The farmer and mechanic., 1912-08-06
Is mat held by his acquaintances. fell
.oW,actors and playwrights At the

CDSeiuuinS OF his career in London |
Cne'tie wroS OF his civil demeanor"
Wnicn argues his honesty,"-this in |
febuttaf of Greene's jealous charge Of !
esonsm and plagiarism When at the
ne!gnt of his fame in 1901 he was
dubbed Sweet Master Shakespeare in
the play The Return From Parnas-
sus Friendly," another adjective
associated with his name, was given
HIS rival, Ben Jonson, the sharpest
satirlst OF the age, wrote of him, +
loved the man and do honour his
memory, on this side idolatTy. as
much as any" John Webster. in his
play 1.-THE White Devil in 1872
speaksl Of the right happy and CO.
pious industry of Master SHAKESPEARE "
| mentioning him among seven dra,nat-
ic poets whom he most desired 10
{ muiate. To MereS in 1893 h. vas
the neiiif1uous and honeE-tong ,tea
Shakspere" in whom the ''Sv-c. and
witty soul OF ovid lived again.
dramatist most excellent" in both
| tragedy and comedy. gentle. S-aia!
man who circulated his ''sugared SON
! nets among his friend. Thee are
striking tributes to the mans charm
| ing personality, but snow that his as
SOCiateS were too close To him 10
real lize his true greatness and supe-
! riority. Throughout his career.
ShakSpere was surrounded by a bril-
liant galaxy OF rivals whose work
showed such great inventive. as we'll
as poetic power. that. IS Professor
| Baker, OF Harvard. 20 Well says. 10
contemporary criticism could surely
have ranked It below III; o"n."
EOitaire's Attack On Shakespeare.
- A second view, | shall call the
Classical or Noltai:c theory. Noitalie,
who exercised Dictatorship in literary
matters III Europe, Was the foremost
champion Of the classical rules and
traditions He drew up most for
midable Indictment against ShaA-
spe:e whom he scornIuilE declared
"a writer OF SAD stuff. IAN indecent
violator Of the three sacred dran1ati'.
unities OF time, place. and action =
harDarots StaGt-plaHer and ll'ouNte
bank Eo:tairt. also i,lseigheu against
his want Of method. his NiolHf:";ls o
the historic verit;eS OF ,listolf2s and
manners, his anachronls1ns and apo
tOpisms. his intrOdu, tinn OF low COM
{ ic characters into serious tragedy. ai>
frequent indelicacE OF phrase. aGd use
l of disgusting horrors and sseNa2 a2e
, biocdshed, his plays a huge muck
T heap cOnceaiing some pearls.
: Suffice it 10 say, for t'1e present
that Shakespeare was l-ianphant.y ~
? vindicated from all these charges b.
-
? Some Of them, however, have in tbs
last few years been revived Dy Ber-
l nard Shaw and Count Iolstoy.
l. 3. A third conception OF ShaksD"rf
t may be denominated the Inspira tios
J. or Infallibility theory. Those wh(
' hold to this view. like Carlyle. SNii
bu:ne, Matthew Arnold, SaintSbury
l and some of the German critics neg
n lecting or minimizing the factors o
e Shakspeare's environment, in his de
8 velopment as an artist. lay stress up
= on his genius "POeta naScitur nOl
n fit is a proverbial formula for tn
: mysterious, a priOri doctrine Of her
a edity To these hero-worshippers
S the poet was inspired, above all law
+ "the God Of the theatre" almost to-
8 high for mortal praise, "a solar sp1r
it," the thousand -SOuled, the nlyfiad q
t minded Shakspere.' Sang Arnold:
e "Others abide orr question. Thou ar
}. We ask and ask. Thou s1nlleSt an
q art still.
y Out topping knowledge
d And thou who didst the stars and sun
0 beams know
e, Self -schoOled, self scanned, sell 1-hon
y ored, self secure.
Didst tread on earth unguessed a
: Better So.
d The Baconian Hypothesis.
Ii 4. A fourth hypothesis is the IA
n nous Baconian theory. Joseph {
+ Hart, an American, like most of th
d Baconians, I am ashamed to say, wa
IS the first in 1S4S to raise doubts as
d the authorship of the Shaksperea
a, plays. Miss Della Bacon was tn
earliest avowed skeptic in regard
t. the established facts Of his career
s, Won will not be SURPRISED to lear