IN THE ARGUMENT. Na letter which appeared in "The Times" on 28th December, 1901, I suggested the following points relating to the authorship of the Shakespeare plays, as deserving thoughtful consideration. I. According to Halliwell-Phillipps, Shakspere's most complete biographer, Shakspere, when he left Stratford at the age of twenty-one or twenty-three, was "all but destitute of polished accomplishments," and "could not have had the opportunity of acquiring a refined style of composition." 2. There is no evidence that he was addicted to study, but much to the contrary. 3. The plays show an acquaintance with Latin, Greek, Italian, French and Spanish; and with many works in these different languages. 4. Also an exact knowledge of law, in its various branches, and of medicine, natural history, horticulture and natural philosophy, up to and beyond the limit of learning of the age. 5. One man there was, of surpassing genius, who, by laborious study, had acquired all these forms of knowledge. Was there another who had attained exactly the same various knowledge by intuition? 6. Macaulay, Shelley and Spedding recognize that the poetical faculty was powerful in Bacon's mind. He was also devoted to the drama, and declared that "dramatic poesy would be of excellent use if well directed, for the stage is capable of no small use, both of discipline and corruption"; M188555 a kind of musician's bow, by which men's minds may be played upon." 7. The vocabulary of the plays is a new development of English speech. Max Müller declares that "Shakespeare displayed a greater variety of expression than probably any writer in any language." He estimated Milton's vocabulary at 8,000 words; Shakespeare's at 15,000 words. Bacon's vocabulary is practically the same as that of the Shakespeare plays. 8. Not only the learning, but also the errors of the plays are identical with those of Bacon's works. 9. Parallelisms of thought and expression exist throughout the plays and Bacon's works, hard to explain save by unity of authorship. More than a thousand of such parallelisms have been collected. 10. Bacon kept a notebook, containing over 1,600 quotations, proverbs and turns of expression, called the "Promus of Formularies and Elegancies." These are largely used in the plays. II. There is strong evidence that several of the plays appeared before William Shakspere left Stratford. 12. The plays fit curiously into the life of Bacon, but show scarcely a point of contact with Shakspere's life. The scenes of nearly all the plays are foreign. The scenes of several of the earlier plays are laid in France, where Bacon had resided for two and a half years. Others, as "3 Henry VI." and "Cymbeline," have their scenes at St. Albans, Bacon's home. "The Merchant of Venice" was acted when Anthony Bacon had just delivered his brother Francis from the Jews. The "dark period" of the plays coincides with the death of Essex and of Anthony Bacon in 1601. "The Tempest" appeared when the ships sent out by the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery and Bacon were wrecked at the Bermudas. "Henry VIII.," "Corio lanus" and "Timon" appeared seven years after Shakspere's death; but, appropriately to their subjects, after Bacon's fall. 13. The death of William Shakspere in 1616, leaving neither books nor manuscripts, did not stop the production of new plays, nor prevent the rewriting of old ones: but when Bacon became Solicitor-General in 1607 the plays diminished; and when he was appointed Attorney-General in 1613 they ceased; but to be resumed after his fall in 1621. 14. Two arguments support William Shakspere's claims. First, common repute; but we learn from Greene's "Farewell to Folly," that it was the practice of play-writers of calling and gravity" to "get some other to set their names to their verses." 15. The main, nay, the sole substantial argument is the Folio of 1623 and Ben Jonson's preface. But Ben Jonson up to 1616, the year of Shakspere's death, was bitterly jealous of him, and lost no opportunity of a sneer. In 1620 he became Bacon's literary assistant in latinizing Bacon's works, and suddenly became a worshipper of the author of the plays, expressing the same profound admiration which he also expressed for Bacon, and in similar terms. Ben Jonson was the chief editor of the FolioHeminge and Condell appear to have been nominal editors, seeking no profit and undertaking no charges. But Jonson was, at the same time, Bacon's literary assistant. The Folio must, therefore, have been published with Bacon's knowledge, and it may well have been under his control. If the publication of the Folio was, in fact, controlled by Bacon, the presumption of authorship may be reversed! In the following pages endeavour is made to give to these several points some of the consideration they deserve. GEORGE C. BOMPAS. LONDON, February, 1902. |