P¥l Qfarnell ItticetHitg Cihtarg Dtijata, New $nrlt FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854.1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Library PR 2944.P41 Lord Penzance on the Bacon-Shakespeare c 3 1924 013 153 667 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013153667 A JUDICIAL SUMMING-UP ^f c JX^^*< d^^ Lord Penzance on the Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy A JUDICIAL SUMMhNG-UP BY THE RT. HON. SIR JAMES PLAISTED WILDE BARON PENZANCE EDITED BY M. H. KINNEAR WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE BY F. A. INDERWICK, K.C. LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, Ltd. St. 13un0tan's i^ouse Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.G. 1902 J^,^. so far as appears, this was also the first occasion upon which the authorship was attributed to William Shakespeare. In the next year the play was reprinted and pub- lished again. I ought to tell you what the title-pages said. Of the publication in 1603 the substance of the title-page was as follows : "HAMLET FIRST PRINTED II 7 "The Tragical Historic of Hamlet, " by William Shakespeare, "as it has been diverse times acted by His Highness's servants in the Cittie of London, as also in the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and elsewhere. " Printed for N. L. and John Trundell." Of the second publication in 1604 • "The Tragical Historie of Hamlet, " by William Shakespeare. "Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much again, as it was according to the true and perfect coppie. " Printed by I. R. for N. L., and are to be sold at his Shoppe under St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street." Although we know from Nash's Epistle (assuming that it was the play to which he referred) that it had been made public in some form before 1589, it had never been printed and published until 1603, Both publications are said to be printed for N. L., who it appears kept a " shoppe under St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street " — and both are said to be " By William Shakespeare." But William Shakespeare is in no way shown to be connected with its publication, or with its entry at the Stationers' Hall. I am now about to refer to a very different sub- ject, which is certainly not without weight in the inquiry in which we are engaged. Mr, Smith, to whom I have referred before, has drawn attention to the accuracy of detail which is shown in the plays where foreign places and customs are concerned. Il8 ITALIAN SCENES IN THE PLAYS He says : "The most striking difficulty, perhaps, in believing that William Shakespeare wrote the plays lies in the descriptions of foreign scenes, particularly of Italian scenes and of sea-life, interwoven in the text of the plays : descriptions so numerous and so marvellously accurate, that it is almost impossible to believe they were written by a man who lived in London and Strat- ford, who never left this island, and who saw the world only from the stroller's booth." ' This subject attracted the attention of many Shakespearean readers, and attempts have been made from time to time to show that William Shakespeare did at some time in his career under- take foreign travel. There is not the slightest testimony in support of this suggestion, and, like that of his having once been a lawyer's clerk, it seems to have been generated very much after this fashion : The man who wrote the plays must have been in those countries which he portrays. William Shakespeare wrote the plays, consequently he must have been there. The Baconians use this matter as a strong argu- ment for Bacon, as he is known to have been for some time in Italy. A learned German, Dr. Elze, who has devoted much time and labour to the study of the Shake- speare plays, and has written several essays on the subject, says : ^ ' W. H. Smith, "Bacon and Shakespeare," p. 92. ^ " Essays on Shakespeare " (Karl Elze), p. 262. ITALIAN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS II 9 "The manner in which Petruchio is betrothed to Katherine by her father uniting their hands before two witnesses, is essentially an Italian custom. " In regard to the household furniture and the objects of luxury with which old Gremio's house is furnished, it has been remarked before by Lady Morgan that all the articles mentioned have been actually seen by her in the palaces of Venice, Genoa, and Florence. " Even the circumstance of old Gobbo presenting a dish of doves to his son's master betrays a characteristic Italian feature." All these matters, tending as they do to show that the writer of the plays had been himself in the countries in which the plots of his plays were laid, are urged strongly by the plaintiffs as carrying the double inference that the Stratford young man — whose daily work tied him to England — could not have been the author, and that the incidents of Bacon's life were just such as the author's might have been. This state of things is dilated upon by Mr. Appleton Morgan,^ if I recollect right, in a passage to the following effect : "It is only the careful student of these plays who knows or conceives either their wealth of exact reference to the minutest features of the lands or the localities in which their actions lie, or the conclusions to be drawn therefrom. There were no guide-books or itineraries of Venice published until after Shakespeare's time, and yet while schoolboy facts such as that Venice is built in the sea and gondolas take the place of wheeled vehicles, or that there is a leaning tower at Pisa, or a Coliseum at ' The "Shakespearean Myth," p. 219. I20 ITALIAN SCENES IN THE PLAYS Verona or Rome, are not referred to, the outdoor action in ' Othello ' or ' The Merchant of Venice ' is always in a street or open place, canals and gondolas being never mentioned. " For instance, Portia sends her servant Balthazar to fetch notes and garments of her learned cousin Bellario and to meet her ' at the common ferry which trades to Venice.' Othello brings Desdemona from her father's house to his residence ' in the Sagittary.' " In " Two Gentlemen of Verona," Valentine is made to embark at Verona for Milan, and in " Taming of the Shrew " Baptista is the name of a man. These were sneered at as mistakes for some hundred years, until one learned German discovered that " Baptista is not uncommonly used as a man's name in Italy," * and another learned German, that in the sixteenth century Upper Italy was intersected by canals, a fact which Shakespeare must have been aware of had he visited the country.^ It is surely very much to be regretted that so very little is in existence in the shape of correspondence or memoirs, or other contemporary writings, which would serve to furnish us with materials for estimat- ing the general character of William Shakespeare, and provide us with an estimate of the sort of man that he was. Of his own actual handwriting there is absolutely nothing but five signatures, three of which are to his Will. And in the writings of others there are only two or three letters referring to him, which are all about the borrowing of money from him. ^ " Allgemeine Zeitung," October 21st, 1870. ' " Essays on Shakespeare " (Karl Elze), p. 296. SHAKESPEARE S EPITAPHS, ETC. 1 2 I The widely opposite characters which the parties in controversy here assign to him make the inquirer long for some facts or incidents which will exhibit him in one light or another with greater distinctness. In his Stratford life such incidents are not want- ing, and the pictures they present tend strongly to support the views of his character taken by the Baconians. But he was little better than a boy when his Stratford life came to an abrupt end. Of his life after that period I cannot call to mind that there have been placed before us any incidents or events connected with him, except a traditionary story of his having outwitted a fellow actor in a certain amorous intrigue, and his supposed paternity of Sir William Davenant — in respect of which, but for the indecent avowals of Sir William himself, there does not seem to be a particle of reliable evidence. In this dearth of more substantive materials for the formation of a judgement concerning him, it would not be right to pass over the short poetic effusions which on different subjects have been im- puted to him personally, and which are connected, all of them I think, with the Stratford life — I mean the second Stratford life after his retirement. Epitaph on Elias James. — From a manuscript volume of poems by Herrick and others, said to be in writing of Charles I., in Bodleian Library : " When God was pleased, the world unwilling yet, Elias James to nature paid his debt, And here reposeth — as he lived he dyed. The saying in him strongly verified. 122 SHAKESPEARE S EPITAPHS Such life — such death — then the known truth to tell, He lived a godly lyfe and dyde as well." On Sir Thomas Stanley. — On authority of Sir William Dugdale (Visitation Book), who says " The following verses were made by William Shakespeare the late famous tragedian " : " Ask who lies here, but do not weepe. He is not dead, he doth but sleepe ; This stony register is for his bones. His fame is more perpetual than these stones. And his own goodness with himself being gone Shall live when earthly monument is none. Not monumental stone preserves our fame. Nor sky-aspiring pyramids our name : The memory of him for whom this stands Shall outlive marble and defacer's hands ; When all to time's consumption shall be given, Stanley for whom this stands shall stand in Heaven." Epitaph on Tom-a-Combe, otherwise Thin-beard. On authority of Peck, " Memoirs of Milton" :— " Thin in beard and thick in purse, Never man beloved worse ; He went to the grave with many a curse. The Devil and he had both one nurse." Whom I have Drunken with. " Piping Pebworth, dancing Marston, Haunted Hillborough and hungry Grafton, With dodging Exhall, Papist Wixford, Beggarly Broom and drunken Bidford." These lines attributed to Shakespeare by John Jordon. The Epitaph of John Combe, written by Shake- speare during Combe's life, who asked him to write SHAKESPEARE S EPITAPHS I 23 one. It comes from the Ashmolean MSS. cited by Halliwell : " Ten in a hundred here lies engraved, 'Tis a hundred to ten his soul is not saved ; If any any one asks, Who lies in this tomb ? Ho, ho, quoth the Devil — 'tis my John a Combe." Combe, who lived at Stratford, afterwards died, and left much money to the poor. So Shakespeare wrote the following as his epitaph : " How'ere he lived judge not, John Combe shall never be forgot While poor hath memory, for he did gather To make the poor his issue, he their father, As record of his tilth and seedes. Did crown him in his later needes. Finis— W. Shak." " Goliath comes with sword and spear. And David with a sling ; Although Goliath rage and swear, Down David doth him bring." On the authority of Stratford local tradition. But perhaps the best authenticated poetical effort that has come down to us is the Epitaph which William Shakespeare prepared for himself. A Mr. Dowdall in a letter, which still exists, to Edward Southwell, dated April loth, 1692, says that the following lines were written by Shakespeare for himself a little before his death : " Good friend, for Jesus sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare : Bleste be y° man that spares thes stones. And curst be he that moves my bones." 