The sun., 1903-06-17
VIEW hooks.


That the volume entitled is II Shakes
peare,' printed Ia Great Britain, though
published by E. P. Dutton Il Co.. Is intended
az serious argument seems more likely
than that II u huge Joke and satire In very
bad taste. There are precedents Of even
longer outbursts Of facetiousness, but
nearly 100 large octave pages 60 beyond
our estimate Of British Jest in the twentieth
century We must look on the book. there
fore, as . solemn plea In behalf Of Fran
ois Bacon being the author Of the works
attributed to Shakespeare. The author
judicio,isly conceals himself under the
designation OF "A Cambridge Graduate"
though he provides a distich In which he
asserts that his name and claim are re-
vealed. This may be cryptogram or an
anagram but it cannot be worth while to
try to solve It.
The demonstration is novel one and
requires the blackenlng Of many characters.
The author bases his proof on the 1Sonnets"
and the Rape Of Lucrece." In the latter
he finds a cryptogram Of F. Bacon at the
beginning and at the end, after the meth
ods Of other decipherers The argument
from the ASonnets," however. is based on
Is peculiar to himself. The steps are,
broadly. as follows First, the author
OF the "Sonnets" Is the author of the plays.
an opinion which though generally ac-
cepted, s not shared by some competent
scholars; second, the subject matter Of
the 1Sonnets' Is autobiographical, third.
the ASonnets' are addressed by man to a
man, both matters about which there is
much divergence Of views: fourth, the
author, therefore, must have been tainted
with the perverted vices that disgraced
Greece and the revival Of learning There
fore he must have been Bacon, and not
Shakespeare.
Shakeepeare's private life. to be sure,
was deplorable. but neither his social posi-
tion nor anything we know OF him would
warrant our attributing to him the Pc
culiar morals that the author insists the
writer of the sonnets must have had With
Bacon 1t Is otherwise He was a scholar.
he was courtier he travelled on the Con-
tinent and must have been stepped in the
vices that the author asserts we're prevalent
at the courts of both Elizabeth and James.
The disgrace of his later years has already
held him up to scorn as -the meanest OF
mankind" :; il was reserved for this author
to fill out for him a youth of debauchery
and Of Infamous vice with all the possible
details tina! a prurient Imagination could
embroider on few ambiguous phrases
in old authors. This involves aspersions
on Essex, Southampton, Pembroke, James
l., Queen Elizabeth's maids of honor and
pretty nearly every one who has TO be
mentioned in the evolution Of the authors
extraordinary fancy.
The thesis is sustained with dexterity
and Shakespearean learning that show
how easy it is to make any cause plausible.
The author shows plenty Of skill in hitting
the heads Of other combatants in the Shak
spearean controversies and his bantering
tone. over and again, rouses the suspicion
that he is not in earnest with the theory
he advances. He advances and with
draws his detestable suggestions with
the ingenuity Of a trained scandal monger.
We have rarely come across worse prost-
tuition Of scholarship and talent,