Thus indifferent was the main author of the plays, whether he were
actor or statesman; and the actor, at least, is not to blame for the
chaos of the first collected edition, made while he was in his grave,
and while Bacon was busy in revising and superintending Latin
translations of his works on scientific subjects.

We now understand why there are so few contemporary records of
Shakspere the man; and see that the neglect of his texts was extreme,
whether or not he were the author. The neglect was characteristic of
the playwrights of his own and the next generation. In those days it
was no marvel; few cared. Nine years passed before a second edition
of the collected plays appeared: thirty-two years went by before a
third edition was issued--years of war and tumult, yet they saw the
posthumous publication of the collected plays of Beaumont and
Fletcher.

There remains one more mystery connected with publication. When the
first collected edition of the plays appeared, it purported to
contain "All His Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies." According to
the postulate of the Baconians it was edited by the Author, or by
Jonson acting for him. It contains several plays which, according to
many critics, are not the author's. This, if true, is mysterious,
and so is the fact that a few plays were published, as by
Shakespeare, in the lifetime both of the actor and of Bacon; plays
which neither acknowledged for his own, for we hear of no
remonstrance from--whoever "William Shakespeare" was. It is
impossible for me to say why there was no remonstrance.

Suppose that Will merely supplied Bacon's plays, under his own name,
with a slight difference in spelling, to his company. It was as much