Notes on the Bacon-Shakespeare question

I

NOTES ON THE

BACON-SHAKESPEARE

QUESTION

BY

CHARLES ALLEN

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

ftiucrsi&c press,

1900

COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY CHARLES ALLEN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

GIFT

PREFACE

AN attempt is here made to throw some new
light, at least for those who are Dot already
Shakespearian scholars, upon the still vexed ques-
tion of the authorship of the plays and poems
which bear Shakespeare's name. In the first
place, it has seemed to me that the Baconian ar-
gument from the legal knowledge shown in the
plays is of slight weight, but that heretofore it has
not been adequately met. Accordingly I have en-
deavored with some elaboration to make it plain
that this legal knowledge was not extraordinary,
or such as to imply that the author was educated
as a lawyer, or even as a lawyer's clerk. In ad-
dition to dealing with this rather technical phase
of the general subject, I have sought from the
plays themselves and from other sources to bring
together materials which have a bearing upon
the question of authorship, and some of which,
though familiar enough of themselves, have not
been sufficiently considered in this special aspect.
The writer of the plays showed an intimate

M758108

iv PREFACE

familiarity with many things which it is believed
would have been known to Shakespeare but not
to Bacon ; and I have sought to collect the most

' O

important of these, to exhibit them in some de-
tail, and to arrange them in order, so that their
weight may be easily understood and appreci-
ated. The significance of the supposed collab-
oration in the writing of certain of the plays,
of the alterations which were made in some of
them from time to time, and of Shakespeare's
supposed participation in the so-called war of
the theatres, is also pointed out. In addition to
this, Bacon's lack of recognition during his life-
time as a poet, his apparent distaste for English
poetry, and his entire want of possession of the
poetical faculty, as shown in his acknowledged
verses, are adverted to, as in striking contrast
with Shakespeare's poems of almost unquestioned
authenticity, and with his standing as a poet
and dramatist amongst his contemporaries; to
which is added an enumeration of Shakespeare's
known and of some of his probable acquaint-
ances. These with some incidental matters make
up the substance of what is contained in these
Notes.

In making citations, even from recent author-
ities, for the sake of brevity I have usually given

PREFACE v

only the surnames of the writers, without any
titles. Citations are sometimes accumulated for
the convenience of those who may wish to verify
the text, and who may have access to only a part
of the authors referred to. My constant obliga-
tions to the Concordances, not being mentioned
elsewhere, should be acknowledged here ; at the
outset to Mrs. Cowden Clarke's, and then and
more especially to Mr. John Bartlett's, whose
work it is a delight to consult. In dealing with
so many details some mistakes must have been
made ; but none, I hope, which will seriously
affect the general view presented. It is to be
borne in mind that in different editions of
Shakespeare and of the other early dramatists
there is a want of uniformity in the division of
plays into acts and scenes. Indeed, some plays
are not so divided at all. Modern spelling, capi-
talization, and usually punctuation have been
followed. It should also be mentioned that in
cases of doubtful authorship of plays, or where
there has been collaboration between different
writers, some want of exactness in giving credit
may be noticed ; for example, plays written by
Fletcher alone, or by Fletcher in conjunction
with others than Beaumont, may be attributed
to Beaumont and Fletcher ; and so in the case

vi PKEFACE

of a few other writers. Fortunately, recourse
may be had to the new and revised edition of
Ward's History of English Dramatic Literature
for full information in all such cases.

CHARLES ALLEN
BOSTON, March, 1900.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

IN citing authorities, usually a sufficient designation is in-
tended to be given in the footnotes. But for brevity's sake
certain authors are generally cited merely by their names, and
in such cases the works and editions referred to are as fol-
lows : —

BACON : The works of Francis Bacon, collected and edited
by James Speddiug and others. 15 vols. Boston ed.
1860-64.

BOAS : Shakspere and his Predecessors. By Frederick S.
Boas. New York ed. 1896.

BRANDES : William Shakespeare, A Critical Study. By George
Brandes. New York ed. 1899.

CAMPBELL : Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements Considered.
By John Lord Campbell. London, 1859.

DRAKE : Shakspeare and his Times. By Nathan Drake.
Paris ed. 1838 [original ed. was London, 1817].

ELZE : William Shakespeare. A Literary Biography. By Karl
Elze. Translated by L. Dora Schmitz. London, 1888.

FURNESS : Variorum Edition of Shakespeare. Edited by Hor-
ace Howard Furness. Philadelphia [12 volumes now pub-
lished].

GERVINUS : Shakespeare Commentaries. By Dr. G. G. Ger-
vinus. Translated by F. E. Bunnett (Introduction by F. J.
Furnivall). New York, 1875.

HALLAM : Introduction to the Literature of Europe. By Henry
Hallam. Paris ed. 1839.

H.-P. : Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare. By J. O. Halli-
well-Phillipps (6th ed.). 2 vols. London, 1886.

HOLMES : The Authorship of Shakespeare. By Nathaniel
Holmes. New and enlarged ed. 2 vols. Boston, 1887.

KNIGHT : William Shakspere, A Biography. By Charles
Knight. London, 1843.

viii EXPLANATORY NOTE

LEE : A Life of William Shakespeare. By Sidney Lee. New

York ed. 1899.
PERCY REL. : Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. By Thomas

Percy. 3d ed. 3 vols. London, 1847.
ROLFE : Friendly Edition of Shakespeare, edited by William J.

Rolfe. 20 vols. Boston.
SHAKESPEARE : The Works of William Shakespeare. Edited

by William Aldis Wright. " The Cambridge Shakespeare."

9 vols. London, 1891-1893.
VAUGHAN : Notes on Shakespeare's Historical Plays. By

Henry Halford Vaughan. 3 vols. London, 1878.
WARD : History of English Dramatic Literature. By Adolphus

William Ward. 3 vols. New and revised ed. London,

1899.
WISE : Shakespeare, his Birthplace and its Neighborhood. By

John R. Wise. London, 1861.

The text of The Cambridge Shakespeare has been followed,
and it is cited usually by Act, Scene, and Line, according to that
edition.

CORRECTION AND ADDITION

ON page 15, line 6 from bottom, for " spelled his name " read
" spelled his brother's name."

The legal phrase, " to lay by the heels," quoted on pp. 96, 97,
is also found in Don Quixote, Boston ed. 1856, vol. 4, pp. 125,
128.

CONTENTS

PREFACE iii

EXPLANATORY NOTE vii

CHAPTER I.

Preliminary, 1. Early life and education of Shakespeare, 3.
Early life in London, 7. Book-learning and knowledge of for-
eign languages, 7. Apparent display of such knowledge ac-
counted for in part, 10.

CHAPTER II.

Want of uniformity in spelling Shakespeare's name, 14. Also
in spelling other proper names, 15. His handwriting, 16. De-
scription of his various known signatures, 17. Handwriting of
other persons in that period, and since, 19.

CHAPTER III.

Knowledge of law shown in Shakespeare's plays and poems,
22. Theory that he was an attorney's clerk, 22. His legal
knowledge may be accounted for otherwise, 24. Familiarity of
other contemporary writers with law, 26. Instances of the use
of groups of legal terms by Shakespeare and by other writers,
27.

CHAPTER IV.

Other passages in Shakespeare showing legal knowledge :
Grave-diggers' discussion in Hamlet, 33. Account of case of
Hales v. Petit, supposed to be travestied, 36. Reference in King
Henry VIII to doctrine of Prsemunire, 40. This passage prob-
ably written by Fletcher, 41. It was taken from Holinshed,
41. References to Prsemuuire by other dramatists, 43. Allu-

x CONTENTS

sions in Othello to witchcraft, 44. General belief at that time
in witchcraft, 45.

CHAPTER V.

Other instances showing legal knowledge paralleled by many
citations from other authors : .ZEdificium cedit solo, 46 ; Pur-
chase, Fee and its compounds, 47 ; Double vouchers, Tenures,
Fine and recovery, 50 ; Entail, 51 ; Enfeoffed, Reversion, Bar-
gained and sold, 52 ; In capite, Extent, Conveyance, Deed of
gift, 53 ; Mortgage, Lease, 54 ; Determination, 55 ; Uses and
Trusts, 56 ; Succession to property, 57 ; Indentures tripartite,
59 ; Covenants, Specialties, Articles, 61 ; Seal, Recognizances,
Statutes (obligations), Bonds, 62 ; Forfeitures, 63 ; Acquittance,
64 ; Jointure, Absque hoc, Courts, 65 ; Indictment, Arraign-
ment, Accessary, 67 ; Actions, 70 ; Vacation, Service of Precepts,
72 ; Arrest, Attach, Apprehend, 73 ; Officers, 75 ; Prisoner's
fees, 76 ; Bail, 77 ; Enlarge, Rescue, Bound over, 78 ; Form of
Oath, Appeal, 79 ; Nonsuit, Bar, 80 ; Grand jury, Twelve god-
fathers, Suborning witnesses, Trials, 81 ; Parties to actions,
Witnesses, 83 ; Justice, Brother justice, Inns of Court, Lawyers,
84 ; Charged upon interrogatories, 87 ; Time personified, Quid-
dities and quillets, Lawful prize, Law's delay, 88 ; Scrivener,
Ideal Commonwealth, 89 ; Sue his livery, 90 ; Administration
of justice partial, 91 ; Bankrupt, Comforting the King, Witness
of a good conscience, 93 ; As free as heart can wish, Libels, Im-
press of shipwrights, 94 ; Repeal, Precedent, Order reversed,
95 ; A few legal terms and allusions not paralleled elsewhere,
96.

CHAPTER VI.

Legal terms and allusions found in other writers, but not in
Shakespeare : Jurisdiction in equity, 98 ; Livery of seisin, Char-
itable or pious uses, 101 ; Alluvion, 102 ; Common, civil, and
canon law, Magna Charta, Legal authors, 103 ; Statutes (laws),
104 ; List in tabular form of such legal terms, 105 ; List of
plays and poems by other writers, abounding in legal terms, 110.

CHAPTER VII.

Bad law, or untechnical use of legal terms in Shakespeare,
111. Merchant of Venice, 112 ; All 's Well that Ends Well,

^ CONTENTS xi

wardship of minors, 117 ; Wilkins and Jonson familiar with this
subject, 118 ; Measure for Measure, Claudio's innocence, 119 ;
Familiarity of other writers with the subject, 120 ; Cymbeline,
lachimo's wager, 121. Special instances : Portia's statement as
to the bond, 122 ; Horatio's description of the compact of For-
tinbras, in Hamlet, 122 ; Bequeath, Inherit, Demise, Estate,
123 ; Widow, Heir, Dower, 124 ; Fracted dates, Date-broke
bonds, Due on forfeiture six weeks, Oaths descended into per-
jury, Indenture of my love, Land-damn, 125 ; Rejourn, Fee-
grief, Crazed title, Enfeoffed himself to popularity, In lieu of
the premises, Distrained, 126 ; Propagation of a dower, Propor-
tions, Attorneyed, To draw my answer from thy articles, Feod-
ary, 127 ; Affeered, Oath to keep statutes, 128 ; Extent, Entail,
129 ; Caesar's will, Heir apparent, 130 ; Illegal reason for de-
nying trial in Coriolanus, Trial in King Lear, Indenture of his
oath, 131 ; Dogberry's charge, Single bond, 132. General sum-
mary as to Shakespeare's legal learning, 133.

CHAPTER VIII.

The author's supposed indifference to fame, 134. At that
time, little care generally taken to preserve plays as literature,
134. Heywood's statements as to himself, 135. Beaumont and
Fletcher, 136. Moliere, 136. Rufus Choate, 137. Certain
special circumstances in Shakespeare's case, 137. General loss
of authors' manuscripts of that period, 138. Two different
views as to Bacon, 139.

CHAPTER IX.

Bacon's birth, parentage, early life, and education, 140.
Cipher disclosures, as to birth and writings, 140 n. Rawley's
Biography, 141. Other biographers, 142. Spedding's editions
of his works, his Letters and Life, 142. Bacon's care for his
writings, 143. His unfamiliarity with English plays and poetry,
145. His opinion of dramatic poetry, 146. His acknowledged
verses, with specimens, 147. Not generally regarded as a poet*
152.

CHAPTER X.

Authorship of the poems which are attributed to Shakespeare :
Venus and Adonis, 155. Dedication of, 155. Earl of South-

xii CONTENTS

ampton, 155-157. Rape of Lucrece, 156. Dedication of, 156.
Shakespeare's relations with Southampton, 156, 157. Bacon's
relations with Southampton, 157, 158. References to Shake-
speare by Barnfield, Meres, Weever, Hey wood, Chettle, and
others, 158, 159. The Sonnets, 159. Mention of them by
Meres, 159. The Passionate Pilgrim, 160. Heywood's letter
to his publisher, 160. The Phoenix and Turtle, in Chester's
Love's Martyr, 161. Account of Chester, 161, 162. Dedica-
tion of Love's Martyr to Sir John Salisbury, 162. Shakespeare,
Marston, Chapman, Jonson, contributed poems to it, conse-
crated to Sir John, 162, 163. Account of Sir John, 163, 164.
Inferences from Shakespeare's authorship of the poems, 164.

CHAPTER XI.

Internal evidence as to authorship, 165. Parallelisms, 165.
Style, 165. Spedding's comment on Bacon's style, 166. Camp-
bell's comment on same, 166. Dowden's inferences from study
of plays, 166, 167. Tennyson's, 167. Brandes's opinion that
even temporary moods can be traced, 167. Contrary opinion by
Furness and by Boas, 168. Case of Sir Walter Scott, 168, 169.
Not established that Shakespeare's temporary moods or experi-
ences are reflected in the plays, 169. Local acquaintance with
Warwickshire shown in Merry Wives, 170 ; in Taming of the
Shrew, 171 ; in 2 King Henry IV, 171, 172. Wise's explana-
tion of the latter, 172 ; Madden's explanation, 172, 173. War-
wickshire suggested by As You Like It, and by Midsummer
Night's Dream, 173. Enumeration by Wise and others of
Warwickshire flowers, fruits, trees, names, customs, etc., men-
tioned in the plays, 174. Scene on walls of Coventry, in 3 King
Henry VI, 175. Other local references, 176. Use of local and
trade terms, and provincialisms, with many instances, 179.

CHAPTER XII.

The author's acquaintance with rural life, and customs of
lower classes, with illustrations, 185. Familiarity with English
songs, ballads, and plays, published and unpublished, with illus-
trations, 190. Anachronisms and other errors, 204. Errors,
obscurities, and other peculiarities in the text, 207. Improba-
bility that Bacon supervised publication of the First Folio, 207.
Rolfe's article on this subject, 208.

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER XIII.

The author's familiarity with theatrical matters, 209. Illus-
trations from the plays and poems : Tempest, 212 ; Two Gen-
tlemen of Verona, 213 ; Merry Wives, 213 ; Measure for Mea-
sure, 214 ; Comedy of Errors, 214 ; Much Ado, 214 ; Love's
Labor 's Lost, 215 ; Midsummer Night's Dream, 218 ; Merchant
of Venice, 220 ; As You Like It, 220 ; Taming of the Shrew,
221; All's Well, 222; Twelfth Night, 222; Winter's Tale,
223 ; King John, 224 ; King Richard II, 224 ; 1 King Henry
IV, 225 ; 2 King Henry IV, 226 ; King Henry V, 226 ; 1 King
Henry VI, 227 ; 2 King Henry VI, 227 ; 3 King Henry VI,
227 ; King Richard III, 227 ; King Henry VIII, 228 ; Troilus
and Cressida, 228 ; Coriolanus, 229 ; Titus Andronicus, 230 ;
Romeo and Juliet, 230 ; Tim on of Athens, 230 ; Julius Cajsar,
231 ; Macbeth, 231 ; Hamlet, 232 ; King Lear, 235 ; Othello,

235 ; Antony and Cleopatra, 236 ; Cymbeline, 236 ; Pericles,

236 ; Venus and Adonis, 237 ; Lucrece, 237 ; Sonnets, 237;
The PhcBnix and Turtle, 237. General summary of chapters
viii-xiii, 237.

CHAPTER XIV.

Collaboration in certain of the plays probable, 240. Such
collaboration then common, and instances given, 240. List of
Shakespearian plays in which collaboration is believed or conjec-
tured to have occurred, 241. Opinions of various critics, 241-
243. Bacon unlikely to have worked in conjunction with drama-
tists, 243. Alteration of certain plays, and list given, 244.
Such alterations unlikely to have come from Bacon, 245. Shake-
speare's supposed participation in theatrical quarrels, 245.
Bacon unlikely to have taken part in them, 247. Shakespeare's
rivals believed him to be the author, 247.

CHAPTER XV.

Expressed opinion of Shakespeare's contemporaries, 249.
Tobie Matthew's letter, 249. Greene's Groatsworth of Wit, 251.
Chettle's Kind Hart's Dream, 252. Meres's Palladis Tamia,
254. Tradition that Queen Elizabeth commanded Shakespeare
to write a play showing Falstaff in love, 255. The Return from
Parnassus, 255. England's Mourning Garment, by Chettle, 257.

xiv CONTENTS

A Mournful Ditty, 258. Davies's Microcosmos and Scourge
of Folly, 258. Webster's Dedication, 259. Lines said to have
been spoken by Thomas Greene, 259. Anonymous writer on
Stratford, 259. Heywood's Lines, 260. Dedication of first
edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, 260. Ingleby's Century of
Praise, 261. Ben Jonson's testimony and character, 261. His
relations with and tributes to Shakespeare, 262. Shakespeare's
death, burial, bust, and tablet, 265. First Folio, and prefixes,
267. Heminge and Condell's Dedication and Address to Read-
ers, 268. Lines by Hugh Holland, 269 ; by Leonard Digges,
270. Shakespeare styled gentleman, 270.

CHAPTER XVI.

Shakespeare's probable friends and acquaintances, 271. If
his ostensible authorship was an imposture, many must have
known it, 271. Holmes's list of persons in the secret, 271.
This list must be enlarged, 272. List of actors in Shakespeare's
plays, 273. Two of these were dramatists, 273. Other actors
probably known to Shakespeare, 273. Acquaintance with dram-
atists and poets, 274. Fleay's list of such, 275. Names of
other dramatists and poets probably known to Shakespeare, 275.
Accounts and traditions of his wit and geniality, 279. Printers
and publishers of the poems and plays, 280. " Divers of wor-
ship," 281. Acquaintances and friends in Stratford, 282. Uni-
versal recognition of him as the author, 283. Opinion of Sir
Henry 'Irving, 284.

INDEX OF LEGAL TERMS 287

GENERAL INDEX . 293

NOTES ON THE

BACON-SHAKESPEAKE QUESTION

CHAPTER I

PEELIMINARY. — EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION OF
SHAKESPEARE. — EARLY LIFE IN LONDON. — BOOK-
LEARNING

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was born in Stratford
in 1564 ; he married Anne Hathaway in 1582,
and died in Stratford in 1616. Until compara-
tively recent times, no doubt, so far as is known,
was expressed that he was, in general, the author
of the plays and poems which have borne his
name. Not until 1856 was the authorship pub-
licly attributed to Lord Bacon.1 In 1866 Judge
Nathaniel Holmes published his elaborate work,
The Authorship of Shakespeare, in support of
this theory, and a third and enlarged edition
appeared in 1887. This contains the fullest and
strongest presentation of the argument in favor
of Bacon's authorship which has yet appeared,

1 Miss Delia Bacon, in Putnam's Magazine for January, 1856,
questioned Shakespeare's authorship, and by implication suggested
Bacon's. So far as now known, this was the first public intimation
that Bacon was the author.

j £AC,(XN-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

and it is also marked for its fairness and candor.
This work has been followed by Edwin Reed's
Bacon vs. Shakespeare, the latest edition of
which was published in 1897. The same theory
has been urged by other recent writers. It is
maintained, in general, by some one or other of
these writers, that the plays show much acquaint-
ance with foreign languages, and with law,
medicine, history, natural history, and philoso-
phy ; that, in view of what is known of Shake-
speare, it is inconceivable that he could have
written them ; that he had little education, and
was in fact illiterate ; that he could hardly write
his own name, and had no uniform way of spell-
ing it ; that if he had been the author, he would
have taken more pains to preserve the plays ;
that Bacon, on the other hand, had the requisite
learning, and moreover had reasons for conceal-
ing his authorship ; and similarities of thought
and expression are pointed out, which are thought
to show that Bacon's acknowledged works and
the plays must have been written by the same
person.

In considering the question thus presented, it
is to be borne in mind that, whenever the evi-
dence is not to the contrary, there is a certain
presumption that the facts were consistent with
Shakespeare's authorship. He assumed to be
the author in his lifetime, and was accepted as
such by his contemporaries. Unless facts are

PRELIMINARY 3

brought forward which are inconsistent with this
general belief, the claim in behalf of Bacon fails.
If the facts are now obscure, if historical or
biographical details are wanting, then the general
belief, which has continued undisturbed until
recent times, will still stand.

This suggestion is the more important because
so little is known of the details of Shakespeare's
life. And yet, in comparatively recent years, a
good many facts have been accumulated ; so
that now Lee l says that an investigation extend-
ing over two centuries has brought together a
mass of detail which far exceeds that accessible
in the case of any other contemporary profes-
sional writer. It was not at that time the cus-
tom to spread information as to private persons
through the press ; weekly newspapers were not
established till six years after Shakespeare's death ;
and the newspapers which were occasionally
published during his life were no doubt filled
with other material than facts of that character.
Even in speaking of a period one hundred years
later, Campbell 2 says : " From the latter end of
the seventeenth century till past the middle
of the eighteenth, biography was a department of
literature almost entirely neglected in England.
Little curiosity seems during that period to have
existed respecting the private history of men,

1 Appendix, p. 361.

2 Life of Lord Chancellor CWper.

4 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

however distinguished in literature, in statesman-
ship, or in magistracy. Before the last work of
Dr. Johnson, the English public had known no
more of many of their eminent poets than, till
very recently, they knew of many of their emi-
nent lawgivers."

Ignorance respecting details of Shakespeare's
life raises no strong inference against his author-
ship of the plays and poems. The merit of
these writings was not entirely unappreciated,
but at that time they had not taken the place in
literature which by general consent they now
occupy. Highly complimentary tributes were
paid to him, but other writers also (Beaumont
and Fletcher,1 for example) were warmly praised.
Shakespeare was one actor, play writer, poet,
amongst others. While allusions to his writings
are not wanting, few facts were stated as to his
private life.

It is known that he attended the grammar
school of Stratford, and it is supposed that he
left school at the age of thirteen or fourteen.
From this it is sometimes hastily inferred that
the education which he got at school was slight.
It is reasonable to suppose that he was an apt
scholar, and that at fourteen he had gained
more book knowledge than most boys of that
age. Instances are common of precocious stu-

1 Stationer's Epistle, in first edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,
1647 (post, p. 136).

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION 5

dents, both boys and girls, who take to their
books instinctively, and who seem to learn the
contents almost at a glance. Shakespeare, it is
probable, was one of this kind, and united apt-
ness to learn with diligence and perseverance in
pursuing his studies. -This is not inconsistent
with a love of sports. At a later period Web-
ster l speaks of his " copious industry." The
grammar school of Stratford was reestablished by
royal charter in 1553, and is described by Sid-
ney L. Lee in Stratford on Avon.2 Thomas
S. Baynes, in an essay entitled " What Shake-
speare learnt at school," 3 has given the usual
curriculum of studies in a grammar school of
that period. This, for a boy of fourteen, in-
cluded Ovid and several other Latin authors.
He shows the probability that Shakespeare ac-
quired considerable knowledge of Latin before
leaving school.

The theory has been suggested that for a time
he was a teacher, and also that he passed two or
three years in an attorney's office. There is no
sufficient proof to establish either theory. But
it may well be supposed that he did not neglect
such means and opportunities of improving his
education as were open to him. Instances have
never been wanting of persons eminent for
scholarship who gained their education under

1 See post, p. 259. 2 Lond., 1885, pp. 49 et seq.

8 Shakespeare Studies, Lond., 1894, p. 147.

6 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

severely disadvantageous circumstances. The
fact that Shakespeare finally left school at thir-
teen or fourteen, if assumed as probable, does
not show that he no longer studied books. It
is easy to believe that a bright and ambitious
boy, eager to learn, continued his studies after-
wards. According to tradition l he early prac-
tised verse-making, and as early as 1585 wrote a
satirical ballad upon Sir Thomas Lucy.

There is nothing in the known facts respecting
Shakespeare's want of education and his addic-
tion to sports in his boyhood which is inconsis-
tent with a belief in his authorship of the plays.
This is well illustrated in the play of King
Henry V, where the Archbishop of Canterbury,
in an often quoted passage, is made to say of
the king : 2 —

" Never was such a sudden scholar made."

And again,3 after a description of his accom-
plishments, he adds : —

" Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain,
His companies unlettered, rude and shallow,
His hours filled up with riots, banquets, sports,
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity."

The precise time of Shakespeare's removal to

1 1 Halliwell-Phillipps, 66 ; 2 H.-P. 73.

2 K. Hen. V, I, i, 32. 3 I, i, 53-59.

BOOK-LEARNING 7

London is not known, but it is thought to have
been some time from 1585 to 1587. It is gener-
ally supposed that he at once became connected
with the theatre,1 at first, perhaps, in humble
capacities, but soon not only as an actor, but
as a corrector and improver of plays which were
owned by the managers and held in manuscript.2
Drake 3 thinks that he became an actor at once.
Baynes gives facts and reasons which in his opin-
ion make it probable that Shakespeare studied
French and Italian during these early years in
London with John Florio, a well-known teacher.4
Florio married a sister of the poet Daniel, who
wrote a poem in praise of Florio's translation of
Montaigne. Jonson was a friend of Florio's, and
Baynes holds that there are substantial reasons
for believing that Shakespeare was also, and
that he wrote a sonnet prefixed to Florio's vol-
ume called Second Fruits. He cites Professor
Minto as of this opinion. In a copy of Florio's
Montaigne, now in the British Museum, the
name " Willm Shakspere " is written, and this, if
authentic, is one of the few autographs of Shake-
speare which remain. Its genuineness, however,
is not universally conceded. But Baynes says
there is evidence that Shakespeare had read the
book. Both Florio and Shakespeare were ac-
quaintances of the Earl of Southampton. Flo-

1 Gifford, Life of Jonson, cbdv.

2 See post, p. 190. 3 Pages 203-205.
4 Shakespeare Studies, 94.

8 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

rio's First Fruits and Second Fruits were man-
uals for the study of Italian. Baynes1 thinks it
probable that Shakespeare was acquainted with
these books, and that he would naturally betake
himself to the study of Italian. The character
of Holof ernes in Love's Labor's Lost is sup-
posed by Drake 2 to have been intended in ridi-
cule of Florio, but this is discredited by others.
The theory that Shakespeare could not have
gained the limited acquaintance with different
languages which is shown in the plays is not
supported by any positive proof. It is not known
that he was so employed and occupied that he
could not have acquired some knowledge of them
all. The contrary is shown by Baynes to be
probable. And we have the direct assertion of
Jonson to the effect that Shakespeare had some
knowledge of Latin, and some also, though less,
of Greek. This is found in the familiar lines
prefixed to the First Folio edition of the plays,
published in 1623, seven years after Shake-
speare's death. The lines were entitled "To
the memory of my beloved, the author, Mr. Wil-
liam Shakespeare, and what he hath left us."
The particular line is, " And though thou hadst
small Latin and less Greek." This line is found
in a tribute to Shakespeare in which Jonson
placed him above all dramatists, ancient or mod-
ern, referring by name to ^Eschylus, Euripides,

1 Shakespeare Studies, 93 et seq. 2 Page 217.

BOOK-LEARNING 9

Sophocles, Aristophanes, Terence, and Plautus,
as well as to the English poets Chaucer and
Spenser. He apostrophizes Shakespeare as
" Thou star of poets," and says, " He was not
of an age, but for all time." The lines should
be read in full, in order to appreciate correctly
the sense in which the words are to be taken,
but it would seem that Jonson, who knew Latin
and Greek well, and who is pronounced by his
biographer Gifford to have been among the first
scholars of his age, meant to call attention to
the fact that Shakespeare had this great preemi-
nence as a dramatist and poet, and yet that he
had comparatively small Latin and less Greek.
He knew something of both languages, but in
Jonson's estimation his attainments in them were
but small. -Certainly, so far as the actual use
of Latin and Greek words is concerned, the plays
disclose small knowledge of either language.
This is satisfactorily shown by John Pym Yeat-
man.1 It was at one time urged that the Comedy
of Errors closely followed the Menoschmi of Plau-
tus, of which no published English version had
appeared at the time when the Comedy of Errors
was written. But Holmes afterwards 2 conceded
that not enough was taken from Plautus to found
an argument on. The chief reliance of those who
have thought that the writer knew Latin well is
thus disposed of. It has also been noted that

i The Gentle Shakspere, 49-53 (ed. 1896). 2 Page 711.

10 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Shakespeare's Latin is not always taken from
original sources. Thus in The Taming of the
Shrew a line of Terence is copied from Lilly's
Grammar/ where it is incorrectly given. This
is a book which Shakespeare probably studied
in school.

If resemblances are found between the plays
attributed to Shakespeare and Latin or Italian
models, it does not necessarily follow that the
writer was familiar with the Latin or Italian
language. He may have used translations, pub-
lished or unpublished. There may have been
collaboration to some extent with some one or
more of the university play writers. Moreover
there was a multitude of manuscript plays held
as a part of the stock of a theatre, some of which
were wholly or partly original, and others were
translations. Few of these are now extant.
Halliwell-Phillipps 2 says not one in fifty of the
dramas of this period has come down to us, and
there is no way of ascertaining how much may
have been borrowed from them. With reference
to this source of information, and to Shake-
speare's probable use of it, Emerson 3 says : " At
the time when he left Stratford and went up to
London, a great body of stage plays of all dates
and writers existed in manuscript and were in turn
produced on the boards. . . . All the mass had

1 Elze, 38, 39. 2 1 H.-P. 115.

8 Representative Men, Shakespeare, 184-189 (ed. 1889).

KNOWLEDGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES 11

been treated, with more or less skill, by every
playwright, and the prompter has the soiled and
tattered manuscripts. It is now no longer pos-
sible to say who wrote them first. They have
been the property of the Theatre so long, and so
many rising geniuses have enlarged or altered
them, inserting a speech or a whole scene, or
adding a song, that no man can any longer claim
copyright in this work of numbers. . . . Shake-
speare, in common with his comrades, esteemed
the mass of old plays waste stock, in which any
experiment could be freely tried. ... In point
of fact it appears that Shakespeare did owe
debts in all directions, and was able to use what-
ever he found. ... At that day, our petulant
demand for originality was not so much pressed.
There was no literature for the million. The
universal reading, the cheap press, were un-
known. A great poet who appears in illiterate
times absorbs into his sphere all the light which
is anywhere radiating. ... He is therefore lit-
tle solicitous whence his thoughts have been
derived ; whether through translation, whether
through tradition, whether by travel in distant
countries, whether by inspiration ; from what-
ever source, they are equally welcome to his un-
critical audience. Nay, he borrows very near
home. . . . Chaucer is a huge borrower."

Many Italian, French, and Spanish romances
or tales had been published in English versions

12 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

before 1596. A list, perhaps incomplete, is given
by Drake, l who thinks that these were probably
used by Shakespeare.2 Later attempts have been
made to give partial catalogues of Shakespeare's
library ; amongst others, John S. Hart, in the
Handy Stratford edition,3 enumerates several
books which were probably included in it. The
greater part of Boccaccio's Decameron was pub-
lished in an English translation by William
Painter in 1566, and a new edition appeared
in 1575. Several references to this are found
in the plays.4 Drake5 cites Percy to the effect
that Shakespeare had probably heard one of the
metrical romances sung to the harp. He also
gives a full description 6 of the frequent, costly,
and splendid masques and pageants, from which
in his opinion Shakespeare obtained some por-
tion of his intimacy with " the records of history,
the fictions of paganism, and the reveries of
philosophy."

Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch,
published in 1579, was a mine from which the
writer of Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, and
Julius Caesar took copious supplies ; sometimes
appropriating a whole dialogue with close exact-
ness. A striking illustration of this is found in
the often cited speech of Coriolanus,7 beginning,

1 Pages 252 et seq. 2 Page 272.

3 Summary Outline, etc., c. 5. 4 Drake, 263 ; Lee, 163, 249, 251.

5 Page 274. 6 Pages 435-437.

7 IV, v, 65.

BOOK-LEARNING 13

"My name is Cams Marcius," and the later
speech of Volumnia in the same play ; l both of
which are referred to by Lee.2 Holinshed's
Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland
was published in 1577, and a second edition in
1586-87. Hall's Chronicles was published in
1548. From both of these, but especially from
Holinshed, Shakespeare drew freely. Illustra-
tions have also been collected, some of which
will be given hereafter, to show that he bor-
rowed from contemporary or recent playwriters,
e. g., from Whetstone, Marlowe, Greene, Kyd,
Gascoigne, Preston, Peele, Broke (or Brooke),
and others.

The above considerations tend to show where
Shakespeare could have got a portion of the
book-learning which is found in the plays. His
knowledge of law will be treated separately.

i V, iii, 94. 2 Page 245 ^

CHAPTER II

WANT OF UNIFOEMITY IN SPELLING SHAKESPEAKE'S
NAME. — HANDWRITING

THE inference is sometimes l drawn that Shake-
speare was illiterate because he spelled his name
in two different ways, and because his signatures
are badly written.

At that period, intelligent persons often spelled
their names in different ways.2 Most modern
writers adopt the mode, Shakespeare. The rea-
sons for this need not be gone into here. But
in the body of Shakespeare's will his name is
spelled Shackspeare, while his own signatures
appear to be Shakspere and Shakspeare.3 In the
bond against impediments to marriage, given in
1582, his name is spelled Shagspere.4 Thomas
Greene, his cousin, town clerk of Stratford, kept
a diary in 1614, in which he spelled the name
Shakspeare and Shakspear.5 In the Stratford
Eegister, preserved in the church, the additional
forms Shakspeer, Shaksper, and Shaxspere occur.6
Elze7 says that in the Records of the Corpora-
tion of Stratford the name of John Shakespeare,

1 Reed, Bacon vs. Shakespeare, 11-15. 2 H.-P., Pref. to vol. 2.
3 2 H.-P. 169. * 2 H.-P. 55. 5 i H.-P. 229.

e 2 H.-P. 51, 52. 7 p^e 541.

MODES OF SPELLING NAME 15

the poet's father, occurs in fourteen different
forms ; Lee says, in sixteen.1 In the facsimiles
published by Halliwell-Phillipps, many different
modes of spelling the name are found. The
names of other members of the family are
treated in like manner. In Shakespeare's will
his daughter's name is spelled Judyth and Ju-
dith ; his sister's name is spelled Johane Harte,
and Jone ; and the name of her sons Harte and
Hart.2 In the body of the will of his wife's
father the name is spelled Hathway, but the
signature is Hathwaie; her mother's name is
spelled Jone, Joane, and Johan ; and her sister's
Margaret and Margarett.3 In the bond against
impediments Anne Hathaway's name is spelled
Hathwey.4 The names of relatives of his mother
are spelled in different documents Arden, Ar-
denne, Ardennes, Ardern, and Arderne.5

Other proper names were spelled, even by edu-
cated persons, with a like variety. Bacon once
spelled his name Bakon in a letter of attorney.6
John Winthrop, educated at Cambridge, wrote
indifferently Lord and Lorde, Tyndall and Tin-
dall.7 In Shakespeare's will we find the spelling
Christe. Shakespeare's son-in-law, a physician,
signed his name Hall and Hawle.8 Sir Walter
Ealeigh spelled his name in five different ways ;

1 Page 284. 2 2 H.-P. 169.

3 2 H.-P. 195. * 2 H.-P. 55.

5 2 H.-P. 53, 54, 173, 177. 6 1 Spedding, Letters and Life, 32.

7 Winthrop's Letters. 8 Elze, App. 1, p. 541.

16 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

other persons used fourteen. Sir Richard Gren-
vil's name was spelled in six or seven different
ways. The names of many poets and artists were
spelled without uniformity : e. g., Sydney and
Sidney ; Spenser and Spencer ; Jonson and John-
son; Dekker and Dekkar; Kyd and Kid; Dray ton
and Draiton ; Massys, Matsys, Massiis, Messys,
and Metsys ; Van Dyck, Van Dyk, Van Dijk, and
Vandike ; Dou, Dow, Dov, and Douw. Many
illustrations of a like kind are given by Elze.1 It
was certainly no sign of illiteracy in Shakespeare's
time for one to spell his name in two different
ways.

Shakespeare's handwriting. Somewhat more
stress,2 though with no greater reason, has been
laid upon his bad handwriting. Five signatures
are extant, or six if that in Florio's Montaigne is
included.3 These are all known by what purport
to be facsimile reproductions, which, however,
are not quite alike. The original signatures have
now without doubt become less distinct from lapse
of time, and accordingly even photographic re-
productions are not quite satisfactory. In look-
ing at these facsimiles, it should be borne in mind
that no strong inference can safely be drawn

1 App. 1, pp. 539 et seq.

2 Reed, Bacon vs. Shakespeare, 11, 14.

3 The authenticity of the supposed autograph of Shakespeare in
the Public Library of the city of Boston can hardly be considered as
yet established.

HANDWRITING 17

from merely a few examples of signatures, because
the writer's handwriting might be affected by
so many temporary conditions or circumstances.
One's signature may be fairly good at certain
times, but almost or quite illegible at other times.
The five signatures which are certainly genuine
were all written towards the close of his life, viz.,
in 1612-13, or in 1616, when his writing may
have become shaken ; and in the month of
March, when the weather in England is liable
to be cold. It would not be extravagant to sup-
pose that none of these signatures fairly exhibits
his handwriting in his earlier years.
The six signatures are as follows : —

1. In Florio's Montaigne, a small folio vol-
ume purchased by the British Museum in 1838.
The name is spelled Shakspere, and is written
with quite a free hand. The genuineness of
this signature is doubted by Brandes, Lee, and
others ; but Rolfe (in the Critic ) has said that
the best authorities believe it to be authentic,
though we have no positive proof of it.

2. Upon a conveyance dated March 10, 1612—
13. In this " William " is written above " Shak-
speare " or " Shakspere," on a strip to which
the seal was affixed, and which did not afford
room to write both names on the same line.1
The word " William " is written plainly and
well ; but the surname is hard to decipher.

1 See Lee's reproduction, facing p. 267.

18 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

3. Upon a mortgage dated March 11, 1612-
13. This also is written on a strip to which the
seal was affixed, and is legible, the name being
written, "Wm ShakspeV l The "e" came to
the edge of the strip, and the " a " was written
above, perhaps only as a mark of abbreviation.2

4, 5, 6. The other three signatures are from
Shakespeare's will.3 The first of these is written
with one word above the other, as if on a strip.
The word " William " is legible, but the word
" Shakspeare " is partly torn off, and of itself
can hardly be made out.

The second is " Willm Shakspeare," or "Shak-
spere ; " the first word plainer than the other,
and the whole not very bad.

The third is the final signature, " By me Wil-
liam Shakspeare." The words " By me " are
written well enough. " William " is also plainly
and well written, and is much like the William
in the Conveyance No. 2. " Shakspeare " is not
so well written, yet not very badly for one, prob-
ably sick, who was signing his will.

In all of the three instances where " William "
is written out in full, the word is fairly well writ-
ten, and certainly would furnish no argument in
favor of the view that he was illiterate. Rolfe
says that the two signatures on the deeds were

1 See Lee's reproduction, facing1 p. 269.

2 Malone's statement, copied by Knight, 538.

3 See Lee's reproduction, facing p. 273.

HANDWRITING 19

on parchment, and Halliwell-Phillipps says that
the three signatures upon the will were upon pot
paper.

The handwriting, at that period, even of per-
sons accustomed to write much, as, e. g., of scriv-
eners and recording officers, was often obscure
and hard to decipher. Hamlet himself may be
cited to show that this was characteristic of
statists, or statesmen : —

" I once did hold it, as our statists do,
A baseness to write fair, and labored much
How to forget that learning." 1

Furness 2 quotes a note from Blackstone : " Most
of the great men of Shakespeare's time, whose
autographs have been preserved, wrote very bad
hands." It is quite curious to observe that, in
Richard Simpson's opinion,3 Shakespeare's auto-
graphs distinctly show that his handwriting is
that of a scrivener or lawyer. Halliwell-Phil-
ipps, in his Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare,
gives many facsimiles of the name as written by
scriveners, recording officers, keepers of registers
of baptisms, deaths, etc., and many of these are
quite as illegible as the facsimiles of Shakespeare's
own signatures. Examples may be found in vol.
1, pp. 26, 33, 36, 40, 50, 79, 125, 148, 153, 229,
230, 233 ; vol. 2, pp. 126, 138, 211, 214, 220,
223, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231, 232, 233, 234,

1 V, ii, 33-35. 2 Furness, 1 Hamlet, 417.

8 Notes and Queries (4th series), vol. 8, pp. 1-3, referred to by
Elze, 88.

20 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

236, 237, 239, 240, 374. Much of the writing
of that time, as shown by these and other fac-
similes, can only be made out by an expert.
Knight also gives several facsimiles of Shake-
speare's name as written by others, which are
nearly or quite as obscure.

According to Chettle,1 Greene wrote a bad
hand. Spenser's signature was as illegible as
Shakespeare's.2 Dray ton's was about as bad.3
But Shakespeare's contemporaries gave him
credit for being able to write. Heminge and
Condell, in the Preface to the Folio Edition of
1623, say : " We have scarce received from him
a blot in his papers." And Jonson at a later
time : " I remember the players have often men-
tioned it as an honor to Shakespeare that in his
writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted
out line." It would seem that the players were
in the habit of seeing his writing. Certainly they
must have known whether he could write or not.

The idea that a bad handwriting is proof of
illiteracy might also be confuted by many mod-
ern examples. A collection of signatures might
be made which would bear interesting testimony
to the contrary. It was said of Napoleon by
his secretary, Meneval ; 4 " His writing was a

1 Holmes, 68; 1 H.-P. 303.

2 Facsimile in Fields and Whipple's Family Library of British
Poetry, opp. p. 31.

8 Facsimile in 3 Collier, Hist, of English Dram. Poetry, 93.
4 Meneval, Napoleon, 373, Appleton's ed.

HANDWRITING 21

collection of letters unconnected with each other,
and unreadable. Half the letters to each word
were wanting ; he could not read his own writing
again, or would not take the trouble to do so."
And in Macaulay's Life and Letters, in speaking
of the first draft of his History, Trevelyan says : 1
" His manuscript at this stage to the eyes of any
one but himself appeared to consist of column
after column of dashes and flourishes in which a
straight line, with a half formed letter at each
end and another in the middle, did duty for a
word. It was from amidst a chaos of such hiero-
glyphics that Lady Trevelyan, after her brother's
death, deciphered that account of the last days
of William which fitly closes the History."

It may also be mentioned that Richelieu,
Montaigne, Victor Hugo, Balzac, Jules Janin,
Byron, Jeffrey, Dean Stanley, Frederick D.
Maurice, Horace Greeley, Rufus Choate, and
many other men of mark, certainly not deficient
either in intellect or in education, wrote illegi-
bly at times. Many readers can supply other
instances from their own knowledge.

1 Vol. 2, p. 198 (Harper's ed. 1876).

CHAPTER III

KNOWLEDGE -OF LAW. — IN GENEKAL. — GROUPS OF
LEGAL TEEMS

AN argument much relied on in support of
the Baconian theory 1 is that the plays and
poems show an unusual knowledge of law, and
that it is not to be supposed that Shakespeare
could have acquired this knowledge. Collec-
tions of the legal terms and allusions have been
made by different persons, notably by Campbell,2
by W. L. Rushton,3 by Cushman K. Davis,4 and
by F. F. Heard.5

Some persons, being much impressed by this
legal flavor, have accounted for it on the sup-
position that Shakespeare may have spent two or
three years in an attorney's office. According
to Campbell,6 there was in Stratford a court of
record, which sat every fortnight and had juris-
diction over all personal actions to the amount
of £30. Six attorneys besides the town clerk
belonged to this court. Twice a year another

1 Holmes, 629 et seq.

2 Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements Considered.
8 Shakespeare's Testamentary Language.

4 The Law in Shakespeare.
6 Shakespeare as a Lawyer.
6 Page 21.

KNOWLEDGE OF LAW 23

court with a jury was held there. This theory of
his having been merely a law student for a year
or two has been thought ample to account for all
the legal knowledge which is found ; and it has
been supported by Chalmers, Malone, Collier,
Elze, Fleay, and White. Campbell did not deem
it necessary even to resort to this supposition,
and left it an open question. Lee discredits it,1
and Knight controverts it at length. The sug-
gestions of the latter are quite pertinent. He
says,2 —

" There is every reason to believe that the principles of
law, especially the law of real property, were much more
generally understood in those days than in our own. Edu-
cated men, especially those who possessed property, looked
upon law as a science instead of a mystery ; and its terms
were used in familiar speech, instead of being regarded
as a technical jargon. When Hamlet says, ' This fellow
might be in his time a great buyer of land, with his stat-
utes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his
recoveries,' he employs terms with which every gentleman
was familiar."

And again, —

" In the passage of Henry IV, part 2 : —

' For what in me was purchased,
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort,'

it is held that purchase, being used in its strict legal sense,
could be known only to a lawyer. An educated man could
hardly avoid knowing the great distinction of purchase as
opposed to descent, the only two modes of acquiring real

1 Page 32. 2 Pages 261 et seq.

24 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

estate. This general knowledge, which it would be very
remarkable if Shakespeare had not acquired, involves the
use of the familiar law terms of his day, fee simple, fine
and recovery, entail, remainder, escheat, mortgage. The
commonest practice of the law, such as a sharp boy would
have learned in two or three casual attendances upon the
Bailiff's Court at Stratford, would have familiarized Shake-
speare very early with the words which are held to imply
considerable technical knowledge, — action, bond, warrant,
bill, suit, plea, arrest."

Certainly the fact is not yet proved that
Shakespeare was an attorney's clerk ; and it is
hardly necessary to infer it. His legal know-
ledge can be accounted for otherwise.

Shakespeare became a prosperous man of busi-
ness, a buyer of land, a part owner of theatrical
establishments ; he was acquainted with leases
and indentures, interested in legal proceedings
concerning the theatre, a plaintiff in actions at
law for the recovery of debts, and no stranger
to proceedings in chancery. He bought land *
in 1597, 1602, 1610, 1613, and an unexpired
term of a moiety of a lease of tithes in 1605.
He left Stratford poor, went to London, soon
acquired property, bought New Place in Strat-
ford in 1597, and finally returned there, rich.
This does not show that he was a scholar, but it
does have some tendency to show that he was a
man of parts. He made his way, and stood well

i Fleay, Shakespeare Manual, 6, 8, 10; 1 H.-P. 119, 184, 197, 211,
220.

KNOWLEDGE OF LAW 25

with his associates. One piece of litigation in
particular may have afforded him much instruc-
tion in the law of real estate, and in legal pro-
ceedings. This was the litigation respecting his
mother's title to the estate called Asbies, which
resulted in a bill in chancery J filed in 1597 to
recover it. A detailed account of what is known
respecting this litigation and trouble, extending
from 1580 to 1597 and probably later, is given
in three papers by Charles E. Phelps, entitled
Falstaff and Equity, in Shakespeariana for 1892
and 1893. He clearly shows that Shakespeare
had a chance to learn much law, even in the
experience of his own family. In 1600 there
was litigation concerning the Blackfriars Thea-
tre. Fleay gives the complaint with all its legal
language in full.2 A fine was levied in 15 75,3
when Shakespeare's father bought two houses;
in 1579,4 when his father and mother mortgaged
an estate ; in 1597,5 when Shakespeare bought
New Place ; in 1602,6 to cure a defect in the
title to New Place ; and in 16 10,7 when Shake-
speare bought an estate of the Combes. He
thus probably had a practical acquaintance with
fines and recoveries, spoken of in Hamlet. In
1602 an indenture was sealed and delivered for

1 i H.-P. 137.

2 Chronicle Hist, of London Stage, 127-132.

8 1 H.-P. 357. 4 2 H.-P. 11. 5 2 H.-P. 104.

e 1 H.-P. 185. i 2 H.-P. 25.

26 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Shakespeare to his brother Gilbert.1 His father
was engaged in litigations, instances of which
are collected by Halliwell-Phillipps.2 Theatres
were leased. Some actors and playwriters were
arrested and imprisoned for debt. Companies of
actors were licensed or prohibited. As early as
1598 Shakespeare was styled " gentleman " in a
legal paper.

Shakespeare would thus naturally gain some
knowledge of law, including the law of real
estate. Many technical legal terms and phrases
must have passed under his eyes, and he must
have had some acquaintance with the phrase-
ology of legal instruments. But when it is said
that his knowledge of law was so great and
exact as to be quite unique, and to furnish a
presumption that nobody but a technical lawyer
could have written the plays, the statement can-
not be accepted without question. We are led
to remember (what indeed has often been noted,3
though without much fulness of citation) that
other writers of the same period showed a famil-
iarity with legal terms and doctrines, and to
inquire whether the knowledge of law shown in
the plays or poems was really as great and as
accurate as has been supposed. In pursuing this
inquiry, it will be well to review the principal
passages which have a legal flavor.

1 1 H.-P. 184 ; 2 H.-P. 19. 2 2 H.-P. 215 et seq.

8 E. g. by White, Mem. of Shakespeare, 67, 68.

KNOWLEDGE OF LAW 27

Groups of legal terms. In the first place,
one's attention is naturally attracted by the use
of collections or groups of legal terms. Take for
example the passage in Hamlet which is com-
mented on by Knight, and which contains the
greatest number of legal terms used by Shake-
speare in any one place : 1 —

" Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer ? Where
be his quiddities now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and
his tricks ? Why does he suffer this rude knave now to
knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel, and not
tell him of his action of battery ? Hum ! This fellow might
be in 's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his
recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries ;
is this the fine of his fines and the recovery of his recover-
ies, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt ? Will his vouch-
ers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones
too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures ?
The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this
box ; and must the inheritor himself have no more ? "

A passage like this is rather a tour de force,
and is not written with a flowing pen. But this
kind of display of legal phraseology was quite
common with other writers of the time, who
indeed sometimes surpassed Shakespeare in it.
An example is found in the familiar passage
from Dekker's Gull's Horn Book, published in
1609, describing the conversation at a cheap
London ordinary. It is as follows : —

" There is another ordinary, at which your London
usurer, your stale bachelor, and your thrifty attorney do

1 V, i, 95 et seq.

28 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

resort ; the price, three pence ; the rooms as full of com-
pany as a jail ; and indeed divided into several wards, like
the beds of an hospital. ... If they chance to discourse, it
is of nothing but of statutes, bonds., recognizances, fines, re-
coveries, audits, rents, subsidies, sureties, enclosures, liveries,
indictments, outlawries, feoffments, judgments, commissions,
bankrupts, amercements, and of such horrible matter."

White l refers to, but does not cite in full, a
less marked instance from Wilkins's Miseries of
Enforced Marriage, published in 1607. The
passage is as follows : —

" Now, Sir, from this your oath and band,
Faith's pledge, and seal of conscience, you have run,
Broken all contracts, and the forfeiture
Justice hath now in suit against your soul,
Angels are made the jurors, who are witnesses
Unto the oath you took, and God himself,
Maker of marriage, he that sealed the deed,
As a firm lease unto you during life,
Sits now as judge of your transgression ;
The world informs against you with this voice.

A heavy doom, whose execution 's
Now served upon your conscience."

Middleton in The Phoenix 2 has the following
string of law terms : " 0, an extent, a proclama-
tion, a summons, a recognizance, a 'tachment,

i

2 V, i. It should be borne in mind that Middleton, Donne, Beau-
mont, Marston, and Ford had studied law, so that their use of legal
terms is less significant than it otherwise would be. But they, like
other writers of the period, assumed that the language used would
be understood by listeners or readers, and therefore examples cited
even from them are not destitute of weight.

KNOWLEDGE OF LAW 29

and injunction ! a writ, a seizure, a writ of
'praisement, an absolution, a quietus est."

The following passage is taken from Donne's
Second Satire : —

" He throws

Like nets or lime-twigs, wheresoe'er he goes,

His title of Barrister on every wench,

And woos in language of the Pleas and bench.
' A motion, lady : ' speak Coscus. — ' I have been

In love e'er since tricesimo of the Queen.

