The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-10
WAS SHAKESPEARE SHAKES
PEAREP
Or Were His Plays Written by An
other Man With the Same NameP


other Man With the Same NameP
From Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
If the people who are attempting to
solve the problem of the authorship Of
ShakesI cares plays have any desire to do a
genuine service TO English literature, they
should withdraw a little from their own
very shaky BaConian POSITION; thew
should get on firm ground. They should
conciliate unreasoning prejudice. They
should state their proposition in such a
way that even the blindest fanaticism
could not be offended by it. Thus: There
is much reason TO believe that we have
been led 10 confound the William Shake
speare who wrote these immortal plays,
with another person of the same name
living at about tho same time, who could
not possibly have written them We
have degraded the immortal bard by
ascribing to him what we have been able
TO learn of the sordid history Of the other
and unworthy win Shakespeare We
wish to clear the memory of the Swan of
Avon by showing that he was no such
commonplace person as he has so long
been uhworthily supposed 10 be-" This
would not shake the idol of the Shakes
peare fanatics on his pedestal, would not
remove from them a single element Of
their enjoyment Of Shakespeare They
might listen to such proposition and to
the known facts that seem to prove It,
These facts are: The William Shak-
speare who wrote these plays had an in
comparable knowledge of English and
wide acquaintance with many foreign
tongues; he was man of universal read
ing, a classical scholar, philosopher, re-
fined and subtitle, a born aristocrat, a
man of the world, courtier, a traveller,
a most accomplished gentleman. The
other viii Shakespeare, to whom these
immortal n1nUg hnUa baan maori
came of a family not one of whom
could tell the letters of the alphabet,
and was brought up to speak a rude
village 1argon; he received a village
school education in the rudiments of
reading, writing and arithmetic; he was
apprenticed to butcher at Is; heswas a
drunkard he married one Ann Hatha-
way. under circumstances discreditable
TO both of them. He spent the first
twenty years of his life among utterly
illiterate people, without books, in a
squalid village. Hislite was one of poy-
erty, of mental tasks, of base companion-
ship. When he was "a he came up to
London and found employment as a
mental helper about theater. Ten years
later he went back TO Strat:ord, where he
lived eight years longer, and finally died
OF fever resulting from a prolonged
spree. In all England today there is no
trace of this mans writing, except four
signatures, which show that at no period
Of his life could he write even
his signature legibly or spell his
own name properly. He cared so little
for letters that he allowed his
own daughter TO grow up in such absolute
ignorance that when she was q years old
Judith Shakespeare could not write her
name: there is no indication that he ever
owned book; in his will he disposed
carefully Of his wearing apparel and his
second hest bed, but made no reference
TO his library, his manuscripts or his
notes; in all the correspondence OF his
day there's not the faintest reference to
him; he never met anybody Of conse-
quence, never was present at a single
memorable event, never appeared at
court; none Of the brilliant men
of Elizabeth's day ever heard
Of him; no man thought enough
OF him to write his biography or memoir
OF his death. And it is TO this man that
foolish tradition has ascribed those
splendid plays, eight editions OF which
were published during his stay in Lon
don, without his name and without being
copyrighted. Ought not the bliudest OF
Shakespeare fanatics TO be grateful, in
stead of scornful, TO him who tries to
show that the William Shakespeare Of
their worship was not this MANI