I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO MY WIFE IN WHOSE PRESENCE IT WAS WRITTEN, YET WHO BEFORE IT CAME FROM THE PRESS The three important things Lord Palmerston was rejoiced to see, "The reintegration of Italy, the unveiling of the mystery of China, and the explosion of the Shakespeare illusions.' as if The Glory of God is to conceal a thing the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works. BACON. Silence were the best celebration of that which I mean to commend. My praise shall be dedicated to the mind itself, Mente Videbor, by the mind I shall be seen. Read not to contradict and to confute Nor to believe and take for granted; But to weigh and consider. Ibid. Ibid. For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next ages. Ibid. I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but TIME and CHANCE happeneth to them all. TO THE READER ALTHOUGH much has been written upon the authorship of the "Shakespeare" Works, it has been impossible hitherto for readers to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the subject without an excursion into fields of controversy of forbidding extent. It has seemed to me, therefore, a worthy task to present to them in a single volume a critical study of the entire subject, and, also, a review of the work of fellow students who have preceded me. To visualize my subject more vividly to them I have illustrated it pictorially, using much of my material as it was originally produced, though inartistic; some of the portraits, for instance, being from photographs of old and somewhat defaced canvases, which could not have been reëngraved without impairing their character, and many of the minor illustrations from ancient books printed when wood engraving was a rude art. In my treatment of opponents I hope that I have not held them in too light esteem, fully realizing that what we often believe to be principles and valorously battle for, not infrequently turn out to be but opinions, and that beyond them may be a wide field of debatable ground. What I have written, however, is the result of conviction founded upon judgment. If this is deficient it should be apparent to the reader. PORTLAND, MAINE, 1915. JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER. |