Continual claims I have made, injunctions got

To stay my rival's suit, that he should not

Proceed.' Spare me, — ' In Hilary term I went ;

You said, if I returned this 'size in Lent,

I should be in remitter of your grace ;

In th' interim, my letters should take place

Of affidavits.'"

Spenser has the following passage in the
Faerie Queene : 1 —

" Fair Mirabella was her name, whereby
Of all those crimes she there indicted was :
All which, when Cupid heard, he by and by
In great displeasure willed a capias
Should issue forth to attach that scornful lass.
The warrant straight was made, and there withal
A bailiff errant forth in post did pass,
Whom they by name there Portamore did call ;

He which doth summon lovers to love's judgment hall.

" The damsel was attached, and shortly brought
Unto the bar whereas she was arraigned ;
But she thereto nould 2 plead, nor answer aught,
Even for stubborn pride, which her restrained :
So judgment passed, as is by law ordained
In cases like."

1 F. Q., B. 6, c. 7, st. 35, 36. 2 Would not.

30 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

An instance of a copious use of law terms is
also found in Jonson's Silent Woman : * —

" Dauph. Have you spoke with the lawyer, sir ?

Mor. O no ! there is such a noise in the court, that they
have frighted me home with more violence than I went !
Such speaking and counter-speaking, with their several
voices of citations, appellations, allegations, certificates, at-
tachments, inter'gatories, references, convictions and inflic-
tions indeed, among the doctors and proctors, that the noise
here is silence to 't, a kind of calm midnight."

He afterwards gives a very detailed account
of the causes of divorce in the canon law ; obvi-
ously the result of a special study of that sub-
ject.

There is another instance in his Staple of
News.2

" P. Jun. But Picklock, . . . thou cast cant too.

Pick. In all the languages in Westminster Hall,
Pleas, Bench, or Chancery. Fee-farm, fee-tail,
Tenant in dower, at will, for term of life,
By copy of court-roll, knights service, homage,
Fealty, escuage, socage, or frank almoigne,
Grand serjeantry, or burgage.

P. Jun. . . . Thou shalt read

All Littleton's Tenures to me, and indeed
All my conveyances.

Pick. And make them too, sir ;
Keep all your courts, be steward of your lands,
Let all your leases, keep your evidences,
But first I must procure and pass your mortmain."

The following example is from Barry's Ram
Alley : —

1 iv, ii. 2 iv, i.

KNOWLEDGE OF LAW 31

" Therefore widow release me, for by no law,
Statute, or book-case, of vicesimo
Edwardi secundi, nor by the statute
Of Tricesimo Henrici Sexti,
Nor by any book-case of decimo
Of the late Queen, am I accessary,
Part, or party-confederate, abetter,
Helper, seconder, persuader, forwarder,
Principal, or maintainer, of this late theft ;
But by law, I forward, and she willing,
Clapt up the match, and by a good statute
Of decimo tertio Richardi quarti
She is my leeful, lawful, and my true
Married wife, teste Lieutenant Beard."

But Chapman, in All Fools,1 published in
1605, but written as early as 1599,2 surpasses
them all. The passage is found in the notary's
summary of his instrument of divorce.

" I think it would be something tedious to read all, and
therefore, gentlemen, the sum is this ; that you, signer
Cornelio, for divers and sundry weighty and mature con-
siderations you especially moving, specifying all the par-
ticulars of your wife's enormities in a schedule hereunto
annexed, the transcript whereof is in your own tenure,
custody, occupation and keeping ; that for these the afore-
said premises, I say, you renounce, disclaim and discharge
Gazetta from being your leeful or your lawful wife ; and that
you eftsoons divide, disjoin, separate, remove, and finally
eloigne, sequester and divorce her from your bed and your
board ; that you forbid her all access, repair, egress or
regress to your person or persons, mansion or mansions,
dwellings, habitations, remainences or abodes, or to any
shop, cellar, sollar, easements' chamber, dormer, and so
forth, now in the tenure, custody, occupation or keeping of
1 IV, i. 2 2 Ward, 434, citing Henslow's Diary.

32 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

the said Cornelio ; notwithstanding all former contracts,
covenants, bargains, conditions, agreements, compacts,
promises, vows, affiances, assurances, bonds, bills, inden-
tures, poll-deeds, deeds of gift, defeasances, feoffments, en-
dowments, vouchers, double vouchers, privy entries, actions,
declarations, explications, rejoinders, surrejoinders, rights,
interests, demands, claims, or titles whatsoever, heretofore
betwixt the one and the other party or parties being had,
made, passed, covenanted and agreed, from the beginning
of the world to the day of the date hereof. Given the
seventeenth of November, fifteen hundred and so forth.
Here, sir, you must set to your hand."

If Hamlet's collection of legal terms goes to
show that the play was written by Bacon, the
play of All Fools must have been written by
Coke himself.

CHAPTER IV

GRAVE-DIGGEKS' DISCUSSION IN HAMLET. — PR3EMU-
NIRE. — WITCHCRAFT

AMONGST passages which have been particu-
larly relied on 1 as showing special legal know-
ledge is the grave-diggers' discussion in Hamlet
as to whether Ophelia was entitled to Christian
burial. This is said by Campbell2 to be the
mine which produces the richest legal ore. It
is supposed to be in ridicule of the reasoning
in the law case of Hales v. Petit, published in
Plowden's Reports, in 1578 ; a book which it has
been assumed that Shakespeare probably could
not have seen. Even this assumption is rather
hasty, for in Every Man out of his Humor, in
1599, Jonson, who was not a lawyer, speaks of
a copy of Plowden, with other law books, being
put in pledge.

The scene in Hamlet appears thus in the Sec-
ond Quarto, published in 1604 : —

" First Clown. Is she to be buried in Christian burial
that wilfully seeks her own salvation ?

Second Clown. I tell thee she is ; and therefore make
her grave straight ; the crowner hath sat on her, and finds
it Christian burial.

i Holmes, 12-17. 2 Page 84.

34 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

First Clown. How can that be, unless she drowned
herself in her own defence ?

Second Clown. Why, 'tis found so.

First Clown. It must be se offendendo ; it cannot be
else. For here lies the point : if I drown myself wittingly,
it argues an act ; and an act hath three branches ; it is
to act, to do, and to perform ; argal, she drowned herself
wittingly.

Second Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver.

First Clown. Give me leave. Here lies the water ;
good : here stands the man ; good : if the man go to this
water and drown himself, it is, will he, nil he, he goes ;
mark you that ; but if the water come to him and drown
him, he drowns not himself ; argal, he that is not guilty of
his own death shortens not his own life.

Second Clown. But is this law ?

First Clown. Ay, marry is 't ; crowner's quest law."

In the first quarto edition, published in 1603,
this scene was shorter, as follows : —

" Clown. I say no, she ought not to be buried in Chris-
tian burial.

2. Why, sir ?

Clown. Marry, because she 's drowned.

2. But she did not drown herself.

Clown. No, that 's certain, the water drowned her.

2. Yes, but it was against her will.

Clown. No, I deny that, for look you sir, I stand here, if
the water come to me, I drown not myself ; but if I go to
the water, and am there drowned, ergo, I am guilty of my
own death."

There was a play of Hamlet, referred to by
Nash, in 1589. Henslow's Diary refers to Ham-
let in 1594. This play has not come down to
us. Some critics think that it was not written

GRAVE-DIGGERS' DISCUSSION 35

by Shakespeare, but perhaps by Kyd, or by
somebody else. How much of the grave-dig-
gers' talk may have been contained in this
earlier play cannot now be ascertained.

There has been much discussion as to the
origin and authenticity of the first quarto edi-
tion of 1603. Some critics think it an imper-
fect and surreptitious copy of the play as it
then stood, probably taken down by ear, as
plays of other writers were. The final opinion
of the editors of the Cambridge edition is as
follows : * —

" That there was an old play on the story of Hamlet,
some portions of which are still preserved in the quarto
of 1603 ; that about the year 1603 Shakespeare took this
and began to remodel it for the stage, as he had done with
other plays ; that the quarto of 1603 represents the play
after it had been retouched by him to a certain extent, but
before his alterations were complete ; and that in the quarto
of 1604 we have for the first time the Hamlet of Shake-
speare."

This is interesting speculation ; and it would
also be interesting to ascertain, if it were possi-
ble, how much of this and other scenes was pre-
Shakespearian. But this is not known. Nor
can any one say that no friendly listener, play-
writer, collaborator in other plays, or lawyer,
prompted the writer as to some of the details,
after the first performances or publication of the
play.

1 Note following Preface to vol. vii. p. xiv.

36 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

The case of Hales v. Petit, supposed to be
travestied, arose in this way. Before the death
of King Henry VIII, the right of succession to
the throne had been established in this order :
Edward, Mary, Elizabeth. Mary was a Catholic.
King Edward, being a Protestant, and in failing
health, wished to defeat the succession of Mary,
and signed letters patent making Lady Jane
Grey his successor. In order to quiet doubts
as to the validity of this proceeding, the judges
were called on to sign the letters patent. All
complied except Sir James Hales, who, though a
zealous Protestant, refused to affix his signature.
Notwithstanding this attempt to change the suc-
cession, Mary became queen, and Lady Jane
Grey was executed in February, 1554. "Sir
James Hales, though he had refused to join in
the movement to change the succession, became
a strenuous opponent of the Catholic revolution,
and was dismissed from his office as judge, and
subjected to persecutions which unsettled his
mind, and led him to drown himself in 1554.1
A coroner's jury returned a verdict of felo de
se. A lease of land had been held jointly by
him and his wife, but Queen Mary assigned it

1 Campbell, in Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements, falls into an
inadvertent error in saying that Sir James Hales was prosecuted for
being concerned in the plot which placed the Lady Jane Grey for a
few days upon the throne. He knew better. See Campbell's Lives
of Lord Chancellors Goodrich and Gardyner, 2 Campb. Lord Chancel-
lors, 165, 166, 186-189 (Murray's ed. 1856) ; Hume's Hist. Eng., cc.
35, 36. Holmes adopts the same error, probably following Campbell
(p. 12).

HALES v. PETIT 37

to one Petit as property which by reason of the
suicide had been forfeited to the crown. Lady
Margaret Hales, widow of Sir James, brought
an action against Petit to recover the estate.
The question in the case was whether the for-
feiture was to be deemed complete in the life-
time of Sir James. If not. Lady Margaret was
entitled to hold the estate as survivor. In her
behalf it was argued that the forfeiture did
not have relation to the time when Sir James
threw himself into the water, but to the time of
his death. For Petit, the opposite view was
presented, and this was sustained by the court.
The arguments and judgment are reported in
Plowden at great length, and are very subtle.
Campbell's summary of the portions which he
supposed to be travestied in Hamlet is as fol-
lows : —

"Her counsel, Serjeants Southcote and Puttrel, power-
fully argued that, the offence of suicide being the killing of
a man's self, it could not be completed in his life time, for
as long as he was alive he had not killed himself, and, the
moment that be died, the estate vested in the plaintiff."

Passages then are cited from the argument as
reported, which, after correcting slight errors,
are as follows : —

"But this cause [viz., that her husband wasfelo de se]
shall not take away her title of survivorship, for in this
manner of felony two things are to be considered. First,
the cause of the death ; secondly, the death ensuing the
cause, and these two make the felony, and without both of

38 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

them first done the felony is not consummate. And the
cause of the death is the act done in the party's life time,
which makes the death to follow. And the act which
brought on the death here was the throwing himself volun-
tarily into the water, for this was the cause of his death.
And if a man kills himself by a wound which he gives him-
self with a knife, or if he hangs himself, as the wound or
the hanging, which is the act done in the party's life time,
is the cause of his death, so is the throwing himself into
the water here. . . . And forasmuch as he cannot be at-
tainted of his own death, because he is dead before there is any
time to attaint him, the finding of his death by the coroner
... is by necessity of law equivalent to an attainder in
fact coming after his death, as to his goods. . . . He can-
not be felo de se until the death of himself be fully had and
consummate. For the death precedes the felony both in
the one case and in the other, and the death precedes the
forfeiture."

" Walsh, Serjeant, contra, argued that the felony was to
be referred back to the act which caused the death."

And passages from his argument are cited, as
follows : —

" The act consists of three parts. The first is the imagi-
nation, which is a reflection or meditation of the mind,
whether or no it is convenient for him to destroy himself,
and what way it can be done. The second is the resolution,
which is a determination of the mind to destroy himself,
and to do it in this or that particular way. The third is
the perfection, which is the execution of what the mind has
resolved to do. . . . And of all the parts, the doing of the
act is the greatest in the judgment of our law, and it is in
effect the whole. . . . Then here the act done by Sir James
Hales, which is evil and the cause of his death, is the throw-
ing himself into the water, and the death is but a sequel
thereof."

HALES v. PETIT 39

The judgment of the court, as summarized by
Campbell, was that, —

" Although Sir James Hales could hardly be said to have
killed himself in his life time, the forfeiture shall have rela-
tion to the act done by Sir James Hales in his life time,
which was the cause of his death, viz., the throwing himself
into the water. . . . Sir James Hales was dead, and how
came he to his death ? by drowning ; and who drowned
him ? Sir James Hales ; and when did he drown him ? in
his life time. So that Sir James Hales, being alive, caused
Sir James Hales to die ; and the act of the living man was
the death of the dead man ; . . . He therefore committed
felony in his life time, although there was no possibility of
the forfeiture being found in his life time, for until his
death there was no cause of forfeiture."

It will be seen that the talk of the grave-dig-
ger does not very closely follow the language
found in Plowden. Wallace, in The Reporters,
obviously doubts whether any reference to Hales
v. Petit was intended, and this may be open to
fair question. At any rate, it is by no means
necessary to infer that the writer of the scene
had read the full report in the law book. The
case was heard and decided in 4 & 5 Elizabeth,
and the circumstances were such as to give it
much notoriety. It touched the great contro-
versy with the Church of Rome. Moreover, the
nature of the discussion rendered it peculiarly
open to ridicule, and it may well have remained
fresh in the minds not only of technical lawyers,
but of others who had a quick eye or ear for legal
discussions which savored of over-refinement. It

40 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

may indeed have been a standing joke about the
court and bar, passing from mouth to mouth.
Malone thought Shakespeare must have heard of
it in conversation. This is not improbable. A
modern illustration may be given. Fifty years
ago, in western Massachusetts, and no doubt also
in Vermont, the case of Torrey v. Field, 10 Verm.
353, was thus somewhat known and talked of,
outside of the profession, as furnishing an illus-
tration of a libel, ingeniously contrived to be pub-
lished by order of court. In like manner, Hales
v. Petit may have been mentioned to Shakespeare
by some legal or non-legal person who had been
amused by it. Certain matters of science were
explained by TyndaU to Carlyle l and were used
by the latter, and careful novelists and play writ-
ers of the present day are sometimes instructed
in matters of law and medicine by professional
friends. No further or deeper explanation seems
necessary, in order to account for the grave-dig-
ger's talk, whoever may have been the writer,
whether Shakespeare himself or the author of
the earlier play.

Prcemunire. Holmes 2 dwells at some length
upon the following passage from King Henry
VIII,3 as tending to show a knowledge of the
law that would not be expected in Shakespeare.

1 Tyndall, New Fragments, 350, 351, 356, 375, 385, N. Y., 1892.

2 Pages 630-634. 8 HI, ii, 337-344.

PR^MUNIRE 41

It is a speech of the Duke of Suffolk to Cardi-
nal Wolsey, in presence of the Duke of Norfolk.

" Lord Cardinal, the king's further pleasure is —
Because all those things you have done of late,
By your power legatine, within this kingdom,
Fall into the compass of a praemunire —
That therefore such a writ be sued against you ;
To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements,
Chattels, and whatsoever, and to be
Out of the king's protection."

In reference to this, there are three different
considerations to be borne in mind.

In the first place, this passage is thought by
some recent critics to have been written by
Fletcher, and not by Shakespeare. It is now
pretty well established that a large portion of
the play was not Shakespeare's but Fletcher's.1

Moreover, by whomever written, the lines are
little more than a paraphrase of Holinshed, whose
account is as follows, the most significant words
being here put in italics : 2 —

" In the meantime, the king, being informed that all
those things that the cardinal had done by his power lega-
tine within this realm were in the case of the prcemunire
and provision, caused his attorney Christopher Hales to
sue out a writ of prcemunire against him, in the which he
licensed him to make his attorney. And furthermore the
seventeenth of November the king sent the two dukes of

1 Boas (citing Spedding- and Hickson), 546, 547; Lee, 262 ; Brandes,
608-613 ; Ingleby, Shakespeare, The Man and the Book, 49.

2 Holinshed, 741-743 (ed. of 1808).

42 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Norfolk and Suffolk to the cardinal's place at Westminster,
who went as they were commanded, and finding the cardi-
nal there they declared that the king's pleasure was that
he should surrender up the great seal into their hands, and
to depart simply into Asher. . . . After this, in the king's
bench his matter for the prsemunire being called upon, two
attorneys, which he had authorized by his warrant signed
with his own hand, confessed the action, and so had judg-
ment to forfeit all his lands, tenements, goods and cattels,
and to be out of the king's protection ; but the king of his
clemency sent to him a sufficient protection, and left to him
the bishoprics of York and Winchester, with plate and stuff
convenient for his degree."

It thus appears that the penalty prescribed in
the old statute of prsemunire, under which Wol-
sey was convicted, St. 16 Kich. II, A. D. 1392,
was fully recited in Holinshed, with which, as is
well known, the writer of the plays was familiar.
Holmes apparently was under the impression
that the words in the last five lines of Suffolk's
speech, including the phrase " the compass of a
prsemunire," were not taken from Holinshed.
Otherwise he could hardly have attached impor-
tance to the slight difference of phraseology
between " the case of the prsemunire " and " the
compass of a prsemunire," as he seems to have
done.

Finally, other writers of the period had a
general acquaintance with the doctrine of prse-
munire, which, though now unfamiliar, was prob-
ably as well understood then by persons of or-
dinary intelligence as the Fugitive Slave Law

PR^MUNIRE 43

was in the United States before the abolition of
slavery. Some illustrations will be given : —

" First, free my dogs,

Lest what I have done to them, and against law,
Be a prcemunire ; for by Magna Charta
They could not be committed as close prisoners." 1

" If the law finds you with two wives at once
There 's a shrewd prcemunire." 2

" In being out of office, I am out of danger ;
Where, if I were a justice, besides the trouble,
I might, or out of wilf ulness or error,
Run myself finely into a prcemunire^
And so become a prey to the informer." 8

" See where a Prcemunire comes, a Dedimus potestatem^
and that most dreadful execution, Excommunicato Capi-
endo. There 's no bail to be taken." 4

" He is either swallowed in the quick-sands of law-quil-
lets, or splits upon the piles of a prcemunire." 6

Several examples of the use of the phrase
" within the compass of " are given in Murray's
Dictionary. To these may be added the follow-
ing:—

" Can we not live in compass of the law,
But must be swaggered out on 't ? "

1 Jonson, Staple of News, V, ii.

2 Massinger, The Old Law, V, i.

8 Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, I, i.
4 Middleton, The Phoenix, IV, i (Bullen's ed. 1885).
6 Middleton, A Trick to Catch the Old One, I, i.
6 Hey wood, Fair Maid of the West (pt. 1), H, i.

44 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Though I were found to be the author, yet it cannot
be within the compass of that statute whereupon the indict-
ment is framed. . . . The matter, to bring it within the
compass of that statute, must be false." ]

The phrase "the king's protection" is used by
Barry in Ram Alley ; and, as follows, by Dekker
in If This be not a Good Play : —

" Crave I the king's protection."
"Protection ! What 's that ? "
" It is a buckler of a large fair compass

Quilted within with fox-skins ; in the midst

A pike sticks out. . . .

And this pike keeps off

Serjeants and bailiffs, actions and arrests ;

'T is a strong charm 'gainst all the noisome smells

Of counters, jailors, garnishes, and such hells ;

By this a debtor crazed so lusty grows

He may walk by and play with his creditor's nose."

We now say/ " the protection of the law."

Witchcraft. In support of the view that
the plays are full of legal lore, Holmes3 even
cites passages in Othello,4 as showing that the
writer was acquainted with a statute against
witchcraft. The language referred to does not
closely follow the words of that statute ; but if
it did, no strong inference would arise from it,
since witchcraft at that time was common ma-
terial for playwriters. The belief in it prevailed
till long after Shakespeare's time ; the law was

1 John Udall, Puritan minister, 1590, in 1 State Trials, 1283, 1284.

2 Const, of Massachusetts.

4 I, ii, 63-80 ; I, iii, 60-64, 103-106.

WITCHCRAFT 45

no secret; trials were not unknown. Statutes
against witchcraft were passed in the reigns of
Henry VIII, and of Elizabeth. In 1597 James,
afterwards king of England, published his tract
on Demonology. Middleton wrote a play called
The Witch, and Kowley and others wrote one
called The Witch of Edmonton. The Devil is
an Ass, by Jonson, is full of witchcraft, and
convictions in the courts for that offence are
referred to in the lines, —

" That she maybe accused for 't, and condemned,
By a Middlesex jury." 1

In Jonson's Alchemist, a particular statute is
cited.

" Face. I '11 bring thee, rogue, within

The statute of sorcery, tricesimo tertio
Of Harry the Eighth."

" Dol. You will accuse him ! You will bring him in
Within the statute ! Who shall take your word ? " 2

i I, L 2 I, i.

CHAPTEE V

OTHER INSTANCES SHOWING LEGAL KNOWLEDGE
PARALLELED

OTHER instances will now be given to show
that often parallels to Shakespeare's display of
legal knowledge may be found in other writers ;
and first in relation to the law of real estate.
After these, other branches or topics will be
taken up, though an exact classification is hardly
practicable.

cedit solo. Campbell cites the
sentence in The Merry Wives of Windsor,1 "I
have lost my edifice by mistaking the place
where I erected it," as showing a knowledge of
the law of real property not generally possessed.
It can hardly be supposed, however, that this
amount of legal learning was rare. And a let-
ter of Nash in 1596, cited by Fleay,2 says that
the players were so uncertain about their estate
that " they cannot build upon it." The actors,
of whom Shakespeare was one, had learned this
lesson in the law from their own experience.
Chapman, in May Day,3 cites the Latin maxim

1 II, ii, 196. 2 History of the London Stage, 157. 3 III, iii.

LEGAL TERMS 47

signifying the same thing: "^Edificium cedit
solo, says the lawyer."

Purchase. Knight's comment upon the use
of the word " purchased " in its legal sense in
2 King Henry IV * has already been quoted. A
similar use is found in Antony and Cleopatra,
" faults hereditary rather than purchased ; " and
perhaps also in Love's Labor 's Lost, " which with
pain purchased doth inherit pain." Instances of
a like use of this word by other writers are cer-
tainly infrequent. White 2 says it was so used
once by Beaumont and Fletcher, but he does not
give the citation. The word " purchase " as a
noun was often used by writers of that period
for booty, earnings, or acquirement generally ;
and, as a verb, in the sense to obtain, get,
acquire, or receive. The instance in Beaumont
and Fletcher, referred to by White, was perhaps
the following passage in The Laws of Candy : —

" Of my peculiar honors, not derived
From successary, but purchased with my blood."8

Fee. The word "fee" and its compounds are
often found in Shakespeare, sometimes as applied
to land, and sometimes metaphorically. E.g.: —

" Should it be sold in fee." 4

" For entering his fee-simple without leave." 6

1 IV, v, 200. 2 Memoirs Sh., 74. 3 I, ii.

4 Hamlet, IV, iv, 22. 5 2 Hen. VI, IV, x, 25.

48 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" If the devil have him not in fee-simple, with fine and
recovery." 1

" Fee-simple of my life." 2

" He will sell the fee-simple of his salvation, the inherit-
ance of it ; and cut the entail from all remainders, and a per-
petual succession for it perpetually." 8

"The rivelled fee-simple of the tetter." 4
" A kiss in fee-farm." 6

" Is it a fee-grief
Due to some single breast ? " 6

Such use of these words was common, and shows
no special legal knowledge. The sentence from
Merry Wives, using the phrase "fine and re-
covery/' is spoken by Mrs. Page, showing that
a woman might be supposed to be acquainted
with these terms. The passage from All Js Well
is spoken by Parolles to a common soldier, who
gives no sign of failing to understand it. Some
instances of a like use by other authors may be
cited : —

" To hold of her in fee." 7

" And eke of lordship with both land and fee." 8

" Did equally bequeath his lands in fee." 9

" What else they have is all the tyrant's fee." 10

" So is my lord now seised of all the land
As in his fee, with peaceable estate." u

1 Merry Wives, IV, ii, 187. 2 Romeo and Jul., III, i, 31.

8 All 's Well, IV, iii, 259. * Troll, and Ores., V, i, 21.
5 Ib., Ill, ii, 48. 6 Macbeth, IV, iii, 196.

7 Faerie Queene, B. 3, c. 1, st. 44. 8 /&., B. 4, c. 9, st. 13.

9 /&., B. 5, c. 4, st. 7. 10 Ib., B. 5, c. 10, st. 29.
11 Faerie Queene, B. 6, c. 4, st. 30.

LEGAL TEEMS 49

" Heritage in fee." 1
"In equal fee."2

" That all those ladies, which thou sawest late,
Are Venus's damsels, all within her fee,
But differing in honor and degree." *

" Railed at Latona's twin-born progeny,
Which after held the sun and moon in fee." 4

" The tenure of land is altogether grounded on military
laws, and held as a fee under princes." 6

" All was fee-simple to him in effect." 8

" Fee-simple in his lands." 7

" Although the house were their fee-simple in law." 8

" I '11 caper in mine own fee-simple." 9

" The fee-simple of my twitch." 10

" But O for shame that men should so arraign
Their own fee-simple wits, for verbal theft." ll

" Nay, that 's plain in Littleton ; for if that fee-simple
and fee-tail be put together, it is called hotch-potch." 12

Lord Fee-Simple is a character in Field's
Amends for Ladies.

" Fee-simple " is also used in The Play of
Stuckley, 1605, and in Albumazar, by J. Tom-
kis, 1614.

1 Faerie Queene, c. 7, of Mutability, at. 15.

2 /&., B. 2, c. 2, st. 13. 8 Ib., B. 6, c. 10, st. 21.
4 Milton, Sonnet.

6 Hooker, Eccl. Pol., cited in Murray's Diet.

6 Chaucer, Prol. to Canterbury Tales.

7 Milton, Colasterion, near the end.

8 Jonaon, Magnetic Lady, II, i. 9 Merry Devil of Edmonton.

10 Middleton, Five Gallants, I, i.

11 Heywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange.

12 Return from Parnassus, IV, ii.

50 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

The passage already cited (p. 30) from Jon-
son's Staple of News contains the terms " fee-
farm " and " fee-tail/' as well as several other
legal terms, now obsolete or little used, relating
to land. Other instances of the use of "fee-
farm" may be found in the dictionaries.

Double vouchers, tenures. "Double vouch-
ers" and "tenures" are mentioned in Hamlet)
in the passage already quoted. Chapman also
in All Fools speaks of vouchers and double
vouchers (ante, p. 32), and Voucher is a char-
acter in Histriomastix. Middleton mentions
tenures in The Spanish Gypsy and in The Phoe-
nix, and Beaumont and Fletcher in The Elder
Brother. Hooker also refers to the tenure of
land in Ecclesiastical Polity (ante, p. 49).

Fine and recovery. The legal phrase " fine
and recovery" is found in The Merry Wives
and in The Comedy of Errors, and the words
are used separately in Hamlet. It has been
noted heretofore (ante, p. 25) that Shakespeare
himself resorted to this mode of curing a defect
in the title to land. Dekker includes " fines "
and " recoveries " in the passage already cited
(ante, pp. 27, 28) from The Gull's Horn Book,
and Middleton uses the phrase " fine and re-
covery " in The Phoenix 1 and in Anything for
a Quiet Life.2

i II, iii. 2 IV, L

LEGAL TERMS 51

Entail. The word " entail " occurs in All 's
Well and in 3 King Henry VI. Other writers
also used it often. E. g. : —

" That officers are entailed, and that there are
Perpetuities of them." *

" I said, if any title be
Conveyed by this, ah, what doth it avail,
To be the fortieth name in an entail ? " 2

" He will disinherit her, and entail all his lordships on
her." 8

" He may entail a jest upon his house." 4
" Cupid entails this land upon me." fi
" 'T is love, forsooth, that entails me to you." 6
" No, they 're entailed to you." 7

" Eight hundred pounds per annum, and entail
A thousand more upon the heirs male,
Begotten on their bodies." 8

" There is tail-general and tail-special, and Littleton is
very copious in that theme ; for tail-general is when lands
are given to a man and his heirs of his body begotten ; tail-
special is when lands are given to a man and to his wife, and
to the heirs of their two bodies lawfully begotten ; and that
is called tail-special." 9

A criticism of Shakespeare's use of the word
entail will be noted hereafter (post, p. 129).

1 Donne, Sat. iv, 123, 124.

2 76., Love's Diet.

8 Field, Amends for Ladies, II. i.
* Jonson, Magnetic Lady, II, i.

5 Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, II, i.

6 Chapman, Blind Beggar.

7 Beaum. and PL, Elder Brother, II, i.

8 Massinger, City Madam, II, ii.

9 Return from Parnassus, IV, ii.

52 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Ehfeoffed. The word " enfeoffed " is used
once in a strained sense in 1 King Henry IV ; 1
"enfeoffed himself to popularity." But the
more common word " feoff ment " does not occur
in Shakespeare. It is found, however, in Chap-
man's All Fools, and in Jonson's Staple of News,
and in The Devil is an Ass ; and the word
" feoffee " is in the last named play. In Wily
Beguiled, 1606, Robin Goodfellow, who is not
a lawyer, says, " I promised her to enf eoff her in
forty pounds a year of it." In Greene's Friar
Bacon, it is said, " I will enfeoff thee, Margaret,
in all." Bishop Hall says, " It is that which
enfeoffs our sins upon Christ." 2

Reversion. " Reversion " is used in King
Richard II:3 —

" As were our England in reversion his."

The word is also found in Barry's Ram Alley,
in Jonson's Silent Woman and The Magnetic
Lady, in Marston's The Malcontent, in Dekker
and Webster's Northward Ho, and in Spenser's
Faerie Queene.

Bargained and sold. In 2 King Henry VI4

the line occurs : —

" While his own lands are bargained for and sold."
The phrase " bargain and sale " is used twice

in Jonson's Magnetic Lady.5

1 IH, ii, 69. 2 The Old Religion, cited in Richardson's Diet.

8 I, iv, 35. 4 I, i, 226. 5 II, i.

LEGAL TERMS 53

In capite. In 2 King Henry VI, Jack Cade
says, " Men shall hold of me in capite" 1 This
was a form of tenure then so familiar that there
was nothing incongruous in putting this decla-
ration into the mouth of an ignorant man like
Cade. It was assumed that both he and those
to whom he spoke would understand it. Two
other instances of the use of the phrase are cited
in Murray's Dictionary; one by Bullokar in 1616,
and the other by Sanderson in 1634.

Extent. In As You Like It, Duke Frederick
says : —

" Make an extent upon his house and lands." 2

This use of the word " extent " has been criti-
cised as untechnical (see post, p. 129). The term
is also used in Massinger's City Madam, in Mid-
dleton's Phoenix, and in Beaumont and Fletch-
er's Wit without Money. In Cambyses it is said,
" His goods and lands must be extended on." 3
And in Wilkins's Miseries of Enforced Marriage
it is said, " The sheriff with them is come to
serve an extent upon your land, and then seize
on your body by force of execution."

Conveyance, deed of gift. " Conveyances "
are mentioned in Hamlet, and also in Jonson's
Staple of News, and in Webster's White Devil.

1 IV, vii, 116. 2 III, i, 17. 3 I, iii.

54 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

A deed of gift is spoken of in the Merchant of
Venice, and also in Chapman's All Fools, in
Webster's Devil's Law Case, and in Marlowe's
Dr. Faustus.

Mortgage. Shakespeare makes no reference
to mortgages except in the 134th Sonnet, "My-
self am mortgaged." They are also mentioned
in Massinger's New Way to pay Old Debts ; in
Shirley's Witty Fair One; in Cook's Tu Quoque;
in Chapman's Blind Beggar ; in Rowley's Match
at Midnight ; in Wilkins's Miseries of Enforced
Marriage ; in Barry's Ram Alley ; and in Jon-
son's Every Man out of his Humor, and in The
Silent Woman. " Mortgage " is a character in
Jonson's Staple of News.

Lease. Shakespeare often refers to " leases,"
both in a literal sense and metaphorically, e.g. : —

" To let this land by lease." l

" Lease of my life." 2

" Live the lease of nature." 8

" Summer's lease hath all too short a date." 4

" Leases of short-numbered hours." 6
The term is used in like manner by other

writers.

" His whole estate
In lands and leases." (

i K. Kick II, II, i. 110. 2 2 K. Hen. VI., IV, x, 6.

8 Macbeth, IV, i, 99. 4 18th Sonnet.

6 124th Sonnet. 6 Massinger, City Madam, III, ii.

LEGAL TERMS 55

" When I have sealed thee a lease of my custom." 1
" I give thee the lease of this house free." 2

" Lengthen the short days
Of my life's lease." 8

" Shortened hast thy own life's lease." 4

" Grant thou, great star and angel of my life,
A sure lease of it but for some few days." 6

" To keep his courts and to collect his rent ;
To let out leases, and to raise his fines." 6

" What care I for a life, that have a lease
For three." 7

" A 'state of years." 8

Determination. " Determination " is once
used in its legal sense, as signifying the end, in
the 13th Sonnet : —

" So should that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination."

" Determine " is also twice used in a like sense.

" I purpose not to wait on fortune till
These wars determine." 9

" That he and Caesar might in single fight
Determine this great war." 10

A similar use is found in Jonson's Alche-
mist : —

1 Jonson, Staple of News, I, i. 2 Jonson, Silent Woman, IE, iii.

3 Jonson, Elegy.

* Milton, Epitaph on Marchioness of Winchester.

6 Chapman, Bussy D'Ambois, HI, i.

6 Barry, Ram Alley, I, i. 7 Tomkis, Albumazar, II, iv.

8 Jonson, Staple of News, III, i. 9 Coriol. V, iii, 119.

10 Ant. and Cleop., IV, iv, 38.

56 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" For here
Determines the indenture tripartite." l

Donne also in Anatomy of the World says, —

" Measures of times are all determined." 2
The dictionaries furnish other illustrations.

Uses and trusts. " Uses " and " trusts" are
referred to in The Merchant of Venice. Antonio

says : —

" So he will let me have
The other half in use, to render it
Upon his death unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter." 8

Uses and trusts are also spoken of by other
authors, e. g. : —

" You do deliver this, sir, as your deed,
To the use of Master Manley ? " 4

" For 't is the trust
Of your whole state." 6

" If for the trust you '11 let me have the honor
To name you one." 6

" Doth your deed specify any trust ? Is it not
A perfect act, and absolute in law ? " 7

" Picklock denies the f eoffment and the trust." 8

" Of this I will assurance make,
To some good friend whom thou wilt choose,
That this in trust from me shall take,
While thou dost live, unto thy use." 9

i V, ii. 2 I, § 40. 3 IV, i, 377.

4 Jonson, The Devil is an Ass, IV, iii. 5 Ib., IV, ii.

6 Ib. 7 Jonson, Staple of News, V, i.

8 Ib., V, i. 9 WiUobie, his Avisa, Canto x.

LEGAL TEEMS 57

No mention of charitable or pious uses and
trusts is found in Shakespeare. Some instances
found in other writers will be noted hereafter.1

Succession to property. The succession to
property by will or by law upon the death of its
former owner was often referred to in plays as
well as in other writings, and the legal terms
relating thereto were in common use. In vari-
ous plays Shakespeare mentions wills or testa-
ments, and in one instance he uses the word
"intestate," —

" Airy succeeders of intestate joys." a

This can hardly be deemed to show any special
legal knowledge. Only a few of the many in-
stances of the use of these and similar terms
elsewhere will be cited.

" For where a testament is, there must also of necessity
be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force
after men are dead ; otherwise it is of no strength at all
while the testator liveth." 8

" Vouchsafe then to be my executrix,
And take that trouble on you to dispose
Such legacies as I bequeath, impartially." 4

" What legacy would you bequeath me now ? " 6

" I want a right heir, to inherit me,
Not my estate alone, but my conditions." 8

1 See post, p. 102. 2 King Rich. Ill, IV, iv. 128.

8 Heb. ix, 16, 17. 4 Ford, Broken Heart, HI, v.

6 Beaum. and Fletcher, Spanish Curate, V, ii.
6 Beaum. and Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, IV, ii.

58 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Where is Justinian ?

Si una eademque res legatur duobus, alter rem, alter valo-
rem, rei, etc.

A pretty case of paltry legacies !
Exhaereditare filium non potest pater, nisi, etc.
Such is the subject of the Institute,
And universal body of the Law." 1

" I am his next heir at the common law." 2

And in The Fox, Jonson uses the terms "will,"
"testament," " legacies," "bequeathed," " heir,"
" executor," " wax," and " parchment." Nash
also, in Summer's Last Will, mentions " will,"
" testament," " bequeathed," " heir," and " exe-
cutor."

Campbell cites the following in King Lear as
a remarkable example of Shakespeare's use of
technical legal phraseology : —

" And of my land,

Loyal and natural boy, I '11 work the means
To make thee capable." 8

The following expressions by other writers are
similar : —

" Bastards are not capable of their father's patrimony." 4

" No son and heir shall be held capable of his inherit-
ance, unless," etc.5

As to the descent of land this problem is put,
in the Return from Parnassus : 6 —

1 Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, I, i.

2 Jonson, Every Man in his Humor, I, i.

8 II, i, 83. * Guillim, cited in Murray's Diet.

5 Middleton, The Old Law, V, i. 6 IV, i.

LEGAL TERMS 59

" Amorette. It is a plain case whereon I mooted in
our Temple, and that was this : put case, there be three
brethren, John a Nokes, John a Nash, and John a Stile.
John a Nokes the elder, John a Nash the younger, and
John a Stile the youngest of all. John a Nash the
younger dieth, without issue of his body lawfully begotten.
Whether shall his land ascend to John a Nokes the elder,
or descend to John a Stile the youngest of all ? The
answer is, the lands do collaterally descend, not ascend.

Recorder. Very true ; and for a proof hereof I will
show you a place in Littleton which is very pregnant on
this point."

This for profundity might bear a comparison
with the grave-diggers' discussion in Hamlet.

The exposition of the Salic law in King Henry
V is taken from Holinshed. Maginn1 has ob-
served that it is merely a transposition of Holin-
shed's prose into blank verse. The Law Salique
is also mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher's
Noble Gentleman.2

Indentures tripartite. Formal legal instru-
ments are often referred to by Shakespeare, and
also by other writers. The phrase " indentures
tripartite . . . sealed interchangeably " occurs in
1 King Henry IV. The word " interchange-
ably " is found in Troilus and Cressida, " In
witness whereof the parties interchangeably,"
etc.; and in a non-legal sense in King Richard
II, " interchangeably hurl down my gage."

1 Shakespeare Papers (Amer. ed.), 300. See also 1 Skottowe's
Life of Shakespeare, 146.

2 III, iv.

60 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Jonson 1 also speaks of " the indenture tripar-
tite/' and refers to an indenture in The Mag-
netic Lady, in Every Man out of his Humor,
and in Bartholomew Fair. Indentures are also
spoken of by Chapman, by Heywood, by Ford,
by Bishop Hall, and in The Return from Par-
nassus. The words " indent " and " indented "
are used by Massinger ; and " interchangeably "
by Middleton in The Phoenix.

Indentures and some other instruments usually
began with "Noverint Universi," or, "Be it
known unto all men by these presents." The
latter phrase occurs in As You Like It. This
expression was quite familiar in both languages.
Barry in Ram Alley, Chapman in May Day, and
Beaumont and Fletcher in The Night Walker,
use it in the Latin form ; and Nash speaks of
"Noverint" as signifying an attorney. The
following instances of its use by other writers
may be given : —

" I will at this time be your Noverint, and give him
notice that you Universi will be with him per presentes,
and that I take to be presently." 2

" For as no indenture but has its counterpane, no nove-
rint but his condition or defeasance." 8

Jonson 4 uses the phrase in its English form :
" Be it known to all that profess courtship by

1 The Alchemist, V, ii. 2 Heywood, Witches of Lancashire, I, i.
8 Ford, Perkin Warbeck, II, iii.
4 Cynthia's Revels, V, ii.

LEGAL TERMS 61

these presents." The phrase "By these pre-
sents " is found in Barry's Earn Alley, and in
Marlowe's Dr. Faustus. The phrase " In witness
whereof " is used in Hey wood's If You Know
Not Me, in Middleton's Phoenix, and in Jonson's
Bartholomew Fair.

Covenants, specialties, and articles. " Cove-
nants," " specialties," and " articles " are spoken
of in Shakespeare ; e. g. : —

" By the same covenant." 1

" My heart this covenant makes." 2

" Let there be covenants drawn between *s." 8

" Let specialties be therefore drawn between us,
That covenants may be kept on either hand." 4

" Let us have articles betwixt us." 6

These terms are all used elsewhere as well.

" And took paper and did write an instrument of cove-
nants." *

" A firm covenant, signed and sealed by oath and hand-
fast."7

" Have you such a covenant from me ? " 8

" And with sweet kisses, covenants were sealed." 9

" Drink your draught of indenture, your sup of covenant,
and away." 10

1 Hamlet, I, i, 93. 2 K. Rich. H, II, iii, 50.

8 Cymbeline, I, iv, 137. * Taming of the Shrew, H, i, 125.

6 Cymbeline, I, iv, 150. 6 Tobit, vii, 14.

7 Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, V, ii.

8 Dekker, If This be not a Good Play.

9 Drayton, 4th Eel.

10 Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, II, i.

62 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Each man's copyhold will become freehold, specialties
will turn to generalities." 1

" All covenants and articles between us both." 2

Seal. " Seal," « sealing/' « sealed/' are used
so often, both literally and metaphorically, by
Shakespeare and by other writers, that citations
are superfluous.

Recognizances. "Recognizances? are men-
tioned in Hamlet, and also by Dekker in the
Gull's Horn Book, by Chaucer, by Middleton
in The Phoenix, by Shirley in The Traitor, by
Chapman in All Fools, and several times by
Greene and Lodge in the Looking Glass.

Statutes, obligations. Hamlet also speaks of
"statutes," which were obligations or securities
for money. There were two kinds, statutes
merchant and statutes staple. One kind or the
other, or both, are mentioned by Dekker, by
Middleton, by Massinger, by Jonson, by Shirley,
by Chapman, by Nash, by Greene, and by Lyly ;
and also in Histriomastix. " Statute " is a char-
acter in Jonson's Staple of News.

Bonds. " Bonds " are referred to very often
by Shakespeare and by other writers, e. g., by
Wilkins, by Lyly, by Ford, by Webster, by

1 Middleton, Family of Love, V, iii.

2 Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, II, i.

LEGAL TERMS 63

Rowley, by Beaumont and Fletcher, by Greene,
by Jonson, by Heywood, and by Middleton.

An " obligation " is mentioned in The Merry
Wives of Windsor, and also by Cook in Tu
Quoque.

Forfeitures. " Forfeitures " of different kinds
were common material, not only of Shakespeare,
but of other writers. " Forfeitures " are spoken
of in The Merchant of Venice ; " f racted dates "
and " date-broke bonds " in Timon of Athens ;
and " forfeit of the law " in Measure for Mea-
sure. Shylock also says : —

" Let good Antonio look he keep his day." l

The following instances are a few amongst
many from other writers : —

" The time is come
Which makes it forfeit." 2

" Take the forfeit of the bond." 8

" You have forfeited your recognizance." 4

" It was Antonio's land, not forfeited
By course of law, but ravished from his throat." 5

" When you have forfeited your bond, I shall ne'er see
you more." 6

" If I do not pay you the forfeiture of the whole bond." 7

1 Merchant of Venice, II, viii, 25.

2 Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, V, iv.

8 Greene et al., Looking Glass. 4 Ib.

5 Webster, Duchess of Malfi, V, i.

6 Webster et al., Westward Ho, I, ii. 7 Ib. Ill, ii.

64 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" His bond three times since forfeited." *

" I take ... no forfeiture of bonds unless the law tell
my conscience I may do it." 2

« My forfeit land." " Forfeit Mortgage." •

" Your land is forfeited." 4

" All his lands are mortgaged to me, and forfeited." 5

" Taken forfeit of their mortgage." 6

" In a broken estate, the bond of friendship oft is for-
feited." 7

" If you do break your day, assure yourself
That I will take the forfeit of your bond." 8

" If he miss his day and forfeit, it shall be yours and
your heirs forever." 9

" Nor take the start of bonds, broke but one day,
And say they were forfeited by Providence." 10

" He that hath care of keeping days of payment is lord
of another man's purse." u

Acquittance. "Acquittance" is found in
Hamlet, and " quittance " in the Merry Wives
of Windsor. Beaumont and Fletcher also use
the former term in the Laws of Candy : —

" The bonds
Cancelled, and your acquittance formally sealed." u

1 Massinger, City Madam, I, iii.

2 Middleton, Family of Love, III, iii.
8 Barry, Ram Alley, I, i ; IH, i.

4 Return from Parnassus, IV, i.

6 Jonson, Every Man out of his Humor, IV, i.

6 Jonson, Silent Woman, II, i.

7 Beaumont and Fletcher, Honest Man's Fortune, H, ii.

8 Heywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange.

9 Rowley, A Match at Midnight, I, i.

10 Jonson, The Alchemist, III, ii.

11 Lord Burleigh, Suretyship and Borrowing. 12 IV, ii.

LEGAL TEEMS 65

Jointure. "Jointure" is spoken of in 3 King
Henry VI, and in several others of Shake-
speare's plays ; and also in Donne's 16th Holy
Sonnet ; in Kowley's Match at Midnight ; in
Beaumont and Fletcher's Woman's Prize ; in
Barry's Earn Alley ; in Wily Beguiled ; in Web-
ster's Devil's Law Case ; in Field's A Woman
is a Weathercock ; in Tomkis's Albumazar ; in
Hey wood's Fair Maid of the Exchange.

Absque hoc; except before excepted. Two
phrases familiar to lawyers are introduced by
Shakespeare without much relevancy, as follows :
" Obsque hoc " for " Absque hoc," 1 etc. " Let
her except, before excepted." He may have
seen the former phrase in the answer to the
chancery suit brought by his father, and the
latter phrase in his own litigations. In Richard-
son's Dictionary, nom. " fee," a passage is cited
from R. Brunne, " Without this, that this com-
plainant ought not," etc. The phrase " except
above excepted " is found in the deed dated
February 4, 1596, to James Burbage of the
Blackfriars property,3 which was afterwards con-
verted by him into a theatre.

Courts. Courts, crimes, and legal proceed-
ings were often referred to by the dramatists of

1 2 K. Hen. IV, V, v, 28. 2 Twelfth Night, I, iii, 6.

8 1 H.-R, 277.

66 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

that period. Shakespeare speaks of the leet,
which was the lowest court, like a modern police
court.

" Present her at the leet." l

" Keep leets and law days, and in session sit." 2

Other writers mention other courts, real or
imaginary. For example : —

" They were apprehended and bound over to the sessions
at Westminster." 8

" As hungry as ever came country attorney from West-
minster." *

" Westminster Hall." 5
" Michaelmas Term." 6
" I will Star Chamber you all for cozenage." 7

" Sir, you forget

There is a court above, of the Star Chamber,
To punish routs and riots." 8

" In whose courts of pie-poudres I have had the honor
during the three days sometimes to sit as judge." '

" Your libel here, or bill of complaint,
Exhibited in our high court of sovereignty." ]

" Have him arrested and brought before Justice Clement." n
" Court of Heaven." la

1 Taming of the Shrew, Induction, ii, 85.

2 Othello, III, iii, 144. 3 Greene, cited in Murray's Diet.

4 Webster et al., Westward Ho, III, ii.

5 Cook, Tu Quoque ; Rowley, A Match at Midnight.

6 Middleton ; Tourneur, Revenger's Tragedy.

7 Barry, Ram Alley, V, i. 8 Jonson, Magnetic Lady, III, iii.

9 Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, II, i.

10 Jonson, New Inn, II, ii.

11 Jonson, Every Man in his Humor, IV, vii.

12 Peele, Arraignment of Paris, IH, vi.

LEGAL TERMS 67

" A suit depending in hell." 1

" To summon thee to appear at Pluto's court." 2

" These are to cite you to the Spiritual Court." 8

" He which doth summon lovers to Love's Judgment
Hall." 4

" A nisi prius tried at Lancaster 'sizes." 6

Indictment, arraignment, accessary. An in-
dictment against Hermione is given in The Win-
ter's Tale, setting forth that she is accused and
arraigned of high treason ; but it is not expressed
with legal formality. " Indicted falsely " occurs
in Othello. In 2 King Henry VI, Cade charges
Lord Say with having built a paper mill, " con-
trary to the king, his crown and dignity ; " using
language common in indictments. The terms
" arraign " and " arraigned " are also used in
different plays.

" Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady." 8

" Arraigning his unkindness with my soul." 7
" You shall arraign your conscience." *

The word "accessary" is used in King Kichard
III: —

" To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary." 9

1 Marston, The Malcontent, V, iii. 2 Wily Begiriled.

» May, The Heir.

4 Spenser, Faerie Queene, ante, p. 29.

6 Heywood, Witches of Lancashire, IV, i.

6 Winter's Tale, II, iii, 201. 7 Othello, HI, iv, 153.

8 Meas. for Meas., II, iii, 21. 9 I, ii, 191.

68 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

These terms, peculiar to the criminal law, are
all found in other writers.

The passage already cited from the Faerie
Queene shows that the fair Mirabella was in-
dicted and arraigned (ante, p. 29). An indict-
ment is spoken of in Massinger's Fatal Dowry,
and in Wily Beguiled. One is given in full in
Jonson's Poetaster, with the words, " Contrary to
the peace of our liege lord, Augustus Caesar,
his crown and dignity, and against the form of
a statute in that case made and provided." In
Jonson's New Inn we find the phrase, "And the
committing of extreme contempt into the court,
our crown and dignity." In A Warning for
Fair Women (1599) two indictments are given
in full, one for murder, and the other for being
accessary before and after the fact. The first
concludes, " Against the peace, crown and dig-
nity of her Majesty ; " and the second, " Contrary
to the peace, crown and dignity of our Sover-
eign Lady the Queen." The phrase, " Contrary
to the Queen's peace, her crown and dignity,"
occurs in Contention between Liberality and
Prodigality. In Shirley's Traitor there was an
arraignment and a pretended speech in imita-
tion of a lawyer's argument for the prosecution
of an indictment. In Contention between Liber-
ality and Prodigality there was an indictment,
an arraignment, a plea of guilty, and a sentence.
In Peele's Arraignment of Paris there was an

LEGAL TERMS 69

arraignment and trial upon an indictment or
complaint, both terms being used. Jonson also
used the term " arraignment " in the title of a
play, The Poetaster, or his Arraignment, and
said, " Will they arraign my brisk poetaster ? "
In the same play the following sentences occur :
" Kuf us Laberius Crispinus and Demetrius Fau-
nius, hold up your hands." " How will you be
tried ? " " Set the accused to the bar." " Re-
move the accused from the bar." A prisoner
was arraigned in Webster's Sir Thomas Wyat,
and the term " arraign " is used in the passage
from Heywood's Fair Maid of the Exchange,
already cited, ante, p. 49. In Jonson's Alche-
mist, the prisoner's response is given, —

" I put myself
On you, that are my country." 1

Jurors were called good men and true in the
following passages : —

" Good men and true, stand together
And hear your charge." 2

" Good men and true, stand together ; hear your censure ;
what 's thy judgment of Spenser ? " 8

The word " accessary " is used, with other
terms of similar import, in the passage hereto-
fore cited 4 from Barry's Ram Alley. Jonson
also uses it twice at least.

1 V, iii. 2 Merry Devil of Edmonton.

3 Return from Parnassus, I, ii. 4 Ante, p. 31.

70 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" I had as lief be accessary
Unto his death as to his life." 1

" For manslaughter, sir, as being accessary." 2

It is also found in How a Man may Choose a
Good Wife.

" For justifiers are all accessaries." 8

Actions. Shakespeare speaks of an action of
battery in the passage already cited from Hamlet
(p. 27), and in Measure for Measure, and of an
action of slander in the latter play. The bring-
ing and entering of actions at law are spoken of
as follows : —

" Touch her whoever dare :
I '11 bring mine action on the proudest he
That stops my way in Padua." *

" Have you entered the action ? It is entered." 6

Similar mention is found in other authors,
e. g. : —

" Thou hast entered actions of assault and battery against
a company of honorable and worshipful fathers of the
law." •

" Pettifog. The defendant was arrested first by latitat,
in an action of trespass.

