St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-29
MINNEAPOLIS EVENTS
lgnatius Donnelly Replies to
IngersOll and Lectures on
Shakespeare.
He Turns the Eloquent Pagan
Over in an Argumentative
Way.
The Heilpern Case Now in
the Hands Of the
Jury.
General News of the Day
Gathered by Vigilant Globe
Enjoys.

The curiosity to see and hear Ignatius
Donnelly, of course, was not as great as
In the case of Col. II. G. Ingersoll when
he lectured upon Shakespeare two
weeks ago, nevertheless the Lyceum
theater last evening held an audience of
respectable proportions when the Sage
Of NIninger came before the audience at
B:30 O'Clock, made his bow and began to
speak, after the announcement of
his name and the subject of his lee
lure by Z. W. Murphy. 1 he first portion
Dt his lecture upon the Bocanan theory,
chiefly devoted to Col. Ingersoll'S argu-
mentS to prove that Shakespeare really
wrote Shakespeare, and the cutting,
although courteous manner in which he
tore to pieces the eloquent pagan's
pretty phrases and polished sentences
kept the audience in constant litter.
He went on in an argumentative way
which was convincing, and the half
hour which he devoted to the mistakes
Of IngerSOll was quite as interesting as
any chapter from the latter's
lecture upon the mistakes of
Moses. HIS Fdeclaration that Ingersoll
Is SentimentaliSt who would defen
the legend of Santa Claus, and who
believed in miracles in Shakespeare
which lie declined to accept in the bible
was the main line of his argument. He
defended Lord Bacon against Inger-
Sails impulation that he was a corrupt
Judge, and then took up his regular
lecture upon the Baconian theory which
has heen heard before, and which is
better calculated to interest Shake
Spearan scholars than the general pub
ilc. OF the two portions of his address
Donnelly's lecture upon lngerSoll was
Tar more interesting than his lecture
upon Shakespeare. In beginning, he
said:
The Lecture.
Ladies and Gentlemen: l am here tonight
60 speak 10 you uuou the question of the So
called Shakespeare's plays, and incidentally
70 answer some OF the arguments presented
recently in this city and elsewhere by Col.
Robert G. lngersoE. 1t is matter of regret
to me that Col. Ingersoll is not here upon
this platform to discuss this question with
me An invitation was extended to him
by some prominent citizens of Minneapolis
some time since; and within q few days
similar challenge, if | may so call it, was
made by prominent citizen of Chicago, who
made Col. Ingersoll the offer of ST. 900 if he
would discuss the matter with me in the Au-
dltorlum of Chicago, and was ready to refer
IT TO responsible parties as a guarantee of his
gooc fall-I. ] regret, | say, that Col. Inger-
IneS1
uons, because III all these mooted questions.
where there is something, or much to be said
upon both sides? it is well for public informa-
ton and to enable them to arrive ut lust con-
illusions. that the matter should be argued
before the people just as lawyers argue it to
jury. long-ranged debate, with twenty
four hours or twenty-four days intervening
between the speeches, cannot be as effective
as discussion taking place upon the
instant where both sides are able to
present their arguments. Now, | do not
hink that Col. Ingersoll should have
declined this invitation; and what | speak of
IN my speech is i'll all kindness and with all
respect TO him, because he stands very high
in the estimation of the public, and is favor
ite over the whole world as an orator and a
olSputant; and, moreover, he has upon his
side in this controversy almost all the public
prejudice. He stands as the representative
Of prescriptive right.
His Claim Is MOsS-GrOwn
with time, sanctioned by many illustrious
pames among the critics and thinkers of the
past
1t was only about thirty five years ago that,
for the first time in the history of the world,
his right to those compositions was publicly
challenged, at least since the time of his
death, because think there is evidence that,
while he lived, his rights to those COM
positions were doubted.
One good contemporary. speaking apparent
ly as think of Shakespeare. said of men who
professed to write plays who could not write
good English without the help of a parish
clerk, that they were merely the cover for
others; but setting that aside, it was only
when Della Bacon in 1856 for the first time
challenged Snakespeare's right to these
plays Now, am aware that this right of
prescription has with many minds very
great weight, but with the intelligent
and thoughtful it does not have,
because this is the first critical age that has
ever been known upon this planet. We have
had great military era dating back to vast
antiquity; we have had eras of the high
civilization Of the Greek and Roman time,
but this is the first age of the world in which
man stops to examine, and will take nothing
Tor granted, and the result is that multitude
OF the old beliefs of mankind are being
swept away.
After showing that Robin Hood and
William Tell have been proven to be
myths, from which he drew the deduc-
ton that Shakespeare might be also
proven TO be myth, and made the pre-
diction that he would be, Mr.. Donnel-
ly went on to say that
IngersOH Represents Not the Critics
of literature even. but the sentimental
ity, the rhaps0dieS of men who are not
anxious to find out what was, or what
has been. but are filled with the spirit
that would defend the legend of Santa
Claus as a reality.
'Mr. Ingersoll says that if 1t be shown that
shakespeare did not write these plays that
1t will then be shown that Francis Bacon did
write them, clearly indicating that there is
Doubt Upon Mis- own Mind
upon this question: and then he tells us that
he has found contemporary illusions TO
Shakespeare as the author of the plays and
therefore, these illusions prove that Shake
speare wrote the plays Why, to a logical
man there is no strength TO such arguments
Bacon, we claim, put the name Shakespeare
here for good and sufficient reasons of his
own, and a non-critical age accepted them
The fact that there were millions or hundreds
of thousands in England who believe that
Shakespeare wrote those plays prove nothing
more than that there are millions to-day who
believe he wrote those plays
''The colonel says that the grandest decla-
ration that ever devolved by human mind
(now they stop and wonder what that is 60
ing to be- take the whole range of human
intellect. the sublimest declaration ever
devolved by the human mind, he
says, is that sonnet from Shakespear
Love is not love which alters where ii al
teTation finds
We'll, now in the first place that state
ment is not true. The only love that never
alters is the mothers love. and that is one of
the sublimest instincts implanted upon the
race for the preservation of the species Now
1t seems TO me that the colonel could have
found in the records of human history some
thing more sublime than that statement 1t
seems to me he could have found in the
despised Christianity, which he is SO
prompt to attack, the sublImest utterance:
"'Love God with all thy heart. and thy
neighbor as thySelf.
''That. my friends is