440 A. Century of Science 



Concerning the Bacon - Shakespeare lunacy .a 

 word must suffice. As I have shown in a previous 

 essay, the doubt concerning the authorship of 

 Shakespeare's plays was in part a reaction against 

 the extravagances of doting commentators ; but in 

 its original form it was simply an insane freak. 

 The unfortunate lady who gave it currency be- 

 longed to a distinguished Connecticut family, and 

 the story of her malady is a sad one. At the age 

 of eight-and-forty she died in the asylum at Hart- 

 ford, two years after the publication of her book, 

 " The Philosophy of Shakespeare's Plays Unfolded." 

 The suggestion of her illustrious namesake, and 

 perhaps kinsman, as the author of Shakespeare's 

 works, was a clear instance of the megalomania 

 which is a well-known symptom of paranoia ; and 

 her book has all the hazy incoherence that is so 

 quickly recognizable in the writings of the insane. 

 A friend of mine once asked me if I did not find 

 it hard to catch her meaning. " Meaning ! " I ex- 

 \ claimed, " there 's none to catch." Among the 

 books of her followers are all degrees of eccen- 

 tricity. That of Nathaniel Holmes stands upon the 

 threshold of the limbo ; while as for Ignatius Don- 

 nelly, all his works belong in its darkest recesses. 



The considerations which would lead one to 

 consign a book to that limbo are often complex. 