124 SHAKESPEARE S OTHER COMPOSITIONS And, lastly, there are the lines which I have already quoted to you, and which are said to have been the cause of his flight to London. " A parliament man and a Justice of Peace, At home a poor scarecrow, at London an ass ; If lousie is Lucy as some volkes miscall it. Then Lucy is lousie whatever befall it. He thinks himself great, Yet an ass is his state, We allow by his ears with asses to mate. If Lucy is lousie as some volkes miscall it, Then Lucy is lousie whatever befall it." The bearing of this poetry of William Shake- speare's upon the question which is before us is not perhaps very direct, but considering them as really the handiwork of Shakespeare, one can hardly deny that they help us to form some idea of the sort of man that he was, and perhaps to throw some light on the question of what he was not. Now I will ask you whether there is not a general character pervading all these separate efforts ? The Epitaphs strike me as if they were the familiar poetry of the English churchyard ; his own epitaph particularly so. The question is. Could Shakespeare — the Shake- speare of the immortal plays — could he have con- descended to them, or to anything like them ? I have more than once in addressing you referred to the two Shakespeares : the rural wag — the natural wit — the funny fellow — the hero of the wit-combats — as represented by the Plaintiffs, or the great philo- sophic dramatist represented by the Defendants. Well, what do you say of this poetry ? With which THEIR GENERAL CHARACTER 1 25 Shakespeare can you most easily and naturally asso- ciate it ? I do not know that the dates when particular plays were produced have any very notable bearing on their authorship, but a general idea of the period of time within which many of the best plays were made public may not be without interest for us. And it is not unnatural that we should desire to carry in our minds a general view of the time when the greater part of the plays were given to the public in connection with what we know of the whereabouts of Shakespeare and the way in which he was employed. I wish I could give you something like positive dates for the production of these plays ; but the materials laid before us do not furnish positive dates, and we can only deal with what materials we have. You will remember that according to Mr. Knight and Mr. Staunton, no less than six of the Shake- speare plays had been written before 1591. Starting then from that year 1591, we have the following statement : " Between the winter of 1591-2 and the summer of 1598, Shakespeare had written at least fifteen plays. The plays were not popular during his life, and were not played at the people's playhouse until the re-build- ing of the Globe Theatre in 16 14, and they were always called Shakespeare's Plays till the year 1700." This is the statement of Mr. W. H. Smith, whose name is well known as being among the first of those who published their doubts as to the author- ship of the Shakespeare Plays. He speaks, you see, of the summer of 1598. It so happens that 126 EVIDENCE FROM THE " PALLADIS TAMIA " there was a book called " Palladis Tamia," by Francis Meres, Master of Arts, published in 1598. It spoke much in praise of Shakespeare's plays, and it gave the following list of his plays as being then known to the public : " Two Gentlemen of Verona." "The Comedy of Errors." " Love's Labour Lost.'' "All's Well that Ends Well." " King John." " The Merchant of Venice." " The Midsummer Night's Dream." " Henry IV." " Richard II." "Richard in." " Titus Andronicus." " Romeo and Juliet." He did not speak as having any personal know- ledge of the man William Shakespeare, but he spoke of him, as we should at the present day, as the writer of the plays commonly known by that name. This list is important as showing that these plays had been by that time made public. Between 1598 and 1604, the following of the plays were made public, and three out of four printed : "The first and second parts of Henry IV." 1598. " Much Ado about Nothing," ist quarto 1600. "Twelfth Night," in Manningham's Diary 1601. " Henry V.," ist quarto 1600. Carrying on the dates from 1604, we have the following statement by Judge Holmes : ^ ' Judge Holmes, "The Authorship of Shakespeare," p. 6 ^Houghton Mifflin and Co., New York, 1886;. THE " PALLADIS TAMIA 1 27 "From 1604 till 161 3 the personal notices that re- main to us exhibit him as being always very attentive to matters of business, rapidly growing in estate, purchasing farms, houses and tithes in Stratford, bringing suits for small sums against various persons for malt dehvered, money loaned and the Uke, carrying on agricultural pur- suits and other kinds of traffic, with ' a good grip o' the siller,' and executing business commissions in London for his Stratford neighbours, while we are to suppose he was at the same time producing such plays as ' Hamlet,' 'Macbeth,' 'Othello,' 'Lear,' and 'Julius Caesar,' from all which it was plain he had an excellent capacity for business; but there is nowhere the slightest note or trace of his literary occupations.'' This carries us on up to 1613, but the opinion of many is that he had practically retired to Stratford long before, and Mr. Staunton, whose published edition of the Shakespeare Plays is so well known, puts his retirement as early as 1 604. The statements of Mr. H alii well in his Biography of Shakespeare tend strongly to the conclusion that he retired in 1604. He says : ^ " The exact period at which Shakespeare retired from the stage is not known, but he was one of the original actors in Ben Jonson's ' Sejanus ' in 1603, and in a letter supposed to have been written in 1608 he is described as 'till of late an actor of good account in the com- panie.' His name also occurs in a Ust of the King's company appended to a letter dated April 9th, 1604." It is evident from the action brought by him against Philip Rogers for malt sold to him in 1604, * "Life of W. Shakespeare" (James Halliwell), p. 218. 128 Shakespeare's final retirement that Shakespeare was occupied in very different pursuits in that year from the work of an actor, "I am inclined to believe (says Mr. Halliwell) that any abode Shakespeare occupied in London after 1597 was merely for his temporary convenience. A curious manuscript list formed during a period when there was a scarcity of grain . . . mentions Shakespeare as hold- ing in Stratford ten quarters; and this list is further of importance because it exhibits him as residing in Chapel-street Ward, which is where New Place was situated." ' Before considering his final retirement there are one or two independent matters of much interest which I ought not to omit to notice. There is a passage in the well-known work called " Fuller's Worthies " which is much relied upon by the Shakespeareans. I will read to you all that is material to our present purpose. After remarking that Shakespeare was an eminent instance of the truth of the rule that " Poeta nascitur nonfit" he says : " Many were the wit-combates that I beheld betwixt him and Ben Jonson, which two I beheld like a Spanish great galleon and an EngUsh man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention." It is asserted by some that what Fuller said was "wet," and not "wit" combats, but the context, I think, makes this unlikely. * " Life of W. Shakespeare " (James Halliwell), p. 166. "FULLERS WORTHIES I 29 A much more important criticism of the passage is that Fuller was only eight years old when Shake- speare died, in 1616 ; and it is hardly to be believed that a boy of that tender age was present at these convivial meetings, and that not once, but many times. This impeaches Fuller's authority; but if unimpeached, I am at a loss rather to know what it is supposed to prove in this controversy. After quoting this passage from Fuller Mr. H alii well in his biography says : " Some of these wit-combats have been handed down to posterity. The following specimen is preserved in the Ashmolean MSS. at Oxford. " Mr. Ben Jonson and Mr. William Shakespeare being . merrie at a tavern, Mr. Jonson having begune this for his epitaph : " ' Here lies Ben Jonson that was once one ; ' he gives it to Mr. Shakespeare to make up, who presently writes : " ' Who while he lived was a sloe thing. And now being dead is nothinge.' " ' In 1609 there appeared in London (says Mr. Morgan) an anonymous publication — a play entitled " Troilus and Cressida." " It was accompanied by a preface addressed ' A never writer to an ever reader,' which in the turgid fashion of the day it set forth the merits and attractions of the play itself. Among its other claims to public favour this preface asserted that the play was one 'never staled with the stage, never claper-clawed with the palms of the vulgar,' — which seems to mean that it had never been performed in a theatre. . . . However that may " Life of W. Shakespeare," p. 186. K 130 THE WRITER OF " TROILUS AND CRESSIDA be, it is a fact that a second edition of this play (printed from the same type, but without the preface) appeared with a title-page announcing that this is the play of ' Troilus and Cressida,' as it was enacted by His Majesty's servants at the Globe, to which was added ' written by William Shakespeare.' " ' Was William Shakespeare, then, the "never writer," and was it he who vaunted as the great merit of his new play, that it had never been soiled and degraded by having been acted upon the stage ? It does not seem likely. Or, was it that — like so many other plays at that day — the play had appeared anonymously, and when subsequently printed and published was declared by the printers to be written by the person, whoever he might be, whose name best enabled them to sell them ? You must form your own conclusions as to the meaning and explanation of this singular incident in the history of plays " written by William Shake- speare." But the play itself has another and a very curious interest for us, for it contains a passage referring to Aristotle, in which the writer quotes Aristotle as saying that young men are unfit to hear moral philo- sophy : " Not much Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought Unfit to hear moral philosophy." This was a mistake, for Aristotle never said any such thing. What Aristotle spoke of was political, not moral, philosophy. ' "The Shakespeare Myth," p. 285. "the advancement of learning" 131 And now comes the remarkable fact that Bacon, in his " Advancement of Learning," quotes Aristotle on this same subject, and in doing so makes identic- ally the same mistake. I will read you the two passages — that in Bacon's work and that in the play — and you shall judge for yourselves how far they correspond and are obviously the work of the same hand. The passage in the plays occurs in Act II., Scene 2, and is as follows : " Hector. Paris, and Troilus, you have both said well ; And on the cause and question now in hand Have gloz'd, — but superficially ; not much Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought Unfit to hear moral philosophy. The reasons you allege do more conduce To the hot passion of distemper' d blood" etc., etc. The passage in Bacon's " Advancement of Learn- ing " is as follows : Treating of moral culture. Bacon quotes Aristotle as saying : " That young men are no fit auditors of moral philo- sophy," because " they are not settled from the boiling heat of their affections nor attempered with time and experience." The "Advancement" was published in the year 1605. The play appears to have been a new play in 1 608. The author of the play, therefore, might have seen the passage in the "Advancement." What conclusion is to be drawn from this very singular coincidence it will be for you to say. Is it 132 SHAKESPEARE S PORTRAIT possible that Bacon wrote this play of " Troilus and Cressida " quite Independent of the general question whether he was the author of the other Shake- spearean plays ? The play seems to stand on a somewhat different footing from the rest, in its preface and the .circumstances of its appearance. Moreover, when you read the play you will find that it runs on very high ground, and is more like what one would expect from Bacon than many others of these plays. There is also another curious fact, but a very small one. The play is not found in the index of the Folio of 1623, although it is in- cluded in the Folio itself, and it appears from the notation of the pages as if it had been inserted at the last moment. All these matters afford ample ground for all sorts of conjectures, but I cannot say that I think they posi- tively prove anything; but that is for you to determine. The portrait of Shakespeare which appeared in the Folio of 1623 has been the subject of many observations and contentions. I forbear to say a word on my own behalf as to the impression which it makes upon me as a likeness of the author of the plays, except this, that it certainly is a remarkable one. I am not aware that the evidence before us offers any expressions of opinion by those who take either side in this controversy as to the effect this remarkable portrait has produced upon them. There are four or five other supposed portraits of him, but I have observed that while some of Shakespeare's admirers and advocates adhere to one portrait, and others to another, I have not met with any statement SHAKESPEARE S PORTRAIT 1 33 by any of them that they are satisfied with this one, which, after all, is the only portrait which has the slightest claim to a proved authenticity. I cannot think how any admirer of Shakespeare and believer in his authorship can be justified in thus abandoning (they do not say why) the representation of their idolized author which was given to the world by the two publishers — Heminge and Condell — the very men upon whose word for veracity they have to rely so entirely for the authorship of the plays. But there is another consideration which goes far to constitute an absolute proof that the portrait was genuine, and at, least a tolerable likeness. For how could these two men have dared to place under the eyes of the theatrical public, among whom hundreds must have been found who knew and remembered William Shakespeare perfectly well, any portrait which was not in its general features at least a fair like- ness of him ? He had died only seven years before. And indeed what natural or reasonable object could they have had in so doing ? The original picture was painted as a portrait of Shakespeare, we are told, by one Martin Droeshout, and the print which ap- peared in the Folio was engraved from it. On this Mr. Appleton Morgan remarks : "Ben Jonson might know little about art, and care little about the resemblances, and have been satisfied with the recollection that the original picture was a faithful resemblance, and that no doubt the engraver had achieved all that his art could perform." ' I do not trouble you with the accounts which * " The Shakespeare Myth " (Appleton Morgan), p. 95. 