The Bottineau pioneer., June 14, 1888, Image 3

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THE CRYPTOGRAM.
Ignatius Dounelly's Book Issued
at Last.
A^WOBK OF GEE AT INTEREST
Bid Shaxpnr or Francis Bacon Write
Shakespeare!
Xrelimlnary Sketches The Wonderfal
Scholar Bacon—The Illiterate Stratford
Family—Hew Did 8h—ip Spell Hit
1»
Name?—His Danght«ri—Learning of the
Plays—Law of the Plays—Course of the
Jiscnssion—How Ignatius Donnelly, Ex*,
fcausts the Subject.
..•WTiitir.-iii'
In tho latter part of the sixteenth century
two great lights suddenly blazed out In the
galaxy of British intellects. Bo far did they
surpass all who went before, that each is
taken as the founder of a new system, both
as tho beginners of a new era. So great have
they seemed to all who have come after that
comparison is considered high praise. 80 far
did they outshine all contemporaries in their
several lines, that those are for the most part
only quoted as witnesses to these two and
while the time abounded in heroes, states
men, scientists and explorers, these two gave
it that distinctive glory which still attaches
to the Elizabethan aga These men were a
oertain dramatist, whose name is in dis
pute, but usually printed "Shakespeare,"
and Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam and
Viscount of St Albans. Comes now
the Hon. Ignatius Donnelly and offers
to prove that thee* two were one
that "Shakespeare" is a nom de plume,
adopted in mild burlesque of a cer
itain witty actor and stage manager that
the authorship of the plays was concealed for
political reasons, and thus the ignorant actor
'has been credited with the philosopher's
Tork, it is as if we should place Pike's
Peak upon Popoeatapetl, or add the strength
of Samson to the muscles and stature of
Goliah. If we must add the greatest philoso
pher down to that time to the greatest dra
matist of all time, the colossal intellect thus
-evoked overpowers the common mind, and
•we can only remit the explanation to the
philosophy of miracles.
Let us, therefore, examine Mr. Donnelly's
argument carefully, and add to it what
others have discovered, for the theory is no
new thing For nearly half a century it has
been gaining adherents at least 250 books
and pamphlets thereon have been issued, and
literary men are already ranged in two hos
tile camps—the Baconians and Shakespear
lana This article is merely an attempt to
present the evidence in compact form, and
point out the strongest and weakest counts
in Mr. Donnelly's plea, just issued.
TBI CONTRASTED TWO.
No two men could differ more widely *.h»n
tho known philosopher and the supposed
dramatist. Lord Bacon was nobly born,
rich (exccipt during one period of his life) and
learned beyond all men of his time, a re
fined courtier, a profound lawyer and an
able judge, an aristocrat In politics and a
life long companion of noblemen and the
adherents of royalty. Of tho supposed
dramatist the exact reverse was true in
every respect until the middle or latter part
of his life, when he had gained fame and
fortune. The contrasted evidence is amaz
ing and startlingly suggestive. Of Lord
Bacon we know as much as of any man in
English history. He was born at York
bouse, in the Strand, Londcn, Jan. 23, 1501,
and died at Highgate, April 9, 1020. His
father was a baronet, Sir Nicholas Bacon
bis mother of noble blood and extraordinary
talents. The few specimens extant of her
letters are perfect models of graceful and
rlassica) English. The style is noticeably
"Shakespearian." She adopted Puritan
views, and her letter warning her eons,
Francis and Anthony, against the theatre,
bears a striking similarity to passages in the
great dramas. Francis was precocious and
bis health was delicate. At 8 years of age
lio read the books usually perused by his
parents at 11 he produced an essay on the
laws of the imagination at 12 he entered
Trinity college, Cambridge, whence he grad
uated with high honors, and at the age of 16
He issued a protest against the philosophy of
Aristotle, then preferred at the college, and
against the general system of teaching.
"They learn nothing," he said, "except to be
liove. They are like a becalmed ship,. they
move but by the wind of other men's breath
and have no oars of their own to steer
withal." From childhood he was polite and
witty.
"How old are you, my pretty boyP asked
Queen Elizabeth when his mother brought
trim to court.
"Two years younger than your majesty's
liappy reign," replied the witty little cour
tier.
fie road all the Greek and Latin authors
oritically, spoke French and Italian, and
bad some knowledge of Danish and German.
He traveled on the continent of Europe,
studied in Paris, read law two years, and was
admitted to the bar at the age of 2L At 28
ho was mode counsel extraordinary to the
queen at 32 be was chosen member of par liar
incut for Middlesex, and devoted himself to
a reform of the laws. Subsequently he was
"special counsel to King James I then solic
itor general, attorney general, and finally
lord high chancellor. In 1618 he was created
Baron Verulam, and in 1621 Viscount of
St. Albans.
