Show I BnconShaUespeare Controversy I There has been a discussion going on for some timeit seems to be revived every fifteen or twenty years as to the I BaconianShakespeare theory as to who wrote the plays whether written by Bacon or Shakespeare This is revived re-vived like the treasureseekers who look for the buried doubloons of Cap tain Kidd and ruin the plants by digging dig-ging up all the sand on Coney Island I trying to find this treasure and lately there has been an interesting discussion discus-sion which I have read in the Arena and also I believe an enthusiastic pamphlet sent to me from here and I another letter But the most promi nent champion it has had is Ignatius Donnelly who has written a book called IIDOnnelY the Great Cryptogram an extraordinary extraor-dinary book and I cannot say but what nar rtngrt ai u lnC very ipganiouo arguments I argu-ments contained in that book But we can prove anything by argument I was proved clearly at one time that Napoleon never existed But that same arguer forgot to prove that he did not die Now if he died he must have existed ex-isted Mr Donnelly has proved that Bacon wrote these plays but he has not proved that Shakespeare did not Laughter and applause In one of his arguments he says How is it that not one scrap of paper that no manuscript has been discovered in Shakespeares handwriting beyond two or three signatures that he wrote Well if the manuscripts of the plays have not been discovered i that would prove Shakespeare did not write them it seems to me it would hold in full force against Bacon in the same way because if the losing of the manuscript proves that Shakespeare did not write the plays it must prove that Bacon did not so who did write them We are left in a muss We not only lose our Shakespeare but we do not even save our Bacon Applause To Ignatius Donnelly therefore I say Respected member of the bar and state In law and literature profoundly great As you have thrust at an immortal name And claimed the right of caring for the same I am neither skilled in law nor science The gauntlet you have thrown down in bold defiance Espousing Bacons case You stand before me as a Great I Am You foolish fellow with your Cryptogram Together with a case of special pleading But I defy them both for good or ill And stand the champion of immortal Will Lay on McD with all your legal stuff And enough damned he who first cries hold The question is this if I amnot mistaken Did William Bacon Shakespeare or did Francis Inspired by conscience and by learning Cdmpose the wondrous rules we have in view Scholar Bacon was a man of knowledge But is not at inspiration taught college With sion all the various gifts in Wills posses Ihe wondering world asks what was his profession He must have been a lawyer says the lawyer He was surely sawyer says the sawyer He must have been a chemist says the corner druggist The skilled mechanic dubbed him a ma chjnlst clinist And so hes claimed by every trade in fact sir Your pardon sir he was an actor I Bacon wrote the plays pray tell me then Are all these wondrous sonnets from his pen Pray take my hand I ap alt e out of my memory I have really forgotten the lines I never remember lines I write myself At all events it terminates with the fact that I Shakespeare is not the very same I must have been another with that name Now I have concluded and I must express my apologies to you for the bungling manner In which I have stumbled stum-bled over my own verses However it is perhaps better to do that than to have stumbled over somebody elses In doing so let me thank you not only for the invitation but for the patient manner in which have listened you lstened to them Prolonged applause |