New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-13
THE DONNELLY DELUSION.
CIPHER WHICH IS NO CIPHER.

DosNrILr. syo.. pp. Win, 09s r. s. Psals & Co.
Thi, ponderous book is sufficient testimonial
TO the industry of the writer. but a far less
trustworthy guarantee of his intellectual capacity.
WHY the authors of his school should be so FOND
Of producing large volumes is one OF the second
airy problems Of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS craze
Miss Della Bacon, however, put forth big DOCK
Judge Holmes followed her with one only less
dfuse; and now Mr.. Donncly aHiicts long
suffering public with thousand pages OF special
pleading, Misrepresentation and haliuclnatlon'
which he IL pleased to call demonstration. Inc
first half Of his book he denominates The Argu-
ment" and curious argument 1t is. Let IL DC
remembered, as necessary to a just apprehension
of the value Of Mr.. Donnelly's representations
that what is absolutely known of Shakespeare
life. apart from his literary works, is next TO
nothing To say this in despite OF the existence
Of scores of more or less extensive and bulky BIZ
. ographies of the poet, may seem OVERLOAD. Yet u
is the simple truth. Beyond one or two dates
that of his death being certain-and one or TWO
legal instruments and a very few references W
him by his contemporaries, nothing hos come oo"n
concerning the man beyond loose and vague runior
and tradition Whether he held horses at inc
theatre DOORS or was apprenticed 10 ouVchoi
or glove-malxer or held the position OF cali-noy
IN a theatre we do not and apparently never shau
know All the legends about these matters are
wholly without verifcation This alone can DO
said confidently: that Shakespeare WehV
Iondon nc n moor adventurer; that he attached
himself to the stage, became manager " 0n 80
MT for,b nlavs which were published with his
go a. .rtbor made money, purchased real es-
tate. built New Place, at Stratford-on-AVon, pres
entity withdrew from active business, retired 10
his BIRTHPLACE lived some years there prosper
ously and then died We are not warranted III
asserting moro than this Of him. All the STORIES
nbout the Devastating, about the slaughterhg OF
calves. about the holding Of horses, about his
habit of drinking about the carousc salo 10 nave
preceded or TO have brought on, the Illness Hoii
which he died, rest upon the most unsupstahVi"l
foundations. There is, in short, scarcely any
historic character Of whom less IS known ulah
William Shakespeare. -,
This obscurity and defect OF information wiiio
in many ways perplexing to the critics. Is sun
more so 70 the advocates of the hypothesis that
Francis Bacon wrote the works attributed lor oVo
wears TO Shakespeare. For it devolVes on them
"a prove, not merely that Bacon might or couid
have written the plays and poems, but that Shake
speare could not have done so and 1t IS exceed
inrlv difficult to demonstrate that given person
could not have done o given deed, when scarcely
ANYTHING is known about the said person. MI
Donnelly evidently felt this embarrassment, ana
20 escape from it he has adopted an ingenious
but assuredly not an ingenious method III his
so-callcd argument" he represents as demonstrated
facts every tradition legend. report and fragment
of gossip which tends TO depreoiate Shakespeare
The extent TO which this practice is carried
throughout the book is anything but conducive to
confidence in Mr.. Donnelly's candor When he
says ID is proved in three cases
out of four the cautious reader should
substitute, " it is rumorcd' or " it is surmised,
or it is imagined" In the same way the facts
of history are most rccllessly strained in order
to create presumption in favor of the Baeonian
authorship, and the whole argument has the un-
mistakablc color Of strong partSanship Indeed
Mr. Donnclly greatly overdocs his part
for he evinces positive malignty
toward Shakespeare, and by his per-
sisteM efforts to destroy the reputation and
blacken the memory Of the poet, necessarily in
vites challenge Of his taste and of decency
as we'll as Of his literary ethics. In partial ex-
cuse of his incorporate methods he alleges that
be himself has been abused by the critics This |
of course cannot constitute justification for his
SANDER OF Shakespeare but probably it is the only
approach to justification open TO him. and If 1t !
Does not vindicate him. it at least affords a curl
GUS insight to the character Of his mind
tbs when he comes to the task OF showing paral- |
lelisms between Shakespeare and Bacon that his |
intellectual abnormaty is most strikingy eX-
hibited. The late Dr. Ingleby, ripe Shake |
spearean scholar observed upon the Baconlan |
controversy that it seems to call particular at
tention to the existence Of class of minds which,
like Macadams sleeves, retain only those lngre-
dents that unsuited 90 the end in view. MIX |
up quantity Of matters relevant and Irrelevant |
and those minds will eliminate from the instru-
ment Of reasoning every point on which the rea-
md hon
else their constitutional perversity on the residue
This is just description Of the Baconians from
one point OF view, but it appears 10 US that the
most remarkable point about them is their liter
DRY color blindness. This is mental defect cor
responding to the WELL physical one. The
sufferer from the latter is unable TO distinguish
strongly opposed shades, and IS liable TO mistake
green for scarlet. or scarlet for gray. Mental
color-bindness consists in inability TO distinguish
between strongly opposed literary styles; between
radically different intellectual expressions. 1t is
the central illusion of the Baconians. To nor
may constituted mind nothing is so amazing IN
oil this controversy the attempt to make it
appear that any real likeness exists between the
mind manifested in Shakcspeares works and the
mind manifested in Bacon's writings. The Ba
conians cannot appreciate this feeling at all, for
to them these radical differences do not appear.
So they proceed, like Mr. Donnely and Mrs. Pott
and Judge Holmes, to string together long lists Of
what they are pleased to call parallelisms,' but
Of which the majority are really nothing of the
kind Mr.. Donnelly even gives lists of what he
calls identical metaphors" identical express
sions," and SO forth. Now what all this laborious
futilty demonstrates is not the identity Mr. Don
nelly wishes to establish, but his own infatua-
ton, and his singular incapacity for the
formation OF a sane critical Judgment.
Nothing, indeed. so clearly reveals the narrow
hess and triviality Of the Baconians as their at
Tempt 10 found an argument OF any kind in this
way. AS we shall presently see this is part
md parcel Of the whole process Of mental
through and by which Mr.. Donnelly
arrives at his browning delusion-the cipher,
Bacon and Shakespeare drew from a common stock