We turn now to the alleged dramatist, and
are at once almost lost in obscurity. At first
view lie would seem no more a real historical
person than Romulus or Agamemnon. We
Saiow that there is a name, "Shakespeare,*!
attached, to Immortal works, from which we
form exalted conceptions of the author, and
^portrait accompanying the works, which is
admitted to bo aq "improvement" or flatter
ing imitation of a very difffBr^nt picture. We
ajbo know that there was an individual whose
.itfune bore a very slight similarity to the
iq spuud, aad a closer resemblance in
spelling that he came at an early age from
Stratford-on-Avon, lived thirty years
in Lon
don, grew very rich as manager of a theatre,
returned to his native place, and spent his
few remaining years in easy living, diversified
by some rather discreditable actions. But
that individual's real name we cannot know,
since the few of his relatives who could write
spelled it in at least fifty-five different ways,
from Jacquespeer, Shacks] eer and Jaxpyr,
though the slow evolution of Shaxpeer,
Shackspyr, Shackspeer and Shaxper, down
to Shakspeer and finally Shakspcre, at which
it rested during the later years of William
Shakspere, after he had tried thirteen differ
ent ways of spelling it, only to make its final
change some time after bis death into
"Shakespeare," when his heirs claimed the
honor of the dramatic authorship and it was
asserted that tho family had been founded by
a noted warrior who was knighted for his
bravery with the spear. And, finally, there
is some evidence that the original was the
Norman nick name, for a peasant, Jacques
Pierre, which was pronounced Zhackspeair
and meant "Jack Peter."
For information of this William Shaxper
or Shakspere we turn first to the public and
official annals of the time and find not a line.
We turn next to the letters and other pro
ductions of eminent men of the time, and it
was indeed an age of greatness. There were
Robert Earl of Essex, Sir Francis Drake,
Sir Walter Raleigh, Cecil Lord Burleigh,
Nicholas, Anthony and Francis Bacon,
Sir Robert Cecil, Sir Henry Wotton and
Sir Philip Sidney, with Walsingham,
Coke, Camden, Hooker, Drake, Inigo
Jones and all that brilliant galaxy of
warriors, scholars and navigators, who only
began their career in the reign of Elizabeth
and became noted in that of James, and
therefore must have been for a short time
contemporary with William Shakspere.
The literature still extant as made by these
men is voluminous yet in all of it there is
no reference to the man, and very little in
deed to the plays. Let us pass this omission
as due to their preoccupation in other affairs
and turn to the poets and other writers of
the time. Here we find a few, very few,
references to William Shakspere as a genial
fellow, a boon companion at a supper and
abounding in wit and humor. But one of
all those, however, the noted Ben Jonson,
left any testimony implying that William
Shakspere was a man of great talents. To
sum up: All we really know of the man was
gathered after his death by visitors to Strat
ford-on-Avon. Seven years after the death
of Shakspere appeared the first complete
edition of "Shakespeare," called the edition
of 1623 then the reporters of the day went to
Stratford and hunted up the particulars,
and what they reported, and their successors
have discovered, sums up substantially as
follows:
TH* SH-K-SP-B-8 OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON.
Stratford-on-Avon was one of the dirtiest
towns in England at a period when the filthl
ness of common life was indescribable.
Night travel in the streets was made danger
ous by deep and muddy puddles, and the peo
ple utilized them for manure bins. When
the "reform movement" set in an alderman
and several prominent citizens, including
one of the Shaxpeers, were prosecuted for
making manure heaps in front of their doors.
The dwellings generally were dark and noi
some. In one of tfto best of those William
Shakspere was born, in April, 1564 and in
a much more elegant one, called New Place,
he died, April 23, 1616. His father, John
Shagspur, or Shaxper, or Shakspere, could
not write, but was a fairly well to do citi-
Yy*\&£
SHAKSPEREIAN AUTOGRAPHS,
sen: his mother was equally uneducated,
most of his relatives the same, and his own
daughter Judith, at the age of 27, could not
sign her name. When William was but 15
years old his father became a bankrupt.
William worked successfully as butcher and
wool stapler till the age of 18, when he was
compelled to marry Anne Hathaway, 8 years
older than himself. Their first child was
born a few weeks after, and their twins,
Hamnet and Judith, some two years after.
The young husband and father became
"rather dissolute was prosecuted and whipped
for stealing deer from the park of Sir
Thomas Lucy, and took revenge by circulat
ing a coarse piece of poetry ridiculing the
magistrate, for which he was so threatened
that at the age of 21 he fled to London. Thero
he lived a short time by tho humblest occu
pations, then became an actor, and very soon
after appeared the first, and perhaps the
finest, of the Shakespearian plays.
And here we are face to face with the first
great mystery.
If Shakspere wrote "Shakespeare," tben
we must believe that the illiterate village
'xy advanced in two or three years to
the capacity of producing dramas which
sweep the whole gamut of human feel
ing, rise to the heights of learning and go
down tc the depths of mental and moral
philosophy, display a knowledge of courtly
life and gentle manners equal to that of
Raleigh and an insight into the principles of
law almost rivaling C^ke, at the same time
that they show a command of Latin deriva
tives never in any other case gained except
by a severe classical training, a smoothness
of versification no other poet has attained
without years of application and an insight
into the workings of the human heart never
granted to any other writer. It almost sur
passes the power of human credulity. It
is perhaps possible to accept it as a fact
without invoking miracle as tho explana
tion, but we need not wonder that many
thousand thoughtful men disbelieve it
This is the first and greatest mystery, and
the second is like unto it, namely—Why did
William Shakspere, if the great dramatist,
suddenly cease to write at the very time
Lord Bacon was promoted to high ofilce, re
tire to Stratford and never mention his im
mortal works? As we have seen, the first
plays appeared almost as soon as the youth
became an actor, though there. is evi
dence that plays very similar in char
acter and title had been shown
in London before Shakspere arrived
there. Before 1593 appeared seven plays and
two poems, all these before William Shaks
pere was 30 years oldl Between the latter
dato and 1600 appeared thirteen more plays,
and thus they continued to appear till Bacon
was promoted—then Shakspero went to Strat
ford. As manager of the theatre in London
he had acquired a great fortune we should
presume, therefore, that he would thereafter
lead the life of a retired scholar, and bis
mansion b» the resort of learned men. Noth
ing of the sort. On the contrary, he engaged
in the brewing business, loaned small sums
on iroaclad mortgages, pursued debtors with
merciless severity, in one instance suing a
man for two shillings, indulged various vices,
contracted (according to one of his cotem
poraries) a loathsome disease, and finally
died in a fever produced by a long debauch
and the accompanying exposure. In all.