Compass. And a lawyer told me it should have been an
action of the case." 7

i Magnetic Lady, HI, iv. 2 Silent Woman, IV, ii.

3 V, iii. * Taming- of the Shrew, III, ii, 229.

5 2 K. Hen. IV, II, i, 1. 6 Dekker, Satiromastix.

7 Webster, Cure for a Cuckold, IV, i

hi

LEGAL TERMS 71

" You shall have an action of false imprisonment against

m.

i

" Writ of false imprisonment." 2

" Cony-catching will bear an action." 8

" Sue him at common law,
Arrest him on an action of choke-bail,
Five hundred thousand pound ; it will affright him,
And all his sureties." 4

" But if you will be counselled, sir, by me,
The reverend law lies open to repair
Your reputation. That will give you damages ;
Five thousand pound for a finger, I have known
Given in court ; and let me pack your jury." 6

This is an early illustration of heavy damages
for a comparatively slight personal injury.

" Signior Deliro has entered three actions against you." (

" Enter an action against him." 7

" Action is entered in the court of heaven." '

The word " action " was also sometimes used
in a different sense, as signifying the length of
time before an action would come to judgment ;
and the phrase in 2 King Henry IV, " Four
terms or two actions," is thought by Campbell
to show an acquaintance with the mysteries of
terms and actions. Such knowledge, however,
was no secret and no mystery.

1 Chapman et al., Eastward Ho, V, i.

2 Barry, Ram Alley, IV, i. 8 Middleton, Blurt, etc., IV, iii.
4 Jonson, Magnetic Lady, V, iii. 5 -R»., Ill, i.

6 Jonson, Every Man out of his Humor, V, vii.

7 Webster et al., Westward Ho, III, i.

8 Peele, Arraignment of Paris, III, vi.

72 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" He owes me forty shillings. ... I shall have it, he
says, the next action." 1

" Give me credit for the rest until the beginning of the
next term." 2

" They have but four terms a year." 8

Vacation. Vacation, or the interval between
terms, is spoken of in As You Like It.

" With lawyers in the vacation ; for they sleep between
term and term." 4

The use of this word shows no special ac-
quaintance with the habits of lawyers. It oc-
curs in Histriomastix, and also in the following
passages : —

" When should a lawyer die but in the vacation ? He
has no leisure to die in the term-time." 5

" As dumb as Westminster Hall in the long vacation." 6

" Nor did we know

What a vacation meant ; continual term
Fattened hell's lawyers, and shall so again." 7

Service of precepts. In 2 King Henry IV
the service of precepts is mentioned : —
" Those precepts cannot be served." '

Other writers also make similar mention.

1 Jonson, Every Man in his Humor, I, iii.

2 Jonson, Every Man out of his Humor, IV, v.
8 Middleton, Michaelmas Term, III, i.

4 III, ii, 310. 5 Middleton, Michaelmas Term, I, i.

6 Cook, Tu Quoque. 7 Dekker, If This be not a Good Play.

8

LEGAL TERMS 73

" I have an execution to serve upon them." l
" I had a warrant of the peace served on me." 2
" He says, 't is a precept." 8

" I will serve process presently and strongly
Upon your brother and Octavio." 4

" I now would give

A reasonable sum of gold to any sheriff
That would but lay an execution on me,
And free me from his company." 5

" A heavy doom, whose execution 's
Now served upon your conscience." fl

" And when the execution should be served
Upon the sureties, they find Nobody." 7

" He confessed a judgment, had an execution laid upon
him." 8

" Sir John. How much owes Penury ?
Gold. Two hundred pounds :
His bond three times since forfeited.
Sir John. Is it sued ?

Gold. Yes, sir, and execution out against him.
Sir John. For body and goods ?
Gold. For both, sir.
Sir John. See it served." 9

Arrest, attach, apprehend. Many of the
playwriters knew from personal experience the
laws and proceedings relating to arrests for debts

1 Jonson, Silent Woman, IV, ii.

2 Jonson, Every Man in his Humor, IV, v.

3 Jonson, Every Man out of his Humor, I, i.

4 Beaum. and Fletcher, Spanish Curate, III, i.

5 Beaum. and Fletcher, The Coxcomb, I, i.

6 Wilkins, Miseries of Enforced Marriage, V.

7 Nobody and Somebody. 8 Webster, The White Devil, II, i.
9 Massinger, City Madam, I, iii.

74 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QtESTION

and for petty offenses, to warrants, to sentences
by the court, to the powers and duties of officers,
and to rescues and releases from imprisonment.
Allusions to these are frequent in Shakespeare,
and only two of them will be cited here ; but
since such allusions have been thought to show
considerable legal knowledge, instances of a like
use by other writers will be given. The word
" arrest " is sometimes used metaphorically ; and
the expression " to attach," meaning to arrest,
occurs several times in the Comedy of Errors.

" As this fell serjeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest." 1

" When that fell arrest,
Without all bail shall carry me away." 2

" He is arrested
On a recognizance." 8

"Master Deputy Golding is arrested upon an execu-
tion." 4

" There 's but two kinds of arrests till doomsday — the
devil for the soul, the serjeant for the body ; but afterward
the devil arrests body and soul, serjeant and all, if they be
knaves still and deserve it." '

" Death by his course natural hath him arrested." 6
" Thou traitor, Faustus, I arrest thy soul." 7
" And death arrests the organ of my voice." '

i Hamlet, V, ii, 328. 2 74th Sonnet.

8 Chapman, All Fools, V, i.

4 Chapman et al., Eastward Ho, V, i.

6 Middleton, Michaelmas Term, III, iii.

6 Murray's Diet., citing Hawes, 1509.

7 Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, V., iii.

8 Marlowe, 1 Tamburlaine, II, vii.

LEGAL TERMS 75

" But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace
Arrested all that courtly company." l

" As if her former dread
Were hard behind, her ready to arrest." 2

" Kindly rest,
That all his senses did full soon arrest." 8

" As if his voice feared an arrest for some ill words it
should give." 4

" A capias
Should issue forth to attach that scornful lass." 5

" Go and fetch warrants from the justices
T' attach the murderer." 6

" You have the warrant ; Sirs, lay hands on him,
Attach the slave." 7

"Attach him of burglary." 8
" I do here attach thee of high treason." *
The word " apprehend " is used for arrest in
How a Man may Choose a Good Wife, and also
by Peele ; the words " attach " and " apprehen-
sion " by Heywood ; and " apprehended " by
Greene.

Officers. Serjeants, as officers of arrest, and
Serjeant Death are also mentioned by other au-
thors, e. g. : —

" Think Satan's Serjeants round about thee be." 10

1 Spenser, Faerie Queene, B. I, c. iv, st. 44.

2 16., B. Ill, c. vii, st. 2. 3 16., B. IV, c. v, st. 43.
4 Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, IV, i.

6 Spenser, Faerie Queene (ante, p. 29).

6 How a Man may Choose a Good Wife, V, i.

7 Ib., V, ii. 8 Beaum. and Fletch., The Faithful Friends, I, iL
9 16., I, ii. 10 Donne, Second Anniversary.

76 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Not all

' Thy bailiffs, Serjeants, busy constables,
Defesants, warrants, or thy mittimuses,
Shall save his throat from cutting." 1

" And Death, dread serjeant of th' eternal judge." 2
" Her serjeant, John Death, to arrest his body." 8

" For all the hellish rabble are broke loose,
Of Serjeants, sheriffs, and bailiffs." 4

Cook, in Tu Quoque, also mentions Serjeants.

Prisoner's fees. In The Winter's Tale, there
is an allusion to an old practice by which a pris-
oner paid fees upon his discharge from custody.
Hermione says to Polixenes : —

" Will you go yet ?
Force me to keep you as a prisoner,
Not like a guest ; so you shall pay your fees
When you depart, and save your thanks." 6

Campbell curiously enough thinks this prac-
tice could hardly be known to any except law-
yers, or those who had themselves been in prison
on a criminal charge. Yet Shakespeare puts
the words into the mouth of Hermione, who was
not a lawyer, and had not been- in prison ; and
thus assumes, what indeed seems to be quite
obvious, that a custom of this kind might be
well known even to ordinary and honest people.

1 Barry, Ram Alley, HI, i.

2 Sylvester, Du Bartas, cited by Furness, 1 Hamlet, 452.
8 Chapman, All Fools, I, i.

4 Heywood, English Traveller, IV, i. 5 I, ii, 51.

LEGAL TERMS 77

There is a similar allusion in 3 King Henry
VI: —

" At our enlargement what are thy due fees ? " l
This custom is alluded to by others as follows :

" Serjeants, I discharge you.
There 's your fees." 2

" All fees you say are paid ? " *

Bail. " Bail " was often spoken of by Shake-
speare, and also by many other writers. Cita-
tions are almost needless, but a few will be
given : —

" May not our bail suffice to free him ? " 4

" The gentleman 's your bail." 6

" Can you send for bail, sir ? "

" He for all bankrouts is a common bail." 7

" He was arrested, and for want of bail
Imprisoned at their suit." 8

" How ! Strike a justice of peace ! 't is petty treason,
Edwardi quinto ; but that you are my friend,
I would commit you without bail or mainprize." '

" I have made a most solemn vow, I will never bail any
man." 10

" They are not bailable,

They stand committed without bail or mainprize,
Your bail cannot be taken." u

1 IV, vi, 5. 2 Barry, Ram Alley, III, i.

3 Cook, Tu Quoque. 4 Chapman, AU Fools, V, i.

5 Beaum. and Fl., Spanish Curate, V, ii.

6 Webster et al., Northward Ho, I, ii.

7 Nobody and Somebody. 8 Massing-er, Fatal Dowry, I, ii.
9 Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, III, ii.

10 Jonson, Poetaster, III, i. n Jonson, Staple of News, V, ii.

78 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Herbert Level, come into the court,
Make challenge to thy first hour
And save thee and thy bail." 1

Enlarge. The phrase to " enlarge " a person,
in the sense of discharging or releasing him from
custody, is used in Twelfth Night, and in King
Henry V. It is also found in Spenser's Faerie
Queene, as follows : —

" He granted it ; and straight his warrant made,
Under the sea-god's seal authentical,
Commanding Proteus straight t' enlarge the maid." 2

Rescue. Shakespeare refers to " rescue " and
its legal consequences in The Comedy of Errors.3
The following instances are from other writers :

" Are you Serjeants
Acquainted with the danger of a rescue ? " 4

" You would make a rescue of our prisoner, sir, you." 6

"You would procure a rescue." °

Barry, in Earn Alley, also mentions " rescue."

Bound over. The phrase "bound ... to
keep the peace," in Romeo and Juliet,7 is paral-
leled by two passages cited in Murray's Dic-
tionary, as follows : —

" They were apprehended and bound over to the sessions
at Westminster." 8

" He is not to be bound to the peace." 9

1 Jonson, New Inn, III, ii. 2 B. 4, c. 12, st. 32.

8 IV, iv, 108, 115. * Massinger, City Madam, IV, iii.

5 Jonson, Poetaster, III, i.

6 Webster et al., Westward Ho, III, ii. 7 I, ii, 1-3.
8 Greene, ante, p. 66. 9 Fuller.

LEGAL TERMS 79

Also by a passage in Johnson's Every Man in
his Humor : —

" But say you were bound to the peace, the law allows
you to defend yourself." ]

Form of oath. The form of oath, in The Win-
ter's Tale, to the messengers who brought back
the response from the oracle is thought by Camp-
bell to have some legal flavor ; but this is
certainly slight. In The Tempest is found the
phrase : —

" Come swear to that ; kiss the book." 2

Jonson, in The Staple of News, has a form
of oath to a witness : —

"Speak what thou heardst, the truth, and the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth." 8

In The New Inn : —

" To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. So help thee Love." 4

And in The Poetaster, to one of the triers : —
" To judge this case with truth and equity." 6

The phrase " kiss the book " occurs in Middle-
ton's Family of Love,6 and twice in Beaumont
and Fletcher's Women Pleased.7

Appeal. In King Henry VIII Queen Katha-
rine claims a right of " appeal."

i IV, v. 2 II, ii, 132. 8 V, i. * IV, iii.

6V,i. 6V,iii. MI,vi; III,ii.

80 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" I do refuse you for my judge ; and here,
Before you all, appeal unto the pope,
To bring my whole cause 'fore his holiness,
And to be judged by him." l

So, elsewhere : —
" I appeal from thee to Caesar." 2

Nonsuit. Shakespeare uses the term "non-
suit : " —

" Nonsuits my mediators." 8
Other writers also used it.
" You 11 be nonsuited." 4

" Those are nonsuited, and flung o'er the bar." 6
" This joy, when God . . . nonsuits the devil." 6

Bar. " Bar " is used by Shakespeare as a
noun, in the sense of obstruction ; also as a
verb, meaning the same as debar.

" Since this bar in law makes us friends." 7
" We '11 bar thee from succession." '
" To bar thee of succession." 9

A similar use of the noun is found in other
writers.

" He pleads my want of wealth,
And says it is a bar in Venus's court." 10

" She 's mine without exception, bar, or clause." n

1 II, iv, 119. 2 Jonson, Poetaster, V, i.

8 Othello, I, i, 16. 4 Dekker, If This be not a Good Play.

5 Beaum. and Fletcher, A Wife for a Month, V, iii.

6 Century Diet., citing T. Adams.

7 Taming of the Shrew, I, i, 131. 8 Winter's Tale, IV, iv, 421.

9 Cymbeline, III, iii, 102. 10 Wily Beguiled,
u Barry, Ram Alley, IV, i.

LEGAL TERMS 81

Grand jury. Grand jurymen are mentioned
in Twelfth Night,1 and a grand jury is spoken
of in Beaumont and Fletcher's Faithful Friends.2

Twelve godfathers. A jury is spoken of as
twelve godfathers in The Merchant of Venice.3
Jonson, in The Devil is an Ass, says : —

" I will leave you
To your godfathers in law : let twelve men work." 4

Suborning witnesses. " Suborning a witness "
is spoken of by Shakespeare, and also by Jonson.

" But now I find I had suborned the witness,
And he 's indicted falsely." 6

" It was he indeed
Suborned us to the calumny." (

Trials, their procedure and incidents. In
King Lear there is an imaginary trial of two
daughters. In The Winter's Tale there is a trial
of Hermione. In the 46th Sonnet Shakespeare
describes a legal controversy between " mine
eye and heart," using the terms " plead," " de-
fendant," "impanelled," "quest," "tenants,"
and " verdict."

" See how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief.
Hark in thine ear. Change places, and handy-dandy,
which is the justice, which is the thief ? " 7

1 HI, ii, 15. 2 H, ii.

8 IV, i, 393-395. 4 V, iii.

5 Othello, III, iv, 154. 6 Jonson, The Poetaster, V, i.

' K. Leax, IV, vi, 151.

82 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" The jury passing on the prisoner's life
May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try." *

" You wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing
a cause between an orange-wife and a f osset-seller, and then
rejourn the controversy of three-pence to a second day of
audience. When you are hearing a matter between party
and party, if you chance to be pinched with the colic, you
make faces like mummers." 2

The accounts of the trials in Shirley's Traitor
and in Peele's Arraignment of Paris have al-
ready been referred to (ante, p. 68). Trials are
familiar material with dramatists. For example,
in Dekker's If This be not a Good Play a court
was convened in hell, and a jury impanelled and
sworn. In Jonson's Poetaster the prisoner was
arraigned, an oath was administered to the triers,
and there was a full trial. It is there noted
that " the crier of the court hath too clarified a
voice." In The New Inn the crier and the clerk
are spoken of. In The Faerie Queene a jury
was impanelled ; 3 and in an earlier passage the
administration of justice was described as fol-
lows : —

" She was about affairs of common weal,
Dealing of justice with indifferent grace,
And hearing pleas of people mean and base,
'Mongst which, as then, there was for to be heard
The trial of a great and weighty case
Which on both sides was then debating hard."4

1 Measure for Measure, H, i, 19. 2 Coriolanus, H, i, 63.

8 B. 6, c. 7, st. 34. * B. 5, c. 9. st. 36.

LEGAL TERMS 83

Then there was a trial of Duessa ; many grave
persons or impersonations argued against her,
and many advocates for her.1

" The office of justice is perverted quite
When one thief hangs another." 2

The term " oyez " is used by Jonson in The
New Inn, and by Dekker in If This be not a
Good Play.

" Proclaim silence in the court." 8

" Every man or woman, keep silence, pain of imprison-
ment." 4

" I am to appear in court here, to answer to one that
has me in suit." 6

Plaintiff. Parties to actions are mentioned,
as follows : —

" Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own cause." {

" Virg. What says the plaintiff ?
Hor. I am content." 7

" Where are these fellows that are the plaintiffs ? " 8
" Are you the plaintiff here ? " 9

i " Notice is given by the court

To the appellant and defendant." 10

Witnesses. Witnesses are also referred to : —
" Suborned the witness." u

I St. 43-50. 2 Webster, Duchess of Malfi, IV, ii.

8 Jonson, Poetaster, V, i. 4 Jonson, New Inn, III, ii.
5 Jonson, Poetaster, III, i. 6 Twelfth Night, V, i, 341.

7 Jonson, Poetaster, V, i. 8 Greene et al., Looking Glass.

9 Middleton, Phoanix, V, i. 10 Jonson, New Inn, III, ii.

II Othello, ante, p. 81.

84 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Come into court and give your evidence, upon pain of
that which shall ensue." l

" I have seen a handsome cause so foully lost, sir,
So beastly cast away, for want of witnesses." 2

Justice. Justices also : —

" Justice of peace and coram." 8

" A justice of the peace, and lately of the quorum." 4

" Justices of coram nobis." 6

" Justice of assize." {

Brother justice. "My brother justice" is
found in Measure for Measure.7 Dekker speaks
of "brother knights'' and " brother captain."

Inns of court. " Inns o' court " are men-
tioned in 2 King Henry IV.8 Inns of court are
also spoken of by Jonson in The Devil is an
Ass,9 and by Barry in Ram Alley ; and Inns of
chancery are also mentioned in the latter play.

Lawyers, etc. There are frequent references
to lawyers, attorneys, counsellors, solicitors, etc.,
both in Shakespeare and in other dramatists.

" Crack the lawyer's voice." 10

1 Middle ton, Family of Love, V, iii.

2 Beaum. and Fletcher, Spanish Curate, III, i.

3 Merry Wives, I, i, 4. 4 Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, II, i.

5 Jonson, Tale of a Tub, III, i.

6 16., Ill, iii. 7 Measure for Measure, III, ii, 236.
8 III, ii, 12. »m,i.

10 Timon of Athens, IV, iii, 152.

LEGAL TERMS 85

" The breath of an unfeed lawyer." l

" Windy attorneys to their client woes." 2

" Die by attorney." 8

" And will have no attorney but myself." 4

" Good counsellors lack no clients." 6

" Thy solicitor shall rather die
Than give thy cause away." 6

« Pleader." 7

" And do as adversaries do in law,
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends." 8

The following examples are from other drama-
tists.

" For lawyers that will ante-date their writs." 9

" But he is the very miracle of a lawyer,
One that persuades men to peace, and compounds quarrels
Among his neighbors, without going to law." 10

" Lady L. Will Master Practice be of counsel against us ?

Compass. He is a lawyer, and must speak for his fee
Against his father and mother, all his kindred,
His brothers or his sisters ; no exception
Lies at the common law." u

" They say you have retained brisk Master Practice
Here, of your counsel." 12

" To plead or answer by attorney." 18

I K. Lear, I, iv, 128. 2 K. Rich. Ill, IV, iv, 127.

8 As You Like It, IV, i, 83. * Comedy of Errors, V, i, 100.

5 Measure for Measure, I, ii. 101. 6 Othello, III, iii, 27.

7 Coriolanus, V, i, 36.

8 Taming of the Shrew, I, ii, 274.

9 Webster, White Devil, III, iii.

10 Webster, Devil's Law Case, II, i.

II Jonson, Magnetic Lady, II, i. 12 Ib.
13 Peele, Arraignment of Paris, IV, iv.

86 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" By attorney." *

" Country attorney." 2

" My forehead has more crumples than the back part of
a counsellor's gown." 8

" Knowell. I suspect you shrewdly for being of counsel
with my son against me.

Brainworth. Yes, faith, I have, sir, though you retained
me doubly this morning for yourself." 4

" Ingenioso. Good Master Recorder, let me retain you
this term — for my cause, good Master Recorder.

Recorder. I am retained already on the contrary part.
I have taken my fee." 5

" Thou shalt be my solicitor." 8

" The bars of our litigious courts had wont
To crack with thronging pleaders, whose loud din
Shook the infernal hell." 7

"The pleader."8

" Allow the man his advocate." 9

" The noise of clients at my chamber door
Was sweeter music far, in my conceit,
Than all the hunting in Europe." 10

" A client of mine." u

" Here stand I for my client, this gentleman." 12

1 Webster et al., Westward Ho, HI, i ; Middleton et al., A Fair
Quarrel, H, i.

2 Webster et al., Westward Ho, III, ii. 8 Ib., II, i.
4 Jonson, Every Man in his Humor, V, i.

6 Return from Parnassus, IV, ii.

6 Jonson, The Poetaster, I, i.

7 Dekker, If This be not a Good Play.

8 Jonson, The Poetaster, I, i.

9 Peele, Arraignment of Paris, IV, iv.

10 Webster, Devil's Law Case, II, i.

u Wily Beguiled. 12 Barry, Ram Alley, V, i.

LEGAL TERMS 87

" The pleasure

In taking clients' fees, and piling them
In several goodly rows before my desk." l

" Can I think

That you have half your lungs left, with crying out
For judgments and days of trial ? " 2

There is in this play a long court scene, with
a lawyer's speech, which the court tries to
shorten.

" Signer Contilupo, the court holds it fit
You leave this stale declaiming 'gainst the person,
And come to the matter." 8

" I have not been your worst of clients." 4

In Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's
Fortune, there is also a description of an advo-
cate's speech in court.

Charged upon interrogatories. The phrase
" charge us there upon intergatories " in the
Merchant of Venice 5 has been thought to show
a familiarity with proceedings for contempt.
This phrase is also used in equity, and the
word is used by other authors : " He has me
upon interrogatories."6 "And the devil comes,
we '11 put him to his interrogatories, and not
budge a foot." 7 It also occurs in the passage
already cited from Jonson's Silent Woman, ante,
p. 30.

1 Webster, Devil's Law Case, II, i.

2 Ib., II, i. 3 Ib., IV, ii.
4 Jonson, The Fox, I, i. 6 V, i, 298.

6 Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, IV, i. 7 Merry Devil of Edmonton.

88 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Time personified. Time is personified as a
justice in As You Like It/ and as an arbitrator
in Troilus and Cressida.2 Time is also personi-
fied in other capacities by Dekker, by Middle-
ton, by Beaumont and Fletcher, by Jonson, and
by Milton.

Quiddities and quillets. The terms " quillets "
and " quiddities " are used in different plays by
Shakespeare. The term " quiddet " is also found
in Jonson' s Every Man out of his Humor, and
in Heywood's Fair Maid of the West ; " quiddi-
ties " in The Pinner of Wakefield, and in Ma-
chin's Dumb Knight; " quillets " in Barry's Ram
Alley ; and " law-quillets " in Middleton's Trick
to Catch the Old One.

Lawful prize. lago,3 in referring to Desde-
mona, uses the expression " lawful prize." Spenser
also, in The Faerie Queene, speaks of a woman
as a prize.

" Wherefore he now begun
To challenge her anew, as his own prize,
Whom formerly he had in hattle won,
And proffer made by force her to reprize." 4

Law's delay. Hamlet 5 speaks of " the law's
delay." This was no secret.

i IV, i, 178. 2 IV, v, 225.

8 Othello, I, ii, 51. * B. 4, c. 4, st. 8.

5 in, i, 72.

LEGAL TERMS 89

" Cures are like causes in law, which may be lengthened
or shortened at the discretion of the lawyer ; he can either
keep it green with replications or rejoinders, or," l etc.

" Motion ! Why like the motion in law, that stays for a
day of hearing." 2

Scrivener. In The Taming of the Shrew3 a
scrivener is sent for to draw a marriage settle-
ment. Scriveners were a class below the attor-
neys, and were often employed to draw legal
instruments of the simpler kind ; though in Jon-
son's Magnetic Lady 4 it is said that the prelate
of the parish " draws all the parish wills." Mil-
ton's father was a scrivener. Scriveners are
mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher's Night
Walker,5 in Wilkins's Miseries of Enforced Mar-
riage, in Jonson's Every Man in his Humor, in
Cook's Tu Quoque, and in Donne's Seventeenth
Elegy. A scrivener is one of the characters in
Ralph Roister Doister.

Ideal commonwealth. Gonzalo's ideal com-
monwealth, in The Tempest, savors somewhat
of a legal description, though few strictly legal
terms are used.

" I' the Commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things ; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit ; no name of magistrate ;

1 Chapman, All Fools, HE, i.

2 Webster et al, Westward Ho, I, i.
3IV,iv,59. *I,L 5I,i.

90 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Letters should not be known ; riches, poverty,

And use of service, none ; contract, succession,

Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none ;

No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil ;

No occupation ; all men idle, all ;

And women too, but innocent and pure ;

No sovereignty." 1

This, no doubt, was founded upon a passage
in Florio's Montaigne, cited by Furness, as fol-
lows : —

" It is a nation, would I answer Plato, that hath no kind
of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no intelligence of num-
bers, no name of magistrate, nor of politike superiority ; no
use of service, of riches, or of poverty ; no contracts, no
successions, no partitions, no occupation but idle ; no respect
of kindred, but common, no apparel but natural, no manur-
ing of lands, no use of wine, corn, or metal."

Sue his livery. In King Kichard II the
phrase " to sue his livery " occurs in the follow-
ing passage : —

" If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights,
Call in the letters patent that he hath
By his attorneys general to sue
His livery, and deny his offered homage,
You pluck a thousand daggers on your head." 2

This is founded on a passage in Holinshed,
cited by Heard, where similar language is used.
The same phrase is also found in 1 King Henry
IV:3 —

" He came but to be duke of Lancaster,
To sue his livery and beg his peace."
i H, i, 141. 2 n, i, 201. a IV, Hi, 61.

LEGAL TERMS 91

This, as described by Campbell, was a pro-
ceeding to be taken by a ward of the crown, on
coming of age, to obtain possession of his lands,
which the king had held as guardian in chivalry
during his minority. It is referred to by several
other writers, and was then familiar : —

" Our little Cupid hath sued livery,
And is no more in his minority." *

"Sued his livery."2

" I '11 sue out no man's livery but mine own." 8

" Before he sue his livery." 4

" It concerned them first to sue out their livery from the
unjust wardship." 6

Administration of justice partial. The idea
that the rich or powerful may escape the law's
penalties is often expressed, not only by Shake-
speare, but by other writers : —

" Plate sin with gold,

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks ;
Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw doth piece it." 6

" 'T is gold
Which makes the true man killed, and saves the thief." 7

" Great men may jest with saints ; 't is wit in them,
But in the less foul profanation." 8

1 Donne, Eel., December 26, 1613.

2 Fletcher, The Woman's Prize, II, i.
8 Jonson, Staple of News, I, i.

4 Wilkins, Miseries of Enforced Marriage, I.

6 Century Diet., citing Milton.

6 K. Lear, IV, vi, 165. 7 Cymbeline, II, iii, 70.

8 Measure for Measure, II, ii, 127.

92 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" That in the captain 's but a choleric word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy." l

" My lords, the law

Is but the great man's mule ; he rides on it,
And tramples poorer men under his feet.
Yet when they come to knock at yond' bright gate
One's rags shall enter 'fore the other's state." 2

" Great men, like great flies, through law's cobwebs break ;
But the thinnest frame the prison of the weak." 8

" A duke's soft hand strokes the rough head of law,
And makes it lie smooth." 4

" This is the difference.
All great men's sins must still be humored,
And poor men's vices largely punished.
The privilege that great men have in evil
Is this, they go unpunished to the devil." 6

" For some say some men on the back of law
May ride and rule it like a patient ass,
And with a golden bridle in the mouth
Direct it unto anything they please.
Others report it is a spider's web
Made to entangle the poor helpless flies,
While the great spiders that did make it first
And rule it, sit i' th' midst, secure, and laugh." 6

A judge of another sort is described in Dek-
ker's If This be not a Good Play, as follows : -

" That day, from morn till night I '11 execute
The office of a judge, and weigh out laws
With even scales."

1 Measure for Measure, II, ii, 130.

2 Beaumont, Triumph of Love, sc. vi.
8 Webster, Sir Thomas Wyat.

4 Tourneur, Revenger's Tragedy, II, L

5 Barry, Ram Alley, V, i.

6 N. Field, A Woman is a Weathercock, II, i.

LEGAL TERMS 93

And again : —

" The poor and rich man's cause
I '11 poise alike ; it shall be my chief care
That bribes and wrangling be pitched o'er the bar."

Bankrupt. Even the use of the term " bank-
rupt/' in As You Like It, is cited by Campbell
as having some tendency to show acquaintance
with legal proceedings. Very many writers,
however, used it ; e. g., Webster and others, in
Westward Ho ; Massinger, in The Fatal Dowry,
and The City Madam ; Ford, in Perkin War-
beck, and Love's Sacrifice ; Middleton, in The
Eoaring Girl ; Jonson, in The Poetaster ; Beau-
mont and Fletcher, in The Laws of Candy ; Wil-
kins, in The Miseries of Enforced Marriage ; and
the author of Wily Beguiled, and of Nobody
and Somebody.

Comforting the king. The phrase in King
Lear,1 "comforting the king," is thought by
Dr. Johnson (cited by Campbell) to be used in
a juridical sense. Several instances of a similar
use of the word " comforting " by other writers
are cited in Murray's Dictionary.

Witness of a good conscience. The phrase
" witness of a good conscience," in The Merry
Wives of Windsor,'2 is cited by Campbell as
having some legal flavor. " The testimony of a

i HI, v, 19. 2 IV, ii, 184.

94 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

good conscience " also is found in Love's Labor 's
Lost.1 This phrase is scriptural rather than
legal : Acts xxiii, 1 ; Rom. ii, 15 ; ix, 1 ; 2 Cor.
i, 12 ; 1 Pet. iii, 16 ; 1 Tim. i, 5.

As free as heart can wish. The phrase, " As
free as heart can wish or tongue can tell," used
by Cade in 2 King Henry VI,2 is also in part
scriptural : Ps. Ixxiii, 7.

Libels. "Libels" are mentioned in King
Richard III.3 Jonson also says : —

" A libel, Caesar ;
A dangerous, seditious libel ; a libel in picture." 4

Impress of shipwrights. " Impress of ship-
wrights " is spoken of in Hamlet.

." Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week ? " fi

The above passage, Campbell says, has been
quoted to show that shipwrights as well as com-
mon seamen were liable to be pressed into ser-
vice. No statement elsewhere has been found
to the effect that they were so liable ; and it is
not clear that the passage should not rather be
quoted to show a mistake by Shakespeare in the
law. Common sailors were impressed. In 1596,
while preparing for the expedition against Cadiz,

1 IV, ii, 1. 2 IV, vii, 117. 8 I, i, 33.

4 The Poetaster, v, 1. 5 I, i, 75.

LEGAL TERMS 95

Sir Walter Raleigh wrote : " As fast as we press
men one day they run away another, and say
they will not serve." l In 1598 it is said, " In
all the ports, the shipwrights were in full activ-
ity." It is not stated whether they were im-
pressed or not.

Repeal. The word " repeal " is used thus in
The Two Gentlemen of Verona : —

" I here forget all former griefs,
Cancel all grudges, repeal thee home again." 8

The word is used by Shakespeare in a similar
sense in several other plays.

It is also so used twice by Marlowe : —

" That Gaveston, my lord, shall be repealed."
" That he 's repealed, and sent for back again." 4

Precedent. The word "precedent" is used
in various plays, as, e. g. : —

" 'T will be recorded for a precedent." 6

" Precedent " is a character in Machin's Dumb
Knight.

Order reversed. The reversal of an order
and of a doom is mentioned in Shakespeare, and

1 Edwards'a Life of Raleigh, 207. 2 /&., 110.

8 V, iv, 142. * Marlowe, Edw. II.

5 Merch. Venice, IV, i, 215.

96 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

the reversal of a judgment or sentence is found
elsewhere.

" The order was reversed." 1

" Reverse thy doom." 2

" I thought thou hadst reversed the judgment." 8

" Sue to reverse my sentence by appeal." 4

There are in Shakespeare a few legal terms,
phrases, and allusions, no close parallels to which
have been noted elsewhere as yet. These are
of no great significance as tending to show un-
usual technical knowledge. The following are

examples : —

" According to our law
Immediately provided in that case." 5

" Between party and party." 6

" Such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure
to hear." 7

" Purgation " in several plays.

Soldier not bound to obey legal summons in
time of war.8

" Keep your fellows' counsels and your own." 9
" Pater quern nuptise demonstrant." 10
" To punish you by the heels." n

1 K. Rich. IIT, H, i, 86. 2 K. Lear, I, i, 148.

8 Beaum. and Fletcher, Honest Man's Fortune, HI, L

4 Peele, Arraignment of Paris.

6 Midsummer Night's Dream, I, i, 44.

6 Coriolanus, H, i, 67. 7 2 K. Hen. VI, IV, vii, 36.

8 Ib., I, ii, 127. 9 Much Ado, IH, iii, 78.

10 The doctrine is explained in K. John, I, i, 116.

" 2 K. Hen. IV, I, ii, 117.

LEGAL TERMS 97

"I '11 lay ye all
By the heels, and suddenly." 1

This, Campbell says, was the technical expres-
sion for committing to prison. Bishop Words-
worth says it was to put in the stocks.2

" An oath is of no moment, being not took
Before a true and lawful magistrate,
That hath authority over him that swears." 8

" Thy lips is parcel of the mouth." *

" My lips are no common, though several they be." 6

1 K. Hen. VIH, V, iv, 75.

2 Shakespeare and the Bible (3d ed.), 64.
8 3 K. Hen. VI, I, ii, 22.

* Love's Labor 's Lost, II, i, 222.
5 Merry Wives, I, i, 209.

CHAPTEE VI

LEGAL TERMS AND ALLUSIONS FOUND IN OTHER
WRITERS, BUT NOT IN SHAKESPEARE

A FEW other instances may perhaps be found
where a legal allusion by Shakespeare cannot be
paralleled elsewhere. But they cannot be by
any means equal in number or importance to
the instances of the use of legal terms and allu-
sions by other writers, to which no parallel is
found in Shakespeare. Examples of these will
now be given.

Jurisdiction in Equity. Shakespeare no-
where alludes to the peculiar province of a court
of equity. Holmes indeed says l that the writer
of The Merchant of Venice " knew the exact dif-
ference between law and equity, and that while
the courts of equity never override or contradict
the positive law, still the sovereign power in the
state, through the courts of equity acting on
general principles of justice and mercy, will
interfere to prevent the strict law from being
made an instrument of fraud and injustice, con-
trary to the real intention of the law itself."

i Page 637.

LEGAL TERMS 99

One seeks in vain in the play for any intimation
of equitable interference to prevent the law from
being made an instrument of fraud and injus-
tice. The functions of mercy and pardon are
recognized and dwelt upon, but there is no sug-
gestion of Antonio's obvious remedy in equity,
namely, to get an injunction restraining the
enforcement of the forfeiture. It need not be
supposed that Shakespeare was ignorant of the
distinction between law and equity. His practi-
cal experience in the litigation seeking to redeem
his mother's estate, Asbies, would make him
acquainted to some extent with proceedings in
chancery. The controversy then existing as to
the power of the chancellor to restrain proceed-
ings at law must have been generally known.
As a playwriter, Shakespeare might ignore equi-
table jurisdiction and power ; but would the fu-
ture Lord Chancellor have done so ? However
this may be, the distinction in a general way
between law and equity was familiar to other
writers of about that time, as appears from
numerous references to it, of which some exam-
ples will be given.

" The rigor and extremity of law
Is sometimes too, too bitter ; but we carry
A chancery of pity in our bosom." ]

" I beseech your Honor, be favorable to me in equity." 2

1 Ford, Perkin Warbeck, II, ii.

2 Greene et al., Looking- Glass, etc.

100 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Shepherd, thou hast been heard with equity and law." l

" Proceed in your chancery suit, I have begun your bill,
Humbly complaining." 2

" Or cannot you, that have the power
To qualify the rigor of the laws
When you are pleased, take a little from
The strictness of your sour decrees, enacted
In favor of the greedy creditors
Against the o'erthrown debtor ? " 8

In The Devil is an Ass, Jonson speaks of
" moving in a court of equity ; " 4 and in An
Execration upon Vulcan he says : —

" Lies there no writ out of the chancery
Against this Vulcan ? No injunction,
No order, no decree ? Though we be gone
At common law, methinks in his despite
A court of equity should do us right."

Spenser has the following allusions in the
Faerie Queene : —

" For that a waif, the which by fortune came
Upon your seas, he claimed as property ;
And yet nor his, nor his in equity,
But yours the waif by high prerogative." 6

" And equity to measure out along
According to the line of conscience,
Whenso it needs with rigor to dispense." {

" To you, that are our judge of equity." 7

1 Peele, Arraignment of Paris, IV, iv.

2 Dekker, If This be not a Good Play.

3 Massinger, Fatal Dowry, I, ii. 4 V, iii.

5 B. 4, c. 12, st. 31. e B. 5, c. 1, st. 7.

7 B. 5, c. 3, st. 36.

LEGAL TERMS - 101

" And in her person cunningly did shade
That part of justice which is equity." 1

Richard Hooker says : —

" We see in contracts, and other dealings which daily
pass between man and man, that, to the utter undoing of
some, many things by strictness of law may be done which
equity and honest meaning forbiddeth. Not that the law
is unjust, but unperfect ; nor equity against, but above, the
law, binding men's consciences in things which law cannot
reach unto." 2

Livery of seisin. Shakespeare uses the phrase
" sue his livery/' but not the phrase " livery of
seisin" or the word "seisin." Other writers,
however, use them.

" That 's livery and seisin in England." 8

" And get the f eoffment drawn, with a letter of attorney,

For livery and seisin. . . .

But, sir, you mean not to make him feoffee ? " 4
" I have taken livery and seisin of the wench."
" These lips have taken seisin." 5

" She gladly did of that same babe accept
As of her own, by livery and seisin." 6

Dekker also mentions liveries in the Gull's
Horn Book.

Charitable or pious uses. No mention is
found in Shakespeare of charitable or pious

B. 5, c. 7, st. 3. 2 Eccl. Pol., B. v, c. ix, § 2.

Webster, Devil's Law Case, I, ii.

Jonson, The Devil is an Ass, IV, ii.

Barry, Ram Alley, IV, i.

Spenser, Faerie Queene, B. 6, c. 4, st. 37

102 THE B4CON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

uses and trusts. Other writers, however, refer
to them.

" I have given that ring to charitable uses." 1

" Give it to pious uses." 2

" Our progress then

Shall be to hospitals which good minded men
Have built to pious uses." 3

" I shall employ it all in pious uses,
Founding of colleges and grammar schools,
Marrying young virgins, building hospitals,
And now and then a church." 4

The above passage from The Alchemist ob-
viously refers to St. 43 Eliz. c. 4, concerning
charitable uses.

Alluvion. Shakespeare says nothing of " al-
luvion/' but in the Faerie Queene, Spenser,
through Artegall acting as arbitrator, correctly
expounds the law of this subject, and proceeds,
perhaps inaccurately, to apply this doctrine to
goods which are a wreck of the sea, and cast or
left by the sea upon land, as follows : —

" For what the mighty sea hath once possessed,
And plucked quite from all possessors' hand,
Whether by rage of waves that never rest,
Or else by wreck that wretches hath distressed,
He may dispose of by imperial right,
As thing at random left, to whom he list." {

1 Middleton, Family of Love, V, iii.

2 Beaum. and Fletcher, Spanish Curate, III, ii.
8 Dekker, If This be not a Good Play.

4 Jonson, The Alchemist, II, i.

5 B. 5, c. 4, st. 4, 5.

LEGAL TERMS 103

Common, civil, and canon law. Jonson
speaks of the " common law " in Every Man in
his Humor, in The Magnetic Lady, and in The
Staple of News ; and of the causes of divorce
in the " canon law," with great elaboration, in
The Silent Woman; and of the "civil law"
in the same play. He also mentions the canon
law in The Magnetic Lady. Webster refers to
the civil law in The Devil's Law Case. In
Wily Beguiled, it is said, " We '11 ha' the com-
mon law o' the one hand, and the civil law
o' the other." Shakespeare mentions none of
these.

Magna Charta. In The Staple of News, and
in The New Inn, Jonson refers to "Magna
Charta," which Shakespeare omits to mention
in King John or elsewhere. Would Bacon in
writing upon King John have omitted Magna
Charta?

Legal authors. So far as noted, Shakespeare
refers to no legal author by name. Jonson
mentions Plowden, Dyer, Brooke, and Fitz-
herbert in Every Man out of his Humor, and
Littleton's Tenures in The Staple of News.1
Littleton is also referred to in The Return from
Parnassus ; 2 and Marlowe, in Dr. Faustus, quotes
from Justinian's Institutes.

1 Ante, p. 30. 2 Ante, p. 51.

104 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Statutes — laws. Shakespeare seldom refers
to particular statutory enactments ; but particu-
lar statutes are cited by Jonson, in The Alche-
mist ; l by Massinger, in A New Way to Pay Old
Debts ; 2 by Barry, in Ram Alley/ and in the
following passages from the same play : —

"For all of his book-cases of Tricesimo Nono, and
Quadragesimo Octavo."

" Tricesimo primo Alberti Magni."

" I say that William Smallshanks, madman, is by a stat-
ute made in Octavo of Richard Cordelion, guilty to the law
of felony."

" And by a statute
Of tricesimo of the late Queen
I will star-chamber you all for cozenage,
And be by law divorced."

Middleton, in Anything for a Quiet Life,
speaks of the penal statutes.

Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Coxcomb,4
allude to the statute against gypsies ; and Jonson,
in The Poetaster, to the statute of calumny.
" I '11 have the statute repealed for thee." 5

It may be unnecessary to dwell further upon
instances of the use by different writers of legal
terms, phrases, and allusions which are not to
be met with in Shakespeare. But a list is ap-
pended, which, though no doubt it might be

1 Ante, p. 45. 2 Ante, p. 77. 3 Ante, p. 31.

* II, ii. 5 m, i.

LEGAL TERMS 105

enlarged by wider reading or more careful enu-
meration, may yet be sufficient to illustrate still
further the freedom and frequency of such use
by the writers of that time.

LEGAL TERMS NOT USED BY SHAKESPEARE, BUT USED BY
OTHER WRITERS OF ABOUT THAT TIME.

Alluvion. Spenser : Faerie Queene.

Annuity. Massinger : City Madam.

Appear (in court). Jonson : Poetaster.

Appellations. Jonson : Silent Woman. Beaum. and
Fletcher : Spanish Curate.

Assumpsit. Jonson : Alchemist.

Attournments. Merry Devil of Edmonton.

Audita querela. Middleton : Phoenix. Barry : Ram
Alley.

Bill of sale. Webster: White Devil.

Brooke. Jonson : Every Man out of his Humor.

Burgage. Jonson : Staple of News.

Canon lawyer. Jonson : Silent Woman.

Cap (for capias). Beaum. and Fletcher: Knight of
Burning Pestle.

Capias. Beaum. and Fletcher : Night Walker ; Spanish
Curate. Spenser : Faerie Queene.

Capias utligatum. Middleton : Pho3nix.

Certiorari. Barry: Ram Alley. Tourneur ("sasa-
rara ") : Revenger's Tragedy.

Champerty (a character). Histriomastix.

Charitable uses. Middleton : Family of Love.

Citation. Jonson : Silent Woman.

Civil law. Wily Beguiled. Jonson : Staple of News.
Webster : Devil's Law Case.

Common law. Wily Beguiled. Jonson: Staple of
News.

Common lawyer. Jonson : Magnetic Lady.

106 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Confessed judgment. Webster : White Devil.

Consideration. Jon son : Alchemist ; Bartholomew Fair.

Copyhold, or copyholder. Jonson : Staple of News.
Beaum. and Fletcher : Wit without Money. Webster :
Cure for a Cuckold. Middleton : Family of Love. Cook :
Tu Quoque.

Corpus cum causa. Barry : Ram Alley.

Corpus juris canonici. Jonson : Silent Woman.

Corpus juris civilis. Jonson : Silent Woman.

Court day. Chapman : All Fools.

Court roll. Jonson : Staple of News.

Damnum reparabile. Beaum. and Fletcher : Elder
Brother.

Declaration. Beaum. and Fletcher: Spanish Curate.
Chapman : All Fools.

Decretals. Spenser: Faerie Queene.

Dedimus potestatem. Middleton : Phoenix.

Defeasance. Chapman : All Fools. Ford : Perkin
Warbeck. Wily Beguiled.

Demur. Middleton : Old Law.

Demurrer. Beaum. and Fletcher : Woman's Prize.

Discontinuance. Barry : Ram Alley. Merry Devil of
Edmonton.

Disparagement (of ward). Jonson : Bartholomew Fair.

Disseised. Donne: Litany.

Dyer. Jonson : Every Man out of his Humor.

Ejectione firmce. Middleton : Trick to Catch the Old
One.

Eloign. Chapman : All Fools. Donne : Valediction to
his Book.

Encumbered. Massinger : City Madam.

Escheat (" cheat "). Webster : Duchess of Malfi.

Escuage. Jonson : Staple of News.

Estate of perpetuity. Middleton : Spanish Gypsy.
(" State of perpetuity.") Jonson : The Devil is an Ass.

Fitzherbert. Jonson : Every Man out of his Humor.

LEGAL TERMS 107

Foreman of a jury. Webster and Dekker : Northward
Ho.

Forma juris. Chapman : All Fools.

Forma pauperis. Middleton : Widow. Massinger : New
Way to Pay Old Debts. Dekker : Satiromastix. Ford :
Broken Heart. Jonson : New Inn.

Frank almoigne. Jonson : Staple of News.

Freehold. Middleton : Family of Love. Jonson : New
Inn.

Garnishes. Dekker : If This be not a Good Play.

Grand serjeantry. Jonson : Staple of News.

Guildhall verdict. Jonson : Every Man in his Humor.

Habeas corpus. Chapman et al. : Eastward Ho. Wily
Beguiled.

Habere facias possessionem. Beaum. and Fletcher :
Honest Man's Fortune.

Heir-loom. Tomkis : Albumazar.

Hotch potch. Return from Parnassus.

Idem est non apparere et non esse. Wily Beguiled.

Imparlance. Middleton : Anything for a Quiet Life.

In jure civili. Jonson : Silent Woman.

In terrorem. Chapman et al. : Eastward Ho.

Jury of brokers. Dekker : If This be not a Good Play.

Justinian's Institutes. Marlowe : Dr. Faustus.

Latitat. Webster : Cure for a Cuckold.

Littleton. Return from Parnassus. Jonson : Staple of
News.

Livery of seisin. Webster : Devil's Law Case. Jon-
son : The Devil is an Ass. Barry : Ram Alley. Spenser :
Faerie Queene.

Magna Charta. Jonson : Staple of News ; New Inn.

Maintenance (champertous). Jonson : Staple of News.

Marriage per verba prcesenti. Webster : Duchess of
Malfi. Cook : Tu Quoque (written contract, without a
priest, will hold in law).

Middlesex jury. Jonson : The Devil is an Ass. Mid-
dleton : Trick to Catch the Old One.

108 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Mittimus. Beaum. and Fletcher : Coxcomb ; Knight
of Burning Pestle. Massinger : New Way to Pay Old
Debts. Barry : Ram Alley. How a Man may Choose a
Good Wife.

Mortmain. Jonson : Staple of News.

Nisi prius. Hey wood : English Traveller.

Nunc pro tune. Middleton : Pho3nix.

Ore tenus. Jonson : The Devil is an Ass. Webster :
Devil's Law Case. Donne : 17th Elegy.

Partition. Middleton : Anything for a Quiet Life.

Perpetuities.'1 Donne : 4th Satire.

Per quam regulam. Barry : Ram Alley.

Pie poudre court. Jonson : Bartholomew Fair.

Pious uses. Jonson: Alchemist. Dekker: If This be
not a Good Play. Middleton : Family of Love. Beaum.
and Fletcher : Spanish Curate.

Plowden. Jonson : Every Man out of his Humor.

Poll-deeds. Chapman : All Fools.

Posteas. Beaum. and Fletcher : Wife for a Month.

Procedendo. Middleton : Phcenix.

Qui tacet consentire videtur. Middleton : Black Book.

Quit claim. Spenser : Faerie Queene.

Rack their rents. Middleton : Anything for a Quiet
Life.

Racking poor men's rents. Nobody and Somebody.

Re-entry. Barry : Ram Alley.

References. Jonson : Silent Woman.

Rejoinder. Beaum. and Fletcher : Woman's Prize.
Chapman : All Fools.

Remove the cause (by writ of error). Beaum. and
Fletcher : Honest Man's Fortune.

Replevy. Spenser : Faerie Queene.

Retain. Return from Parnassus.

Retained. Jonson : Every Man in his Humor.

Se defendendo. Jonson : Staple of News.

1 See also Estate of Perpetuity.

LEGAL TERMS 109

Seisin. Webster : Devil's Law Case. Jonson : The
Devil is an Ass. Barry : Ram Alley. Spenser : Faerie
Queene.

Show cause. Jonson : Every Man in his Humor.

Socage. Jonson : Staple of News.

Spiritual Court. May : The Heir.

Statutes cited. Jonson : Alchemist ; Poetaster. Mas-
singer : New Way to Pay Old Debts. Barry : Ram Alley.
Middleton : Anything for a Quiet Life. Beaum. and
Fletcher : The Coxcomb.

Subpoena. Beaum. and Fletcher: Wife for a Month.
Jonson : Staple of News.

Suits die with the person. Massinger : Fatal Dowry.

Supersedeas. Jonson : Poetaster. Cook : Tu Quoque.

Supersedeas non molestandum. Middleton : Phoenix.

Supplicavit. Middleton : Phcenix.

Surrejoinder. Chapman : All Fools.
: Tenant at Will. Heywood : English Traveller.

Tenant in common. Nobody and Somebody.

Tenant in dower, at will, for term of life. Jonson :
Staple of News.

Testificandum. Middleton : Phcenix.

Tortious. Spenser : Faerie Queene.

To the contrary notwithstanding. Ford : Perkin War-
beck.

Westminster Hall. Jonson: Staple of News. Cook:
Tu Quoque.

Writ of Appraisement. Middleton: Phcenix.

Writ of Error. Beaum. and Fletcher : Honest Man's
Fortune. Tourneur : Revenger's Tragedy.

Writ of Privilege. Jonson : New Inn.

Writ of Summons. Jonson : Staple of News.

It thus appears that legal terms and allusions
were freely used by many other writers of the
period besides Shakespeare. They may be found

110 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

in especial abundance in The Poetaster, The Si-
lent Woman, The Devil is an Ass, Bartholomew
Fair, and The Staple of News, by Jonson, as well
as in others of his plays ; in The Phoenix and
The Family of Love, by Middleton ; in The Fatal
Dowry, The City Madam, and A New Way to
Pay Old Debts, by Massinger ; in The Miseries of
Enforced Marriage, by Wilkins; in All Fools,
by Chapman ; in The Arraignment of Paris, by
Peele; in The Devil's Law Case, by Webster;
in Sir Thomas Wyat, by Webster and others ; in
If This be not a Good Play, by Dekker ; in Earn
Alley, by Barry; in Wily Beguiled and The
Keturn from Parnassus, by unknown authors ;
and in the Faerie Queene, by Spenser. With the
exception of Middleton, it is not known that any
of these writers ever studied law.

CHAPTER

BAD LAW, OR UNTECHNICAL USE OF LEGAL TERMS

IT is usually assumed that Shakespeare's law
was uniformly sound, and that his use of legal
terms and phrases was always technically cor-
rect. Campbell has much to answer for in this
respect. He incautiously speaks of " Shake-
speare's frequent use of law phrases, and the strict
propriety with which he always applies them ; " l
and afterwards uses the following sweeping
language : " Having concluded my examination
of Shakespeare's juridical phrases and forensic
allusions, on the retrospect I am amazed, not
only by their number, but by the accuracy and
propriety with which they are uniformly intro-
duced. There is nothing so dangerous as for
one not of the craft to tamper with our free-
masonry." 2 " While novelists and dramatists
are constantly making mistakes as to the law of
marriage, of wills, and of inheritance, to Shake-
speare's law, lavishly as he propounds it, there
'can neither be demurrer, nor bill of exceptions,
nor writ of error." 3 Resting on this high au-
thority, some subsequent writers, notably Elze,4

i Introd. 2 Page 107. 3 Page 108. * Pages 86-88.

