tt ■i^'- w^ ■4:«:* 293 a. 'Ril (JfotneU Itiitterattg Siihtara BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE IS9I -^ieSbakeepeat^an IRelics;!^ THE HISTORY SHAKESPEARE'S BROOCH. Reprinted from the " Sfratford-upon-Avon Hercdd," April ISth, 1883. 'WirxT:£3: .A-iDiDiTioisrs. iles," &c., became the property, by purchase, of the Eev. Francis Gastrell, vicar of Frodsbam, in Cheshire. He wa.s a man who seems to have had no consciousness of the importance of the obli- gation Ire owed to the world in the possession of such a sacred trust, and, disliking the frequent visits of the admirers of the Poet who came to see the mulberry tree, his first act of vandalism was to cut down the tree, then at its full growth, and to sell it for fire wood. Three years later, 1759, the same "ever-to-be-execrated parson Gastrell," being annoyed that he should be compelled to pay the assessments on New Place for the maintenance of the poor, which he thought to escape because he resided part of the year in Lichfield, declared that the house should never be assessed again, and he accordingly razed it to the ground, disposed of the materials, and it is recorded, " left Stratford amid the rage and curses of its inhabitants." The wood of the mulberry tree was not burnt, however, but was rescued by a Mr. Thomas Sharp, of Stratford, who converted the greater part of it into useful and fancy articles of many kinds, which were eagerly bought up and treasured as souvenirs of England's greatest poet and dramatist. In these forms many memorials of Shakespeare stiU exist, the most noteworthy example of which is a table partly composed of the wood of the mulben-y tree and partly of oak, and which is at the present time the property of Thomas Hunt, Esq., the respected town-clerk of Stratford, having been in the possession of his family from the time it was made, soon after the cutting down of the tree. Besides these memorials there is the volume of Ovid's " Metamorphoses " in the Bodleian Library, which has Shakespeare's initials in it, it may be by his own hand, as the letters are not dissimilar to his writing It is in Latin, and in it is written, in the quaint and precise characters of the period, " This little Book of Ovid was given to me by W Hall who said it was once Will Shakspares T N 1682." The signature on the fly leaf of " The Essayes of Montaigne," translated by Florio, 1603, is considered of doubtful origin. The only sentence known to exist, which can with any probability be supposed to be in the poet's handwriting, is an endorsement on an indenture between Shakespeare and the Combes in 1602 respecting some land, which document certainly did belong to the dramatist, and the signature may therefore be supposed to be his own. There is in the Museum at Stratford the massive gold signet ring, with the letters W S entwined with a tasseled true lover's knot, which was found some thirty or more years ago, and which Mr. Halliwell- Phillips thinks there is little doubt belonged to the poet, and was probably lost but shortly before his death — that is, during the interim between the drafting of his will and the execution of it for in the last clause the word " hand " is substituted for the word " seal " previously written. These places enumerated are all that remain of those with which Shakespeare is known to have been intimately connected, the few signatures are aU of his handwriting which have been preserved, and a few articles which may be counted on one hand, the whole of his personal belongings. It is strange that not a single article of furniture which New Place contained can be tmced. The Poet's plate, china, jewels — with the exception of the signet-ring, and the brooch to be hereafter specially alluded to — his wardrobe, books, and everything which he might be supposed to have treasured, are all missing, and it would seem incredible, were it not known to be a fact, that a man of the Poet's tastes and means, and substance, should have almost the only memorial of himself left in his printed works. But so it is, and there- fore the few we do possess have the greater rarity, charm, and value. After parson Gastrell's death, New Place estate came to his widow by will, ani in course of years went through various vicis- situdes. In April, 1827, a small portion of the land abutting on Chapel-lane was sold away from the rest, and this circumstance has significant reference to the finding of the brooch. Twenty years ago Mr. J. 0. Halliwell (Halliwell-Phillips) had the satisfaction of- reversing the divorce of 1827 in respect to this fragment of land separated from the rest, and, by the aid of a public subscription, purchasing