Some time after the Civil War James Russell Lowell was asked to go to
Chicago to deliver a political speech upholding the Republican Party. It
was a great occasion, for Russell was easily the foremost literary and
political figure of the day, and his coming was widely advertised. But
at the last moment, just before the address was to be delivered, for
certain political reasons it was deemed inexpedient by the managers of
the affair to have Russell talk politics, and so a hurried announcement
was made that Mr. Russell, instead of speaking on the issues of the day,
would deliver his celebrated lecture on Shakespeare. This he did, it
having been correctly described by critics as the best lecture on the
great poet ever delivered.
After the lecture was over, however, one of the Chicago politicians, who
doubtless had never heard of Shakespeare, was in his disappointment led
to exclaim:
"Hum! I suppose he thought anything was good enough for us!"