— 790—

persons of several plays, even if supported by the judgment of critics of note, does not entitle us to arrange them accor- ding to it in chronological order in their period, not even to assign them to a certain period, if we regard the strict, chronological order in the same period as unessential:„Whether Macbeth preceded Othello, or Othello, Macbeth, need not greatly concern us“.(Dowden).

The striking vitality and force of Shakespeare's charac- ters is not to be doubted, but as to their range and nobility a controversy has been possible. Ulrici, Gervinus, Dowden assign, also in these qualities, the very first place to the creations of our poet, and naturally hold not only his genius, but also his mind in equally high estimation. Dowden places the poet whose great energy of will conquered the sensitive- ness and passion of his heart, above the noblest poets Rümelin finds in this point of view his characters, accordingly, his mind inferior to Goethe’'s and Schiller's. If the question about the estimation of Shakespeare in general was started, I could mention that Voltaire spoke of him as of un sauvage ivre; that Victor Hugo„has ceélebrated him in a volume of eulogy almost unqualified, often injudicious, but always the writings of a man of genius“(Dowden); that Taine(Histoire de la Littérature anglaise, II, p. 164) calls him„une nature d'esprit extraordinaire, choquante pour toutes nos habitudes francçaises d'analyse et de logique,... poétique, immorale, inspirée, supérieure à la raison par les révélations improvi- sées de sa folie clairvoyante“, etc., etc.

Besides the knowledge of the world, of foreign coun- tries, the learning displayed, especially the legal attainments, it is just the nobility of his characters that has been alleged in proof against his authorship of the plays. In the Bacon- Shakespeare controversy, Appleton Morgan(The Shakespearean Myth, Cincinnati 1881) supports the hypothesis of Delia Bacon, defended by Nathanael Holmes, O. Follett, and others, at least so far, as to state that Shakespeare cannot be the author, leaving undecided, if Southampton, Raleigh, Essex, Rutland, Montgomery, and Bacon were among Shakespeare's