Page:Mr. Sidney Lee and the Baconians.djvu/10

 (35) "The many references to travel in the Sonnets were doubtless, reminiscences."

(36) "That Shakespeare visited any part of the Continent is even less probable." [That Bacon did is certain].

(37) "That Shakespeare joined any of these expeditions is highly improbable."

(38) "Renders it almost impossible that he could have gathered his knowledge of Northern Italy from personal observation." (42) "There is little doubt that Shakespeare."

(43) "It was probably about 1571 that William."

(44) "It was probably in 1596 that Shakespeare."

(45) "But in all probability he drew."

(46) "In all probability it was."

(47) "It was doubtless under Shakespeare's guidance."

(48) "Shakespeare was doubtless withdrawn."

(49) "Doubtless, William &hellip;"

(50) "Shakespeare, doubtless, travelled."

Does Mr. Lee call this a Life.' I have given 50 "guesses"—I could give 150—in this Life of Shakespeare boasting a reduction in "conjecture" that was never previously attempted. It is a mere tissue of conjecture and assumption. The whole story he relates is not that Shakespeare of Stratford was the author, but that the dramas were allowed without challenge—and without any claim on the part of the reputed author—to pass as his.

Mr. Lee alludes to his work as "a plain and practical narrative of the great dramatist's personal history," and says that he has "avoided merely aesthetic criticism." His volume is, however, mainly composed of "æsthetic criticism" of the plays, in the form of chapters on "Early Dramatic Work," "The Sonnets and their Literary History," "The Borrowed Conceits of the Sonnets," "The Supposed Story of Intrigue in the Sonnets," "The Development of Dramatic Power,"