New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-07-14
ECCENTRIC PLAY
TISSUES OF DULNEss AND NIGHTMARE

THE TEAG5cA HIsToR,E OF Of q Hsspx kAT By
You Like IT, etc. and n%.s OF the Scots Newy becphered
from as't the works Of Sir Francis Bacon BY Or
Msh VI ho SSfa psb, p s1 Company SS '
LITTLE EYOLF. BY Henrik Ibsen. Translated by
william Archer. lcmO, PIP. 1884, Chicago Stone
THE PLAYS OF MAJ MATEIG Ice ,MMAAEET TEbEEhklHTTHKE
P PEHN6 TH MAs SEVEN PkfScEssEs Trans:
lated BY Richard Hovey ismo. pp $685. Chicago:
Stone Kimball.
Acts BY Maurice Maeterinck;. TranslateSd lr by
Thomas y. crowell & co.
The world is very we'll supplied with persons who
suppose that their little dsquetudes are important 10
the rest OF mankind. The author OF ERNEST Eng
land has mistaken a very ordinary experience. Oh
inadequate education and OF skepticism ultimately
assuaged, as something essential 10 De recou"'e"
for the advisement Of the reading pubic. IL 10 d"
error Inadequate education and transitory Skep-
ticism are as common as measles, ana 'ney arc
about as trivial. The story was not worth TENNIS
either for Its tumd disquiston and trite moran OF
for Itself II possesses neither eth'cai weight ~
mantle interest novel incident. nor literary c"al'.
The principal ingredient OF it-as might DE expec'ea
from Its subtitle "A Soul Laid Bare "'hd'
Experience has shown that writer's VINO announce
nurpose OF barring the soul usually intend to be I'M
nroner and always succeed In being absurd. 10
write is necessarily. to lay the soul pare Nv
writer can conceal his personality. Inc sye 10
the man." But precisely in It's Involuntary cnarac'e'
tho revelation has Its grace. writer VINO pro-
o,.,r,s m ,mnending disclosure OF soul Is merely
with self consciousness and vanity In TINS
drama for the closet those attributes are 'h'e"-
s0ed by association with morbid. sell-VeN'hs' "ys-
terical moral sense.-the troublesome product oi
far too common egotism. Tho book Is marNeu W
an occasional felicity OF versncation. and II con-
Dab In rellg
sp,rItuaiism ORDER but II Is painfully suggestive
OF the con- sumption-fop prevalent IN con'e
porary writings.-that every man VINO scratches
match necessarily concentrates upon hmset the
gaze OF the Universe.
The concocton styled 1.-THE Traglcal Historic OF
our Late Brother Robert Earl OF Essex II 1t be
no, the work OF n lunatic. Is assuredy that OF an
lmpudent fool. The thing purports TO nave peeh
"deciphered from the works OF SIR FRANCIS Bacon
II consists to a large extent. OF extracts iro'"
shakespcare's plays. jumbled together so as 10
make a series OF chaotic colloqules. having reier-
once TO the rebellion Of the Earl OF Essex against
oueen Elizabeth There IL scarce a play by Shakes
pe.re that has not been pilaged for materia's ior
these absurd rigmaroles OF gable. all the sense
and all the poetry OF the originals being per'er'ea'
by trnnspositlon. into jargon OF DISCREPANCY IL is
perf.ctly amazing that such book should nave
found n publisher and should. apparently nave
bcen offered In good faith. as worthy OF the puone
attention The "Baconlans." as they are cahei' ]"
their totally groundess assumption 'ha' '"""o'
pe,re's Plays written by rrahc's baeo"'
monstrous folly ard one that has been cofhp'e''S
-, nosed and exploded.-are answerable for ms as
for many other literary nusances or the p~r'o"'
Matter. ~ this kind have been treated with FAR 100
much patience. n notion seeming TO De Pre'''e"'
that The feelings OF blockhends VINO s'rNe W
smlrch md degrade the great name OF shakespe'''
must by no means be wounded the consequence
h, TINT hundreds Of people have lmblbed vague
ADMIT
