The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-10

ford actor, AN upstart crow, beauti-
fled with our feathers, ...... in his own
conceit the only Shake-Scene in a coun-
trie' See how Greene differentiates
Shakespeare from the actor. The STRAIT
ford mans sphere was the stage among
the scenes of histrionic efforts. He was,
| therefore, to Greene, ''Shake-Scene,"
! while Bacon was Shakespeare. The up
start crow was surely not an author,
though he may have passed for play
| broker, a buyer of dramas, which, with
| his stage experience, he adapted to the
| theatre. Doubtless he took some of the
plays written by Shakespeare, Francis
Bacon, and here and there inserted some
thing of his own to fit IT. for the stage;
for often, In the plays do we come upon
sentences, which for literary style, are
far bleow the general excellence of the
dramas and positively suggest that an
other and weaker mind conceived them
| Having done this, did it matter to him
that the works should go forth as his
| products? and that he should change his
name from Shakspere to that of the
real author Shakespeare, or that as
sumed by the real author? That seems to
| have been small matter. 1t was money
| In his pocket. Ben Jonson said of the
"Poet-ape," as he called him,
"At first he made low shifts, would pick
and CLEAN,
Buy the reyersion or old plays; now
grown
To a little wealth and credit in the scene
He takes up all, makes each mans wit
his own.
And told of this, he Sights it. Tut, such
crimes
He marks not whose twas first, and
May judge it to be his as well as ours"
In these lines, written the year in
which Shakspere died, or rather, pub
lished that year, we learn several things.
Shaksperes character was not lofty
one. He made low shifts to succeed.
He loved, not art nor letters, he worked
for money, and this he gained by pick
ing and cleaning among other mems
works. He had some credit in the
scene," that is, he was credited with
doing we'll on the stage; but we know
of his playing nothing more difficult
| than the Ghost, in Hamlet, Being taxed
with his wholesale cribbing and pilfer-
| ing, he 'slights it," that is, he treats
1t as a small matter, laughts at 1t, be-
cause it pays. THE sluggish gaping au-
| ditor devours'-"such crimes
| The above lines tell us that we posi-
| lively know about Shakspere as an au-
| thor and playwright. have at my
| right hand while | am penning this pa
| per, several books that will tell you
much more than Jonson's lines; but their
| writer's make freest use of terms that
| excite distrust at once. They say
| "Shakspere might have written" or The
could have written" or ut Is supposed
| he wrote" and so forth and so on, all
through the Introduction to the plays
| Jonson does not tell us what Shakspere
might have DONE" but what he did; and
| this seems to be Jonsons final judgment
Of the man Shakspere.
| The Baconians say that the following
facts are positively proven, namely:
Shakspere lived inoLondon for 25 years
returned to Stratford in the prime OF Ike
had money enough to become money
lender. He never wrote line thereafter
He never mentioned his literary works
and was never known among the people
| of Stratford as writer Gould these
| things have been had he written the
greatest dramas of the ages?
Bacon's essay on gardens gives list
of the seasons flowers, and at times the
descriptions are identical with those found
In "A Winters Tale
On one of Bacon's manuscripts were
found the names, in Bacon's own hand
writing, of Francis Bacon and William
Shakespeare They were written alter
nately, as If Bacon were trying his hand
at both names.
In Bacon's Essays q number of an
achronsms occur: the same mistakes are
found in the dramas. 1t Is often the case
in the works of scholars who write from
memory of details that they err in minute
matters. knowledge of navigation Is
shown in the plays, and on this unusual
subject Bacon wrote treatise; he was
familiar with the subject; but Shaks-
pere had never been on body of water
greater than the Thames, and would
not be likely to know anything of this
science.
But fc,Tow another line Of evidence. The