134 SHAKESPEARE S PORTRAIT have been given of the four or five other pictures or busts, which from time to time have been discovered in different places, and supposed on somewhat slender evidence to have been meant to represent William Shakespeare — no two of which are at all alike. It is not easy to assign a reason for the readiness with which these portraits have been welcomed by his admirers, unless it be that while the portrait painted by Droeshout may have been a fair or even a good likeness of William Shakespeare, it was hard to digest as the likeness of the man who could have written the Shakespeare Plays. A matter which is held by Shakespeareans to be true, and to redound greatly to the credit of Shake- speare, must be alluded to here. I allude to the supposed intimacy of the dramatist with Lord South- ampton. I have not been able to find the slightest proof that they ever saw one another, save at the theatre. I will refer to what has become known to us. The poem of " Venus and Adonis " was dedicated to Lord Southampton by the author signing himself William Shakespeare ; but I am not aware of any evidence to show whether the nobleman accepted or appreciated the compliment. Independent of this fact of the dedication, there is nothing to con- nect the two men, I believe, except the story re- peated by Rowe, of Southampton having given Shakespeare ;^i,ooo. Rowe goes on to explain whence he got this story and why he gave credence to it, and when you are in possession of what he says you will be able to form an opinion of the value SOUTHAMPTON S GIFT TO SHAKESPEARE 135 to be attached to an account so void of all credibility in itself. Rowe published his biography of Shakespeare in the year 1 707, and in it there occurs the following passage as to the gift supposed to have been made by Lord Southampton to our dramatist : " There is one instance so singular in the magnificence of this patron of William Shakespeare's, that if I had not been assured that the story was handed down by Sir William Davenant, who was perfectly well acquainted with his affairs, I should not have ventured to have inserted that my Lord Southampton at one time gave him ;^iooo to enable him to make a purchase he had a mind to." According, therefore, to this statement of Rowe's, the authority for this incredible story is shifted from his own shoulders to those of Sir William Davenant, who, he says, was perfectly well acquainted with Shakespeare's affairs. This, then, is the way in which the story is built up. Somebody (we do not know who) assured Rowe that the story was "handed down" by Sir William Davenant, and because he (Sir William Davenant) was well acquainted with Shakespeare's affairs, Rowe gave credence to it. You will naturally wonder why Sir William Davenant was said to be so acquainted. He was in no way connected with the poet or his family ; he certainly was not named in his will, nor has any suggestion even been made that he ever set foot in Stratford, or was treated by Shakespeare with any affection or regard. And your wonder will hardly be diminished when I tell you that the whole story 136 SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT of a connection between them rests, so far as I can see, upon a scandalous rumour (which no doubt existed) that the actor, who was in the habit of staying at the "Crown Inn" at Oxford, kept by Davenant's father, carried on an intrigue with Mrs. Davenant, of which Sir William was the offspring. It may be pointed out at once that there is not the slightest evidence offered in support of this story, but it is, I regret to say, quite true that Sir William, far from repudiating his mother's want of chastity, seems rather, in his convivial moments at least, to have gloried in the scandalous imputation. Let us suppose then that it was true. Does that lead to any fair or reasonable conclusion that he must have been perfectly well acquainted with his father's affairs ? Other reason for supposing it there is none. Shakespeare, after 1604, as I have shown you, retired to Stratford, where he lived till he died in 1616. Sir William Davenant was born in 1605, and up to 1 6 16, a period of eleven years, lived pre- sumably at Oxford with his parents. It is not pre- tended on the faith of any rumour or tradition that has come down to us, that this little illegitimate boy was ever taken notice of by Shakespeare, or indeed ever saw him. And as to having any knowledge of his pecuniary affairs, his tender age, not exceeding eleven years at Shakespeare's death, renders such an idea well-nigh ridiculous. I have called the whole story incredible, and when your attention is directed to the real value of £ i ,000 in those days, I think you will say it is incredible also. According to Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps, and I think the same SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT 1 37 thing is said by Lord Macaulay and Mr. Froude, ;^i,ooo in the days of King James would represent a sum of no less than ^10,000 to ;^i 2,000, We are thus brought to the time of his final retirement — a period which is full of interest and information for us. Indeed, I doubt whether anything which has come down to us is so instructive and sheds back so strong a light upon the true character of his career, as his conduct and the sort of life he led when he had quitted all connection with the stage. Mr. Grant White fixes the date of Shakespeare's retirement to Stratford as late as 161 1. He says :^ "We are as ignorant, upon direct evidence, of the exact date at which Shakespeare at last withdrew from London to live at ease at Stratford as we are of that at which he fled from Stratford to enter upon a life of irk- some toil in London. But all the circumstances which bear upon this question point to some time in the year i6ii.» Mr. White does not tell us what the considera- tions were which induced him to fix this date so late as the year 161 1. But I think it not improbable that the production of such plays as " Macbeth" in 1610, "King Lear" in 1607, and " Troilus and Cressida" in 1609, which he assumed to have been written by Shakespeare, may have had some- thing to do with it. Mr. Lee, in the latest biography of Shakespeare also fixes 161 1 as the date of Shakespeare's final ^ " Life and Genius," p. 164. 138 SHAKESPEARE RETIRES TO STRATFORD retirement, and perhaps for the same reasons as Mr. Grant White. Mr. Staunton, as I have already told you, fixes the retirement at 1 604,^ which appears to me to be the most probable date. For it is very difficult to believe that Shakespeare continued to live in London after he had quitted the stage ; and, as Mr. Halli- well points out, he was selling malt to one Rogers in Stratford in the year 1604.^ But while there is this doubt and discrepancy between the accounts given of the exact date of his final retirement to his native town, the general accounts of the life he led there and the way in which he occupied his time are pretty uniform. We do not know a great deal of these last five or six years of his life, it is true, but there is this to be said, that all that we do know points in one and the same direction. Here is the account of Mr. Knight : " He returns wealthy and honoured to the bosom of those who are dearest to him, his wife and daughters, his mother, sisters and brothers. The companions of his youth are all about him. He has constantly kept up his intercourse with them. He is come to walk amidst his own fields, to till them and sell the produce. His labour will be his recreation. In the activity of his body will this energy of his intellect find rest." ' "He still carried forward his ruling purpose of the Staunton's " Shakespeare," p. xxxvii. Halliwell's " Life of Shakespeare," p. 208. Knight's "Biography," p. 287. THE LIFE HE LED THERE 139 acquisition of property in Stratford." In 1605, in the month of July, " he bought a moiety of a lease of the great and small tithes of Stratford for the remainder of the term of 92 years, and the amount of the purchase was ;^44S." " Before the date of this purchase it is perfectly clear that he exercised the trading part of a farmer's business."^ The dates which Mr. Knight here gives us are important, and, unHke so many of the dates which we have to deal with in Shakespeare's life, are well ascertained and vouched. On the 24th of July, 1605, he buys a lease of the tithes of Stratford for the end of a term of ninety- two years. And then Mr. Knight adds, that before this date of July, 1605, there is no doubt that he exercised the trading part of a farmer's business. Meanwhile, we are to suppose, he was producing such plays as " Macbeth," " Othello," " Lear," and " Julius Caesar," " Antony and Cleopatra." * And going still farther back, there is an account in existence of a large quantity of malt in his hands in 1597.^ This was only ten years after his arrival in London. Other transactions, the date of which is vouched by public records, show him to have been dealing with people in Stratford, and to be lending a sum of no less than ^^30 to one Richard Quiney at Stratford in the year 1598. And in the year 1 604 we have positive proof of his supplying Philip '■ Knight's "Biography," p. 282. ' " The Authorship of Shakespeare " (Judge Holmes), vol. ., p. 6. ' "Biography" (C. Knight), p. 282. 140 SHAKESPEARE S RETIREMENT Rogers with malt at various dates between the months of March and May in that year.^ From all these matters it rather looks as if Shake- speare was by no means settled exclusively in Lon- don. On the contrary, he seems to have kept up his communications with his native town pretty constantly, and to have been pretty active in in- creasing his income by dealing in farming produce there, as well as some money transactions. Indeed when he came finally to drop his connection with the stage it was not apparently for the purpose of indulging his mind and genius by a life of learned leisure, but only to pursue his farming avocations, and do justice to his investments in the land about Stratford. Mr. Grant White, remarking upon the sort of people among whom he lived, and on the absence of all correspondence with the great men of his day, says: " Unlike Dante, unlike Milton, unlike Goethe, unlike the great poets and tragedians of Greece and Rome, Shakespeare left no trace upon the political or even the social life of his era. Of his eminent countrymen, Raleigh, Sidney, Spenser, Bacon, Cecil, Walsingham, Coke, Camden, Hooker, Drake, Hobbes, Inigo Jones, Herbert of Cherbury, Laud, Pym, Hampden, Selden, Walton, Wotton, and Donne may be properly reckoned as his contemporaries, and yet there is no proof what- ever that he was personally known to either of these men, or to any others of less note among the statesmen, scholars, soldiers and artists of his day, except the few of his fellow-craftsmen whose acquaintance with him has been heretofore mentioned." ^ " Biography," (C. Knight), p. 283. " Life and Genius of Shakespeare," p. 185. SHAKESPEARE S RETIREMENT 14I Rowe says that the latter part of his life was spent as all men of good sense would wish theirs may be, in ease and retirement, and the society and intercourse of his friends. Judge Holmes remarks on the same subject as follows : " Considering how this man could drop the theatre as an idle pastime, or as a trade that had filled his coffers, and could then sit him down for the remainder of his life, merely to talk and jest with the Stratford burghers, and turning over his works to the spoiling hands of blundering printers and surreptitious traffic, regardless of his own reputation, heedless of the world around him, leaving his manuscripts to perish, taking no thought of foreign nations or the next ages." ' Mr. Grant White says : "His daughters, rustic born and rustic bred, were married rather late in life to simple village folk, and he resigned himself io simple village society" " Mr. Staunton says : * " From a retrospect of the few materials available for tracing the career of the great dramatist from the time when he is supposed to have left Stratford, we may con- jecture him to have arrived in London about the year 1586, and to have joined a theatrical company, to which he remained permanently attached as playwright and actor until 1604. How often and in what characters he performed, where he lived in London, who were his personal friends, what were his habits, and what inter- course he maintained with his family, to what degree he partook of the provincial excursions of his fellows during "The Authorship of Shakespeare," vol. i., p. 27. "Life and Genius of Shakespeare," p. 165. Staunton's " Shakespeare," p. xxxvii. 142 SHAKESPEARE S RETIREMENT this period are points on which it has been shown we have scarcely any reliable information. In or about the year 1604 his history I think reverts to Stratford, where from the records of the town he would appear to have finally retired, and engaged himself actively in agricultural pursuits." " From this period (1597)," says Mr. Halliwell in his biography of Shakespeare,^ " We find him at intervals of no long duration engaged in transactions which exhibit him as a respectable in- habitant of Stratford, and if not occupied in agricultural matters at least occasionally indulging in negotiations of a kindred character. In 1598 we discover him sell- ing a load of stone to the Corporation of Stratford, probably from his garden at New Place, for the sum of tenpence." And then says Mr. Halliwell : " I am scarcely willing to hazard the conjecture that after he had amassed a capital in ready money he in- creased it by supplying loans at interest; but there really seems fair grounds for such an opinion." "' The following dates given on the authority of Mr. Grant White are vouched either by letters or by the records of the law courts, to which Shake- speare appears to have been not unwilling to have recourse, and they certainly throw some light upon the subject we are considering. Mr. Grant White says : " The fact is rather striking in the life of a great poet, that the only letter in existence addressed to Shake- speare is one which asks for a loan of ;£^3o." ' ' Life of Shakespeare," p. 171. ^ Ibid.,-^. 