The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-09-17

some was yerstd In Italian. Shakespeare
wax not The writer Of some had more
than a layman's knowledge OF anatomy
and physiology. Shakespeare had no
medical training. Let us inquire Into
his knowledge OF Latin. In the alb
ssnce OF information TO the contrary. II
is safe to say that 300 years ago Latin
was not taught in his native village,
and that, II II was, he was too busy
handling wool and the butchers knife
TO study #. As player and especially as
manager his quick mind rapidly picked
up the stock Latin words In the play
house. Doubtless II was the frequency
with which he used them that induced
his rival and companion, Ben Jonaon, TO
say that he had "smaii Latin and less
Creek" the less Greek being added
partly to apologize for the scant Latin
by ascriblng a little Greek and partly
TO give smartItess to the sentence His
knowledge. or rather lack Of knowledge
OF Latin appears from the fact that he
tacltly approved such phrases as mot
"exeunt." buO exit omnes;" "Actus
(nDt tertlus butt tertia." This shows,
not small Latin. but no Latin.
AS to general learning. Il Is not possl-
BILE that he could have accumulated any.
Probably there was not a library IN
Stanford containing ave books. While
player and manager Of the Globe, his
reading must OF necessity have been
scant and fittul. Yet II the author OF
the Shakespeare plays, he must have
known history, ancient and modern
pretty critical and that, too, before
history had been gathered from It's
original sources by the diligence az
Grote and Arnold, a Glbbon and Hume.
But England had men Of learning and
genius. each OF whom could furnish his
special share OF all that the Shakespeare
plays contain. Only sailor could have
produced the nautical phrases and
thoughts oflThe Tempest and Shakes
peare never set foot on board ship He
who wrote The Tempest must also have
been familiar with the ancient classics.
But Shakespeare was ignorant OF the
classics, But there was one man In
England, chiefly residing in London, a
finished scholar, sometimes courting the
muses., in Intellect second 20 Lord Ba-
con only. II Mncaulay's estimate Is tn be
accented the most accomplished sailor
Of that day. and withnl persona! ac-
abundance of Shakespeare, Sir Walter
Raleigh. He and he alone OF all men
then on Gods fOotstoOl had the learning
and genius requisite to the production
OF that gorgeous drama. The Tempest
King Lear IS one Of the greatest OF
dramas Near Its close the steward at
tempts to slay Gloster and Edgar. the
latter being dressed as peasant. Find
ing It necessary TO disguise his speech,
Edgar adopts a peasants dialect and
selects. not the dialect OF WarHickshire,
the only one Shakespeare knew, but the
peasant dialect TO which Sir Walter
Raleigh had been bEed. The fact is sig
nlfcant. Few other men ever lived who
had the genius to produce that mas
terpleee. II the view am taking. that
the Shakespeare plays, like the comfo-
nent poems OF the Hind. were produced
by n number OF minds, there is reason
for conjecture that Macbeth Is from the
pen Of n Scotchmah, connected, pes
haps, with the court Of James !. Rea-
gons, but not conclusive ones, Suuld be
given for lnputIng Scotch paternity to
that great play.
A reason well nigh conclusive against
the hypothesis that the plays were
written BIZ Shakespeare is found in
their horribly mutIlated condition. II
would be insufierably tedious TO set
forth many Illustrations OF the shameful
deprav8tion OK the text OF the plays l
Ulll give only one. In Macbeth these
lines occur:
that we but teach
Bloody instructions which being taush|
To plague FS!arn the Inventor. This evcu-hnudcd
commS i' the ingredients of our poisoned
chullce
To our own lips.
In 1882 reprint OF Macbeth was be.
ing made. The typesetter bad finished
the words "To plague the" when he
was called away. on his return, glanc-
Inu at his type, he saw that his last
word was the" and. pursuing the SEN
tence. as he supposed, but in fact. be-
ginning after the next the" he made
such stun as this:
Which. being taught. return
To plague the ingredients OF our poisoned
chal!ce
To our own lips.
Luckily the original copy remained to
furnish the true reading. but no saGac.
Hy coulJ guess Il from this botched
reading. But there were other sources
on error In the text quite as fruitful as
typographical errors. The errors were
q, great aud so numerous that In spite
Of the diligence OF the critics for the
last one hundred>and fifty years there
remain abundance Of passages OF
which the meaning cannot be cOnjec-
tured. Well. as Shakespeare himself
armed with authority as manager, was
on the ground six days In the week, and
these multltudlnous and horrible blum
ders were being made daily under his
very nose, Is It not absurd 20 say that
ne would quietly allow the children os
his brain 10 be gashed and mutllated
and destroyed? Shakespeare knew
himself to be money-makinq stage
manager. but not dramatic poetic.
The plays we're mnngled because there
was no author TO read proof.
The only evidence that ! know OF that
any given play was written by Shake
speare is that when Il was first printed
for stage use its title page contained
the words. written by William Shake
spenre" There were seven other plays
marked in the same wag. Why are
they not published with the thirty-six
that we have? Seven years after Shake
speare's death two Of his old colleagues
published the thirty-slx. but found the
other seven so utterly worthless that
tbev dropped them out. Thus we have
forty-threo plays purportlng TO be writ
ten by an uncduclted man, and written
while he was performing double duty
as player and as manager.
Presumably In 1908. Shakespeare.
grown rich. quit the playhouse, return
cd TO Stratford. bought himself a fine
property and planted the mulberry tree.
He was yet In middle life in robust
health. without employment and with
opt care. He must have known the cor
rnnted condition Of his plaVs. Naturally
tn ,yot,Id nrd IL a delight to devote two