SIR,--In looking over _Macbeth_, I have found a really remarkable
confirmation of Mr. DONNELLY'S cryptographic story. The story relates
how, when CECIL told Queen ELIZABETH that SHAKSPEARE'S plays were
treasonable, she "rises up, beats HAYWARD with her crutch, and nearly
kills him." In Act III., Scene 4, of _Macbeth_, occurs this line,--
"It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood"--
_i.e._, Queen ELIZABETH, being a person of good blood, or high lineage,
_will_ have blood, _i.e._, from the head of the person she beats with
the crutch.
A few lines further on is a striking confirmation of this.
_Macbeth_ says,--
"How say'st thou, that MACDUFF denies his person
At our great bidding?"
_Macduff_ here is cryptographic for SHAKSPEARE. When summoned by the
Queen to answer CECIL'S charge, SHAKSPEARE _did_ deny his person at her
bidding. Mr. DONNELLY'S is a great discovery. The world _does_ advance,
in spite of Lord SALISBURY. Yours, RADICAL.
DEAR SIR,--How long will the British public allow an impudent Yankee to
lead it astray? Mr. DONNELLY has evidently never read my historical
novel, _A Tale of the Invincible Armada_, which somehow failed to meet
with the enthusiasm it deserved, or he would know that CECIL valued
SHAKSPEARE most highly. In my book he never addresses the Bard without
saying, "Marry, Gossip," or "I' faith, good coz." I am sure your readers
will be glad of this information; also to hear that I am bringing out a
cheap popular edition of the same book, price only three-and-sixpence.
Order at once, Yours, M. AINCHANCE.
SIR,--Perhaps, after all, the best solution of the SHAKSPEARE-BACON
puzzle is one analogous to that suggested by a learned Don in the HOMER
controversy--viz., that the person who wrote the plays was not
SHAKSPEARE, but another man of the same name.
Yours, COMMONSENSICUS ACADEMICUS.
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