26 MARCH 1904, Page 16

SHAKESPEARE AND BACON.

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIE,—Might I venture to ask the writer of the lines on " Shakespeare and Bacon " in the Spectator of March 19tli to give me the reference in Hood's works' for—" Said Hood: ' I know, if I'd a mind, I could like Shakespeare write' " ? My reason for• asking is simply this, that in a letter written by Lamb to his friend Thomas Manning, February 26th, 1808, he says : " Wordsworth the great poet is coming to town ; he is to have apartments in the Mansion House. He says he does not see much difficulty in writing like Shakespeare if he had a mind to try it." Lamb dryly remarks : "It is clear that nothing is wanting but the mind."—I am, Sir, &c.,

STANLEY HUTTON.

Haroldene, St. Edward's Road, Clifton, Bristol.