England the utmost research has failed to
v* ...
produce a scrap of h!s writing exccpt five
signatuies none of these had any connection
with literature, nor is there any proved copy
of anything he wrote in which he referred to
"Shakespeare's" dramas. He made a will in
which he mentions all his petty household
stuff, bis bowls, his breeches and his second
best bed but in it thero is no word referring
to his books, no mention of his plays or any
claim to copyright, not one allusion to his
possible fame. Did ever great scholar or
writer make a will without such reference!
Well might Ralph Waldo Emerson say, "1
cannot marry the facts to his verse."
The continued history of his family
greatly adds to the mystery. His daughter
Judith, at tho age of 27, had her "mark" cer
tified to because she could not write. His
parents' graves were unmarked by any stone
and unknown to his children. His daughter
Susanna married r.
Hall in haste, and with
out publication of banns,
for which they were cited
to appear before the ec
clesiastical court, and
were able to prove that
How many students of Biackstone, Coke
or Mansfield, at tho end of a two years'
course could state tho law of constructive
treason as clearly as Suffolk tin "Henry
VIII") statos it in this passage:
THE ORIOINAL PORTRAIT 0* SHAKESPEARE.
Lord Cardinal, the king's further pleasure is.
Because all those things you have done of lata
By your power legatine within this kingdom
Fall into the compass of a praemunire,
That therefore such a writ be sued against jrons
To forfeit all your goods, lavcts, tenements.
Chattels and whatsoever, and. to be
Out of the king's protection. This is my charge.
Stranger still, when a case is disputed in
any of the plays, the dramatist lays down the
law as it was in the last preceding reports of
the higher courts, eves when that bad
tbanged the previous law or the.popular con-.
^•gwwf»p|aw«.jS!yfjfBit,«|ygpqw5^^
u« AAio uauguw
JODITH
SEUUPEBX'S
the haste was at least ad- HARK
visable. A little later the doctor sued
two neighbors for libel, in that they had re
ported bad conduct in his wife and as
there is no record of a verdict, lawyers have
thought that the case was compromised.
Dr. Hall was a busy and careful man. He
kept a voluminous diary of his patients, his
lil'e and his many interests, which is still ex
tant, and has been greedily searched by
scholars but it contains nothing to prove
claims to any rights in "Shakespeare." In
the next generation the family became ex
tinct, the grandchildren dying childless the
property, the little that was left, went to
collateral heirs, and the family dropped into
its original obscurity. That out of such a
family should suddenly have risen the great
est genius of earth, descended from a long
line of peasants and boors that he should
have lived such a life, died such a death, left
daughters uneducated and taken no thought
for his fame, is of course possible but it is
against all experience. _________
INTERNAL EVIDENCES.
1. The plots of many of the plays are
from Letin, Greek and Italian authors, and
whole lines and paragraphs are almost lit
eral translations from the obscure classics.
The ready explanation was that the unlearned
Shakspere obtained his knowledge from
translations, but recent research has a con
clusive negative in this many of these
works had not then been translated into
English, and at least one of them is not
translated yet. More convincing still, in
those cases where an English translation was
then extant the author of "Shakespeare" has
rejected the style and words of the transla
tion, and reproduced in his drama a literal
rendering of the original, thus proving that
be had not only read it, but had it inwrought
into the very texture of his mind. Even the
so called mistakes of "Shakespeare" often
prove to be classical. Thus, in "Antony and
Cleopatra" Charmian proposes a game of
billiards. In the ordinary reader this ex
cites a smile. But the encyclopedic brain
that produced "Shakespeare" knew the
curious fact—not one man in a million knows
it now—that the game of billiards antedates
Cleopatra. In another place is a reference
to "Adonis' Gardens," of which the learned
Richard Grant White says: "No mention of
any such gardens in tho classic writings is
known to scholars." But James D. Butler
has found the passage in the "Fheedrus of
Plato," used exactly as in Shakespeare.
2. The author makes a word wherever he
needs it, makes it generally from a Latin
root and invariably follows the best rules of
derivation, and gives the word its radical
meaning. Of many hundred such words the
reader familiar with "Shakespeare" will
readily recall these: Deracinate, rubrous,
cautelous, armipotent, evitate, oppur^naucy,
legerity and propinquity. These words are
not the coinage of a man who knew the
Latin authors only in translations.
