The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-05-13

sse Il I'll easso suthosised - take sabseap
SIons ~ ~ Daily. Gundsg ana Weekly
pess-1yrxl11sEscRa
SElTTLK. sUSDAT. HA1 n.
saAKsR8ARR NO MITE.
NJ. Frederick wasde, Who with Mr..
Louis James, has delighted their audi
sncss q the Seattle thsasss during the
past ussk with thsir admirable psrsons-
t5ons Of ghakspsaSsan eharactsFs IN shape
q Oshsllo. Isge. Bfutus. Cassius and Mark
Anteay. msds a sxcsiisnt address - the
pshlis school children both in Seattle and
Tscona. II. Wards's positive sspudia-
ttoa u shs absurd hypothssis that Lord
Bacon wrote the plays attributed - Will
In ehakspsGss We 70 b sxpscssd Of any
intslHesnt aad vsii-sead sctos; nsysfths-
lses Il VS. timely sttsraaos. fos the Be-
conisn thsory ~ the suthorshIp Of 6hak-
epsArs's plays dos not lack support among
PERSONS who hold 70 the psdascsns theory
tAas the fsass d genius are sxplainsbis ~
scholastic cuiturs.
rhses Il not the slightsst respectable
Historical support Cor The theory that
william 6hakspesse vas mot The author
Of the plays Inst bear HE name. The
question has been Investigated time and
nGsin By dbtInguishsd scholars In both
EngIaud akd Amsrscs and there b no
moss Aisssvieal foundation for the assump-
sion that Shakspsars did not write the
plays which hsar his name than there -
that Napoleon BonAparts did not fight
and via the battle Of Austsrlit2 There 10
NO mystery about 6hakspears except that
hs had the exceptional. mystsTious gift Of
amazing literary genius. Once grant -
oil DO, that the author Of 6hakspsars's
plays was man Of genius ana there h
nothine lets Of the so-oallsd mystery"
The plays were clearly written By man
Of gTsat poetic genius. . man Of vast
knowi<dgs Of the sort thst 10 acqu,rsd BY
memory. observation. worldly experience
and profound reflection, bat they are
elsarly not the work Of . man Of scholar
ship and precise learning.
Shakespeare Isft the Stratford grammar
school as about fourteen. . school that
gave him - much classics ~ . boy
would have to obtain 70 secure entry to
"ffsshwatsr" American college; . light
superficial smasserng Of Latin and less
Greek. His learning was % small that
his plays are full Of historical aud geo.
graphical anschronisma He makes Hec-
Cor OF Troy quote Aristotle; mskes the
Greek Thsssus talk the mythology Of the
Cloths; makes . party take ship from Boz
hsmia 10 Sicily. which 10 like taking .
steamer at Seattle for Butte City; makes
Cleopatra propose billiards. . game un-
known In her time. OF course . man like
Bacon, Of vast and precise learning, .
university scholar who wrote his works In
the Latin tongue: who Travelled on the
continent three years. who was both On
accomplished and . learned man in the
same large sense ~ Milton. could not pos
chilly. man Of scholastic learning. travel
and study. make any such biundsrs any
more than Tennyson. or Lowell. or Long
fellow could violate the dramatic unities
81 Engiish history. geography and litsra-
snre.
There In absolutely nothing In Shak-
sneare after we grant the gift Of genius
that needs explanation. London in his
DAY Was filled with cheap reprints of oil
she classics He had clearly read
riatarch's .Livss" and chapman's
Homer" and Or. Farmer. an English
scholar. shows by citation from the Eng
lsh translation Of Piatarch, current In
Shakspeare's time. that his description of
Cieopasra's voyage in her galley down the
river Cydnas. Was unqaestionabiy taken
by Shakespeare bodily out Of the book and
then irradiascd with the glow OF his poetic
diction. Any stndent Of Shakespeare 3
.Henry the Fissh" can zee that he had
read 'Rabelsis;" the rank humor Of
ranurgc and Father Jehn 10 reflected in
the rsnkness Of ralstsf Probably Shak.
seeafe had read Montague and cervantss,
for every intellectual Easlishm man " no read
~ oil had ut least read the great humcr-
tsss named. There 10 nothing in the scsars
Of French and Latin in the plays that
euirnns the schooiboy learning Of the
man. ehskspesss's French In the dia-
logue between Kias Henry The Fifth and
the daughter Of the French king be IL
wocins 10 wsetehsd French. his s.lssai So
called learning" 10 % superficial THAI the
great Enslish ,nriss. Lord Campbell. after
. careful examination Of the playa. de-
clAred that he foand no Internal evidence
that Shaksnesrs could possibly have ever
esen svsn . lawyers clerk, while Bacon
was The ersatsss. the mcss learned lawyer
Of his Cine. unless IL es Sir Eaward Coke.
TIE tntsrnA evidence furnished hy the
plays pclas 10 the author ~ the reverse Of
. scholar OF learned man: 20 . man OF vast
knowledge both spiritual aad external.
hat very email learning. The great
French critic. Tame. notes in sA.k.
spears . Surprising srantaass,y Of er.
preston, which points 70 . man whose
luxursana poetic Imagination had never
been restrained o. vias-egipred by se-
we're scholastic training. Bacon Ia.
: certain metallic. rhssorica, s,oqusncs:
he d . philosopher. man Of science. .
statesman. . lawyer. . diplomattss. bat 10
absolutely destitute Of poetic Esniua He
tried 70 write verse; and his authentic
ssat Of shss sort was Of the most vrstchea
esssssptloa. Bacon undertaking to write
r11smis(1 eMsssssA.s "iaas.s sxhs