Morris tribune., 1888-06-13
TcssHs
sHAKspERrrAN AUTOGRAPHS

zen: his mother was equally uneducated,
most of his relatives the same, and his own
daughter Judith, at the ago OF q, could not
sign her name. When William was but Is
years old his father became Q bankrupt
William worked successfully as butcher and
wool stapler till the age Of 1s, when he was
compelled to marry Anne Hathaway, Q years
older than himself. Their first child was
born few weeks after, and their twins.
Hamnet and Judith, some two years after.
The young husband and father became
rather dissolute; was prosecuted and whipped
for stealing deer from the park OF Sir
Thomas Lucy, and took revsngs by circulsti
ing a coarse piece Of poetry ridicu1ing Tie
magistrate, for which he was so threatened
that at the age Of q he fed to London. There
he lived short time by the humblest occu-
pations, 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 or three years to
the capacity of producing dramas which
sweep the whole gamut OF human feel
ing, rise to the heights of learning and 60
down to the depths Of mental and moral
philosophy, display a knowledge Of courtly
life and gentle manners equal to that Of
Raleigh and an insight into the principles Of
law almost rivaling Coke, at the same time
that they show command OF Latin deriva-
tives never in any other case gained except
by q severe classical training, q smoothness
of versiication 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. It almost sur
passes the power Of human redulfty.s 1t
is perhaps possible to accept It as fact
without invoking miracle as the explana-
ton; but we need not wonder that many
thousand thoughtful men disbelieve IL.
This is the first and greatest mystery, and
the second is like unto it, namely-Why did
William Shakspere, If the great dramstist,
suddenly cease to write at the very time
Lord Bacon was promoted to high oflce, 10
tire to Stratford and never meution his In
mortal worksi As we have seen, the first
plays appeared almost as soon a. the youth
became an actor, though there Il evi-
dence that plays very similar I'm char
acter and title had been shown
in London before ShalspeEe arrived
there. Before 1893 appesra seven plays and
two poems, an thess keioes William Ehaks-
pers was 30 Years oldf B1tNeen tho latter
date and 100 appeared thirteen more plays,
and thus they continued to appear TIL Bacon
was promoted-then Shakspere went 10 STRAIT
ford As manager Of the theatre In London
he had acquired great fortune; we should
presume, therefore, that be would thereafter
lead the life OF q retired scholaf. md In
mansion be the resort Of learned man. Moth
ing Of the sort. On che contrary, be eneaged
in the brewing business, loaned small sums
on ironclad mortgages, pursued debtors with
merciless severity, In one instance suing O
man for two shilling, Standardization vices,
contracted according 60 one Of his cotem-
poraries3 q loathsome disease. and finally
died In fever produced byA long dsbauch
and the accompanying exposuA IN al
England the utmost research. hssfai1ed TO
produce q scrap Of his writing except fvs
signatures; none Of these had any connection
with literature, nor Il there any proved copy
Of anything he wrote In which he referred tc
'Shakespearesn dramas He maids win In
which he mentions all his petty household
stuff, his bowls, his breeches and his second
best bed; but in Il there il no word referring
to his books, no mention Of his plays or any
claim to copyright, not one allusion to his
possible fame. Did ever great scholar or
writer make win without such referencel
Well might Ralph Waldo Emerson say, "a
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 q, Md her amark" Ger
titled TO because she could not write. His
parents graves were unmarked by any stone