with the plea of danger to his personal safety, had be been in the position of author of the subject of the indictment.

Whatever may be the estimate of Bacon's intellectual powers, there will be no assertion that he possessed any of the quality that makes rebels, martyrs or heroes; of the moral courage that stands up for a right, or the boldness and hardihood that faces danger in the perpetration of a wrong.

If this opinion needs any support I again quote Mr. Macaulay, who says, "He seems to have been incapable of feeling strong affection, of facing great dangers, of making great sacrifices; his desires were set on things below." His historian, Joseph Devey, M.A., says, "In 1593 he sat for Middlesex and delivered his maiden speech in favour of law reform. The praises which followed so intoxicated him that in an ensuing debate on the subsidy he broke out into a flaming oration against the court, denouncing the claim as extravagant, and dwelling with pathetic sympathy upon the miseries which such exactions must cause among the country gentry, who would be constrained to sell their plate and brass pans to meet the demands of the crown.

Bacon carried his motion for an inquiry, and struck all the courtiers with horror and amazement. The queen, highly incensed, desired it to be intimated to the delinquent that he must never more expect favour or promotion. The spirit of the rising patriot was cowed; with bated breath he whispered expressions of repentance and amendment, and never afterwards played the patriot further than was consistent with his interest at court."

After this exposition of the facts of the case, and the character of the man, no one susceptible to reason, or to truth, will adhere to the opinion that a being so weak in manly traits as to fear the name of author of the plays, would courageously hazard position, and even life, upon confidence in the faithful preservation of his secret, by one who through every tie of honour, affection and self-interest, was allied to and in close sympathy with this man's victims; who was himself a sharer in their perils, and who, at any moment, might utter the word that would precipitate him to ruin.

Had there been any connection between Bacon and Shakespeare, the part Bacon had just enacted toward Essex would have sug

gested to his mind, a thousand fears that fate might repay him with like treachery.

The claim that Bacon was the author of Richard II. involves the heinous imputation, that as volunteer prosecutor, he eagerly and ruthlessly pursued upon a deadly charge, the men to whom, as author, he had supplied the incitement and material for their crime. It is not the friends of Shakespeare who allege this atrocity, and it is therefore evident that Bacon needs stronger defence against his mad supporters, than Shakespeare does.

A special reference here to the poems of Venus and Adonis, and Lucrece, will bring out more conspicuously the strength and duration of the bond between Southampton and Shakespeare, and the consequent peril to Bacon had he been the author. Venus and Adonis was published April 18th, 1593, and evidently was the product of leisure hours in 1592, when the theatres were closed on account of the plague. It was published by a printer of Stratford-which alone would be conclusive testimony as to Shakespeare's independent control of it-and licensed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It reached several editions in

the course of a few years, and the copyright, which from the extent of sale must have had considerable value, changed hands several times during that time; the work of printing also was done by different successors to the original printer, a feature again significant as regards non-concealment of authorship. The poem was dedicated to Lord Southampton in the following terms:

"To the

"RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY WRIOTHESLEY, "Earl of Southampton and Baron of Titchfield, "Right Honourable,

"I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world. will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden; only if your honour seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours till I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first heir of my invention proved deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather, and never after ear so barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest. I leave it to your honourable survey, and your honour to your heart's content; which I wish may always answer your own wish, and the world's hopeful expectation.

"Your Honour's in all duty,

"WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE."

On May 9th of the following year, 1594, the poem of Lucrece appeared; it was from the

same press, which then apparently changed hands; it also went through several editions spread over several years, and was dedicated as follows:

"To the

"RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY WRIOTHESLEY, "Earl of Southampton and Baron of Titchfield, "The love I dedicate to your lordship is without end; whereof this pamphlet, without beginning, is but a superfluous moiety. The warrant I have of your honourable disposition, not the worth of my untutored lines, makes it assured of acceptance. What I have done is yours; what I have to do is yours; being part in all love devoted yours. Were my worth greater, my duty would show greater; meantime, as it is, it is bound to your lordship, to whom I wish long life still strengthened with happiness. "Your Lordship's in all duty,

"WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE." Lucrece is without doubt a part of the future graver labour" promised in the dedication of the first poem, and exhibits the fealty of Shakespeare, as well as the loving devotion of his

muse.

The facts as to the dedication and the publication under the auspices and direction of Shakespeare, have never been denied, so far as I am aware, but the authorship has been claimed for Bacon, and for the most obvious of reasons; that the claim, to have any

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