New-York tribune., 1916-04-28

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: So it has been judicially decided. m
Chicago. that Lord Bacon wrote the plays
Of Shakespeare. or course. that settles it..
although an iconoclastic citizen. az about the
time that J. Grattan Macmshon wrote
brochure on the subject some years ago. got
busy with the much talked Of acrostic and
proved by applying the same principle to
one Of the Psalms. that Shakespeare had con
tributed to literature the Psalms Of David
and that Sir Horace Walpolc had written the
Bible.
Seriously. am glad that Tudor jerks
scholar that he is. has stated that he could
never take the Baconian acrostcs seriously
and has branded many Of them as far
fetched and silly"
But Mr.. jerks and ! am quoting him in
this connection because his setting forth Of
opinion is not sonorously trtc, like that Of
tho Chicago jurist says that: "Thc notion
that William Shakespeare wrote the plays
attributed TO him is nothing short Of incon-
ccivablc. Bacon was fitted by education and
taste for the writing Of plays. Shakespeare
was born Of iliteratc parents, and, it is be
licycd. received little more than high school
education"
Shades of Banquo. Did 1t ever strike Mr..
jerks or any ono Of numerous other critics
that. because with our highly developed cdu-
cation Of to-day We have not even produced
n Measure for Measure" among all our
scholars, that the works OF Shakespeare
could not have been written by any human
being. but must have been the work OF Deity?
What is tho breath Of space that separates
secondary school graduate from a man OF
university training. in literary way when
compared with the space that intervenes be-
tween your finished littcratcur and the genius
Of William Shakespeare?
For many years my chief interest has been
as a teacher Of boys part Of the time as
vice president and acting president Of boys
school. ! have frequently advised young
charges Of mine TO read the works OF the
bidding to them in most instances: but then,
in each case, came revelation. Last Christ
mas | presented a copy OF Bscon's Essays"
to one studious youth. and for some time
thereafter he suffered from Indigestion. Fur
thcrmore, his letters to me from college took
the ponderous turn that would have been
Shakespesrc's had he written:
Nov get together thy courage and by de-
grecs work it up TO a climax, 50 that thou
wilt be nerycd to undertake that which is
thy dcsderatum"
Or:
"Drsw near. 90 Roman mcnials whom poll
tics brings 10 my side porforce; and lend me
now a spade. that Cesar may be properly in
tered
Or:
"Why cannot erase thee thou most un-
cou,h and horrid spot Of Red?'
am glad that Sir Herbert, Beerbohm Tree
takes the only possible view of the impartial
reader Of Shakespeare and Bacon both.
Years ago ! told group of young men that
IL was impossible to believe that Lord Bacon
could have written Shakespeare lust as i'm
possible as IT i. TO believe that Shakespeare.
the genius. could have been put through
course OF conventional college training and
remained Shakespeare. Your man OF genius
often acquires what knowledge he needs in
his own way. He is all eyes. all ears. all
brain. all heart. all soul So closely is he in
touch with the yerities Of things that. while
he may err he absorbs truth and radiates
Il. Nor is this true only OF literature. Rob
ert Fulton played truant because he disliked
the restraint OF the schooroom. Thomas 4.
Edison never spent day in either technical
school or college. Ulysses 5. Grant stood
close 10 the foot Of his class at West Point:
and more recent great executive head Of the