Bacon-Shakespeare. — Hardly has the amusing, masterly and conclusive argument of John Fiske on the subject been read, when a celebrated Irish lawyer comes to the same conclusion, but on an entirely origi nal and singular ground. The Right Honorable D. H. Madden, vice-chancellor of the University of Dublin, a lawyer, has published a book entitled " The Diary of Master William Silence : a Study of Shakespeare and of Elizabethan Sport." Of this work the follow ing intelligent account is extracted from the London ' ' Law Journal " : — "The main point urged by the author is the wonderful knowledge of field sports which is displayed by Shakes peare, and the extreme accuracy with which he uses terms of ' venerie,' falconry, and horsemanship, terms which have often sent his less enlightened commentators on a false scent when seeking to explain or amend the text. As the Vice-Chancellor says, thoughts of woodcraft and the chase seem to be so natural to the dramatist as to peep out at times even when they are out of season in point of dramatic propriety. Certainly the author of the plays was a country man and a sportsman before anything. Hence, says the author of this interesting work, we have a new test whereby to determine whether or not a given play is in reality the work of Shakespeare or of another. For it is found that where the plays are undoubtedly those of the master hand, these references to field sports are everywhere to be found; where, as with ' Henry VIII ' and the earlier histories, the work of Shakespeare is but partly to be found, in such parts, and in these alone, do we find the sportsman and the dramatist coincident. The application of this test leads, we observe, to the conclusion that Shakespeare's work is to be found in the 'Two Noble Kinsmen,' in 'Pericles,' and even in ' Titus Andronicus.' We find that the genuine ness of the folio of 1623, and the honesty of its editor, have in Vice-Chancellor Madden a champion. The Baco nian legend has received a blow if the Vice-Chancellor is right; the author of the plays was an unusually enthu siastic and competent sportsman; Bacon was nothing of the kind; a comparison of any single play with the Essays goes to show this. It would be beyond our province to criticise the work before us; but we commend it to all lovers of Shakespeare, of old times, and of field pastimes. Horsemen will read with especial interest a chapter on ' The Horse in Shakespeare.' Anglers alone will be dis appointed, for they will discover that the great writer was not an admirer of their art; but then, Izaak Walton had not yet come." Certainly, if Bacon mischievously and for the sake of killing time, constructed that cypher, he had not imagination enough to dream that he would be ex posed by the fact that he never flew a falcon, shot a deer, or hooked a fish. Mr. Ignatius Donnelly should apply for leave to serve an amended cypher referring to such sports. The Imaginary Lawyer. — We extract the fol lowing from that very lively periodical, " The Philis tine": —
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"Emma Watker-Herr sends me this choice bit: Once at the gate of a Great City, to which only Good People were admitted, sat the gate-keeper, a wise old man, whom for convenience we will call St. Peter. Along came a Lawyer, who said, 'St. Peter, may I come in?' ' No,' said the good old man, ' no lawyers can ever enter here.' "He of the Green Bag turned sorrowfully away and sat down by the wayside to await further developments. Just down the road, tripping along, with a little red umbrella over her head, came a female disciple of Blackstone, wear ing a smile intended to vanquish all argument and act as a password to the beautiful city. Of course St. Peter let her in. The poor man on the outside straightway headed for the gate again, and demanded of St. Peter that he should show cause. ' Vou just let that woman in — and she's a lawyer from Ann Arbor! ' "'Oh,' said St. Peter with a tired smile, 'the woman isnot a lawyer, she only thinks herself one.' And he rapped the Lawyer over the head with a big key and bade him begone." We do not understand that by the words "He of the Green Bag," any disrespect is intended to the Chairman or to his chief, Brother Fuller, but that they are uttered in a generic sense of the bearers of that famous legal reticule which gives a name to our paper. If however we err in this assumption, and the saucy "Philistine" will avow a disrespectful intention, we will proceed to toy with him like another David.
The Volunteer Barber. — When the Chair man turned up that funny case in the City Hall Recorder, and rendered it into verse for the Easy Chair some time ago, he supposed the case was unique. But recently he has come across an amus ing colored print of such a scene, with a printed de scription in which it is said: "The authority of this custom rests on long-established predecent. That its validity is not acknowledged by a legal tribu nal appears from a case which occurred at Bombay in 1802, when an action of assault and battery was brought by a Mr. Maw against certain persons who had by force compelled him to submit to shaving and ducking. The outrage was clearly proved, and the plaintiff obtained a verdict of 400 rupees." Probably silver rupees of 50 cents, rather than gold rupees of $7.00. Mr. Justice Bradley. —The "National Corpora tion Reporter," as reported by the "American Law Review," says that " The designation of Justice Brad ley to the Electoral Commission was most unfortu nate." So it was — for Mr. Tilden. But what of the designation of Justices Clifford, Miller, Field and Strong? If Mr. Justice Bradley gave the determin ing vote of the Commission in favor of his own political party, it is difficult lor unprejudiced men to see that it was any worse than for the other members