the whole of Shakespeare's estate of New Place to be held for ever in memory of the great dramatist by the Corporation of his native town. FRONT BftCK THE SHAKESPEARE BROOCH. The above engravings are accurate representations of the front and back of the brooch which, with great probability, is conjectured, and as far as circumstantial evidence can go, is proved, to have once belonged to William Shakespeare. It was found in a remarkable manner some five and fifty years ago, but from a concurrence of accidental circumstances it has not hitherto been brought fully under public notice. It is composed of a narrow band of silver bent into the shape of a heart, about one inch in height and a little less in width. It was originally set with twenty two crystals, three of which are, however, missing, two of the " settings" being filled with solder and the third is open with- out a stone. The heart is riot of the conventional- shape, to be seen on any pack of cards, but is unequal-sided — one side being full and the other indented, after the manner of the human heart, or any buUock's or sheep's heart. Above the top of the heart is a coronet attached to the heart only at the ends, consisting of five larger stones, of graduated sizes, the first, third, and fifth stone being red, and the second and fourth blue. On the reverse, near the bottom on the one side, is the letter w, and reading onwards up the other, the word shakespbark. It will be noticed in the back view, from the amount of soft solder represented, that the brooch has been broken and clumsily repaired, the manner of which 8 ■will be subsequently explained. Before alluding further to the details of the brooch, it may be well to describe the pecaliar cir- cumstances under which it was found. It has been before s^ted bow, in the year 1827, a portion of the garden land of New Place, abuttiug upon Chapel-lane, was sold, and in the next year, in the course of some excavations which were made upon it, the brooch was thrown out among the rubbish. It was found by a labouring man, Joseph Smith, of Sheep-street, Stratford, who was engaged upon the excavations and levelling. He was said to be a cooper by trade, but, as described by his daughter, Mrs. Pittaway, now living at Stratford, " he was not much of a cooper, and did odd jobs about the country.'' When Smith found the brooch " he did not think much of it," and gave it to his children to play with. It was covered all over with dirt and corrosion, but the friction from handling it soon removed all that, and enabled the stones, &c., to be more clearly seen. Smith scraped it and cleaned it as well as he could, and then he found the letters w Shakespeare upon it as described above. There was also another word before the w which could not be made out. Smith thought it looked liked lova. It must be noted that this was before the brooch had been broken into two pieces and soldered together again, as it afterwards was. He scraped it in order to make the word plainer, but instead, it became nearly obliterated, and the soldering since has quite effaced all trace of it. Elated with the idea of being possessed of a real Shakespearean relic, and of making money by it, for he was very poor, Smith had it on view at his house in Sheep- street, and exhibited in the window a manuscript intimation to the public of what was to be seen within. This is now before us. It is upon a yellow sheet of foolscap, of considerable age, and much stained. The writing is in a large hand, evidently that of an illiterate person, and occupies only half the first folio. It is as follows, the peculiarities of the orthography and composition being preserved ; — " To be seen here Shakespear's Broach. The last Eelict Found upon the spot by Joseph Smith, Cooper, of Stratford, when part of the House called New Place situated in Chapel Street was pulled down, which House Shakespear Built, and in which he Lived and Died, this Relict was discover'd among the Eiibbish in the Year One Thousand Eiglit Hundred and Twenty Eight, and from the death of Shakespear it must have been lost Two Hundred and Twelve Years." Below is written in pencil, " I believe the Brooch presented lo be a relic of the Immortal Shakespeare. — George Jackson, Antiquarian." Below, also in pencil, is " So do I, Samuel Bayley, Artist." Also, " This brooch bears every appearance of having belonged to Shakespeare, and the writing" (evidently meaning the engraving) "in my opinion confirms it. — Hy. Brook, Sunday Chronicle Office, 18, Pickett-street, London." There is also the Signature of " W. S. Cox, Birm.," to which is added, in another and a poor hand, the letters " Dr.," evidently