The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-03-26
IL There Shakespeare prob
1emve

There is probably In the entire scope
Of possible themes for literary explo-
ration no more boring theme than that
~ the eternal query who wrote
Shakespeare's works." In The Great.
est of Literary Problems. by JAMES
PHINNEY BANTER tHoughton Mifiiin).
We have the topic p~onderously
treated. Let none but the strong
and the patient attempt 10 hold
up the volume and wade through
its contents. In the preface. which
the author calls a prologue. he
forestalls our question as TO what does
Il matter anyhow who wrote the
works. since. at II rate. they are In
the world and now accessible to every
| one. His answer Ii hat we cannot AZ.
ford To shirk the question Of author.
ship because We I'VE a debt Of rever-
n c to the author which must he
paid. Now there are but two ways
of paying such reverence to an author:
one is to buy his books while he is
Yet living: II IL patiently too late to
pay such reverence to Shakespeare.
The other is to read them and absorb
thcir contents. even when the time for
the author &c benefit is past.
Not long since sn author con-
clusively proved that Sir Walter Ra.
leigh threw of the Sh~akespcarian
works in his odd leisure. Mr.. Bax-
,er's thesis is the less novel one that
they were "a side issue to nil In Francis
Bacon's idle moments. In neither case
did II occur to these authors to ques-
ton the actual amoun OF time and
energy required for The writing OF
Shakcspeare's poems. sonnets and
dramas. Their arguments for handing
over a life work to some other busy
n active intellect are about rs rca-
sonahle as TO insist that Leonardo da
Ninci. being a great and active intelli-
genee in the line of invention. hydraul-
~. engineering. painting. &c. must
certainly have thrown on all Michael
Angeles sculptures in between times.
! Toward the close OF the so-called
prologue" Mr.. Baxter states that
after writing and preparing for the
press one ~ the studies contained in
this book. he found that another ex-
oellcnt writer had covered the same
ground and that Several phrases
used by him are SD near my own that
II might appear that ! had been in
spired by his more recent work. I
have not thought il, necessary TO
change these IMPRESSIONS inasmuch as
! have presented the subject much
more extensively and students, in
our day. realize that men pursuing
the same course Of thought may fall
quite naturally into similar forms or
expression"
II would seem tina. many pitfalls
might have been avoided. to say moth
ing NJ the whole c%Xhaustina and futile
Volume. II the author had applied this
truth likewise to Shakespeare's day.
Shakespeare lived in q n above
all in u city. Of great and facile in
accommodation. II was an age
: when the middle classes were eager
ANA alert and were swiftly gaining
vantage ground. II was an age Of
eager intellectual curiosity. Knowl-
edge and thought were passed quickly
from mouth 10 mouth: such books as
there We're were evidently accessible
tn the playwright, II the gossip in
inns and obstetrics and c!uis dealt
with all the affairs at court. with adj
venture. politics II statecraf,. II
- We W. W u oSc W
realize that thought and expression
are likely to he "in the air: and tina.
i, is quite likely that two men ~ the
same age and environment should
have access 10 the same truths and
even tn somewhat The same form NJ
expression. liut what Mr.. Baxter
pleads for IN his own case lie fails
Ia apply IN Shahespeare's.
Moreover "A flaw in the psychology
uf all these writer's who desire to pre-.
sent Shakcspenre's work tn some Other
man of distinction is that they do not
realize that genius il usually the
flower of stored energy ana not the
elimination Of expended energy. "Ali
men are creatures Of hercdity.' SAYS
| t!' nnthor, Truly. hui, 1t docs not
follow that AL great men are sons ~
illCstrious and productive fathers. II
was pointed out In u recent biography
Of Emerson that his ancestry for sew.