ]
Was Shakspere himself an i'm
pOsteri Mere his friends aud
/ contemporaries deceived Were
his successors of the next gene
/ ra,ions unable 10 detec. the Im-
posture
ADO you mean 20 say that
there is any serious douot that
WI ShaksYcr,, the sekDowiedg-
ed author ofthe wonderful plays
that bear his nzme-the Swan
OF Avon, canonized rs the d.
vine bard for three centuries
wrote the Piaysf
No. no, sir; | won't have IT.
Shakspere has always been
Shakespeare TO me, aud so he
shall remain.
And rs for Francis Bacon
Lord Bacon having written
Shakespeare's Plays! Why in
troduce that heavy and phllo
sophie person on the scene :
What has be TO do With the mat
teri
Certainly, now sou mention
il. the two men lived Mt about
the same period, but two per-
sons more differently molded in
notions and ideas YOU could
hardly have mentioned togeth-
er.
Had Lord Bacon written a
play it would have been q pom
derous disquisition in dialogue.
q legal or philesophic essay in
blank verse. And as for his
having written Shakespeare's
Plays, why, good gracious, sir T.
what do you mean You are
! laboring under a serious meLtsl
delusion. Betake yourself to
some quiet retreat and stay
there until you have cleared
your mind Of II and have Teturu-
ed once more tn the orthodox
belief that Will Shakespeare
wrote the Plays that have pa<s-
ed by his name; a belief which
was good enough for our faith
ers and our grandfathers and
may well suffice for u.s.
Such, | take 1t, Is, with little
eJsggeratlon, the sentiment with
which the majority of persons
first near the idea propounded
that the viii Sbakspere OF his
tory did net write the Plays
which have 80 long gone by his
name, and that Francis Bacon
did
Nevertheless, / will endeayor
to DO something to convince ms
readers that there is, az all
events, some method in the mad
ness of those who, like myself
are converts to the new and
spreading belief.
" hat. then, Is Shakspere'S Ii
re 10 the authorship. Ofeourss
he claimed it 20 himselfs
Strange as il may appear
there is no record of his having
done so: and yet he seems tC
have been q bustlins man of the
Sorld, but by no means didideDt
noney-maaing manager of i
'leater: not = person likely to
have hid his own light under d
bushel, but Que who would rath
er have boasted and made the
most of his literary attainmenrs
one who, in making, as he did, q
will, entering into details of his
chattels and effects, down /, his
old bedsteaj, would not have
been silent, as he was, as to his
manuscripts and literary prop
erty, which would, had be pos.
sessed any, have been the source
OF his fortune. Surely be would
have appointed a literary execu-
T. r, Hith directions as 70 he re.
vision and republication Of his
plays. Nine of the thirty-seven
plays usually credited TO ShaKs.