stances, an utter impossibility. His plays, sonnets and poems occupy upward of 1,000 very closely printed pages, containing nearly 200 lines on each page.

Nine of the thirty-seven plays usually credited to Shakespeare were never heard of until the seventh year after his death, and all of the thirty-seven were then published with considerable many changes by a master hand. The folio of 1623 has thirty-six plays, of these eighteen were printed for the first time, four more were so changed as to be practically new. For the text of twenty-two out of the thirty-six we are dependent upon the folio. Of the remaining fourteen, only nine are not seriously changed from the original quartos.

Seven of these plays were originally brought out without any author's name on the title page-Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Richard II., Richard III., first part of Henry IV., and second and third parts of Henry VI.

That six editions of the poem Venus and Adonis and four of Lucrece were thus published. Several editions of the poems and of certain plays were published before 1616. Of these editions twenty-seven had no author's name on the title page. When the name of Shakespeare did appear outside the printed edition it was spelled with the a and final e, and generally with a hyphen between the syllables, a mode of spelling not recognized by Will Shakespeare himself. While John Shakespeare was a member of the council at Stratford, the records show the name was spelled in fourteen different ways, one hundred and four times with an "x," indicating that the name was pronounced with the "a" in the first syllable short.

Some of the plays were written after Shakespeare had left London, and all agree that he did not write, after he left London. Othello, 1613, Henry VIII., 1612-13, Timon of Athens, 1610-23. Of the plays of the first period, nine were written in 1582-1593. It was therefore impossible for him to have been the author of the above plays, which were written after he left London. As to the sonnets, the first authentic edition, in 1609, was dedicated by the printer to "Mr. W. H." the only begetter of them-supposed to mean, undoubtedly and correctly, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.

We have seen that at the time few of these plays or sonnets were claimed by Shakespeare or his immediate friends or

heirs, and also the improbable task of his producing them under the circumstances. We must remember that books were then scarce and scholars relatively few. That there were few books of reference and no such encyclopedias, or condensed forms of statistics and deduced principles from voluminous treatises as now. It was therefore much harder to absorb than it is now; nor is it possible to absorb only the most superficial facts and outlying principles. Had the author of the books under consideration been dependent upon this method of obtaining knowledge, we should not be considering his works to-night, for they, with him, would long since have passed into oblivion. Moreover, the advocates of Shakespeare seem to forget that he had about all an ordinary mortal could do, as owner in part and manager of two theaters, and most of the time supposed to be an actor, while these plays were being written'that it is claimed he produced. He is credited by all to have spent fully his share of time in the coffee houses and inns, or beer houses of London, while this most marvelous development was going on.

If this training for a genius was so efficacious in his case, why has it not since had the same effect, and why have we never before found another with such rare attainments? One is not enough for this world and this race. Why is not absorption the best development now, and leave the tiresome routine of school and college and university, and step from the most uncultured occupation to the chief seat in the synagogue of scholarship? If it was done in this case it could be done again.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF THE PLAYS.

[From the Authorship of Shakespeare-Holmes, Vol. 1, p. 106.]

1. First printed in present form-older form printed 1594. 2. First in complete form-only first sketches before.

3. First in complete form-only a sketch before.

VI.

SHAKESPEARE OR BACON?—CONTINUED.

This evening we consider some of the evidences in support of the theory that Francis Bacon was the real author of what are generally known as the plays of Shakespeare. Having seen what qualities of head and heart, and culture, and attainments were the requisite necessities for their authorship, we find no one of that age who so nearly possessed these requirements and from temperament, disposition, character, culture and circumstantial evidence in his favor, could have produced them. We have seen that the probabilities are largely against their being the works of Shakespeare, and that about the only claim that he has to their authorship is that they appear at this late date, over three hundred years, with his name attached as the author, as it has probably been ever since the folio edition of 1623. It would have been the greatest literary miracle in history for Shakespeare to have written them under the most favorable circumstances. But for Bacon to have done so, only the natural flow of one of the greatest and most cultured intellects the world has yet seen, well regulated, at that time, by as pure a character as his intellect was brilliant and trained. He had every possible qualification demanded by the most critical analysis for their production, and there are no anachronisms in the record, nor apologies by his friends necessary to a full and hearty support to the ciaim he has to their authorship. Some think that different writers produced these plays and the sonnets; but excepting the differences that are readily discerned in the earlier and later works, they are stamped with all the indicia of the same author for all. The same identical mind and heart throbs through them all, and the same wonderful

genius seems to lay the foundations and complete the

structure.

We have seen that their author was a poct, a philosopher, a profound thinker and scholar, of broad and varied historical and literary attainments, well versed in Latin, French, Greek, Italian and Danish, and a thorough student of English (a rare attainment in those days, and one not claimed for Shakespeare) and moving amid the higher walks of social, literary and court life. That he was a lawyer, with a thorough knowledge of the technical theories and phrases of the law and the practical application of them in the courts, and that he had, at least, a very general knowledge of all the other sciences. That he was a man of great analytical powers and exalted character, of wise discernment and keen observation.

All these Bacon possessed in a marked degree, and he is the only man of that age, as far as we can now determine, that did possess all the qualifications which the critical concensus of the centuries has demanded of the author of these immortal works.

Shakespeare did not possess many of these requirements, either by nature or cultured development, and hence the search for some one who had the genius and culture-and the person who possessed them has been found in Francis Bacon.

If a satisfactory reason can be given why he did not claim the authorship at that time, and why he was not publicly known as their author, then the chief difficulty is overcome. It is certain that he was competent to have written them, and this cannot be said of any other man of that era.

He was descended from a fine family of the choicest nobility. He had all a grand and distinguished ancestry could give him, and all the marked advantages it could bring, and especially in earlier life. He was born in York House, or Palace on the Strand, Jan. 22, 1561. His father, Nicholas Bacon, was a fine scholar, author, statesman and keeper of the seal of the Realm. His mother, Lady Ann, was the daughter of Sir Anthony Coke, one of the tutors of Edward VI., and was a lady of superior learning and rare attainments. She was read in the classics, corresponded with Archbishop Jewell in Greek, and translated from the Italian into English some voluminous theological works.