3. The author of "Shakespeare" was a pro
found lawyer. And his law was not like that
of Charles Reade or Wiikie Collins,
"crammed" for the particular case, nor even
like that of Samuel Warren, whose "Ten
Thousand a Year" is evidently written by a
lawyer and yet contains some very bad law:
on the contrary, it is the condensed excel
lency of the common law of England as it
stood at the accession of James I, and so
thoroughly absorbed into the writer's mind
that even in sportive lovo scenes or keen
ridicule he makes no mistake. This point
was lately submitted to a few able lawyers in
England, and their decision was that in all
the court scene3 and law phrases of "Shake
speare" there was but one departure from tho
actual law, that in the "Merchantof Venice."
Wo can readily see how the necessities of the
dramatic situation compelled the author to
depart from the correct i*ule in that case, for
it would have been a very flat contradiction if
Antony had asked relief in equity from his
bond. Authors who dip into law run into
danger unless well read in the science they
aro certain to blunder. But even in the most
careless allusions, or love scenes, the great
dramatist employs the technical terms of
law in their strict meaning and preserves
tho delicate distinctions between purchase
and descent, heirs of the blood and collater
als, indictment and presentation, burgage
tenure, fees and gavelkind, reversion ai'd
recovery. Observe the legal terms, as we
have capitalized them, in this love scene:
A Contract of Eternal Bond of love.
Confirmed by Mutual Joinder of your
Attested by the holy close of lips,
Strengthened by Interchangement of your rings.
And ail the ceremony of this Compact
Sealed in my function by my Testimony.
—Twelfth Night, v,
SUPPLEMENT TO THE PIONEER
eeptlon of it Thus the grave digger fn
"Hamlet," though discoursing clumsily tnat
Ophelia might be buried in consecrated
ground, lays down the law as it had been
laid down in "Plowden's Reports" in the
case of Sir James Hales, who commit
ted suicide. If the Shakespeare preconcep
tion were not so strong, the modern lawyer
would say that this passage was written by a
man in practice and "keeping up with the
decisions."
4. The author of "Shakespeare" was fairly
well informed in botany, zoology and such
science as then existed.
MINOR INTERNAL EVIDENCES.
The foregoing are only the most salient
proofs but many more are citcd. Thus the
dramatist never refers to Stratford-on-Avon,
the home of the Shaxper or Shakspere fam
ily but there are twenty-three references to
St. Albans, the home of Bacon. Warwick
shire is nowhere praised but Kent and other
districts in the south are. The fauna and
flora of the plays are not those of War
wickshire neither is tho geography, the
nobility or the dialect. When "SbakspearoV
clowns talk dialect, the only W arwickshire
words are those common to that county and
the south of England. Neither the politics,
nor the religion, nor the social life of the
plays are those of Stratford-on-Avon. By
all reasonable supposition the Shaxperes
were democrats the dramatist Is an aristo
crat who only mentions the common people
to ridicule them. The dramatist lived
through the life and death straggle of
Catholicism and Protestantism in England
yet it is impossible to decide which party he
favored, and both have claimed him. He
plainly ridiculed the pope's claim to
sovereignty in England but he rid
iculed the other party's extreme
view just as keenly, and as soon as Queen
Elizabeth was dead he put forth a play in
which her mother, Anne Boleyn, is merci
lessly dissected and held up to our contempt.
We have presented but a tithe of the
Baconians' evidences the Bhakespearians
meet them with weighty facts. First and
probably strongest on their side is what
logicians call the universal testimony. All
the world believed from the start that Will
iam Shaksper* was the author and how
could all the world be deceived? They add
to this the written testimony of three con
temporary writers. The Baconians easily
dispone of two, one of whom attacks Shaks
pere as a pretender and the other only re
fers to him as a witty, easy writer but the
testimony of Ben Jonson is too direct and
explicit to be thus got over. Ho was very
intimate with Shakspere and for a time
acted as secretary to Bacon he outlived them
both and received a pension from Charles 1,
ho survived to a time when the political di
visions of Elizabeth's and James' courts were
obsolete, and as Car as can now be seen, h*
was perfectly free to teil what he knew. Ht
knew the universal attribution of the plays
to Shakspero and never contradicted it. If
he knew that Bacon was their author why
was be silent! If it was a fact and he did
not know it, how could he lie deceived/ Mr.
Donnelly's answer is ingenious, and to many
will be conclusive but in our limited space
we cannot set it forth.
Mr. Donnelly'? cipher we do not as yet at
tempt to master. At first view it appears to
us very complicated but of the few who
have worked out sections of it, 6omc insist
that it is conclusive. For explanation we
need in this place only uso a familiar form.
Suppose that in some current writing we find
that tho tenth word is "offr," the twentieth
"father," the thirtieth "who," the fortieth
"art," and thus ou through the Lord's
prayer—we are compelled to conclude that it
is the result of design. Mr Donnelly's
ciphcr, however, proceeds on a far more
complicated plan, it is as if one should take
the fifth word, tho tenth, the fiftieth, the
hundredth, the hundred and fiftieth, and
thus on to 1,509 then return through a
totally different series of figures, arrived at
by dividing, to the place of beginning, and
thon proceed on a new series of which the
separate increments were obtained by a fired
system of division between tfie previously
obtained increments. Of course, this is not
Mr. Donnelly's 83'stem, but it give* some idea
of it, and those who maintain that it is the
true solution admit that many days' labor,
of tedious counting, are necessary to evolve
even one paragraph of the co u ealod story
But when evolved, they insist, it £ives the
inside history of Queen Elizabeth's reign and
siiowfe why the authorship had to bo con
cealcd.
