news-oLetter The SHAKESPEARE FELLOWSHl�EAirLE.wAs.i11, ... ,[. -AMERICAN BRANCH-

VOL. I JUNE.JULY, 1940 N0.4

Is Not Oxford Here Another Anchor? Who smirched thu,, and mired wilh infamy, l might have said, No part of it ia mine; This shame derives itself from unknown loins. Much Ado About Nothing, IV. l. 132

Interesting indeed is that detail in the Nazi plan 0£ France and England, whose very shores for the conquest of Britain which envisions the look pale taking over and "rehabilitation" of Shakespeare With envy of each other's happiness, as a true German poet who had the misfortune to May cease their hatred, and this dearconjunc• be born outside the Third Reich. tion The apostles of destruction have generously Plant neighborhood and Christian-like accord agreed to spare the Bard. Whether this means In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance that Stratford-on-Avon is not to be bombed is not His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair clear at this writing. France. An April 24th wireless dispatch from Berlin to The New York Times reads as follows: So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal, The works of William Shakespeare will That never may ill office or fell jealousy, survive the present war without having to Which troubles oft the bed of blessed mar• undergo the disgrace of being identified by riage the Germans with present-day England. The Thrust in between the paction of these king­ German Shakespeare Association has decided doms, that "Shakespeare was no spiritual com• To make divorce of their incorporate league; panion of present-day British plutocracy," so That English may as French, FrenchEnglish­ his works can continue to be identified with men, the German spirit. Receive each other. God speak this Amen! Professor Wolfgang Keller also proved to We search the plays in vain for any speech by a the satisfaction of a meetingof the association Shakespearean character expressing similar hopes here that Shakespeare was no friend of the for a permanent alliance betweenEngland and French. Several of his plays, Professor Germany. Only one of the plays - the sombre Keller declared, show that Shakespeare re­ Measure for Measure is given a Germanic set­ garded the French as "false, big-mouthed, ting, the stage locale being labelled "Vienna,'' frivolous and tricky - in short, he did not though the coloring and characterization through­ like them." out is that of Elizabethan England. Keller appears to have combed King John and Mr. George Frisbee of San Francisco has the Henry Sixth plays for anti-French sentiments. pointed out that the author of Hamlet had some It is notable, on the other hand, that he ignores colloquial knowledge of the German language, as the final scene in The Life of Henry Fifth wherein hintedin the early dialogue between King Claudius we find expressed the fervent hope - now ful­ and the melancholy Prince. With oily heartiness filled that the contending kingdoms the usurper s�ys: 2 NEWS -LETTER

"But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my Prof. Leslie Hotson are wrong in assuming that ,., son The Merry Wives of Windsor was written after and Hamlet mutters in an aside: the German Duke became a Knight of the Garter. "A little more than kin, and less than The proper time to have rapped this pushful boor kind." would have been immediately following his in­ The word kind here certainly expresses the vasion ofEngland in 1592, when his exploits were purely Teutonic meaning of child as well as the being current! y discussed - rather than five years English meaning of natural and humane. Shake-• later when the Queen had finally honored the speare would never miss an opportunity to put Teuton withEngland's most coveted decoration. over a pun as obvious as this one. The·authorof The Merry Wives of Windsor pos• In The Merry Wives of Windsor mention is sessed an intimate knowledge of the village of made of a German "Duke" ·who has enteredEng­ Windsor with its castle, its Chapel ofSt. George, land secretI y and, with his rascally suite, is royal preserves, Garter Inn and general topo­ swindling the tavern-keepers of Reading, of graphical features, as Maynard Dixon, historian Maidenhead and of Colebrook out of post-horses of the famous borough, has shown in convincing and other accommodations. detail. Doctor Caius, the excitable Gallic physician in It is impossible to place the shadowy William the com.edy, refuses to accept thisElizabethan fore­ ofStratford inWindsor through any known docu­ runner of the Nazi "Fifth Column" at face value: mentation. "I cannot tell vat is dat: but it is tell-a-me, But one of the most interesting papers written dat you make grand preparation for a Duke by Mr. J. ThomasLooney in support of his main de Jamanie: by my trot, der is no Duke that arguments to prove that Edward de Vere Earl of the Court is know, to come: I tell you for Oxford was the real creator of the comedy brings good will: adieu." out the fact that Oxford was familiar with the en• Whereupon, mine host of the Garter, realizing virons of Windsor from early youth. We even that he has been victimized by his easy acceptance have a contemporary sketch of him at the age of of the slogan, "Germans are honest men," runs twenty-two, carrying theSword of State before the forth into the night shouting: Queen during a royal procession on its way to "Hue and cry, villain, go! Assist me, St. George's Chapel, June 18, 1572, the occasion Knight, I am undone: Hy, run! Hue and cry, being the installation of the French Due de Mont• : "fl: villain, I am undone!" morenci as a Knight of the Garter. "· This "Duke de Jamanie" has been identified by At this same period Oxford was known to be : l Sir E. K. Chambers and others as the Duke of Elizabeth's favorite entertainer, putting on shows ! ' :! Wiirttemberg, formerly Count of Mompelgart, and pageants for the Queen's delectation. who visited England from August 9 toSeptember And if, as Dr. Cairncross, Prof.T. W. Baldwin 5, 1592. Mompelgart was received alWindsor by and others opine, The Merry Wives of Windsor was QueenElizabeth and, on his own initiative, pressed produced as a part of the colorful Garter festival for the privilege of investment with the Order of of April 23, 1593, this date would fit the realistic the Garter. Oxfordian chronology very aptly indeed. For at During his tour ofEngland, the German and his that time the chief candidate for the high honor of suite were delayed at Oxford, says Chambers, "be­ installation in the Order of the Garter was Lord cause his post-horses were worn out, and could Oxford's friend and fellow patron of theatrical not be replaced, even at double the normal cost." enterprise,Edward Somerset Earl ofWorcester. It is also stated that he misused a warrant for The two groups of players who wore the liveries securing post-horses to the chagrin of certsin inn­ of Worcester and Oxford were among the ablest keepers, such as mine host in The Merry Wives. in the realm. Privy Council records show that in The Teutonic "nobleman" did not, however, March, 1602, a special request from the Counsel­ achieve his wistful desire to be a Knight of the lors was addressed to theLord Mayor ofLondon to Order of the Garter until April 23, 1597, when he lift a previously enforced ban and allow a joint was installed by proxy in absentia. company of actors patronized by both of these Dr. A.S. Cairncross in The Problem of Hamlet Earls to continue to give public performances at very logically concludes that both Chambers and the Boar's Head Tavern, "the place they have JUNE-JULY, 1940 3

