The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-05-19
bSSSeMs
snArlspEREIAN AUTOGRAPHS,


zen. his mother was equally uneducated,
most OF his relatives the same and his own
daughter judith, at tie age of 81 could not
sign her name, When William was but Is
years old his father became q bankrupt
William worked successfully as butcher and
wool stapeT till the age of Is, when he was
compelled to marry Anne Hathaway, 8 years
older than himself. Their first child was
born few weeks ate, and their twins,
IIamnet and judith, some two years after
The young husband and father became
rather dissoluta; was prosecuted and whipped
for stealing deer from the park of Sir
Thomas Lucy, and took revenge 10y circulat-
ing a coarse piece of poetry ridicuEng tho
magistrates, for which be was so threatened
that at the age of p he led to London There
be lived a short time by the hunblest oecu-
patiolis, then became an actor, and very soon
after appeared the first, and perhaps the
finest, of the Shakespearian plays.
And here we are face to face with the first
great mystery.
If Shakspere wrote shakespeare" then
we must believe that the illiterate village
boy advanced in two CT three years to
the capacity OF producing dramas which
sweep the whole gamut of human feel
ing, rise to the heights of learning and go
philosophy, display knowledge of couI.tly
life and gentle manners equal tc that Of
Raleigh and an insight into the principles Of
law almost rivaling Coke, at the same time
that they show q command of Latin deriva-
t!ves never in any other case gained except
by severe classical training, smoothness
of versification no other poet has attained
without years of application and an insight
into the workings OF the human heart never
granted to any other writer. 1t almost sur
passes the power of human crcdulity. 1t
Is perhaps possible to accept it fact
without invoking miracle the explan..-
ton; but we need not wonder that many
thousand thoughtful men disbeieve it.
THIS is the first and greatest mystery, and
the second is like unto it, namely-Why did
William Shallspcre. if the great drama fist,
suddenly cease to write at the very time
Lord Bacon promoted to high office, re-
tire to Stratford and never mention his i'm
mortal works. As we have seen, the first
+ plays appeared almost rs soon as the youth
became actor, though there is evil
dence that plays very similar in char
acter aud title had been shown
in London before Sha!,speis arrived
there. Before 1893 appeared seven plays and
two poems, all these before William Shaks-
pere was 80 years old Between the latter
date and 1000 appeared thirteen more plays,
and thus they continued to appear till Bacon
was promoted-then Sha!lspere went to STRAIT
ford. As manager of the theatre in London
he had acquired great fortune; we should
presume, therefore, that he would thereafter
lead the life of retired scholar, and his
mansion be the resort Of learned men Moth
ing of the sort. On the contrary, he engaged
in the brewing business, loaned small sums
on ironclad mortgages, pursued debtors with
rerciless severity, in one instance suing
man for two shillings, INDUCED various vices,
contracted according to one of his cotem-
porarieSI a loathsome disease, and finally
died in fever produced by long debauch
and the accompanying exposure In all
England the utmost research has failed to
produce scrap of his writing except five
signatures; none of these had any connection
with literature, nor is there any proved copy
of anything he wrote in which he REFEREES to
"Shakespeare's" dramas. He made will in
which be mentions all his petty household
stuff, his bowls, bis breeches and his second
best bed; but in it there is no word referring
claim TO copyright, not one aliusion to his
writer make a will without such referencea
Well. might Ralph Waldo Emerson say, II
cannot marry the facts to his verse"
The continued history of his family
greatly adds TO the mystery. His daughter
Judith, at the age Of 81, had her mark" GER
titled to because she could not write. His
parents graves were unmarked by any stone
and unknown to his children. His daughter