Evening star., 1962-09-01
--shakespsarGn unitanh

altered by someone to invent
q face to go with q pen
name. Concerning the wood
engraving Of the Bard ap-
pearing on the title page of
the First Folio Edition Of the
Works dated 1923, there is
strong evidence that q famous
Dutch firm Of engravers.
copied. with the ordered
notifications. q wood panel
painting Of De We're.
F. D. McHugh
Day Thorpe's article New
Shakespeare Controversy" in
The Sunday Star Magazine
for August 26. is an Interest,"
ing summary Of the argu-
ments advanced by Charlton
Ogburn. jr.. and his mother
that William Shakespeare's
works were written by Ed
ward de We're. 18th Earl of
Oxford. Exception must be
taken to a statement he made
on page Is that during his
lifetime there was no mem
ton Of Shakespeare as q
breathing man."
This is not true, Of course.
The parish registers of Strait
ford-on-Avon contain conclu-
sive evidence that Shake
speare was q breathing
man." He had one son, who
died at the age Of IL years.
and two daughters, both of
whom married and had issue.
However, the many claims
that crop up in England and
the United States that Shake
speare has descendants liv-
ing today are sheer nonsense.
His last descendant. Lady
Elizabeth Barnard, died in
1870; hence. no one today
can properly claim descent
from one Of the bard's chill
dren. Because this preposter-
GUS claim is thrown out so
frequently, I published an
article on Shakespeare
American Descendants" in
the National Genealogical
Society Quarterly for Sep
tember 1859.
Personally, I'm naive
enough to believe that Will
liam Shakespeare wrote Will
liam Shakespeare. But in
addition to the Oxford
claim, others. equally as in
conclusive. have been foisted
upon a bewildered world. My
wife's great-uncle, John Mil
ton Maxwell, Of Indianapolis,
wrote a pamphlet purporting
to show that Shakespeare was
really Robert Cecil, 1st Earl
OF Salisbury. A few years ago
a very confusing book was
ublished alleging that
Shakespeare was really Will
liam Seymour (son Of Ed
ward Seymour, Earl of Hert-
ford. alias Edmund Spenser,
the poetD; said Seymour also
had other aliases, among
them John Smith and Alton
so Ferrobosco, whoever he
was.
Milton Rubincam,
Former Editor, National Ge-
theological Society Quarterly
The Sunday Star Magazine
carried q most capably-writ-
ten and well-presented ar
ticle entitled New Shake
speare Controversy" prompt
ed by a book of which I am CO.
author. I cannot let this pass
without telling you how much
I appreciate the attention
thus given the book and the
fair minded treatment the
subject received at the hands
Of your book critic.
Every writer, Of course,
hopes to achieve some recog-
milton from his hometown
press. 1t means a great deal
to him when he does. In this
case I have special and i'm
portant reasons for gratitude.
The subject that Mr.. Thorpe
had to deal with is an ex-
tremely complicated one and
a highly contentious one on
which. as he noted. feelings
run Highland local feelings
at that. The easiest thing
would have been for him
simply to skirt the issues and
say nothing. Instead, he tack
led them directly and une-
quivocally and produced an
article that, as I say, seems
to me remarkably fair and
objective. How he mastered
so much tangled evidence ard
reasoning in the short time
available to him, I find 1t
hard to understand. I have a
strong hunch that time will
show that the trouble Mr..
Thorpe went to in doing this
exceptionally well-written an
alysis was not wasted. I GER
tainly hope 1t will.