especially used and do like best of." It seems made by Jacques Amyot. It should be noted that superfiuous to point out that the old Boar's Head Sir Thomas North utilized Amyot's work for his Tavern in Eastcbeap - about two minutes' walk English edition, instead of going back to Plutarch's across Candlewick Street from Lord Oxford's an­ original Latin. cestral city residence, Oxford Court - is also the Everybody knows that Shakespeare follows the scene of the bohemian revels of Falstaffand Prince Amyot-North treatment of the Roman Lives very Hal in Shakespeare's Henry IV plays. closely, particularly in Coriolanus. Oxfordians Also significant is the fact that Philip Hen­ also know that Edward de Vere possessed collo• slowe, the theatrical manager, lists in his famous quial command of both Latin and French. More• Diary the names of William Kemp and John Lowin over, if we consider the playwriting Earl as the as actors lately included in this Worcester-Oxford real Shakespeare, it is a reasonable possibility that group in 1602. he may have taken an active hand with Sir Thomas Both Kemp and Lowin are permanently identi­ North in rendering Amyot's Plutarch into English fied with the presentation of Shakespearean works. during the 1569-79 decade, just as he can be shown In the introductory pages to the First Folio of to have collaborated with other popular trans• 1623, they are mentioned among "the Principall lators of his day, such as Thomas Bedingfield, Actors in all these Playes." Bartholomew Clerke and Anthony Munday. The editor of the Tudor Edition of The Merry Incidentally, no Stratfordian authority has ever Wives of Windsor suggests that William Kemp been able to bring William Shakspere within docu­ may have been the original creator of the clown­ mentary hailing distance of this particular literary ish figure of Sir John Oldcastle {later renamed circle. Falstaff) in the Windsor comedy. And though the Nazi hordes, bent on the de• Such testimony argues circumstantially for struction of English-French civilization, may with Lord Oxford's personal connection with Shake­ the same tragic stupidity that characterizes the rest spearean theatrical affairs. His friend and co­ of their "intellectual" effort, "spare" Stratford-on• patron of well known Shakespearean actors, Lord Avon, their loudly trumpeted purpose to "rehabili­ Worcester, seems to have been one of the inner tate" the Bard as a true German prophet remains circle of aristocratic intellectuals who knew the as ridiculous as it is impertinent. facts behind the authorship of The Merry Wives We may well imagine what type of "Shake• of Windsor and most of the other First Folio plays. speare" might emerge from the colossal sausage• If the personal papers and correspondence of machines of Goebbels' propaganda portfolio. The Edward Somerset Earl of Worcester are still in early butcher's apprentice of Stratfordia would existence and happen to survive the present blitz­ come into his own with a vengeance. kreig, they may provide some interesting corro­ But over and beyond such a ghastly harlequin• borative sidelights on the great authorship mys­ ade - too terrible to contemplate - the voice of tery. the true Shakespeare, speaking to all lovers of jus• Worcester was the nephew of Sir Thomas North tice, truth and courage throughout the world will continue to inspire unfettered men in their grapple whose English version of Plutarch's Lives was used so extensively by Shakespeare in writing to the death with the forces of soul-destroying slavery now menacing those civilizations which Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Corio­ the Bard in his own lifetime wished to see joined lanus. in amity and enlightened progress. Oxford himself owned a copy of Plutarch. We Charles Wisner Barrell learn this from an account book still on file at Hatfield House which lists the Earl's personal ex• • • • • penses in 1569. Among various other items which While boarding a train at Waterloo Station, bear witness to the young nobleman's literary London, during April, Mr. Percy Allen, who edits proclivities is the notation of a payment to. Wil­ the British NEWS-LET TER of The Shakespeare Fe!• liam Seres, the London stationer, for "Plutarch's lowship, was held up by footpads. The thieves got works in French, with other books and papers." away with Mr. Allen's wallet containing private This was the excellent and readable French papers and some 15 pounds in currency but for. translation of the Roman biographer that had been lunately did not injury him physically. 4. NEWS-LETTER

Oxford-Shakespeare Birthday Party

Some eighty persons, including members ofThe Ashbourne portrait of "William Shakespeare" §lf!lkespeareFellowship and friends interested in which show in graphic detail the personal symbols the. Oxford authorship evidence attended the Birth­ and slight! y disguised features of Lord Oxford day meeting held Tuesday afternoon, April 23rd, beneath the outer coats of the ancient painting. at the Hotel Beekman, 575 Park Avenue in New, Members and guests were most enthusiastic in York City. their praise of the various angles of interest pre­ As all readers of the NEws-LETTER should know, sented at this first Oxford-Shakespeare Birthday April 23rd, which is celebrated throughout the Celebration to be held in America. world as Shakespeare's Birthday, is really the To Mrs. Eva Turner Clark, who undertook ar­ exact date, according to the reformed calendar, of rangemen/s for the celebration, is due chief credit the birth of Edward de Vere Earl of Oxford, at for the outstanding success of the affair. Castle Hedingham, Essex, England. It seemed, Several new members have been added to our therefore, most appropriate to hold our first open roster as a direct result of the meeting. Numerous meeting on the 390th anniversary of the playwrit­ books and pamphlets on the Oxford evidence have ing Earl's nativity. also been sold. Dr. Louis P. Benezet of Dartmouth, President Teachers of English, librarians and personali­ of the American Branch of The Shakespeare Fel­ ties prominent in literary, stage and legal circles lowship, occupied the chair. made up the bulk of the audience on April 23rd. After briefly reviewing the growth of the More than one was heard to remark that the next Oxford-Shakespeare movement throughout the meeting ofThe Fellowship should bring out hun­ world, following the establishment ofThe Fellow­ dreds of interested auditors, as the Oxford evi­ ! ship in London eighteen years ago under the lead­ dence can no longer be ignored by anyone with an ij •, ership of Sir George Greenwood, Dr. Beneze! gave interest in the actual personality of the Bard. a brief but stimulating talk on the contrasting creative psychologies of Shakespeare and Ben A LETTER FROM FRANCE Jonson. The gist of his well-reasoned conclusions A recent letter from the eminent and venerable i�. reproduced elsew,here in this issue. French-Elizabethan scholar, Professor Abel Le­ 'Mr. Severo Mallet;Prevost of the New York Bar franc of the Institut de France, informs us that he followed with an analysis of the Oxford theory is· now living at Royan in the Department of from the point of view of a legal expert, steeped Charente-Inferieure, on the Bay of Biscay. This in Shakespearean lore. town is far from the present war zone, a fact that ·.,'flis'�rguments, in turn, were reenforced by Mr. will please the Professor's many friends in fames Stewart Cushman, who has studied much of America. the. O�,f/lf�iim -documentation at first hand over a Professor Lefranc is generally acknowledged long,;1>erio.�. to be the foremost living French authority on .. :M,;s.Eva Turner Clark also presented an inter­ Elizabethan literature. During the 1920's he e�iing review of the work of The Fellowship, served as anExchange Professor at both Harvard pointing out the need for a strong organization and and the University of Chicago. He is, moreover, an an adequate endowment to complete important de­ active disbeliever in the Stratfordian legend. His velopments now in hand. book, Sous le Masque de "William Shakespeare," Mr. William Thornton, the actor, who has re­ published twenty-one years ago, is devoted to the . cently joinedThe Fellowship, then read the poem, theory that William Stanley Earl of Derby was "Edward de Vere: Accepting Him As Author of the author of the plays. Shakespeare" by Mr. Alfred A. Furman. Derby, it happens, was Lord Oxford's son-in-law The final hour was devoted to a lecture by Mr. and closely associated with the poet-Earl during CharlesWisner Barrell on his investigation of the the last ten years of Oxford's life. ancient painted portraits of the Bard. Mr. Barrell Professor Lefranc is a member of The Shake­ projected a complete set of stereopticon slides of speare Fellowship of England and greatly inter­ his remarkable X-ray and infra-red studies of the ested in all of the Oxfordian evidence. JUNE-JULY, 1940 5 Shakespeare and Ben Jonson

As one reads the plays of these two greatest There is always a strong tendency on the part dramatists of the Elizabethan-Jacobean era one is of English writers from the upper middle class to immediate) y struck by a great contrast between be resentful of the attitude assumed toward them them. One is aristocratic, the other bourgeois. by the titled nobility. The noblemen of one author are natural, at ease, This same ridiculing of class distinction is a convincing. They talk the language of their class, mark of talented commoners. Recall Dickens' both in matter and manner. Even more is this true Lord Mutanhed and Lord Verisopht, Sheridan's of Shakespeare's heroines. They are aristocrats to Sir Benjamin Backbite and Lady Sneerwell, W. S. the core. On the other hand in portraying the Gilbert's Lord Tolloller and Lord Mountararat. lower classes Shakespeare is unconvincing. He It is characteristic of Ben Jonson. He has no ma kes them clods or dolts or clowns, and has sympathy with aristocratic aloofness and superior­ them amuse us by their gaucheries. He gives them ity. undignified names: Wart, Bullcalf, Mouldy, Bot­ On the other hand Shakespeare is the natural tom, Dogberry, Snout, etc. Only occasionally does aristocrat. He never has to think to make his Shakespeare hold up a gentleman to ridicule, as he characters of gentle blood act their parts. They do does in the case of Slender and Aguecheek, said by so as naturally as they breathe. Says Edmund of Professor Dowden to representthe same person, a Gloucester of his distinguished brother Edgar: sentiment strongI y seconded by certain Oxford­ "In wisdom I should ask thy name; ians, who seePhilip Sidney as the original. But, since thy outside looks so fair and war­ On the other hand Jonson's bourgeois characters like, are natural, while his nobles are caricatures. And that thy tongue some say of breeding They bear the same kind of names that Shake­ breathes, speare gives to his commoners: Sir Paul Either­ What safe and nicely I might well delay side, Sir Amorous La-Foole, Sir Epicure Mammon, By rule of knighthood, I disdain and·spurn." Lady Haughty, Sir Diaphanous Silkworm, etc. Louis P. Benezet

� Master of Double-Talk "Honest" Ben Jonson's comments on the Bard Out Of His Humour are all known to have been are considered conclusive evidence by all right­ satirical portrait galleries of Jonson's contempo­ thinking authorities that "Mr. William Shakes­ raries. Not only John Marston and Thomas Dekker peare" was the citizen of Stratford-on Avon. were bitterly caricatured. All modern ·_ed.itfllii of "Jonson could not have lent his name to subter­ Every Man Out Of His Humour agree that William fuge." Shakspere of Stratford must have been in Jon­ "It would have been beneath a -man of Ben son's mind when he drew the devastating charac­ Jonson's forthright nature to have participated in terization of Sogliardo in that ill-natured comedy. a deliberate fraud - such as the switching of per­ The boorish, money-grabbing climber that Jonson sonalities to obscure the real author of the Shakes­ presents here could not, by the same token, be the pearean works." "gentle" genius who wrote the plays and poems. These are some of the statements frequent! y Jonson's career was that of a professional advanced by orthodox Stratfordians to bolster opportunist, entirely capable of participating in faith in Jonson as the chief pillar of the generally a pious fraud - where it served his own interests. accepted theory of authorship. He is known to have changed his religion and Meanwhile, the fact is completely overlooked later to have acted as a spy upon members of the that Jonson's own works prove him to have been church wherein he was listed as a communicant. the outstanding master of double-talk in his own Those who claim he was above subterfuge in the period. Shakespearean authorship mystery simply do not Cynthia's Revels, The Poetaster and Every Man know their man.