With this caution to tho reader wo present
a
few
of the paragraphs formed by tho words
thus numerically selected from "Henry IV,"
tfce play in which
Mr. Donnelly dis
covered the cipher.
Wo give tiie names
as formed by the
cipher of» common
words and the real
names 'in paren
theses. The Mar
I owe mentioned
was a contempo
rary and rival of KO*V KT CECIL.
William Shakspera Queen Elizabeth is rep
resented as talking with Cecil,cousin of Bacon
but his enemy. Cecil says: "These plays aro
put abroad at first upon the stage in the
name of more-low (Marlowe), a woebegone,
sulleu fellow. He bad engaged in a quarrel
with one Arch or (Archer) a servant, about
a wanton, ending in a bloody band to hand
fight, in which he was slain. The |oint of
his own sword struck against hia Lead and
eye, making fearful wounds." Speaking of
Marlowe's blasphemy, he proceeds: "My
father would, in his wrath, have burned the
borson, rascally knavo alive in the firo of
Smithfield for the sin ho hath committed
against Heaven and tho state." Speaking of
the treasonable purposes of the plays, he
says that, having heard that tho Essex party
were representing the deposition and mur
der ot King Richard il on the stage and
cheering uproariously at every hit, ho sent a
friend to ascertain the facts, who returned
with the statement that the reports were
true. The following sentence is descrip
tivo of the scene in the theatre on the
death of King Richard II: "But when
poor King Richard fell a corpse at
Pomfret under uncounted blows, they made
the most fearful noise. Again and again
it broke forth. It seemed as if they would
never stop. The play shows the
victory of rebels over an anointed tyrant,
and by this pipe be hath blown the flame of
rebellion almost into open war. These well
known plays have even made the most holy
matters of religion, which all good men hold
in sincere respect, subjects for laughter, their
aim being, it is supposed, to thus poison the
mind of the discordant, wavering multitude.
They mean in this covert way to make a ris
ing and flood this fair land with blood." In
another part of the cipher story it reads
thus: "Seas-ill (Cecil) said that More-low
(Marlowe) or' Shak'st-spurre (Shakspere)
never writ a word of them. It is
plain he is stuffing our ears with false re
ports and lies this many a year. He is a poor,
ill-spirited, greedy creature and but a veil
for some one elsa. 1 have a suspicion that
my kinsman's servant, young Harry Percy,
was the man to whom he gave every night
the half of what be took through the day at
the gate. Many rumors aro on the tongues
of men that my cousin hath prepared not
only the Mjonts»tion Bctwoea York and
Lancaster/ and 'King John' and thfs play
(Rich. II), but other plays which are put
forth, at fii-st under the name of More-low
(Marlowe) and now go abroad as prppared by
Shak'st-spurre (Shakspere)." Still another
represents a conversation between Cecil and
the Bishop of Worcester, and the bishop
says: "We know him (Shakspere) as a
butcher's rude and vulgar prentice, and it
was in our opinions not likely that he writ
them. He is neither witty nor learned
enough. The subjects are far beyond his
ability. It ie even thought here that your
cousin of St. Albans writes them."
Tho beating of Hayward is described in
another cipher paragraph. Hayward, it
seems, had been imprisoned for dedicating
his "Life of Henry VII" to the Earl of Essex.
When brought before the queen to answer
for bis offense, the ciphcr says "The sullen
old jade doth listen with the ugliest frown
UJKJU her brows, too enraged to speak, but
rising up and starting forward,[took Ha-word
(Hayward) by bis throat and choked him.
The old jade struck my poor young
friend a fearful blow with the steeled end of
tho great crutch, again and again. His
limbs being so weakened by imprisonment
end grief, be is not able to stand the force of
the blows. The hinges of his joints give way
under him and he falls to the ground. Seas-ill
(Cecil) says to him, 'Speak out. Why did'st
thou put the name of my lord the earl upon
the title leaf of this volume/"' Hayward
thereupon foolishly proceeds to praise Essex
as a great and good man. The queen threat
ens to have his ears cut off and concludes:
"Thy hateful looks and the whiteuess of thy
face is apter than thy tongue to tell thy nar
ture."
BACON'S SINGULAR TESTDfONT.
In Lord Bacon's admitted works is this'
curious passage:
"In a matter which had some affinity with
my lord of Essex's course, which, though it
grow from me, went about in other men's
uames, her majesty was highly Incensed with
that book of the First Year of King Henry
the Fourth—-it was dedicated to my lord of
Essex—said she bad a good opinion there
was treason in it, and asked me if I could not
find plans in it that could be drawn within
case of treason, whereto I answered: For
treason surely I found none, but for felony
very many. And when her majesty hastily
asked me wherein, I told her the author had
committed very apparent theft, for ho bad
taken most of the sentences of Cornelius
Tacitus aud translated them into English and
put them into his text. Another time, when
the queen would not be persuaded that it was
his writing whose name was to it, but that it
had some more mischievous author, and said
with great indignation that she would have
bim racked to produce his author, 1 replied:
Nay, niudame, never rack his person but
rack his stile let him have pens, ink and
paper, and help of books, and be enjoined to
continue the story where it leaves off, and 1
will undertake by collecting the stiles to
judge whether ho was the author or no."
