The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-02
IS TT LUNACY?-By Dr. w. E. Eva11s

about Shakspere attending school, at all
 whether at Guildhall or anywhere else
 so far as I can recall my Clifford, ant I have bored over 1t many time. Fur.
 themore, he nowhere refers to Shakspere'. learning Latin or Greek, whether little or much. We are indebted to Rowe fol
 the unproven story that Shakspere wen'
 to a free school" and this statement
 was made by Rowe 135 years after the birth of Shakspere. Rowe says of Shaks pere: "It Is without controversy that he had no knowledge of the writings oi the ancient poets," while, before that date, Fuller had said, Never any scholar his learning was very little. What Jonson said was, Thou hadst smal
 Latin and less Creek" and that was all
 not a word about school and learning. The line occurs in what seems to be one of old Bens double" poems. He praises Shakespeare" Bacon's mask. but cannot miss a chance to whack Bacon over Shakespeare's shoulders, In merry mood, for his inaccurate Latin. Ben Jon son was copying Bacon's works In Latin No one questions this fact of Jonson's employment. nor does anyone question his ability to detect Bacon's errors, nor does any reader of Bacons Latin manu- script deny here and there some inac- curacy. refer the reader to pr. Ab- bott's "Introduction to the Promus' oi Bacon, in which he refers to Errors
 which will make Latin and Greek schol- ars uneasy" The manuscript of Bacon
 In the British Museum, show ''errors in Latin in Bacon's own handwriting. The little Latin and less Greek" could easily have been applied to Bacon as one of Jonsons merry thrusts
 The fable of Shakspere's having learned Latin from Lylly's grammar Is a state ment without proof. and belongs to the "Muggle street. shelf. Knight, who is certainly not a Baconian, says that Shaks- pere could never have acquired his knowl- edge of the nicer details of Roman man. ners, etc., from any compendium. It is folly to credit the literary aroma. the deep suggestions of Platonian philosophy and the perfect familiarity with classic literature. disclosed in the plays and son. nets, to man who knew only Lylly' grammar, and whose school days ended. as we are told, when the lad was only 13 or 14" and who Is never represented to us as a subsequent student, who never refers to his school days, and. who. upon his death had not a book, so far as any body knows, to bequeath to his children. Not one book! There is not the slightest proof in the world that the actor Shaks- pere was a lover of letters, or cared for intellectual pursuits. He permitted his daughter Judith to grow up in fgnor- ance, so that when she was N years old she could not write her name. He could not read Plato in the original and during his life time Plato was not trans lated into English. therefore, he read 't not at all. Yet, the plays quote Plato, and often breathe his philosophy. They were written by a classic scholar, a philosopher and a statesman.
 Dr. Richardson gives Roland for our Oliver, he fancies, when he asserts. 'The Baconians gay that Bacon wrote Shake speare's plays because they describe kings and queens and that Shakspere had no audience at court Had Bacon audience at the .Mermaid?'" Why, for
 myself I have no doubt that Bacon, Pembroke and Southampton. and many of the Gray's inn young fellows even de- seconded to the class to whom reference Is made But 1t must be remembered that 1t Is far easier for a man of the highest circles to have access to the homes of the lowly than 1t is for one of the lowly to enter the homes of the high born. Charles I had the freedom of the home of Lucy Waters; but Lucy Waters dared not cross the threshold of White Hall, no matter if some. worse than she, were already there. That at one time in his life Bacon had degraded associates, I can easily prove. and shall do so to Dr. Richardson's satisfaction if the occasion arises later
 Rhetoric runs away with Dr. Richard son again. He says: philosophers do not write plays Great poets are moi scholars" This is a most remarkable statement. scholarship. learning. philos- ophy will not compound with poetry, nor with the dramatic genius! A philosopher