177. ' "Life and Genius," p. 123. SHAKESPEARE S RETIREMENT 1 43 " There is another letter from a man named Sturley, in IS9S) to a friend in London, in reference to Shake- speare lending ' some monei on some od yarde land or other at Shottri or near about us.' " "Another letter of November 4th, 1598, from the same Sturley to Richard Quiney, in which it is Said that ' our countriman Mr. Wm. Shak would procure us monei wh I will like of.' " "In 1598 he loaned Richard Quiney of Stratford jCs° ori proper security." "In 1600 he brought an action against John Clayton in London for ^^7, and had judgment." "He also sued Phillip Rogers at Stratford for two shillings loaned." "In August, 1608, he prosecuted John Addenbrook to recover a debt of ^6, and then not getting his money sued Addenbrook's surety, Horneby." "He sued Phillip Rogers in 1604 for several bushels of malt sold to him at various times between March 27th and the end of May in that year, amounting in the whole to the value of ;^i 15s. lod." What strikes me as unusual and hardly to be credited is that a poet's life should be thus mixed up with money-lending. I much doubt whether the recorded career of any man of mark could exhibit such an union of the poetic faculty with the sordid cares of minute money transactions. Indeed, it would be rare to find the class of mind which bespeaks the poet associated with the trading faculty. This business capacity which was shown to exist in Shakespeare — together with the sharp looking after small sums, which has left its traces on all the little incidents of his life — has a peculiar bearing on the whole of the Shakespeare story. It is so little like anything we should expect to hear of the author 144 SHAKESPEARE S RETIREMENT of these stately plays, with his grand imagination and his deep, far-reaching philosophy, that one shrinks from accepting it as a possible feature in the character of such a man. When we come to consider this the last period of William Shakespeare's life, you will agree with me, I think, in recognizing the great value of the few facts which have been established for us in framing a true view of his character, and in deciding which of the opposite pictures presented to us most faith- fully represents him. If we are to take the view of the Shakespeareans, we have before us a man poorly educated in his youth, and never by act or word that tradition has preserved for us showing any mental culture or capacity beyond that exhibited in the miserable verses which I have just brought under your notice, or the samples of the " wit-combats." This man, we are asked to believe, by laborious study, in due time so raised himself in mental capacity as to have been equal to the task of writing the plays which pass by his name, and did so devote himself to the exercise of his newly-found erudition and philosophic knowledge, as to have produced no less than thirty-six dramas which have since been the wonder of the world. Having done so, he retires from London and the stage, taking no heed of his intellectual progeny, making no provision for their maintenance or pro- tection, to his native town, where he takes to the sort of life and pursuits to which he was destined before he rushed away into the world of intellect SHAKESPEARE S RETIREMENT 1 45 and culture, just as if the intervening twenty years had had no existence. The mental training through which he had passed seems to have left nothing behind it. What would you expect of such a man on his return to his native town ? That he should cease writing plays, having abandoned his actor life, would not surprise you. But what would be the almost inevitable condition of his mind ? His Greek and Latin authors, with whose works his mind had been familiar ; the half-finished, or, I should say, embryo designs with which his richly-stored mind was doubtless engaged ; what had become of them ? The intellectual studies and conceptions, which must have constituted the greatest pleasure of his life ; the philosophic thoughts and the bright dreams of his fancy, would they not have found expression in some way ? could they all have fled ? Could all that he had gathered up of the thoughts or fancies of others have taken wing ? Was it possible that he could at one stride step back to the ignorance of the old Stratford life, and thus abandon the fruition of his long and laborious studies ? I have already pointed out to you how unlikely it was that these studies should have been undertaken at all. If they really were so it could only have been for the love of the thing — from the desire to possess knowledge and learning for its own sake. But if so it is inconceivable that the fruits of it should have been lightly thrown away. The thoughts generated in a mind of high culture could never desert it and be replaced with welcome L 146 Shakespeare's retirement by the narrow-minded cares of a money-seeking existence. One can hardly picture to oneself an intellect and imagination such as gave birth to the plays, rele- gated to the lending of money or the making of malt. It is hard to fancy his intellectual work, in which poetry and philosophy went hand in hand, thrown aside to make way for the details of farming, and his books replaced by market prices or the samples of barley or wheat. Such a mind could never at the age of fifty have rested unproductive. To sit down contented with a farming life would surely to such a man have been contrary to all ex- perience. And yet this is what according to all testimony this man did. What a monster then is this that the defendants would present to us ! The butcher's apprentice transformed at short notice into the philosopher and poet ! Why, it is almost contrary to nature. Well, to be sure, the grub turns into the butterfly, and is not long about it. But who ever heard of the butterfly turning back again into the grub ? Yet nothing less than this is offered to our belief. From the moment he got back to Stratford he dropped his butterfly wings — tilling his own land, wholly occupied in the making and selling of malt, and other agricultural pursuits. If it was difficult to believe in William Shakespeare's transformation, it is harder still to give credit to his relapse. And the story thus told in his own conduct is cor- roborated by the outward circumstances. SHAKESPEARE S WILL 1 47 During the days of his authorship he must needs have possessed many books, and even if he had no correspondence, his pen must still have produced much beyond what was published in his plays. Where were all these things at his death ? Had he no manuscripts, no copies of any of the Quarto editions of his own plays ? At this great distance of time it would be absurd to expect much knowledge in detail of his posses- sions. But we are not without some proof, and very precise proof too, of the contents of his house- hold. For there is his will, up to the present hour pre- served in the Registry of the Probate Court. It will interest you to observe how minutely par- ticular he was in the distribution of his little posses- sions. THE WILL. "To sister Joan, ;£^2o and all my wearing apparel, and the house in which she dwelleth, under the yearly rent of 1 2 pence. " To Eliz. Hall, all my plate except my brod silver and gilt bole. " To Wm. Combes, my sword. "To Thomas Russell, ;^5. "To Francis Collins, £13 6s. 8d. " To several, rings. "To Susannah Hall, New Place and all my barns, stables, orchards, gardens, under tenants and here- ditaments. " To my wife, my second-best bed and furniture. "To Judith, my silver-gilt bole. 148 WARWICKSHIRE WORDS AND NAMES " All the rest of my goods, chattels, team, plate, jewels and household stuff, to John Hall and his wife, and make them Exors. "Draft dated January asth. "Executed 24th March, 1616." If he had possessed a single manuscript or print of any one play — a single notebook — the works of a single favourite author — a single fragment, written or printed, associated with the labours of his literary life, calculated to remind his daughters or other relatives of the work which had made him famous — is it not inevitable that they would have found a place in the bequests of his will ? That nothing of the kind is to be found, there looks very much as if nothing of the kind existed, and if the plaintiffs are right in the very different picture they draw of him it is not to be wondered at. I now turn to what seems to me to be the most notable argument which the defendants have adduced in support of their case. I allude to the Warwickshire, or I might almost say the Stratford names, which have been introduced into some of the plays, I pass by the contention that Warwickshire words are to be found freely scattered throughout them, because this matter was elaborately thrashed out in the " Daily Telegraph " correspondence, and it was there shown that the words which appear were in use in other counties as freely as in the county of Warwick.^ Upon a close examination of these pro- ^ See "Dethroning Shakespeare," p. 105, edited by R. M. Theobald, published by Messrs. Sampson Low, 1888. AND STRATFORD CHARACTERS IN THE PLAYS 1 49 vincial expressions it was shown that out of 5 1 8 such words there were only forty-six which are not as current in Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Wiltshire, Hamp- shire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire as they are in Warwickshire. And not one of these forty-six is to be found in the plays. These are the statements made by Mrs. Pott in answer to the matters pressed by Mr. John Taylor on behalf of the Defendants, and I do not find that they have been since contradicted. It would be an unpardonable waste of your time if I were to be tempted into reviewing the numerous letters, assertions and counter-assertions upon isolated points which that correspondence elicited, but you can consult them yourselves at your leisure. It is different, I think, with the Warwickshire names which are to be found in the plays. It appears to me that a serious argument is very fairly and properly founded upon the use of these names in favour of the Shakespeare authorship. I will bring the facts before you, and you shall judge. It appears, then, that some of the characters are made to bear Warwickshire names, such as Ford, Page, Evans, Oliver, Sly, Marion Racket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, Curtis, Barton on the Heath, and so on. Upon this it is fairly argued, I think, that such names could hardly have been made use of by mere chance. Some of them are distinctly con- nected with Stratford, and "Marion Hacket of Wincot" was a real personage of those parts. No one can deny that William Shakespeare was infinitely 150 AN ARGUMENT FOR SHAKESPEAREANS more likely than Bacon or any other person not nearly connected with the neighbourhood of Strat- ford to invest his imaginary characters with these local names. There are, I think, only two reasonable explana- tions offered to this. One, and the most natural, is to be found in the suggestion that much of the ribald talk with which the plays are in some parts of them garnished to suit the taste of the audiences of that day, never came from the pen of the man who wrote the plays, but were put in by William Shakespeare who prepared the plays for the stage, and that these local names had the same origin. Mr. Appleton Morgan offers the following as an explanation of it : "If, as has been conjectured, William Shakespeare sketched the clowns and wenches with which these stately dramas are relieved, it would account for the supposed Warwickshire source of many of them. And if William Shakespeare was pretty familiar with the con- stabulary along his route between home and theatre, so often travelled by himself and jolly companions with heads full of Marian Racket's ale, and thought some of them good enough to put into a play, his judgment has received the approval of many audiences besides those of Bankside and Blackfriars.