112 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

usually so careful, and Brandes,1 seem to have
assumed the correctness of these statements with-
out examination. But it is a mistake to sup-
pose that Shakespeare was always right in his
legal doctrines or accurate in his use of legal
terms. Some instances of errors and inaccuracies
will be given. It is to be borne in mind that it
was his habit, unless mention is made to the
contrary, to apply the laws of England to all
places and times.2

In the first place, there are four plays in
which the action rests partly on bad law, namely,
The Merchant of Venice, All 's Well that Ends
Well, Measure for Measure, and Cymbeline.

Merchant of, Venice. Most of the extraordi-
nary legal features of The Merchant of Venice
have been noticed by others, and the comments
of many writers may be found collected in Fur-
ness's Notes, and in his Appendix.3 Holmes
also dwells at length upon the Trial Scene.4
Objections to the law of the play are also pointed
out by Appleton Morgan, in Shakespeare in
Fact and in Criticism, and in The Shakespearean
Myth. Free use is here made of all these sources
of information.

By the will of Portia's father, all of her suit-
ors must submit to the test of the caskets, and

1 Page 91. 2 See Campbell, 56, quoting Dr. Johnson.

8 Furness, Merchant of Venice, 403-420. * Pages 780-800.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 113

if unsuccessful must forever renounce marriage.
This testamentary provision in restraint of mar-
riage, with no means of enforcing it, would seem
to have been the invention of a story-teller
rather than of a lawyer.

Campbell incautiously says l that the trial " is
duly conducted according to the strict forms of
legal procedure." This is a surprising state-
ment. There was a sort of tribunal. The par-
ties in interest were in attendance, and the Duke
and magnificoes were present, though they were
not a court. What for ? Apparently to see to
the execution of the judgment or sentence of the
law. Shylock had his knife and scales. The
pound of flesh was to be cut off before their eyes.
Entreaties for mercy had already been made in
vain. The Duke renewed them. A tender of
double the amount of money which had been
lent was made and refused. Finally, the Duke
announced that he had sent for Bellario, a learned
doctor, to come and determine the matter. Bel-
lario was not a Venetian, but a Paduan, and
lived twenty-two miles away. The parties were
not consulted as to his selection, but he, a
stranger to the jurisdiction, was to come to
Venice and act seemingly as a judge in the pre-
sence of the Duke and magnificoes. Bellario sent
a letter saying that he was sick, and recommend-
ing as a substitute a young doctor from Eome,

1 Page 50.

114 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

by name Balthasar. Doctor Bellario did not
hesitate to play upon the Duke of Venice the
trick of palming off Portia as a young doctor of
laws from Rome, who could expound and de-
termine the law of Venice. Such conduct, if it
were possible under our system, would be good
ground of disbarment here. So the assumed
Balthasar came in, and was accepted by the
Duke on the spot, and told to " take his place ; "
seemingly some position of authority, a quasi
judge, as it were, and not merely an advocate.
Balthasar said he was already thoroughly in-
formed of the cause ; he had learned the facts,
and nobody asked how or where; and he at
once assumed entire charge of the proceedings.
In the course of the general conversation which
followed, — for what was said can hardly be de-
scribed otherwise than as a conversation, — this
young doctor from Rome announced the follow-
ing doctrines, which were accepted, or at least
submitted to, on all hands as a correct exposition
of the law of Venice : —

1. That the bond was valid, and that Shy-
lock was not bound to accept the money which
was tendered in court, even to twice or thrice
the amount of the bond, but was lawfully en-
titled to cut off a pound of flesh nearest Anto-
nio's heart.

2. That what he was entitled to was exactly
one pound, neither more nor less, and not a

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 115

drop of blood ; and that if he should take less
than a pound, or shed a drop of blood, he should
die, and all his goods be confiscated.

3. That he had forfeited his right to take
even the principal of his money by refusing it
in open court, and could not be allowed to re-
ceive it though Antonio was ready and willing
to pay ity and should have nothing but the pen-
alty of his bond.

4. Finally, without further formalities Bal-
thasar adjudged that Shylock was liable to
punishment for contriving against Antonio's
life, and had forfeited one half of his goods to
Antonio and the other half to the state ; and
that his life was in the Duke's mercy.

This is a very sudden turn from the trial
of Antonio. The condemnation of Shylock to
death, without presentation of charges against
him or giving him any chance to be heard, is
probably the most summary, informal, and irreg-
ular judicial trial for a capital offense known
to history or fiction.

On Antonio's suggestion, the Duke was will-
ing to dispense with the execution of Shylock,
on condition that the latter should let Antonio
have one half of his goods in trust, to render
them upon Shy lock's death to Jessica's husband ;
that he should become a Christian ; and that
he should record a gift of all he should die
possessed of unto Lorenzo and Jessica. These

116 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

quasi-judicial proceedings being ended, the Duke
intimated to Antonio that he had better pay
Balthasar (the judge ?) well ; and three thou-
sand ducats were offered at once, and declined.

Portia's rules of law will not bear examina-
tion. Such a condition of a bond probably
would not even at that time have been valid, as
it involved a homicide. But if valid, it would
be no violation of the condition to cut off less
than a pound, and the incidental flowing of
blood could not make Shylock's act unlawful,
since the cutting could not be done without it.
Shylock would not lose the right to accept the
money by a refusal at the outset of the tender
in court. And if Shylock was guilty of unlaw-
fully contriving against Antonio's life, was it in
taking a bond which the doctor of laws from
Rome pronounced to be valid, or in seeking to
enforce that bond under the direction and very
eye of the court ?

Doyle's case in Nicaragua, cited by Furness,
really bears but slight resemblance to this, in its
procedure. The person there selected to deter-
mine the rights of the parties was impartial, and
it was open to either party to object to him ;
and he was entitled to be paid a reasonable sum
for his services, as arbitrators are in our own
practice. He was brought in and accepted, as a
referee or master in chancery might be here.

On the whole, the development of the law in

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 117

The Merchant of Venice bears no strong sign of
Baconian origin, whether we look at the forms
of procedure, or at the statement of substantial
rules of law.

All9 8 Well that Ends Well. In All's Well
that Ends Well, the King of France assumed the
power to compel his ward Count Bertram to
marry Helena,1 though Bertram remonstrated
against being compelled to marry a poor physi-
cian's daughter.2 He also assumed the power to
compel any of the other lords in court to marry
her.3 Campbell takes it for granted that all of
these young lords were also wards of the king,
though the play contains no express statement to
this effect ; and he refers to this assumption of
power as an illustration of Shakespeare's know-
ledge of the law of England respecting the ward-
ship of minors, and the right of a guardian at
his own pleasure to dispose of the minor in mar-
riage.4 But even while asserting Shakespeare's
knowledge of the law upon this subject, he in-
timates that Shakespeare in this instance made
a mistake in the application of this legal right,
saying in a note that " according to Littleton,
it is doubtful whether Bertram, without being
liable to any penalty or forfeiture, might not
have refused to marry Helena, on the ground

1 II, iii, 148, 154, 155, 159. 2 II, iii, 112, 113.

8 II, iii, 44, 50-54. 4 Pages 56-58.

118 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

that she was not of noble descent. The lord
could not disparage the ward by a mesalliance.
Co. Lit. 80 a."

It is quite clear that Shakespeare overlooked
this feature of the law, which is thus explained
in Bouvier's Law Dictionary, nom. " Disparage-
ment." " The guardian in chivalry had the
right of disposing of his infant ward in matri-
mony ; and provided he tendered a marriage
without disparagement or inequality, if the
infant refused, he was obliged to pay a valor
maritagii to the guardian." This limitation of
the guardian's right is treated of in 1 Pollock
and Maitland's History of English Law, 299—
302.

Wilkins shows his familiarity with the general
doctrine of the guardian's right under ordinary
circumstances, in the following lines : —

" You are his ward, being so, the law intends,
He is to have your duty, and in his rule
Is both your marriage, and your heritage ;
If you rebel 'gainst these injunctions,
The penalty takes hold on you ; which for himself
He straight thus prosecutes ; he wastes your land,
Weds you where he thinks fit, sir ; but if yourself
Have of some violent humor matched yourself
Without his knowledge, then hath he power
To 'merce your purse, and in a sum so great
That shall forever keep your fortunes weak." J

Jonson was acquainted not only with the

1 Miseries of Enforced Marriage, Act I.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 119

guardian's general right, but with its limitation,
as is shown in the following passage from Bar-
tholomew Fair : l —

" Quar. But how came you, Mistress Wellborn, to be
his ward, or have relation to him at first ?

Grace. Faith, through a common calamity, he bought
me, sir ; and now he will marry me to his wife's brother,
this wise gentleman that you see ; or else I must pay value
o' my land.

Quar. 'Slid, is there no device of disparagement, or so ?
Talk with some crafty fellow, some picklock of the law ;
would I had studied a year longer in the Inns of Court."

Measure for Measure. In Measure for
Measure, Claudio was condemned to death for
an assumed offense of which he was legally inno-
cent. He was under " a true contract " to marry
Juliet, and he said : —

" She is fast my wife,
Save that we do the denunciation lack
Of outward order : this we came not to,
Only for propagation of a dower
Remaining in the coffer of her friends." 2

Claudio had taken Juliet for his wife, per
verba de prcesenti. According to the law in
Shakespeare's time, cohabitation after such a
precontract of marriage was not a crime. A
formal solemnization of the marriage could have
been enforced by either party. Neither of them
could lawfully marry anybody else. Angelo's

1 in, i. 2 I, ii, 140.

120 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

precontract with Mariana was perhaps merely
per verba de futuro, a mere executory contract
to marry in the future. The legal effect and
consequences of such a contract might not be
the same. But Claudio's precontract, as he
describes it, went further, and was a full con-
tract per verba de prcesenti. That he was
legally innocent, see Jacob's Law Dictionary,
nom. "Marriage ; " 2 Kent. Com. 87 ; 1 Bishop,
Marriage and Divorce, §§ 112, 256, 272. This
effect of such a precontract was abolished by
St. 26 Geo. II, c. 33. Campbell was familiar
with the old law of precontract of marriage, and
dealt with it in the case of Kegina v. Millis, 10
Clark & Fin. 534, 763, 784 ; but he did not
refer to it in his discussion of Shakespeare's
Legal Acquirements. Some dramatists also knew
of it. Webster, in The Duchess of Malfi, says :

" I have heard lawyers say, a contract in a chamber,
Per verba praesenti is absolute marriage ; " l

and Cook, in Tu Quoque, makes Spendall declare
that a written contract of marriage, without a
priest, is " strong and sufficient, and will hold
in law." It is also quite probable, morally cer-
tain indeed, that Shakespeare himself knew the
law in respect to such precontracts, for when he
was about to marry, in 1582, a bond was given
against impediments, in which " precontract "

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 121

was expressly stipulated against.1 He seems to
have had such precontract in mind in writing
King Richard III, III, vii, 177-191 ; but in
Measure for Measure for dramatic purposes he
chose to ignore it, and to assume that Claudio
was legally guilty. A mere playwriter might
thus trifle with the law, but the future Lord High
Chancellor of England would have been less
likely to do so.

Claudio's legal innocence is pointed out by
Boas,2 and is dwelt upon by Castles in Shake-
speare, Bacon, Jonson, and Greene.3

Cymbeline. In Cymbeline, the wager upon
which lachimo came to England was grossly im-
moral, and could never have supported an action
at law ; 4 but in the play lawful counsel were to
be called in to draw covenants which should be
valid in law.5 The incident of the wager itself
and the signing of articles were taken from Boc-
caccio, who might well allow persons to put their
bets in writing, whether lawful or unlawful ; but
the employment of 4awful counsel to set this bet
down so as to make it binding in law is added
by the playwriter, and it does not smack of legal
origin.

Other instances. Instances will now be given

1 2 H.-P. 55. 2 Page 362. 8 Pages 39, 94.

* Cowp. 729 ; 4 Campb. 152. 6 I, iv, 138, 150, 159.

122 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

of incidental legal allusions, or use of legal terms
or phrases, some of which are erroneous, and
others are at least not entitled to commendation
as felicitous illustrations of the proper use of
technical language.

In The Merchant of Venice, Portia says : —

" For the intent and purpose of the law
Hath full relation to the penalty,
Which here appeareth due upon the bond." 1

This probably means that the bond is valid,
and that the penalty may lawfully be exacted ;
but this meaning is not expressed with legal
accuracy or propriety.

Take this passage from Hamlet : —

" Who by a sealed compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seised of, to the conqueror :
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king ; which had returned
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,
Had he been vanquisher ; as, by the same covenant
And carriage of the article designed,
His fell to Hamlet." 2

To say that our king gaged a moiety compe-
tent which would have returned to the inherit-
ance of Fortinbras had he been vanquisher, as
by the carriage of the article designed his fell

1 IV, i, 242. 2 I, i, 86.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 123

to Hamlet, is not a clear or appropriate use of
legal language in describing a sealed compact.

In Shakespeare's time the words " bequeath,"
" inherit/' and perhaps " demise " were not ex-
clusively legal terms, and no strong argument is
to be derived from their use in a sense which
would be technically inaccurate. The word " be-
queath " is used several times for " give." It
is also used for " offer " or " tender " in King
John.

" To whom, with all submission, on my knee
I do bequeath my faithful services
And true subjection everlastingly." 1

" Inherit " is used as meaning to possess or
to obtain possession of, and once, in King Rich-
ard II, to put in possession. " Demise " is also
used in the sense of to " give " or to " confer
upon," in the following passage from King
Richard III : —

" Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honor,
Canst thou demise to any child of mine ? " 2

The word " demise," at least, seems to be
here used not only in an untechnical, but in an
unusual sense.

The use of the word " estate " as a verb,
though somewhat common in Shakespeare, and

i V, vii, 103. 2 IV, iv, 246.

124 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

though found occasionally in other dramatists,
is also unusual if not unknown in the law.

The word " widow " is also used as a verb,
as meaning to give the right of a widow, in
the following passage from Measure for Mea-
sure : —

" For his possessions,
Although by confiscation they are ours,
We do instate and widow you withal,
To buy you a better husband." l

No similar use of the word is known either in
the law or elsewhere.

The word " heir " is used several times by
Shakespeare, as also by some other writers, to
signify one who is named by will for the succes-
sion. This use was possible, though exceptional,
in law. In As You Like It, Celia, in speaking
of her own father, says to Rosalind, " And, truly,
when he dies, thou shalt be his heir ; " 2 meaning
that she herself would share her inheritance
with Rosalind. This use of the word appears to
be not only untechnical, but unique.

The word " dower " is often used by Shake-
speare, but, so far as noticed, never bv Bacon,
for « dowry." In All 's Well that Ends Well,
Helena speaks of herself as dower to the widow's

1 V, i, 420. 2 I, ii, 15.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 125

daughter, meaning that she would provide a
dowry for her.

" Doubt not but heaven

Hath brought me up to be your daughter's dower,

As it hath fated her to be my motive

And helper to a husband." 1

This use of the word is untechnical and
strange.

In Timon of Athens, the phrases " fracted
dates," " date-broke bonds," and " due on for-
feiture six weeks and past," are all untechnical,
though the meanings are obvious. The same
may be said of the phrase " oaths descended into
perjury," in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

In King John is found the line, —

" As seal to this indenture of my love." 2

" Indenture " seems to be used for assurance, or
promise, or contract, 3 — an untechnical use of
the word.

In Winter's Tale,4 " land-damn " apparently
refers to some mode of legal punishment ; but
the term is unknown in the law. It has been
conjectured that this term is a corruption ; 5 but
it appeared in all the Folios.

i IV, iv, 18. 2 II, i, 20.

» Rolfe. 4 II, i, 143.

5 See Furness, Winter's Tale, 84 n.

126 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

"Rejourn" for "adjourn," in Coriolanus,1 is
believed to be unknown in legal use, though in
Richardson's Dictionary instances of its use are
cited from Wotton, Burton, and North's Plutarch.

" Fee-grief," in Macbeth,2 is a combination
which is not found elsewhere.

" Crazed title," in Midsummer Night's Dream,3
is not a legal epithet for a doubtful title.

" Enfeoffed himself to popularity," in 1 King
Henry IV,4 is a violent and untechnical straining
of the sense of the legal term.

" In lieu o' the premises " for " in considera-
tion of," in The Tempest,5 is unfamiliar, as a
legal expression. The phrase is also found in
The Merchant of Venice, and in The Two Gen-
tlemen of Verona.

In 1 King Henry VI the word " distrained " is
untechnically used, as applied to a building, in
the sense of " taken possession of." 6

" Here 's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor King,
Hath here distrained the Tower to his use." 7

In a passage heretofore cited from Measure

1 II, i, 65. 2 IV, iii, 196. 3 I, i, 92.

4 III, ii, 69. 5 I, ii, 123. See Furness, Tempest, 42 n.

6 Rolfe. 7 I, iii, 60.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 127

for Measure, ante, p. 119, the phrase " only for
propagation of a dower " appears to be used as
meaning the payment or settlement of a dowry,
— a use of " propagation " unknown in the law,
as well as a misuse of the term " dower."

Another passage in the same play is as fol-
lows : —

" And five years since there was some speech of marriage
Betwixt myself and her ; which was broke off,
Partly for that her promised proportions
Came short of composition." 1

" Proportions " appears to be used in the
sense of dowry or fortune, which is untechnical.
In the same play, the sentence

" I am still
Attorneyed at your service " 2

is also untechnical.

The following passage in King John, if in-
tended as legal phraseology, is quite unfamiliar :

" From whom hast thou this great commission, France,
To draw my answer from thy articles ? " 8

The word " feodary " is found twice in Shake-
speare, as follows : —

" Senseless bauble,

Art thou a feodary for this act, and lookst
So virgin-like without ? " 4

1 V, i, 215. 2 y? i? 382.

8 II, i, 110. * Cymbeline, III, ii, 20.

128 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" Else let my brother die,
If not a feodary, but only he
Owe and succeed thy weakness." J

The word seems to be used in the sense of
" confederate " or " accomplice," but it bears
no such meaning in the law. In Murray's Dic-
tionary, it is said that it is used by Shakespeare
in a sense due to an erroneous association with
fcedus.

The expression in Macbeth, " the title is
affeered," 2 is supposed to mean settled or con-
firmed ; but in law the word would not have been
used in that manner. Affeerers were persons
" appointed in court-leets upon oath to set the
fines on such as have committed faults arbitra-
rily punishable, and have no express penalty ap-
pointed by the statute." 3 Shakespeare's father
was an affeerer in 1559 and 1561.

The following passage is taken from Love's
Labor 's Lost : —

" You three, Biron, Dumain and Longaville
Have sworn for three years' term to live with me
My fellow-scholars, and to keep those statutes
That are recorded in this schedule here." 4

A statute imports a legislative act ; or, if used
here for " edict," even an edict stands of its

1 Measure for Measure, II, iv, 121. 2 IV, iii, 34.

8 dowel's Law Dictionary. * I, i, 15.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 129

own force, and does not require an oath to sup-
port it in order to make it binding. Later in
the play these statutes are called decrees, laws,
and finally vow. The word seems to be used
inaccurately for vows or resolves.

In As You Like It Duke Frederick says : —

" Make an extent upon his house and lands." l

Furness shows2 that this use of the process
by extent could not legally be resorted to under
the existing facts, because an extent could only
be made after forfeiture or judgment. Camp-
bell cites this passage as displaying a deep tech-
nical knowledge of law, not adverting to the
objection pointed out by Furness.

In 3 King Henry VI, King Henry says : —

" I here entail
The crown to thee and to thine heirs forever." 8

Davis4 calls attention to the inaccurate use
of the word " entail " in this passage, as the
succession is not limited to a particular class
of heirs. A like use of the word occurs later
in the same scene : —

" To entail him and his heirs unto the crown."

The word is correctly used in the passage cited
from Massinger, ante, p. 51.

1 III, i, 17. 2 Furness, As You Like It, 136 n.

8 I, i, 194. 4 The Law in Shakespeare.

130 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

In Julius Caesar, Antony, in describing Caesar's
will, says to the populace : —

" Moreover he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbors and new-planted orchards,
On this side Tiber ; he hath left them you,
And to your heirs forever ; common pleasures,
To walk abroad and recreate yourselves." l

In a devise or dedication of lands to the
public, the words " to your heirs forever " are
misplaced, as they would imply individual owner-
ship, instead of a right vested in that indefinite
body, the public. These words are not found
in Plutarch, or Suetonius, or in Appian's Civil
Wars,2 or in any other account of Caesar's will
that I am aware of, and they were probably
added by Shakespeare, who either did not know
or overlooked their inappropriateness in a devise
of this kind.

In 2 King Henry VI, Cardinal Beaufort says
of Gloucester : —

" Consider, lords, he is the next of blood,
And heir apparent to the English crown." 8

The phrase " heir apparent " is mistakenly used
for " heir presumptive."

In Coriolanus, Sicinius says : —

1 III, ii, 248.

2 1578, quoted in New Shakspere Soc. Trans., 1875-76, p. 425.
8 I, i, 146.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 131

" He hath resisted law,

And therefore law shall scorn him further trial
Than the severity of the public power,
Which he so sets at nought." x

And again : —

" Therefore it is decreed
He dies to-night." 2

Resisting law was no legal reason for deny-
ing him a trial. In point of fact, it was finally
decided to proceed regularly by process.3

Campbell says that the imaginary trial of
King Lear's two daughters is conducted in a
manner showing a perfect familiarity with crimi-
nal procedure.4 Yet he recognized the incon-
gruity of placing Mad Tom, the robed man of
justice, on the bench with the Fool, " his yoke-
fellow of equity." 5 Regularity fof procedure was
not aimed at on this occasion, and so the irregu-
larity furnishes no ground for criticism, but
surely no argument in favor of Shakespeare's
legal learning is to be derived from this scene.

In Pericles it is said : —

" If a king bid a man be a villain, he 's bound by the
indenture of his oath to be one." 6

The phrase " indenture of his oath " seems to

i HI, i, 267. 2 III, i, 289.

3 III, i, 314. * page 82.

6 HI, vi, 37. 6 I, iii, 7.

132 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

be quite incongruous, as oaths were not taken in
the form of an indenture, so far as I am aware.

In Much Ado about Nothing,1 Dogberry gave
a charge to the watch. Campbell says of this
that " there never has been a law or custom in
England to give a charge to constables." If
this is so, Shakespeare appears to have fallen
into an inadvertence as to the usage. Other
writers, however, refer to such a charge in allu-
sions3 which raise a doubt as to Campbell's
accuracy.

In the Merchant of Venice, Shylock says : —

" Go with me to a notary, seal me there
Your single bond." 4

Technically, a single bond was a bond with-
out condition ; 5 But Antonio's bond was to have
a condition, and therefore it was inaccurately de-
scribed as a single bond. The meaning intended
appears to be, a bond without a surety.

Some of the foregoing instances may be sus-
ceptible of explanation negativing their positive
inaccuracy. On the other hand, other instances
not cited here may be brought to notice by more

8 Quoted by Furness, Much Ado about Nothing, 161 n.

4 I, iii, 139.

5 Co. Lit. 172; Shep. Touchst. 367. See Furness, Merchant of
Venice, 50, 51 n. ; Campbell, 49.

BAD LAW IN SHAKESPEARE 133

careful reading. Castles, indeed, in his Shake-
speare, Bacon, Jonson, and Greene, cites some
other instances, but to my mind they are not
very significant.

This list of absolute mistakes is not very large,
but it is sufficient to show that Shakespeare was
fallible in his law, and indeed to suggest the
doubt whether any other dramatist of his time
fell into more legal errors than he did.

Upon a general view of the subject of Shake-
speare's legal learning, the conclusion seems
warranted that his knowledge of law as shown
in the plays and poems can be accounted for
without resorting to the theory that he was ever
a lawyer, or even a lawyer's clerk ; that his use
of legal terms was not more copious in number
or more profound in character than that of
other non-legal writers of his time ; that most
of the legal terms and allusions found in Shake-
speare can be paralleled in other writings of the
same period ; that many of them were borrowed
from familiar sources ; that he was not uniformly
accurate or technically correct in his legal doc-
trines and allusions, and in his use of legal
terms ; and, in short, that no strong argument
against the theory of Shakespearian authorship
can be derived from the display of legal learning
in the plays and poems.

CHAPTER VIII

SUPPOSED INDIFFEKENCE TO FAME

IT is sometimes suggested, as casting a doubt
upon Shakespeare's authorship, that during his
lifetime he showed great indifference in respect
to the publication and preservation of the plays,
and that he made no mention of them in his
will. This suggestion is applicable to the author
of the plays, whoever he was, and its only perti-
nency to the present inquiry lies in the argument
that Bacon was more likely to show such in-
difference than Shakespeare, and that he had
special reasons for concealing the authorship.
So it is to be considered which of the two was
the more likely to be indifferent in respect to the
publication of the plays, and the accurate preser-
vation of the text.

As a rule, in Shakespeare's time little care
was taken by dramatic authors to preserve their
plays as literature. Comparatively few of the
plays then in use in the theatres have come down
to us; Halliwell-Phillipps says not one in fifty.1
Of those which have survived, many were not
published till after the death of their authors.

1 Vol. 1, p. 115.

SUPPOSED INDIFFERENCE TO FAME 135

The plays were written to be acted, and not
with a primary purpose of having them printed.
The publication of plays apparently yielded small
profit, and might diminish the returns to be
derived from their representation on the stage.
The author no doubt was paid for them as they
were furnished to be acted, and then they be-
longed to the theatre. They were kept as act-
ing plays. Macbeth, Othello, As You Like It,
The Tempest, Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, The
Winter's Tale, Measure for Measure, Julius
Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, for example,
were not printed till the Folio edition of 1623.
The editors of that edition, Heminge and Con-
dell, probably collected the stage copies, some
of them being in manuscript and others in
print. Some had been printed surreptitiously,
but others probably under Shakespeare's sanc-
tion, though without very careful revision for
the press.

Heywood gives a striking account of his own
opinions and experience as to the publication of
acting plays, in an Address to the Reader pre-
fixed to his play of the English Traveller, printed
in 1633. He says : —

" This tragi-comedy, (being one reserved amongst two
hundred and twenty in which I have had either an entire
hand, or at least a main finger), coming accidentally to the
press," etc. ..." True it is that my plays are not exposed
unto the world in volumes, to bear the title of Works, (as

136 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

others), one reason is that many of them by shifting and
change of companies have been negligently lost. Others
of them are still retained in the hands of some actors, who
think it against their peculiar profit to have them come in
print, and a third, that it never was any great ambition in
me to be in this kind voluminously read."

And again in a similar address prefixed to his
play of the Rape of Lucrece, he says : —

" It hath been no custom in me of all other men (Cour-
teous Readers) to commit my plays to the press, . . . for
though some have used a double sale of their labors, first
to the stage, and after to the press, for my own part I here
proclaim myself ever faithful in the first, and never guilty
of the last ; yet since some of my plays have (unknown to
me and without any of my direction) accidentally come into
the printers' hands, and therefore so corrupt and mangled
(copied only by the ear) that I have been as unable to
know them as ashamed to challenge them. This therefore
I was the willinger to furnish out in his native habit."

A collected edition of Beaumont and Fletch-
er's plays was first published in 1647, twenty-two
years after the death of Fletcher, the survivor of
them. The prefatory Stationer's Epistle says :

" I had the originals from such as received them from
the authors themselves. I should scarce have adventured
in these slippery times on such a work as this, if knowing
persons had not generally assured me that these authors
were the most unquestionable wits this kingdom hath af-
forded."

These originals were also probably the stage
copies.

In the Preface to Les Precieuses Ridicules,
Moliere says that he consented against his will

SUPPOSED INDIFFERENCE TO FAME 137

to the publication of it, in order to protect him-
self against a pilfered copy. Some of his plays
were not printed till after his death.

In like manner the instance in modern times
of that remarkable genius, Rufus Choate, may
be cited. His biographer, Samuel G. Brown,
says of him : —

" With a singular and almost unaccountable indifference
to fame, Mr. Choate took no pains to preserve his speeches.
The manuscript of the lecture" . . . had no sooner fulfilled
its temporary purpose, than it was thrust among waste
papers and forgotten." l

Yet in spite of apparent indifference, Shake-
speare may have intended before his death to
collect and publish his plays, with his latest
amendments and additions. Some color is given
to this idea by the editors of the Folio edition,
in their Address to the great variety of Read-
ers.2 He died, however, rather suddenly, at the
age of fifty-two. The body of his will was
drawn up probably while he was in fair health,
and might himself expect to attend to the collec-
tion and publication of the plays. If they were
owned by the theatre, this might be a reason for
the omission to mention them. No dramatist or
poet of that period is now recalled who made
provision by his will for the posthumous publi-
cation of his writings. It certainly is known
that Shakespeare was not always wholly indif-

1 Works of Rufus Choate, etc., Pref. vi. 2 See post, p. 268.

138 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

f erent to his literary reputation, because we have
Heywood's direct statement that he was much
offended when Heywood's poems were attributed
to him ; l though in other instances, so far as
now known, he did not show a like sensitiveness.
Various plays not now included among Shake-
speare's works were ascribed to him either as
sole or partial author. For example, Oldcastle,
The London Prodigal, and The Puritan were
separately published in quarto with his name,
and Cromwell, The Yorkshire Tragedy, and
Locrine, with his initials, during his lifetime.2
This shows at least that his name was thought
to be a recommendation of a play.

The non-existence at the present time of
plays, poems, or letters in Shakespeare's hand-
writing is not a fact of importance, as bearing
upon the question of authorship. Such loss is
common if not universal. Brandes 3 says there
is an utter absence of any manuscripts belonging
to Beaumont and Fletcher, or any other dra-
matic writer of the period. In Shakespeare's
case, particular circumstances have been adverted
to as accounting for the disappearance.4 But
explanation is hardly necessary, in view of the
general loss of the manuscripts of others.
Andrew Lang says that Moliere left no manu-
scripts except in one or two legal deeds.5

i See post, p. 160. 2 2 Ward, 210.

3 Page 678. * Eke, 4.

5 In London Illustrated News.

SUPPOSED INDIFFERENCE TO FAME 139

In respect to Bacon, assuming him to have
been the author, two diverse if not inconsistent
views have been suggested. One is, that he had
such reasons for concealing the authorship that
he did nothing to preserve the manuscripts, but
destroyed them. The other is, that although
he did not preserve the manuscripts, he did take
pains to preserve the plays themselves, and in
fact supervised the issue of the Folio edition
in 1623. Some considerations bearing more
directly upon the theory of Bacon's authorship
will now be adverted to.

CHAPTER IX

BACON AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS. — HIS CARE FOR HIS
WRITINGS. — UNFAMILIARITY WITH ENGLISH PLAYS
AND POETRY. HIS OWN VERSES

FRANCIS BACON was the son of Sir Nicholas
Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. His mo-
ther was Ann, second daughter of Sir Anthony
Cooke,1 and was eminent for piety, virtue, and
learning. He was born January 22, 1561, in
York House in the Strand, London, and died
in 1626. He was frail in -health ; he went to
Trinity College, Cambridge, before he was thir-
teen ; in 1576 he went to France for nearly three
years ; and after his father's death, in February
1579, he returned and applied himself to the
study of law. It seems hardly too much to say
that more is known of the details of his life
than of the life of any other person of that time.

1 Attempts have been made through cipher disclosures to show
that Bacon was the son of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester,
and that he was the author not only of the Shakespearian plays, but
also of works attributed to various other writers, including Greene,
Marlowe, Peele, Spenser, and Burton. The enterprising character of
these attempts becomes apparent upon a slight consideration of the
problems that must be grappled with. This phase of the subject
will not be dealt with in these Notes. It is briefly treated of in John
Fiske's article in the Atlantic Monthly for November, 1897, Forty
Years of Bacon-Shakespeare Folly ; reprinted in A Century of Science,
and Other Essays.

BACON AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS 141

A biography of him was published in 1657 l by
William Rawley, D. D. (born 1588 ; died 1667),
who had been chaplain and amanuensis or as-
sistant to Bacon, and afterwards was chaplain to
Kings Charles I and Charles II. He was thirty-
eight years old at Bacon's death. His Life of
Bacon is on all hands considered authentic.
Hallani calls it "the best authority we have."2
Spedding says that shortly after 1616 " Bacon,
becoming lord keeper, selected him [Rawley] for
his chaplain ; and during the last five years of
his life, which were entirely occupied with liter-
ary business, employed him constantly as a kind
of literary secretary." 3 Kawley is said to have
been the only man among Bacon's personal
acquaintances by whom any particulars of his
life have beeft recorded ; 4 and after Bacon's
death, he was intrusted by the executors with
the care and publication of his papers. The
memoir was published more than thirty years
after Bacon's death, as an introduction to a
volume called " Resuscitation ; or bringing into
public light several pieces of the works, civil,
historical, philosophical, and theological, hith-
erto sleeping, of the Rt. Hon. Francis Bacon,"
etc. Rawley himself certifies to his intimate fa-
miliarity with Bacon during the last years of the
latter's life. In the Natural History published

1 Republished in 1 Bacon, 33. 2 Vol. 3, p. 97 n.

8 1 Bacon, History and Plan, etc., xv. 4 Ib,

142 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

by Rawley in 1627, he prefixes an Address to the
Reader, in which he says : " Having had the
honor to be continually with my lord in compil-
ing of this work, and to be employed therein, I
have thought it not amiss ... to make known
somewhat of his lordship's intentions touching the
ordering and publishing of the same." And in
the memoir he says : " The last five years of his
life, being withdrawn from civil affairs and from
an active life, he employed wholly in contem-
plation and studies. ... In which time he
composed the greatest part of his books and writ-
ings, both in English and Latin, which I will
enumerate." He adds, " I have myself seen at
the least twelve copies of the Insfcauration, revised
year by year one after another, and every year
altered and amended in the frame thereof." 3

Later biographers of Bacon have been numer-
ous, including Campbell, Basil Montagu, W.
Hepworth Dixon, Richard W. Church, Edwin
A. Abbott, John Nichol, and especially James
Spedding, who has brought before the world all
the known writings of Bacon, with the fullest
details in respect to his life. In the prefatory
statement of the History and Plan of his edition
of Bacon's works, he says that every authentic
writing and every intelligibly reported speech
of Bacon will be set forth at full length, with
explanatory narrative, so that this will contain a

1 4 Bacon, 155. 2 1 Bacon, 43. 8 1 Bacon, 47.

BACON'S CARE FOR HIS WRITINGS 143

complete biography of the man, — the most
copious, minute, and fair that he can produce.1
To this he afterwards added The Letters and
the Life of Bacon, including all his Occasional
Works, not already printed in the former edition.
The letters are very numerous.

When preparing for death, Bacon wrote to
the Bishop of Lincoln : —

"I find that the ancients, as Cicero, Demosthenes,

Plinius Secundus, and others, have preserved „

Bacon's

both their orations and their epistles. In imi- care for his
tation of whom, I have done the like to my ^^S8-
own, which nevertheless I will not publish while I live ;
but I have been bold to bequeath them to your lordship
and Mr. Chancellor of the Duchy. My speeches perhaps
you will think fit to publish: the letters many of them
touch too much upon late matters of state to be published ;
yet I am willing they should not be lost."

He thus provided for the preservation of writ-
ings which were to be withheld, for a time at
least, from the public. In 1621 he made a draft
of a will, containing a clause as follows : —

" My compositions unpublished, or the fragments of
them, I require my servant Harris to deliver to my bro-
ther Constable, to the end that if any of these be fit in his
judgment to be published, he may accordingly dispose of
them."

In his will, dated December 19, 1625, he pro-
vided for having fair books bound of all his
writings, for different institutions of learning,

1 Page xiii.

144 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

and said : " I have made up two register books/'
one being of orations and speeches, the other of
epistles or letters. These he bequeathed to the
Bishop of Lincoln. He commended the rest of
his papers to the care of Sir John Constable and
Mr. Bosville. These, Spedding thinks, probably
remained locked up for fourteen months. Bos-
ville went to the Hague, lived there several
years, and died in 1647. He consulted Isaac
Gruter about certain philosophical works written
in Latin. The result was a volume published in
1653.1

It thus appears that the last five years of
Bacon's life, from 1621 to 1626, were largely
devoted to the composition or revision of his
writings. He felt the importance of preserving
what he had written, even though not intended
for early publication, and he wrote and rewrote
his principal works both in English and in
Latin, being distrustful of the permanent vitality
of English, as a classical language.2 He left his
unpublished manuscripts, and some that had
been published, in fair copies, carefully corrected
in his own handwriting. This supervision ex-
tended even to Fragments, referred to in the
draft of his will in 1621. The following exam-
ples of these may be found in his works as now
published : Valerius Terminus,3 Filum Labyrin-
thi,4 Cogitata et Visa,5 Calor et Frigus.6

1 5 Bacon, 187, 188. 2 1 Bacon, xvi. 8 6 Bacon, 9, 16.
4 16., 415. 6 7 Bacon, 101. 6 Ib., 173.

UNFAMILIARITY WITH ENGLISH POETRY 145

Amongst other writings left by Bacon is the
curious collection called Promus.1 This _

^ Unfamiliar-

was begun December 5. 1594:. and itywith

• , £ i En&Hsh

consists ot apophthegms, proverbs, plays and

verses from the Bible, lines from
Latin poets, neatly turned sentences, forms of
expression and of salutation, and scraps of various
kinds. Mrs. Pott, the editor of a recent edition
of Promus, says that the English proverbs are
all taken from the single collection of J. Hey-
wood's Epigrams, published in 1562.

Spedding also, in Bacon's Letters and Life,
publishes a Note-Book, now in the British
Museum, in Bacon's handwriting, dated in July,
1608, containing a memorandum of things to be
done or to be borne in mind in his own affairs,
and with frequent reference to his writings.
This is so personal that Spedding hesitated to
publish it.

In all of Bacon's writings which are extant,
including his letters, his Promus, and his private
Note-Book, there not only is no allusion to the
plays and poems published as Shakespeare's, but
there is nothing whatever to show that he had
any familiarity with English poetry, dramatic
or otherwise. Rawley mentions nothing of the
kind in his memoir, and Spedding has discov-
ered nothing. If Bacon had written the plays,
and especially if he had revised the Folio edition

1 14 Bacon, 7.

146 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

for publication, it would seem that Rawley
would have known it, and after thirty years
would have felt free to mention it, especially
when bringing to light other writings by him.
Neither Kawley nor any other of Bacon's bio-
graphers gives any support to the idea of his
authorship of the plays.

Reference is sometimes made to Bacon's ex-
pressed opinion of dramatic poetry, which was
as follows : —

"Dramatic poesy, which has the theatre for its world,
would be of excellent use if well directed. For the stage is
capable of no small influence, both of discipline and of cor-
ruption. Now of corruptions in this kind we have enough ;
but the discipline has in our times been plainly neglected.
And though in modern states play-acting is esteemed but as
a toy, except when it is too satirical and biting ; yet among
the ancients it was used as a means of educating men's
minds to virtue. Nay, it has been regarded by learned
men and great philosophers as a kind of musician's bow by
which men's minds may be played upon. And certainly it
is most true, and one of the great secrets of nature, that
the minds of men are more open to impressions and affec-
tions when many are gathered together than when they are
alone." x

So far as observed by me, Bacon nowhere
makes any quotation from or allusion to any
English play, or indeed any English poem what-
ever. He made no account of English poetry.
All outside facts point to this conclusion. When

i 8 Bacon, 441.

BACON'S ACKNOWLEDGED VERSES 147

one's mind is saturated with poetry, he is apt
to show some signs of it in his speech or letters.
Even Saint Paul on Mars Hill quoted from two
Greek poets.1 Nothing of the kind is found in
Bacon. Amongst his Apophthegms is the fol-
lowing : —

" Mr. Savill was asked by my lord of Essex his opinion
touching poets ; who answered my lord : He thought them
the best writers, next to those that write prose." 2

This seems to express Bacon's own opinion.
Drummond, in his Notes of Jonson's conversa-
tions in 1619, says : —

"At his [Jonson's] hither coming, Sir Francis Bacon
said to him, He loved not to see Poesy go on other feet
than poetical Dactylus and Spondaeus." 8

That is to say, he loved not the Iambic metre,
in which English plays were written. There is
very good reason to think that this opinion was
sincere. Spedding, in speaking of the publica-
tion of the Folio edition in 1623, goes so far as
to doubt if Bacon ever heard of Shakespeare's
plays, though for thirty years they had been
filling the theatres.4

In considering this question, one naturally in-
quires what poetry acknowledged by
Bacon has come down to us. The

, , , verses.

only poems known to have been written

1 Aratus and Cleanthes, Kenan's St. Paul, c. 7, n. 100.

2 13 Bacon, 343. » Ed. 1842, p. 22.
* 2 Bacon, 223 n. See also Elze, p. 387.

148 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

by him, which are now extant, are the Transla-
tions from the Psalms. These were written in
the spring of 1625. It is conceded on all hands
that they show no signs of the genius or poeti-
cal skill of Shakespeare. They may be found
in vol. 14 of Bacon's Works, but samples will be
given here.

His translation of the 1st Psalm is as fol-
lows : —

" Who never gave to wicked reed
A yielding and attentive ear ;
Who never sinner's paths did tread,

Nor sat him down in scorner's chair ;
But maketh it his whole delight

On law of God to meditate,
And therein spendeth day and night :
That man is in a happy state.

" He shall be like the fruitful tree,

Planted along a running spring,
Which, in due season, constantly

A goodly yield of fruit doth bring :
Whose leaves continue always green,

And are no prey to winter's power :
So shall that man not once be seen

Surprised with an evil hour.

" With wicked men it is not so,

Their lot is of another kind :
All as the chaff, which to and fro

Is tossed at mercy of the wind.
And when he shall in judgment plead,

A casting sentence bide he must :
So shall he not lift up his head

In the assembly of the just.

BACON'S ACKNOWLEDGED VERSES 149

" For why ? the Lord hath special eye

To be the godly 's stay at call :
And hath given over, righteously,
The wicked man to take his fall."

This rendering may be compared with either
of the versions by Watts, beginning : —

" Blest is the man who shuns the place ; "
or

" Happy the man whose cautious feet ; "
or

" The man is ever blest."

Bacon's translation of the 90th Psalm begins
thus : —

" O Lord, thou art our home, to whom we fly,
And so hast always been from age to age :
Before the hills did intercept the eye,

Or that the frame was up of earthly stage.

One God thou wert, and art, and still shall be ;
The line of Time, it doth not measure thee."

This may be compared with the versions by
Watts, beginning : —

" Through every age, eternal God,"
or

" Our God, our help in ages past."

A portion of Bacon's rendering of the 104th
Psalm is as follows : —

" All life and spirit from thy breath proceed,
Thy word doth all things generate and feed.
If thou withdraw'st it, then they cease to be,
And straight return to dust and vanity ;

150 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

But when thy breath thou dost send forth again,
Then all things do renew and spring amain ;
So that the earth, but lately desolate,
Doth now return unto the former state."

This may be compared with the version in the
Episcopal collection : —

" By thee alone the living live,

Hide but thy face, their comforts fly ;

They gather what thy seasons give,

Take thou away their breath, they die ;

But send again they spirit forth

And life renews the gladdened earth."

In judging of Bacon's acknowledged poetry,
it is of course to be borne in mind that even a
good poet may at times write bad verses, and
therefore the fact that Bacon wrote such poor
poetry in these translations may not of itself
be absolutely decisive against his authorship of
the plays ; but the peculiarity in his case is,
that never by any accident did he stumble upon
a single good line. If we are looking for an
unknown author of remarkably fine poetry, we
are not likely to spend much time upon writers
whose only acknowledged poetry is remarkably
bad.

It is also said that Bacon wrote one or more
sonnets, though none of them survives. There
is also a little poem beginning : —

" The world 's a bubble, and the life of man
Less than a span."

BACON'S ACKNOWLEDGED VERSES 151

This is thought by some to have been written
by Bacon, and Spedding thinks this theory
probable, though not absolutely proved. Ac-
cording to him, the Translations from the
Psalms are " the only verses certainly of Bacon's
making that have come down to us, and proba-
bly with one or two slight exceptions the only
verses he ever attempted."

In judging of Bacon's poetical skill, only
poems known to have been written by him can
properly be taken into account.

It is not, however, necessary to doubt that at
times he may have essayed to write verses. This
fact, if established, signifies nothing. Very
many persons of note in various branches of
learning have tried to write verses, and either
have failed entirely or come lamely off. But in
1625 Bacon's faculties were still unimpaired.
No biographer says that they had begun to fail.
The proposition of the Baconians involves the
conclusion that the writer of The Merchant of
Venice, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night's
Dream had degenerated into writing such clumsy
verses as the Translations from the Psalms, and
that he deemed the latter worthy of preservation
and of publication with his name, but ignored
the former.2

1 14 Bacon, 109.

2 Substantially the foregoing1 view as to Bacon's unf amiliarity with
English plays and poetry and his acknowledged verses was presented
by me at greater length in 1866, in an article printed in the Spring-

152 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

In one instance only, so far as now known by
Bacon not me, was Bacon's name mentioned in
regarded as his own time as a poet, though lists
more or less complete of poets of the
time were not uncommon. In John Stow's An-
nals or General Chronicle of England, continued
to the end of 1614 by Edmond Howes, published
in 1615, it is said : " Our modern and present
excellent poets, which worthily flourish in their
own works, and all of them in my own know-
ledge lived together in this Queen's reign. Ac-
cording to their priorities [chronologically ?] as
near as I could, I have orderly set down."
Then follow twenty-seven names, including Ba-
con and Shakespeare.1 No other contempo-
rary, it is believed, ever spoke of Bacon as a
poet.

In 1598 Meres mentioned over forty extant
poets, but not Bacon. In the same year Richard
Barnfield published Remembrance of Some Eng-
lish Poets, with a warm tribute to Shakespeare,
but no allusion to Bacon. In 1600 John Bo-
denham published Belvedere, or the Garden of
the Muses, in which were enumerated twenty-
five " modern and extant poets that have lived
together." Shakespeare is amongst them ; Bacon
is not. England's Helicon and England's Par-
nassus, both published in the same year, contain

field Republican, reviewing the first edition of Holmes's The Author-
ship of Shakespeare.

1 Wilder's Life of Shakespeare, 171, 172.

BACON NOT REGARDED AS A POET 153

extracts from Shakespeare, but do not mention
Bacon. In 1603 Camden published the Remains
of a Greater Work concerning Britain, and in
the Epistle Dedicatory speaks of Sidney, Spenser,
Daniel, Holland, Jonson, Campion, Drayton,
Chapman, Marston, and Shakespeare, but says
nothing of Bacon. Drayton, in his poetical
Epistle to Henry Reynolds, mentions over twenty
English poets, including Shakespeare, but not
Bacon. In the Return from Parnassus, pub-
lished in 1606, various contemporary poets are
mentioned, including Constable, Daniel, Davis,
Drayton, Jonson, Lodge, Marlowe, Marston,
Spenser, Watson, and Shakespeare, but not
Bacon. In 1619 Jonson gave to Drummond
opinions or criticisms upon many contemporary
or recent poets, but did not speak of Bacon as a
poet, though he twice referred to him otherwise.
He also said "that next himself only Fletcher
and Chapman could make a mask ; " thus ignor-
ing Bacon's efforts in that direction. In 1817
Drake published his very elaborate and exhaust-
ive work, Shakespeare and his Times, and after
giving particulars of the more noted poets, added
a Table with the names of no less than one hun-
dred and ninety-three minor miscellaneous poets
during the age of Shakespeare. Bacon is not
included.

If the fact that Stow or Howes put Bacon's
name into a list of poets shows that in some

154 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

instances, as early as 1615, Bacon had essayed
to write verses, the fact that nobody else spoke
of him as a poet shows that no poetry written
by or commonly attributed to him was generally
deemed worthy of notice.

CHAPTER X

AUTHOKSHIP OF THE POEMS

A SEPARATE consideration may be given to
the question of the authorship of the Poems, in
respect to which there are some facts which are
not directly applicable to the question of the
authorship of the Plays.

In 1593 the poem of Venus and Adonis was
published, with a motto of two lines
from Ovid, and a Dedication signed Adonis, and
William Shakespeare, addressed " To
the Right Honorable Henry Wriothesley, Earl
of Southampton and Baron of Titchfield," say-
ing :—

"Right Honorable, I know not how I shall offend in
dedicating my unpolished lines to your Lordship, nor how
the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to
support so weak a burden, only if your Honor seem but
pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take
advantage of all idle hours, till I have honored you with
some graver labor. But if the first heir of my invention
prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a god-
father," etc.

The Earl of Southampton was born in 1573,
and died in 1624. He was educated at Cam-

156 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

bridge, and went to London in 1590. Drake
says of him : —

" If we except a constitutional warmth and irritability of
temper, and their too common result, an occasional error
of judgment, there did not exist, throughout the reigns of
Elizabeth and James, a character more truly amiable, great,
and good than was that of Lord Southampton." l

The above Dedication is thought by Halliwell-
Phillipps to have been without previous permis-
sion, and perhaps without any previous personal
acquaintance. New editions of the poem were
published in 1594, 1596, 1599, 1600, and two
editions in 1602. The motto shows that the
writer had some acquaintance with Ovid.

The Rape of Lucrece was published in 1594,
with a Dedication signed William Shakespeare,
and addressed like the former one. It says : —

" The love I dedicate to your Lordship is without end ;
whereof this pamphlet without beginning is but a superflu-
ous moiety. The warrant I have of your honorable dispo-
sition, not the worth of my untutored lines, makes it assured
of acceptance. What I have done is yours, what I have to
do is yours, being part in all I have, devoted yours. Were
my worth greater, my duty would show greater, meantime,
as it is, it is bound to your Lordship ; to whom I wish long
life, still lengthened with all happiness."

This Dedication is thought to show that
Shakespeare had then become warmly attached
to Southampton, and to contain an expression of
gratitude for favors conferred in the interval.2

1 Page 358. 2 1 H.-P. 93.

AUTHORSHIP OF THE POEMS 157

New editions of Lucrece were published in 1598,
1600, 1607, and 1616.

Drake says that Southampton revisited Lon-
don in 1599, and went daily to the theatre from
admiration of the genius of Shakespeare.1 In
a letter dated October 11, 1599, he is spoken of
as spending his time " merely in going to plays
every day." 2 No letter of undisputed authority
from Southampton referring to either of these
poems or to Shakespeare is extant. The fact of
the two dedications is indisputable, and South-
ampton must have allowed them to stand, since
the new editions were so frequent, and he must
have known from whom they came. It is believed
by some, from a tradition to that effect, that he
gave to Shakespeare a substantial sum of money
in acknowledgment of them. There is no record
of any correspondence or other communication
between Bacon and Southampton prior to 1603.
At that time Bacon, after appearing against
Essex and Southampton on their trial for treason,
wrote to the latter a brief and formal letter,
showing on its face much misgiving as to how
it would be received, and by inference negativ-
ing any intimacy between them. Unless it can
be supposed that Southampton was acting in
collusion with Bacon and Shakespeare to palm
off Shakespeare upon the world as the author of

1 Page 355.

2 Drake, 353 ; 1 H.-P. 160. In the latter work it is printed " mer-
rily."

158 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

poems written by Bacon, we have virtually the
testimony of Southampton in favor of Shake-
speare's authorship of these two poems at least.
There is nothing in the known relations of
Southampton with Bacon, or in his character, to
make it probable that he would lend himself to
such a scheme.

The contemporary opinion of two writers may
be here cited. In 1598 Kichard Barnfield, in
his Remembrance of Some English Poets, says :

" And Shakespeare, thou, whose honey-flowing vein
Pleasing the world, thy praises doth obtain,
Whose Venus, and whose Lucrece, sweet and chaste,
Thy name in Fame's immortal book have placed ;
Live ever you, at least in fame live ever :
Well may the body die, but fame dies never."

In the same year Francis Meres, a master of
arts of both universities, published a volume
called Palladis Tamia, Wits' Treasury. It con-
tained " A Comparative Discourse of our Eng-
lish Poets with the Greek, Latin and Italian
Poets." Numerous references are made to Shake-
speare, sometimes in connection with other names,
and sometimes alone. He referred to certain
of the poems as follows : " The sweet witty soul
of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued
Shakespeare ; witness his Venus and Adonis, his
Lucrece, his sugared sonnets among his private
friends."

