TJie Bacon- Shakespeare Folly 351 



when some one asked what they were looking at, 

 and nobody could tell. It was simply an instance 

 of a certain remnant of primitive gregarionsness of 

 action on the part of human beings, which exhibits 

 itself from time to time in sundry queer fashions 

 and fads. 



So when Miss Delia Bacon, in the year which 

 saw the beginning of " The Atlantic Monthly," 

 published a book purporting to unfold the " philo- 

 sophy " of Shakespeare's dramas, it was not long 

 before other persons began staring intently into 

 the silliest mare's nest ever devised by human dul- 

 ness ; and the fruits of so much staring have ap- 

 peared in divers eccentric volumes, of which more 

 specific mention will presently be made. Neither 

 in number nor in quality are they such as to in- 

 dicate that the Bacon - Shakespeare folly has yet 

 become fashionable, and we shall presently observe 

 in it marked suicidal tendencies which are likely 

 to prevent its ever becoming so ; but there are 

 enough of such volumes to illustrate the point of 

 my anecdote. 



Another fad, once really fashionable, and in de- 

 fence of which some plausible arguments could be 

 urged, was the Wolfian theory of the Homeric 

 poems, which dazzled so many of our grandparents. 

 It is worth our while to mention it here by way of 