^ " And if, as has been suggested, Mr. Manager Shake- speare dressed up his friends' dialogues for his own stage, and tucked in the clowns and jades, this usage of War- wickshire names might well be accounted for. Four of these names are taken out of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor,' and three from the introduction to 'The Taming of a Shrew ' : matter in the composition of 'Shakespearean Myth," p. 298. GRANT WHITE AND THE BACONIANS 15I which Shakespeare, or any other playwright, might well have had the largest hand.' ****** "For the Cardinals and Kings do not use these phrases, nor, we may add, are the surnames he mentions ever bestowed on them, but only on the low-comedy characters of the plays." It has also been suggested that it is not impossible that these Stratford personages have been purposely introduced to foster the belief in the authorship of Shakespeare, which it would be the object of the real author, whoever he was, to bring about. Whether these answers are satisfactory must be submitted to your better judgment. I do not think that I could aid you by further comment. I should like to have been able to place before you anything like a connected argument put forward and published by any of the supporters of the Defendants. But I have not met with anything of the kind. I have consulted the writings of Mr. Grant White, who, by his learning and the great amount of able study which he has bestowed on the plays, and indeed upon the life of William Shakespeare, would be the most capable person to undertake the task. But I am disappointed. What he has to say on the subject is summed up in the general statement that " the notion that Bacon wrote the plays is not worth five minutes' serious consideration by any reasonable creature." This is his method of dis- putation, from which I draw the conclusion that, being as he must be, I am sure, a reasonable creature, ' " Shakespearean Myth," p. 248. 152 BACON A POET he has never given five minutes' serious consideration to the question. After this it was not likely that I should find much weighty argument. In place of it I only found somewhat weighty humour. A madhouse was always to be kept ready for those who were afflicted by this craze, and an ambulance to carry the patient on the first symptoms, etc., etc. If, how- ever, argument is absent, there is no lack of assertion. Bacon, he says, was utterly without the poetic faculty, even in a secondary degree." ^ In this he does not agree with Shelley, who de- scribes Bacon as " a great poet, one whose language has a sweet majestic rhythm which satisfies the sense, no less than the almost superhuman wisdom of his philosophy satisfies the intellect!' To Shelley might be added the opinion of Macaulay, who says : "The poetical faculty was powerful in Bacon's mind, but not, like his wit, so powerful as occasionally to usurp the place of his reason, and tyrannize over the whole man." Charles Knight (speaking of Masques) says : "Bacon, whose own mind was essentially poetical, has an ' Essay of Masques and Triumphs.' His notions are full of taste." ' Again Mr. White says of Bacon, that he is "Sweet sometimes, sound always, but dry, stiff and formal."' ' "Studies in Shakespeare," p. 180. ' " Biography," p. 303. ' " Studies in Shakespeare," p. 179. BACON A POET 1 53 I wonder if Mr. White has ever read the "Advance- ment of Learning." In the passage I am about to quote from that work Bacon desired to convey the idea, that what ought to be the true object of all knowledge was often lost sight of, and this is the dry, stiff and formal way in which he did it. " But the greatest error of all the rest is the mis- taking or misplacing of the last or furthest end of know- ledge; for men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite ; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight ; sometimes for ornament and reputation ; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction; and most times for lucre and profession, and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason to the use and benefit of men ; as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and a restless spirit, or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect, or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon, or a fort or commanding ground for strife and contention, or a shop for profit and sale, and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate." Mr. White having failed me, I sought elsewhere, but with the exception of criticisms and small facts relating to isolated points, I could find nothing to lay before yoa in the way of argument or answer to the objections freely urged against the Shake- spearean authorship. On the other hand, silly abuse has been plentiful. Here is a specimen : "The idea of Lord Bacon's having written Shake- speare's Plays can only be entertained by folk who know nothing whatever of either writer, or who are crackt (sic), or who enjoy the paradox or joke. Poor Miss 154 SHAKESPEARE S AUTOGRAPHS Delia Bacon, who started the notion, was, no doubt, then mad, as she was afterwards proved to be when shut in an asylum. Lord Palmerston, with his Irish humour, naturally took to this theory as he would have done to the suggestion that Benjamin D'Israeli wrote the Gospel of St. John. If Judge Holmes' book is not meant as a practical joke like Archbishop Whately's historic doubts, or proof that Napoleon never lived, then he must be set down as characteristic-blind like some men are colour- blind. I doubt whether any so idiotic suggestion as this authorship of Shakespeare's works by Bacon had ever been made before, or ever will be made again with regard to either Bacon or Shakespeare. The tomfoolry of it is infinite." And now there is only one matter left, I think; and it is one upon which discussion or comment is needless. " Certain it is his autographs do not look like the work of a scholarly man. The following cut is a representation of all the signatures known, beyond question, to have been written by Shakespeare : y^^^W. 0^^^ J^^C*^ " The first is from Malone's facsimile of a mortgage deed which has been lost ; the second is from a SHAKESPEARE S AUTOGRAPHS 1 55 conveyance in the possession of the corporation of London; the other three are from the three sheets of paper constituting his Will." The three last signatures are all to the same document — his Will. The other two are to deeds. The will was executed several weeks before his death, and at a time when there is no suggestion that he was out of health. What do you think of them ? and what of the labour of writing thirty-six plays by the same hand ? I have now, I think, completed my task so far as the Shakespeare case is concerned. But on the assumption that you are not satisfied that we owe these plays to William Shakespeare, it remains to be considered whether the debt is really due to the memory of Francis Bacon. But before entering upon that question I will take the liberty of again reminding you that the burthen of displacing William Shakespeare from the author- ship so long attributed to him lies upon the plaintiffs. It is their business to bring your minds and judge- ment to the conclusion that his reputed authorship rests upon no sufficient basis of fact to support it, and if they have failed in this they fail alto- gether. In dealing with the question whether these plays are to be attributed to Francis Bacon, it is some- what singular that the first argument that suggests itself is the very converse of that which the Baconians press so strongly against the authorship of Shakespeare. Shakespeare, they say, did not 156 BEN JONSON's list OF "GREAT WITS " write the plays because, for want of the needful learning and knowledge, he could not have done so ; and Bacon did write them, because he was the only man in England who could have done so. There were, no doubt, many very able men in England in those days. You may remember that I quoted from Mr. Grant White a list of Shakespeare's eminent contemporaries — Raleigh, Sidney, Spenser, Cecil, Walsingham, Coke, Camden, Hooker, Drake, Hobbes, Inigo Jones, Herbert of Cherbury, Laud, Pirn, Hampden, Selden, Walton, Wotton and Dunne. In the evidence before us I find another list of a similar character mentioned in the " Dethroning of Shakespeare" as proceeding from Ben Jonson, who, after enumerating the chief ancient dramatic poets, goes on as follows, naming the greatest wits of his own time : Moore, Wyatt, Surrey, Challoner, Smith, Eliot, B. Gardiner, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, Hooker, Essex, Raleigh, Savile, Sandys, Egerton, and finally Bacon ; not mentioning Shake- speare at all, which is not easily to be explained if he really thought him to have been the author of the plays. I am not aware that we have before us any other enumeration of the great wits of those days. It is among these names then that I invite you to suggest to yourselves the name of any individual worthy to stand in competition with Francis Bacon as the probable or even possible writer of the immortal plays. In this task I am unable to assist you. There is WAS BACON THE AUTHOR 1 57 nothing in the facts or testimony which have been adduced in this controversy (so far as we are con- cerned in it) which enables us to appreciate the capacities of the great men whose names I have just enumerated. No other author of the plays than Shakespeare or Bacon has been hitherto suggested, so far as I am aware. If such a name should be suggested in future, it may be well to note the nature and extent of the multifarious knowledge in which the real author, whoever he may have been, was proficient. It is, I conceive, an indispensable condition that he should have been a man not only well trained in the principles, rules and maxims of our law, but familiar with the daily work of the conveyancer and the forms and technicalities of the Courts at West- minster. In short, he must have received the regular legal education which men ordinarily receive who desire and intend to practise the law as a profession. This requirement must of necessity very much curtail the number of possible candidates. Bearing this in mind, and with it the wide classi- cal knowledge and philosophical mind of the writer, the possible number of authors must have been very small, if, indeed, they were not restricted to a single name. If the plays had been published anonymously and had remained so up to the present time, is there a name which could have been suggested in compari- son with that of Bacon ? Modern languages, at that epoch less known and less thought of than Latin or Greek, had formed a 158 WAS BACON THE AUTHOR large part of his studies, and he had read largely in the literature of both Italy and France. It is needless that I should attempt to recapitulate again the varied and almost encyclopaedic character of the knowledge accumulated in the mind of the man who wrote these plays. You will naturally bear this in mind. Let us now turn to some of the objections urged against the authorship of Bacon. It has been objected that what one witness calls the archaic forms used in the plays are never to be found in Bacon's works, and that " some of Shakespeare's most taking expressions are to be found not in the literature of the sixteenth, but in that of the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries." To this it has been replied that Bacon was a complete master of language, provincial and archaic, as well as classical or modern ; and that it was recorded of him that his acquaintance with all country terms was such that he could talk to any man in the peculiar language or dialect used by the person he addressed. And in proof of this assertion a vast number of words have been cited which are to be found in Bacon's works. The list of them is too long to be cited here at any length ; but I may give specimens. If you leave your " staddles" too thick, you shall never have clean underwood — he shall " w^w"them — trifles and " gingles" — "chopping" bargains — a " seeled" dove — this "slug" of usury — a " knap " of ground — great cities which " lurcheth " all pro- visions — where a man is "scanted" — low edges like "welts" — "catching" and "polling" (plundering) WAS BACON THE AUTHOR 1 59 clerks — fruitful " havings " — kinsfolk of the " /ump " — envy a "gadding" passion — " knee-timber" — money like " muck" — a " bald noddle" — scourged without " guecking" — they are "gazed" — a "dry flout" — to "can" to "proyn" to " queech" — " oes or spangs " — " gaudery." All these expressions, it is urged, are to be found in the " Essays " of Bacon. In his " Notes on Husbandry, Gardening and Experimental Science," it is asserted that Bacon has written in suitable country language. He speaks of a dead " stub " of a tree — of little stalks and " low thrum " — of the " chessome" and " mellow" earth. Again, he says strong smells are best in a " « weft" afar off — stuff whereof " copples " are made — " tears " of trees, etc., etc. And it is contended that Bacon (who is found continually bringing these homely expressions even into his studied works or rhetorical speeches), was quite as familiar with their use as the author of the plays could have been. This branch of the controversy is, I think, a not unfair specimen of the causes which, in many minds, have made it difficult to give credence to the authorship of Bacon. His great reputation as a philosopher, and the dry abstract subjects to the elucidation of which his principal labours and written works were devoted, have led to the very natural inference that nothing of so different a kind as poetry, or other work of the imagination, could proceed from him ; and in all probability the greater part of those who have formed this view of him have l6o WAS BACON THE AUTHOR not cared to study his actual works with assiduity, or sought with much care for what they so little ex- pected to find. I will now turn to a different subject, and one which, I think, deserves your careful consideration. You will remember that several letters have been put before you written by Sir Tobie Matthew to Bacon. There was a great intimacy between these two men, and Bacon was in the habit of submitting to Matthew many of