The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-03-08
THAT NEW BOOK.


Paul Dixon, of the Missouri World,
says In his last issue:
"The Cipher in the Plays and on the
Tombstone"
! To the ordinary mind having little inter-
est In, and less knowledge of the Bacon
Shakespeare controversy, Mr. Donnelly's
book. THE Cipher in the Plays and on the
Tombstone, comes with something of the
nature OF and effect Of revelation. We are
prone to believe in the established order of
things simply because our forefathers did !;
and most OF us have no better reason than
this for accepting Shakespeare as the ar
thor of the plays. But this inherited belief
is shaken in its foundation by the mass Of
evidence Mr.. DOnnelly presents showing
that the real author was Francis Bacon
To admit the existence of a cipher in the
readings to all questions as to authorship
and to deny 1t Is to credit Mr.. Donnelly
with genius Tin inventing a cipher and
applying and proving it with mathematical
precision) as great as was possessed by the
author of the plays himself.
The work should 60 far towards settling
the vexed question. but perhaps it will not,
for, as Mr. Donnelly says EVERY Shakes
pearean scholar who has spent his life try
ing to prove that the play actor of Stratford
was the greatest and most learned genius
that ever lived. will brush these figures
laugh"
We are glad to note that Mr.. Don
nelly's new book is having a very large
sale, both in England and this country
The Seattle. Wash, Daily Times says:
A most curious and interesting work. The
mechanical part is of q high order. The
editing is exceptionally good. It is a stu
dents book. OF the subject matter of the
work. must frankly confess myinability to
form fair estimate. It is most wonderful
~ Ingenious. The amount Of labor and re-
search expended in the preparation is almost
beyond calculation. Its reasoning and con-
illusions are so startling that I stand ap-
palled, and unable to refute either. To me
it is all iconoclasm. All the idols of the
immortal Elizabethan age lie in dust before
me. And as Saul became Paul, SO to me
has 1gnatius Donnelly become Iconoclast
Donnelly.
No, no! 1t is almost beyond belief that
any man, however ingenious, however great
his motive, in those stirring times, in the
very center of the whirlpool of literary &C
tivity. could have given the world all those
profoundly grand dramas and concealed his
identity. But whether it be established by
this marvellous work. that that which We
have always believed to be William Shake
speare's work Is really Francis Bacons, Ig-
natius Donnelly has written his name on
Iuc 1upcTlSudD1e TOLL OF SCHOLARS. he is a
profound and masterful writer. His very
sincerity and earnestness compel our re-
spect and attention. The style Is clear and
pure using the very queens English, and
the diction is beautiful. This work will
demand attention not only from scholars
In the English language. but from all lovers
Of the drama, especially the Germans and
Italians, who as good if not better
Shakespearean students than their English
brethren.
And yet this book has been de-
nounced by two or three Republican
editors in Minnesota, principally be-
cause Mr.. Donnelly Is Populist. The
Minneapolis Journal published a ere
view" of the book not long ago, full of
falsehOods, and then admitted that
Its reviewer had never read it'll"
That is what those scamps call. "fair
play" E. A. T.