Observe the sly humor with which Bacon
attempts to divert the queen by speaking of
plagiarism as felony. But Mr. Donnelly
finds confirmation of the foregoing account
in the cipher story, one paragraph of which
reads:
"His men turn their backs, and my crafty
old friend Hence-low (Ilenslowe) flics at tho
Qi-st appearanco of danger, stumbling under
the heavy weight."
Tho first to question William Shakspero's
authorship was his rival and enemy, one
Greene, but this was attributed to envy.
Alexander timith, the essayist, made the ob
servation that "Bacon beoms to have written
his essays with Shakespeare's pen." Horace
Vv'alpole classed tho authorship of the plays
among his "Historic Doubts." In 1852 Mr
Speduing printed a paper, "Who Wrote
Shakespeare's nenry VIIIP* Boon after
Chambers' (Edinburgh) Journal published an
anonymous paper entitled, "Who wrote
Shakespeare?" and the author arrived at the
conclusion that Shakspere "kept a In
ISTifi Miss Delia Bacoa (the identity of name
with --he Lord keeper's is onJy a coincidence) an
American lady, sister of Rev. Leonard Bacon,
first propounded tho theory that Lord Bacon
was the Shakespeare wanted and from that
date it began to assumo the dignity ot a
theory, and what was down to that time
only an insignificant literary heresy,
summer Night's t)reara," "As Ton Like It,"'
"Comedy of Errors," and others, then, in*
deed, was it a magic pen, and be wbo wielded
it the composite of all humanity, with a
quantum of divine leaven superadded, such
as has never been vouchsafed to any other
man.
For Shakspere, unlearned as he was, to
have "sounded all the depths and shoals" of
learning, to have culled w much wealth from
the debris of dead languages with which he
was not familiar, was a miraclo for Bacon
to have added the production of the plays to
that of his other works, was a phenomenon
and is as much greater than tbe other as the
equipoise and rotation of tbe solar system ii
greater than the floating of an axe head or
the transformation of rods into serpents.
There are two facts worthy of note: The
turning from Shaksjere is an expression
of tbe widespread unbelief in his ability the
turning to Bacon is an expression of the gen
eral recognition of his transcendent genius.
If Shakspere did not write the plays, then
it must have been tbe man who "made all
knowledge his province." It is also worthy
of note that tho greatest merit of the one's
charming poetry is its philosophy and tbe
greatest charm of the other's meritorioiu
philosophy is its poetry. If the authors were
not one, surely Shakspero borrowed Bacon'*
sage and left bis muse for surety.
It is natural that tae theory should be vig
orously combated so long as it is only a
theory, for it may bo an injustice is being
done but if it can be demonstrated, it would
seem that all men should hail it with joy. for
it raises the standard of humanity to twice
its supposed hight. It is a compliment to tbt
human race, to tbe planet on which we live,
and humanity should feel such a dilatation
of the soul as must, for a time, seem like in*
flation.
"THE GREAT CRYPTOGRAM."
The full title of Mr. Donnelly's book Is:
"Tbe Great Cryptogram: Francis Bacon'*
Cipher in the So Called Shakespeare Plays."
It is a magnificent imperial octavo volume
of 1,000 pages, and is divided into three partf
or books: Book I—The Argument. Book II—
The Demonstration. Book III—Conclusions.
Throughout it is written in an easy, enter
taining style, such as will hold the attention
of the reader. From a typographical stand
point tbe volume is a credit to tbe art pre
servative, being beautifully printed, with
engraved titles and numerous illustrations,
all of a very high order. The frontispiece it
a portrait on steel of Lord Bacon, from the
celebrated painting of Van Somer. The
work is published by R. S. Peale & Co.,
whose principal office is at 407-125 Dearborn
street, Chicago. Tbe publishers announce
that the second edition will probably be
issued in two volumes, as the original price
of the work was based on the supposition
that it would contain only 700 pages. "Tbe
Great Cryptogram" is sold by subscription
only, and an army of agents will soon be in
tho field. It will not be sold in the book
stores, but orders may be sent direct to the
publishers by those wbo have not had an op
portunity to subscribe.
ATTACK ON THE SUBSCRIPTION BOOK.
The intense feeling against Mr. Donnelly
and bis book has manifested itself in Almost
every form of opposition imaginable, from
tbe flippant charge of hallucination and
crankiness to the sober imputation of willful
and deliberate fraud. Not content with con
demning the book in advauce, some havt
gone so far as to find matter of criticism in
the method by which tho book is published
and sold—that is. tho subscription method,
as if tnat could affect the merit of the work.
