New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-29
CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
MIR. lanes Phinney Baxters Encyclopedia
Presentment of the Baconian Case
Europe and Its Tragedy


written cheese works. 10 is also certain
that Raccn could have done SO. and
was. SO lnr as $50 know. ,hc only man
who could have cone SO; therefore
We mus, assume tho, Bacon did IT,
ry tnc same token. Macon also wrote
Che works which are ascrihcd 20 Spon-
sc~. 10 Grccre. 10 rcclc. 20 NARROW.
md to burton 'he "Facrv Quccnc'
and the Anatomy OF Melancholy
Itis truc that some Of Shakespeare s.
contemporaries paid high tributes TO
hir as the author OF his works. There
was Ben lousou. for example. win ms
rhapsod.c~ over 'Eontie Snake eat'.
But Ben J0usou was little moro tran %
drunken rufn. ana the PREDATORY
cuiocics which mon used 20 write %
those DAYS about each other were no.
toriously cNtravagaut and untruihiu-
Such tributes. therefore, are of -
value. Z indeed they are not 10 the Oct
umcut Of their subjects. We cannot
20 at length into all the representa-
t.ons which are made 10 show that
Shakespeare could not have written the
works. and that Bacon must have done
so. They arc all set forth iu thls vol
umc. which is truly encyclopedia IN
scope. But single feature OF the
work will suffice: 10 wit, the argument
from parellelisms. The same phrases
and SMILES occur IN Bacon and IN
Shakespeare. wherefore the two WorNS
were written by the same man. FOR
example:
Bacon. in "Promus." and Shakespeare
both say. Good wine needs no bush :
wherefore, Bacon wrote Shakespeare.
But Erasmus said the same thing pc.
fore Bacon was born. In "Promus
we find: "A man must tell YOU tales
10 find your ears and Shakespeare
makes Antony say. Friends. Romans
Countrymen, lend me your ears But
there was an old Scottish provero,
generations before. which said, II can
not find YOU both tales and ears.
Again. in "Promus" we find, "a fools
bolt is soon shot and the same IS IN
"Henrv v" But in 1899 George Her
bert placed that saying among ms
"Outlandish Proverbs" while a hum
dred wears before there was a familiar
French saying. ale pain au fol est
rremier mango" We find God helps
him who strives hard IN both
.Esehvlus and Euripides; but are we
TO assume that Euripldes crlobed from
Hschvlus. or that the works Of botn
were written by the same man ana
If il be argued, as 10 is by Mr.. Baxter
that while one or a few such parallels
may not be significant, the existence
Of "a great number Of them is conVlnc-
ing. the reply is that hundred sucn
examples In the whole range OF so No..
luminous literature as that or
Shakespeare and Bacon are no more
significant than Just two or three IN
&
writer's. writing so much, at the same
time and in the same place. often on
the same subjects. and under the same
influences Of environment and nspira-
ton. could scarcely avoid often en-
blowing the same expressions.
The famous "seacOast OF Bohemia
J IS also brought into the argument. u
> used 10 be cited as proof Of the iGno-
rance of the man who wrote
Shakospeare's plays. Bohemia being an
inland country; though the TACT IS
that the phrase is quite correct, since
al one time Bohemia did have an eN-
tensive frontage on the sea. AGAIN,
there is the reference 20 shipping be
tween Verona and Milan, which was
once regarded as an error, but IS now
known TO be correct, since there was
once a navigable waterway between
/ those places. All Of this. we are as
sured, is proof that Bacon wrote the
plays. for he doubtless knew those
/ geographical facts; while 1t Is simply
unthinkable that Shakespeare could
have known them. But why Shake
speare could not have known them, OF
why any ordinarily intelligent man in
the street could not have known them
is one OF those things which the
Docovfare rcvor. demon strafp
Mr. Baxter has. however, performed
real service in thus putting the
whole Baconian case from first 10 lat
est-we wish we might say last, but
prudence forbids-in one handsome
and readable volume, and in iilustrat
ing IL with so many interesting cuts
/ Whether we care for the Baconan bust
ness or not. these pictures, facsimiles
and what not, are of great value. anc
in themselves make the book worthy
to be priced.
Mr.. Morse's volume is IN most re-
spects the antithesis Of Mr.. Baxter's
il is only one-third the size, II IS the
reverse Of sumptuous in appearance
and II has no illustrations. Moreover
II is based upon the other Of the two
I Mans which we first mentioned. Pre-
IS simply a frank desire to take
F Shakespeare at his face value and 10
4 find out what there is in him. There
+ il little searching for reconcile and
B cryptic meanings, and little effort "a
/ interpret play as a philosophical
treatise In disguise. It was one OF the
great values of Shakespeare's work
that ne broke away from the mixture
Of obscurantism and chop-logic of the
Middle Ages and wrote naturally and
simply. So this discussion Of some Of
/ his plays and poems is so simple and
direct that il can appeal 70 the man
in the street as well as to the scholar
in the study
Those who have had their wits BAN
hoozled by Baconianism Will find re
freshmen and reinsurance IN the little
volume. and those who are not as
familiar as they should be with
Shakespeare will find it useful guide
TO. and a pretty safe and sane exposl-
tor of his works. "Back 20 Shake
peare' is a good order. IF it were