and offer no basis for an attitude of
skepticism. A few considerations may be recalled as correctives for a
partial or mistaken reading of the evidence. (1) Though the records of
Shakespeare's life are meager, they are fuller than for any other
Elizabethan dramatist. Indeed we know little of the biography of any men
of the sixteenth century unless their lives affected church or politics
and hence found preservation in the records. There is no 'mystery' about
Shakespeare. (2) Records amply establish the identity between
Shakespeare the actor and the writer. Moreover, the plays contain many
words and phrases natural to an actor, many references to the actor's
art, and show a wide and detailed knowledge of the ways and
peculiarities of the theater. (3) The extent of observation and
knowledge in the plays is, indeed, remarkable, but it is not accompanied
by any indication of thorough scholarship, or a detailed connection with
any profession outside of the theater, or a profound knowledge of the
science or philosophy of the time. (4) The law terms are numerous, and
usually correct, but do not establish any great knowledge of the law.
Elizabethan London was full of law students who were among frequent
patrons of the theater. Through acquaintance with these gentlemen
Shakespeare might have readily acquired all the law that he displays.
Moreover Shakespeare had an opportunity to gain a considerable
familiarity with the law through the frequent litigations in which he
and his father were concerned. (5) The dedication, commendatory poems,
and address to the readers prefixed to the First Folio ought in
themselves to be sufficient to remove the skepticism as to Shakespeare's
authorship.

[Page Heading: The "Baconian" Question]

The following considerations apply to the attribution to Bacon, so far
as that rests on any tangible basis: (1) Sir Tobie Matthews writes in a
letter to Bacon, written some time later than January, 1621, "The most
prodigious wit that ever I knew of my nation and of this side of the sea
is of your Lordship's name, though he be known by another." The
sentence probably refers to Father Thomas Southwell, a Jesuit, whose
real surname was Bacon. There is nothing to connect it with Shakespeare.
(2) The parallelisms between passages in Shakespeare and Bacon deal with
phrases in common use and fail to establish any connection between the
two men. (3) The few surviving examples of Bacon's verse suggest no
ability as