Grant's, Blaine's and Logan's books nere all
sold in this way, and the more irnjortnnt ol
Mark Twain's. By this method publishers
are warranted in undertaking what would
otherwise be too hazardous, and many books
aro thus issued which could not otherwise see
the light. Some of tbe best aditions of the
Shakespeare plays have been published in
this wuy, ana never could have been pub
lished in any other way. Not only this. bu»
thousands of people are thus induced co rsad
who rarely see tho inside of a library or book
store, and the cottago without a small :ollec
tion of choice books is now the exception.
Besides this an army of enterprising tnou
and women find profitable employment, ind
this book should certainly jffer tbem i field
for rich harvests, for no such literary eusa
tion has ever occurred.
A list of eminent men wbo have been book
agents comprises many authors and itates
men. Tbe following is from The Philadel
phia Times:
"George Washington was a Ijook agent,
and a good ona Prior to tbe fateful Brad
dock expedition he sold over 200 copies in
Fairfax aud adjoining counties in Virginia
of a work on 'The American Savage.' Jiy
Gould, Ilalph Waldo Emerson and Mar/
Twain were in early life look canvassers. 5c
also was Longfellow, and his success was re
markablo. There is now in tho possession jf
the Massachusetts Historical society a pros
IJCEiE
it3
ad­
herents having no rallying point, tins since
grown to be the faith of a united and ag
gressivo party, numbering tens of thousands,
among them many of the ablest critics and
scholars of the time. During tho last thirty
years some 250 books and pamphlets have
been written upon the subject. Sorno four
years ago Mr. Donnelly announced to tbe
world that be had discovered a cipher story
interwoven in tbe plays which would end all
discussion. Tbe proposition was ono so
astonishing, that its very statement almost
carried its own confutation. Even Bacon
ians stood aghast, as if in awo of the very
miracle they had invoked. The whole dis
cussion had grown out of the fact that for
more than 200 years the production of
the plays by Shakespeare bad been
considered a literary miracle, and tho dispo
sition of an incredulous age to eliminate it
and now, what was the result of all this
labor but a transposition and magnifying of
the miracle! For what other Li it than a
miraclo if we add six cubits and a sjan to
the stature of Goliab -or increase the
strength
of Hercules by superadding Samson's or
augment tho wisdom of Solomon with
that of Socrates? For surely be does
no less than these who doubles the in
tellectual stature cf Francis Bacon, who,
from his known works, is adjudged by almost
all great critics to have been the greatest man
that ever lived—Shakespeare alone, if any,
matching him in greatness. If it should be
proved that Bacon should stand upon the
shoulders of his only supposed compeer to be
measured for his niche in famo'b temple
that, bisected, he was tbe greatest two men
that over lived—-have we not a miraclo# No.
But v/e have more, for there be phenomena
that are greater than any miracle, and this
is ono. If the pen that wrote the Essays,
tbe Advancement of Learning and the new
Organon, wrote, also, not only "Lear,"
"Hamlet," "Macbeth," "Othello" and "Jo
Itua Cssar," but "R^meo aud ullet," "Mid*
"LOOK IN THY HEART."
Vainly, one summer's da *, I sought to write
8ome record of my woes, and leave some marlP
Behind so that another, la the dark
Of this world's ways, might know and fear the
light
Of thy perilous eyes, and learn that deeper night
Is all that comes of watching them -when hark I
A voice of sympathy. It was the lsrk
Of English song, and this his saw of might:
"Look in thy heart and write." Bweet Sidney,,
bow
Oouldst thou fvesea my plight? Mid by th*
word
Solve all my doubts? Yet still I have tbe
same
Misgivings as before—'twas then as now—
E'en in my heart I found no cheer, and heard
No sound save foolish echoes of thy name.
—G. Melville Upton in Overland Monthly.
8EEINQ THE GUILLOTINE.
lingo's Account of an English LadyHt*
Visit to the Paris Executioner.
M. Sanson lived in the Rue d'a Marais
du Temple, in an isolated house, of wblch
the jalousies were always closed. He re
ceived many visits. Numbersof English
people went to see him. When visitors
presented themselves at M. Sanson's they
were introduced into on elegant reception
room on the ground floor, fnrnished en
tirely with mahogany, in tbe midst of
which there was an excellent piano, al
ways open and provided with pieces of
music. Shortly afterward M. Sanson ar
rived and asked his visitors to be seated.
The conversation turned uponoue subject
and another. Generally the English peo
ple asked to see the guillotine. M. San
son complied with this request, no doubt,,
for some consideration, and conductecj
the ladies and gentlemen to the adjoining
street, (the Ru Albony, I think), to the
bouse of the scaffold manufacturer.
There was a shed at this place, where tbo
tbe guillotine was permanently crectcd.
The strangers grouped themselves around
It and it was made to work. Trusses of
hay were guillotined.
One day an English family, consisting
of the father, the mother and three pretty
daughters, fair and with rosy cheeks, pre-,
sented themselves at Sanson's residence.
It was in order to see the guillotine. Son
sou took them to the carpenter's and set
the instrnment at work. The knife fell
and rose again several times at the re
quest of the young ladies. One of tbem,
however, the youngest, was not satisfied
with this. She made the executioner ex
plain to her in the minutest details whnt.
is called the toilet of the condemned.
Still she was not satisfied. At length she
turned hesitatingly toward the execn
tioner. "Monsieur Sanson," she said.
"Mademoiselle," said the executioner.
