BAD SHAKE

The anti-Shakespearean cabal at The Times (led by C. Champlin) has exposed its twisted hand.

Using as a pretext the death of an obscure drama critic--whose fixed idea it was the Christopher Marlowe wrote not only his own mighty lines but Shakespeare’s as well--Champlin struck with that speed and cunning we have come to associate with the sect of secret Baconians (“Hoffman’s Questions About the Bard Live On,” March 1).

In a daring coup de main the covert Baconians at The Times seized the front page of the Calendar March 1. The day is significant: The conspirators acted while The Times’ Shakespearean loyalists were away on weekend assignments.

This scandal must end! A long-suffering public is prepared to believe that those now exposed are merely dupes of a much wider conspiracy whose aim is nothing less than the subversion of the English language itself!

But these innocent dupes must seek exile someplace where they can do no more harm, someplace where the English language is not known--at the Daily News, for instance.

Nothing less than voluntary banishment can atone for their crimes against “our father Shakespeare,” as Pushkin called him.

I remain yr. obed. srv.

DONALD FREED

Los Angeles