intended to make plain that William Sands Cox, F.R.S., the eminent surgeon of Birmingham, had thought fit to inscribe his name on the paper, and give his testimony to the genuineness of the brooch. Mr. Sands Cox was always a frequent visitor to Stratford, and from a comparison of the writing with that of his elsewhere, we have no reason to doubt its authenticity. On the inside of the sheet is pasted a notice of it from the Mirror, and several other names which are undecipherable. The finding of the brooch made some considerable sensation in Stratford at the time, and Captain James Saunders, an eminent antiquarian of the town, to whom the Shakespeare Museum is largely indebted for many valuable manuscripts and drawings illus- trative of the history of Stratford, known as the Saunders Collec- tion, was very anxious to possess it. He offered £7 for it, which offer Smith refused, having been told that it was worth much more ; and, besides, he was occasionally making money by showing it at his house to the curious in such matters. Captain Saunders contributed a short notice of the finding of the brooch to the Mirror of September 26th, 1829, under the signature of " HJTHWC," which was accompanied by two fairly good engrav- ings, but they do not give some of the interesting details, as the interlaced members of the W, and the joining of the three letters HAK into one, as seen in the engraving above. Capt. Saunders, in the Mirror, gives his opinion of the brooch, when he says : " This brooch is considered by the most competent judges 10 and antiquaries, in and near Stratford, to liave been the personal property of Shakespeare '' ; and those who know Capt. Saunders's antiquarian taste and knowledge, from the Saunders Collection, will respect his opinion. The original sketches, made for the Mirror by Capt. Saunders, are at the present time in the possession of Mrs. Voisey, of Stratford, a daughter of Mr. William Hurdis Harborne, who subsequently became possessed of the brooch. After a time Smith became very poor, as he had ten children dependent upon him, and was out of work. He applied for parish relief, which was refused, on the ground of his holding the brooch, it being considered of value, and he having refused to give it up or sell it. Being in straits, he left the town to seek for work else- where, and was away but about a fortnight, during which time his wife and family claimed relief of the parish. When he came back he was taken before the magistrates for deserting his wife and family, and leaving them chargeable to the parish. It was, said Smith, during the year of Mr. Smith's mayoralty that he was sent to gaol. Mr. Smith was Mayor of Stratford from September 1, 1830, to the same date 1831, which fixes the period. Mr. Smith and the other magistrate, Mr. Geatley, said as Smith had been obstinate in not giving up the brooch, they would be obstinate too, and, if they could, they would certainly send him to Warwick (gaol) for twelve months. They did, however, commit him for three months. Smith states that he firmly believed the offence of having left his family would have been overlooked if he had given up the brooch. During the time Smith was in prison, the brooch was left in the care of Mr. William Hurdis Harborne, of Stratford. He had, previously, offered Smith money for the brooch, but Smith, notwithstanding his poverty, always refused to part with it. On Smith's release, various sums were, however, advanced to him by Mr. Harborne, from time to time, with the understanding that Smith was to have the brooch again on repaying the money. This he was never able to do. " Lawyer Wheler " — .Mr. Eobert Bell Wheler, solicitor, of Stratford^a well-known Shakespearean, and author of " Wheler's Guide," and "Wheler's History of StratfordJ' endeavoured to obtain possession of the brooch, but Smith could not be persuaded, and would not consent to give up his interest in 11 it. Mr. Harborne, however, obtained Smith's consent to exhibit the brooch to the public, on promising to give him a share of the proceeds. Harborne at that time kept a public-house in Henley street, opposite Shakespeare's birthplace ; it is now the Stratford Arms. In the window was exhibited a bill containing a descrip- tion of the famous relic, and, says Mrs. Pittaway, Smith's youngest daughter, who still lives at Stratford, most of those who went to see the poet's birthplace went to see the brooch. Smith, she says, had afterwards many opportunities of selling it, but he could not induce Harborne to give it up, he having a claim upon it by reason of the money he had advanced to Smith, and which still remained impaid. Harborne, taking the brooch