Shakespeare was also called " honey-tongued "

AUTHOESHIP OF THE POEMS 159

by John Weever, in a poem published in 1599,
and " mellifluous " by Hey wood in 1635. Chet-
tle in 1603 spoke of his " honied muse." The
mention of him in Belvedere, in England's Heli-
con, and in England's Parnassus, all published in
1600, and also in Camden's Remains, published
in 1603, has already been noted.1

The Sonnets were first printed in 1609, and
A Lover's Complaint appeared as an t

j. XT J /* ,.,. Sonnets.

appendix. JNo second edition was
printed during Shakespeare's lifetime. It is
doubted by some whether he assented to their
publication. If they related to Shakespeare's
personal experiences, this doubt would become
stronger. The mention by Meres shows that as
early as 1598 some of them were in circulation
in manuscript amongst Shakespeare's private
friends, and that Meres had seen them. This
makes it rather probable that he had a personal
acquaintance with Shakespeare, and that the
Sonnets thus in circulation were really written
by Shakespeare, unless Meres can in some way
be discredited, or unless it can be supposed that
Bacon furnished sonnets for Shakespeare to cir-
culate privately in manuscript as his own. If
the Sonnets were addressed to real persons, no
explanation of their origin is to be derived from
any known experiences of Bacon. At any rate,
it would seem that Shakespeare's private friends,

1 Ante, pp. 152, 153.

160 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

amongst whom they were circulated, accepted
them as his, and that he permitted their circula-
tion in private.

"The Passionate Pilgrim. By W. Shake-
Passionate speare. At London. Printed for W.
Pilgrim. Jaggard," appeared in 1599. At some
time afterwards there appears to have been a sec-
ond edition, of which no copy remains. In 1612
there was a third edition, printed by W. Jaggard,
which included some poems by Thomas Hey-
wood, and the whole were attributed to Shake-
speare. This annoyed Heywood, who wrote to
his publisher, Nicholas Okes,1 a letter which is
printed in his Apology for Actors,2 saying : -

" Here likewise I must necessarily insert a manifest in-
jury done me in that work by taking the two epistles of
Paris to Helen and Helen to Paris and printing them in a
less volume under the name of another, which may put the
world in opinion I might steal them from him ; and he, to
do himself right, hath since published them in his own
name ; but as I must acknowledge my lines not worthy his
patronage under whom he hath published them, so the
author I know much offended with M. Jaggard that (alto-
gether unknown to him) presumed to make so bold with his
name."

Heywood's prose, like Chettle's, is rather in-
volved, but he clearly means that Shakespeare
was much offended with Jaggard for printing
under his name the poems of Heywood. That
is to say, Heywood was referring to Shakespeare,

1 Elze, 319. 2 1 H.-P. 218.

AUTHORSHIP OF THE POEMS 161

not to Bacon, when he said he knew the author
was much offended. Heywood thus asserts his
personal knowledge that Shakespeare was much
offended, and his testimony on this point has
much significance.

It is not certain that all of the other portions
of the Passionate Pilgrim were written by Shake-
speare.1 Elze sums up the matter by saying,
" Even after a most careful examination, it can-
not be said how much of it is genuine, and this
much alone seems certain, that the really genuine
portion is very inconsiderable." 2 It does not
appear that he sanctioned the publication of the
first edition, and Heywood certifies to the con-
trary as to the third. Therefore no great weight
is to be given to the fact of the publication of
this poem in Shakespeare's name, independently
of the circumstance mentioned by Heywood.

In 1601 Robert Chester published his poem
Love's Martyr, to which were added The Phoenix
short poems signed with the names of and Turtle.
Shakespeare, Marston, Chapman, and Jonson.
This volume, edited by Alexander B. Grosart,
was republished in 1878. Chester, if Grosart's
identification of him is correct, was a man of
some consequence in his day, though now forgot-
ten but for his connection with Shakespeare.
He was born in 1566, married an earl's grand-
daughter, was sheriff of Herts in 1599, was

1 Lee, 182. 2 Page 319.

162 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

knighted in 1603, and died in 1640. In 1596
Henry Holland dedicated his Christian Exercise
of Fasting to him. The title-page of Love's
Martyr contained the following : —

" Love's Martyr, or Rosalin's Complaint, allegorically
shadowing the truth of Love, in the constant fate of the
Pho3nix and Turtle. A Poem enterlaced with much vari-
ety and rarity, now first translated out of the venerable
Italian Torquato Cosliano, by Robert Chester. ... To
these are added some new compositions of several modern
writers, whose names are subscribed to their several works,
upon the first subject, viz., the Pho3nix and Turtle."

The Dedication was to Sir John Salisbury,
and began thus : —

" To the Honorable and (of me before all other) honored
Knight, Sir John Salisburie, one of the Esquires of the body
to the Queen's most excellent Majesty, Robert Chester
wisheth increase of virtue and honor. Posse et nolle, no-
bile. Honorable Sir," etc.

After the poem of Love's Martyr there was
another title-page, as follows : —

" Hereafter follow divers poetical essays on the former
subject, viz., the Turtle and Phoenix. Done by the best
and chiefest of our modern writers, with their names sub-
scribed to their particular works ; never before extant.
And (now first) consecrated by them all generally to the
love and merit of the true-noble knight, Sir John Salisburie.
Dignum laude virum musa vetat mori. MDCI."

Among the poems which followed were the
poem now called The Phoenix and Turtle, signed
William Shakespeare, another signed John Mars-
ton, another signed George Chapman, and two

AUTHORSHIP OF THE POEMS 163

signed Ben Jonson. There appears to be no
room for doubt that Shakespeare actually fur-
nished this poem of The Phoenix and Turtle for
publication in the volume with Chester's poem.
So far as known, its authenticity has not been
questioned. Grosart thinks Chester's poem
meant Queen Elizabeth by the Phoanix and the
Earl of Essex by the Turtle, and that Shake-
speare also wrote in the same sense, and that,
notwithstanding the appeals made to him, he
f orebore to write any lines on the death of Queen
Elizabeth because of the execution of Essex.
However that may be, Shakespeare's contribution
of this poem affords a natural inference that
he was acquainted with Chester and Salisbury,
as well as with Marston, Chapman, and Jonson.
And if this poem signed with Shakespeare's
name was furnished by Bacon, it would seem to
imply that Chester and Salisbury, if not Marston
and Chapman, as well as Jonson, were in the
secret of the imposture and aided in it. Sir
John Salisbury was born in 1567, married a
daughter of the Earl of Derby, and died in
1613. His home was in Denbigh, Wales. He
was a son of John Salisbury and the celebrated
Catherine Tudor, of Berain, of whom an inter-
esting account is given in Pennant's Tour in
Wales. In 1600—1 he was Member of Parlia-
ment for the county of Denbigh. He was sur-
named the Strong, and his motto appears to

164 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

have been, "Posse et nolle, nobile," — To have
power and not to use it, is noble. Chester placed
this motto at the head of his Epistle Dedicatory;
and Hugh Griffith also had a poem in the vol-
ume with the same heading. The sentiment
of the motto was familiar to the writer of the
Shakespearian plays. Isabella, in Measure for
Measure, says : —

" O, it is excellent

To have a giant's strength ; but it is tyrannous

To use it like a giant." 1

And the Countess, in All 's Well that Ends

Well, says : —

" Be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use." 2

Holmes says, "It has scarcely ever been
doubted, among critics, that the sonnets, smaller
poems, and plays were the work of one and the
same author." 3 Accepting this statement as
correct and well founded, the circumstances of
the production and publication of the poems
have been given, to aid in forming an opinion
whether Bacon furnished them as well as the
plays to Shakespeare. If this theory is found
to be incredible, and if Shakespeare's authorship
of Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, the Sonnets, and
The Phoenix and Turtle is beyond dispute, this
aids in believing that he was also the author of
the plays.

i H, ii, 107. 2 I, i, 58. 8 Page 187.

CHAPTEK XI

INTERNAL EVIDENCE. — STYLE. — LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
OF WARWICKSHIRE. — USE OF LOCAL AND TRADE
TERMS

IN considering the question of Bacon's author-
ship, one is led to examine and see if there are
any particular signs or indications in the plays
and poems themselves which throw light upon it.

Much stress has been laid by Holmes upon
certain parallelisms of thought and ex- paraljel.
pression found in Bacon's writings and isms>
in the plays. And it is said that a German
writer, Borrman, has made a similar collec-
tion in Das Shakespeare Geheimniss, — The
Shakespeare Mystery. So far as seen, these
have not impressed me much, and they will be
passed by without comment in these Notes.1

The style of composition of the plays seems
curiously impossible for Bacon. Proba-
bly no instance can be found in litera-
ture where one writer has been able continu-
ously to adopt styles so different from each

1 Supposed parallelisms between Bacon and Jonson have been
noted by Alfred Waites, in articles called Did Ben Jonson write
Bacon's Works? in Shakespearian for 1889, pp. 145, 241, 298.
See also pp. 412, 415.

166 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

other. Two opinions on Bacon's style may be
cited. Spedding says : —

" I doubt whether there are five lines together in Bacon
which could be mistaken for Shakespeare, or five lines in
Shakespeare which could be mistaken for Bacon, by one
who was familiar with the several styles, and practised in
such observation. ... If there were any reason for suppos-
ing that the real author was somebody else, I think I am
in a condition to say that, whoever it was, it was not Francis
Bacon." l

Campbell says, —

" In general they [the letters of Bacon] are written in a
stiff, formal, ungraceful style, and when the writer tries to
be light and airy we have such a botch as might have been
expected if Horace Walpole had been condemned to write
the Novum Organum. . . . He employed himself in a
metrical translation into English of some of the Psalms of
David — showing by this effort, it must be confessed, more
piety than poetry. His ear had not been formed, nor his
fancy fed, by a perusal of the divine productions of Surrey,
Wyat, Spenser, and Shakespeare, or he could not have pro-
duced rhymes so rugged, and turns of expression so mean.
Few poets deal in finer imagery than is to be found in the
writings of Bacon ; but if his prose is sometimes poetical,
his poetry is always prosaic." 2

Some critics from a study of the plays and
poems infer that the character of the writer
must have been far different from that of Ba-
con. Dowden, for example, in Shakspere, His
Mind and Art,3 seeks from such an examination
to gain " a real apprehension of Shakespeare's

1 Letter to Holmes, cited in 2 Authorship of Shakespeare, 617.

2 Lives of Lord Chancellors, 130 (Murray's ed. 1857).
8 Pages 2, 3.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE 167

character ; " " not such an apprehension as mere
observation of the externals of the man . . .
would be likely to produce ; " but " to attain to
some central principles of life in him which ani-
mate and control the rest, ... to pass through
the creation of the artist to the mind of the crea-
tor." He compares Shakespeare with Bacon, and
finds that they stand far apart, and that in moral
character and in gifts of intellect and soul there
is little resemblance between them. He says : —

" Bacon's superb intellect was neither disturbed nor im-
pelled by the promptings of his heart. Of perfect friend-
ship or of perfect love he may, without reluctance, be pro-
nounced incapable. Shakespeare yielded his whole being
to boundless and measureless devotion." l

Tennyson seems to have entertained a some-
what similar opinion. He said, as reported in
the Life of him by his son : —

" The way in which Bacon speaks of love would be
enough to prove that he was not Shakespeare. ' I know
not how, but martial men are given to love. I think it is
but as they are given to wine, for perils commonly ask to
be paid in pleasures.' How could a man with such an idea
of love write Romeo and Juliet ? " 2

Brandes goes further, and his Critical Study
of Shakespeare rests largely upon the assump-
tion that even the temporary moods of Shake-
speare can be traced in the plays, and he seeks
thus to fix their chronological order.3 Our own

1 Page 18. 2 Vol. 2, pp. 423, 424.

8 Pages 401, 402, 451, 462, 463, 476, 533, 572, 689, inter alia.

168 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

eminent Shakespearian scholar, Furness, on the
other hand, expresses an entire distrust of all
such theories. In the Preface to As You Like
It, he says : —

" I confess to absolute scepticism in reference to the
belief that in these dramas Shakespeare's self can be dis-
covered (except on the broadest lines), or that either his
outer or his inner life is to any discoverable degree reflected
in his plays."

Boas seems inclined to entertain a similar
opinion, though he expresses it less positively.1

Amongst modern writers, probably Sir Walter
Scott more than any other resembles Shakespeare
in the character of his genius. Before the au-
thorship of the Waverley Novels had been dis-
closed, in 1821, John L. Adolphus published a
book containing (according to Lockhart)2 much
acute criticism founded upon internal evidence
pointing to Scott as the author. He said : —

" It may, I think, be generally affirmed, on a review of
all the six-and -thirty volumes in which this author has re-
lated the adventures of some twenty or more heroes or
heroines (without counting second-rate personages), that
there is not an unhandsome action or degrading sentiment
recorded of any person who is recommended to the full
esteem of the reader." 3

However much the essential principles of his
character may be reflected in his writings, Scott
was a marked example of superiority to tem-

1 Pages 90, 91.

2 6 Lockhart's Life of Scott, 129 (Boston ed.
8 16., 142.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE 169

porary moods and circumstances. Lockhart says
of Rob Roy : —

"The novel had indeed been a tough job — for lightly
and airily as it reads, the author had struggled almost
throughout with the pains of cramp, or the lassitude of
opium."

According to the same authority Scott was
suffering acutely, and incapable of the manual
exercise of writing, when he produced the far
greater portion of The Bride of Lammermoor,
the whole of A Legend of Montrose, and almost
the whole of Ivanhoe. Woodstock was written
in a time of the greatest depression, not only from
impaired health, but from the loss of property
and the death of his wife. An attempt to infer
Scott's changing experiences, feelings, and emo-
tions from a perusal of his novels would fail.
That which was inherent, so as to be a part of
his nature, might to some extent show itself;
but that which sprung from temporary circum-
stances could not be clearly traced.

In respect to Shakespeare it cannot be con-
sidered as established that his temporary moods,
or his experiences, are reflected in the plays.
But this phase of the subject will not be further
dwelt on here. There are, however, in the
plays and poems various other features, allu-
sions, and details which will now be noticed,
and which have a material bearing upon the
question of authorship.

170 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

In the first place, there are various indica-
Locaiac- tions that the writer had a local ac-
^tlnwar-e quaintance with Stratford and War-
wickshire, wickshire. I have not found anything
to show that Bacon was ever in that part of
England.

It is generally thought that in The Merry
Wives of Windsor reference is made to Sir
Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote Park, and that he is
personated or ridiculed in the character of Justice
Shallow. The occasion for so doing is open to
doubt. By some it is supposed that Shake-
speare had been punished in his youth for steal-
ing deer from the park ; but this is doubted by
others. But, whatever the occasion, the allu-
sion to Sir Thomas is thought to be clear.1 Ac-
cording to Drake,2 the grounds on which this
tradition rests are as follows : Thomas Jones,
born in 1613, lived at Tarbick, eighteen miles
from Stratford, and he could remember having
heard from several very aged people at Stratford
the whole history of the poet's transgression,
and could repeat the first stanza of the ballad,
and it was taken down from his recitation. This
story, if true, shows that Shakespeare was writ-
ing pungent and punning verses before he left
Stratford, and it also accounts for the passages
in the play by showing a foundation for them

1 Knight, 486-488; Elze, 107-112; Drake, 199, 200; Lee, 29, 173.

2 Drake, 197-200.

KNOWLEDGE OF WARWICKSHIRE 171

in Shakespeare's own experience. The authen-
ticity of these lines is distrusted by Lee.1

In the Taming of the Shrew, it is believed
by some that the scene of the Induction was in-
tended to be in the neighborhood of Stratford.2
Stephen Sly and Christopher Sly were the names
of persons living there.3 Sly speaks of Burton
Heath and Wincot, which were two villages near
Stratford. Halliwell-Phillipps thinks Marian
Hacket, old John Naps, Peter Turf, and Henry
Pimpernell were also real characters.4 Elze5
imagines that in the Induction Shakespeare was
relating incidents from his own youthful life at
Stratford, with secret pleasure. There was an
earlier play, The Taming of a Shrew, upon a
similar subject, from which the name of Christo-
pher Sly and portions of the plot and language
were taken. Whether Shakespeare had anything
to do with writing it is not yet settled.

In 2 King Henry IV, Silence nicknames Pistol,
" Goodman Puff of Barson." Barson, also called
Barston, was a village between Coventry and
Solyhall.6 It is said by Wise to be the popular
corruption for Barton.7

In the same play 8 Davy, servant to Justice
Shallow, says : " I beseech you, sir, to counte-

1 Pages 28, 29. 2 Lee, 164.

3 Lee, 167 ; 2 H.-P. 296, 307, 308.

4 Vol. 2, p. 307. 5 Pages 56, 97.
6 Drake, 25. 7 Page 79.

8 V, i, 36.

172 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

nance William Visor of Woncot [or Wincot, as it
is sometimes printed] against Clement Perkes
o' the hill ; " thus asking favor for Visor, whom
Shallow calls an arrant knave. Drake1 thinks
Woncot or Wincot may have been the village
or a public-house on Burton Heath. Wise
explains it thus : —

" Now the Cherry Orchard Farm ... is still called the
Hill Farm ; and whoever lives there is to this day spoken of
as Mr. A. or Mr. B. of the Hill, and is so named from time
immemorial in the Weston parish register. Whilst Wincot
is still the name of a farm some three miles to the left,
where probably there was once a village, the same Wincot
where Christopher Sly runs fourteen pence in debt with
Marian Hacket for sheer ale, or rather Warwickshire
ale. . . . Depend upon it, all these people really existed, —
good Justice Shallow, and Davy his servant, and Marian
Hacket and her daughter Cicely at Wincot ale-house, and
Clement Perkes of the Hill." 2

Madden,3 however, refers this scene to Glouces-
tershire, at or near Dursley, and says that a
Clement Perkis or Perkes was born there in
1568 ; that a spur of Cotswold received the
distinctive name of the Hill ; that Woncot or
Woodmancote is not far distant ; that Arthur
Vizard was bailiff of Dursley in 1612 ; and that
there is a tradition that Shakespeare passed
some portion of his early life with relatives in
Dursley. He thinks that at the outset Shake-
speare had no intention of identifying Shallow

1 Page 24. 2 Page 76.

8 Diary of Master William Silence, 86-88.

KNOWLEDGE OF WARWICKSHIRE 173

with Sir Thomas Lucy, but came to it after-
wards. There seems reason to think that a
local allusion was intended, though the precise
place may be in doubt.

The Forest of Arden, in As You Like It, sug-
gests Warwickshire. It is true that the scene
of Lodge's novel, upon which the play was in
part founded, and the Forest of Arden there
mentioned, were in France. Shakespeare adopted
the name, and to some extent the locality.
Thus, Oliver speaks of his brother Orlando as
" the stubbornest young fellow of France."
But there was a Forest of Arden in Warwick-
shire^ and the name of Shakespeare's mother was
Mary Arden. The general tone and flavor of
the details of the play are English .rather than
French. Furness says England is its home.2
Touchstone refers to English money when he
says, " I should bear no cross if I did bear you,
for I think you have no money in your purse ; "
referring to the English penny, which was called
a cross.3 White 4 says the Arden family took its
name from the wooded country. De Boys,
Jaques, and Audrey were Warwickshire names.5

Ward 6 says that the notion of the tradesmen's
play in Midsummer Night's Dream must have
been primarily suggested to Shakespeare by the

1 I, i, 127. 2 Pref. vii.

3 Rolfe. 4 Mem. of Shakespeare, 7, 8.

5 Furness, As You Like It, 2, 4, notes.

6 Vol. 2, p. 86.

174 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

performances of the guilds with which his na-
tive county was specially familiar.

Wise mentions many flowers and also birds
of the region which are referred to in the plays.
Some of the flowers bear unusual names, by
which they are still known in Warwickshire,
as " long-purple," " love-in-idleness," " crow-
flowers." Two varieties of primroses are found
near Stratford, hence the description " pale "
primroses.2 He also mentions various kinds of
apples spoken of in the plays, which are found
in Stratford and vicinity, if not peculiar to that
locality ; e. g., " leathern-coats," " bitter-sweet-
ings," " apple-Johns," " pippins," " carraways,"
" pome waters." " Warden-pies " are spoken of
in The Winter's Tale, and the warden pear still
grows in Warwickshire.3 Wise also says that
people about the Weir Brake, near Stratford,
still believe, as in Shakespeare's time, that the
fern-seed, gathered with certain rites on Midsum-
mer's day, can make them invisible.4

The Queen in Hamlet says, —

" There is a willow grows aslant a brook
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream." 6

Beisley, cited by Furness, notes that this willow,
the tSalix alba, grows on the banks of the Avon,
and from the looseness of the soil the trees partly
lose their hold, and bend aslant over the stream.6

1 Pages 60-62. 2 Page 66.

8 Pages 96-99. 4 Page 80.

5 IV, vii, 167. 6 Furness, 1 Hamlet, 370.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

175

Knight1 mentions various instances of local
knowledge of Gloucestershire, Coventry, Sutton-
Coldfield, Shrewsbury, Hinckley Fair, Wincot,
etc., and he adds that " the poet has given War-
wick an early importance which the chronicles
of the age do not assign to him." 2 He gives
a striking illustration of minute knowledge of

the region near Warwick, taken from 3 King
Henry VI, V, i, 1, in the scene on the walls of
Coventry, as follows : 3 —

" Warwick. Where is the post that came from valiant

Oxford ?
How far hence is thy lord, mine honest fellow ?

1st Mess. By this at Dunsmore, marching hitherward.
Warwick. How far off is our brother Montague ?
Where is the post that came from Montague ?

2d Mess. By this at Daintry, with a puissant troop.
(Enter SIR JOHN SOMERVILE.)

Pages 164r-166.

169.

Page 170.

176 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Warwick. Say, Somervile, what says my loving son ?
And, by thy guess, how nigh is Clarence now ?

Somerv. At Southam I did leave him with his forces,
And do expect him here some two hours hence.
(Drum heard.)

Warwick. Then Clarence is at hand : I hear his drum.

Somerv. It is not his, my lord ; here Southam lies ;
The drum your honor hears marcheth from Warwick."

Dunsmoor Heath lies southeast of Coventry;
Daventry is also southeast, and further away ;
Southam a little east of south; and Warwick
ahout south.

In 1 King Henry IV the " sandy-hottomed
Severn " is mentioned, and also the " smug and
silver Trent." Dray ton — a Warwickshire man
— also speaks of the silver Trent in the Shep-
herd's Sirena. This river is not in Warwickshire,
but is near by.

In The Merry Wives of Windsor it is said, " He
was outrun on Cotsall." According to Wise,
Cotsall is the pronunciation still in vogue by the
peasantry for the Cotswold Hills.1 Collier says
they were celebrated for coursing.

Killingworth (used in The Merry Wives) was
the local pronunciation for Kenilworth,2 and this
term was also used by Dray ton.3

Elze says that the scenery in Midsummer
Night's Dream, in The Winter's Tale, and in As
You Like It corresponds exactly with the scenery

1 Page 78. 2 Kolfe.

3 Baron's Wars, . V, 29.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE 177

in Warwickshire.1 He also finds reason to think
that the scene in The Merry Wives of Windsor,
where Sir Hugh Evans examines the boy Page,
is taken from Shakespeare's own experience in
Stratford. Shakespeare had a Welsh teacher,
Thomas Jenkins, who is supposed to be repre-
sented by Sir Hugh ; and William Page is sup-
posed to be William Shakespeare.2 Elze develops
this theory at some length. He also notes that
Shakespeare often used names from his native
district,3 e. g., Page, Bardolph, Fluellen, Ford,
Brome, Herne, Evans, Peto. This suggestion is
carried further in the London Athenaeum for
February 9, 1889 (referred to by William Winter
in Gray Days and Gold), in a communication by
John Taylor, saying that the following Shake-
pearian names are found in the registers of Strat-
ford, and of the surrounding parishes, viz.,
Fluellen, Bardell (Bardolph), Court, Roughbe
(Rugby), Peto, Page, Pratt, Clemens Perkes,
Vizor, Jourdain or Jurden, Seacoal, Hacket,
Poyns, Curtis, Slye, Dumbleton (Dombledon),
Bates, Dull, Seyton, Squele, and Luce. In addi-
tion the names of Bottom, Fabian, Boult (Bolt),
and Finton (Fenton) have been found in the
neighborhood. To these should be added Jaques
(or Jakes), De Boys, and Audrey.4 The use of
so great a number of Warwickshire names tends

1 Page 47. 2 Pages 37, 38.

8 Page 56. * Ante, p. 173.

178 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

to show a special acquaintance with that region,
such as Bacon would not be likely to have.

Bosworth Field is about thirty miles from
Stratford. There was a tradition in that neigh-
borhood that King Richard dreamed of ghosts ;
and it is added, by Knight/ that Shakespeare's
ancestor was probably an adherent of the Earl
of Richmond, and for his faithful services was
rewarded by lands in Warwickshire. The field
of Bosworth would therefore have for Shake-
speare a family as well as a local interest.

A passage in Romeo and Juliet is thought to
show a local origin : —

" As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
"Where for this many hundred years the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are packed." 2

This idea, it is said,3 was probably suggested
by the charnel at Stratford, which is very large,
and probably contains more bones than any
other similar repository in England. A cut of
this may be found in Rolfe's edition of Shake-
speare.4

It has also been noted that an instance like
Macbeth's negotiation with the assassins5 oc-
curred in 1589 near Stratford,6 which must have

1 Pages 173, 174. 2 IV, iii, 39.

3 See Rolfe's note ; also citation in Furness, Romeo and Juliet,
230 n.

4 Vol. 1, p. 8 ; also in notes to Romeo and Juliet.

5 III, i.

6 Hunter, quoted in Furness, Macbeth, 149 n.

LOCAL AND TRADE TERMS 179

been well known to Shakespeare, and may have
furnished the idea.

As a slight circumstance, it may be mentioned
here that Richard Field, a Stratford man, whose
father, according to Halliwell - Phillipps,1 was
known to Shakespeare's father, printed Venus
and Adonis in 1593, and Lucrece in 1594.

In the next place, attention may be given to
the use of language in the plays which

* 4.1. 1 1M. ± 1 £ Use of local

savors ot the locality, or is taken from and trade
occupations with which Shakespeare
was familiar. There are also found certain local
peculiarities of pronunciation.

The phrase " aroint thee, witch," used in Mac-
beth and in King Lear, has not been found in
the published works of any other author. It
was, however, in Shakespeare's time a familiar
phrase with the lower classes of Stratford, as is
shown by the town records,2 where it is narrated
that a woman used the phrase " arent the, witch,"
as a term of abuse. Furness says two instances
of " arunte " have been found in a manuscript
of Trinity College, Dublin.3

In The Winter's Tale, the clown says : —

<; Let me see : every 'leven wether tods ; every tod yields
pound and odd shilling ; fifteen hundred shorn, what comes
the wool to ? " 4

1 1 H.-P. 89. 2 1 H.-P. 130.

3 Furness, K. Lear, 196 n. 4 IV, iii, 31.

180 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

A tod is twenty-eight pounds. The meaning
is : 1 Every eleven wether will produce twenty-
eight pounds of wool ; every twenty-eight pounds
of wool will yield a pound and some odd shil-
lings ; what then will the wool of fifteen hun-
dred yield ? Shakespeare's father dealt in wool.2
In As You Like It, Rosalind says : —

" And this way will I take upon me to wash your liver
as clean as a sound sheep's heart, that there shall not be
one spot of love, in it." 8

Again, in the same play, Corin says : —

" We are still handling our ewes." ..." And they (our
hands) are often tarred over with the surgery of our
sheep." 4

In 2 King Henry IV, Silence says : —
"A score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds." 6

In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Speed
says : —

" Twenty to one, then, he is shipped already,
And I have played the sheep in losing him." c

This is a pun on the word " sheep," showing
that it was pronounced " ship." A similar play
upon the word is found in The Comedy of Errors
and in Love's Labor 's Lost. In Warwickshire
and in some other counties " sheep " was pro-

1 Drake, 17 ; Elze, 22.

2 The word " tod " is also used by Beaumont and Fletcher, in The
Pilgrim, thus : " A hundred crowns for a good tod of hay." Ill, i.

8 III, ii, 386. 4 III, ii, 47, 55.

* III, ii, 49. 6 I, i, 72.

PROVINCIALISMS 181

nounced "ship ; " 1 and in Stratford, Sheep Street,
it is said by Wise,2 is invariably pronounced
Ship Street by the lower orders ; as " creek " is
pronounced " crik " in some parts of the United
States. He also tells us that " juice " rhyming
with " voice," and " ear " with " hair," as used
in Venus and Adonis, are both Midland pronun-
ciations.3

" Blood-boltered," in Macbeth,4 is a Warwick-
shire phrase,5 applied to animals whose hair or
wool becomes matted from perspiration, and
whose blood also issues out and becomes coagu-
lated.

" Incensed the lords," in King Henry VIII,6
i. e., instructed or informed the lords, is a pro-
vincialism in use in Staffordshire, and probably
in Warwickshire.7

Wise also gives a long list of provincialisms,
common in Warwickshire, and some of them in
use elsewhere, which are found in the plays,
examples of which are as follows : 8 " A mankind
witch," for a violent woman ; " we cannot miss
him," for we must not miss him ; a " deck " of
cards, for a hand of cards, instead of a pack ;
" forecast," as verb and noun ; " pugging-tooth,"
for pegging or peg-tooth ; the use of " old " as

1 1 Shakespeare (Boston ed. 1846), p. 85 n. 2 Page 33.

s Pages 149, 150. * IV? ^ 123<

6 Malone, cited by Furness, Macbeth, 214.

6 V, i, 43. 7 Kolfe, quoting Nares.

8 Pages 104-114, 150-157.

4

182 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

signifying an unusual disturbance or ado, as, e. g.,
" old turning the key," " old swearing," " old
abusing of God's patience," " Yonder 's old coil
at home ; " " prick-eared," for a pert and up-
start person, a use peculiar to the neighborhood
of Stratford ; " man and boy," to denote length
of time ; " straight," for at once, as, e. g., " make
her grave straight ; " " quoth," as applied to
inanimate things, as, " Shake, quoth the dove-
house ; " the use of " me " in phrases like these,
" he rests me," " he eats me," " it ascends me,"
" puts me, her white hand to his cloven chin ; "
"child," for girl; "gull," for an unfledged
nestling ; " contain yourself ; " " master," as a
prefix to a person's name, as Master Teuton and
Master Brook.

The following instances of provincialisms have
been noted by others : —

" Dared once to touch a dust of England's ground." 1

" A dust " was a Midland Counties' expression
within the last few years.2

" The element," for the sky. Vaughan cites
a similar use by a peasant in South Pembroke-
shire.3

" Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper." 4
According to Nares, " crow-keeper " is used for

1 K. Rich. H, H, iii, 91. 2 1 Vaughan, 179.

8 Ib., 590. * Romeo and Juliet, I, iv, 6.

PROVINCIALISMS 183

scarecrow in all the Midland Counties,1 and
Drayton, who was from Warwickshire, so used
it.

" They say the owl was a baker's daughter." 2
This was a common story among the vulgar in
Gloucestershire, which adjoins Warwickshire.3

" Collied Night." 4 « Collied " is a word still
in use in the Midland Counties.5 It is also
found in Othello, and in Jonson's Poetaster.

" Thisne, thisne," 6 meaning in this manner,
is also provincial. 7

" His eyes were green as leeks." '
Furness gives a modern instance of the use of
this expression in Wales.9

" Dobbin, my fill-horse." 10

The use of " fill " for thill or shaft is said to be
not known in England except as a provincialism
in the Midland Counties.11

1 Cited in Furness, Romeo and Juliet, 53, 54.

2 Hamlet, IV, v, 40.

3 Furness, 1 Hamlet, 332 n., citing Douce.

4 Mids. N. D., I, i, 145.

5 Steevens, cited in Furness, Mids. N. D., 20 n.

6 Mids. N. D., I, ii, 45.

7 Furness, Mids. N. D., 38, 39, n.

8 Mids. N. D., V, i, 326.

9 Furness, Mids. N. D., 233 n.

1° Mer. Yen., II, ii, 86. n Rolfe.

184 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

"And this cushion my crown." 1

Country people in Warwickshire used a cushion
for a crown in their harvest-home diversions. 2

" If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle." 8
" Fillip " is taken from filliping a toad. It was
a common sport of Warwickshire boys to put a
toad on one end of a short board, placed across
a small log, and then to strike the other end
with a bat, thus throwing the toad high in the
air. This is called filliping the toad. A three-
man beetle is a heavy rammer with three handles,
used in driving piles. This might be used to
fillip a heavy weight, like Falstaff.4

" He '11 be meet with you," 5 i. e., even with
you, or a match for you, was a common expres-
sion in the Midland Counties.6

After making due allowance for the fact that
some of the flowers, fruits, names of characters,
local and trade terms, and provincialisms, which
are referred to, may have been known or used in
other provincial counties than Warwickshire, it
nevertheless seems pretty clear that Bacon was
less likely than Shakespeare to be acquainted
with most of them.

1 1 Hen. IV, H, iv, 368. 2 Dr. Letherland, quoted by Rolfe.

8 2 Hen. IV, I, ii, 215. 4 Steevens, quoted by Rolfe.

6 Much Ado, I, i, 39. 6 Steevens, quoted by Rolfe.

CHAPTER XII

ACQUAINTANCE WITH RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS OF
LOWER CLASSES ; WITH ENGLISH SONGS, BALLADS,
AND PLAYS. — ANACHRONISMS AND OTHER ERRORS.
— OBSCURITIES IN THE TEXT

ANOTHER distinguishing feature which has
been observed in the plays is the familiar ac-
quaintance of the writer with rural life, and
especially with the people of the lower ranks,
and their conversation, customs, sports, and
festivals. Bacon would be less likely to have
this knowledge than Shakespeare, at least re-
specting those incidents which belonged pecul-
iarly to the common people or more humble
classes.

Drake, in Shakespeare and his Times, gives an
elaborate and detailed account of country life in
Shakespeare's time,1 with its manners and cus-
toms, its holidays and festivals, its diversions,
etc., with instances of references to them in the
plays. Only a few of these will be cited here,
as illustrative examples.

The season of sheep-shearing was distinguished
by a special feast. In The Winter's Tale this

1 Part 1, cc. 5-8.

186 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

feast is several times referred to. The clown,
who was calculating how much the wool would
bring, is preparing for a feast of this kind, and

" Let me see ; what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing
feast ? Three pound of sugar ; five pound of currants ;
rice — what will this sister of mine do with rice ? But my
father hath made her mistress of the feast, and she lays it
on. She hath made me four and twenty nosegays for the
shearers, three-man song men all, and very good ones ; but
they are most of them means and bases ; but one puritan
amongst them, and he sings psalms to hornpipes. I must
have saffron to color the warden pies ; mace ; dates, none,
that 's out of my note ; nutmegs, seven ; a race or two of
ginger, but that I may beg ; four pound of prunes, and as
many of raisins o' the sun." I

Various other rural festivals are described by
Drake, with the modes of celebrating them ; also
the wakes, fairs, weddings, christenings, buri-
als, the morris-dances, the strolling players, the
games, and the juvenile sports, all of which, he
says, are referred to in the plays in a manner
which leaves no doubt that the writer was famil-
iar with them. Knight 2 also says that Shake-
speare mentions country sports always as familiar
things, though his mature writings touch lightly
upon them.

In connection with these subjects, mention
may be made of the custom of hawking and
peddling. Autolycus, in The Winter's Tale, is

i IV, iii, 35. 2 Page 196.

RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS 187

the chief example of this class of people. Drake
says of him : l —

" The witty rogue Autolycus being drawn with those
strong but natural strokes of broad humor which Shake-
speare delighted to display in his characterization of the
lower orders of society."

The servant's description of Autolycus and
his wares is graphic and minute : —

" O master, if you did but hear the peddler at the door,
you would never dance again after a tabor and pipe ; no,
the bagpipe could not move you: he sings several tunes
faster than you '11 tell money ; he utters them as he had
eaten ballads and all men's ears grew to his tunes. . . .
He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes ; no milliner
can so fit his customers with gloves : he has the prettiest
love-songs for maids ; so without bawdry, which is strange ;
with such delicate burthens of dildos and fadings, 'jump
her and thump her ; ' and where some stretch-mouthed
rascal would, as it were, mean mischief and break a foul
gap into the matter, he makes the maid to answer, i Whoop,
do me no harm, good man ; ' puts him off, slights him, with
' Whoop, do me no harm, good man.' . . . He hath ribbons
of all the colors i' the rainbow ; points more than all the
lawyers in Bohemia can learnedly handle, though they
come to him by the gross : inkles, caddisses, cambrics,
lawns : why, he sings 'em over as they were gods or god-
desses ; you would think a smock were a she-angel, he so
chants to the sleeve-hand and the work about the square
on 't." 2

Then Autolycus enters, singing : —

" Lawn as white as driven snow ;
Cypress black as e'er was crow ;
Gloves as sweet as damask roses ;
i Page 577. 2 IV, iv, 181 et seq.

188 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Masks for faces and for noses ;

Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,

Perfume for a lady's chamber ;

Golden quoifs and stomachers,

For my lads to give their dears ;

Pins and poking-sticks of steel,

What maids lack from head to heel :

Come buy of me, come ; come buy, come buy ;

Buy, lads, or else your lasses cry ;

Come buy."

Afterwards, Autolycus came in and told of
his success in selling his wares : —

" Ha, ha ! what a fool Honesty is ! and Trust, his sworn
brother, a very simple gentleman ! I have sold all my
trumpery ; not a counterfeit stone, not a ribbon, glass,
pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove,
shoe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack from fasting :
they throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets had
been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer/'
etc., etc.1

The plays abound in low-lived characters, and
their colloquial and slang expressions, such as
were in common use in the lower ranks, drop
out of their mouths like their native language.
The writer was also familiar with country inns
and ale-houses, and with the food and beverages
of the peasantry. Instances to show this are
cited by Drake.2

There are many allusions to country sports.
Some illustrations may be given.

1 IV, iv, 587. 2 Partl,cc. 5, 7.

COUNTRY SPORTS 189

In two instances language is taken from bear-
baiting.1

" But, bear-like, I must fight the course." 2

" I am tied to the stake, and I must stand the course." 8

" Bat-fowling " is spoken of in The Tempest.4
" With assays of bias " 5 is a metaphor from
the game of bowls, meaning a ball sent on a
curve ; that is, in the text, indirect attempts.6
" There 's the rub " is also a term of bowls.7
The sentence, " If the young dace be a bait
for the old pike," 8 may have come from Shake-
speare's own experience, as there was trolling
for pike with dace for bait in the Avon.9

Two phrases from hunting are used in Ham-
let,10 and one in Othello.

" Why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if
you would drive me into a toil ? " n

" How cheerfully on the false trail they cry !
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs ! " 12

" Counter " means when a hound hunts back-
wards.13

" I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound that
hunts, but one that fills up the cry." 14

1 Steevens, cited in Furness, Macbeth, 289 n.

2 Macbeth, V, vii, 2. 3 K. Lear, III, vii, 54.
4 II, i, 176. 6 Hamlet, II, i, 65.

6 Clarendon, cited in Furness, 1 Hamlet, 123 n.

7 Clarendon, cited in 16., 210 n. 8 2 K. Hen. IV, III, ii, 321.
9 1 Vaughan, 515.

10 Singer, cited in Furness, 1 Hamlet, 269 n.

11 Hamlet, III, ii, 337. 12 Hamlet, IV, v, 106.
13 Clarendon, cited in Furness, 1 Hamlet, 339 n.

u Othello, II, iii, 353.

190 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

The snaring of woodcock is also alluded to.
" Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric." l

The woodcock is trained to decoy other birds,
and sometimes while strutting incautiously too
near the springe, it becomes itself entangled.2

Different games are mentioned.
" The nine men's morris is filled up with mud." 8

This was a game played in Warwickshire. Turf
was dug up for it.4 The game is also referred
to in All 's Well, and in King Henry V.

" And the quaint mazes in the wanton green." 6

This refers to another game.6

The opinion prevails very generally amongst
Acquaint- critical writers that Shakespeare began
his career as a dramatist by retouch-
ing or remodelling old plays, some of
plays. which were in print and others in

manuscript, and which were probably in the
possession of the theatre. This view is accepted
by Drake,7 Knight,8 Gervinus,9 Elze,10 Fleay,11
Boas,12 Brandes,13 Lee,14 Ward,15 Whipple,16 and

1 Hamlet, V, ii, 298. 2 Furness, 1 Hamlet, 449 n.

8 Mids. N. D., II, i, 98.

4 James, cited in Furness, Mids. N. D., 63 n.

6 Mids. N. D., II, i, 99.

6 Steevens, cited in Furness, Mids. N. D., 64 n. 7 Page 468.

8 Page 357. 9 Page 101. 1° Page 299.

11 Pages 16-19, 23, 25, Life and Work of Shakespeare.

12 Page 134. 13 Pages 18, 19. " Page 47.
15 Vol. 2, p. 22. 16 Literature of the Age of Eliz., 32.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH SONGS 191

Emerson ; 1 and no doubt by others. This view,
if sound, accounts for the remarkable familiarity
with them which is shown in the Shakespearian
plays, as noted hereafter.

The acquaintance of the writer of the plays
with English songs and ballads has often been
adverted to. Percy says : —

" Dispersed through Shakespeare's plays are innumerable
little fragments of ancient ballads, the entire copies of
which could not be recovered." 2

Many of these, no doubt, existed only in
manuscript. Drake says : —

" Throughout his dramas, indeed, a peculiar partiality for
these popular little pieces is very manifest ; he delights to
quote them, wherever he can find a place for their intro-
duction." 3

He adds that many of these come from the
clowns or fools, or persons of disordered minds ; 4
and he gives many illustrations of references to
romances, tales, ballads, and songs. It is also
certain that the writer must have been well ac-
quainted with English poetry. Drake says, with
reference to this : 5 —

" That Shakespeare was an assiduous reader of English
poetry ; that he studied with peculiar interest and attention
his immediate predecessors and contemporaries, there is
abundant reason to conclude from a careful perusal of his
volume of miscellaneous poetry, which is modelled on a
strict adherence to the taste which prevailed at the opening
of his career."

1 Ante, p. 11. 2 1 Percy KeL, 259 (ed. 1847).

3 Page 278. * Ib., 284. 5 Page 352.

192 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Free use was also made of existing English
plays, some of which were in manuscript, the
property of the theatre. This was done some-
times by direct quotation or adaptation of the
language, but oftener by borrowing plots, inci-
dents, or scenes, improving upon the originals,
and glorifying the thoughts which he found in
them, as Raphael did in borrowing from Perugi-
no's pictures. This is the province of genius.
Occasionally a phrase was borrowed or adapted
for the purpose of ridicule or raillery.

Some illustrations will be given, including ref-
erences to plays then unpublished. In respect
to these, however, positive demonstration is of
course usually difficult.

Measure for Measure 1 is taken in part from
Whetstone's prose narrative of Promos and Cas-
sandra, printed in 1582, and perhaps from the
play by the same author ; and Whetstone is
thought to have borrowed from one of Cinthio's
Italian plays.

The Winter's Tale2 is founded on Greene's
Dorastus and Fawnia, 1588, otherwise called The
Triumph of Time.

The plan of As You Like It3 is borrowed
from Lodge's pastoral romance, Rosalynde,
1590.

1 Elze, 331 ; Gervinus, 485 ; Boas, 28, 358 ; 1 Ward, 216 ; 2 Ward,
154.

2 Elze, 337 ; 1 Ward, 388, 389 ; 2 Ward, 192.
8 Gervinus, 387 ; 1 Ward, 412 ; 2 Ward, 129.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH PLAYS 193

King John,1 according to Gervinus and Elze,
follows an old play of the same name. Fleay 2
says it was founded on two plays by Peele, Mar-
lowe, and Lodge, the plot being closely followed,
and a few lines borrowed.

The Taming of the Shrew 3 has resemblances
to another play, The Taming of a Shrew, printed
in 1594, the authorship and priority of which
are not positively settled ; and it has been
thought that perhaps both were founded on an
earlier play, not now extant. Gascoigne's Sup-
poses,4 published in 1587, is thought to have
furnished one of the incidents of Shakespeare's
play, as well as the name Petruchio.

King Lear, according to Ward,5 was founded
upon an earlier play, acted April 6, 1593, en-
tered on the Stationers' Register in 1594, and
probably printed soon afterwards. No copy,
however, is now known to be extant.6

Titus Andronicus 7 is thought by some to be
merely a retouching of an earlier play.

Romeo and Juliet, published in 1597, was
founded partly upon an English poem by Arthur
Brooke, printed in 1562, and reprinted in 1582 8

1 Gervinus, 353 ; Elze, 338. 2 Fleay, Life, etc., 27.

3 1 Ward, 264, 312, 359 ; 2 Ib. 90-93 ; 3 Shakespeare (Camb. ed.),
Pref. viii ; 1 H.-P. 215 ; 2 Ib. 280 ; Shakespearian for 1887, p. 297,
article by Alfred R. Frey.

* Drake, 304, 457 ; 1 Ward, 263 ; Boas, 22.

5 1 Ward, 224 ; 2 16. 175.

6 Furness, King- Lear, App. 353. 7 Rolfe, Introd. 13.
8 Malone, quoted by Furness, Romeo and Juliet, 397.

194 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

or 1587.1 Furness2 quotes Boswell, Collier,
Lloyd, Halliwell, and Dyce, as thinking that
Shakespeare may have used an earlier play ; and
White,3 as having a conviction that the Romeo
and Juliet which has come down to us was first
written by two or more playwrights, of whom
Shakespeare was one, and that subsequently
Shakespeare rewrote this old play. Drake 4 says
that some imagery in Act V was borrowed from
Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond.

Romeo and Juliet contains an allusion to King
Cophetua, in the line - —

" When King Cophetua loved the beggar maid." 5
Again, in 2 King Henry IV Falstaff says : —

" O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news ?
Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof." (

Again, in Love's Labor 's Lost,7 in Don Adri-
ano's letter, King Cophetua is alluded to, and
the beggar's name is given as Zenelophon.
Percy thinks this is a corruption for Penelophon,
1 Percy Rel., 205 n.

There was an old ballad on King Cophetua,
reprinted by Percy,8 which it would seem was
first printed in 1612. Nares, in a passage quoted
by Furness,9 says : —

1 Gerviiras, 209. 2 Pages 399-408.

3 Page 421. 4 Page 512.

6 II, i, 14. 6 V, iii, 100.

7 IV, i, 64 et seq. 8 1 Percy Rel., 202.
9 Furness, Romeo and Juliet, 89 n.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH PLAYS 195

"It has been conjectured that there was some old
drama on this subject, from which probably the bombastic
lines spoken by Ancient Pistol [error for Falstaff] were
quoted."

Warburton 1 took the same view.

Furness cites Hartley Coleridge, who, after
quoting from Drayton's Heroical Epistles, 1593,
a passage resembling lines spoken by Romeo,

says : —

" The number of passages in Drayton's Heroical Epistles
almost identical with lines of Shakespeare, prove that the
one must have been indebted to the other." 2

There is a striking resemblance between Ju-
liet's words, —

" At lovers' perjuries,
They say, Jove laughs," 8 —

and a passage in Marlowe's Translation of Ovid's
Art of Love, which is as follows : —

" For Jove himself sits in the azure skies,
And laughs below at lovers' perjuries." 4

The history of the play of Hamlet has already
been referred to. There was an earlier play,
not now extant, dating back to 1587 or 1589,
which in the opinion of Dyce, as quoted by Fur-
ness,5 was never printed. Some writers think it
was written by Shakespeare, and others not.
Their opinions are cited at some length by Fur-

1 1 Percy Rel., 201. 2 Romeo and Juliet, 99 n.

8 II, ii, 92. 4 Furness, Romeo and Juliet, 102 n., citing Douce.

5 Furness, 2 Hamlet, 9. '

196 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

ness. Lee attributes this lost play to Kyd.1
The inquiry of present interest, however, relates
to Bacon. Did Bacon write the earlier play, and
afterwards in 1603 or 1604 revise it, and put it
into the form in which it has come down to us ?
Or did he obtain from the theatre or otherwise
the manuscript copy of that play, and remodel
it ? Either supposition is attended with difficul-
ties. In Hamlet's talk with the players,2 he refers
to a play containing " ^Eneas' tale to Dido ; and
thereabout of it especially, where he speaks of
Priam's slaughter." This play, so far as known,
was never published. Indeed, by some 3 it has
been thought that there was no such play, and
that the lines were written merely for Hamlet.

Hamlet's exclamation, " 0 Jephthah, judge of
Israel, what a treasure hadst thou ! " 4 refers to
a ballad,5 probably then unpublished ; and in
1602 Dekker and Chettle were paid for writing
a tragedy on the same subject.6

The Two Gentlemen of Verona, mentioned by
Meres in 1598, was partly founded on Monte-
mayor's Diana, a Spanish romance, of which an
English translation existed in manuscript as early
as 1583, though it was not published until 1598.7

Timon of Athens, first printed in the First

i Lee, 221. 2 n ii} 440 et geq

3 Cited by Furness, 1 Hamlet, 180-186 note.

* II, ii, 398. 5 i percy R^ 193> 194<

6 Furness, 1 Hamlet, 174, citing Collier.

7 2 Ward, 80 ; Brandes, 53.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH PLAYS 197

Folio, 1623, is thought to have been based on
an earlier manuscript play, now lost.1 The edi-
tors of the Cambridge Shakespeare say : " The
original play on which Shakespeare worked must
have been written, for the most part, either in
prose or in very irregular verse." Ward 3 says
that this is the more general view, and that no
traces of such old play remain. So far as known,
it never was printed.

In Pericles, some writers think that Shake-
speare completed the work of a predecessor, and
others that he collaborated with another writer
in its composition.4 The subject is discussed
with some fullness by Ward.5

The origin of the three parts of King Henry
VI has been the subject of much inquiry. Ward
thinks that Part First was the work of several
hands ; G and that Shakespeare was the chief agent
in revising and reforming earlier plays on which
Parts Second and Third were founded, though
probably Marlowe had some share in it.7 He
gives a summary of the views of different writers
upon the disputed question whether Shakespeare
had a part in the composition of the earlier
plays.8 However this may have been, there is
certainly much difficulty in introducing Bacon

1 Drake, 553 ; Brandes, 557, 558. 2 7 Shakespeare, Pref . vii.

8 2 Ward, 178.

4 Drake, 480; 2 Hallam, Lit. Eur., 238 n. ; 3 Ib. 327, 328.

5 2 Ward, 180-184. 6 2 Ward, 73.

7 16., 71. 8 See Gervinus, 118 ; Lee, 58-60.

198 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

either as sole writer or collaborator. Ward
also says that there is a noticeable similarity be-
tween a number of passages in Parts Second and
Third and a corresponding Series in Marlowe's
Edward II.1 Fleay says that 3 King Henry VI
has many parallel passages from Marlowe and
others.2

The Tempest is thought by Ward 3 to have
been borrowed to some extent from a German
play, The Fair Sidea, by Jacob Ayrer, Shake-
speare's knowledge of that play probably hav-
ing been gained through English actors who
had returned from Germany. Furness,4 however,
thinks there are no common points of any im-
portance, and he gives a translation of the whole
play.5 Charles Lamb 6 thought that one passage
had reference to some old narrative upon which
the story was founded.

In The Merchant of Venice, it is thought that
an old play, mentioned by Gosson in 1579 in
his School of Abuse, was used.7 If this old
play was ever printed, no copy is known to be
now extant. The plot of The Merchant of Ven-
ice was perhaps taken from the ballad of Ger-
nutus, reprinted by Furness ; 8 but of this, again,

1 1 Ward, 348, 349.

2 Fleay, Life and Work of Shakespeare, 274.

8 2 Ward, 195. 4 Furness, The Tempest, Pref. x.

5 Pag-e 325 et seq. 6 Cited in Furness, The Tempest, 60 n.

7 Furness, Mer. Ven., 319-321; Gervinus, 231.

8 Furness, Mer. Ven., 288.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH PLAYS 199

no copy of the time of Shakespeare is known
to exist.1 The old Italian story, II Pecorone, no
English translation of which had been published
in Shakespeare's time, contained the main fea-
tures of the story of Shy lock's bond. This also
is reprinted by Furness.2 It has also been main-
tained that the prototype of Shylock is to be
found in Marlowe's Jew of Malta.3 Boas 4 says
that Greene's Orlando Furioso foreshadows a
leading situation in The Merchant of Venice.
Ward 5 mentions other possible sources of which
some use may have been made.