------_j 6 NEWS-L ETT ER.

NEWS-LETTER ing to ask permission of the original author or the THE SHAKESPEARE FELLOWSHIP editors of Scientific American, a resolute Fascist AMERICAN BRANCH scribe who signs himself Giuseppe de Florentiis herein presents his version of Mr. Barrell's investi­ VOLUME I JUNE-JULY, 1940 NUMBER 4 gation, profusely illustrated with all of the origi­ nal photo-engravings, copyrighted and otherwise. President Louis P. Benezet, A.M., Ph.D. Giuseppe's knowledge of the English language may possibly be as defective as his reasoning Vice-Presidents James Stewart Cushman powers. In any event, he reaches the conclusion Mrs. EvaTurner Clark that "Shakespeare is a myth," the poet having dif­ Secretary and Treasurer fused himself so widely in so many directions that Charles Wisner Barrell all traces of personality have dissolved like "the cloud-capp'd towers" of Prospero to "leave not a Occasional meetings of the American Branch will be held, for which special notices will be rack behind." sent to members. Dues for membership in the This is the most novel solution of the authorship American Branch are $2.50 a year, which sum mystery we have ever seen expounded. includes one year's subscription to the NEWS• And if Signor Giuseppe de Florentiis' plagi­ LETTER. aristic essay is to be taken as a sample of approved The officers of the American Branch will act as journalistic "reasoning" under totalitarian censor­ an editorial board for the publication of the ship, it becomes apparent that common sense as NEWS-LETTER, which will appear every other well as common courtesy is at a discount in that month, or six times a year. part of Europe where the ironically named Sapete News items, comments by readers and articles is published. of interest to all students of Shakespeare and of the acknowledged mystery that surrounds the authorship of the plays and poems, are desired. Oxford's Life Dramatized Such material must be of reasonable brevity. No The life of Edward Earl of Oxford as "William eompensation can be made to writers beyond the Shakespeare" has been dramatized by Warren P. sincere thanks of the Editorial Board. Articles Munsell, Jr., of New York City and will be pro­ and letters will express the opinions of their duced with a top-flight cast at the McCarter authors, not necessarily of the editors. They Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey, the week of July may be sent to Charles Wisner Barrell, 17 East 48th Street, New York, N. Y. 29th. Mr. Munsell, who won high praise at Princeton Invasions for his work in the drama, has spent two years writing his Oxford-Shakespeare play. It is entitled The most active of continental European Ox­ "By Any Other Name." Those who have read the fordians, Monsieur Charles Boissevain of Geneva, script declare that it is a thrilling and realistic Switzerland, informed us in May that he had com­ presentation of the playwriting Earl's undercover pleted all arrangements with the publication career in Elizabethan times. Haagsch Maandblad of The Hague to publish his i The author's father, Mr. Warren P. Munsell, Sr., translation of Mr. Barrell's article on the Shake­ who is one of the executives of theTheatre Guild, speare portraits which appeared in the January will direct "By Any Other Name." A large repre­ Scientific American. sentation of Oxfordians is expected at the Mc­ Since the invasion of Holland by Hitler's army CarterTheatre in Princeton on the opening night. and the disruption of all forms of civilized activity Further details will be mailed direct to all mem­ in that country, it can be taken for granted that bers of The Fellowship early in July. Monsieur Boissevain's work will not appear as scheduled. * * It seems, however, that a ridiculous and muddle­ An interesting letter from our Canadian mem­ headed version of Mr. Barrell's "Identifying ber, Mr. Garfield A. King of Vancouver, gives us 'Shakespeare' With X-Rays and Infra-Red Photog­ news of an address on the Oxford theory which raphy" was published in the Italian journal Sapete Mr. King delivered during April before the Shake­ of Milan on February 15th, last. Without bother- speare Society of that city. UNE-JULY, 1940 J 7 He Must Build Churches Then Aubrey de Vere came into England with Wil­ 1461), was a great Lancastrian during the Wars of .liam of Normandy, ever afterward to be known as the Roses and was of immense assistance in help­ William the Conqueror, and by William was ing the Earl of Richmond to win the throne as granted extensive estates in several English Henry VII. The King bestowed many lands and counties. In Essex, where he made his home, honours on him and in 1491 he acted as god­ Aubrey built the great Norman castle called Hed­ father to Prince Henry, later Henry VIII. On re• ingham, for nearly six centuries the seat of the turning to Hedingham in 1485, the Earl found the Vere family. At nearby Colne, he founded a Castle (meaning all the buildings on Castle Hill) priory, dedicated to St. Andrew, where many of "in very bad repair, . . . so that all the building his descendants lie buried. At Kensington, his that now is there was in a manner of this old Earl's place in Middlesex, he gave a church to the Abbey building, except the Gate House and the great of Abingdon. Dungeon Tower." He also built, together with the The second Aubrey, who succeeded in 1088, rich wool merchant, Thomas Spring, the beautiful fought in the first Crusade and the legend con­ church at Lavenham in Suffolk. cerning the silver mullet of the Veres traces to John de Vere, fifteenthEarl of Oxford (s. 1526), him. He was the first Vere to be made Lord Great cousin of the fourteenth Earl (whose record is Chamberlain. unimportant), is said to have built the church The third Aubrey (s. 1141), also a Crusader, at Sible Hedingham, where he is buried under a was the first Earl of Oxford. He founded the tomb of black marble. Priory of Hatfield Broad Oak in Essex and en­ John de Vere, sixteenth Earl of Oxford ( s. dowed it with "the tythes of the town." His third 1540), in his youth a soldier, was nearly ruined by wife, Countess Lucia, founded at Castle Heding­ the Duke of Somerset when he was Lord Protector; ham a small