with him, afterwards removed to Kowington, near "Warwick, where he died in 1845. His son, Mr. Joseph Harborne, at present of Stratford-on-Avon, came into possession of the brooch on the death of his father as trustee under his will. The furniture and effects of the father, Mr. William Hurdis Harborne, were left to be equally distributed between his three children, but owing to the family not being able to agree upon the value of the brooch, it remained in Mr. Joseph Harborne's possession about twenty years. About seventeen years ago the other brother had the brooch on his paying his brother Joseph one-third of the supposed value, and from then till some short time ago it has remained unseen. Mr. Joseph Harborne states that he well remembers how the brooch became broken when shown at his father's house in Henley street. On one occasion a lady, an actress, called to see it, and pressing it enthusiastically to her bosom, exclaiming " Oh, my Shakespeare ! " she broke the brooch into two pieces. Mrs. Richard Voisey, a daughter of Mr. William Hurdis Harborne, still residing at Strat- ford, well remembers the brooch being broken, and confirms the statement of her brother as to the manner of it becoming so. She says it was soldered together by Mr. John BisseU, a tin plate worker and brazier, in Great WUliam street, Stratford. He was an old friend of the Harborne family, and they were afraid to entrust it to anyone else's keeping. This would account for its being so clumsOy mended. The brooch is in a small circular flat box of (dark wopd, whicl^, from comparison with articles known to hav.e 12 been made from Shakespeare's mulberry tree, is most probably made of that wood! It was made by Smith, soon after he found the brooch, and it is just such a box as a rough cooper might be supposed to have turned. Fifty years ago there were pieces of the celebrated mulberry tree obtainable ; it is well known that Mr. Wm. Hurdis Harborne possessed some of it, and, therefore, it is not unlikely that Smith easily procured a piece of which to make a fitting casket for what he deemed so valuable. Both Mrs. Pittaway -^Smith's daughter — and Mrs. Voisey say they always heard that the small round box was made of the celebrated mulberry tree, which had been planted by Shakespeare himself, and which the sacrilegious parson Gastrell cut down, but vainly endeavoured to annihilate. For some of the above particulars we are considerably indebted to Mr. Joseph Harborne, the son of Mr. William Hurdis Harborne, who first had the brooch from Smith ; to his sister, Mrs. Eichard Voisey ; and also to Mrs. Pittaway, Smith's youngest daughter, all of whom are still living in Stratford. Other of the circumstances relating to it' are stated in a statutory declara- tion made by Joseph Smith, at "Warwick, dated August 20th, 1864, a copy of which is appended to this article. In 1864 the brooch was submitted to Mr. J. H. Pollen, then of the South Kensington Museum, who wrote of it as follows : — " I have seen a small silver brooch, set with small crystals, and having a crown above of five imitation jewels. The brooch is in the form of a heart, and has on the reverse the name of "W. Shakespeare. I can see no reason to doubt its antiquity, or any part of the description that accompanies it. It was found at Stratford-on- Avon in 1828." The brooch has lately been submitted to the in- spection of Mr. J. "W. Tonks, of the firm of Messrs. T. and J. Bragg, the eminent jewellers of Birmingham and London, whose long experience in the manufacture of mayoral chains and official insignia, in addition to the other branches of their business, has afforded them exceptionally frequent and advantageous opportuni- ties of studying specimens of ancient jewellery and decorations. Of the brooch Mr. Tonks says, "The 'tables' of the stones have evidently been hexagonal, although in many of them the angles have been lost by long wear and successive friction. The ' cutting ' 13 is of a primitive mode, not generally practised after the Restoration, when Freuch fashions were introduced, and the style of the 'setting* is that of the sixteenth century. The brooch has every appearance of an antiquity bringing it at least as early as the time of Shakes- peare.'' In addition to the facts already narrated, it may be asked what evidence is borne by the brooch itself to its ever having been belonging to Shakespeare, or to its having been coeval with his time 1 And, firstly, in reference to the W. on the left-hand side of the brooch 1 Most of the modern languages of Europe do not have the letter W, which in English takes its form from a repetition of V, thus VV. Afterwards, the