SHAKESPEARE’ MS. BY BARRIE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 291, 8 December 1928, Page 13 (Supplement)

SHAKESPEARE’ MS. BY BARRIE

As every lover of literature has boon reading with delight Sir James Barrie’s elfin fantasy of Mary Queen of Scots at Jedburgh it seems appropriate to recall that this is not the first time he has exercised his playful imagination on the subject of Mary Stewart and “great Queen Bess.” The proof is a precious manuscript which the well-known firm of Christie’s keeps as a memorial of tho fourth and last Red Cross Salo in 1918. Sir James Barrio was ono of tho most zealous workers in securing gifts of books and original papers from famous writers in aid of tho cause of succour, and when finally the Rod Cross Committee presented a catalogue, enriched with the signatures of all tho donors, headed by those of tho King and Queen, to Christie’s as a m omen to of the firm’s untiring efforts. Sir James added to it. in the form of a mock memorandum, a list of offers of momentous gifts, which the committee, in bewilderment, had been bound politely to refuse. Included in this list were “Two letters from Queen Elizabeth to the Governor of Fothcringay Castle about the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots,” and Sir James proceeded to explain that the first of those remarkable documents was “A letter, for publication, begging him not to do it.” and that the second was “A letter, marked ‘Strictly private—burn this!’ saying that if he does not do it he will be hanged, drawn, and quartered.” “Was Hamlet Mad?” Sir James’ nimble imagination found scope in the invention of that long-de-sired lot at a public auction —a genuine manuscript in the hand of Shakespeare —and tho memorandum proceeded to state that the committee had actually refused the offer of four letters written by Shakespeare to Lady Bacon. The Barrie precis of these was: These letters prove conclusively that Lady Bacon was the real author of the so-called Shakespeare plays. She was ashamed to admit it, and William Shakespeare agreed to father them for £5 apiece. He evidently thought little of them, and in one of the letters he asks Lady Bacon to make it clearer whether Hamlet was really mad. A nice clean little lot. The mention of this amount probably caused Sir James to remember Milton, for another lot in the memorandum was the poet’s “Receipt to the Publishers for the Sum paid him for ‘Paradise Lost’: £5.” Antique furniture was also evolved, and, for Red Cross purposes, such relics had been proffered as the Tub of Diogenes, with all faults described: “Two of the staves are gone, and the upper iron girder broken in three places. Otherwise in good condition.” As for Canute’s chair, from which ho rebuked the waves, one of the legs was found to be loose. Another set of relics, for which the catalguo could not find space, was that of Francis Drake’s bowls at the moment the Spanish Armada hove in sight, with tho explanatory note, “one chipped.” Queen Elizabeth’s “Small s’s.” The Elizabethan period obviously inspired Sir James, because he next stated that the famous historic relic associated with Raleigh and the Queen on a wet day would have appeared but for an adamantine committee of selection—and rejection. This Raleigh cloak would indeed have been an auction prize because of its genuineness, supported by the note: “The mark of Queen Elizabeth’s foot plainly seen (small s’s).” True to contemporary history, the fertile author of this mock memorandum included a vade-mecum in the shape of “A Complete Guide to the Geddes Family, now so prominent in public life.” A shorter title of this work, stated to be indispensable to politicians —and editors —was “The Geddes Who's Who.” It was also stated that the Red Cross Committee had rejected the offer of a collection of finger-prints of Mr Lloyd George, Lord Northcliffe, and Mr Asquith. The real Barrie, however, emerged in the beautiful idea of a great pearl necklace—a gem of eerie fancy. Presented by the babies of Great Britain, each of whom has agreed, in the noblest spirit of patriotism, to present the finest of all pearls—his or her first tooth. This will completely knock out the other pearl necklaces. The reference in tho last sentence was to the projected sale, later, of pearl necklaces which generous women made possible by each choosing from her necklace the best pearl in it. The result was that the necklaces thus strung together brought nearly £lOO,OOO in December, 1918, on behalf of the Red Cross, at Christie’s. GIFTS TO JEDBURGH. A letter was read from Sir James Barrie at the second day of the Jedburgh Queen Mary’s House Bazaar, stating that he would be delighted to hand over to the town tho vase presented by the Queen, which he purchased at the bazaar on Thursday for £126. The offer was accepted. Sir James also sent four autographed copies of his books, which were sold by auction. A copy of “A Widow in Thrums” was sold for £l5 to tho EarJ of Dalkeith; “When a Man’s Single” fetched £l3; “Auld Licht Idylls,” £l2 10s; and “What Every Woman Knows,” £2l.

The latest literary mystery concerns the id-entity of George Proedy. author of “General Crack,” a novel just published by Dodd Mead and Co. All that is certainly known about the author is that he is a his torian who has specialised in the history of Central Europe in the seventeenth. and eighteenth centuries.