Benedictine Nunnery, which the Veres after the Duke's execution, the Earl recovered most endowed with the Rectories of Gosfield and Hed­ of his estates, though some of the properties were ingham. given to his cousins. In 1561, he entertained Queen The fourth Aubrey, second Earl of Oxford (s. Elizabeth lavishly and was host to Prince Eric of 1194), is said by Morant to have built and en­ Sweden when he visited England. He was a noted dowed the church at Castle Hedingham. shot and was probably the most famous sportsman Robert de Vere, third Earl of Oxford (s. 1214), of his time. a Crusader, left no record of building activity, but Edward de Vere, seventeenthEarl of Oxford (s. his brother William, Bishop of Hereford, was "a 1562), poet and dramatist, favorite of Queen great builder of castles and churches." Elizabeth, married Anne Cecil, daughter of Lord Hugh de Vere, fourth Earl of Oxford (s. 1221), Treasurer Burghley, and gradually lost the great a Crusader, founded a Hospital at Hedingham - estates he had inherited. In 1586, he received a in reality for religious services, not for nursing grant from Queen Elizabeth of 1000 pounds a sick people - also called New Abbey, to which year, for what purpose the record does not state; was attached a chapel attended by three chaplains. the grant was continued by King James (who There appears to be no record of building by called him "great Oxford"). the fifth and sixth Earls. Though Edward de Vere was known as the best John de Vere, seventh Earl of Oxford (s.1331), dramatist of the time through a large part of a great soldier who lost his life at Rheims, was Elizabeth's reign, no plays were published under brought to England for burial at Colne. He left a his name ( convention forbidding this to a man of fabulous estate in ten counties and in his will his rank) and it is now contended by many stu­ bequeathed 100 marks towards the building of dents that the plays published under the name of the church at Colne, and a like sum for re-edifying William Shakespeare are in reality the "lost plays" the chapel called the New Abbey at Ca�tle Hed­ of Edward de Vere. The arguments are many and ingham. varied and the evidence for this contention has There is no building record for the next five much to commend it. Earls, the period being one of political turmoil. It is to add a suggestive allusion to the evi­ John de Vere, thirteenth Earl of Oxford (s. dence elsewhere assembled that the church- 8 NEW S-LETTER

building forefathers ofEdward de Vere have here that his presentation of the pictorial evidence in been listed, at least half of them remembered for the Oxford-Shakespeare case aroused may be the very fact that they built and endowed churches, gathered from the statement of an official of the though several of them had gone to the Crusades University Club that there were more seats oc­ and a number of them had been very famous cupied at the end of the lecture than there were soldiers. when the meeting was called to order. Hamlet, in talking to Ophelia, says, While concentrating on the dissective photo• "Then there's hope a great man's memory·• graphic material which proves that Lord Oxford may outlive his life half a year: hut, hy'r is the disguised original of the Ashbourne "Shake­ lady, he must build churches then; or else speare," Mr. Barrell also projected some of the shall he suffer not thinking on." pictorial evidence he has in hand which identifies (Hamlet, III, ii. 142). the same literary nobleman beneath the outer coats Any author might have written these lines, of the Felton and Hampton Court paintings of the whether or not he or his ancestors had ever given Bard. .. \ a penny to a church, hut it would seem a very The case was presented as a detective story ... r natural thought to a man whose ancestors' military throughout, backed with a strong assortment of services and other important acts had given them literary and historical documentation. a fame which should have endured, yet he found During the questions and answers period, fully them remembered after a lapse of time only by twenty members of the audience participated. Mr. the churches they had left behind them as monu­ Barrell was especially commended for the well­ ments, as were the ancestors of Edward de Vere. chosen arguments he advanced to buttress his pic­ Innumerable allusions in the Shakespeare plays torial testimony. point to Edward de Vere as their author and "he Orthodox proponents of the Stratfordian point must build churches then" must he added to the of view were frankly astounded to find how vul­ number. nerable their own case appeared when subjected Eva Turner Clark to the searchlight of scientific media - plus Ox­ The above account of the Earls of Oxford and their fordian research. church-building has been taken from "Some Account of Many of the academicians who had come to scoff the Family of De Vere, The Earls of Oxford, and of Hedingham Castle in Essex," by the Rev. Severne A. remained until near! y midnight, seeking additional AshhuritMajendl&. information. More than fifty members of the Uni­ versity Club made requests for copiesof the NEWS· LETTER and other literature. Baltimore Discovers Oxford Shakespeare had suddenly become one of the On the evening of May 8th, Mr. CharlesWisner livest topics of conversation among the moulders Barrell gave his illustrated lecture on the identifi­ of thought in the free city of Baltimore. cation of the "Shakespeare" portraits with X-rays When the present war excitement subsides, it is and infra-red photography, before the University safe to predict that Mr. Barrell and other Ox­ Club at Baltimore. fordian lecturers will continue to arouse enthusi­ j A distinguished and critical audience gathered asm for the Oxford cause in other cities through­ . for the occasion, including members of the facul­ out the United States and Canada. 'j ties of Johns Hopkins University, St. John's Col­ * * * * lege, Annapolis,Temple University and executives of the Baltimore public schools. Leading members All Fellowship members on our roster, as of of the Maryland bar, well known writers, editors July 1st, will receive a special "dividend" volume and representatives of the consular service rubbed of Oxfordian research. elbows with city officials, industrial leaders, in­ * * * * ventors and technical engineers. 1: According to all accounts received from Balti­ Books and pamphlets relating to the Oxford­ . J more the lecture created something of a sensation. Shakespeare authorship theory which have been Mr. Barrell was introduced at 7:20 p.m. and did listed in previous issues of the NEWS-LETTER may not leave the platform until nearly three hours he ordered through the Secretary of The Fellow­ later, when he was given an ovation. The interest ship. JUNE-JULY, 1940 9