authorship OF the plays and that there are mys-
,cr,ous .cipher" messages and explanations Sc
crct.d In those writings. The maker OF TINS "o'e"
notch about the Earl OF Essex may possipiy nav
had his head turned by some such a magso,. iiiS
publishers set forth that he has deciphe'eu VI"
s,ur from The Shakespeare Plays and other worhs
OF Bacon"-as II Il were settled that Bacon "ro'e
Shakespeare: whereas all the evidence tna' eM''''
,.,r,,g uron the matter distinctly and conclus've!y
nroyes that Bacon had no more TO do Win ShaHeS-
peare than he had with Ariemus ward Inv u
men,.i writer himself maintains that queen Eliza
,o,, and Rob.rt Dudley. Earl OF Leicester. were
IN. oarents Of Bacon and also OF Essex. ana 'ha'
IN. Queen compelled Bacon. upon pain OF ues'"' ="
prosecute Essex and drive him TO the o'oVA' no
punishment for insoence. After that II Is ho' sur
prlsng to md that this pundlt considers baeo" "
have been the author not only OF ShhAssp'
cory. bu, OF those OF Pecle. Greene MarIowe anu
Robert Burton Why not rectfy the matter o"e'
for ALL by proclamlng that bacon "'o'e e''''
thing that was published between ioS' anu i''"' az"
80 leaving the various works as they stanu ~
would then be only necessary TO make u',io'"
,i,le-page for all the literature OF Eliza anu ~
lanes with perhaps Caesars commentaries anu
IN, Letters Of Junius thrown In IL any re'''.
wishes TO see to what a pitifui depth Oh 'oi'' 90"
non sense the human mind can descend u""e' VIC
,rauence OF ignorance conceit let him examine
"1'he Tragtcal Historic OF our Late Bro'her wv
ert" and reflect that other pieces OF similar i"
bish are promised. from the same benghted soui'e'
Mr. Ih.en Is on deck more-stlii preac""s'
and as duh as ever All the characters III '
Evolr' are with obvious intention. maze 10 s"s
sest ancestral ain OF some sort, ana are '""'
with n curious uncleanlness not boid eno"sh " oe
downright nasty. and not distinct enough 10 oe
clearly deslgnated and defined. This ~ an oou
literary period In much OF tho contemporary ~"
,ion and drama large numbers OF httie people arc
,rett,ng about nothing. Tuning because they are
M, married or because they are. utterng oaoo'e
hv the yard about social problems. ana Wildly P'o
| claiming that a Divine Providence and an Angehc
choir are directly concerned and interested In their
proceedings Ibsen's collection OF vasAr'es IL "'
worse than those OF many other scrpoiers WIN
aff,ict the hour. and indeed his latest group - u"
| Improvement on the earlier ones since 1t Is less
numerous. On the stage Little r'yo' "o"'" Nv
CHASTITY.
Mr. Maetcrllnck would have made MS scrioole
more perspicuous II he had. at the start frankly
ayowed himself a humorIst Taken as comic the
plays" OF this writer-p'ays that could not De
acted and would be affecting II they were-can be
not only enjoyed. but understood. Mr.. Maeter'nck.
however who has scarcely yet passed out OF MS
salad days" prefers to maintain portentous srav-
ity The things and persons set forth py MN are
mostly in n state Of decomposition. physical or
moral one OF his literary sponsors calls him the
poet Of the sepuchre' (why "poet"O and remarks
that Ibis devotion 10 the wormy side OF things may
prevent him from ever becoming popular "A
proposit.on not TO be conrov"rted. But MT
Maeteriinck's vermicuar aspect and hearsehorse de-
n.,,or may possib,y be a part OF that comic meth
cd which furtively he pursues and some day he
will dlvulge one OF the chief qualifications OF
humorist Is the ability to keep straight face while
dispensing his jocose gbes Mr.. Maeter:inck d'sr'o-
utes skulls and cross bones shrouds and con-plaes
murder Ere and grnly ghosts In such lavish abund-