two letters were placed together so as to- touch each other, and later on, the middle members ^ere interlaced, as shown upon the brooch, and, in this example, "^^C^- '^^^^ form of the letter was greatly in vogue during the later part of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries, as may be seen by reference to the books and tombstones of the period. The signet ring in the Birth-place Museum has the interlaced W ; the name of Henry Walpole, carved on a dungeon wall in the Tower of London; " the most excellent Historic of the Merchant of Venice, Written by William Shakespeare," and " Mr. William Shak-speare, His Time, Chronicle, History of the Life and Death of King Lear and his three daughters,'' of the date 1608, in the museum have the same kind of W. The lines on the tomb of Shakespeare's daughter, Susannah Hall, adjoining the poet's tomb, contain six instances of that form of the letter W, and- on the tablet of Eichard Hill in the south transept, now used as the vestry, the same thing is repeated four times. An important example of the wide-spread habit of so writing the "^^T/" is to be found in a German bible now in the British Museum, and which was published at Wittenberg in 1584. The capitals are engraved in plate 89 of the work on " The Art of Illuminating," by Tymms and Digby Wyatt. During the time in. which Shakespeare lived, the practice of joining two consonants togelhsr was very common, but it is generally only to be seen on tombs, &c., where the letters are carved, the type for printing not being made in that manner. In the lines on the stone over the 14 poet's grave, invoking pioteotion for his dust and a malediction on those who disturb his bones, occur two cases of this kind, where T and H are joined, having only two upright strokes between them. The slab to the memory of his wife has three examples of double consonants, and the tomb of the wife of GiflEbrd Long, in Bradford- on-Avon Church, dated 1601, has seven examples of r-p , , and two of H I . On the tablet under Shakespeare's bust in the chancel of the church at Stratford are seven interlaced Ws, nine double letters, and one example of three joined letters. The union of three letters, however, is not of such frequent occurrence. It will be noticed that the letters HAK upon the brooch are so joined, and the only other instance of a similar kind we can call to mind is on this tablet in the church at Stratford. It occurs in those lines com- mencing "Stay, passenger, why goest thou by so fast 1" and there the letters THE are united thus HF'pl • From all this it may not without reason be concluded that the brooch must have been the production of Shakespeare's time, when such letters were in use, and it is curious that the two instances of triple letters should both be connected with Shakespeare. It was suggested by Mr. Collins, the clever draughtsman and engraver, of the Strand, who has, with such minute fidelity engraved the two blocks, of which the above representations are impressions, that the shape of the brooch being that of the human heart, and not the conventional one, the three red stones in the coronet might possibly have been intended to represent the arterial, and the two blue stones the venous, system of the heart. The idea is a pretty one, but against the truth of it may possibly be raised the objection supported by quotations from date-books, &c., that the circulation of the blood was first discovered by Harvey, three years after Shakespeare's death. It is a fact, however, and one of those "things not generally known," that the circulation of the blood was well-known in its broad and general principles long be- fore Harvey's time. Dr. Charles Clay, of Manchester, at an anti- vivisection meeting in Manchester held January 31st last, said : — " As regards the circulation of the blood, which some physiologists assert Harvey discovered by means of vivisection, I do not believe that Harvey ever claimed the discovery of the circulation of the 15 blood. It was a fact well known before his time. But I do be- lieve he demonstrated to the eye of Eoyalty, by a cruel and uncalled- for experiment, a fact long previously known. I am owner of a MS. treating at great length the question of blood circulation, which was written in the 14th century." And Mr, Lawson Tait, the eminent Birmingham surgeon, has written in reference to the same subject," that " it can be clearly shown that quite as much as Harvey knew was known before his time, and that it is our insular pride which has claimed for him the merit of the discovery." And then he goes on to show that though the circulation had long been known as a broad fact, the