King Lear in the News Including an Estimate by Algernon Charles Swinburne With vast areas of civilized Europe crashing into secret he possessed up to the time of the Armada," physical ruin and intellectual night, black as the ( 1589) . Sir Robert Cecil, the Principal Secretary eclipse that shrouds the middle ages, closing down of State, "was himself a Spanish Pensioner;" while upon their horizons, Shakespeare's titanic tragedy Sir William Monson, Admiral of the Channel of King Lear becomes required reading. Fleet, augmented his pay with a regular stipend The mood of this 16th century masterpiece is from the coffers of Madrid. again suited to the times. "The wheel is come full As a commentary on such a situation, King Lear circle," bearing out the belief of certain modern rings true. To assume that it is merely the story analysts that Lear was conceived as an allegory of of a foolish old monarch and his ungrateful daugh­ Britain beset by enemies at home and abroad as ters is to miss under! ying motives of high import. she was in the latter years of Elizabeth. This is a tragedy of statesmanship, written by a Like Hitler, Philip II of Spain consecrated his statesman who knew Elizabethan England from life to the task of conquering the island. Un­ Council Chamber to common pillory. counted millions were spent by the Spanish zealot As seems fitting at this time, when the fate of in financingarmadas, as well as anti-British action­ Britain again appears to totter in the balance, we ists in Ireland and Scotland, and in maintaining reproduce herewith some comments by Algernon swarms of spies, resolute assassins and "Fifth Charles Swinburne on the play that Shelley has Column" agents in the very heart of the threatened declared is: "The most perfect specimen of the kingdom. At times it seemed that the English dramatic art existing in the world." government - like Lear himself - bereft of eye­ The Editors. ·sight and self-deprived of honest counsellors, The author of the Book of Job, the author of would surely perish in the rising storm. Crisis the Eumenides, can show nothing to be set beside after crisis developed as Elizabeth became stricken the third act of King Lear. All that is best and all in years and incorruptible men like Hunsdon, that is worst in man might have been brought to• Walsingham and Burghley either passed from the gether and flashed together upon the mind's eye of scene or became superannuated, and were suc• the spectator or the student without the interven• ceeded by rash egotists such as Essex and his tion of such servile ministers as take part with group. Philip Earl of Arundel was not the only Goneril and Regan against their fathe"t!/l Storm great nobleman on the banks of the Thames who and lightning, thunder and rain, become to us, prayed for the success of the Spanish Armada. even as they became to Lear, no less conscious and Meanwhile, loyal and far-seeing statesmen of responsible partners in the superhuman inhuman­ the type of Edward Earl of Oxford, Charles Lord ity of an unimaginable crime. The close of the Howard of Effingham and Edward Earl of Wor• Prometheus itself seems less spiritually and over• cester could only bide their time as they watched poweringly fearful by comparison with a seen/! the vain and aged Queen give credence to under­ which is not the close and is less terrible than tMI cover traitors such as Lord Henry Howard, while close of King Lear. And it is no whit more terrible delegating sufficient authority to Essex to whet his than it is beautiful. The splendour of the light­ appetite for the Crown itself. ning and the menace of the thunder serve only or Indeed, many wise statesmen of the period must mainly to relieve or to enhance the effect of, suf­ have felt that the integrity of national life must fering and the potency of passion on the spirit collapse as the government zigzagged blindly and the conscience of a man. The sufferer is across the storm-beaten moors of unpredictable transfigured: but he is not transformed. Mad or policy during the final decade of the Elizabethan sane, living and dying, he is· passionate and vehe­ Age. One must read a documentary history of .the. ment, single-hearted and self-willed. And there• times or a work such as Martin Hume's Treason fore it is that the fierce appeal, the fiery protest and Plot to realize what really went on behind· against the social iniquities and the legal atrocities the gilded facade of officialdom. of civilized mankind, which none before the great• For instance, "Sir Edward Stafford, the English est of all Englishmen had ever dreamed of daring Ambassador in Paris, had sold to Spain every to ·utter in song or set forth upon the stage, comes 10 NEWS -LETTER not from Hamlet, but from Lear. The young man world- on behalf of the social sufferer, clean or whose infinite capacity of thought and whose deli­ unclean, innocent or criminal, thrall or free. cate scrupulosity of conscience at once half dis­ To satisfy the sense of righteousness, the crav­ abled and half defied him could never have seen ing for justice, as unknown and unimaginable by what was revealed by suffering to an old man who Dante as by Chaucer, a change must come upon had never thought or felt more deeply or more the social scheme of things which shall make an keenly than an average labourer or an average end of the actual relations between the judge and king. Lear's madness, at all events, was assuredly ··• the cutpurse, the beadle and the prostitute, the not his enemy, but his friend. beggar and the king. The rule of Elizabeth and her successor may All this could be