Fleay 6 says that Parolles's scene in All 's
Well has a distinct allusion to Marston's Jack
Drum's Entertainment, of the year before ; and
that Shakespeare reproduced many of Lyly's
puns and conceits, and some few of his dramatic
situations.7

In King Henry V, the description of the
government of the honey bees 8 is thought to have
been suggested by a similar description in Lyly's
Euphues, a romance published in 1581. 9

Possible earlier plays have also been conjec-
turally assigned as partial sources of Macbeth,10
of Midsummer Night's Dream,11 of The Comedy

1 Halliwell, cited by Furness, 292.

2 Furness, Her. Yen., 298-303.

8 See citations in Furness, Mer. Yen., 322-324 ; also Boas, 51, 216.
4 Boas, 78. 5 2 Ward, 108-111 ; 1 Ib. 140, 141 n., 340-346.

6 Fleay, Life, etc., 42. 7 Ib., 74.

8 I, ii, 187-204. 9 Knight, 239.

10 Citations in Furaess, Macbeth, App. 387.

11 Furness, Mid. N. D., Pref. xxii.

200 THE BACOX-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

of Errors/ of Troilus and Cressida,2 of Much
Ado about Nothing,3 of King Eichard II,4 of
The Merry Wives of Windsor,5 and perhaps of
some others.

In Julius Caesar, the phrase, " Et tu, Brute," '
is borrowed from the earlier play on which
3 King Henry VI was founded.7

In Much Ado about Nothing, the line,8 " In
time the savage bull doth bear the yoke," is bor-
rowed from Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, or from
Watson's Passionate Century of Love.9

In The Merry Wives of Windsor, the lines in
Sir Hugh Evans's song, —

" To shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals," 10

are borrowed from Marlowe ; but they are mis-
quoted.11

In King John,12 " basilisco-like " refers to an
old play, Solyman and Perseda,13 which was not
printed till 1599.14 As King John was written
before that time, Shakespeare had probably seen
the old play in manuscript or on the stage.

In King Henry IV, according to Gervinus,

15

1 1 Ward, 263 ; Lee, 54. a Lee, 225 ; Gervinus, 681.

8 2 Ward, 133 ; Furness, Much Ado, Pref . xxvi.
* Gervinus, 279.

6 2 Ward, 137. 6 III, i, 77.

7 6 Shakespeare (Bost. ed. 1846), 46 n. 8 ^ i? 226.

9 Lee, 222 n. ; Furness, Much Ado, 36. 10 III, i, 15.
11 Drake, 280. 12 I, i, 244.

13 3 Shakespeare (Boston ed. 1846), 275. 14 1 Ward, 309.

15 Page 335.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH PLAYS 201

Pistol speaks with bombast and affectation, in
pompous phrases gathered from miserable trage-
dies, and had crammed himself with fragments
of plays learned by heart. In 2 King Henry
IV [printed in 1600], Pistol says: "Have we
not Hiren here ? " This is taken from an un-
published play attributed to Peele,2 and called
The Turkish Mahomet and Hiren the Fair
Greek. Similar words occur also in the later
play of Eastward Ho, 1605, written by Chapman
and otherso In the same scene Pistol says : 3 —

" And hollow, pampered jades of Asia,
Which cannot go but thirty miles a day."

This is adapted 4 from the following passage in
Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great : —

" Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia !
What, can ye draw but twenty miles a day ? "

Again, in the same scene, Pistol says : —

" Then feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis." 5

This is a burlesque on a line in Peele's Battle of
Alcazar : 6 —

" Feed then, and faint not, my fair Calipolis."

In 1 King Henry IV,7 Falstaff says he will speak
in King Cambyses's vein, referring to Preston's
Cambyses.8

i II, iv, 150, 165. 2 Drake? 459 . i Ward? 374.

3 II, iv, 155. * 1 Ward, 324 n. ; Elze, 137 n.

5 II, iv, 169. 6 4 Shakespeare (Boston ed. 1846), 44.

7 II, iv, 376. 8 1 Ward, 205, 206.

202 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

In the same play, in his speech to Prince Hal,1
beginning, " Harry, I do not only marvel where
thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art
accompanied/' he also parodied Lyly's Euphu-
ism.2

Ward says that in the play of The Famous
Victories of Henry V, produced not later than
1588, we recognize familiar scenes and favorite
figures of Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V.3

In As You Like It, Phebe says : —

" Dead Shepherd, now I find thy saw of might,
Who ever loved that loved not at first sight ? "

The second line is taken from Marlowe's Hero
and Leander.5 In the same play Touchstone

says : —

" This is the very false gallop of verses : why do you in-
fect yourself with them ? "

Furness7 thinks this contains an allusion to
Nash.

In Troilus and Cressida, Troilus says : —

" Is she worth keeping ? Why, she is a pearl,
Whose price hath launched above a thousand ships." *

The second line is adapted from a line in Mar-
lowe's Dr. Faustus : —

" Was this the face that launched a thousand ships ? " 9

i H, iv, 387. 2 Boas, 72, 73.

8 1 Ward, 222, 223. 4 III, v, 80.

5 Elze, 137 n. 6 HI, ii, 103.

7 Furness, As You Like It, 146 n.

8 II, ii, 81. 9 1 Ward, 337.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH ENGLISH PLAYS 203

Eobert Greene's letter l to Marlowe, Lodge,
and Peele implies a charge that Shakespeare had
borrowed from them, and apparently in part at
least from plays which had not been published.
Drake thinks that one of these was the original
sketch of Love's Labor 's Lost.2 Boas thinks
that Shakespeare owed something to Greene in
respect to Oberon in Midsummer Night's Dream,
and also in respect to Prince Hal in Henry IV.3
It is noticeable that Greene's attack is directed
against Shakespeare, and not against Bacon.

The list of instances which indicate or at least
suggest the use of earlier plays might be ex-
tended, but enough have been given to show
that the writer of the Shakespearian plays was
in the habit of resorting freely to such sources
for plots, incidents, phrases, turns of expression,
or other assistance. Shakespeare of course
lived in the very atmosphere of the theatre
where these old plays were owned and used.
But nothing is known of Bacon which shows
that he was familiar even with such of the
romances, songs, ballads, or plays as had then
been published, and much less that he had or
could have had any knowledge of or access to
such as were still unpublished. Nor is it easy
to believe that he was ever engaged in revamp-
ing the old plays of other writers for immedi-
ate use in the theatre.

1 Copied in 1 H.-P. 301, 302.. 2 Page 483. 8 Pages 80, 82, 83.

204 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

A consideration of some weight is also to be
found in the anachronisms, the his-
nismsand torical and geographical errors, and
other mistakes found in the plays.
Bacon was a learned man, and therefore more
likely to be accurate in his writings. An argu-
ment against Shakespeare's authorship is that
probably he could not have acquired the know-
ledge, of various kinds, shown in the plays. An
argument against Bacon's authorship is that
probably he would not have fallen into the errors
found in them. Neither of these arguments is
conclusive. Assume genius, and Shakespeare
would acquire knowledge rapidly, as opportu-
nity offered. On the other hand, Spedding has
shown 1 that it was quite possible for Bacon to
fall into errors, even when writing history.
Nevertheless, the argument drawn from the ex-
istence of a great number of errors of differ-
ent kinds in the plays is worthy of attention.

Anachronisms, geographical and historical
errors, and other mistakes arising from imperfect
knowledge of, or inattention to, facts which are
only to be gathered from books, are less likely
to be found in the writings of a scholar than in
those of a man like Shakespeare. We can easily
imagine that the latter might not have the exact
facts at command, or regard accuracy in such
matters as of great importance. Neither Bacon

1 11 Bacon, Pref. and Notes to History of King Henry VII.

ANACHRONISMS AND OTHER ERRORS 205

nor Jonson, for example, would have been likely
to describe a shipwreck as occurring in Bohe-
mia/ or to make Hotspur of the same age as
Prince Henry, when he was twenty-four years
older, or to represent him as a " Mars in swath-
ling clothes, this infant warrior," when he was
in his fortieth year, or to give him his death at
the hand of Prince Henry, or to make him call
his wife Kate, when her name was Elizabeth.2

Without going into detail in enumerating
these errors, some of the sources of information
upon the subject will be mentioned. In the
first place, reference may be made to the long
list of incongruities and anachronisms given by
Douce in his Illustrations of Shakspeare. This
list, long as it is, has been added to by Gervinus,
by Elze, and by other writers. In the plays relat-
ing to the history of England, many mistakes of
much greater significance, as bearing upon this
question, have been pointed out. Some of these
are mentioned in Vaughan's Notes on Shake-

1 Winter's Tale.

2 The time of the play of King Richard II is from 1308 to 1400;
and of the First Part of King- Henry IV from September, 1402, to
July, 1403. Prince Henry was born August 19, 1388, and was there-
fore not quite fifteen years old at the battle of Shrewsbury in July,
1403. Hotspur was born May 20, 1364 ; he fought Douglas in the
battle of Otterbourne in August, 1388 ; he married Elizabeth Morti-
mer, sister of Sir Edward Mortimer ; and in July, 1403, he was killed
in the battle of Shrewsbury, not in a hand-to-hand fight, but by an
arrow shot by an unknown person. (2 Knight's Hist. England, 49.)
In King Richard II and in 1 King Henry IV he is referred to as
young, raw, and as a boy ; and in the latter play he is said to be of
the same age as Prince Henry. (I, i, 86-90 ; III, ii, 103.)

206 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

speare's Historical Plays; and others in Cour-
tenay's Commentaries on the Historical Dramas,
a work written for the purpose of showing that
the plays are not safe guides in historical details.
Courtenay says : —

" Either he or his more ancient author has taken such
liberties with facts and dates, and has omissions so impor-
tant, as to make the pieces, however admirable as a drama,
quite unsuitable as a medium of instruction to the English
youth."

Many such errors are also pointed out in the
notes to different editions of Shakespeare, as,
for example, by Malone, by Singer, and by Rolfe.
In some of these plays errors of Holinshed are
followed. Shakespeare would not naturally have
looked beyond his immediate authority for the
purpose of verifying historical facts. But Bacon
had a contempt for preceding historical writers,
which he did not hesitate to express.1 Similar
mistakes, though fewer in number, have been
found in other plays, chiefly in those represent-
ing ancient history. There are also many in-
stances of grammatical errors. Some of these
are corrected in the Cambridge edition.2

There are other considerations, partly of a
typographical character, which tend in the same
direction. It has been suggested by Holmes3

1 11 Bacon, 34, 35, Preface to History of Reign of Henry VH.

2 Vol. 1, Note 1, at end of The Tempest.
8 Pages 72-80, 341.

ERRORS AND OBSCURITIES IN TEXT 207

that Bacon, while engaged upon his other work
from 1621 to 1623, probably prepared Errors ob_
the First Folio edition for publication. ^ri^r
Holmes1 even thinks this volume may peculiarities

•f in the text.

have been the gift to Tobie Matthew
which elicited the latter 's well-known acknow-
ledgment. If Bacon wrote the plays, it certainly
is quite probable that he would make a complete
and final revision of them, in order to leave
them in as perfect condition as possible, even
though he concealed his name. He was also at
comparative leisure for two or three years before
the publication of that edition. The great care
bestowed upon his acknowledged writings has
already been adverted to. Nevertheless, it seems
to be quite certain that he did not revise the
plays for publication, either in the First Folio
edition, or in the earlier quartos. In the first
place, the theory of such revision is negatived
by the existence of the numerous errors, obscuri-
ties, and unintelligible words and passages which
are found in all the editions. These have been
the puzzle of the critics, and some are yet un-
solved. Hallam speaks of " the very numerous
passages which yield to no interpretation, knots
which never are unloosed, which conjecture does
but cut." 2 Elze says that the Folio,3 even when
measured by the standard of its own day, must

1 Pages 172 et seq. 2 3 Literature of Europe, 332.

3 Page 294.

208 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

be termed a badly and carelessly printed book.
He doubts whether Shakespeare attended to the
printing of any of the quartos, because so many
mistakes are found in them.1 Furness doubts if
Shakespeare revised the press at all.

Another noticeable feature of the First Folio
and of the earlier editions is that sometimes the
names of the actors were put for the names of
the characters represented. Rolfe has noted
instances of this kind occurring in 1 and 2 King
Henry IV, King Henry VI, and Much Ado about
Nothing,2 and in The Taming of the Shrew.
Additional instances in Romeo and Juliet and
in Midsummer Night's Dream have been noted
by Furness. In this manner the names of
Kemp, Cowley, Gabriel, Sinklo, Humfrey, Har-
vey, Rossill, Tawyer, and Jack Wilson, all ac-
tors or persons employed in the theatre, have
been embalmed.

In an article in the Critic for November, 1899,
Rolfe compiles various other information about
the First Folio and the earlier editions. He
clearly refutes the theory that Bacon could have
supervised the publication of the First Folio, and
the same considerations are to some extent appli-
cable to the earlier quartos. But if Bacon did
not supervise the publication, this fact tends to
negative the idea of his authorship.

1 Page 283.

2 See also Furness, Much Ado, Preface, v, xii.

CHAPTEE XIII

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS

IT is agreed on all hands that the writer of
the plays had an intimate knowledge of theatri-
cal matters and of stage situations and business.
Elze says, " One point on which ah1 commentators
and critics are now agreed is that Shakespeare
must have thoroughly understood the theory and
the art of acting, for of this he has given unmis-
takable evidence in the famous and often quoted
passage in his Hamlet." l Furnivall says, " Of
stage situations and business, Shakspere started
with a perfect mastery." The passage in
Hamlet is only one amongst many which sup-
port this view. But, independently of direct
exposition or statement, it is obvious that the
writer could picture to himself the action of
each scene which he presented ; he anticipated
and provided for effective representation on the
stage, both in the general arrangement of the
scenes and in matters of smallest detail. A
poet, however great in other respects, if una-
ble to do this, will hardly succeed in writing
good acting plays. Byron, Browning, and Ten-

1 Pages 235, 236. 2 Introd. to Gervinus,

210 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

nyson are instances of this. It is said that
Bulwer profited by the assistance of Macready
in Kichelieu and in Money. Tennyson was
helped by Irving in arranging Becket for the
stage. Many, if not most, of the dramatists of
Shakespeare's time were actors. Amongst these
were the two Greenes, Peele, Jonson, Heywood,
Field, Rowley, Armin, Monday, Webster, Chettle,
Kyd, Dekker, Wadeson, and probably Nash
and Wilson ; l as was also Moliere at a later date.
The plays of Shakespeare were written for the
purpose of being acted on the stage, and they
were acted with a degree of success probably not
reached by others. They abound in situations
which suggest and invite effective action. The
observant playgoer is well aware of this, and
no citations need be made for the purpose of
illustration.

In addition to this, however, some of the
plays are full of express allusions sometimes to
actors personally, but oftener to the actors' art,
habits, ways of life, thoughts, and feelings, and
in no single play is some allusion of this kind
entirely wanting. Their number is probably
greater than is generally supposed, although
reference has occasionally been made to them.
Castles, for example, gives some illustrative
instances.2 Stress has often been laid upon the

1 Fleay, Hist, of London Stage, 72, 167 ; Knight, 301 ; Collier, Life
of Shakespeare, cxii, cxiii ; 2 Hist. English Dram. Poetry, 442, 443.

2 Shakespeare, Bacon, Jonson, and Greene, 284 et seq.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 211

familiarity shown with law, medicine, insanity,
history, natural history, botany, music, naviga-
tion, and military affairs. Legal terms and
allusions have been industriously collected, and
the other branches of knowledge have not been
neglected. But since Shakespeare was an actor,
nobody has been surprised at the allusions to
the theatre. When, however, it is contended
that Bacon wrote the plays, it becomes of inter-
est to look into this matter more in detail ; and
the result of such an examination may well lead
the curious student to consider whether it would
be more remarkable that Shakespeare should
know so much about law, or that Bacon should
know so much about actors and acting. Bacon's
part in the preparation of masques and dumb
shows and his theatrical experiences when young1
(though they should not be overlooked) were too
slight and casual to be of much importance on
this question. It would probably be hard to
convince an experienced and successful Shake-
spearian actor that the plays were written by
Bacon. Booth and Irving have expressed their
opinions to the contrary.

It is only by looking at these instances in
some detail that the full force of this considera-
tion is felt. Accordingly, though with some
hesitation on account of their being so familiar

1 See 1 Ward, 219 ; Gervinus, 69, 93. Fleay, in 1 Chronicle of the
English Drama, 27, 28, gives an enumeration, apparently designed to
be complete, of Bacon's participation in the preparation of masks.

212 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

to most readers, the following list (not complete)
of such allusions is given, taking the plays in
the order of the Cambridge edition. Many of
them, as will be seen, speak from an actor's per-
sonal point of view, and are expressed in the
technical language of players ; and, it is believed,
without error or inaccuracy, such as occasionally
appears in the use of legal terms. But the opin-
ion of an intelligent actor or other competent
theatrical expert is still much to be desired upon
the two questions, whether the plays contain lan-
guage of the stage which is so purely techni-
cal that Bacon would not probably have been
familiar with it, and whether in any instances
such language is used incorrectly or inaccurately.

The Tempest.

" To have no screen between this part he played
And him he played it for." 1

" And by that destiny, to perform an act
Whereof what 's past is prologue." 2

" Prompt me, plain and holy innocence." *

" I cannot too much muse

Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing
Although they want the use of tongue — a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse." 4

" Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits." e

i I, ii, 107. 2 H, i, 243.

8 HI, i, 82. * m, iii, 36.

6 IV, i, 148.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 213
" Like this insubstantial pageant faded." 1

" When I presented Ceres,
I thought to have told thee of it." 2

A mask is performed in Act IV, Scene i.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

" At Pentecost,

When all our pageants of delight were played,
Our youth got me to play the woman's part,
And I was trimmed in Madam Julia's gown ;
Which served me as fit, by all men's judgments,
As if the garment had been made for me :
Therefore I know she is about my height.
And at that time I made her weep agood,
For I did play a lamentable part :
Madam, 't was Ariadne passioning
For Theseus' perjury and unjust flight ;
Which I so lively acted with my tears,
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly ; and, would I might be dead,
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow." 8

The Merry Wives of Windsor.
" The clock gives me my cue." 4

" Mrs. F. Mistress Page, remember you your cue.
Mrs. P. I warrant thee ; if I do not act it, hiss me." 6

" After we had embraced, kissed, protested, and, as it
were, spoke the prologue of our comedy." '

" The children must
Be practised well to this, or they '11 ne'er do it." 7

i IV, i, 155. 2 ^ i? 167i

» IV, iv, 154. * III, ii, 38.

6 III, iii, 31. e m, v, 66.

7 IV, iv, 63.

214 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies,
Finely attired in a robe of white." *

" Go get us properties
And tricking for our fairies." 2

" Fat Falstaff
Hath a great scene." 8

"Trib, trib, fairies; come; and remember your parts:
be pold, I pray you ; follow me in to the pit ; and when I
give the watch-' ords, do as I pid you : come, come ; trib,
trib." 4

The fairies are personated in Act V, Scene v.

Measure for Measure.

" I love the people,

But do not like to stage me to their eyes :
Though it do well, I do not relish well
Their loud applause and Aves vehement." 6

" As these black masks

Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder
Than beauty could, displayed," 6 —

referring probably to the masks worn by female
spectators of the play.

Comedy of Errors.
" Dromio, play the porter well." 7

Much Ado about Nothing.
" Or do you play the flouting Jack ? "

1 IV, iv, 69. 2 IV, iv, 77.

8 IV, vi, 16. * V, iv, 1.

5 I, i, 68. 6 II, iv, 78.

7 II, ii, 210. 8 I, i, 157.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 215

" I know we shall have revelling to-night ;
I will assume thy part in some disguise." ]

" Troth, my lord, I have played the part of Lady
Fame." 2

" Speak, count, 't is your cue." 8

" That 's the scene that I would see, which will be merely
a dumb show." 4

" I have studied eight or nine wise words to speak to
you, which these hobby-horses must not hear." *

"Hero and Margaret have by this played their parts
with Beatrice." 6

"You, constable, are to present the prince's own per-
son." 7

Love's Labor 's Lost.

"Where is the bush
That we must stand and play the murderer in ? " 8

" All hid, all hid, an old infant play." 9

" O, what a scene of foolery have I seen." 10

" We will with some strange pastime solace them,
Such as the shortness of the time can shape." u

"I abhor such fanatical phantasimes, such insociable
and point-devise companions ; such rackers of orthography,
as to speak dout, fine, when he should say doubt ; det, when
he should pronounce debt, — d, e, b, t, not d, e, t ; he clep-
eth a calf, cauf ; half, hauf ; neighbor vocatur nebor ; neigh
abbreviated ne. This is abhominable — which he would
call abbominable." 12

1 I, i, 282. 2 H, i, 189.

8 II, i, 274. * II, iii, 198.

6 III, ii, 64. e m, ii} eg.

7 III, iii, 68. 8 IV, i, 7.

9 IV, iii, 74. 10 IV, iii, 159.
11 IV, iii, 373. !2 V, i, 15.

216 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

This appears to be in ridicule of some actor.
In Act V a mimic play is proposed.

" Hoi. Sir, you shall present before her the Nine Wor-
thies. Sir, as concerning some entertainment of time, some
show in the posterior of this day, to be rendered by our
assistants, at the king's command, and this most gallant,
illustrate, and learned gentleman, before the princess; I
say none so fit as to present the Nine Worthies.

Nath. Where will you find men worthy enough to pre-
sent them ?

Hoi. Joshua, yourself ; myself and this gallant gentle-
man, Judas Maccabaeus ; this swain, because of his great
limb or joint, shall pass Pompey the Great ; the page,
Hercules, —

Arm. Pardon, sir, error ; he is not quantity enough for
that Worthy's thumb ; he is not so big as the end of his
club.

Hoi. Shall I have audience ? He shall present Hercules
in minority ; his enter and exit shall be strangling a snake ;
and I will have an apology for that purpose.

Moth. An excellent device ! so, if any of the audience
hiss, you may cry, i Well done, Hercules ! now thou crush-
est the snake ! ' That is the way to make an offence gra-
cious, though few have the grace to do it.

Arm. For the rest of the Worthies ? —

Hoi. I will play three myself.

Moth. Thrice-worthy gentleman." ]

" Action and accent did they teach him there ;
* Thus must thou speak/ and ' thus thy body bear.' " 2

" Why that contempt will kill the speaker's heart
And quite divorce his memory from his part." '

" Their shallow shows and prologue vilely penned." 4

i V, i, 102. 2 y, ii, 99.

» V, ii, 149. 4 V, ii, 305.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 217

" A blister on his sweet tongue, with my heart,
That put Armado's page out of his part." l

" To dash it like a Christmas comedy." 2

" Cost. O Lord, sir, the parties themselves, the actors,
sir, will show whereuntil it doth amount : for mine own
part, I am, as they say, but to parfect one man in one poor
man, Pompion the Great, sir.

Bir. Art thou one of the Worthies ?

Cost. It pleased them to think me worthy of Pompion
the Great : for mine own part, I know not the degree of
the Worthy, but I am to stand for him.

Bir. Go, bid them prepare.

Cost. We will turn it finely off, sir ; we will take some
care." 8

" King. Here is like to be a good presence of Worthies.
He presents Hector of Troy ; the swain, Pompey the
Great ; the parish curate, Alexander ; Armado's page
Hercules ; the pedant, Judas Maccabaeus.
And if these four Worthies in their first show thrive,
These four will change habits, and present the other five." 4

The mimic play begins, and proceeds with
comments from the spectators. Then, —

" Cost. O, sir, you have overthrown Alisander the con-
queror ! You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for
this : your lion, that holds his poll-axe sitting on a close-
stool, will be given to Ajax." 6

" Keep some state in thy exit, and vanish." 6

" Our wooing doth not end like an old play ;
Jack hath not Jill : these ladies' courtesy
Might well have made our sport a comedy." 7

" That 's too long for a play." 8

i V, ii, 335. a V, ii, 462.

3 V, ii, 499. 4 V, ii, 530.

6 V, ii, 569. 6 V, ii, 587.

7 V, ii, 862. 8 V, ii, 866.

218 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the prepara-
tion and presentation of the mimic play by Bot-
tom and his associates are full of the flavor of
the stage. As the whole of it cannot be copied,
a few citations must suffice : —

"Let the audience look to their eyes; I will move
storms." 1

" Snug* Have you the lion's part written ? pray you, if
it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.

Quin. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but
roaring.

Bot. Let me play the lion too : I will roar, that I will
do any man's heart good to" hear me ; I will roar, that I
will make the duke say, ' Let him roar again, let him roar
again.' " 2

"I will discharge it in either your strawcolor beard,
your orange-tawny beard, your purple-ingrain beard, or
your French crowncolor beard, your perfect yellow." 8

"I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play
wants." 4

" Here 's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal.
This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn-brake our
tiring-house ; and we will do it in action as we will do it
before the duke." 6

" Write me a prologue ; and let the prologue seem to
say, we will do no harm with our swords," * etc.

" Come, sit down, every mother's son, and rehearse your
parts. Pyramus, you begin : when you have spoken your

i I, ii, 21. 2 j, ii5 58.

s I, ii, 82. * I, ii, 93.

* HI, i, 2. e ni, i, 16.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 219

speech, enter into that brake : and so every one according
to his cue." *

" You speak all your part at once, cues and all. Pyra-
mus enter : your cue is past ; it is ' never tire.' " 2

" Forsook his scene, and entered in a brake." 8
" Shall we their fond pageant see ? " 4

" When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. My
next is, ' Most fair Pyramus.' " 5

" You have not a man in all Athens able to discharge
Pyramus but he." 6

" Get your apparel together, good strings to your beards,
new ribbons to your pumps ; . . . every man look o'er his
part ; ... let Thisby have clean linen." 7

" Is there no play,
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour ? " 8

" Say, what abridgement have you for this evening ? " g
" A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus." 10

" A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
Which is as brief as I have known a play." u

" He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt ; he knows
not the stop." 12

" ' Deceiving me ' is Thisby 's cue : she is to enter now." 18

" The best in this kind are but shadows ; and the worst
are no worse, if imagination amend them." 14

" No epilogue, I pray you ; for your play needs no ex-
cuse. ... If he that writ it had played Pyramus and

i III, i, 64. 2 III, i, 89.

8 III, ii, 15. 4 III, ii, 114.

6 IV, i, 197. 6 IV, ii, 7.

7 IV, ii, 31. 8 V, i, 36.

9 V, i, 39. 1° V, i, 56.
11 V, i, 61. 12 V, i, 119.
i8 V, i, 182. 14 V, i, 210.

220 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

hanged himself in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine
tragedy ; and so it is, truly ; and very notably discharged.
But come, your Bergomask [this was a kind of dance] : let
your epilogue alone." 1

The Merchant of Venice.

" Ant. A stage, where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.

Grat. Let me play the fool." a

" Use all the observance of civility
Like one well studied in a sad ostent." 3

As You Like It.

" Duke S. This wide and universal theatre
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.

Jaq. All the world 's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players :
They have their exits and their entrances ;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages." 4

"I answer you right painted cloth, from' whence you have
studied your questions." 5

" If you will see a pageant truly played." 6
" I '11 prove a busy actor in their play." T

" It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue ; but
it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the pro-
logue. ... A good play needs no epilogue: yet . . . good
plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues." 8

The motto over the entrance to the Globe Thea-

1 V, i, 345. 2 I, i, 77.

8 II, ii, 180. * II, vii, 137.

* HI, ii, 258. 6 III, iv, 47.

7 HI, iv, 54. 8 Epil.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 221

tre was, " Totus mundus agit histrionem," — All
the world 's a stage.1

The Taming of the Shrew.

In The Taming of the Shrew, there is a play
within a play : —

" My lord, I warrant you we will play our part." 2

" Lord. This fellow I remember,

Since once he played a farmer's eldest son :
'T was where you woo'd the gentlewoman so well ;
I have forgot your name ; but, sure, that part
Was aptly fitted and naturally performed.

A Player. I think 't was Soto that your honor means.

Lord. 'T is very true ; thou didst it excellent.

There is a lord will hear you play to-night :
But I am doubtful of your modesties ;
Lest over-eyeing of his odd behavior, —
For yet his honor never heard a play, —
You break into some merry passion
And so offend him ; for I tell you, sirs,
If you should smile he grows impatient.

A Player. Fear not, my lord : we can contain ourselves,
Were he the veriest antic in the world." 8

Then instructions follow as to the preparation
of the scene.

" Your honor's players, hearing your amendment,
Are come to play a pleasant comedy.

Therefore they thought it good you hear a play,
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life." 4

1 Drake, p. 445. 2 Induct, i, 67.

8 Induct, i, 81. * Induct, ii, 126.

222 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" First Serv. My lord, you nod ; you do not mind the
play.

Sly. Yes, by Saint Anne, do I. A good matter, surely :
comes there any more of it ?

Page. My lord, 't is but begun.

Sly. 'T is a very excellent piece of work, madam lady :
would 't were done." *

" For an entrance to my entertainment." '"

" Where did you study all this goodly speech ? " 8

All 's Well that Ends Well.
" Thus he his special nothing ever prologues." 4
"A showing of a heavenly effect in an earthly actor." J
"Has led the drum before the English tragedians." 6
" The king 's a beggar, now the play is done." 7

Twelfth Night.
" It shall become thee well to act my woes." 8

" Viola. I would be loath to cast away my speech, for
besides that it is excellently well penned, I have taken great
pains to con it. ...

Olivia. Whence came you, sir ?

Viola. I can say little more than I have studied, and
that question 's out of my part. . . .

Olivia. Are you a comedian ?

Viola. No, my profound heart : and yet, by the very
fangs of malice I swear, I am not that I play." 9

" Alas, I took great pains to study it, and 't is poetical." 1

1 I, i, 242. 2 n, i, 54.

8 II, i, 255. * II, i, 91.

6 II, iii, 23. e IV> iii? 248.

" 7 Epil. 1. 8 I, iv, 25.

9 I, v, 162. 1° I, v, 182.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 223

" You are now out of your text : but we will draw the
curtain and show you the picture." l

" This fellow is wise enough to play the fool ;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit :
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That conies before his eye. This is a practice
As full of labor as a wise man's art :
For folly that he wisely shows is fit." 2

" If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn
it as an improbable fiction." 8

" They have here propertied me." 4

" But that 's all one, our play is done,
And we '11 strive to please you every day." 6

The Winter's Tale.

" Go, play, boy, play : thy mother plays, and I
Play too ; but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave." 6

" Which is more

Than history can pattern, though devised
And played to take spectators." 7

" Methinks I play as I have seen them do
In Whitsun pastorals." 8

" To have you royally appointed as if
The scene you play were mine." 9

" I see the play so lies
That I must bear a part." 10

1 I, v, 217. 2 HI, i, 57.

8 III, iv, 121. * IV, ii, 88.
6 Song, at end, V, i, 394. 6 I, ii, 187.

' III, ii, 33. 8 IV, iv, 133.

9 IV, iv, 584. 1° IV, iv, 645.

224 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" And on this stage,
Where we offenders now, appear soul- vexed."1

"There was speech in their dumbness, language in
their very gesture." 2

" The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings
and princes ; for by such was it acted." 3

" Lead us from hence, where we may leisurely
Each one demand, and answer to his part
Performed in this wide gap of time." 4

King John.

" And stand securely on their battlements,
As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
At your industrious scenes of life and death." 5

King Richard II.
" A woeful pageant have we here beheld." 6

" As in a theatre, the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
Are idly bent on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious ;
Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes
Did scowl on gentle Richard." 7

" Our scene is altered from a serious thing,
And now changed to ' The Beggar and the King.' " 8

" Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented : sometimes am I king ;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am." 9

i V, i, 58. 2 V, ii, 13.

» V, ii, 77. * V, iii, 152.

e H, i, 374. 6 IV, i, 321.

7 V, ii, 23. 8 V, iii, 79.
°V,v,31.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 225

The First Part of King Henry IV.

" I '11 play Percy, and that damned brawn shall play
Dame Mortimer his wife." 1

" Foist. What, shall we be merry ? Shall we have a play
extempore ?

Prince. Content ; and the argument shall be thy running
away." 2

Then a little comedy is played between Prince
Henry and Falstaff, only portions of which are
copied here.

" Prince. Do thou stand for my father, and examine
me upon the particulars of my life.

Foist. Shall I ? Content : this chair shall be my state,
this dagger my sceptre, and this cushion my crown.

Prince. Thy state is taken for a joined-stool, thy
golden sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich
crown for a pitiful bald crown !

Falst. . . . Give me a cup of sack to make my eyes
look red, that it may be thought I have wept ; for I must
speak in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses' vein.

Host. O, the father, how he holds his countenance !

Host. O Jesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotry
players as ever I see." 3

" Prince. Do thou stand for me, and I '11 play my
father." 4

" Falst. Play out the play : I have much to say in the
behalf of that Falstaff." 6

" Slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth." 6

i H, iv, 105. 2 II? iv> 270.

8 II, iv, 365-385. * II} iv> 418<

& H, iv, 467. e IV, ii, 24.

226 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

The Second Part of King Henry IV.

" And let this world no longer be a stage
To feed contention in a lingering act ;

. . . that, each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end." !

" A prince should not be so loosely studied as to remem-
ber so weak a composition." 2

" For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument." 8

" My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear." 4

" I was lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to
pray your patience for it and to promise you a better. I
meant indeed to pay you with this. ... If you be not too
much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will con-
tinue the story, with Sir John in it," etc. 6

The Life of King Henry V.

" But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object : can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France ? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt ? " 6

" Who on the French ground played a tragedy." 7

"If we may,
We '11 not offend one stomach with our play." 8

"Now we speak upon our cue, and our voice is im-
perial." 9

1 I, i, 155. 2 H, ii, 7.

» IV, v, 198. 4 V, ii, 119.

6 Epil. 6 Prol. 8.

7 I, ii, 106. 8 Prol. to II, 39.
» III, vi, 118.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 227

The First Part of King Henry VI.
" Pucelle hath bravely played her part in this." l

The Second Part of King Henry VI.

f( And, being a woman, I will not be slack
To play my part in Fortune's pageant." 2

" But mine is made the prologue to their play ;
For thousands more, that yet subject no peril,
Will not conclude their plotted tragedy." 8

" Who in contempt shall hiss at thee again." 4

The Third Part of King Henry VI.

" As if the tragedy
Were played in jest by counterfeiting actors." 5

" What scene of death hath Roscius now to act ? " 8

King Richard III.

" Duch. What means this scene of rude impatience ?
Q. Eliz. To make an act of tragic violence." 7

" Had not you come upon your cue, my lord,
William Lord Hastings had pronounced your part, —
I mean, your voice, — for crowning of the King." 8

" Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian,
Speak and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion : ghastly looks
Are at my service, like enforced smiles." 9

" Play the maid's part." 10

1 III, iii, 88. 2 I? iis 66.

3 III, i, 151. * IV, i, 78.

5 II, iii, 27. 6 V, vi, 10.
7 II, ii, 38. 8 ni, iv, 27.

9 HI, v, 5. 10 III, vii, 51.

228 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION
" And the beholders of this tragic play." l
" The flattering index of a direful pageant." a
" A queen in jest, only to fill the scene." 8

King Henry VIII.

" I know but of a single part in aught
Pertains to the state." 4

" I would have played
The part my father meant to act." 6

" These are the youths that thunder at a play-house and
fight for bitten apples ; that no audience, but the tribulation
of Tower-hill, or the limbs of Limehouse, their dear bro-
thers, are able to endure." (

" 'T is ten to one this play can never please
All that are here : some come to take their ease,
And sleep an act or two ; but those, we fear,
We have frighted with our trumpets." 7

Troilus and Cressida.
" Of author's pen or actor's voice." 8

" Ulyss. [speaking of Patroclus]. Sometime, great Aga-
memnon,

Thy topless deputation he puts on ;
And, like a strutting player, whose conceit
Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich
To hear the wooden dialogue and sound
'Twixt his stretched footing and the scaffoldage,
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming
He acts thy greatness in : and when he speaks,
'T is like a chime a-mending ; . . .

1 IV, iv, 68. 2 IV, iv, 85.

8 IV, iv, 91. * I, ii, 41.

5 I, ii, 194. 6 V, iv, 57.

7 Epil. 1. 8 Prol. 24.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 229

At this fusty stuff,

The large Achilles, on his pressed bed lolling,
From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause ;
Cries, ' Excellent ! 't is Agamemnon just.
Now play me Nestor ; hem, and stroke thy beard,
As he being dressed to some oration.' " l

"And how his silence drinks up this applause." 2

" In all Cupid's pageant there is presented no monster." 3

" Set this in your painted cloths." 4

Coriolanus.

" In that day's feats,

When he might act the woman in the scene,
He proved best man i' the field." 6

" It is a part
That I shall blush in acting." 6

" I am half through :
The one part suffered, the other will I do." 7

" Coriol. You have put me now to such a part, which

never
I shall discharge to the life.

Com. Come, come, we '11 prompt you." 8

" Perform a part
Thou hast not done before." 9

" You take my part from me, sir ; I have the most
cause to be glad of yours." 10

" Like a dull actor now
I have forgot my part and I am out." ll

1 I, iii, 151. 2 II, iii, 196.

a III, ii, 71. 4 V, x, 45.

6 II, ii, 93. 6 II, ii, 142.

7 H, iii, 120. 8 III, ii, 105.
9 III, ii, 109. 10 IV, iii, 46.

H V, iii, 40.

230 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Titus Andronicus.

" And in dumb shows
Pass the remainder of our hateful days." J

" And prompt rile, that my tongue may utter forth
The venomous malice of my swelling heart." a

Romeo and Juliet.
" Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage." s

Jonson, in Bartholomew Fair, Induction,
makes the spectators agree to remain in their
places with patience for two hours and a half,
and somewhat more.

"Rom. What, shall this speech be spoke for our

excuse ?
Or shall we on without apology ?

Ben. The date is out of such prolixity :
We '11 have no Cupid hoodwinked with a scarf,
Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath,
Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper ;
Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke
After the prompter, for our entrance." 4

" What should she do here ?
My dismal scene I needs must act alone." 6

Timon of Athens.

" Paint. I will promise him an excellent piece.

Poet. I must serve him so too. . . .

Paint. . . . Promising is the very air o' the time : it
opens the eyes of expectation ; performance is ever the
duller for his act.

1 IH, i, 131. 2 V, iii, 12. 8 Prol. 12.

* I, iv, 1. 5 IV, iii, 18.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 231

Poet. I am thinking what I shall say I have provided
for him : it must be a personating of himself." 1

Julius Caesar.

" He loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony." 2

" If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him
according as he pleased and displeased them, as they used
to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man." 8

" Let not our looks put on our purposes ;
But bear it as our Roman actors do,
With untired spirits and formal constancy." *

" Cas. How many ages hence

Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown.

Bru. How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport." 6

Macbeth.

" Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme." *

« He died

As one that had been studied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he owed
As 't were a careless trifle." 7

" Come, thick night,

And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry "Hold, hold!'"8

1 V, i, 19-32. 2 I, ii, 203.

8 I, ii, 257. 4 II, i, 225.

5 III, i, 112. 6 I, iii, 127.

*I,iv,8. 8I,v,47.

232 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

" 'T is the age of childhood
That fears a painted devil." l

" Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act,
Threaten his bloody stage." 2

" That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker." 3

" I would applaud thee to the very echo,
That should applaud again." 4

" Life 's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more." 5

" Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword ? " 6

Hamlet.

In this play, as in some others, there is so
much which relates to actors and the theatre
that selections must suffice. Some of the lan-
guage is quite technical.

" These indeed seem,

For they are actions that a man might play :
But I have that within which passeth show." 7

" How chances it they travel ? their residence, both in
reputation and profit, was better both ways." 8

"There is, sir, an eyrie of children, little eyases, that
cry out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically
clapped for 't ; these are now the fashion." 9

1 H, ii, 54. 2 n, iv, 5.

» IV, iii, 175. * V, iii, 53.

5 V, v, 24. e y, viii, 1.

7 I, ii, 83. e n, ii, 326.
9 H, ii, 335.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 233

This refers to the children actors, who for
a time had much success.

" Will they pursue the quality no longer than they can
sing ? Will they not say afterwards, if they should grow
themselves to common players, — as it is most like, if their
means are no better, — their writers do them wrong, to
make them exclaim against their own succession ? " 1

" The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, com-
edy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,
tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene
individable, or poem unlimited : Seneca cannot be too heavy,
nor Plautus too light." 2

Hamlet's conversation with the players is
strikingly significant, but is omitted here on
account of its length.

" Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed ?
Do you hear, let them be well used, for they are the ab-
stract and brief chronicles of the time : after your death
you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report
while you live." 4

" You could, for a need, study a speech of some dozen or
sixteen lines which I would set down and insert in 't, could
you not ? " 8

" Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd ;
Tears in his eyes, distraction in 's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit ? and all for nothing !
For Hecuba !

i H, ii, 342. 2 n, ii, 392.

8 H, ii, 516. * H, ii, 534.

234 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

What 's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,

That he should weep for her ? What would he do,

Had he the motive and the cue for passion

That I have ? He would drown the stage with tears,

And cleave the general ear with horrid speech." 1

Hamlet's speech to the players, and the ac-
count of the mimic play, with remarks as it goes
on, are all omitted here.

" Belike this show imports the argument of the play." 2

" Ham. Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers —
if the rest of my fortunes turn Turk with me — with two
Provincial roses on my razed shoes, get me a fellowship in
a cry of players, sir ?

Hor. Half a share.

Ham. A whole one, I." 8

This refers to the custom of paying players,
not by fixed sums, but in proportion to the re-
ceipts.4

" Ham. I '11 lug the guts into the neighbor room." 6

Hamlet is made to carry out the body of Polo-
nius ; Falstaff to carry off the body of Henry
Percy ; and other instances are cited by Furness,
showing the necessity which then existed for
an actor to do things which now are done by
attendants.6

" Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss." 7

" Nay, an thou 'It mouth,
I '11 rant as well as thou." 8

1 H, ii, 544. 2 III, ii, 135.

8 III, ii, 269. * Furness, 1 Hamlet, 260, 261 n.

5 III, iv, 212. 6 Staunton, cited in Furness, 1 Hamlet, 309 n.

» IV, v, 18. 8 V, i, 277.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 235

" Or I could make a prologue to my brains,
They had begun the play." ]

A personal allusion may be added here which
has some slight significance. The Queen says
of Hamlet, " He 's fat and scant of breath." 2
Kichard Burbage was the original Hamlet, and,
according to Collier, as quoted by Furness and
also by Rolfe, these words were inserted because
he was corpulent. Shakespeare might well do
this ; but would Bacon have done it ? Indeed,
it is peculiarly difficult to imagine that the the-
atrical talk in Hamlet could have come from
Bacon. One needs to read it all, with this in
mind, to appreciate it fully.

King Lear.

" And pat he comes like the catastrophe of the old
comedy ; my cue is villanous melancholy, with a sigh like
Tom o' Bedlam." 8

Othello.

" For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 't is not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at : I am not what I am." 4

" Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter." 5

" 'T is evermore the prologue to his sleep." 6

i V, ii, 30. 2 V, ii, 279.

3 I, ii, 128. 4 I, i, 62.

6 I, ii, 83. 6 H, iii, 121.

236 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Antony and Cleopatra.

" Play one scene

Of excellent dissembling, and let it look
Like perfect honor." *

" Cleop. Come, you '11 play with me, sir ?

Mar. As well as I can, madam.

Cleop. And when good will is showed, though 't come

too short,
The actor may plead pardon." 2

" Staged to the show
Against a sworder." 8

" Cleop. The quick comedians

Extemporally will stage us and present
Our Alexandrian revels ; Antony
Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness," 4 etc.

See a similar prediction in Julius Caesar.

Cymbeline.

" When on my three-foot stool I sit and tell
The warlike feats I have done . . .

... he sweats,

Strains his young nerves, and puts himself in posture
That acts my words." 5

" Shall 's have a play of this ? Thou scornful page
There lie thy part." 6 [Striking her.

Pericles.
" Our fast-growing scene." 7

1 I, ill, 78. 2 H, v, 6.

8 HI, xiii, 30. 4 V, ii, 215.

5 III,iii, 89. 6 V,v, 228.
7 IV, Gow. 6.

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 237

" We commit no crime
To use one language in each several clime
Where our scenes seem to live." l

" While our scene must play
His daughter's woe." 2

Venus and Adonis.

" And all this dumb play had his acts made plain
With tears, which chorus-like her eyes did rain." 8

Lucrece.

" My part is youth, and beats these from the stage." 4
" Black stage for tragedies and murders fell." fi

Sonnets.
" That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows." 6

" As an unperf ect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put beside his part." 7

The Phoenix and Turtle.
" As chorus to their tragic scene." 8

To sum up briefly the contents of the last six
chapters, it appears that the author of the plays
took little care for their preservation, while
Bacon took the greatest pains to preserve his
acknowledged writings, even when their publi-
cation must be postponed ; that he was familiar
with English poetry, songs and plays, both pub-

1 IV, iv, 5. 2 IV, iv, 48.

» Line 359. * Line 278.

5 Line 766. 6 XV, 3.

7 XXIII, 1. 8 Line 52.

238 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

lished and unpublished, some of the latter hav-
ing no existence, probably, ouiiside of the thea-
tres, while there is nothing to show that Bacon
had any knowledge of or taste for such writ-
ings, or that he could have had access to the
unpublished plays, and in fact it seems probable
that he despised them all; that Shakespeare
was known and recognized as a poet from
poems of conspicuous merit and undoubted
authenticity, while Bacon produced no poem
worthy of notice, and with a single exception
was never spoken of by his contemporaries as
a writer of poetry ; that the author, moreover,
shows an acquaintance with Warwickshire, the
home of Shakespeare, and used names and lan-
guage relating to habits, customs, sports, there
prevalent, and to occupations with which Shake-
speare was familiar, and also used provincialisms
there current, while Bacon is not known ever
to have visited that part of England ; that he
was also steeped in knowledge of rural life, and
of the customs and habitual modes of speech
of the lower classes, which Bacon would natu-
rally have less acquaintance with ; that the plays
abound in anachronisms, historical errors, and
obscurities and other peculiarities in the text,
which Bacon was less likely than Shakespeare
to fall into ; and that the author was familiar
with, and was full to repletion of allusions to,
theatrical matters, and the habits and technical

FAMILIARITY WITH THEATRICAL MATTERS 239

language of actors, which formed the daily life
and speech of Shakespeare, while Bacon must
have been less conversant if not entirely unac-
quainted with them. All of these circumstances
tend in a greater or less degree to negative the
theory of Baconian authorship ; and the com-
bined or cumulative force of so many detailed
facts, all pointing in the same direction, is cer-
tainly a consideration of great weight.

CHAPTER XIV

COLLABORATION. — ALTERATIONS OF PLAYS. — THE-
ATRICAL QUARRELS

THE opinion has generally prevailed that, es-
pecially in the earlier part of his life in London,
Shakespeare not only touched up and revamped
old plays,1 but that in writing new plays he
sometimes worked in conjunction with other
dramatists. Fleay thinks that at the outset he
worked as an assistant to some experienced
writer, probably Robert Wilson or Peele.2 Collab-
oration amongst playwriters was common at that
time. For example, Jonson wrote with Chap-
man, Marston, Dekker, Chettle, and Fletcher;
Fletcher wrote also with Beaumont, Massinger,
Shirley, and William Rowley : Massinger wrote
also with Beaumont, Dekker, Field, and Middle-
ton ; Chapman wrote also with Marston and
Shirley ; Middleton wrote also with Dekker and
William Rowley ; Marlowe wrote with Nash and
Day ; Greene wrote with Lodge ; Webster wrote
with Ford, Drayton, Dekker, and Marston ; Dek-
ker wrote also with Chettle, Drayton, Haughton,

1 See ante, p. 190.

2 Life and Work of Shakespeare, 12, 103.

COLLABORATION 241

Wilson, Day, Heywood, and William Rowley ;
Day wrote also with Chettle, Haughton, Hathway,
Wentworth Smith, William Rowley, and Wil-
kins ; and Hey wood, as he himself declares, had
a hand, or at least a finger, in many plays not
written entirely by himself. These may not have
been models for Shakespeare in the full tide of
his career, and yet these instances serve to show
that there is nothing antecedently improbable
in the idea that he also sometimes worked with
others. The extent to which this was done can-
not now be defined ; nor can it be ascertained
how far he may have received incidental assist-
ance in the use of legal or other technical terms.
Much critical ingenuity has been shown in the
attempt to point out, in certain plays, portions
which must have been written by Shakespeare,
and other portions which must have been written
by somebody else. Of the plays usually attrib-
uted to Shakespeare, the three parts of King
Henry VI, Titus Andronicus, Timon of Athens,
Pericles, and King Henry VIII are thought by
some writers to have been composed in good
part by others than Shakespeare ; and in addi-
tion to these, Ingleby says that The Merry
Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew,
King John, King Henry V, Romeo and Juliet,
and Hamlet are not free from suspicion that
another hand contributed to them.1 The Two

1 Shakespeare, The Man, etc., 40.

242 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Noble Kinsmen, published in 1634, bore the
names of Fletcher and Shakespeare as authors.
Certain other plays have been attributed to
Shakespeare in which it is now usually thought
that he had little or no share.1 But it is now
confidently maintained that King Henry VIII,
one of the latest plays in point of time, was
written in part by Fletcher.2 Ward cites Ten-
nyson, Spedding, Hickson, Fleay, Furnivall,
Dowden, Ingram, W. B. Donne, and Browning
as holding this opinion ; and he says himself,
" The assumption of a cooperation on Fletcher's
part in Henry VIII, as we possess it, may be
regarded as removed beyond reasonable doubt." :
It is not too much to say that in the general
view of the critics 4 Shakespeare to some extent
worked in various plays in cooperation with oth-
ers, or rendered aid to them, or received aid
from them. Richard Simpson maintains that
he had a hand in several plays which are not in-
cluded in the Folio edition, that he wrote for all
the theatrical companies during the first part of
his career, and was so active that in 1592 Rob-
ert Greene styled him a Johannes Factotum ;
and in fact that his work was so much in re-

1 Ante, p. 138 ; post, pp. 250, 251.

2 Boas, 545-548 ; Ingleby, Shakespeare, The Man, etc., 49 ;
Brandes, 608-614.

8 Vol. 2, pp. 205, 207.

4 See Boas, 134-137 ; Brandes, 2 ; Furnivall, Iiitrod. to Gervinus,
xxvii, seq. ; Lee, 60, 242.

COLLABORATION 243

quest that Greene determined to abandon play-
writing, and urged his companions to do the
same, and said that he knew of two others who
had come to the same conclusion. Simpson
thinks that plays wholly or partly from Shake-
speare's pen must have been in the possession
of many of the actors and companies.1 Ward
discusses the authorship of the doubtful plays at
length.2

If such collaboration is established on the part
of the writer of any of the Shakespearian plays,
it makes against the Baconian theory of author-
ship. It is not likely that Bacon would unite
with any of the ordinary playwriters in the pro-
duction of plays. This is so obvious that
Holmes, with his usual frankness, concedes that
it would be idle to imagine that he ever wrote
a play in conjunction with Marlowe, Greene, or
Peele.3 Assume that any particular play was the
work of two or more hands, as, for example, that
King Henry VIII was composed in large part
but not wholly by Fletcher, and the difficulty of
supposing that Bacon was joint author, that he
worked concurrently with Fletcher, or completed
Fletcher's unfinished work, or that Fletcher com-
pleted Bacon's unfinished work, is at once appar-
ent. But the difficulty is much increased if it is
made to appear that several different dramatists

1 1 School of Shakespeare, viii, ix, xx, xxi.

2 Vol. 2, pp. 209-245. 3 Vol. 1, p. 38.

244 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

took part in the writing of any of the Shake-
spearian plays, or that several different plays
were the work of more than one author.