his writings from time to time. " There is," says Mr. Appleton Morgan, " in many of Bacon's preserved lettters, something suggestive of a curious undermeaning, impressing the reader with an idea of more than appears upon the surface." ' Such, for instance, as the passage in one of Bacon's letters in which he desires Matthew to be " careful of the writings submitted to you that no one may see them." This Sir Tobie Matthew has been spoken of as a reprobate, but without, I think, sufficient warrant. In Wood's " Athenae Oxonienses" is the follow- ing account of him : " Tobie Matthew, the eldest son of Dr. Tobie Mat- thew, Archbishop of York, was born in Oxon, and matriculated there in 1589. He became a noted Orator and Disputant, and taking his degree in Arts, travelled into various countries. At his return he was taken into the acquaintance of Sir Francis Bacon, and between them there passed divers letters which, if collected, might make a pretty volume. After growing famous for "The Shakespearean Myth" (Appleton Morgan), p. 237. WAS BACON THE AUTHOR l6l his eminency in politics, he came to England upon invitation, and in October, 1623, was knighted for his zeal in carrying on the Spanish match. At which time not only the King, but the chief of the nobility and others at court had a high value for him." There is no doubt that he was an early friend of Bacon's, who spoke of him as his " Inquisitor," because he was in the habit of sending his writings to him for his perusal and criticism. A collection of some letters passing between them is still in exist- ence. These are most of them without dates, and it is said that names and particulars have been purposely obliterated or disguised. If the headings were in- serted by Matthew himself, he had either forgotten the dates or intended to confuse and conceal them. In letters to Sir Tobie, Bacon whilst alluding by name to certain of his own works which Sir Tobie had been reading and criticising, speaks (without naming them) of " other works," or " works of his recreation." Some of these works indeed are mysteriously alluded to under the name of " The Alphabet." Now it is contended by the Plaintiffs that these general allusions to " other works," "works of my re- creation," and particularly works of " The Alphabet," were intended to apply to some of the Shakespeare Plays, which he was from time to time sending to Tobie Matthew for his criticism ; and in proof of this they rely more particularly upon two or three letters I am about to read to you. First, there is a letter from Tobie Matthew to Bacon, in which he says : M 1 62 WAS BACON THE AUTHOR " I will not promise to return you weight for weight, but ' measure for measure,' and I must tell you before- hand that you are not to expect any other stuff from me than fustian and bombast and such wares as that. For there is no venturing in richer commodities, and much less upon such as are forbidden. Neither, indeed, do we know what is forbidden and what is not," etc., etc. And then we find Francis Bacon writing to Tobie Matthew, and saying : "Of this, when you were here I showed you some model, at what time methought you were more willing to hear ^Julius Ceesar' than Queen Elizabeth com- mended." And, lastly, there is the mysterious postscript in a letter from Matthew to Bacon, dated 9th April, 1623. The letter is written in answer to one from Bacon, which was accompanied by the gift of some- thing which Matthew thanks him for in these terms : "I have received your great and noble token and favour of the 9th of April, and can but return the humblest of my thanks for your lordship's vouchsafing so to visit the poorest and unworthiest of your servants," etc., etc. And then comes the postscript : " P.S. — The most prodigious wit that ever I knew of my nation and of this side of the sea is of your lord- ship's name, though he be known by another." This "great and noble token of his lordship's favour," to which Sir Tobie only alludes, and which in his usually mysterious manner in this corre- spondence he does not specify, it is contended by the Plaintiffs was nothing less than a copy of the Folio WAS BACON THE AUTHOR 1 63 of 1623. And they say that there was nothing else of Bacon's writing published during the spring of 1623 which he could very well be sending to Matthew. The following further letters will show you the mysterious character of the allusions contained in correspondence. About the years 1605 to 1609 Bacon writes : "My ' Instauration ' I reserve for our conference; it sleeps not. Those works of the 'Alphabet' are in my opinion of less use to you where you are now, than at Paris ; and therefore I conceived that you had sent me a kind of tacit countermand of your former request. But in regard that some friends of yours have still in- sisted here, I send them to you; and for my part, I value your own reading more than your publishing them to others." In another letter he writes : "I have sent you some copies of my book of the ' Advancement ' which you desired, and a little work of my recreation which you desired not." One naturally asks, What works could Bacon have meant when he spoke of " these works of the Alphabet " ? The Plaintiffs think they have found a possible, if not a probable explanation of it, which is derived from a passage in Bacon's note-book, called by him his " Promus." The entry runs thus : " lisdem e Uteris tragedia et comedia efficitur." There is no question, I believe, of the authenticity of these several letters, and although one would 164 WAS BACON THE AUTHOR hardly have expected that a man in the position of Sir Tobie would have been selected as the critic of his dramatic works — if he had written any such — we must remember that Bacon would probably have been more solicitous about the sure safety of his secret than of anything else, and that he looked upon Sir Tobie as a safe friend in whom he could confide. It cannot be doubted, I think, but that he counted upon Matthew as a true friend. " During the short time he was over here he was con- tinually with Bacon," says Mr. Smith. " Indeed, Bacon spoke of him in a letter to Collington, ' as true a friend as either you or I have.' " Thomas Chamberlayn writes to Sir Dudley Carleton of Tobie Matthew : " Perhaps he presumes on the Lord Keeper's favour, which indeed is very great now at first if it continues, for he lodges him at York House and carries him next week along with him to his house at Gorhambury." Respecting his capacity as a critic we are told by his biographer that he " affected the reputation of a man of universal genius, and certainly possessed many accomphshments.'' His reverence and admiration for Bacon seem to have been unbounded. He thus describes him : " He was a creature of incomparable abilities of mind ; of a sharp and catching apprehension ; large and faithful memory; plentiful and sprouting invention; deep and solid judgment, for as much as might concern the under- standing part ; a man so rare in knowledge of so many WAS BACON THE AUTHOR 1 65 several kinds; indued with the facility and felicity of expressing it all in so elegant, significant, so abundant, and yet so choice and ravishing a way of words, of metaphors and allusions, as perhaps the world has not seen since it was a world." I do not know what you may think of these letters, gentlemen, but as pieces of evidence they are un- doubtedly well worth an attentive examination. Let us see what they prove with anything like certainty, and what are the conclusions which may reasonably, although by no means certainly, be drawn from them. It is certain then, I think, that some at least of the "writings" (I adopt Bacon's word) which he from time to time sent to Matthew for his perusal and criticism were writings which he did not desire others to see. This is pretty plainly the case, be- cause on so many occasions they were not given a name but only called " writings." Again, we have Bacon telling Matthew in one of his letters " to be careful of the writings submitted to you that no one may see them." So far so good. Now let us see what reason there is to conclude that these " writings " were, many of them, the plays which we know as the Shakespeare Plays. On this head everything, as it seems to me, depends upon the view which you take of the two letters, one from Matthew and the other from Bacon, in which the names of two of the Shakespeare Plays are mentioned. " I will not promise to return you weight for weight, but measure for measure," said Tobie Matthew in writ- ing to his friend. Are you assured that these words, 1 66 WAS BACON THE AUTHOR " measure for measure," were intended as a covert allusion to the play of that name ? That is the first question. But if so the next question is, Did the writer make this allusion in reference to Bacon's authorship, or did he refer to the name of the play for any other purpose, and if so, for what purpose ? If we knew the date of the letter we might compare it with the earliest knowledge which we have of the public appearance of the play. This would be a great help, and might be decisive if the letter was written before the play had been made public. Now let us consider the other letter, Bacon's letter about Julius Caesar. "Of this when you were here I showed you some model, at what time methought you were more willing to hear Julius Caesar than Queen Elizabeth commended." What is the meaning of hearing Julius Caesar commended ? Did he mean the man or the play?^ In all this there is plenty of room for surmise or conjecture. I should say it comes to this : these letters contain abundant material to strongly confirm an opinion already formed of Bacon's authorship ; but they form but a feeble support for that opinion, standing alone. There is another subject upon which the Baconians lay considerable stress. I allude to the personal history of Francis Bacon, his employments, engage- ments, and pursuits during the period of time covered by the production of the plays. He was sent at the early age twelve or thirteen ' See note on p. 35 of J. Spedding's reprint of Bacon's " Con- ference of Pleasure." WAS BACON THE AUTHOR 1 67 to the University, where he became at once an un- tiring student. In 1576, while still young, he was attached to the suite of Mr. Amyas Paulet, then Am- bassador to France from this country. For some time he was with the Court, where he learnt the French language as well as Italian, and to some extent Spanish, and mixed in all the frivolities and gaieties attending a Court life. Afterwards he was for three years at Poitiers, where he devoted himself to study. The death of his father, Sir Nicolas Bacon, brought him back to England. The loss of the provision which his father had intended for him drove him to the ne- cessity of studying law as a profession ; and in the year 1581 he began to keep his terms at Gray's Inn. In the year 1582 he was called to the Bar. In 1586 he was made a Bencher ; and in the following year took an active part in getting up the revels at Gray's Inn. In 1588 he was returned as a member of Parliament by Liverpool. By the year 1592, when he was arrested for debt, he had become much pressed for money. In 1593 there was a great entertainment at Gray's Inn, on which occasion he took a principal part. At this time, Christmas of 1593, William Shakespeare appeared (as is stated in the accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber), in the Lord Cham- berlain's company of actors, before Queen Elizabeth. This is the first mention we possess of Shakespeare by name after his arrival in London. And now, gentlemen, I come to what is in my own opinion the most important matter bearing on the probability that these plays came in truth from the hand of Francis Bacon. 1 68 PARALLEL PASSAGES Great pains and industry have been applied in collecting the phrases, and peculiar words ^ndi groups and associations of words, which are to be met with alike in the writings of Bacon and in these celebrated plays. Many of them have been laid before you in the book of Judge Holmes ; ' and the work has been still more elaborately performed in the book pub- lished by Mr. Donelly. I have put together selections taken from Mr. Donelly 's book for your consideration ; but to do anything like justice to this branch of our subject you should study the complete compilation to be found in that gentleman's book.^ In handing this list to you, I believe that I dis- charge the last of the duties which I have undertaken, and the solution of the questions which have been raised now rests in your hands. Shakespeare. Ba:con. Page in Donelly. 295 It is very cold. Whereby the cold becomes It is a nipping and an eager more eager, air. * # » * * * 29s Light thickens. For the over-moisture of the And the crow makes wing to brain doth thicken the the rocky wood. spirits visual. ^ " The Authorship of Shakespeare " (Judge Holmes). Judge Holmes is a son of the well-known author Oliver Wendell Holmes. ' " The Great Cryptogram," vol. i., p. 295. PARALLEL PASSAGES 169 Shakespeare. Page in Donelly. 295 Th' expense of spirt i in a waste of shame. 