uttered, could be prophesied, have been more arbitrary than we can now under­ could be thundered from the English stage at the stand how the commonwealth of England could dawn of the seventeenth century. accept and could endure; but how far it was from Were it within the power of omnipotence to a monarchy, from a government really deserving create a German or aRussian Shakespeare, could of that odious and ignominious name, we may anything of the sort be whispered or muttered or judge by the fact that this play could be acted hinted or suggested from the boards of aRussian and published. Among all its other great qualities, or a German theatre at the dawn of the twentieth? among all the many other attributes which mark When aTolstoi or aSudermann can do this, and it for ever as matchless among the works of man, can do it with impunity in success, it will be al­ it has this above all, that it is the first great ut­ lowed that his country is not more than three cen­ terance of a cry from the heights and the depths turies behindEngland in civilization and freedom. of the human spirit on behalf of the outcasts of the From Three Plays of Shakespeare (1909). Was Edward De Vere Shakespeare? I believe he was. You who read this, I beg you evidence, and the skill, honesty, and charm of the not to condemn me and the theory, but to read presentation of the theory. further on. Amazed, fascinated, and with mind clarified, I A week ago I still believed that William rose from a study of the book. I read it again, and Shakspere ofStratford-upon-Avon was the author then I read it for the third time ( a big book of of the great plays that have borne his name for 458 pages, too) . And I now pronounce myself a three hundred years. Heretofore, any suggestion believer in the theory that Edward de Vere, Earl calling this into question incurred my antagonism, of Oxford, was the author of the great Shake­ and my enmity to the idea bristled up instant!y, spearean plays. "like quills upon the fretful porcupine." In fact, I wish I believed in everything with the same ,. so intolerant was I of the barest hint of any other conviction. Moreover, I feel I have been enriched than theStratford belief that to relinquish such a by the acquaintance with this great personality fixed idea with all the time-honored atmosphere with whom I have been living now for a week! I that has grown around theWarwickshire lore, was cannot get him out of my mind. He passes between not easy. everything I try to do. I can turn to no duty until However, a book fell into my hands, "Shake­ I record my belief and pay tribute, small and in­ speare" Identified, by J. Thomas Looney, pub­ significant as it is, to this mighty genius. lished in 1920. I opened it with prejudice and I cannot explain the elfeel that this discovery deep contempt and antagonism. I had no intention has had upon me. All the plays that I know so to surrender the William Shakspere of Stratford well, that I have read and re-read since childhood for any theory. Long ago I had rejected Bacon until they have become bone of my bone and flesh and every other new candidate brought forward. of my flesh, are now more wonderful. Some things But I read on and on, much impressed with the that have been obscure have become as clear as modesty of the discoverer of the new author, much glass; more true in their philosophy; more bril­ enthralled by his careful and original process of liant in their wit; more sincere in their scholar­ discovery, the fine marshalling of facts and logical ship; more charming in their tenderness; more deductions, the painstaking examination of the subtle in their delicacy; more penetrating in their 11 ,JUNE-JULY, 1940 I wisdom; and truer to life when it is known that come prosperous, prosecuted others for petty their author, instead of being a middle class man sums! of mean associations and little or no education, Sir Sidney Lee, a believer in the Stratford rather sordid in money matters, and with no con­ theory, says: "His literary attainments and suc­ nection with people of culture was a man of cesses were chiefly valued as serving the prosaic aristocratic lineage, a courtier himself, a man ac­ end of providing permanently for himself and complished in all the arts, graces, sports, and pas­ his daughters." Compare that statementwith what .·, times of the age - a gifted genius with whom the the Bard himself says: "time is out of joint." The plays themselves be­ How quickly nature falls into revolt come autobiographical. When gold becomes her object! And at last, thanks to Mr. Looney, we can find For this the foolish over-careful fathers our Shakespeare, the dramatist, in such characters Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their as Hamlet (biographical throughout), Biron in brains with care, Love's Labour's Last, and Bertram in All's Well Their hones with industry; (another biography). For this they have engrossed and pil'd up I used to take refuge in the old generality, The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold. "you can't limit genius," and felt that by some 2 Henry IV, lV.5.66. supernatural means the superior Shakespeare had A close inspection of Shakespeare's work re• existed, disregarding the lack of correspondence veals a more intimate personal connection with between the plays and the scanty records of their aristocracy than would be furnished by mere ostensible author's life. Like Mr. Podsnap, with a family tradition. Kings and queens, earls and wave of the hand, I swept all this behind my back. countesses,knights and ladies move on and offhis I read the plays as works apart, dissociating them stage "as to the manner born." They are no mere from their author. But now - it is all so clear, so tinselled models representing mechanically the plain, so reasonable, and so delightful. class to which they belong, but living men and I ask myself, how could a man like the women. It is rather his ordinary "citizens" that Shakspere of Stratford portray with such intimacy are the automata walking woodenly onto the stage elegant men and women, particularly the Queen to speak for their class. The suggestion of an herself. Take the Duke in Twelfth Night; Bene­ aristocratic