The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-02

The distinguished, scholarly and able
New England historian, John Fiske,
xh0se contributions to American his
1nry are so very aluable and instruc-
FIVE, has written a capital paper for the
Atlantic Monthly for November upon
he Forty Years of Bacon-Shakes-
pszzre Folly" In the history Of letters
nothing equal to this monumental
~F,oHy'' has been recorded. 1t Is foggy,
Koozish. dense, laundering, ~unsubstan-
Ras1 expression Of nonsense and Beotian
<inIness- When Miss Della Bacon first
get the rolling ball in motion she could
hnt have anticipated the momentum Of
rna1i ness to whichit would attain. Some
rather intellectual men have followed
I'm her wake and adopted her not even
plausible inanitics, but not one, as Mr..
FFIsxe declares and truly was a pro-
frxznd scholar and surely not one was
<r well balanced mind. The whole
ching has been exploded completely by
other writers, but the contribution OF
RAI- n AohC i . AiOoI SN~No
OF IT'S breadth of treatment, keen in
sight and cumulative learning. No one
with any intelligence and ability to
comprehend a discussion can read it
with any possible doubt as the author
chip OF the great dramas. Bacon could
no more have written the immortal pro-
s1ucflons Of the greatest Of poets than
zsa could ave performed the physical
fn1possibility Of ~overturning Chimba-
razO- We long ago pointed to the con-
vincing fact that Bacon could not write
respectable verse even,, for to him, as
tn the great Carlyle, was denied the
gift Of song, the power of poetic express
-Sinn in metrical arrangement. We
pointed to some samples given in Lord
6>ampbell's Lives of the Lord Chan
GelllOrs'' as proof positive that Bacon
a very Indifferent builder of verse,
day the year round there appear in
In American newspapers original poems
rfrom obscure or unknown writer's that
put 10 shame the hating, limping, rude
verse of Bacon. However VALUABLE and
charming his essays his poetical at
.Eempts are beneath contempt. He
probably cribaged largely in writing the
famous and immortal essays, but his
little wings were incapable of even one
~swallow flight" into the empyrean
of poetry into which the mighty Shake
speare ascended at will with so much
- :-o-oc;oJ Sp1a,Inr on1 yoaipctio in
SEPARATION. Great as Bacon was in his
own chosen field he vas not endowed
with high poetic art, had not received
the divine afflatus, and was at best a
versifer Of most Indifferent gifts and
parsimonious success. Read MI. Fiske
IL you would enjoy the fruits Of ample
Yearning and have a sufficient view OF
the range Of the discussion and the
Intense stupidity of the vain, theoriz-
.xers. C~oleridge called Shakespeare ap-
preciatively and happily oceanic" and
again "myriad-minded." BY all odds
che greatest genius the world has seen,
TT is paltry and mean n stupid and
ignorant to try to rob him of his preci-
.os1s gifts and immortal productions.
Says the New Highlander strikingly and
felicitously:
<'They were written by a practical &C
Tor and manager, the most
master OF dramatic effects that ever
lived; q poet unsurpassed for fertility
or invention, ~unequaled for melody of
Language, unapproached for delicacy OF
fancy, inexhaustible in humor, pro-
Fr.ap1ect Of mOra1iSts: a man who knew
human nature by intuition, as Mozart
knew counterpart or as Chopin knew
harmony. The name Of that writer was
none other. than William Shakespeare
Ef Stratford-on-Avon."