details of the systemical circulation re- mained incompletely proved till the examination of injected tissues by the microscope had been made. Whether, as Aubrey says, " Shakespeare's father was a butcher, and that when he was a boy he exercised his father's trade, and when he killed a calf he would do it in high style, and make a speech," we will not now discuss. It may have been so, or it may not. Shakespeare makes Hamlet speak of The lep'rous distilmeat, whose effect Holds such an enmity with blood of man, That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through The natural gates and alleys of the body ; And with sudden vigour it doth posset And curd, like aigre droppings into mUk, The thin and wholesome blood. From this it would appear that Shakespeare had some general idea of the circulation of the blood " thrqugh the natural gates and alleys of the body," the arteries being described as " gates,'' and the veins as " alleys " ; and no comparisons, when expressed in popular language, could be more approjiriate. Whatever might have been the original thought in the design of the brooch, whether it were that of Shakespeare himself, or merely that of the maker, bearing in mind the natural shape of the heart as pourtrayed in the brooch, it does not appear a far-fetched idea to suppose that the three red stones disposed in so remarkable, and one might almost say, natural, a manner, might be intended to represent the left sub-clavian artery and the innominate artery, one 16 on either side, and the left common carotid in the middle, filled ■with bright red arterial blood. These represent all the arterial vessels which spring from the arch- of the aorta, and the two blue stones the ascending and descending vena cava filled with the dark or venous blood. The idea is novel, and worth consideration and entertainment. In another passage in the same play Laertes, speaking to the King of a French gallant, says of him, " He is the brooch indeed, and gem of all the nation," thus, doubtless, giving expression to the poet's idea of excellence by the simile of a " brooch " and " gem." Mr. Tonks suggests that this heart- shaped brooch having one side depressed, has much the character of a heraldic device with a coronet over it. He notes the resem- blance to the comliere, the piece of armour which was used to protect the elbow joint in the panoply of the second half of the thirteenth century, which was long afterwards continued to be worn as an ornament upon the arm without armour. At any rate the resemblance is curious, and, if the idea be correct, may account for the words put by Shakespeare into the mouth of lago : — " But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve, For daws to peck at." A good example of this identical form is in St. Edmund's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, and is figured in Aveling's Heraldry, ph. 208, p. 102. The above chapters of circumstantial and internal evidence, confirmed as they are by the testimony of Mrs. Elizabeth Pitta way, the youngest daughter of Smith, the finder of the brooch, and Mrs. Ed. Voisey and Mr. Joseph Harborne, daughter and son of the Mr. William Hurdis Harborne who had the brooch from Smith, who are now residing at Stratford, seem to be a fully sufficient warrant for regarding the brooch as a genuine relic of Shakespeare. It is a pity that we cannot add the last words of Joseph Smith in reference to it, as he died, at the age of eighty-nine years, on Sep- tember 8th, 1880. His statutory declaration, however, made in 1864, when Mr. William Hurdis Harborne took full possession and ownership of thB brooch, is appended to the foot of this article, and to the last Smith had a full belief in the genuineness of the brooch, and that it was what it was generally thought to be. Of 17 this each must form his own opinion. He considered it worth £1,000, and went to prison for three months rather than relinquish possession of it, till "poverty, and not his will, compelled." The hrooch has only passed through two hands, from Smith's to that of the present owner, and has, for twenty years past, been entirely concealed from public view. A fact, and a most important one, which gives importance and interest to the brooch, and which may be regarded as pretty good evidence of its authenticity and value is, that both Captain Saunders and Mr. Eobert Bell Wheler, two such learned antiquaries, had full belief in its genuineness, and were so anxious to secure it for themselves when it was first found. Their tastes and learning were of no common kind, especially in anything which related to Stratford, and had the wishes of either of them been