author for the plays is, therefore, the dick in Much Ado; Bassanio, Antonio, Romeo, simple common sense of the situation, and is no Mercurio, Paris. The more you look at it the more in opposition to modern democratic ten­ simpler it becomes - the life of the Elizabethan dencies than the belief that William Shakespeare bloods, the high-spirited, hot-headed, witty-tongued was indebted to aristocratic patrons and partici­ gest,to parry and thrustwith words as with swords pated in the enclosure of common lands. "We feel - could the butcher-boy of Stratford ever do that? entitled, therefore" as Mr. Looney states,"to claim In the historical plays the sympathy with the for Shakespearehigh social rank and even a close Lancastrian cause is most marked. Shakespeare proximity to Royalty itself." must have been of a family of Lancastrian lean­ Esther Singleton,New York, 1921. ings. The large number of plays with Italian settings • • • • or derived from Italian sources. Shakespeare must The kae Esther Singleton, author of many books on have known Italy - everything bespeaks an art, historicaland literary subjecu, including tke delight,. ful Shakespeare'• Garden, wa., one of the /int writers in Italian enthusiast. Also one highly educated in A,n,,rico. to accept wlwle-heartedly tke identification of music. His attitude towards money shows that he Edwardde Vere E,ul of Oxford as the living personality abhorred money as such. It is the arch-villain, behind tke pe,....ame of "William Shake•peare." The above article, in which Miss Singleton relates h.er con­ '.. such as Iago, the time-serving politician, such as version to the new outhorship tluwry, was recently di,­ " Polonius, the cruel Shylock, who are the money• covered among her unpublished papers by her sister, Mrs. Fitzr&yc,.,.,.ington of London. Mw Singleton du,d lenders. Antonio, who gives freely to his friend, at Stoninston, Connecticut, July 2, 1930. Reader, gen• and Bassanio, the spendthrift, are of the dramat• erally should find this slatement of Esther Singleton's ist's chosen ilk. But William Shakspere, the Strat• belief in the validity of the O:cfordian et>id

"But in these clays (although some learned Princes may take delight in Poets) yet universally it is not so. For as well Poets as Poesie are despised, and the name become of honourable infamous, subject to scorn and derision, and rather a reproach than a praise to any that useth.it." The Arte of English Poesie, 1589. ,, One of the first questions that casual students It was not issued in an English translation until of the Oxford-Shakespeare authorship theory ask, sixteen years after More's death. runs somewhat as follows: And now comes the parallel to the concealment "If the Earl of Oxford real\ y wrote the Shake­ of Lord Oxford's association with theShakespeare spearean plays as your evidence indicates, why plays. didn't he, or some of his surviving friends and When William Roper, the devoted son-in-law descendants, ever claim the honor?" of Sir Thomas More, wrote the great man's life, Answer No. 1 he studiously avoided all mention of the Utopia, The social history of the 16th and early 17th considering the work unworthy of mention. centuries shows that no English nobleman of So if we had to depend for our information those days ever did win honor from his own class about the Utopia upon More's closest relatives, by writing in the vernacular for the edification one of whom was his authoritative biographer, we of the common people -which was "Mr. William should have no inkling of Sir Thomas More's Shakespeare's" avowed purpose in life, according authorship of the one book that insures his to Ben Jonson's statement in the 1623 First Folio. literary immortality! The nobleman who practised any of the cre­ ative arts publicly for a livelihood was considered TO BEAR IN MIND dangerous! y eccentric. Henry Peacham in his Copies of the first British edition of "Shake­ Compleat. Gentleman (1622) says that such men speare" Identified In Edward de Vere 17th Earl of could claim no share at all in true nobility. The Oxford by J. Thomas Looney, the basic book of 17th century historian, Humphrey Bohun, lists Oxfordian research, may still be secured by mem­ several Elizabethan noblemen who had lost caste bers of The Fellowship at $4.10 per copy. by writing and acting in plays instead of playing International conditions being what they are, it politics. The name ofEdward Earl of Oxford is is extremely doubtful whether any new edition of prominent on Bohun's page. The historian clucks Mr. Looney's masterpiece will be issued for some dismally over the waste of such promising aris­ time to come. tocratic material. Members who do not possess a copy of "Shake­ Another 16th century Englishman of high posi­ speare" Identified should, therefore, avail them­ tion and even higher intellectual attainments whose selves of the opportunity before it is too late. life was a tragic failure officially, wasSir Thomas More. As a member of the Privy Council of * * * * Henry VIII and Lord Chancellor of the realm, Mr. Paul McAllister, well known stage and Sir Thomas had a bright political future. But screen actor of New York and Hollywood, is one the man was also a literary artist with an artist's of America's pioneer Oxfordians. Mr. McAllister, conscientious integrity. He refused to knuckle who recently joined The Fellowship, says that he ·under to a mad tyrant's whims and as a result, read "Shakespeare" Identified within a week or lost his head on the scaffold. two of its publication in 1920 and ever since then Today, SirThomas More is known in England has been a fervent admirer of Mr. Looney's great chiefly as the author of Utopia, a work that he work. Some years ago Mr. McAllister was known did not dare print in his own country in his own as one of the foremost Shakespearean players on language during his own lifetime. Under the Broadway. We should like to see him in the cast title of Libellus vere aurens, this classic appeal of the forthcoming Munsell play, "By Any Other for better standards of living for humanity was Name," if he could be persuaded to take time off written in Latin and published first at Louvain. from his film commitments.