The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-06-14

the Fourth-it was dedicated to my lord Of
Esse1-said she had a good opinion there
was treason in it, and asked me if l could not
find plans in it that could be drawn within
case Of treason, whereto ! answered.: For
treason surely l found none, but for felony
very many. And when her majesty hastily
asked me wherein, l told her the author had
committed very apparent theft. for he had
taken most of the sentences of Cornelius
Tacitus and translated them into English and
put them into his text. Another time. when
the queen would not be persuaded that it was
his writing whose name was to it, but that it
had some more m~ischievous author, and said
with great indignation that she would have
him racked to produce his author, l replied:
Nay. madame, never rack his person but
rack his stile; let him have pens, ink and
paper, and help Of books, and be enjoined to
continue the story where it leaves OF, and l
will undertake by collecting the stiles to
judge whether ho was the author or no."
Observe the sly humor with which Bacon
attempts to divert the queen by speaking of
plagiarism as felony. But Mr.. Donnelly
finds confirmation Of the foregoing account
in the cipher story, one paragraph OF which
reads:
"IIis men turn their backs, and my crafty
old friend Hence-low GIenslowc) flies at tho
first appearance of danger, stumbling under
the heavy weight"
Tho first to question William Shasspere's
authorship was his rival and enemy, one
Greene, but this was attributed to envy.
Alexander Smith, the essayist, made the OBJ
%scrva:ion that Bacon seems to have written
his essays with Shakespeare's pen." Horace
Walpole classed the authorship Of the plays
among his Historic Doubts" In 1859 Mr..
SPEEDING printed a paper, "Who Wrote
Shakespea-e's Henry WIZ Soon after
Chambers Edinburgh, Journal published an
anonymous paper entitled. who wrote
Shakespeare" ard tho author arrived at the
conclusion that S%hasspere kept a poet" In
1886 Miss Della Bacon tthe identity Of name
with the Lord keeper'sis only q coincidence, an
American lady, sister of Rev. Leonard Bacon.
frst ~propount!ed the theory that Lord Bacon
was the Shakespeare wanted; n from that
date 1t began to assume the dignity OF q
theory, and what was down to that time
only an Insignificant literary heresy, its ad.
herents having 10 rallying point, has since
grown to be the faith of a united and az.
gressive party, numbering tens Of thousands,
among them many Of the ablcst critics and
| scholars Of the time. During tho last thirty
JSa1S SOAil0 CIV DOOAS allu puLklkulcLS NASe
been written upon the subject. Some four
world that he had discovered a cipher story
interviewer in the plays which would end all
discussion. The proposition was ono SO
astonishing, that it's very statement almost
carried its own combination. Even Bacon
ians stood aghast, as il in W of the very
miracle they had invoked. The whole dis
l cpyccittr hod rvp,C pyvo Os,t ~ thu fact that for
more than 200 years the production Of
the plays by Shakespeare had been
| considered q literary miracle, and the dispo-
sition of an in%creduious age to eliminate it;
and now, what was the result Of all this
labor but a ~transposition and masnifying Of
the miraclel For what other Is it than a
miracle If we add six cubits and a span to
| the stature Of Goliah. or increase the strength
| Of Hercules by s~uperadding Samson's; or
augment the wisdom Of Solomon with
that Of Socratesa For surely be does
no less than these who, doubles the III
tellectual stature Of Francis Bacon, who,
from his known works, il a~djudged by almost
all great critics to have been the greatest man
that ever lived-Shakespeare alone, IL any,
matching him in greatness II it should be
| proved that Bacon should stand upon the
shoulders Of his only supposed compeer to be
measured for his niche In flames temple;
that, bisected, he was the greatest two men
that ever lived-havs we not a miraclei No.
But we have more, for there be phenomena
that are greater than any miracle, and this
Is one. II the pen that wrote the Essays,
the Advancement Of Learning and the new
Organon, wrote, also. not only Lear
Hamlet Macbeth 'tOthello'' and aJu.
ius Cesar" but Romeo and Juliet |" Mid