The Tucson citizen., 1902-04-19
the SHAKESPEARE PROBLEM.

The very learned and. OF course. clo-
Quent and aggressive Women's Clubs
ol Los Angeles and Pasadena, devoted
an afternoon this week to a settlement
o. what has been called the Shake
speare Bacon dispute, 1t is very
powerful question that the Womens
Cubs Of Los Angeles and Pasadena
cannot settle in an hour. SO the fact
that they devoted a whole afternoon to
the consideration of Shakespeare.
that the ordinary mind should ap-
proach it with extreme caution. 1t
will be great renef to the votaries of
the ynakespeare tradition to know that
the learned women OF Pasadena and
Los Angeles agreed that Shakespeare
was the author of Shakespeare.
ne vitality of the argument against
Shakespeare's authorship OF the plays
and sonnets commonly credited to him
rests in the personality of the Shake
epeare revealed to us in the few we'll
authenticated acts of his history.
rustic peasant born and bred among
uneducated people, having at the age OF
twenty-0ne a wife and three children.
fees hurredly from Stratford to Lon
don on account of youthful indescre-
ton. and getting rich there as theatre
manager. returns after some years to
,,.I xNhn q
makes more money in usury and real
estate speculationS ana ends his days
a land owner in a house Of his own.
None of his writing is preserved at
Stratford except FIVE or six badly writ
ten signtures yariously spelt- There is
no trace Of literary taste or occupation
and no mention OF literary property.
even in his will. which seems to have
been written by an ordinary serivener,
to be signed with his mark No
book of his is found: nothing to show
that he was other than a shrewd. hard.
thrifty. uneducated anu lairly success
full business man, who was most at
home. it is claimed, among illiterate
Cronfes at Stratlord- He may have been
very different man. but this, it Is as
serted is the kind of man that is de
picted by the facts, as distinguished
from surmises and differences.
On the other hand according To the
anti shakespeare theory the author OF
the plays and sonnets was deeply
learned lawyer. an aristocrat, classi-
cal scholar master of French, and
probably acquainted with Italian,
man of the world familiar with the
ceremonies and usagcs of courts. an as
sociate Of noblemen and versed in all
the literature and science Of his time.
Years of study. travel and attendance
at court functions would be required
to fit the author of the plays for his
work Such man would bear the
mark Of his studies in tastes and /
habits. having associates who would (
recognize his extraordinary abinty He
would be likely to leave behind him /
traces of oIner literary work or 0cCup- /
alton, besides me poems There would .
be also traces Of a great and imposing
personality some record Of personal
impression on contemporaries com
mensuratc with the literary impress
sions he has made upon later genera
tions TrauItions OF his stIdios ana
travels ought to survive. If he lived at
Stratford II" ought to he remembered
for his liberal atDttUa" toward rduca-
ton especially in his own family His
library must have been 4 very con
Siderable one and il the writer ol the
plays spent his last years at Stratford
his books ought to be found scattered
in that quarter But none Of his books
have been founH there. John Shake
spearc the alleged poets father signed
his name by mark, and so did the
alleged poets daughter when She
married
The dIuiculty is lat William Shake
speare as revealed by the Stratford
record is an absolutely different sort
OF man from what he authorship or
the plays would require him TO be. Not
few students, impressed by this dis
parity. have resolutely affirmed that
Shakespeare did not write Shake
speare. because he could not possibly
have done so The age OF miracles Is
past and they hold 1t would have been
a miracle for poor rustic Of STRAIT
ford to have acquired in village
school or in the intervals of theatrical
business the knowledge Of law, society,
courts, languages. literature and
science that the pays reveal Genius