plays--claimed nothing on their behalf. This
is the other side. Now, there is still another thing. The edition
of 1623 was published by Shakespeare's friends, Heminge and Condell.
They knew him--had been with him for years, and they collected most
of his plays and put them in book form.

Ben Jonson wrote a preface, in which he placed Shakespeare above
all the other poets--declared that he was for all time.

The edition of 1623 was gotten up by actors, by the friends and
associates of Shakespeare, vouched for by dramatic writers--by
those who knew him. This is enough.

_Question_. How do you explain the figure: "His soul, like Mazeppa,
was lashed naked to the wild horse of every fear and love and hate"?
Mr. Donnelly does not understand you.

_Answer_. It hardly seems necessary to explain a thing as simple
and plain as that. Men are carried away by some fierce passion--
carried away in spite of themselves as Mazeppa was carried by the
wild horse to which he was lashed. Whether the comparison is good
or bad it is at least plain. Nothing could tempt me to call Mr.
Donnelly's veracity in question. He says that he does not understand
the sentence and I most cheerfully admit that he tells the exact
truth.

_Question_. Mr. Donnelly says that you said: "Where there is
genius, education seems almost unnecessary," and he denounces your
doctrine as the most abominable doctrine ever taught. What have
you to say to that?

_Answer_. In the first place, I never made the remark. In the
next place, it may be well enough to ask what education is. Much
is taught in colleges that is of no earthly use; much is taught
that is hurtful. There are thousands of educated men who never
graduated from any college or university. Every observant, thoughtful
man is educating himself as long as he lives. Men are better then
books. Observation is a great teacher. A man of talent learns
slowly. He does not readily see the necessary relation that one
fact bears to another. A man of genius, learning one fact, instantly
sees hundreds of others. It is not necessary for such a man to
attend college. The world is his university. Every man he meets
is a book--every woman a volume every fact a torch--and so without
the aid of the so-called schools he rises to the very top.
Shakespeare was such a man.

_Question_. Mr. Donnelly says that: "The biggest myth ever on
earth was Shakespeare, and that if Francis Bacon had said to th