Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-12-05
The LEDGER.
THURSDAY, DEC. 5, 1889.
DIR. HUNTERS
"Did William Shakespeare Write
the Plays Attributed
to Him."
Tothe Editor OF thetLedger.

To the Editor OF theIJedger.
MEXICO, Mo-, Nov. 30.-Pur-
suant to your request I furnish you
some notes on DR.. Hunters lee
ture at the NJ. E. Church, South,
last evening.
1t is much to be regretted that
circumstances were such that a
larger audience did not hear this
old fellow-townsman in this new
role he has chosen. Whatever
may be our views as to the author
ship of the Shakspearean dramas
the question is one much agitateo
at present and the investigation il
bringing to light information con
corning his times and contempor-
aries that no student of English
literature can afford to ignore. He
who rests his opinion upon such
facts as were set forth in his study
of his school text book or the
meager biographies of the editions
and cyclopedlas, will find him
self much behind the times In the
presence of such a mastery and
modern effort as a select few of US
were favored with last evening
The Doctors statement that he
had made no original investiga,
tons of his own, but had simply
essayed to mass the investigation
of others before his hearers, de-
tracted nothing from his effort, for
the sequel showed that what be
had attempted he had accomplish
ed well.
He began first by mentioning
the unauthenticity of Shakspeare's
portraits, all of them being ideals
of intellectually, very unlike
the bust above his tomb, an en-.
craving of which the Doctor ex
hibited. William here has a very
much bloated appearance, anc
renders the statement that he dice
as the result of a beer-guzzline
bout with Ben Jonson and Draytor
quite probable. Indeed, while
this was only a tradition wher
the writer was a student, the Doc.
tor asserts that il is now a matter
of record.
While the Doctor himself is MOI
one of the Baconians, he men.
toned incidentally the claims they
set forth in favor of his authorship
They we're briefly that: He livec
at the time, was the most renown'
ed and versatile scholar of his age
possessed all the qualities of classl
cal scientific and p%hilosophi'
information, has many parallelism,
of thought and sentiment, etc ; anc
chiefly that just at the time wher
he became affiuent, influential ant
had a government position-ren
dering it no longer necessary fol
him to write. plays for a living
the Shakspearean plays ceased t'
come forth. The reason ALLEGED
why Bacon did not openly father
the dramas was, that the calling o
play writer was considered low al
that time, not only at court where
he was striving to gain favor, bu'
was strongly condemned generally
by puritan sentiment.
The Doctor next called attention
to the fact that at the time of tn,
earliest publication of his play
there was no consensus OF opinion
as to what dramas were really his
The first folio edition containin!
thirteen out of thirty-six play,
that were afterward rejected a;
not his, and altogether out of forty
two that we're at first attributed t,
him, only twenty-five now stan'
the test. He spoke of the lack e
copyright laws in that day, ant
mentioned that a printer Gould pu
any name on any title page h.
chose. Shakspeare's theatre wa.
a great success ; his name a popu
lar one, so that it often occurred Oh
title pages that were not his own
Instances were mentioned as of re
cord where authors had come u,
and claimed their own. TIL,
lecturer claimed that Shakspear'
could have no interest In havin,
his plays published as he wanted
them exclusively for his theatre
It may be we'll to state that tn,
DR.. had already taken the position
that William was a mere arrange,
and doctor of dramas and not al
original composer At all that h
was largely an appropriation 0
other mems work, | believe his hes
friends cannot deny. The mex