The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-09-15


and a youthful bearing, though he has
passed his sixtieth year-a man whose il
dividuality impresses you at once and one
whose genial manner stamps him az q
gentleman of the old school.
At the beginning Of his lecture he moved
uneasily, but not awkwardly, over the
stage. Suddenly, startlingly and with a
voice that sent a thrill through every fiber
Of his hearers, he exclaimed with electric
force:
"Shakespeare, the creator of the mighty
and marvellous works that bear his namet
Shakespeare, the poacher, the hnbitue of
mug houses, the crony OF v~arletss Shake
speare, who never taught his daughter how
to read, and whose own handwriting is as
rude and crude as those of a 10-year-old boys
"Yet 1ngersoll says this fellow Of the
baser sort wa greater than all the great
men the world has ever prodnced-greater
than all the great master minds of the cen
turtles combined!" +
With a scornful wave of the hand, a curl
Of his lips, a flash of his eyes, he cried in q
voice that haunts me still:
"Shall Lord Bacon be robbed of his lau-
rels that they may be twined round the
brow Of an illiterate play actor of whose
private life hardly a thing is known save
that he was landed in Jail for shooting game
that was not his own; that he herded with
the vicious f%requenters of low resorts and
withheld from the daughter of his house
all education whatever?"
Mr.. Donnelly went on: IT think I have
sufficiently demonstrated in my book called
The ~Cryptogram' that Bacon wrote the
works that have been Inscribed to the al
legged bard Of Avon" He then proceeded
to read from the volume referred to, show
ing that his position was correct, or else the
series of condolences set forth by his CT
piers is one of the strangest succession OF
phenomena that the worldhas ever known.
'Ingersoll," continued the speaker. "In-
gersoll cannot believe In the impeccable
qualities Of the Saviour, but he can believe
in the immaculate qualities of q Shake
speare--a literary imposter, whose immoral
character has been pilloried for posterity
even by his most enthusiastic commenta.
tors!'
When ydr. Donnelly reached the climax
of his u~tterances, he touched u key Of clio
quence that / have never heard surpassed,
It was not SO much his words, but his man
ncr that impressed itself so wildly upon
my memory. He said:
"Lord Bacon was in the vortex of public
life. 1t follows that he had his traducers
All public men have had their detractors
1T is q poor dog that has no enemies is M
old saying, and onethat is true rs it is trite
They charge that Bacon was a miser, ausur
er, Il thief. but Washington, Jefferson, Lin
coin, were slandered with equal venom il
their times. 1t is the eternal price that In
tellect must pay to mediocrity.
but no n ever questioned the genius
of Bacon. His learning was the glory o1
the Elizabethan era. His fame is immortal
no matter whether Shakespeare continues
to usnrp that crown as the master bard Of
humanity or not.
But ever will right come upper1nost,
And ever will justice be done.
And l believe that in the roll call Of th,
centuries the hour will yet strike when tn,
whole world will recognize the right o
Bacon to the laurelR that Shakespeare has
been permitted to wear SO long"
have only drafted a rough outline of thu
lecture, but a report Of it word for wore
would lack the vital fire that marked it,
delivery and held It's hearers by a magi,
spell.
The lecture Of Colonel Ingersoll was dis
tinguished for it's impassioned rhetoric, hui
it lacked tho direct, irresistible, lrecist
logic that marked the reply of AIR. Don,
nelly. At the same time, both speaker.
nave many peculiarities of oratory in com
mon, and it would be difficult to decid,
between their merits in the matter of mag
netic and marvellous eloqucnce.
KENNETH LAMAR.