gratified, the brooch would, doubtless, long ago have held a distin- guished place in the Shakespeare Museum along with so many of their other collections. As it is, we hope, and have reason to be- lieve, that at some day not far distant it may take its place there along with the many other treasures, both literary, artistic, and antiquarian, which confer dignity and importance upon the town of Stratford, and do honour to the memory of the immortal Shakespeare. The following is the statutory declaration of Joseph Smith respecting the finding of the brooch before referred to. " I, Joseph Smith, of Stratford-on-Avon, in the county of Warwick, cooper, do solemnly and sincerely declare that in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight I found the Brooch now shown to me, and having the name " W. Shakespeare " engraved at the back thereof, upon a heap of rubbish brought out of, and laid in front of, New place, in Stratford-on-Avon aforesaid, during alterations being made in those premises. The said Brooch is made of silver, set with imitation stones, in the form of a harp (heart), with a wreath on the top. I did not much value it, and gave it to my children to play with. The Brooch, when found, was so corroded that it could not be seen what metal it was made of. I scraped it and cleaned it as best I could, when I saw writing upon it, and, with more cleaning, I found it to have the name "W. Shakespeare" upon it. There was another word which I was -not able to make out. It looked like "Lova." I, however, scraped it till that word was nearly obliterated. My having found it soon 18 got to the ears of Captain Saunders, an Antiquarian, of Stratford, who came to see it. He offered me Seven Pounds for it, which offer I refused, having been told I should get more for it. At that time, being very poorly off, as I had then ten children dependent upon me and being out of work, I applied for Parish relief, which was denied me on the ground of my holding the said Brooch, which they requested me to give up or sell. This request I with- stood. I left the town to seek for work, and was away about a fortnight. When I came back, I was taken before the Magistrates. It was during the year of Mr. William Smith's Mayoralty. He, and his brother Magistrate, Mr. Geatley, said that as I had been obstinate in not giving up the Brooch they would be obstinate too, and if they could they would certainly send me to Warwick for twelve months. They, however, sent me for three months. The offence of my having left my family I believe would have been overlooked if I had given the said Brooch to them. Soon after this I was offered money for it by Mr. William Hurdis Harborne, which offer I accepted, and let him have the Brooch, but with the understanding that I was to have it again if I could repay him the money, but being always poor I have never been able to redeem it, and have no expectation of ever being able to do so. I have now no claim upon it, and I make this solemn Declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the fifth and sixth years of the Reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled an "Act to repeal an Act of the present Session of Parliament intituled an ' Act for the more effectual abolition of oaths and afiirmations taken and made in various departments of the State, and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof ' and for the more effectual siippression of voluntary and extra-judicial oaths and affidavits, and to make other provisions for the abolition of unnecessary oaths. — Joseph Smith." " Declared at Warwick, in the County of Warwick, this 20th day of August, 1864. Before me, Thomis Heath, a Commissioner to Administer Oaths in Chancery in England. " With the declaration is also the rough draft from which it was drawn up. It is evidently written by an uneducated person, probably from Smith's dictation, as it is not in his handwriting. We may add that the present possessor of the Shakespeare brooch in the mulberry wood box is Mr. John Eabone, of Birming- ham, an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare, as the trouble and expense he incurred to obtain a correct copy of " The Shakespeare 19 Portrait," before it was manipulated by Mr. Collins, recorded in our columns two and a half years ago, confirm. To him our thanks are especially due for the interesting facts contained in this article, and likewise for the exceedingly well-executed engravings, which convey faithful representations of the brooch in its minutest details. Cornell University Library PR2932.R11 Shakespearian relics; the history of Shak 3 1924 013 152 339 y-^^^^^^::jym_K r^^y, . "M : A,.*:.4-' J