"What is done when the man is on tha
scaffold? IIow is he tied down?" Ths
executioner explained the dreadful mat
ter to her and said, "We call that'put
ting him in the oven.' "Well, Monsieur
Sanson," said the yonng lady, "1 want-,
yon to put me iu the oven."
The executic ler started. He made aur
exclamation of surprise. The young Ind^*
insisted. "I fancy," she said, "that I
should like to be able to say 1 have been
tied down on it." Sanson spoke to tho
father and mother. They replied, "As
she has taken a fancy to have it done do
it." The executioner had to give iu. H©
made the young miss sit down, tied her
legs with a piece of string and her arms
behind her back with a rope, fastened her*
to tbe swinging plank and strapped heron
with the leather strap. Here he wanted
to stop. "No, no* that is not yet all," she'
said. Sanson then swung the plank
down, placed the head of tbo young lady
in the dreadful neck piece and closed it
upon her neck. Then she declared sao
was satisfied. When he afterward told
the story Sanson said, "I quite thought
she was going to say at last, 'That is not
all. Make the knife falL* "—Things &eeiu
by
Victor Hugo.
W&
pectus the poet used, and on one cf tbe blank
leaves are the skeleton lines of the celebrated
poem 'Excelsior,' whicb be was then evi
dently incubating. Daniel Webster paid bis
second term's tuition at Dartmouth by sell
ing books. Gen. Grant at one time took an
agency for lrving's 'Columbus.' Bret llnrte
was a book agent in California in 1840 and
'50. Ex-President Hayes footed it all
over southern Ohio Felling Toaster's
Lives of the Saints.' After tho siege of
Toulon, Bonaparte, then a young lieutenant
employed at tho capital, and too honorable
to duplicate bis pay account, took the agency
for the 'History of the Revolution.' Bis
marck, Cardinal Mezzotanti, Count iletter
nich, Canning, Lord Denham, and Coleridge,
the poet, were all, at some period of their
lives, book agents. So also were 3Imc. da
Stael and Mrs. Jameson, and Columbus can
vassed for a work on 'Marine Explorations.'
James G. Blaine began his business career as
a canvasser lu Washington county, Pa.,
where he sold a life of Henry Clay. Many
others whose names emblazon-: the pages of
history largely owe their success-in. life to the
experience obtained while engaged in tbo
laudable aaft hooocable calling of a book
JVI£ BJSAPUL
England Over Popnlatad.
It requires no argument to show that
England in very seriously over populated.
The increase in tbe last fifty years Is under
estimated at 8,000,000, and the £15'J
value per head calculated by the late Dr.
Farr (who died in 1883) is converted into*
a debit factor. Human over production
is evident in every profession and trade,,
and while the duration of life has risen
nineteen years, the population goes on in
creasing at an alarming rate of compound
interest. Between 1861 and 1871 fn romuP
numbers our population increased .'5,000,
000 between 1871 and 188i, 3,400,000, and
between 1881 and 1891 it will be found to
stand at nearer 4,000,(XX). When the com
munity is obliged to take up stock of any
kind (but especially live stock) at tho rate'
of 400,000 to 500,000 a year beyond its re
quirements, the stock, becomes a curse and'
not a blessing.—Cor. London Times.
Relics in tbe Alp*.
There have recently lieen discovered In
the high Alps near the summit of the
great St. Bernard five large granite altars
and a number of other relics of the stotn»-»
age, such as axes, knives, etc., used in.
the pagan epochs for sacrifices. SsvLsa
writers emphasize tho historical import
ance of this discovery in that it is a proof
that St. Bernard was a place of sacrifico
in pagan times, and also that as far back
as the age of stone the Canton Vulais wa-t
inliabited by human beings. Publie*.
Opinion.
Qaotlng from "the Commandment*.**
"Pray, whnt do you mean by the Miz»'"
said a little country girl to a new mad^
friend of her own age from the city.
"Why, liefore I came tip here, I thought all
that wasn't in New York was in the Miz.'*"
"Yes, yes But just what is the Miz?"
said the country girl. Her friend replied,
with surprise aud horror: "Haven't yott
learnt the commandments? Doesn't it say, rg
'The Lord made heaven and earth, and all''
that in them Miz?'"—Good Housekeeping.
Alaska'* Wealthy Church.
The Greek church at Sitka, Alaska,
la-
one of the wealthiest in the world, its
treasure consisting for the greater part
in old paintings of the gnints set ilk"
frames of gold and silver. One picture, A
present from the czar, is valued at $40,
000. The massive doors of the church aM
heavily inlaid with the precious
New York Evening World.
Thought It Was an Owl.
A near sighted yonng man in the city
went ont on a hunting expedition thorMi
other day. In the woods he saw wliat be
thought was an owl perched on a tree. H®
fired several times at the bbject, bnt il-.i
never stirred.: Ju' at this juncture
discovered that he had been delnded by a,
piece of mud on his eyeglass.—WatertowtT
a'imos.
A
Young
Man's
ExperieBcc.
"When you get very tired," Maid oaf
yonng man to auother, "do you ever
IOBT^
command of words and ideas?" "Xo^*
said tho other young man, "I can't
that I do: Out I have felt that wajr
times when I got home very late at:
-H9k»nerville.J«iicna) y
5
ism,