296 I am never merry when I hear sweet music ; The reason is your spirits are attentive. * * * 297 If Heaven have any grievous plague in store, Exceeding those that I can . wist upon thee, Oh, let them keep it, till thy sins be ripe, And then hurl down their indignation On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace. * * « 297 Which is to bring Signor Benedick and the Lady Beatrice into a mountain of affection, the one with the other. * * # 298 There's adivinitythatshapes our ends, Hough-hew them how we will. * * # 299 Cowards die many times be- fore their death. * « # 299 To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Bacon. The cause of dimnessof sight is the expense of spirits. Some noises help sleep, as . . . soft singing. The cause is, for that they move in the spirits a gentle attention, * * * That gigantic state of mind which possesseth the trou- blers of the world, such as was Lucius Sylla. * * « Perkin sought to corrupt the servants of the lieutenant of the Tower by moun- tains oi promises. * * # Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own. A rough-hewn seaman. * * « Men have their time, and die many times, in desire of something which they principally take to heart. * * * The even carriage between two factions proceedeth not always of moderation, 170 PARALLEL PASSAGES Shakespeare. Page in Donelly. Thou canst not then he false to any man. * # # 299 O Heaven ! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, Would have mournedlonger. Bacon. but of a trueness to a man's self, with end to make use of both. Be so true to thyself 2& thou be not false to others. * « « God hath done great things by her (i.e.. Queen EUza- beth) past discourse of 300 Sure, He that made us with such large discourse. Looking before and after, gave us not That capabiUty and god-like reason To fust in us unused. * * * 300 For in the very torrent, tem- pest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion. # * # 300 Life 's but a walking shadow. Martin Luther but in dis- courseoireason,{in6.mg,etc. True fortitude is not given to man by nature, but must grow out of discourse of reason. * # * But men, ... if they be not carried away with a whirlwind or tempest of ambition. * * # Let me live to serve you, else life is but the shadow of death to your Majesty's most devoted servant. 30 T 'Tis a tale Told by an idiot, full of sou?id2iXi&fury, Signifying nothing. 301 What a piece of work is a man ! . . . The paragon of animals ; the beauty of the world. It is nothing else but words, which rather sound than signify anything. The souls of the living are the beauty of the world. PARALLEL PASSAGES 171 Shakespeare. Page in Donelly. 302 Ay, gentle Thurio ; for you know that love Must creep in service where it cannot go. 304 Infirm of purpose. Give me the daggers. 305 As mild and gentle as the cradled babe. I will be mild and gentle in my words. * # * 305 This is the ape of form, mon- sieur the nice. O sleep, thou ape of death. * * * 305 Holding such enmity with blood of man. A lingering dram, that should not work maliciously like poison. Though parting be a fretful corrosive. It is applied to a deathful wound. * # * 306 A rmasA piece of nature. Bacon. This being but a leaf or two, I pray your pardon if I send it for your recreation, considering that love must creep where it cannot go. # * * All those who have in some measure committed them- selves to the waters of ex- perience, seeing they were infirm of purpose, etc. # # # Flame, at the moment of its generation, is mild and gentle. Custom, ture. # # . . an ape of na- * # * Medicine ... of secret malignity sioAdisagreemenf towards man's body, . . . it worketh either by corro- sion or by a secret malig- nity and enmity to nature. The nature of sounds in general hath been super- ficially observed. It s one of the subtilest //«<:« of nature. 172 Page in Donelly. PARALLEL Shakespeare. 307 The soft and tender fork of a poor worm. As soft and tender flattery. Beneath your soft and tender breathing. PASSAGES Bacon. The fire maketh them soft and tender. 307 Anon, as patient as the fe- male dove, When that her golden coup- lets are disclosed. His silence will sit brooding. # * # 307 The air smells wooingly here. 308 Yi\^ fantastical. A mad, fantastical trick. A fantastical knave. Telling her fantastical lies. ' * * * 308 What is this quintessence of dust? The quintessence of every sprite. The ostrich layeth her eggs under the sand, where the heat of the sun discloseth them. * * # For those smells do . . . rather woo the sense than satiate it. * * * Which showeth 2l fantastical spirit. Fantastical learning. So as your wit shall be whetted with conversing with many great wits, and you shall have the cream and quintessence of every one of theirs. 309 A dream itself is but a shadow. All whatsoever you have or can say in answer hereof are but shadows. PARALLEL PASSAGES 173 Page Shakespeare. in Bacon. Done 310 lly. Malice of thy swelling heart. Fullness and swellings of the Their swelling griefs. heart. The swelling act of the im- perial scene. * # # * # # 310 Of base and bloody insurrec- The most base, bloody and tion. envious persons. The sovereign'st thing on Sovereign medicines for the earth mind. Was parmacetti for an in- ward bruise. * # * * * * 3" The quality of mercy is not The quality of health and strained. strength. The quality of the flesh. The quality of her passion. * * * # * # 3" The top ^sovereignty. The top of . . . workmanship. The top ^judgment. The top (?/■ human desires. The top tf/all design. The top of all worldly bliss. « * # # * * 3" The bottom of my place. He might have known the 312 The bottom of your purpose. The very bottom of ray soul. Searches to the bottom of^- science. 344 He, like a puling cuckold, would drink up The dregs of this age. That the (Scotch) king, being in amity with him, and no- PARALLEL PASSAGES l8l Shakespkare. Bacon. Page in Donelly. The lees and dregs of a flat tamed piece. ways provoked, should so burn in hatred towards him, as to drink the lees and dregs of Parkin's in- toxication, who was every- where else detected and discarded. 345 All is but toys ; renown and grace is dead ; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of. * # * 345 The filth and scum of Kent. Froth and scum, thou liest. A scum of Bretagnes and base knaves. * # * 345 I have ventured, Like little wanton boys, that swim on bladders. This many summers on a sea of glory. The memory of King Richard lay like lees in the bottom ofmen^s hearts \ and if the vessel was but stirred it would come up. # # # The scum of the people. A rabble and scum of des- perate people. * * * He that seeketh victory over his nature, let him not set himself too great or too small tasks, . . . and at the first let him practise with helps, as swimmers do with bladders. 346 So one by one we'll weed them all at last. The caterpillars of the com- monwealth Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away. He entered into due con- sideration how to weed out the partakers of the former rebellion. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds ; there- fore let him seasonably water the one and destroy the other. l82 PARALLEL PASSAGES Shakespeare. Page in Donelly. 346 Now all the youth of Eng- land are on fire, . . . Following the mirror of all Christian kings. Bacon. If there be a mirror in the world worthy to hold men's eyes, it is that country. Away ! thou rag, thou quan- tity, thou remnant. He thought it (the outbreak) but a rag or remnant of Bosworth Field. 347 And here you sty me On this hard rock. Styed up in the schools and scholastic cells. 348 Hamlet describing the- heavens : This majestical roof fretted with golden fire. For if that great Work- master had been of a human disposition, he would have cast the stars into some pleasant and beautiful works and orders, like the frets in the roofs of houses. 348 A bond of air strong as the axle-tree On which heaven rides. This is the axle-tree where- upon I have turned and shall turn. The poles and axle-trees of Heaven upon which the (W«ww/i?««jaccomplished. 348 But the shales and husks of To reduce learning to certain empty and barren gener- alities ; being but the very husks and shells of sciences. PARALLEL PASSAGES 183 Shakespeare. Page in Donelly, 349 The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal. And bids thee christen it with thy dagger's point. Nay, he is your brother by the surer side, Altho' my seal be stamped upon his face. # * * 351 By this divine air, now is his soul ravished. On whom the music of his own vain tongue Dath rwvish like enchanting harmony. 351 A sea of joys. 352 A sea of air. A sea of care. A sea of glory. Shed seas of tears. That sea of blood. A sea of woes. A sea of troubles. # * * 353 An ocean of his tears. An ocean of salt tears. # * # 353 There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune ; Bacon. We set stamps and seals of our own images upon God's creatures and works. « # « Melodious tunes, so filling and delighting the ears that heard them, as that it ravished and betrayed all passengers. * # # He came with such a sea of multitude upon Italy. A sea of air. Vast seas of time. A sea of quicksilver. Will turn a sea of iaser metal into gold. # * * The ocean of philosophy. The ocean of history. * # # In the third place, I set down reputation, because of the peremptory tides and cur- rents it hath; which, if 1 84 PARALLEL PASSAGES Shakespeare. Page in Donelly. Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now ailoat ; And we must take the current when it serves. Or lose our ventures. # # * 354 Before the days of change, still is it so ; By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust Ensuing danger ; as by proof we see The waters swell before a boisterous storm. 355 As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme. Behold the swelling scene. Noble swelling spirits. Bacon. they be not taken in their due time, are seldom re- covered. The tide of any opportunities . . . the periods and tides of estates. The tides and currents of re- ceived errors. m * * As there are certain hollow blasts of wind and secret swelling of the seas before a tempest, so are there in states. Such a swelling season. 355 AiidaMtheclouds that lowered upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. How is it that the cloud still hangs on you ? Nevertheless, since I do per- ceive that this cloud hangs over the house. But the cloud of so great a rebellion hanging over his head, made him work sure. The King . . . willing to leave a cloud upon him . . . produced him openly to plead his pardon. PARALLEL PASSAGES 185 Shakespeare. Page in Donelly. 336 You thief of love, A very little thief of occasion, * * * The rogue fled from me like quicksilver. That swifi as quicksilver it courses through The natural gates and alleys of the body. * # * 357 The very sea-mark of my utmost sail. 357 A base, foul sto?ie, made precious by the foil Of England's chair where he if falsely set. # # * 358 Lo, where comes that rock That I advise y out shunning. Bacon. Intending, the discretion of behaviour is a great thief of meditation. # # # It was not long, but Perkin, who was made of quick- silver, which is hard to hold or imprison, began to stir. They were executed ... at divers places upon the sea coast of Kent, Sussex and Norfolk, for sea-marks or lighthouses, to teach Per- kin's people. Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set. But touching the re-annex- ing of the Island of Britain . . . the embassador bare aloof from it as if it was a rock. 361 There's such divinity doth hedge a king. 362 Yet my duty. As does a rock against a chiding flood. The maintaining'of the laws, which is the hedge and fence about the liberty of the subject. * * * Duty, though my state lie buried in the sands, and my favours be cast upon i86 PARALLEL PASSAGES Shakespeare. Bacon. Page in Tlrtn^IIv , Should the approach of this the waters, and my hon- wild river break ours be committed to the And stand unshaken yours. wind, yet standeth surely built upon the rock, and hath been and ever shall be unforced a.nd unattempted. 362 Oh, these flaws and starts (Impostors to true fear) would well become A woman's stoty by a winter's fire. Authorized by her grandam. Popular prophecies. My judgmentisthat they ought all to be despised, and ought but to serve for winter's talk by the fire- side. 363 Now that he was The ivy which had hid my princely trunk. And suck' d my virtue out on't. * * * 364 They are limed with the twigs. Myself hath limed a bush for her. O limhi soul, that, struggling to be free. Mere fetches, the images of revolt. But it was ordained that this winding-ivy of a Plan- ta-geaet should kill the true tree itself. # * # Whatever services I do to her Majesty, it shall be thought to be but servi- tium viscatum, lime-twigs, and fetches to place my- self. 365 That strain again ; — it had a dying fall ; Oh, it came o'er my soul like the sweet south, That breathes upon a bank of violets. Stealing and giving odour. The breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes like the warbling of music) than in the hand. PARALLEL PASSAGES 187 Shakespeare. Bacon. Page in Donelly. 363 Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, Anchors on Isabel. The repose of the mind which only rides at anchor upon hope. See, Posthumous anchors upon Imogen. # # # 365 I charge thee fling away ambition By that sin fell the angels. # * * 365 Now the time is come That France must veil her lofty plumbd crest. And let her head fall into England! s lap. # * * 366 This weak impress of love is as a figure TrencKd in ice, which with an hour's heat Dissolves to water and doth lose his form. * # * The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall. These things did he [King Henry] wisely foresee, . . . whereby all things fell into his lap as he desired. * * * High treason is not written in ice. Noble madam. Men's evil manners live in brass ; their virtues We write in water. * * * 367 His legs bestrid the ocean. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus. * * * 367 The ague-fit ai fear is over- blown. At 'scapes and perils over- blown. * # * For this giant bestrideth the sea ; and I would take and snare him by the foot on this side. * * * Many were glad that these fears and uncertainties were overblown, and that the die was cast. To THE Reader. This Figure, that thou here seest put, It was for gentle Shakespeare cut ; Wherein the Grauer had a strife With Nature, to out-doo the Life : O, could he but haue drawne his wit As well in brasse, as he hath hit His face, the Print would then surpasse All, that was euer writ in brasse. But, since he cannot. Reader, looke Not on his Picture, but his booke. B. I. Mr. WILLIAM S H A K E S P E A R E S COMEDIES, HISTORIES, & TRAGEDIES. Published according to the True Originall Copies. LONDON Printed by Isaac laggard, and Ed. Blount. 1623. DEDICATION. To THE MOST NOBLE AND INCOMPARABLE PaIRE OF BRETHREN. William Earle of Pembroke, &c. Lord Chamberlaine to the Kings most Excellent Majesty, and Philip Earle of Montgomery, &c. Gentleman of his Majesties Bed-Chamber. Both Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter, and our singular good Lords. Right Honourable, Whilst we studie to be thankful in our particular, for the many fauours we haue receiued from your L.L we are falne upon the ill fortune, to mingle two the most diuerse things that can bee, feare, and rashnesse ; rashnesse in the enterprize, and feare of the successe. For, when we valew the places your H.H. sustaine, we cannot but know their dignity greater, then to descend to the reading of these trifles : and, while we name them trifles, we haue depriu'd our selues of the defence of our Dedication. But since your L.L. haue beene pleas'd to thinke these trifles something, heeretofore ; and haue prosequuted both them, and their Authour liuing, with so much fauour : we hope, that (they out-liuing him, and he not hauing the fate, common with some, to be exequutor to his owne writings) you will use the like indulgence toward them, you haue done unto their parent. There is a great differ- ence, whether any Booke choose his Patrones, or finde them : This hath done both. For, so much were your L.L. likings of the seuerall parts, when they were acted, as before they were pubUshed, the Volume ask'd to be yours. We haue but collected them, and done an office to the dead, to procure his Orphanes, Guardians ; without ambition either of selfe-profit, or fame : onely to keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend, and Fellow aliue, as was our Shakespeare, by humble off'er of his playes, to your most noble patronage. Wherein, as we haue iustly obserued, o 1 94 DEDICATION no man to come neere your L.L. but with a kind of religious addresse; it hath bin the height of our care, who are the Pre- senters, to make the present worthy of your H.H. by the perfec- tion. But, there we must also craue our abilities to be considerd, my Lords. We cannot go beyond our owne powers. Country hands reach foorth milke, creame, fruites, or what they haue : and many Nations (we haue heard) that had not gummas and incense, obtained their requests with a leauened Cake. It was no fault to approach their Gods, by what meanes they could : And the most, though meanest, of things are made more precious, when they are dedicated to Temples. In that name therefore, we most humbly consecrate to your H.H. these remaines of your seruant Shake- speare; that what delight is in them, may be euer your L.L. the reputation his, and the fault ours, if any be committed, by a payre so carefull to shew their gratitude both to the huing, and the dead, as is Your Lordshippes most bounden, loHN Heminge. Henry Condell. To THE GREAT VARIETY OF READERS. From the most able, to him that can but spell : There you are number'd. We had rather you were weighd. Especially, when the fate of all Bookes depends upon your capacities : and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well ! It is now publique, and you will stand for your priuiledges wee know : to read, and censure. Do so, but buy it first. That doth best commend a Booke, the Stationer saies. Then, how odde soeuer your braines be, or your wisdomes, make your licence the same, and spare not. ludge your sixe-pen'orth, your shillings worth, your iiue shillings worth at a time, or higher, so you rise to the iust rates, and welcome. But, what euer you do. Buy. Censure will not driue a Trade, or make the lacke go. And though you be a Magistrate of wit, and sit on the Stage at Black-Friers, or the Cock-pit, to arraigne Playes dailie, know, these Playes haue had their triall alreadie, and stood out all Appeales ; and do now come forth quitted rather by a Decree of Court, then any purchas'd Letters of commendation. HEMINGE AND CONDELL 1 95 It had bene a thing, we confesse, worthie to haue bene wished, that the Author himselfe had Hu'd to haue set forth, and ouerseen his owne writings ; But since it hath bin ordain'd otherwise, and he by death departed from that right, we pray you do not envie his Friends, the office of their care, and paine, to haue collected and pubUsh'd them; and so to haue publish'd them, as where (before) you were abus'd with diuerse stolne, and surreptitious copies, maimed, and deformed by the frauds and stealthes of iniurious impostors, that expos'd them : euen those, are now offer'd to your view cur'd, and perfect of their limbes ; and all the rest, absolute in their numbers, as he conceiued them. Who, as he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and hand went together : And what he thought, he uttered with that easinesse, that wee haue scarse receiued from him a blot in his papers. But it is not our prouince, who onely gather his works, and giue them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And there we hope, to your diuers capacities, you will find enough, both to draw, and hold you : for his wit can no more lie hid, then it could be lost. Reade him, therefore ; and againe; and againe : And if then you doe not like him, surely you are in some manifest danger, not to understand him. And so we leaue you to other of his Friends, whom if you need, can bee your guides : if you neede them not, you can leade your selues, and others. And such readers we wish him. loHN Heminge. Henrie Condell. The Workes of William Shakespeare, containing all his Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies ; Truely set forth, according to their first ORIGINALL. The Names of the Principall Actors in all these Playes. William Shakespeare. Richard Burbadge. John Hammings. Augustine Phillips. William Kempt. Thomas Poope. George Bryan. Henry Condell. WilUam Slye. Richard Cowly. John Lowine. Samuell Crosse. Alexander Cooke. Samuel Gilburne. Robert Armin. William Ostler. Nathan Field. John Underwood. Nicholas Tooley. William Ecclestone. Joseph Taylor. Robert Benfield. Robert Goughe. Richard Robinson, lohn Shancke. lohn Rice. A CATALOGUE of the seuerall Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies contained in this Volume. COMEDIES. The Tempest. Folio i The two Gentlemen of Verona. 20 The Merry Wiues of Wind- sor. 38 Measure for Measure. 61 The Comedy of Errours. 85 Much adoo about Nothing. loi Loues Labour Lost. 122 Midsommer Nights Dreame. 145 The Merchant of Venice. 163 As you Like it. 185 The Taming of the Shrew. 208 All is well, that Ends well. 230 Twelfe-Night, or what you will. 255 The Winters Tale. 304 HISTORIES. The Life and Death of King John. Fol. I The Life & Death of Rich- ard the second. 23 The First part of King Henry the fourth. 46 The Second part of K. Henry the fourth. 74 The Life of King Henry the Fift. 69 The First part of King Henry the Sixt. 96 The Second part of King Hen. the Sixt. 120 The Third part of King Henry the Sixt. 147 The Life & Death of Rich- ard the Third. 173 The Life of King Henry the Eight. 205 TRAGEDIES. The Tragedy of Coriolanus Fol. i Titus Andronicus. 31 Romeo and Juliet. 53 Timon of Athens. 80 The Life and Death of Julius Caesar. 109 The Tragedy of Macbeth. 131 The Tragedy of Hamlet. 152 King Lear. 283 Othello, the Moore of Venice. 310 Anthony and Cleopater. 346 CymbelineKingofBritaine. 369 198 HEMINGE AND CONDELl's ADDRESS On reading this Dedication and Address the question naturally presents itself, Did these two publishers write them, and if not, who did ? It may throw some light upon this if I call atten- tion to certain peculiarities in the expressions made use of. Shakespeare, they say, had not the fate common to some, to be " executor to his own writings." Then his plays are spoken of as " Orphans" and what they desired to do was " to procure Guardians " for them. Then depreciating hostile criticism of the plays, they say, " Know these Plays have had their Trial already " and " stood out all Appeals" and do now come forth " quitted rather by a Decree of Court " than by any purchased letters of commenda- tion." Do you bear in mind, gentlemen, the in- satiable appetite for legal phrases and expressions exhibited by the writer of the plays ? Did the same author then write the Dedication ? — it rather looks as if he did. If so, the writer of the plays and Dedi- cation was not William Shakespeare, for he had been dead seven years when the Dedication was written. Was it Heminge and Condell that com- posed it ? Had they then, like Shakespeare, picked up legal phrases in hanging about the Courts at Westminster? Not likely, I should think. If it should be the case that Francis Bacon wrote the plays he would, probably, afterwards have written the Dedication of the Folio, and the style of it would be accounted for. INDEX Actors and playwriters, inferior social position of, 43. Adonis' gardens, allusion to, in the Shakespeare plays, 59. "Antony and Cleopatra," billiards mentioned in the play of, 71. Aristotle, writer of the plays, and Bacon misquote, 131. Autographs, Shakespeare, 154. Bacon, possibility of his being the author discussed, 43, 161 ; a poet, 152-153 ; facts in his life, 167. Ben Jonson, one of Bacon's good pens, 44 ; share in production of Folio, 44; disparagement of Shakespeare, 102 j eulogizes Shakespeare, 106; does not mention Shakespeare in list of great names, 156. Betterton, the actor, 1 7. Books rare in Elizabeth's reign, 15, 61, 69. Burbage, actor and manager of Blackfriars, 81, 103, 104. Campbell, Lord, on legal know- ledge displayed in plays, 84; on probability of Shakespeare's having been in law offices, 87. Chettle's encomium, 104. Contemporary events, alluded to in the plays, 99 ; contemporary writers' allusions to Shake- speare, 100. Davenant, Sir W., and Shake- speare, 135. Davies, Rev. R., note to Fulmer's mention of Shakespeare, 17. Donelly, Ignatius, extracts, paral- lel passages in Shakespeare and Bacon, 168-188. Education, limits to means of, at Stratford, see Books; Shake- speare's, 2, 18. Epistle, Nash's, prefixed to Greene's " Menaphon,'' no. Epitaphs, Shakespeare's, 122. Folio, appearance of, 25 ; im- portance of the, 25; dedicatory address, 33 ; sincerity of ad- dress in, 37 ; elaboration of plays in, 39 ; Baconian view of, 43- Genius alone not capable of writing these plays, 56. Greek, writer of the Plays' know- ledge of, 60. Greene's allusion to Shakespeare, 20O INDEX " Groatsworth of Wit," loo-ioi. "Hamlet," law in, 90-91 ; approx- imate date fixed by Nash's Epistle, no. Heminge and Condell. See Folio. Italian authors quoted by writer of plays, 74, 76 ; scenes in the plays, 118; customs, 119. Jonson, Ben. See Ben Jonson. Knight, on the Roman plays, 61, 70; on Shakespeare, 81. Knowledge, medical, displayed in plays, 63 ; of Italian, 64 ; clas- sical, 72; legal, 84; general, 85. Law terms in plays, 83. Lawyers as playwriters in reign of Elizabeth, 41. Lawyer's clerk, was Shakespeare a, 87. " Love's Labour's Lost," allusion to contemporary events in, 99. Matthew, Sir Tobie, and Bacon, 161-165. "Measure for Measure," 165, 166. "Othello," plot borrowed from ItaUan, 74. Parallel passages to be found in the plays and in Bacon's writings, 168-188. PhilUpps, Halliwell-, on Shake- speare, IS, 18, so, 77. Plays, inferior, 8 ; first appear, 89. ■ Plowden Reports read by writer of the plays, 90. Pope, on the Quartos, 22 ; on the knowledge of the writer of the plays, 71. Portrait of Shakespeare, 132-134. Quartos, Shakespeare not con- nected with the entering of the Quartos at Stationers' Hall, 24. Roman plays, Knight on the knowledge in, 61 ; Pope on the, 71 ; Appleton Morgan, 71. Shakespeare buys the largest house in Stratford, 82. Sonnets, law terms in, 94. Stratford names in the plays, 149. Theatre, Shakespeare's connec- tion with the, 21, 81. Universities, 64-167. "Venus and Adonis," 79. White, Grant, on Shakespeare's Stratford life, 14; on Shake- speare's knowledge, 72. Wilkes, the American biographer of Shakespeare, 49. Will, extracts from Shakespeare's, 147-148. CHISWICK PRESS : PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. '"•'-'A •'''#