The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-05-16
THE sHAKEsPEAREAN PLAYS

The authorship of the plays accredited to Shakespeare has
not been referred to the peace conference at Versailles, but it is
up for discussion in the courts of literature and criticism, being
hailed in by that widely known and eminent scholar, Abel
lefranc, of the College Of France, in a book called "Sous lie
Masque de William Shakespeare" The Baconian theory, now
dead, was given life many years ago by Della, a collateral kins-
woman and namesake of 'the wisest, brightest, meancst of
mankind Della was as sure that her great ancestor was the
real author OF the plays as a woman usually is Of everything she
makes up her mind to, Della was a maiden lady whose hysterIa
on this subject was almost catalcptic. She failed to produce
proofs that are considered convincing, and her splendid assump-
tons were d%iscredited. Ignatius Donelly claimed to have dis
covered a cryptogram which settled all doubt as to the author
ship, and his vast tome OF between LOO and l,0N pages devoted
page after page to groups Of figures which pretend to tell the
story, but which mean nothing to anyone, and prove nothing
Some OF Donelly's intimates claim that he admitted the work
was a hoax, gotten up for his own amusement and the entertain
ment Of his friends, and that it was not to be taken seriously
which it never was, This great work sought to show that the
Shakespearean plays were the works of Francis Bacon and
Nicholas Bacon, his son. but failed signally. For one hundred
years. one after another claimant to the authorship OF the plays
has been put forward, but the Strattord man has never been
displaced. All the learning and subtle reasoning put forward
BY prying zetetics to prove that Shakespeare did not write the
plays had only the effect Of confusing the public mind without
convincing it. By applying the rules Of psychology and reason
to what we know Of the Bard of Avon, it is not wholly impos-
sible to incline an intelligent mind, and especially one familiar
with dramatic composition, to the belief that whoever wrote the
plays, the man Shakespeare, as we imperfectly know him, could
not have done so. Who could have written them? This ques-
ton can be answered with comfortable confidence, but who did
is unanswerable. His contemporary, Christopher Marlowe, was
equipped to have discharged the task, and there are not a few
who regard him as the real author.
The learned F~renchman, Lefranc, however, has found some.
one else. He has documentary evidence that convinces him that
William Stanley, sixth earl OF Derby, is the author of the plays,
The earl was a man of ripe and great scholarship He had trav-
eed extensively. He was a member of the English arstocracy,
a patncan by birth, familiar by education and politics with the
manners and morals, the traditions, the ideals, the sentiments,
the preoccupation and the language of the most elevated and
most polished social classes OF the Elizabethan era. Nearly all
the plays are situated at the courts of kings or in the abodes of
the great, Never have the ideas and sentiments Of the princely
and aristocratic classes been comprehended and described with
such intimate and subtle penetration. The author was familiar
with the language and sentiments Of an aristocrat, things Of
which an uncultured countryman must have been wholly ignor-
ant. The earl OF Derby was passonately attached to the theater,
and spent much time, the record says, in penning comedys for
the commoun players" BY talents, education, experience and
surroundings he was equipped to write such plays as those Of
Shakespeare, but whether he did or not, and whether these are
what are now called Shakespearean dramas is a question that
must remain unsolved, even. by those who ~repudiate the Stratford
mans authorship, Where there is no tribunal competent to
decide, individual selEdetermination, which can go farther than
conjecture, must suffice for the inquirer. And while everyone
would like to know the truth, insofar as the value of the dramas
to the world is concerned, the authorship amounts to little,
because, as the putative author tells us, there's nothing in a
name" We do not know who wrote THE Letters of Tunius, "
in spite OF Lord Macaulays cocksuredness. We do not know
who wrote the Athanasian creed, pronounced by Dsraeli "the
most splendid ecclesiastical lyric ever poured forth by the genius
OF man" Anonymity conceas the greatest works of ali time
and genius, but it in no wise lessons their value.
No matter what the critics say, to the average man the
plays OF Shakespeare will continue to be Shakespearc's through
all time.