The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-19

tributcd 70 Shakespeare were actually Wnten
by him II was reserved for tho last forty years
TO witness an evorincreasing stream Of suspicion
and detraction directed against what had
boon hitherto the most honored name in mod
ern literature Az FIRST however the attack
upon Shakespeare. memory was not 80
dogmatc as II has since become In
1848 an American named Hart gave
u,terance 70 some general doubts touching the
origin Of the plays Then. In August 1882,
there appeared In Chdmbers's Edinburgh Jour
nal an Anonymous article, tho author Of which
declared his conviction that william Shakes
pcarc. uncducatcd a. be was. must have hired
q poet some pcnnilcss. famished Chat,erton
who was willing 70 sell his genius and let Shakes
pcare take 70 himself the credit for his creations
Attention was directed 70 the fact that the plays
steadily improve as the series proceeds, until
suddenly Shakespeare leaves London with a
fortune and the series comes 70 40 abrupt end
In the case Of no strcnuously progressive . gen
ius con we, II was asked. account for TINS state
Of things Otherwise than by tho superstition that
the poet had died while his employer survived
himf This was the hrst definite expression Of
tho fancy that Shakespeare was only man OF
ttraw, who had arroestcd 70 himself the renown
OF an unknown immortal. In 1885, q Mr..
William Smith issued privately Printed
letter 10 Lord Ellcsmcre, In which he
put forth tho opinion that william Shakes
pcnre was by reason Of his birth, his upbhnging.
and his lack Of culture. incapable Of writing tho
PLAYS attributed 10 him. They must Smith
,ald, have been tho work Of man educated TO
the highest pol mt by study. travel knowledge
Of books and men-such man. for instance, a.
Francis Bacon. tho greatest Englshman Of his
imo Bacon. II was suggested. had kept his
authorship secret because 70 have avowcd II would
have been 70 sacrifice his position. both In hi Q
profession and In Parliament; but he saw In these
plays a means Of replenlshing his pecuniary
resources, and used the actor. Shakespeare, as
Of straw. Smith maintained that II was
Bacon, who. after having fallen into disgrace
In 1921 published the frst folio edition contain
ing thirty-six plays In 1928. MI Btandos re-
marks that II there wero no other objection to
this far-fotched theory one should bear in mind
that Bacon was scrupuously careful as 70 tho form
in which his works appeared rewroto them over
and over again, and corrected them 30 carefully
that scarcely single error Of the press 10 TO DO
found in bis books as printed Can he. then.
have been responsible for tho publication OF thirty
six plays which swarmcd with mlsroadlnga and
contained about 20. 600 errors Of the prcss'
Tho delusion concerning tho authorship Of
the plays did not tako serious shape until. In
the same year QS56). Miss Della Bacon put for
ward the same theory In Puinom's Magazine.
then edited by Charles A. Dana. Sho con-
tended that her namcsake. Bacon. and not
the rcputed author. was tho writer Of tho
renowned dramaA In tho following year
she published q book Of nearly six
hundred pages on tho subject Close upon
her heels followed her disciple Judge Nathaniel
ii Ines also an American. with q book Of no
fewer than 6g6 pages, full Of depreciation Of the
ignorant vngabond. william Shakespeare who,
IL was alleged. although he was scarcely able
10 write his own nhmo and knew no other am
biion than that Of money grubbing. had appro-
priated half the renown Of the great Bacon. The
assumption In both cases was the same Shake
speare born in provincial town Of illiterats
parents, his father being. among other things
a butcher. was an ignorant boor. q low fellow.
a butcher boy his assailants currently called
him In Holmes as In later writer's tho phnc
pal method Of proving Bacon's authorship Of tho
Shakespearian plays was 70 bring together pas
sages Of somewhat similar import In Bacon and
Shakespeare, without any regard 70 context
form spirit Miss Della Bacon literally dedi.
Gated her life TO her attack upon Shakespeare. |
She saw In his works not poetry. but great |
phiisophico-poliical system. and maintained |
thai the proof Of her hypothesis would be found |
deposited In Shakespeare grave. She had |
discovered In Bacon's letters, she said. the key |
TO a cipher which would clear up everything, |
DuL unlortundtcly, sho became insane before |
sho had impaired this koy TO tho world, |
Subsequently. ono Of her many followers Igna- |
thus Donnelly. claimed 10 have found tho key, |
and e1pounded II In a book called Tho Great
Cryp,ogram: Francis Bacon's Cipher in the So |
called Shakespeare Plays" II undertakes TO show |
how Bacon embodied In tho First Folio cipher |
confession Of his authorship. Miss DELHI Bacon. |
for her part went 70 Stratford. obtained permits
sion TO have tho grave opened. lowered about Il |
day and night but at last left IL undisturbsl |
as II did not appear TO her large enough 10 CON
tain tho posthumous papers Of tho -Elizabour
Club She did not herself. however. expect 10 |
find In the grave tho original manuscripts Of |
plays MOI she e1claims In |
her article on William Shakespeare and His |
Plays Putnam's Magazine, JAM, 1882" Lord |
Leicessers groom. Of course. cared nothing for
them. but only for the pront 70 DO made out Of |
thom. What was 10 prevent him from lighting |
the hro with them, He had had those manu- |
scripts! Ho had had the original Hamlet with |
its last finish: he had had the original Lear. with
its own nnal readings no had had them all as
they came from tho coda And he left Us 70 wear
out our youth and squander our lifetime In por-
Ing over and setting right tho old Garbled copies
Of the play housei Traitor and miscreanu What
did you do with them You have skulked this
question long enough You will havs 70 account |
tho stand and you viii no, leave Il until you
answer the question, what did you do with
lhom!s
II
Al regards purely external svtdencs Mr.
Brandes recalls thai the greatest student Of b.
cons works. his editor and biographies. James
SPEEDING, being challenged by Judge Holmes
10 give his opinion. made . statement which bo-
gins thus: 4 have read your book on tho author
ship OF Shakespeare faithfully 70 tho end and
l must declare myself not only un-
but undisturbcd To ak me 70 be-
liove that Bacon tho author OF thoso dramas Il
like asking mo 70 believe that Lord Brougham
was tho author not only Of Dickcns's novels, but
Of ThAckerAy's also. and Of Tennyson's poems
besdoa l deny concludes Speeding. that
a primo faets case Is made out for Questioning
uuo But II there were any reason
for surprising that somebody olso was the real
author think am In condition 70 cay that
whoever It waa Il was not Bacon Our Danish
student Of the plays proceeds 70 examine tho