The alterations which from time to time were
Alterations ma(le in certain of the plays also tend
of plays. {.Q negative the supposition of Bacon's
authorship. These alterations consisted of ad-
ditions, excisions, and partial rewriting of scenes.
Some of the plays which have been thought to
have been so altered are Romeo and Juliet, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Love's Labor 's
Lost, King Richard II, The Two Gentlemen of
Verona, the First and Second Parts of King
Henry IV, Much Ado about Nothing, Julius
Caesar, and Troilus and Cressida. These altera-
tions were sometimes made with reference to the
production of the plays on special occasions,
sometimes for their general improvement as
acting plays, and sometimes for other reasons.
There can be little doubt that they were in some
instances the result of previous discussion with
actors or managers. It is not possible now dis-
tinctly to trace these alterations in those plays
which were not printed during Shakespeare's
life. But much interesting labor has been and
may be spent in comparing the successive edi-
tions of the plays which were so printed with
the copies as they are found in the Folio edition.
In view of the circumstances under which the

ALTERATIONS: THEATRICAL QUARRELS 245

alterations were made, it is difficult to suppose
that they came from the hand of Bacon. They
must have been made, it would seem, by one
who was in habitual and easy communication
with the theatre. Details and speculations re-
specting them may be found in Meay's History
of the Life and Work of Shakespeare,1 and in his
Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama.2

From 1599 to 1602 or thereabouts there was
a controversy between the rival the- Theatrical
atres in which several dramatists took quarrels-
part. According to Fleay, Jonson and Chap-
man were on one side, and Shakespeare, Mars-
ton, and Dekker on the other.3 We know from
Drummond's Notes that Jonson's Poetaster was
written in ridicule of Marston, and it is idle to
suggest that it was written in ridicule of Shake-
speare. How far Shakespeare entered into this
quarrel, if at all, is not clear, and it has been
a question of much discussion. Some writers
think that in the plays attributed to him they
detect traces of his participation in it. It seems
probable, however, that he was not an active
partisan. There may at times have been dif-
ferences between him and Jonson,4 but Elze 5
thinks they never degenerated into personal

1 Pages 128, 130, 133, 149, 150, 181-252.

2 Vol. 1, pp. 179-194.

8 Life and Work of Shakespeare, 138.
4 Boas, 122. 5 Page 159.

246 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

squabbles. Fleay seems to entertain the opin-
ion, which, so far as I can discover, is unsup-
ported by the expressed opinion of any other
writer, that there was no personal intercourse
between them after 1603.1 According to Elze,
Nash and Robert Greene were the only op-
ponents of Shakespeare who are now known
to have directed personal attacks against him.2
Greene died in 1592, and Nash in 1601. Elze
says : " Nash, whom Lodge in a detailed criti-
cism designates as a veritable English Aretino,
was famous no less for his acuteness, his know-
ledge, and his ready pen, than for his envious,
spiteful, and abusive nature ; personal polemics,
the coarser the better, were the subjects he
specially delighted in." 3 Fleay thinks Bottom,
in Midsummer Night's Dream, was intended for
Robert Greene,4 and that Dekker was referred
to in the line of Troilus and Cressida, " When
rank Thersites opes his mastick jaws." 5 But
this seems open to doubt, if Shakespeare was a
partisan with Dekker in the controversy, and
others think this line refers to Histriomastix, not
Satiromastix.

Without going further into the details of
the theatrical quarrel, two obvious suggestions
may be made. It is not likely that Bacon would

1 Life and Work of Shakespeare, 51, 81.

2 Page 141. 3 Page 141.

4 Life and Work of Shakespeare, 184.

5 Ib., 221.

THEATRICAL QUARRELS 247

have taken part in the controversy. His way of
life was apart from the theatre, and actors and
dramatists were not his associates or rivals. So
far as the plays show participation in the quar-
rel, so far is the Baconian theory of authorship
weakened. And on the other hand, if play-
writers or actors who were in active rivalry with
Shakespeare knew, or believed, or suspected that
he was not in fact the author of the plays and
poems which were put forth in his name, some
of them, at least, had a good reason for telling
it to the world in plain terms. Jonson expressed
himself freely to Drummond in 1619 as to many
of the dramatists and poets of the day. One,
he said, was base, another was a fool, and several
were rogues. Of Shakespeare he said nothing
worse than mild bits of literary criticism; no-
thing inconsistent with entire respect and re-
gard. What is recorded of his talk concerning
Shakespeare is as follows : that " Shakespeare
wanted art ; " 1 and again, later, that " Shake-
speare in a play brought in a number of men
saying that they had suffered shipwreck in
Bohemia, where there is no sea near by over 100
miles." Greene and Nash were abusive, and
charged him with appropriating other men's
writings; but even they did not go beyond a
charge of plagiarism. None of Shakespeare's
rivals, so far as is known, intimated that he had

1 Drummond's Notes, 4. 2 16., 16.

248 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

no hand in the production of the plays and
poems, that he was a mere simulacrum, that
he was unable to write, or that he was a dclt.
Whether Shakespeare was or was not involved
as a partisan in the particular theatrical quarrel
which raged from 1599 to 1602, he was not
exempt from a certain amount of professional
jealousy and rivalry as a play writer, so that
there was motive enough to expose the impos-
ture of his pretended authorship if such a fact
was known or suspected.

A recent discussion of Shakespeare's relations
to the war of the theatres, or poetomachia, as it
has been called, may be found in Wyndham's
edition of The Poems of Shakespeare, Introduc-
tion, pages Iv-lxx, American edition.

•

These three subjects, collaboration with other
writers, alterations of plays, and participation in
the theatrical quarrels, though not here dwelt
upon at length, will well repay a careful exam-
ination by those who seek light upon the theory
of the Baconian authorship from the circum-
stances attending the production of the plays.

CHAPTER XV

EXPRESSED OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES

THE opinion that Shakespeare was the authpr
of the Plays as well as of the principal Poems
was held by all of his contemporaries, so far as
known. The most diligent search has been
made for indications that Bacon claimed to be
the author, or was supposed to be so by persons
who were in the secret. This search has been
in vain. The chief thing which has been deemed
by the Baconians to be worth mentioning is the
letter to Bacon, already referred to, of Tobie
Matthew, who said in a P. S. : " The most pro-
digious wit that ever I knew of my nation, and
of this side of the sea, is of your Lordship's
name, though he be known by another." 1 This
letter seems to have been written from some
place on the Continent of Europe, perhaps in
Spain. Holmes thinks the reference may have
been to Bacon himself. This, however, is mere
conjecture. Bacon was not then " of this side of
the sea," i. e., on the Continent. A discussion
of possible explanations of this allusion may be
found in Shakespeariana for 1891. A some-
Quoted by Holmes, p. 175.

250 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

what exaggerated importance has been given to
it by Holmes. It seems unnecessary to look
beyond the simple suggestion of Lee, that prob-
ably the prodigious wit was some one of the
name of Bacon who was travelling on the conti-
nent under another name, — a thing not then

uncommon.1

With all of Bacon's revision of his writings
and care for them, no hint by him of the plays
has been found ; no confidential communication
to anybody, in which he spoke of them; no
memorandum or reference to them in his will or
elsewhere ; no submission of them to the critical
judgment of future ages ; nothing of any kind
to show that he was the writer or even a reader
of them, unless this is to be inferred from cer-
tain so-called parallel passages.

On the other hand, Shakespeare produced the
plays as his own ; they were acted as his in the
theatres with which he was connected, and about
half of them were published in his lifetime with
his name ; some of them were altered from time
to time. Apparently he took the pay for them,
and became a man of some wealth from his
receipts as actor, manager, and author. He was
recognized and accepted as the author by every-
body. His credit as a playwriter was such that
plays as well as poems in which he is now sup-
posed to have had no hand, or at least not the

1 Page 371.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 251

sole hand, were attributed to him.1 Some refer-
ences of contemporaries to Shakespeare as the
author will be given.

In 3 Ring Henry VI, York says to Queen
Margaret : —

" O tiger's heart, wrapped in a woman's hide," —

a vivid imputation that she was the embodiment
of cruelty. Robert Greene's Groatsworth of
Wit, published in 1592, concludes with an ad-
dress uto those Gentlemen, his quondam ac-
quaintance, that spend their wits in making
plays," three of whom were specially designated,
though not by name, in which he says : —

" Is it not strange that I, to whom they all have been be-
holding, is it not like that you, to whom they all have
been beholding — shall, were ye in that case that I am now,
be both at once of them forsaken ? Yes, trust them not ;
for there is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers,
that, with his tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide, sup-
poses he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the
best of you ; and being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is
in his own conceit the only Shakescene in a country."

There is no doubt that this sarcasm referred
to Shakespeare, but some have thought that it
referred to him only as an actor, and not as
a writer. This, however, seems improbable.
Greene was addressing playwriters, and says the
upstart crow supposes he is as well able to bom-
bast out a blank verse as the best of them. This

1 For a list of these, see Elze, 359-363.

252 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

apparently refers to writing plays, not to acting
them. The phrase " beautified with our feathers/'
taken in connection with the plain reference to
the line in 3 King Henry VI, has led most of
the critics to think that a reference to him as a
writer, i. e., as a plagiarist, was intended. The
phrase " absolute Johannes Factotum " confirms
this opinion, as it would hardly have been used
in that connection with reference to a mere
actor. Robert Greene, born 1560, died 1592,
was a writer of plays, poems, fictions, and tracts.
Towards Shakespeare he was hostile and vitu-
perative, and little likely to suppress anything
derogatory. He left six plays which are now
extant, besides what he wrote in conjunction with
Lodge. In Drake's opinion, the First and Second
Parts of King Henry VI were founded on earlier
plays by Marlowe, or perhaps by Marlowe, Peele,
and Greene.1 The Groatsworth of Wit was
entered by Henry Chettle on the Stationers'
Register September 20, 1592, which was after
Greene's death. Chettle was himself a dramatic
writer and a poet. He was concerned in the
production of thirty-eight plays,2 of which only
four have come to us. In December, 1592,
Chettle published a pamphlet called Kind Hart's
Dream, with an address "to the Gentlemen
Readers," in which he said : —

1 Drake, 485.

2 Allibone's Dictionary of Authors.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 253

" About three months since died Mr. Robert Greene,
leaving many papers in sundry booksellers' hands, among
other his Groatsworth of Wit, in which a letter, written to
divers playmakers, is offensively by one or two of them
taken ; and because on the dead they cannot be avenged,
they wilfully forge in their conceits a living author ; and
after tossing it to and fro, no remedy but it must light on
me. . . . With neither of them that take offence was I
acquainted, and with one of them I care not if I never be.
The other, whom at that time I did not so much spare as
since I wish I had, for that, as I have moderated the heat
of living writers, and might have used my own discretion
(especially in such a case) the author being dead — that I
did not, I am as sorry as if the original fault had been my
fault, because myself have seen his demeanor no less civil
than he excellent in the quality he professes ; besides,
divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing,
which argues his honesty, and his facetious grace in writ-
ing, that approves his art."

The two writers thus referred to have been
supposed to be Marlowe and Shakespeare, and
it would seem, from the warmth and directness
of his commendation, that Chettle had become
personally acquainted with the latter between
the two publications. This is the more probable
since Chettle was both a playwriter and an
actor. It has recently been suggested that
Chettle did not refer to Shakespeare at all, but
to two of those to whom Greene's words were
addressed.1 Chettle's sentences are disjointed,
and not easily to be held together. The sug-
gestion is new that the playmakers who took

1 Reed, Bacon v. Shakespeare, 150-155.

254 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

offense were necessarily included amongst the
three whom Greene had addressed. Holmes,
however, assumes that Shakespeare was meant.1
No other writer has been named to whom Chet-
tle's description so well applies. It has been
supposed that Greene's address was to Marlowe,
Lodge, and Peele. If Chettle did not mean
Shakespeare, who was the object of Greene's
special attack, the person referred to must have
been one of the three directly addressed by
Greene. Until some other plausible suggestion
is made, we may continue to assume that Chet-
tle was describing Shakespeare. Richard Simp-
son's exposition to this effect, in Shakspere Allu-
sion Books, Part 1, p. xli et seq., appears to be
satisfactory. Greene certainly referred to Shake-
speare as an absolute Johannes Factotum, a man
who was turning his hand to everything.

In 1598 Meres, in Palladis Tamia, speaks of
several of the plays as follows : —

" As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for com-
edy and tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare among
the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the
stage. For comedy, witness his Gentlemen of Verona, his
Errors, his Love Labor 's Lost, his Love Labor 's Won, his
Midsummer Night's Dream, and his Merchant of Venice ;
for tragedy, his Richard the 2, Richard the 3, Henry the 4,
King John, Titus Andronicus, and his Romeo and Juliet.
. . . The Muses would speak with Shakespeare's fine-
filed phrase, if they would speak English."

1 Page 38.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 255

In 1598 several of the above-mentioned plays
had not been printed, e. g., The Two Gentle-
men of Verona, The Comedy of Errors, A Mid-
summer Night's Dream. The Merchant of Ven-

o

ice, King John, and Titus Andronicus. The
enumeration by Meres shows that the plays
mentioned by him, both published and unpub-
lished, passed for Shakespeare's.

At about this time, according to tradition, as
given by Rowe, Queen Elizabeth commanded
Shakespeare to write a play showing Falstaff in
love.1 This character had originally been intro-
duced as Sir John Oldcastle ; but it is said that
the queen ordered Shakespeare to alter the name,
and that Falstaff was accordingly substituted.2
If these things are so, it shows that the queen
communicated with Shakespeare as the author.
It has also been said that without doubt she
gave him many gracious marks of her favor.3
Holmes, however, suggests that she also was in
the secret of Bacon's authorship.4

In 1601 or 1602, as is supposed, an anony-
mous play called The Return from Parnassus
was acted, though it was not published till 1606.
The actors Kemp and Burbage, associates or
fellows of Shakespeare, are introduced as in-
structors of their art to two university stu-
dents. Before the students come in, Kemp and

1 1 H.-P. 143 ; 2 H.-P. 74. 2 2 H.-P. 74.

3 Rowe, cited in 2 H.-P. 74. See also Chettle's lines, post, p. 257.

* Page 746.

256 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Burbage in Act IV, Scene iii, are made to talk
together as follows : —

" Kemp. I was once at a comedy in Cambridge, and
there I saw a parasite make faces and mouths of all sorts
in this fashion.

Burbage. A little teaching will mend these faults ; and
it may be, besides, they will be able to pen a part.

Kemp. Few of the University pen plays well ; they
smell too much of that writer Ovid, and that writer Meta-
morphosis, and talk too much of Proserpina and Jupiter.
Why here 's our fellow Shakespeare puts them all down, —
ay, and Ben Jonson too. O that Ben Jonson is a pestilent
fellow ! He brought up Horace giving the poets a pill, but
our fellow Shakespeare hath given him a purge that made
him bewray his credit." l

Here, an actor is made to bring Shakespeare
into direct comparison with those playwriters
who were university men, — that is, Marlowe,
Lodge, Greene, Peele,2- — and he says, in sub-
stance, our fellow Shakespeare, our associate,
this play-actor who belongs to our company,
writes better plays than any of the university
men. Kemp was a fellow or associate of Shake-
speare as early as 1589, in the Blackfriars
Theatre, and was a favorite comedian, and this
language put into his mouth as a character in
the play has much significance, in showing the
estimate of Shakespeare as a writer by his fel-
low actors. It is a direct statement that the

1 Lee thinks that this passage does not imply that Shakespeare took
a decisive part against Jonson in the theatrical quarrel. Pages 219,
220.

2 Fleay, Hist, of London Stage, 7.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 257

actor Shakespeare was a successful playwriter.
By whomsoever written, this play seems to have
been acted if not printed while Shakespeare,
Kemp, and Burbage were fellows or associates,
and while plays purporting to be Shakespeare's
were often produced. In the same play, opin-
ions are expressed of several poets and drama-
tists, with the following of Shakespeare : —

" Who loves Adonis's love, or Lucrece's rape,
His sweeter verse contains heart-robbing life,
Could but a graver subject him content,
Without love's foolish, lazy languishment."

In England's Mourning Garment, published
in 1603, Chettle lamented Shakespeare's omis-
sion to write lines on the death of Queen Eliza-
beth, thus : —

" Nor doth the silver-tongued Melicert
Drop from his honied muse one sable tear
To mourn her death that graced his desert,
And to his lays opened her Royal ear.

Shepherd, remember our Elizabeth,

And sing her Rape, done by that Tarquin, Death."

This seems to imply something more than that
he had merely performed as an actor before her,
and that in some way she had distinctly recog-
nized him' as a writer. It tends to confirm
Rowe's statements as to her ordering him to
write a play showing Falstaff in love, and be-
stowing upon him gracious marks of her favor.1

1 Ante, p. 255.

258 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

In the same year another poem by an author
now unknown, A Mournful Ditty, was pub-
lished, which also called on Shakespeare and
other poets to lament her loss.

In the same year John Davies, of Hereford
(not Sir John), published Microcosmos, contain-
ing the following lines : —

" Players, I love ye, and your quality !
As ye are men that pass time not abused."

The initials W. S. R. B. in a note are thought
to show that William Shakespeare and Richard
Burbage were specially referred to. The same
writer, about 1610, in the Scourge of Folly, ad-
dressed the following lines " To our English
Terence, Mr. Will. Shakespeare : "—

" Some say (Good Will) which I in sport do sing,
Hadst thou not played some kingly parts in sport,
Thou hadst been a companion for a king,
And been a king among the meaner sort.
Some others rail ; but rail as they think fit,
Thou hast no railing, but a reigning wit ;
And honesty thou sowest, which they do reap,
So to increase their stock, which they do keep."

These lines, addressing Shakespeare as " Good
Will," especially when taken in connection with
the lines in Microcosmos, make it probable that
Davies was personally acquainted with him, and
they contain a fine tribute to his personal quali-
ties, saying in effect that if he had not been an
actor he would have been a companion for a

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 259

king. If Davies knew what he was talking
about, Shakespeare could not have been the dull
and illiterate man that some of the Baconians
suppose ; unless, indeed, Davies also was in the
conspiracy to impose upon the world.

In 1612 Webster, in the Dedication of his
play, The White Devil, speaks of "the right
happy and copious industry of M. Shakespeare,
M. Dekker, and M. Hey wood." His industry
is the characteristic here selected for commenda-
tion, and the possession of this habit may help
to account for the various kinds of knowledge
shown in the plays.

The actor and writer Thomas Greene is said1
to have spoken the following lines in one of the
old comedies : —

" I prattled poesy in my nurse's arms,
And, born where late our Swan of Avon sung,
In Avon's streams we both of us have laved,
And both came out together."

Greene is supposed to have been a relation
of Shakespeare, and Heywood, who edited Tu
Quoque, in 1614, spoke in high terms of him.2

In 1630 Stratford was spoken of by an anony-
mous writer as " a town most remarkable for the
birth of the famous William Shakespeare." 3

In 1635 Heywood, in describing how dif-
ferent poets were styled, said : —

1 Preface to Cook's Greene's Tu Quoque, in 7 Dodsley's Old
Plays, ed. 1825.

2 Drake, 204. « Century of Praise, 181.

260 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

"Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting quill
Commanded mirth or passion, was but Will." l

This shows that Shakespeare was familiarly
known as Will ; and this statement is confirmed
by Davies's addressing him as " Good Will," and
by the 135th and 136th Sonnets, if the mention
of Will in them is intended to refer to himself :
which Gerald Massey doubts.

In 1647 the first edition of Beaumont and
Fletcher's collected plays was published. Ten
players signed their names to a Dedication ad-
dressed to the Earl of Pembroke and Montgom-
ery, in which the following reference was made
to Heminge and Con dell's Dedication of the
First Folio edition of Shakespeare to the Earl
of Montgomery (who was the same person) and
the Earl of Pembroke, then deceased : —

" But, directed by the example of some who once steered
in our quality, and so fortunately aspired to choose your
Honour, joined with your (now glorified) brother, patrons
to the flowing compositions of the then expired sweet Swan
of Avon, Shakespeare," etc.

Four of these signers were included in the list
of principal actors in Shakespeare's plays, pub-
lished in the first Folio, viz., John Lowin, Joseph
Taylor, Robert Benfield, and Richard Robinson.
Lowin, at least, was a fellow actor with Shake-
speare. Thirty-one years after Shakespeare's
death, it would seem that these contemporaries

1 Lines on the Familiar Names, cited in 2 H.-P. 69.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 261

entertained no doubt of his authorship of the
plays.

Other references to Shakespeare both before
and after his death are collected from different
sources in Ingleby's Century of Praise ; but
those above cited are sufficient for the present
purpose.

The testimony of Ben Jonson is still more
direct and important, and is entitled to

, , • i , TT i Ben Jonson.

the greatest weight. He was born m
1573, and died in 1637. He was therefore about
nine years younger than Shakespeare, and out-
lived him twenty-one years. He was brusque
in manner, and sometimes called " Sour Ben,"
but the epithet " rare " Ben Jonson has stuck to
him. He was somewhat jealous in disposition,
somewhat overbearing, and very independent;
but, so far as known, nobody ever called him
dishonest or untruthful. According to Drum-
mond, " Of all styles he loved most to be named
Honest, and hath of that one hundred letters so
naming him ; " 1 and Ward says this epithet was
not undeserved.2 He had a large acquaintance
amongst the great men of the day, and was well
acquainted with both Bacon and Shakespeare.
Whether Jonson and Shakespeare were always
friendly towards each other has been questioned.
Gifford, the biographer of Jonson, maintains

1 Drummond's Notes, 37. 2 2 Ward, 323.

262 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

with acrimony that there is nothing to show the
contrary. Elze thinks the evidence sufficient to
show unpleasantness at times, though he thinks
Shakespeare never descended to the coarser
abuse which was common with the other dra-
matic and theatrical combatants.1 There is no
doubt that there was a war of the theatres, and
much free speech. The warmth of Jonson's
final tributes to Shakespeare can only be ques-
tioned by assuming that they were insincere, and
in fact were a mere mask. But nothing known
of Jonson is consistent with such a supposition.
It is assumed by Holmes that if Shakespeare
was not the author of the plays, Jonson must
have known it.2 But if he knew such a fact,
there were times when he would have been
likely to speak of it. Especially if Shakespeare
was known or believed to be an impostor, it is
incredible that Jonson would have spoken of
him with such affection and commendation as he
did, when he might at least have kept silent.

Not all that Jonson wrote of Shakespeare
after the latter's death can be copied here ; but
significant specimens will be given.

In 1623, when the Folio edition was published
by Heminge and Condell, Jonson was fifty years
old, and was the first of living dramatists. He
wrote some lines which were printed with the
portrait of Shakespeare in that edition : -

i Page 159. 2 Pages 165, 647-651.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 263

" This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut ;
Wherein the graver had a strife
With Nature, to outdo the life :
O could he but have drawn his wit
As well in brass, as he has hit
His face, the Print would then surpass
All that was ever writ in brass.
But since he cannot, Reader, look
Not on his Picture, but his Book."

This portrait was cut by Droeshout, and it is
copied in many editions. Judged by modern
standards, it was not a fine work of art, but cer-
tainly it showed a good face, and its likeness is
attested by the above lines.

Jonson also wrote some lines prefixed to the
Plays, addressed " To the memory of my beloved,
the author, Mr. William Shakespeare, and what
he hath left us." Some extracts follow : —

" While I confess thy writings to be such
As neither man nor muse can praise too much."

..." Soul of the age !

The applause ! delight ! the wonder of our stage !
My Shakespeare rise. I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further off, to make thee room :
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read, and praise to give.

And tell how far thou didst our Lyly outshine,
Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line.
And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek,
From thence to honor thee, I will not seek

264 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

For names : but call forth thundering JEschylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to us.

Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time !
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm
Our ears, or, like a Mercury, to charm !
Nature herself was proud of his designs,
And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines !
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit,
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit.

Shine forth, thou star of poets," etc.

Jonson afterwards set down in plain prose, in
Discoveries, certain statements concerning Shake-
speare, from which an extract will be given : -

" De Shakespeare nostrat. I remember, the players have
often mentioned it as an honor to Shakespeare that, in his
writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out line.
My answer hath been, would he had blotted a thousand ;
which they thought a malevolent speech. I had not told
posterity this, but for their ignorance who choose that cir-
cumstance to commend their friend by, wherein he most
faulted ; and to justify mine own candor — for I loved the
man, and do honor his memory, on this side idolatry, as
much as any. He was indeed honest, and of an open and
free nature ; had an excellent fancy ; brave notions and
gentle expressions ; wherein he flowed with that facility
that sometime it was necessary he should be stopped ; suf-
flaminandus erat, as Augustus said of Haterius. His wit
was in his own power ; would the rule of it had been so
too. Many times he fell into those things, could not escape
laughter; as when he said in the person of Caesar, one

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 265

speaking to him, ' Caesar, thou dost me wrong,' he replied,
' Caesar did never wrong but with just cause,' and such
like; which were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices
with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised
than to be pardoned."

If Jon son's word is to be taken, it was a mat-
ter of common speech among the players that
Shakespeare wrote rapidly, and with but slight
correction of his manuscript. Jonson also certi-
fies to the rapid workings of Shakespeare's mind ;
he overflowed with wit, he bubbled over, he ex-
pressed himself with such fluency that occasion-
ally it was necessary or desirable to stop him ;
his fault was too much facility, too great readi-
ness, his wit was not ruled or held in check suffi-
ciently. But he was honest. This was Jonson's
criticism, expressed nearly twenty years after
Shakespeare's death.

To meet these statements of Jonson, both in
poetry and in prose, the Baconians have nothing
to say, no explanation to offer, except that Jon-
son was a party to the imposture of palming off
Shakespeare for Bacon.

In 1616 Shakespeare died and was buried in
the chancel — the place of honor — of shake-
the church in Stratford. The record Elf, bust,
of his burial is as follows: "1616, tablet''
April 25, Will Shakspere, gent." A bust of
him was placed in a niche in the wall near the

266 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

grave. This was made by Gerard Johnson, of
London. The precise date is not known, but
the bust is referred to in the lines of Leonard
Digges in the Folio edition of 1623. It was
represented with a pen in hand, as if in the act
of composition. Beneath it is a tablet with
these lines : —

" Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem,
Terra tegit, populus mceret, Olympus habet."

" Stay, passenger, why goest thou by so fast,
Read, if thou canst, whom envious Death hath placed
Within this monument, Shakespeare, with whom
Quick nature died ; whose name doth deck this tomb
Far more than cost ; sith all that he hath writ
Leaves living art but page to serve his wit."

The bust is described by Drake l and by Elze.2
If its shape and contour are regarded, it repre-
sents an intellectual man, though it is not a
work of artistic merit. The burial in the chan-
cel, the placing of a bust to his memory, the
representation of him with pen in hand, and
the inscription on the tablet, go to show the
estimation in which he was held as a man and
as a writer. By no stretch of post-mortem adu-
lation could it be said of a dull, illiterate man,
"Earth covers, the people mourns, Olympus
holds, a Nestor in wisdom, a Socrates in genius,
a Maro in art ; " or, to use Mrs. Call's transla-
tion, —

1 Pages 633-635.

2 Elze, Appendix H, p. 548. See also 1 H.-P. 259.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 267

"Wise as the man of Pylos, inspired like Socrates, and

with the skill of Maro.

Earth covers, the people mourn, and Olympus holds
him." 1

It was not then doubted that he was the au-
thor of the plays.

In 1623 the first edition of Shakespeare's
collected plays, usually called the First

-r, ,. t TI t- T • First Folio'

Uolio, or the rolio edition, was put andpre-
forth by Heminge and Condell. They
were actors, and were associates or fellows of
Shakespeare in the management of the theatre.
In 1623 they were the leading proprietors of
the Globe and Blackfriars theatres, and are
supposed to have been the owners of most, if
not of all, of the plays. Shakespeare in his
will, by an interlineation, gave " to my fellows,
John Hemynges, Kichard Burbage, and Henry
Cundell, 26s. 8d. apiece to buy them rings."
He had long known them. Heminge was the
original performer of Falstaff.2 Shakespeare,
Burbage, Phillips, Heminge, Condell, were all
included in the special license granted by King
James in 1603.

The title of the Folio edition was : " Mr. Wil-
liam Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tra-
gedies. Published according to the true, original

1 What we really know about Shakespeare, 71.

2 Old tract, referred to by Malone, cited in Wilder's Life of Shake-
speare, 83.

268 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

copies." There were various prefixes or pre-
faces to the Plays. Mention has already been
made of Jonson's lines.1 The volume was dedi-
cated to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgom-
ery, who were brothers. An extract follows : —

" For so much were your L.L. [lordships] likings of the
several parts when they were acted, as, before they were
published, the volume asked to be yours. We have but
collected them, and done an office to the dead to procure
his orphans guardians ; without ambition either of self-
profit or fame, only to keep the memory of so worthy a
friend and fellow alive, as was our Shakespeare, by humble
offer of his plays to your most noble patronage. . . . We
most humbly consecrate to your H. H. these remains of
your servant Shakespeare. . . . The reputation his, and the
faults ours."

The above seems to imply, though not neces-
sarily, that Shakespeare had some personal ac-
quaintance with Pembroke and Montgomery.

Heminge and Condell added an address " To
the great variety of Readers," in which they
say: —

" It had been a thing, we confess, worthy to have been
wished, that the author himself had lived to have set forth
and overseen his own writings ; but since it hath been or-
dained otherwise, and he by death departed from that right,
we pray you do not envy his friends the office of their care
and pain to have collected and published them ; and so to
have published them as where (before) you were abused
with divers stolen and surreptitious copies, maimed and
deformed by the frauds and stealths of injurious impostors
that exposed them ; even those are now offered to your view

i Ante, p. 263.

OPINIONS OF CONTEMPORARIES 269

cured and perfect of their limbs, and all the rest absolute
in their numbers as he conceived them ; who, as he was a
happy imitator of nature, was a most gentle expresser of it.
His mind and hand went together ; and what he thought,
he uttered with that easiness that we have scarce received
from him a blot in his papers."

Heminge and Condell must have known where
the plays came from, and there is no way for
the Baconians to meet these statements of theirs
except to say that they are not to be relied
upon, or to assume that they also were parties
to the great imposture. The Dedication to the
Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery would seem
to involve them also as sharers in the same
deception. Add to this the two dedications in
the name of Shakespeare himself to the Earl of
Southampton, republished so often in succeeding
editions of Venus and Adonis and Lucrece ; and
if he was not actually the author, it implies a
passion for making and accepting fictitious dedi-
cations, which was participated in by seven per-
sons, and must have been known to many more.

Amongst other prefixes to the Folio edition
were some lines by Hugh Holland, two of which
are as follows : —

" Which crown'd him poet first, then poet's king."
" The life yet of his lines shall never out."

Leonard Digges also contributed some lines.
He was a poet and orator, born in 1588, edu-

270 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

cated at Oxford, and died in 1635. Some ex-
tracts follow : —

" Shakespeare, at length thy pious fellows give
The world thy works — thy works, by which, outlive
Thy tomb thy name must ; when that stone is rent,
And time dissolves thy Stratford monument,
Here we alive shall view thee still. This book,
When brass and marble fade, shall make thee look
Fresh to all ages ; when posterity
Shall loath what 's new, think all is prodigy
That is not Shakespeare's ; every line, each verse,
Here shall revive, redeem thee from thy hearse.
Nor fire nor cankering age, as Naso said
Of his, thy wit-fraught book shall once invade.

Be sure, our Shakespeare, thou canst never die,
But, crowned with laurel, live eternally."

Digges wrote other lines on Shakespeare,
which were first printed as a prefix to an edi-
tion of Shakespeare's Poems published in 1640.
In these he referred to the great popularity of
Julius Caesar, Othello, Henry IV, Much Ado
about Nothing, and Twelfth Night, styling them
" the pattern of all wit."

Shakespeare was styled " gentleman," not
only in the record of his burial, but in deeds
executed in 1602, 1605, 1612-13 ; in his will ;
in the inscription on the tombstone of his son-
in-law Dr. John Hall, who died in 1635 ; and in
the inscription upon the tombstone of his daugh-
ter Susanna, — Mrs. Hall, — who died in 1649.

CHAPTER XVI

SHAKESPEARE'S PROBABLE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINT-
ANCES

THE supposition that Bacon wrote the plays
and poems rests partly on the theory that Shake-
speare was a dull, illiterate man, and it necessa-
rily implies an imposture in holding him out
as the author ; an imposture which was partici-
pated in by a good number of persons, known
to several more, and continued from the time of
the production of the first play in the theatre
till after the death of Shakespeare and of
Bacon ; an imposture which had the effect to
deceive all of their acquaintances and contempo-
raries who were not privy to the deception. The
Baconians do not shrink from this conclusion.
In their view, Bacon procured Shakespeare to
occupy the position of ostensible author, and
Shakespeare did this without detection. Holmes
mentions the following persons as probably in
the secret, viz. : Ben Jonson, Sir Tobie Matthew,
the Earls of Essex, Southampton, and Pembroke ;
Sir John Davies ; if not George Herbert, Dr.
Donne, and the Queen.1 Bacon must also have

1 Pages 72-78, 136, 137, 144, 165, 172, 647, 648, 746.

272 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

had other assistants and go-betweens. There were
thirty-seven plays, besides Venus and Adonis, Lu-
crece, the Sonnets, and the other poems. Some
of the plays were altered and added to from
time to time. Many other persons besides those
named above must, it would seem, have known
the fact if Bacon was the author, or if Shake-
speare was not ; for example, Bacon's bio-
grapher and assistant, Rawley, the Earl of Mont-
gomery, Richard Burbage, Heminge, Condell,
and other actors. The imposture must have
been supported by continuous acts, extending
over many years.

The theory that Shakespeare was dull and
illiterate cannot stand. A fool could not be
palmed off as the great genius who had written
the plays. But let it be supposed that he was a
man of respectable parts ; still, if he was falsely
assuming to be the author, there were many
intelligent persons, besides those already men-
tioned, who were in a position to detect the im-
posture. The more acquaintances he had, the
harder it is to believe that they were all mis-
taken, and it is almost impossible to suppose
that great numbers shared in such a secret. A
more detailed enumeration of known or proba-
ble friends or acquaintances of Shakespeare may
be made, in order the better to show the diffi-
culty of maintaining such a deception.

In the first place, there was in the First Folio

PROBABLE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 273

a list of the principal actors in all the plays,
twenty-five in number, besides Shakespeare him-
self, as follows : Richard Burbage, John Hem-
inge, Augustine Phillips, William Kemp, Thomas
Pope, George Bryan, Henry Condell, William
Slye, Richard Cowley, John Lowin, Samuel Cross,
Alexander Cooke, Samuel Gilburne, Robert Ar-
min, William Ostler, Nathan Field, John Under-
wood, Nicholas Tooley, William Ecclestone,
Joseph Taylor, Robert Benfield, Robert Goughe,
Richard Robinson, John Shank, John Rice.

Of these Burbage was the leading actor of the
time ; Armin and Field were dramatists as well
as actors; Lowin, Taylor, Benfield, and Robin-
son were included amongst the ten actors who
in 1647 put forth the first collected edition of
Beaumont and Fletcher's plays; William Kemp
was a leading comedian ; Burbage, Phillips, Hem-
inge, and Condell were personal friends of Shake-
speare. According to Fleay's list of actors,1
Field, Ecclestone, Taylor, Benfield, Shank, and
Rice did not belong to any of the Shakespeare
companies of actors till 1616, the year of Shake-"
speare's death ; so that it is possible that he may
not have met them personally. But at least
he would be likely to have some acquaintance
with the rest of them. It is probable, also, that
he knew other actors besides those enumerated
as taking parts in his own plays. He was a

1 Fleay, Hist, of London Stage, 370-377.

274 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

member of the Earl of Leicester's company from
1587 to 1589 ; of Lord Strange's company from
1589 to 1593 ; of the Lord Chamberlain's com-
pany from 1593 to 1603 ; and of King James's
company from 1603 to 1610. Various other
actors were members of one or another of these
companies at the same time with Shakespeare.
Amongst these were Edward Alleyn, Christopher
Beeston, J. Duke, Lawrence Fletcher, J. Sanders,
W. Tawyer, and A. Young.1 Of these, Alleyn
was a leading actor, the rival of Burbage, and
Fletcher was one of the eight persons named
with Shakespeare in King James's license or
patent to the players in 1603. There is little
reason to doubt that Shakespeare had a pretty
general acquaintance with the actors in London
from 1590 to 1610 ; and also with the managers
of the various theatres during the same time, as
well as with those " officers of the royal house-
hold who collectively controlled theatrical repre-
sentations at court." 2 These men, as a class, must
have been bright and observant persons, most
capable of detecting shams amongst their associ-
ates.

He must also have had a considerable ac-
quaintance amongst the dramatists and poets of
the time. Fleay, who is inclined to narrow the
list of such acquaintances, enumerates the fol-

1 Fleay, Hist, of London Stage, 375.

2 Lee, p; 413.

PROBABLE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 275

lowing : 1 Wilson, Peele, Marlowe, Drayton,
Lodge, Marston, Chapman, Dekker, Jonson,
Tourneur, and Wilkins. He adds that Shake-
speare's relations with Marston, Chapman, and
Dekker were ephemeral. Of these, Wilson and
Peele were actors, and each of them at some
time performed in the company of which Shake-
speare was a member. Plays by Peele, Marlowe,
Lodge, Drayton, Chapman, Dekker, Tourneur,
and Wilkins were also performed by Shake-
speare's company. Marston is said by Fleay to
have joined with Shakespeare and Dekker in
maintaining a stage quarrel against Jonson and
Chapman from 1599 to 1601. Marston, Chap-
man, and Jonson joined with Shakespeare in
contributing poems to Robert Chester's Love's
Martyr, published in 1601. Drayton was from
Warwickshire, was in the habit of visiting Sir
Henry Rainsford, who lived about a mile from
Stratford, and in 1627 he addressed to Henry
Reynolds a poem on the English poets, which
mentions Shakespeare in a manner implying
personal acquaintance. There appears to be
no reason to doubt that Shakespeare knew all
of those dramatists and poets enumerated by
Fleay; but his acquaintances cannot be so lim-
ited.

Reasons for adding to this list the names of
Chettle, John Davies of Hereford, Barn field,

1 Life and Work of Shakespeare, 75-81.

276 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Robert Chester, Webster, Heywood, Thomas
Greene, Hugh Holland, and Leonard Digges
have already appeared in these Notes. But
there are also sufficient reasons for adding
others.

There was at that time a close connection be-
tween the acting and the writing of plays. Doing
the one seemed naturally to lead to doing the
other. It has already been mentioned that many
of the dramatists were also actors.1 Dramatists
who were not actors used to frequent the thea-
tres, and probably had free admission and sat on
the stage.2 Only slight evidence is necessary to
lead to the belief that Shakespeare had at least
a speaking acquaintance with the dramatists
then living in London. His intimacy with Jon-
son has already been referred to. Long after
Shakespeare's death, Jonson wrote : " I loved
the man, and do honor his memory, on this side
idolatry, as much as any." This implies that
others also loved him and honored his memory,
and Jonson strongly asserts his own affection ;
perhaps in reply to some who may have ques-
tioned it, or asserted their own.

Robert Armin, author and actor, was joined
.with Shakespeare in King James's license or pa-
tent in 1603. He was a friend of Shakespeare's
friend Augustine Phillips, who died in 1605,
and left a legacy to each of them. Phillips, ac-

1 Ante, p. 210. 2 Knight, 309.

PROBABLE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 277

cording to Elze, was a man of means and greatly
esteemed in his private life.1

Kyd's Jeronymo, according to Fleay,2 was
acted twenty-two times at the Rose Theatre in
1592 by Lord Strange' s Company. Shakespeare
belonged to that company.

In 1599 John Weever, a poet but not a
dramatist, published an epigram addressed to
Shakespeare which suggests acquaintanceship.3

There is small reason to doubt that the poet
Samuel Daniel, 1562-1619, was a friend or at
least an acquaintance of Shakespeare.4 He was
master of the revels in 1604; was a friend of
Drayton ; brother-in-law of Florio, the teacher of
French and Italian, and translator of Montaigne ;
and his sonnets were taken by Shakespeare as a
model for his own.5

William Warner, 1558-99, the translator of
the Mencechmi of Plautus, and the author of
Albion's England, is thought by Elze to have
come from Warwickshire,6 and if so he would
probably become acquainted with Shakespeare.

If, according to the opinion which now gener-
ally prevails, King Henry VIII was written by
Shakespeare and Fletcher, this fact increases the
antecedent probability that they were acquainted
with each other.

1 Elze, 252. 2 Chronicle of English Drama, 28.

3 Copied in Drake, 519. * Drake, 297.

5 Elze, 120, 140, 329, 433. 6 Elze, 120.

278 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

Lyly is said by Fleay1 to have had plays
acted at the Globe or Blackfriars Theatre.
Shakespeare was connected with both of them.

The writer of the Return from Parnassus,
whoever he was, probably knew Shakespeare.

The Second Folio edition was published in
1632. An anonymous poem was prefixed,
" Upon the effigies of my worthy Friend, the
Author, Master William Shakespeare, and his
works." This implies personal acquaintance by
the unknown writer.

Another poem, signed I. M. S., was also pre-
fixed, which suggests but does not necessarily
show such acquaintance.

Dr. Grosart,3 in his Essay on the Life and
Writings of Donne, expresses the opinion that
Donne and Shakespeare knew each other, though
there is no direct proof of it.

From the literary class, the names of Camden,
Meres, Florio, John Bodenham, editor of Belve-
dere, and William Barksted, author of Mirrha,
may be added as probable acquaintances. The
last named was an actor.4

No distinct and trustworthy evidence can now
be referred to which shows personal acquaint-
ance with Beaumont, Selden, Sir Walter Raleigh,
Sir John Davies, Inigo Jones, Monday, Wade-

1 Hist, of London Stage, 154.

2 Ingleby, Century of Praise, 189.
8 2 Donne (Grosart's ed.), xlv.

4 Fleay, Chronicle of English Drama, 29.

PROBABLE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 279

son, or Sylvester, though the existence of such
acquaintance with several of them appears to be
probable. It is not unlikely that Shakespeare
frequented the Mermaid Club, but distinct proof
of it is lacking. According to Jonson, he was
bubbling over with wit. If so, he would be
more likely to have many acquaintances amongst
the contemporary writers and others. This view
is confirmed by the recorded traditions, as well
as by the lines on the tablet. Fuller, who died
in 1661, said that Shakespeare " could turn with
all tides, tack about, and take advantage of all
winds, by the quickness of his wit and inven-
tion." l Ward, in 1662 or 1663, wrote, "I
have heard that Mr. Shakespeare was a natural
wit." <2 Aubrey, 1680, said he was " very good
company, and of a very ready and pleasant
smooth wit ; " and again, " I have heard Sir
William Davenant and Mr. Thomas Shadwell
. . . say that he had a most prodigious wit, and
did admire his natural parts beyond all other
dramatical writers." 3 Rowe, 1709, said he had
an " admirable wit," and was " a good-natured
man, of great sweetness in his manners, and a
most agreeable companion." 4 He adds that
" every one who had a true taste of merit, and
could distinguish men, had generally a just value
and esteem for him. His exceeding candor and

*2 H.-P. 70. 2 2 H.-P. 70.

8 2 H.-P. 70, 71. * 2 H.-P. 73, 74.

280 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

good nature must certainly have inclined all the
gentler part of the world to love him, as the
power of his wit obliged the men of the most
delicate knowledge and polite learning to ad-
mire him." These traditions but confirm the
tributes of contemporaries, and well warrant the
confident belief that Shakespeare not only had
friends in sufficient abundance, but that he
stood well with them.1 It appears to be quite
certain that they were not limited to Fleay's
list.

In seeking to ascertain those with whom
Shakespeare was brought into personal relations,
reference should be made also to the different
printers and publishers of the poems and plays.
The first of these was Richard Field, a native
of Stratford, who printed Venus and Adonis in
1593 and Lucrece in 1594. From 1593 to 1607
there were more than a dozen of such printers
and publishers, whose names are given by Fleay.2
All of these would or might have some means
of judging whether Shakespeare was the real
author or not. They were likely to have some
communication with him, even though he may
not have read the proofs. In several instances
new editions were published, which, according
to the title-pages, were augmented, or newly
augmented, or corrected by Shakespeare.

1 See Elze, 137, 145 et seq.

2 Shakespeare Manual, 142, 143.

PROBABLE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 281

As early as 1592, according to Chettle,
" divers of worship " reported Shakespeare's
uprightness of dealing and his facetious grace
in writing. At later dates some acquaintance
with persons of rank and social distinction is
indicated by the following circumstances : —

The Dedications of Venus and Adonis and
of Lucrece to the Earl of Southampton have
already been adverted to.1 In 1623 the Folio
edition was dedicated to the Earls of Pembroke
and of Montgomery in terms which imply that
they had shown some favor to Shakespeare in
his lifetime. Lord Hunsdon 2 was Lord Cham-
berlain till 1596, when he died and was suc-
ceeded by his son. Halliwell-Phillipps thinks
that Shakespeare probably had some personal
acquaintance with the Earl of Essex, the Earl
of Rutland, and Sir Charles Percy.3 The latter
was one of those who in 1600 procured the per-
formance of the play representing the deposi-
tion and killing of King Richard II. This
derived significance from its supposed connec-
tion with the conspiracy of Essex.4 Whether the
play performed was Shakespeare's King Rich-
ard II is a matter not fully settled. Lee thinks
it was.5 If the Sonnets are autobiographical,
acquaintance with a person of some distinction is

1 Ante, pp. 155-158. 2 1 H.-P, 116 ; Lee, 35.

8 1 H.-P. 176, 177.

4 Ingleby's Century of Praise, 36, 37.

5 Page 175.

282 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

indicated who is supposed by some to have been
William Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke.
The contribution of The Phoenix and Turtle to
Robert Chester's volume in 1601, and the con-
secration of it to Sir John Salisburie, as herein-
before detailed/ imply acquaintance with both
of them. It was the custom at that time for dis-
tinguished patrons of the theatre to go upon the
stage or behind the side scenes,2 and more or
less acquaintance with the leading actors would
naturally follow.3

After his retirement to Stratford, which per-
haps was in 1613, Shakespeare no doubt knew
most of the leading persons of that place and
its vicinity. The tablet in the church says,
Populus mceret. His will contained legacies not
only to his fellows Heminge, Burbage, and Con-
dell, but to Mr. Thomas Combe, Thomas Rus-
sell, Esq., Francis Collins, Hamlet Sadler, Wil-
liam Reynolds, gent., Mr. Thomas Nash, and to
his godson William Walker. These last named

1 Ante, pp. 161-164. 2 Gervimis, 90.

8 In George Wyndham's edition of The Poems of Shakespeare,
303 (American edition), he says in a note ' —

" I am indebted to Lord Pembroke for the information that a let-
ter, now unfortunately mislaid, existed at Wilton from Lady Pem-
broke to her son, the third Earl, telling- him to bring James I over
from Salisbury to witness a representation of As You Like It. The
letter contained the words, ' We have the man Shakespeare with us.'
. . . Lord Pembroke has no doubt but that Shakespeare was often at
Wilton, and he adds that a good statue of him stands in Holbein's
Porch, indicating that the tradition of his connection with Wilton is
of old standing."

Lee doubts the existence of any such letter ; pp. 411, 412, note.

PROBABLE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 283

were some of those who were about him then ;
dull men, perhaps, as compared with the drama-
tists and actors of his acquaintance.

So many persons even now can be named,
though a full enumeration of his friends and ac-
quaintances of course is impossible. Enough
appears to show that he must have been known
by many actors, managers, poets, dramatists,
patrons of the theatre, some court officers, prob-
ably some publishers and printers, " divers of
worship," and during the last years of his life
by most of the leading persons in and about
Stratford. These persons met him face to face,
knew him, talked with him, and knew also what
others said of him. Though it appears reason-
ably certain that he was generally liked, he was
not exempt from jealousies and rivalries, and
perhaps to some extent was involved in the war
of the theatres which raged about the year 1600.
There were some who had a disposition and a
motive to expose him if he was putting forth
pretensions which were unfounded. In the opin-
ion of the whole literary and theatrical classes,
and of the public at large, so far as information
or tradition has come down to us, he was a man
of wit and flowing speech, and was the author
of the plays and poems which bear his name.
The question is, whether it is possible to sup-
pose that he could have passed amongst all these
friends, acquaintances, and rivals, for the author,

284 THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE QUESTION

without exposure or suspicion, if he was not so
in reality, and that such a secret could have es-
caped detection and disclosure. An expression
of opinion upon this point has been attributed
to Sir Henry Irving, with which these Notes may
come to a fitting end : —

"When the Baconians can show that Ben Jonson was
either a fool or a knave, or that the whole world of players
and playwrights at that time was in a conspiracy to palm
off on the ages the most astounding cheat in history, they
will be worthy of serious attention."

INDEXES

INDEX OF LEGAL TERMS

Abetter, 31.

Abominable words, 96.

Absolution, 29.

Absque hoc, 65.

Accessary, 37, 67, 68, 69, 70.

Accused, 45, 69.

Acquittance, 64.

Action, 24, 32, 42, 44, 70, 71, 72.

Action of assault, etc., 70.

Action of battery, 27, 70.

Action on (or of) the case, 70.

Action of choke bail, 71.

Action of false imprisonment, 71.

Action of slander, 70.

Action of trespass, 70.

Actions die with person, 109.

Advocate, 86.

j3£dificium cedit solo, 46.

Affeered, 128.

Affiance, 32.

Affidavit, 29.

Against the form, etc., 68.

Against the peace, etc., 68.

Agreement, 32.

Allegation, 30.

Alluvion, 102, 105.

Amerce, 118.

Amercement, 28.

Annuity, 105.

Answer, 29, 83, 85, 127.

Ante-date (writ), 85.

Appeal, 79, 80, 96.

Appear, 83, 105.

Appellant, 83.

Appellation, 30, 105.

Appraisement, 29.

Apprehend, etc., 66, 74, 75, 78.

Arbitrator, 88.

Arraign, arraignment, etc., 29, 49,

67, 68, 69, 82.
Arrest, etc., 24, 44, 66, 71, 74, 75,

76, 77.
Articles, 61, 62, 122.

Assault and battery, 70.
Assize, 29, 67, 84.
Assumpsit, 105.
Assurance, 32, 56.
Attach, 29, 74, 75.
Attachment, 28, 30.
Attorney, 66, 85, 86.
Attorneyed, 127.
Attorney-General. 90.
Attournments, 105.
Audit, 28.
Audita querela, 105.

Bail, 43, 74, 77, 78.

Bail or mainprize, 77.

Bailable, 77.

Bailiff, 29, 44, 76.

Band, 28.

Bankrupt, etc., 28, 77, 93.

Bar (place in court), 29, 69.

Bar (estoppel), 80.

Bar (the profession), 86.

Bargain, 32.

Bargain and sale, 52.

Barrister, 29.

Battery, 27.

Beginning of the world, 32.

Be it known, etc., 60.

Bench, 29, 30.

Bequeath, 48, 57, 58, 123.

Bill, 24, 32.

Bill of complaint, 66, 100.

Bill of sale, 105.

Bond, 24, 28, 32, 62, 63, 64, 73,

114, 115, 116, 122, 132.
Bound over, 66.
Bound to the peace, 78, 79.
Bourn, 90.
Break your day, 64.
Bringing of actions, 70.
Broke (bond), 64.
Brooke, 103, 105.
Brother, 84.

288

INDEX OF LEGAL TERMS

Burgage, 30, 105.

By these presents, 60, 61.

Cancel, 64.

Canon law, etc., 30, 103, 105.

Capable, 58.

Capias, 29, 75, 105.

Capias utligatum, 105.

Capite, 53.

Case, 27.

Case, action of the, 70.

Cause, 84, 89.

Certificate, 30.

Certiorari, 105.

Challenge, 78.

Champerty, 105.

Chancery, 30, 99, 100.

Charge, 69, 132.

Charged upon interrogatories, 87.

Charitable uses, 57, 101, 102, 105.

Chattels, 41, 42.

Choke bail, 71.

Cite, citation, etc., 30, 67, 105.

Civil law, 103, 105.

Clerk of court, 82.

Client, 86, 87.

Come into court, 78.

Comforting the King, 93.

Commission, 28.

Commit, etc., 43, 77.

Common, 90, 97.

Common law, etc., 58, 71, 85,

100, 103, 105.
Compact, 32, 122.
Compass of, 41, 43, 44.
Complainant, 65.
Complaining, 100.
Complaint, 69.
Composition, 127.
Condition, 32, 60, 116.
Confederate, 31.
Confess judgment, 73, 106.
Confess the action, 42.
Consideration, 31, 106.
Constable, 76.
Contempt, 68.
Contract, 28, 32, 90, 101.
Contrary to the King, etc., 67, 68.
Conveyance, 27, 30, 53.
Conviction, 30.
Copyhold, etc., 62, 106.
Copy of court roll, 30.
Coram nobis, 84.

Corpus cum causa, 106.
Corpus juris canonici, 106.
Corpus juris civilis, 106.
Counsel, counselled, etc., 71, 85,

86, 121.

