6 R. E. Moritz 



ers a large amount of material and a wide field of literature. 

 They have examined and compared the ivorks of ancient and re- 

 cent authors, early and late zvritings of the same author, and 

 zvritings of the same author of different character, such as his- 

 tory and dialogue, poetry and prose. The results thus far ob- 

 tained are sufficient to show that it is not possible for a writer to 

 escape from his stylistic peculiarities."^ 



There is no uncertainty, no indefiniteness, no ambiguity in 

 these statements. The principle as here set forth is as thor- 

 oughgoing as it is simple. A good writer can not escape from 

 his stylistic peculiarities any more than he can change his pace 

 or alter his voice. Whether he write history or drama, poetry or 

 prose, these stylistic characteristics are ever present with him. 

 They permeate all his writings. They manifest themselves in 

 certain numbers, such as sentence-length, predication-frequency, 

 simple-sentence-percentage, etc. Once discover these numbers 

 and you have marks which will serve for detective purposes quite 

 as well as a man's chirography. They are the earmarks by which 

 to trace anonymous and disputed writings to their sources, the 

 touchstones to disclose the spurious and the false. 



That this is the thought is clear from the sequel of the article 

 referred to. If Shakespeare's plays were written by Bacon, they 

 will reveal the same constants as the other writings of Bacon. 

 In the author's own words, the end sought is evidence touching 

 the authorship of Shakespeare's plays ; whether Bacon wrote 

 Shakespeare's works, or at least whether the Baconian and 

 Shakespearean writings were the work of one and the same per- 

 son, or of different persons. Consequently, an examination is 

 made of the prose in fifteen of the P^ays, of Bacon's Essays, and 

 the Nezv Atlantis. To eliminate possible errors, arising from 

 careless and inconsistent punctuation, all the material is re- 

 punctuated according to modern principles. Fairness is added 

 to consistency by omitting on the Shakespearean side of the in- 

 quiry all inorganic, broken, and suspended diction. Then follow 

 twelve pages of figures representing totals and specimen results,, 

 and finally comes the 



'^University Studies, vol. II, no. 2, pp. 147-148 



234 



