Fergus County argus., 1888-03-29
SHAKESPEARE AND BACON.
Icpa.iu. Donnriiy lectures IN ChieHs"
tpon His Cryptogram.

!anatius Donnely. who il EN- route
for Europe to personally superintend
decentralization of his book. lectured
in Chicago, recently, and the Daily
News gave the following brief synopsis
of lis remarks:
"He did not, doubt, le SAID, that
many of the audience came to listen
to a crank, because it has come To be
accented that whatever the bulk OF
mankind believes il always right and
the few who differ a.e- always wrong.
But the reader of history viii not.
agree with this view, because he knows
that the path OF human progress -
marked by the tomb of he dead opin-
ions of the majority. Calico would
have been called crank il the wori-
exsie ed in his time, and more recently
in our own history Lloyd Garrison
and Wendell Phillips were called worse
than crlnks ior their abolition theo-
ries. But u these men could attack
slavery. which New England bishops
called q divine institution, attack
vested interests where the pocket was
affected and millions involved, why
should not the claims of Shakspcre
to the plavs u,iiah bear hi. name he
challenged without calling down upon
the head oi the inyest i.;.,,or torrents
OF abuee? No one will be poorer II
it shall he proved that there Is no
foundation for he claims OF the Shak-
/ sporeans.
Shah.pcre used IL coa,-of-arms AMI
| claimed gentle blood, but Halloveil
| Phillips. the highest authority on the
subject. shows that he hid both fraud
ulenty, having no right to either. Ills
| fathe was wool-pickcr in Stratiord,
and he was the only One of his race
| that could read or write, his father
and mother and their fathers and
mothers making CROSSES for their sig-
natures, not because they We're rellg-
! ious, but for the reason that that MAS
as near rs they could come to writing
their names. Even Richard Grant
White, who said that the man who
claimed that Shakspere did not write
the plays should lie in a madhousei
concede -ihat the plays could not
have been written without great
library, and could not be read without
u great library. The plays bore evi-
dence OF the fact that their author
was familiar with the literature oi
I.aly. France. and spain in the oriai-
nal. while books have been written by
; lawyers to prove that this author
must have been profound lawyer.
Lord Justice Campbell says that
whenever IA layman brings law into
his writings he is apt to fali into error,
but that from shakspere's law there IL
no appeal.
There wasn't AN English grammar in
existence until Shakspere had finished
his education. In the school at STRAIT
: ford-on-Avon even the English Ian
guage was not taught. The first record
of ~hakspere shows him figuring in "a
beer-drinking bout; Then he became
y La Doacher, WAS frequently arrested,
and finally ied to London after ma
' ryira under discreditablr cirrumstaii'
r ces Il woman several years his senior,
!, whom he had compromised. There
wasn't a book in his house: and in
s,hak spere's. viii. while there are he
J. uursis of "a bed Sword. . goblet, ANA
: other things, there is'not II bequest of
! n book or anything else of n literary
y character. The family OF Shakspcre
u held the original property un-il the
! beginning OF the present century, but
u not II scrap OF his writing has come
y down To the world except four sigma
I tlurs-three on his will and one on u
; deed 10 some property. There. Isn't
h y H., a,1 ,i''t ,', ,,,.;t,.n ~. t,lln'y
e who wanted to borrow some MONEY
J. There ARE manu.criuf, OF plav- in Tie
e. Erifisb musaurn from n prriod 200
l. wears before hi. time. bur not orcfronl
n him.
e At fhis noint MIR. DouneiIy said he
]. vo,,ld ,uI,yer anv question. uskcl
/ linn. when "A student in the gallery
10 br,an u fl.iladrtl,at extended over an
= horr. The lecture was Transformed
i into a running debate bctNren Mr..
e Douuellv and n number OF rcntlrm.
who were not di-po.rl to accent hi-
;n.r diyit. Mr.. Donnrllv VA, yolum-
Iniousk on ton and n. never failed
ldi4no,. al hi, ut,eofipurrs To hi. own
satisfaction. and fr,,ul.utlv. by. the
,rl AMI u-.tof his native Nit ittbra,lil.,-
{. mont nf hi. audience.
=. In cnptr,st 10. Sh1ksprrc'. pIehinr.
=. ofi, Jim and all..oI ilIifrr.lcy he arred
A fbnt Bacon was n patrici1n ana a
o. scholar of Gifts conlnirn-urate to the
N task OF 1,roducin. the plays. and in
confusion a,snred The andience that
~ Li. i,,-itiou was moi a ui..tlrrof belief
' buf one which he had proved. AMI
- vhi.L III. book would lroye to the