The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1896-11-12
French thinker, against whose the
ory Shakespeare wrote his Hamlet.

lnt stiihius ukFetiutub DcbWooh
Shakespeare and Bacon in respect to
their philosophy and conception OF
ideas can but indicate that Shakes
peare as friend and favorite OF Ba-
con has been led into many myster-
les by this statesman. Moreover it
is just as likely that Shakespeare has
of his own accord studied Bacon,
for in the work OF this accomplished
scholar aud statesman we find not a
word mentioned about Shakespeare
"A new proof of the indifference
with which high.learned ignorance
passes by the truly great.
In brief, all such arguments are
presented by narrow, vague.
school.intelligeuce. which will not
understand that man of genius
can, without any academic training,
attain to the highest knowledge Of
things by the intuition of his genius
which is clinging with thousand
nourishing threads to the great and
noble in this life. But this highest
knowledge of things which we
ascribe to Shakespeare must be un-
derstood in far different, in far
higher sense, than that which high
learned pedantry knows. For what
of real learning, of fundamental
knowledge and of the principle of
things, those exact scholars have
pointed out to us in Shakespeare,
is all vain humbug full of conscious
purpose. Most unpleasant seems
that idea to those mechanical schol-
ars, especially to those who are
members of the professors guild,
those educated fools, that the higher
acknowledged genius was an educat-
ed man in the sense of their narrow
minded Jargon; that this all.com-
prehensive genius was never dis.
ciple of their stiff. unerring rules.
Let them cherish envy and ieal.
ousy; Shakespeare has many com
panions in this misfortune. 1t is
now generally acknowledged that
Dante, Tasso, Calderon, Musset,
Rousseau, etc. etc, had like Shakes
peare, but little schooling while the
German poets of the Middle ages,
Moliere, Burns, and many others,
rose to eminence without any school
preparation. Schiller's education
was but superficial. and Goethe, as
modern scholars claim, had but little
Greek. Whence was Byron's know
ledge of history, and his manifold
learning of antiquity, of which we
can here and there fnd pedantic
tracesl In school, he was the most
ignorant scholar and scarcely at.
tended college. We regret that we
cannot number among these the
Greek classic writer's. They of
course were highly learned by ma.
ture, for they understood-Greek.
A peculiar race, these Hellenes, en-
dowed with uncommon mind for
their children could sneak the Ionic
dialect?
In Shakespeare, we can observe,
unfortunately, no more than the
keen-eyed observer, which is the
characteristic of every great poet.
The knowledge he is said to have
had Of natural science, is the same
as that of Robert Burns. To every
experienced and unbiased mind it is
evident that Shakespeare put forth
the same effort to attain II general
knowledge in every department of
learning, as he did in collecting
from chronicles. from the ballads of
all nations, and from every possible
translation, the materials for his
dramas. The wonderful Intelligence
of Shakespeare increases our rever-
ence for him, for it throws into clear
light, the lofty opinion he had of his
calling, and how keenly sensible he
was of tn e dignity of his mission.
Those fine critics on the authorship
of Shakespeare have presented us
asother most amusing argument
,, wherein they allude to n passage in
;"Troilius and Cressida" according to
which Shakespeare knew, or at
least anticipated Newton's law of
igravitation. The latter would of
course prove of prophetic genius. La
Iregard to the other, Galileo's scien-
ltifc discoveries were surely not
long Il secret to Shakespeare, since
they doubtless made their way to
England as speedily as through all
other parts of Europe. But even
for this scientific knowledge the as
sertion, that Bacon is the author Of
the Shakespearian dramas, is most
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