The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-13

10 - bNtrlcS aDOut shakespeare
arotis,I deep interest among scholars.
Anon. u.hcrs. Dr. Appleton Morgan
has ,v.rGcd from the cloistral quiet
NJ M. l.ne in the University Club to
dis,lst DO
For ,,irly forty years DR.. Morgan
has l..n recognized as a leading
AUTHORITY on Shakespeare. His first
u,t,rar,a after reading DR.. Wallace's
article vas to declare that 1t vas a
mrcin,c reminder OF the opening para
graph IA his own book, The Shake
sp,arau Myth" written thirty-eight
years ago while he was actively prac-
Using lIw. The paragraph reads:
9TH, thirty-Seven plays called col
l~ectivc.y Shakespeare are phenomena
not only in English letters but in
human experience. The literature OF
the country to which they belong had
up t. the date OF their appearance
failed a. urnish-and has been utterly
powor.,ss since to produce-any type,
likeness or formative trace OF them,
while the literature OF other nations
does not possess even a corresponding
type. They came and went like a
meteor. neither borrowing OF what
they found nor loaning TO what they
left their own peculiar and unap-
proachable magnifcence. The unre-
hitting researches of two centuries
have only been able to assign their
authorship-where IL rested at first
10 a hiatus in the life Of a hayward
village lad named William Shake
speare. who fled his native town penni-
less and before the constable. to return
in a few years a well to do esquire
with a coat Of arms and money in his
pocket"
Referring TO this paragraph DR..
Morgan said:
IL cannot agree with DR.. Wallace,
whom in every other way I commend
in locating this William Shakespeare,
certainly as any particular William
Shakespeare among the many OF that
name who crop out here and there in
the Strattord records scattered within
that hiatus. My own way Of filling
that hiatus is TO recall the career Of
the Shakespeare OF the Globe and
Blackfriars theatres in London and of
New Place, Stratford-on-Avon.
AS a mere president emeritus OF
the Shakespeare Society l have left
its work TO the youngsters, musing,
like Lucretius. 'Suave mare magno
turbantibus mquora vents f terra
Tonga alterius spectare laborem!' and
among youngsters I include my friend
Or. Wallace. whom I know and admire,
who arrived in these Shakespeare deep
waters about thirty years after my
own first plunge therein. But / well
coined DR.. Wallace all the more be-
cause he struggles-just as our Shake
speare Society always did-with facts
and leaves IT to rhapsodists and the
inner brotherhood to discover all those
hidden meanings and t~rilogies that
would stagger Shakespeare himself il
he could only hear about them. For
Shakespeare matters mostly come to
us In superlatives. And ii takes a
mighty strong head to traffic in super
latives exclusively.
After all, DR.. Wallace's statements
are not so very revolutionary. We
have always known since DIR. Halli-
well-Phillipps published his great work
The Outlines las he modestly called
them) that there We're at least one
dozen William Shakespeares in and
around Standardization at the dates
"hen me plays were appearing or
about 10 appear. What | should rather
cal! DR.. Wallace's statements would
he Inferentially startling II true
That is 70 say, for we must speak by
the card here. IL DR.. Wallace a show
mat al the dates at which he finds
all these William S~hakespeares on
record as engaged in these various
tr~aNSlat.ons the real Shakespeare Of
'he plays was hard at work in the
'heatr" IN London preparing his plays
ana dd not for a moment run down to
s'ratioTd-on-Avon TO look after his
private and personal affairs, his in
'estmenis and his %avocation on the
SIDE as we say. why then DR.. Wal
'aee mas iI.d all our troublesome ques-
IONS on the Instant. There is nothing
more 20 he said.
But Or. Wallace does not claim any
demonstration except OF the high i'm
probability Of, for a malster
named Shakespeare slipping away
IRON MS malt and preparing a reper-
Tory OF new plays for his London thea
ue company. We grant the i'm
p'ohah.d'y-the vast improbability,
nu' as u happens, any attempt at
,'ucdii.rg the Stratford Shakespeare
biography results invariably in a far
rag" ~ lmprobahilities. And more
'"nn .hlrohah!lItles-in fact we don't
"a" Them .mprobabilities at all. We
p''''l Z" riL them miracles, And that,
uncover wrote the plays. they are
miracle is the last statement a wise
man w." Weighs his words would care
10 MAJ, N N"'e
mo ! am afraid that DIR. Wallace
w. 10 distinguished member OF our
~" '.'h shakespeare Society, by
~ way 3" only rocking the boat as
"" '''I.i'hl" President wilson saws.
~ '"'-.'t the question which of the
r'"" .' M 'r" William Shakespeares
"" "E'. IN and about Stratford-on-
nnN"h ". '1c required dates was the
mann For right at our elbows is
d mighty hig contingent of Shake
speai' ''.olirs who rise to deny that
""'"''F "t the name OF Shakespeare
ml"'' Plays at all, and every doubt
,''''- to they cleverly take ad-
=" H"" they will chortle in glee,
""u saw An, DR., Wallace. you find
y"u' ".|rn or so OF Shakespeares!
I'e's" .'I MS which one of them did
~! WIG rIays? And then, when you
m"N' 1851 uS which one or more OF
,"r" ''Id not possibly have writ
w" l... then we will proceed to look
rrp '.' I"rords OF those you select
az N'.' processes OF exclusion who
W. ''.'' rlayS-and who knows what