Country (jury), 69.
Court, 30, 55, 65, 66, 67, 68, 78,

80, 83, 84.
Court day, 106.
Court of equity, 100.
Court of heaven, 66, 71.
Court of pie-poudre, 66.
Court roll, 30, 106.
Covenant, etc., 32, 61, 62, 121,

122.

Cozenage, 66, 104.
Crazed title, 126.
Crier of the court, 82.
Crown and dignity, 67, 68.
Crowner's quest, 33, 34.
Custody, 31.

Damages, 71.

Damnum reparabile, 106.

Date-broke bonds, 63, 125.

Day of hearing, trial, etc., 87, 89.

Decimo, 31.

Decimo tertio, 31.

Declaration, 32, 106.

Decree, 100, 131.

Decretal, 106.

Dedimus potestatem, 43, 106.

Deed, 56.

Deed of gift, 32, 54.

Defeasance, 32, 60, 106.

Defendant, 70, 81, 83.

Defesant, 76.

Demand, 32.

Demise, 123.

Demur, etc., 106.

Depending, 67.

Descent of land, 23, 58, 59.

Determine, etc., 55, 56.

Discharge, 31, 77.

Disclaim, 31.

Discontinuance, 106.

Disjoin, 31.

Disparagement, 106, 118, 119.

Disseised, 106.

Distrained, 126.

Divorce, 30, 31, 104.

Doctor (of law), 30.

Double voucher, 23, 27, 32, 30.

INDEX OF LEGAL TERMS

289

Dower, 30, 124, 125, 127.
Dowry, 124, 125.
Due on forfeiture, 125.
Dyer, 103, 106.

Egress or regress, 31.
Ejectione firmse, 106.
Eloigii, 31, 106.
Enclosure, 28.
Encumbered, 106.
Endowment, 32.
Enfeoff, etc., 52, 126.
Enlarge, enlargement, 77, 78.
Entail, 24, 48, 51, 129.
Entered (action), 70, 71.
Equity, 79, 98, 99, 100, 101, 131.
Error, 109.
Escheat, 24, 106.
Escuage, 30, 106.
Estate (verb), 123, 124.
Estate of perpetuity, 106.
Estate of years, 55.
Evidence (testimony), 84.
Evidences, 30.
Except before excepted, 65.
Exception, 80, 85.
Excommunicato capiendo, 43.
Execution, 28, 43, 53, 73, 74.
Executor, etc., 57, 58.
Exhibited, 66.
Explication, 32.
Extent, etc., 28, 53, 129.

False imprisonment, 71.

Fealty, 30.

Fee, 47 et seq.

Fee-farm, 30, 48, 50.

Fee-grief, 48, 126.

Fee-simple, 24, 47, 48, 49.

Fee-tail, 30, 49, 50.

Felony, 104.

Feodary, 127, 128.

Feoffee, feoffment, etc., 28, 32, 52,

56, 101.

Fine, 23, 25, 27, 28, 55.
Fine and recovery, 24, 48, 50.
Fitzherbert, 103, 106.
Flung over the bar, 80.
Foreman of jury, 107.
Forfeit, forfeiture, etc., 28, 41, 42,

63, 64, 73, 115, 122.
Forma juris, 107.
Forma pauperis, 107.

Forwarder, 31.
Fracted dates, 63, 125.
Frank almoigne, 30, 107.
Free as heart, etc., 94.
Freehold, 62, 107.

Garnishes, 44, 107.

Godfathers, twelve, 81.

Good men and true, 69.

Grand jury, 81.

Grand serjeantry, 30, 107.

Grave-diggers' discussion, 33 et

seq.

Guardian and ward, 117, 118, 119.
Guildhall verdict, 107.

Habeas corpus, 107.

Habere facias, 107.

Hales v. Petit, 33, 36 et seq.

Heels (punish by the), 96.

Heir, 57, 58, 124.

Heir apparent and presumptive,

130.

Heirloom, 107.
Heirs forever, 64, 129, 130.
Heirs male, 51.
Hereditary, 47.
Heritage, 49, 118.
High court of sovereignty, 66.
Hilary Term, 29.
Hold up your hands, 69.
Homage, 30, 90.
Hotchpot, hotchpotch, 49, 107.
How will you be tried ? 69.
Humbly complaining, 100.

Idem est non apparere, etc., 107.

Immediately provided, etc., 96.

Impanelled, 81, 82.

Imparlance, 107.

Impress, 94.

In capite, 53.

Indent, etc., 60.

Indenture, 27, 32, 60, 61, 125, 131.

Indenture tripartite, 56, 59, 60.

Indicted, 29, 67, 68, 81.

Indictment, 28, 67, 68, 69.

Informer, 43.

Informs, 28.

Inherit, inheritance, etc., 27, 47,

48, 57, 58, 122, 123.
Injunction, 29, 100.
In jure civili, 107.

290

INDEX OF LEGAL TERMS

Inns of chancery, 84.

Inns of court, 84.

Inquest ('quest), 81.

Interchangeably, 59, 60.

Interests, 32.

Interrogatories, 30, 87.

In terrorem, 107.

Intestate, 57.

In witness whereof, 61.

I put myself on you, etc., 69.

Jointure, 65.

Judge of equity, 100.

Judgment, 28, 29, 42, 69, 73, 87,

96.

Judgment hall, 29, 67.
Juror and jury, 28, 45, 69, 71, 81,

82.

Jury of brokers, 107.
Justice, 43, 75, 81, 88.
Justice Clement, 66.
Justice of assize, 84.
Justice of the peace, etc., 77, 84.
Justice, partial, 91, 92.
Justinian, 58, 103, 107.

Keep his day, 63, 64.

Keep your fellows' counsels, 96.

King's protection, 41, 42, 44.

Kiss the book, 79.

Knights service, 30.

Land-damn, 125.

Latitat, 70, 107.

Law and equity, 98, 99, 100, 101.

Law days, 66.

Lawful prize, 88.

Law quillets, 88.

Law's delay, 88.

Lawyers, 30, 70, 72, 84 et seq.

Lease, 28, 30, 54, 55.

Leeful, 31.

Leet, 66.

Legacy, 57, 58.

Legal authors, 103.

Letter of attorney, 101.

Libel, 94.

Libel (bill of complaint), 66.

Lieu of, 126.

Littleton, 30, 49, 51, 59, 103, 107.

Livery, 28, 90, 91.

Livery of seisin, etc., 101, 107.

Love's judgment hall, 29, 67.

Magistrate, 89, 90, 97.
Magna Charta, 43, 103, 107.
Mainprize, 77.
Maintainer, 31.
Maintenance, 107.
Marriage, Restraint of, 113.
Marriage of ward, 117, 118, 119.
Marriage per verba, etc., 107, 119.

120.

Marriage settlement, 89.
Michaelmas Term, 66.
Middlesex jury, 45, 107.
Mittimus, 76, 108.
Mortgage, 24, 54, 64.
Mortmain, 30, 108.
Motion, 29, 89.
Moving, 31.

Nisi prius, 67, 108.
Nonsuit, etc., 80.
Noverint, 60.
Nunc pro tune, 108.

Oath, 28, 61, 79, 82, 97, 125, 131.

Obligation, 63.

Octavo, 104.

On you that are my country, 69.

Ordained, 29.

Order, 100.

Ore tenus, 108.

Outlawry, 28.

Out of the King's protection, 41,

42.
Oyez, 83.

Pack your jury, 71.

Pain, 84.

Pain of imprisonment, 83.

Parcel, 97.

Partition, 90, 108.

Party, 31, 32.

Party and party, 82, 96.

Pater quern nuptise, etc., 96.

Penal statutes, 104.

Penalty, 118, 122.

Perjury, 125.

Perpetuity, 51, 108.

Per prsesentes, 60.

Per quam regulam, 108.

Persuader, 31.

Per verba de prsesenti, 119, 120.

Petty treason, 77.

Pie-poudre court, 66, 108.

INDEX OF LEGAL TERMS

291

Pious uses, 57, 101, 102, 108.

Plaintiff, 83.

Plea, 24.

Plead, 29, 81, 85.

Pleader, 85, 86.

Pleas, 29, 30, 82.

Plowden, 33, 103, 108.

Pluto's court, 67.

Poll-deeds, 32, 108.

Postea, 108.

Power legatine, 41.

Prsemunire, 41 et seq.

Precedent, 95.

Precept, 72, 73.

Precontract, 119, 120, 121.

Premises, 31, 126.

Prerogative, 100.

Present her, 66.

Principal, 31.

Prisoner's fees, 76, 77.

Privy entries, 32.

Prize, 88.

Procedendo, 108.

Process, 73.

Proclaim silence, 83.

Proclamation, 28.

Proctors, 30.

Propagation (of dower), 119, 127.

Proportions, 127.

Purchase, etc., 23, 47.

Purgation, 96.

Quadragesimo octavo, nono, 104.
Quest (inquest), 81.
Quiddets, 88.
Quiddity, 27, 88.
Quietus est, 29.
Quillets, 27, 43, 88.
Qui tacet, etc., 108.
Quitclaim, 108.
Quittance, 64.

Rack rent, 108.

Recognizance, 23, 27, 28, 62, 63,

74.

Recovery, 23, 27, 28, 50.
Re-entry, 108.
Reference, 30, 108.
Regress, 31.
Rejoinder, 32, 89, 108.
Rejourn, 82, 126.
Remainder, 24, 48.
Remitter, 29.

Remove the cause, 108.

Renounce, 31.

Repeal (of statute), 104.

Repeal (thee home), 95.

Replevy, 108.

Replication, 89.

Reprize, 88.

Rescue, 74, 78.

Restraint of marriage, 113.

Retain, etc., 85, 86, 108.

Reverse (judgment, etc.), 95, 96.

Reversion, 52.

Riots, 66.

Routs, 66.

Salic law, 59.

Schedule, etc., 31, 128.

Scrivener, 89.

Seal, etc., 28, 55, 61, 62, 64, 78,

122, 125, 132.
Seconder, 31.
Se def endendo, 108.
Seised, 48, 122.
Seisin, 101, 109.
Seize, 53.
Seizure, 29.
Sentence, 74.
Se offendendo, 35.
Sequester, 31.

Serjeant, 44, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78.
Serjeant Death, 74, 75, 76.
Serve, etc., 28, 53, 72, 73.
Session, 66, 67,78.
Sessions at Westminster, 78.
Settlement, 89.
Set your hand, 32.
Several, 97.
Sheriff, 53, 73, 76.
Show cause, 109.
Silence in the court, 83.
Single hond, 132.
Slander, 70.
Socage, 30, 109.
So help thee, 79.
Soldier exempt from summons,

etc., 96.

Solicitor, 85, 86.
Sorcery, 45.
Specialty, 61, 62.
Spiritual court, 67, 109.
Star chamber, 66, 104.
Statute (obligation), 23, 27, 28.

62.

292

INDEX OF LEGAL TERMS

Statute (law), 31, 44, 68, 104,

128.
Statutes cited, 31, 42, 45, 77, 104,

109.
Statutes against different offences,

104.

Stay a suit, 29.
Suborned, 81, 83.
Subpoena, 109.
Subsidies, 28.
Successary, 47.
Succession, 48, 57, 80, 90.
Sue his livery, 90, 91.
Suit, 24, 28, 67, 83.
Suits die with person, 109.
Summon, summons, etc., 28, 29,

67, 96.

Supersedeas, 109.
Supplicavit, 109.
Sureties, 28, 71, 73.
Surrejoinder, 32, 109.

Tail, etc., 51.

Tenant, 81.

Tenant at will, 30, 109.

Tenant for life, 30, 109.

Tenant in common, 109.

Tenant in dower, 30, 109.

Tenements, 41, 42.

Tenure, 27, 30, 31, 49, 50.

Term, 71, 72.

Testament, 57, 58.

Testator, 57.

Teste, 31.

Testificandum, 109.

The truth, the whole truth, etc.,

79.

Tilth, 90.

Time (personified), 88.
Torrey v. Field, 10 Venn. 353;

40.
Tortious, 109.

To the contrary, 109.
Transcript, 31.
Trespass, 70.

Trials, 81, 82, 83, 87, 113, 131.
Trial, days of, 87.
Tricesimo, 29, 31, 104.
Tricesimo nono, 104.
Tricesimo primo, 104.
Tricesimo tertio, 45.
Tripartite, 56, 59, 60.
Trust, 56.
Twelve godfathers (jury), 81.

Unf eed lawyer, 85.
Use, 56.

Vacation, 72.
Venus's court, 80.
Verdict, 81.
Vicesimo, 31.
Voucher, 27, 32, 50.

Wager, 121.

Ward, marriage of, 117, 118, 119.

Warrant, 24, 29,42, 73, 74, 75, 76,

78.

Waste, 118.

Westminster, etc., 30, 66, 72, 109.
Widow (verb), 124.
Will, 58.

Witchcraft, 44, 45.
Within the statute, 45.
Without this, 65.
Witness, 28, 81, 83.
Witness of a good conscience, 93.
Writ, 29, 100.

Writ of appraisement, 29, 109.
Writ of error, 109.
Writ of false imprisonment, 71.
Writ of pramunire, 41.
Writ of privilege, 109.
Writ of summons, 109.

GENEKAL INDEX

Abbott, Edwin A., his Life of Bacon, 142.

Actors, List of, in First Folio, 273.

Adams, T. , cited in Century Dictionary, 80.

Adolphus, John L., his criticism of Sir Walter Scott's novels, 168.

Alleyn, Edward, a leading actor, 274.

Allibone's Dictionary of Authors, 252.

Alterations of plays, from time to time, 244.

Anachronisms found in Shakespeare, 204.

Appian, his Civil Wars, 130.

Armin, Robert, a dramatist and actor, 210, 273, 276.

Asbies, Litigation concerning, 25, 99.

Athenaeum, London, Communication on Warwickshire names, 177.

Aubrey, John, his Biographical Notice of Shakespeare, 279.

Bacon, Delia, the first to suggest theory of Bacon's authorship, 1 n.

Bacon, Francis; authorship of plays not attributed to him till re-
cently, 1 ; he once spelled his brother's name Bakon, 15 ; two
diverse views as to his care for the plays, 139 ; his birth and par-
entage, and some biographical details, 140 ; Biography by William
Rawley, 141; other biographies, 142; his care to preserve his
writings, 143, 144, 197 ; his will, 144 ; his unfamiliarity with Eng-
lish plays and poetry, 145, 197 ; his Promus, 145 ; his Note-Book,
145; his opinion of dramatic and other poetry, 146; his acknow-
ledged verses, 147 ; not generally regarded as a poet, 152, 238 ; his
relations with the Earl of Southampton, 157 ; his authorship of
the poems attributed to Shakespeare improbable, 157; supposed
parallelisms, 165 ; style of composition of plays unlike his, 165 ;
supposed parallelisms with Jonson, 165 n. ; not known ever to have
been in Warwickshire, 170, 238 ; less likely than Shakespeare to be
acquainted with Warwickshire names, 177, 178 ; or with Warwick-
shire flowers, terms of speech, etc., 184, 238 ; or with customs and
conversation of lower classes, 185, 238 ; or with early play of Ham-
let, 196 ; or with other English plays, especially with unpublished
ones, 203, 238 ; or to fall into anachronisms and other errors found
in the plays, 204, 238 ; his contempt for preceding historical writ-
ers, 206 ; suggestion that he prepared First Folio for publication,
207 ; obscurities in text tend to negative this, 207, 238 ; less likely
than Shakespeare to know about theatrical matters, 211, 239 ; not
likely to collaborate with ordinary playwriters, 198, 243 ; altera-
tions in certain plays not likely to have been made by him, 244 ;
not likely to have taken part in theatrical quarrels, 246 ; he never
claimed to be the author, and was never recognized as such, 249 ;
his acquaintance with Jonson, 261 ; Holmes's view of his relation
to Shakespeare, 271.

294 GENERAL INDEX

Balzac, Honore" de, his handwriting, 21.

Barksted, William, a poet, 278.

Barnfield, Richard, a poet, 275 ; his Remembrance of some English

poets, 152, 158.

Barry, Ludowick, his Ram Alley referred to, 30, 31, 44, 52, 54, 55,
60, 61, 64, 65, 66, 69, 71, 76, 77, 78, 80, 84, 86, 88, 92, 101, 104, 105,
106, 107, 108, 109, 110.

Baynes, Thomas S., his Shakespeare Studies, 5, 7, 8.
Beaumont, Francis, his Triumph of Love, 92 ; other references to him,
28 n., 240, 278.

Beaumont and Fletcher [see Fletcher, John], first collected edition of
their plays, 4, 136, 260, 273 ; other references to them, 47, 63, 88,
138 ; reference to plays, as follows : Coxcomb, 73, 104, 108, 109 ;
Elder Brother, 50, 51, 106; Faithful Friends, 75, 81 ; Honest Man's
Fortune, 64, 87, 96, 107, 108, 109 ; Knight of Burning Pestle, 105,
108 ; Laws of Candy, 47, 64 ; Monsieur Thomas, 57 ; Night Walker,
60, 89, 105 ; Noble Gentleman, 59 ; Pilgrim, 180 n. ; Spanish Cu-
rate, 57, 73, 77, 84, 102, 105, 106, 108 ; Wife for a Month, 80, 108,
109 ; Wit without Money, 53, 106 ; Woman's Prize, 65, 91, 106,
108; Women Pleased, 79.

Beeston, Christopher, an actor, 274.

Beisley, Sidney, cited by Furness, 174.

Belvedere, 152, 159.

Benfield, Robert, an actor, 260, 273.

Bible, The, cited, 57, 61, 94.

Bishop, Joel P., his treatise on Marriage and Divorce, 120.

Bishop of London, mentioned in Bacon's will, 144.

Blackstone, William, 19.

Boas, Frederick S., his Shakspere and his Predecessors cited or re-
ferred to, 41, 121, 168, 190, 192, 193, 199, 202, 203, 242, 245.

Boccaccio, his Decameron, 12, 121.

Bodenham, John, editor of Belvedere, 152, 278.

Booth, Edwin, his opinion as to authorship, 211.

Borrman, Das Shakespeare Geheimniss, 165.

Bosville, Mr., mentioned in Bacon's will, 144.

Boswell, James, quoted by Furness, 194.

Bosworth Field, 178.

Bouvier, John, his Law Dictionary, 118.

Brandes, George, his William Shakespeare cited or referred to, 17,
41, 112, 138, 167, 190, 196, 197, 242.

Brooke (or Broke), Arthur, a poet, 13, 193.

Brown, Samuel G., his Life of Rufus Choate, 137.

Browning, Robert, 209, 242.

Brunne, Robert de, 65.

Bryan, George, an actor, 273.

Bullokar, William, 53.

Bulwer, Edward Lytton, 210.

Burbage, Richard, leading actor, 235, 255, 257, 258, 267, 272, 273,
282.

Burleigh, Lord, his Suretyship and Borrowing, 64.

Burton, Robert, the author, 126.

Byron, Lord, his handwriting, 21 ; his plays not well adapted for the
stage, 209.

GENERAL INDEX 295

Camden, William, his Remains, etc., concerning Britain, 153, 159,

278.
Campbell, John Lord, his Life of Lord Chancellor Cowper, 3 ; his

Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements, 22, 33, 36 et seq., 46, 58, 71, 76,

79, 91, 93, 94, 96, 111, 112, 113, 117, 120, 129, 131, 132; his Life of

Bacon, 142, 166.

Cambridge Shakespeare, The, see Wright, William A.
Campion, Thomas, a poet, 153.

Carlyle, Thomas, instructed by Tyndall in matters of science, 40.
Castles, Edward J., his Shakespeare, Bacon, Jonson, and Greene, 121,

133, 210.

Century Dictionary cited, 80, 91.
Century of Praise, see Ingleby, C. M.
Chalmers, Alexander, 23.
Chapman, George, dramatist and poet, referred to, 60, 62, 153, 161,

240 ; references to his plays as follows : All Fools, 31, 50, 52, 54,

62,74,76,77, 89, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110; Blind Beggar, 51, 54 ;

Bussy D'Ambois, 55 ; May Day, 46, 60 ; Eastward Ho (written by

Chapman, Marston, and Jonson), 71, 74, 107, 201, 245, 275.
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 40, 62.

Chester, Robert, his Love's Martyr, 161-164, 276, 282.
Chettle, Henry, dramatist and poet, 20, 159, 196, 210, 240, 241, 252,

253, 254, 257, 275, 281.

Choate, Rufus, his handwriting, 21 ; his indifference to fame, 137.
Church, Richard W., his Life of Bacon, 142.
Cinthio, his Italian plays, 192.
Cipher disclosures as to Bacon, 140 n.
Clarendon, cited by Furness, 189.
Clark and Wright, editors of the Cambridge Shakespeare, see Wright,

William A.

Coke on Littleton, 132.
Coleridge, Hartley, 195.
Collaboration in writing plays, 240 et seq.

Collier, John P., cited or referred to, 20, 23, 176, 194, 196, 210, 235.
Collins, Francis, legatee in Shakespeare's will, 282.
Combe, Thomas, legatee in Shakespeare's will, 282.
Condell, Henry, see Heminge, John.
Constable, Henry, a poet, 153.

Constable, Sir John, mentioned in Bacon's will, 144.
Constitution of Massachusetts, 44.

Contention between Liberality and Prodigality, a play, 68.
Cook, John, his Tu Quoque cited or referred to, 54, 63, 66, 72, 76,

77, 89, 106, 107, 109, 120, 259.
Cooke, Alexander, an actor, 273.
Cophetua, King, 194.
Country sports, 188 et seq.

Courtenay, Thomas P., his Commentaries on Historical Dramas, 206.
Cowel, John, his Law Dictionary, 128.
Cowley, Richard, an actor, 208, 273.
Critic, The, Rolfe's article in, 208.
Cross, Samuel, an actor, 273.

Dall, Mrs. Caroline H., her translation of Shakespeare's epitaph, 266,

267.

296 GENERAL INDEX

Daniel, Samuel, a poet, 7, 153, 194, 277.

Davenant, Sir William, quoted by Aubrey, 279.

Davies, John, of Hereford, a poet, 258, 260, 275.

Davies, Sir John, 278.

Davis, Cushman K., his Law in Shakespeare, 22, 129.

Day, John, a dramatist, 240, 241.

Dekker, Thomas, a dramatist, referred to, 16, 62, 84, 88, 196, 210,
240, 245, 246, 259, 275 ; references to his Gull's Horn Book, 27, 50,
62, 101 ; to If This be not a Good Play, 44, 61, 72, 80, 82, 83, 86,
92, 100, 102, 107, 108, 110; to Satiromastix, 70, 107, 246 ; to North-
ward Ho, by Dekker and Webster, 52, 77, 107 ; to Westward Ho,
by the same, 63, 66, 71, 78, 86, 89, 93. See also Webster, John, for
play of Sir Thomas Wyat.

Dig-ges, Leonard, a poet, 269, 270, 276.

Dixon, W. Hepworth, his Personal History of Lord Bacon, 142.

Donne, John, a poet, 28 n., 29, 51, 56, 65, 75, 89, 91, 106, 108, 271,
278.

Donne, W. B., cited by A. W. Ward, 242.

Douce, quoted by Furness, 183, 195.

Douce, Francis, his Illustrations of Shakspeare, 205.

Dow, Gerard, his name spelled in different ways, 16.

Dowden, Edward, cited by A. W. Ward, 242 ; his Shakspere, his Mind
and Art, 166, 167.

Doyle, John T., his account of a law case in Nicaragua, 116.

Drake, Nathan, his Shakespeare and his Times cited or referred to,
7, 8, 12, 153, 156, 157, 170, 171, 172, 180, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190,
191, 193, 194, 197, 200, 201, 203, 252, 259, 266, 277.

Drayton, Michael, a poet, 20, 61, 153, 176, 183, 195, 240, 275, 277.

Droeshout, his portrait of Shakespeare, 263.

Drummond, William, his Notes of Ben Jonson's Conversations, 147,
153, 245, 247, 261.

Duke, J., an actor, 274.

Dyce, Alexander, quoted by Furness, 194, 195.

Ecclestone, William, an actor, 273.

Edwards, Edward, his Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, 95.

Elizabeth, Queen, 163, 255, 257, 271.

Elze, Karl, his William Shakespeare cited or referred to, 10, 16, 19,
23, 111, 138, 147, 160, 161, 170, 171, 177, 180, 190, 192, 193, 201,
202, 205, 207, 208, 209, 245, 246, 251, 262, 266, 277, 280.

Emerson, R. W., his Representative Men, and Shakespeare's use of
manuscript stage plays, 10, 19.

England's Helicon, 152, 159.

England's Parnassus, 152, 159.

Errors in history and geography found in Shakespeare, 204 et seq.

Essex, Earl of, 157, 163, 271, 281.

Facsimiles of Shakespeare's signatures, not alike, 16 ; description of

the signatures, 17, 18.
Fair Sidea, The, a German play, 198.
Famous Victories of Henry V, a play, 202.
Field, Nathaniel, a dramatist and actor, 210, 273; his Amends for

Ladies, 49, 51, 240 ; A Woman is a Weathercock, 65, 92.

GENERAL INDEX 297

Field, Richard, a printer, 179, 280.

Fields and Whipple's Family Library of British Poetry, 20.

Fiske, John, his Forty Years of Bacon-Shakespeare Folly, 140 n.

Fleay, Frederick G., cited by A. W. Ward, 242 ; his Chronicle His-
tory of Life and Work of Shakespeare, 190, 192, 198, 199, 240, 245,
246, 275; his Biographical Chronicle of English Drama, 211 n.,
245, 277, 278 ; his History of the London Stage, 25, 46, 210, 256,
273, 274, 278 ; his Shakespeare Manual, 23, 24, 280.

Fletcher, John [see Beaumont and Fletcher], 153, 240 ; part author
of King Henry VIII, 41, 242, 243, 277 ; of Two Noble Kinsmen,
242.

Fletcher, Lawrence, an actor, 274.

Florio, John, teacher and translator ; his probable acquaintance with
Shakespeare, 7, 8 ; his Montaigne, 90, 277, 278.

Ford, John, a dramatist, referred to, 28 n., 60, 62, 240 ; references to
his plays, as follows : Broken Heart, 57, 107 ; Love's Sacrifice, 93 ;
Perkin Warbeck, 60, 93, 99, 106, 109.

Forest of Arden, 173.

Frey, Alfred R., in Shakespeariana, 193.

Fuller, Thomas, 78, 279.

Furness, Horace H., his Variorum edition of Shakespeare, 19, 76, 90,
112, 116, 125, 126, 129, 132, 168, 173, 174, 178, 179, 181, 183, 189,
190, 193, 194, 195, 196, 198, 199, 200, 202, 208, 235.

Furnivall, F. J., 209, 242.

Gabriel, an actor, 208.

Gascoigne, George, a dramatist, 13, 193.

Geruntus, Ballad of, 198.

Gervinus, G. G., his Commentaries on Shakespeare, 190, 192, 193, 194,
197, 198, 200, 205, 211, 282.

Gifford, William, his Life of Ben Jonson, 7, 9, 261.

Gilburne, Samuel, an actor, 273.

Gosson, Stephen, his School of Abuse, 198.

Grave-diggers' discussion in Hamlet, 33 et seq.

Goughe, Robert, an actor, 273.

Greeley, Horace, his handwriting, 21.

Greene, Robert, a dramatist and writer, referred to, 13, 20, 62, 63, 66,
75, 78, 210, 240, 242, 243, 246, 247, 252, 253, 254, 256 ; references to
his Friar Bacon, 52 ; to Dorastus and Fawnia, 192 ; to Groatsworth
of Wit, 203, 251, 253 ; to Looking Glass, etc., by Greene and Lodge,
62, 63, 83, 99.

Greene, Thomas, an actor, 210, 259, 276.

Greene, Thomas, town clerk of Stratford, 14.

Grenvil, Sir Richard, his name spelled in different ways, 16.

Griffith, Hugh, a poet, 164.

Grosart, Alexander B., his edition of Chester's Love's Martyr, 161, 163 ;
his essay on Donne, 278.

Gruter, Isaac, 144.

Guillim, John, 58.

Hales v. Petit, supposed to be travestied in Hamlet, 33, 36 et seq.

Hall, Edward, his Chronicles, 131.

Hall, John, Shakespeare's son-in-law, 15, 270.

298 GENERAL INDEX

Hall, Joseph, Bishop, 52, 60.

Hall, Susanna, Shakespeare's daughter, 270.

Hallam, Henry, his Literature of Europe, 141, 197, 207.

Halliwell, John O., quoted by Furness, 194, 199.

Halliwell-Phillipps, John O., his Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare,
6, 10, 14, 15, 19, 24, 25, 26, 65, 134, 156, 157, 160, 171, 179, 203,
255, 260, 266, 279, 281.

Hamlet, early play, 34, 35, 195, 196.

Handwriting of Shakespeare's period, often obscure, 19.

Hart, John S., his Summary Outline of Life of Shakespeare, 12.

Harvey, Gabriel, an actor, 208.

Hathway, R., a dramatist, 241.

Haughton, William, a dramatist, 240, 241.

Hawes, Stephen, 74.

Heard, Franklin F., his Shakespeare as a Lawyer, 22, 90.

Heminge, John, and Henry Condell, actors, and editors of First Folio,
20, 135, 260, 262, 267, 268, 269, 272, 273, 282.

Henry V (Prince Henry), date of birth, etc., 205 n.

Henslow, P., his Diary, 31, 34.

Herbert, George, 271.

Herbert, William, 282.

Heywood, John, his Epigrams, 145.

Heywood, Thomas, a dramatist, referred to, 60, 63, 75, 135, 136, 138,
159, 160, 161, 210, 241, 259, 276 ; references to plays as follows :
English Traveller, 86, 108, 109, 135 ; Fair Maid of the Exchange, 49,
64, 65, 69 ; Fair Maid of the West, 43, 88 ; If You Know not Me, etc.,
61 ; Late Lancashire Witches, 60, 67 ; Rape of Lucrece, 136. See
also Webster, John, for play of Sir Thomas Wyat.

Hickson, Samuel, cited by Boas, 41 ; by A. W. Ward, 242.

Histriomastix, a play, 50, 62, 72, 105, 246.

Holinshed, Raphael, his Chronicles, 13, 41, 59, 90, 206.

Holland, Henry, an author, 162.

Holland, Hugh, a poet, 153, 269, 277.

Holmes, Nathaniel, his authorship of Shakespeare cited or referred
to, 1, 9, 20, 22, 33, 36 n., 40, 44, 98, 112, 152 n., 164, 165, 166, 206,
207, 243, 249, 250, 254, 255, 262, 271.

Hooker, Richard, his Ecclesiastical Polity cited or referred to, 49,
50, 101.

Hotspur (Henry Percy), his birth, death, etc., 205 n.

How a Man may Choose a Good Wife, a play, 70, 75,_108.

Howes, Edmond, his continuation of Stow's Annals, 152, 153.

Hugo, Victor, his handwriting, 21.

Hume, David, his History of England, 36.

Humfrey, an actor, 208.

Hunsdon, Lord, Master of the Revels, 281.

Hunter, Joseph, 178.

II Pecorone, an old Italian story, 199.

Ingleby, Clement M., his Century of Praise, 259, 261, 278, 281 ; his

Shakespeare, the Man and the Book, 41, 241, 242.
Ingram, J. K., cited by A. W. Ward, 242.
Irving, Sir Henry, 210, 211, 284.

GENERAL INDEX 299

Jacob, Giles, his Law Dictionary, 120.

James, cited by Furness, 190.

James I, King1, his Tract on Demonology, 45.

Janin, Jules, his handwriting4, 21.

Jeffrey, Francis, his handwriting, 21.

Johnson, Gerard, his bust of Shakespeare, 266.

Johnson, Samuel, 4, 93, 112.

Jones, Inigo, 278.

Jones, Thomas, of Tarbick, 170.

Jonson, Ben, referred to, 8, 9, 16, 20, 62, 63, 88, 153, 161, 162, 163,
165 n., 205, 210, 240, 245, 247, 261 et seq., 268, 271, 275, 276; ref-
erences to plays and poems as follows : Alchemist, 45, 55, 56, (50,
64, 69, 102, 104, 105, 106, 108, 109 ; Bartholomew Fair, 60, 61, 66,
84, 106, 108, 110, 119, 230; Cynthia's Revels, 60, 75,87; Elegy,
55 ; Every Man in his Humor, 58, 66, 72, 73, 79, 86, 89, 103, 107,
108, 109 ; Every Man out of his Humor, 33, 54, 60, 64, 71, 72, 73,
88, 103, 105, 106, 108 ; Execration of Vulcan, 100 ; Fox, 58, 87 ;
Magnetic Lady, 49, 51, 52, 60, 66, 70, 71, 85, 89, 103, 105; New
Inn, 06, 68, 78, 79, 82, 83, 103, 107, 109 ; Poetaster, 68, 69, 77, 78,
79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 93, 94, 104, 105, 109, 110, 183, 245 ; Silent
Woman, 30, 52, 54, 55, 64, 70, 73, 87, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110;
Staple of News, 30, 43, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 62, 77, 79, 84, 91, 103,
105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110; Tale of a Tub. 84; The Devil is an
Ass, 45, 52, 56, 81, 84, 100, 101, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110.

Kemp, William, an actor, 208, 255, 256, 257, 273.

Kent, James, his Commentaries, etc., 120.

Knight, Charles, his History of England, 205 ; his William Shakspere,

20, 23, 27, 47, 170, 175, 178, 186, 190, 199, 210, 276.
Kyd, Thomas, a dramatist, 13, 16, 35, 196, 200, 210, 277.

Lamb, Charles, quoted by Furness, 198.

Lang, Andrew, on Moliere, 138.

Law and Equity, 98-101.

Law, Shakespeare's knowledge of, 22 et seq.

Lee, Sidney, his Stratford on Avon, 5 ; his Life of Shakespeare, 3,

12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 23, 41, 170, 171, 190, 196, 200, 242, 250, 256, 274,

281, 282.

Legal Terms in Shakespeare, see Special Index.
Letherland, Dr., quoted by Rolfe, 184.
Lilly, his Latin Grammar, 10.
Lloyd, W. W., quoted by Furness, 194.
Lockhart, John G., his Life of Sir Walter Scott, 168.
Lodge, Thomas, an author [see also Greene, Robert], 153, 173, 192,

203, 240, 246, 254, 256, 275.
Lowin, John, an actor, 260, 273.
Lucy, Sir Thomas, 6, 170.
Lyly, John, a dramatist, 62, 199, 202, 278.

Macaulay, Thomas B.. his handwriting, 21.

Machin, Lewis, and Gervase Maikham, their Dumb Knight, 88, 95.

Macready, William C., 210.

Madden, D. H., his Diary of Master William Silence, 172, 173.

300 GENERAL INDEX

Maginn, William, his Shakespeare Papers, 59.

Malone, Edmund, 18, 23, 40, 181, 193, 206, 267.

Marlowe, Christopher, a dramatist and poet, referred to, 13, 153, 193,
197, 198, 200, 203, 240, 243, 252, 253, 254, 256, 275 ; references to
plays and poems, as f ollows : Dr. Faustus, 54, 58, 61, 62, 63, 74,

103, 107, 202 ; Edward II, 95, 198 ; Hero and Leander, 202; Tam-
burlaine the Great, 74, 201 ; Translation of Ovid, 195.

Marriage of minor wards, in All 's Well, 117.

Marriage, precontract of, in Measure for Measure, 119, 120.

Marston, John, a dramatist, referred to, 28, 153, 161-163, 240, 245,
275 ; references to plays, as follows : Jack Drum's Entertainment,
199 ; Malcontent, 52, 67. See also Chapman, George.

Massey, Gerald, 260.

Massinger, Philip, referred to, 60, 62, 240 ; references to plays, as
follows: City Madam, 51, 53, 54, 64, 73, 78, 93, 105, 106, 110,
129 ; Fatal Dowry, 68, 77, 93, 99, 100, 109, 110 ; New Way to Pay
Old Debts, 43, 54, 77, 104, 107, 108, 109, 110 ; Old Law, 43.

Matsys, Quentin, his name spelled in different ways, 16.

Matthew, Sir Tobie, referred to, 271 ; his letter to Bacon, 207, 249,
250.

Maurice, Frederick D., his handwriting, 21.

May, Thomas, a dramatist, 67, 109.

Meneval, Claude F., his Life of Napoleon, 20.

Meres, Francis, his Palladia Tamia, with reference to Shakespeare and
other poets, 152, 158, 159, 196, 254, 255, 278.

Merry Devil of Edmonton, a play, 49, 69, 87, 105, 106.

Middleton, Thomas, a dramatist, referred to, 27, 28 n., 62, 63, 88, 240 ;
references to plays, as follows : Anything for a Quiet Life, 50, 61,

104, 107, 108, 109; Black Book, 108; Blurt, etc., 71; Family of
Love, 62, 64, 79, 84, 102, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110 ; Five Gallants,
49 ; Michaelmas Term, 66, 72, 74 ; Old Law, 58, 106 ; Phoenix, 28,
43, 50, 53, 60, 61, 62, 83, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110 , Roaring Girl, 93 ;
Spanish Gypsy, 50, 51, 106 ; Trick to Catch the Old One, 43, 88,
106, 107 ; Widow, 107 ; Witch, 45 ; Fair Quarrel, by Middleton
and Rowley, 86.

Milton, John, 49, 55, 88, 91.

Minto, William, 7.

Moliere, 136, 137, 210.

Monday, Anthony, a dramatist and actor, 210, 278.

Montagu, Basil, his Life of Bacon, 142.

Montaigne, 7, 16, 17, 21, 90.

Montemayor, his Diana, 196.

Montgomery, Earl of, 260, 268, 269, 272, 281.

Morgan, Appleton, his Shakespeare in Fact and in Criticism, and The

Shakespearean Myth, 112.
Mournful Ditty, 258.
Murray, James A. H., his Dictionary cited, 43, 49, 53, 58, 66, 74, 78,

93, 128.

Napoleon, his handwriting, 20.

Nares, quoted by Rolfe, 181 ; by Furness, 182, 194.

Nash, Thomas, a writer, 34, 46, 58, 60, 62, 202, 210, 240, 246, 247.

Nash, Thomas, legatee in Shakespeare's will, 282.

GENERAL INDEX 301

New Shakspere Society's Transactions, 130.

Nichol, John, his Life of Bacon, 142.

Nobody and Somebody, a play, 73, 77, 93, 108, 109.

North, Sir Thomas, his Translation of Plutarch, 12, 126.

Note-Book of Bacon, 145.

Notes and Queries, 19.

Ostler, William, an actor, 273.
Ovid, 155, 156.

Painter, William, publisher of Boccaccio's Decameron, 12.

Peele, George, a dramatist, referred to, 13, 75, 192, 201, 203, 210,

240, 243, 252, 254, 256, 275 ; references to his Arraignment of

Paris, 66, 68, 71, 82, 85, 86, 96, 100, 110.
Pembroke, Earl of, 260, 268, 269, 271, 281, 282.
Pembroke and Montgomery, Earl of, 222.
Pennant, Thomas, his account of Catherine Tudor, 163.
Percy, Sir Charles, 281.
Percy, Thomas, his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 12, 191, 194,

Perugino, 192.

Phelps, Charles E., his Falstaff and Equity, in Shakespeariana, 25.

Phillips, Augustine, an actor, 267, 273, 276.

Pinner of Wakefield, a play, 88.

Plautus, Menoachmi, 9, 277.

Play of Stuckley, a play, 49.

Plowden, 33.

Plutarch, Lives, etc., 12, 126, 130.

Poems, Authorship of, 155 et seq.

Pollock and Maitland, their History of English Law, 118.

Pope, Thomas, an actor, 273.

Pott, Mrs. Henry, editor of Bacon's Promus, 145.

Praemunire, 40 et seq.

Precontract of Marriage, 119, 120.

Preston, Thomas, a dramatist, 13 ; his Cambyses, 53, 201.

Promus, Bacon's, 145.

Provincialisms in Shakespeare, 181 et seq.

Putnam's Magazine, Delia Bacon's article in, 1 n.

Rainsford, Sir Henry, 275.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 16, 95, 278.

Ralph Roister Doister, a play, 89.

Raphael, 192.

Rawley, William, biographer of Bacon, 141, 142, 145, 146, 272.

Reed, Edwin, his Bacon u. Shakespeare, 2, 14, 16, 253.

Renan, Ernest, his St. Paul, 147 n.

Return from Parnassus, a play, 49, 51, 58, 59, 60, 64, 69, 86, 103, 107,

108, 110, 153, 255, 256, 257, 278.
Reynolds, Henry, Drayton's Epistle to, 153, 275.
Reynolds, William, legatee in Shakespeare's will, 282.
Rice, John, an actor, 273.

Richardson, Charles, his Dictionary cited, 52, 65, 126.
Richelieu, his handwriting, 21.

302 GENERAL INDEX

Robinson, Richard, an actor, 260, 273.

Rolfe, William J., editor of Shakespeare, 17, 18, 125, 126, 176, 178,
181, 184, 193, 206, 208, 235.

Rossill, an actor, 208.

Rowe, Nicholas, 255, 257, 279.

Rowley, William, a dramatist, referred to, 45, 62, 210, 240, 241 ; his
Match at Midnight, 54, 64, 65, 66 ; Rowley and Middleton's Fair
Quarrel, 86 ; Rowley, Dekker, and Ford's Witch of Edmonton, 45.

Rural life, Shakespeare's acquaintance with, 185 et seq.

Rushton, W. L., his Shakespeare's Testamentary Language, 22.

Russell, Thomas, legatee in Shakespeare's will, 282.

Rutland, Earl of, 281.

Sadler, Hamlet, legatee in Shakespeare's will, 282.

Salisbury, Sir John, 161-164.

Salisbury, John, father of Sir John, 163.

Sanders, J., an actor, 274.

Sanderson, Robert, 53.

Scott, Sir Walter, 168, 169.

Selden, John, 278.

Shad well, Thomas, 279.

Shakespeare, William ; his authorship not questioned till recently, 1 ;
grounds assigned for doubting it, 2 ; known particulars of his life,
few, 3 ; early life and education, 4 ; early life in London, 7 ; a cor-
rector and improver of old plays, 7, 190 ; supposed autograph in
Florio's Montaigne, 7 ; Jonson's lines prefixed to First Folio, 8 ;
Shakespeare's knowledge of foreign languages, 8 ; old plays and
books probably used by him, 10-12 ; mode of spelling his name,
14 ; his handwriting, 16 ; conjectured autograph in Boston Public
Library, 16 n. ; knowledge of law and use of legal terms, 22 et
seq. ; a man of business, 24 ; his litigations, 25, 26 ; not sole author
of King Henry VIII, 41 ; bad law found in the plays, 111 et seq. ;
his habit of applying laws of England to all places and times, 112 ;
bond against impediments, 120, 121 ; his father an affeerer, 128 ;
his supposed indifference to fame, 134 et seq., 237 ; his death and
will, 137; offended when poems of Heywood were attributed to
him, 138 ; doubtful plays, 138 ; authorship of Venus and Adonis,
155 ; of Lucrece, 156 ; of the Sonnets, 159 ; of the Passionate Pil-
grim, 160 ; of the Phoenix and Turtle, 161 ; frequent contemporary
mention of him as a poet, 152, 153, 158, 159 ; supposed parallel-
isms with Bacon's writings, 165 ; his style, 165 ; doubtful if per-
sonal experiences and temporary moods are reflected in the plays,
169 ; local acquaintance with Warwickshire shown in plays, 170 et
seq., 238 ; allusion to Sir Thomas Lucy, 170 ; scene of Induction of
Taming of the Shrew, near Stratford, 171 ; local allusions in same
play and in 2 King Henry IV, 171 ; in As You Like It, and in Mid-
summer Night's Dream, 173 ; his mention of Warwickshire flowers,
fruits, trees, etc., 174 ; local knowledge shown in 3 King Henry VI,
175 ; other local allusions, 176 ; use of Stratford names, 177, 238 ;
of local and trade terms, 179 et seq., 238 ; his father a dealer in
wool, 179 ; use of Warwickshire provincialisms, 181, 238 ; acquaint-
ance with rural life and customs of lower classes, 185 et seq., 238 ;
his remodelling of old plays, 190 ; his acquaintance with English

GENERAL INDEX 303

songs, ballads, and plays, 190 et seq., 237, 238 ; anachronisms and
other errors, 204 et seq., 238 ; obscurities in the text, 207, 238 ;
actors named or alluded to, 208 ; familiarity with theatrical mat-
ters, 209 et seq., 238, 239 ; generally recognized by contemporaries
as a poet, 238 ; collaboration in some plays, 241 , 242 ; alterations of
certain plays, 244, 245 ; theatrical quarrels, 245 ; generally recog-
nized by contemporaries as author of plays, 249 et seq. ; Greene's
allusion to him in Groatsworth of Wit, 251 ; Chettle's, 252 ; Meres's,
254 ; Queen Elizabeth commands him to show Falstaff in love, 255,
257 ; allusion to him in The Return from Parnassus, 256 ; urged by
Chettle to write lines on death of Queen Elizabeth, 257 ; also in A
Mournful Ditty, 258; Davies's allusion to him, 258; Webster's,
259 ; lines spoken by Thomas Greene, 259 ; Stratford spoken of as
remarkable for his birthplace, 259 ; Heywood's allusion to him,
259 ; familiarly known as Will, 260 ; allusion to him in Dedication
of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, 260 ; Ben Jonson's tributes to
him, 261 ; death, burial, bust, tablet, 265, 267 ; First Folio and pre-
fixes, 267 ; legacies in his will, 267, 282 ; styled gentleman, 270 ;
probable friends and acquaintances, 271.

References to plays and poems as follows : —
All 's Well, 48, 51, 112, 117, 124, 125, 164, 190, 199, 222.
Antony and Cleopatra, 12, 47, 55, 135, 236.
As You Like It, 53, 60, 72, 85, 88, 93, 124, 129, 135, 173, 176, 180,

192, 202.

Comedy of Errors, 9, 50, 74, 78, 85, 180, 199, 214, 255.
Coriolanus, 12, 13, 55, 82, 85, 96, 126, 130, 131, 229.
Cymbeline, 61, 80, 91, 112, 121, 127, 135, 236.
Hamlet, 19, 23, 27 et seq., 33 et seq., 47, 50, 53, 59, 61, 62, 64, 70,

74, 88, 94, 122, 174, 183, 189, 190, 195, 196, 209, 232, 241, 244.
Julius Cjesar, 12, 130, 135, 200, 231, 236, 244, 270.

1 King Henry IV, 52, 59, 90, 126, 176, 184, 200, 201, 202, 203, 205,
208, 225, 234, 244, 270.

2 King Henry IV, 23, 47, 65, 70, 71, 72, 84, 96, 180, 184, 189, 194,
200, 201, 203, 208, 226, 244, 270.

King Henry V, 6, 59, 78, 190, 199, 202, 226, 241.

1 King Henry VI, 126, 197, 208, 227, 241, 252.

2 King Henry VI, 47, 52, 53, 54, 67, 94, 97, 130, 197, 198, 208, 227,
241, 252.

3 King Henry VI, 51, 65, 77, 97, 129, 175, 197, 198, 208, 227, 241,
251, 252.

King Henry VIII, 40 et seq., 79, 80, 97, 181, 228, 241, 242, 243, 277.

King John, 96, 103, 123, 125, 127, 193, 200, 224, 241, 255.

King Lear, 58, 81, 85, 91, 93, 96, 131, 179, 189, 193.

Love's Labor 's Lost, 8, 47, 94, 97, 128, 180, 194, 203, 215, 244.

Macbeth, 48, 54, 126, 128, 135, 178, 179, 181, 189, 199, 231.

Measure for Measure, 63, 67, 70, 82, 84, 85, 91, 112, 119-121, 124,

126, 127, 128, 135, 164, 192, 214.
Merchant of Venice, 54, 56, 63, 81, 87, 95, 97, 98, 99, 112 et seq.,

122, 126, 132, 151, 183, 198, 199, 220, 255.
Merry Wives, 46, 48, 50, 63, 64, 84, 93, 97, 170, 176, 200, 213, 241,

244.
Midsummer Night's Dream, 96, 126, 151, 173, 177, 183, 190, 199,

203, 208, 218, 246, 255.

304 GENERAL INDEX

Much Ado, 96, 132, 184, 200, 208, 214, 244, 270.

Othello, 44, 66, 67, 80, 81, 83, 85, 88, 135, 183, 189, 270.

Pericles, 131, 197, 236, 241.

Richard II, 52, 54, 59, 61, 90, 123, 182, 200, 205, 224, 244, 281.

Richard III, 57, 67, 85, 94, 96, 121, 123, 177, 227.

Romeo and Juliet, 48, 78, 178, 182, 193, 195, 208, 230, 241, 244.

Taming of the Shrew, 10, 61, 66, 70, 80, 85, 89, 171, 172, 193, 208,
221, 241.

Tempest, 79, 89, 126, 135, 151, 189, 198, 212.

Timon of Athens, 63, 84, 125, 196, 197, 230, 241.

Titus Andronicus, 193, 230, 241, 255.

Troilus and Cressida, 48, 59, 88, 200, 202, 228, 244, 246.

Twelfth Night, 65, 78, 81, 83, 135, 222, 270.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, 95, 125, 126, 180, 196, 213, 244, 255.

Winter's Tale, 67, 76, 79, 80, 81, 125, 135, 174, 176, 179, 185 et
seq., 192, 205, 223, 247.

Lover's Complaint, 159.

Lucrece, 156, 179, 237, 271, 280, 281.

Passionate Pilgrim, 160, 161.

Phoenix and Turtle, 161 et seq., 237, 282.

Sonnets, 54, 55, 74, 81, 159, 237, 260, 271, 281.

Venus and Adonis, 155, 156, 179, 181, 237, 272, 280, 281.
Shakespeariana, 25, 165 n., 193, 249.
Shank, John, an actor, 273.
Sheep-shearing festival, 185 et seq.
Shepherd's Touchstone, 132.
Shirley, James, a dramatist, 62, 240 ; his Traitor, 62, 68, 82 ; Witty

Fair One, 54.

Sidney, Sir Philip, 16, 153.
Simpson, Richard, 19, 242, 243, 254.
Singer, S. W., cited by Furness, 189, 206.
Sinklo, an actor, 208.

Skottowe, Augustine, his Life of Shakespeare, 59 n.
Slye, William, an actor, 273.
Smith, Wentworth, a dramatist, 241.
Soliman and Perseda, a play, 200.

Southampton, Earl of ; Shakespeare acquainted with him, 7 ; dedica-
tions of Venus and Adonis and of Lucrece to him, 155, 156, 269 ;

daily visits to theatre in 1599, 157 ; tradition that he gave money

to Shakespeare, 157 ; his relations with Bacon, 157, 158, 271, 281.
Spedding, James, editor of Bacon's Works, and of Letters and Life

of Bacon, 15, 41, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 151, 166, 204, 242.
Spelling of proper names not uniform in Shakespeare's time, 14 et

Spenler, Edmund, 16, 20, 29, 48, 49, 52, 67, 68, 75, 78, 82, 83, 88, 100,

101, 102, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 153.
Springfield Republican, article reviewing Holmes's Authorship of

Shakespeare, 151 n.

Stanley, Arthur P., Dean, his handwriting, 21.
State Trials, 44.
Steevens, G., 183, 189, 190.
Stow and Howes, Annals, etc., 152, 153.
Stratford, its grammar school, 4, 5 ; its records, 14, 15 ; its court of

GENERAL INDEX 305

record, 22 ; its charnel, 178 ; spoken of as remarkable for the birth

of Shakespeare, 25J0 ; its church, 265.
Suetonius, 130.
Sylvester, Joshua, a poet, 76, 279.

Taming of a Shrew, a play preceding Shakespeare's Taming of the

Shrew, 171, 193.

Tawyer, William, an actor, 208, 274.
Taylor, John, his paper on Warwickshire names used by Shakespeare,

177.

Taylor, Joseph, an actor, 260, 273.
Tennyson, Alfred, his opinion that Bacon was not Shakespeare, 167 ;

other references to him, 209, 210, 242.
Terence, 10.
Theatrical matters, familiarity with them shown in the plays, 209 et

seq.

Theatrical quarrels, 245 et seq.
Tomkis, J., his Albumazar, 49, 55, 65, 107.
Tooley, Nicholas, an actor, 273.
Torrey v. Field, a law case, 40.
Tourneur, Cyril, a dramatist, referred to, 275 ; his Revenger's Tra-

gedy, 66, 92, 105, 109.

Translations from the Psalms, by Bacon, 148 et seq.
Trevelyan, G. O., his Life and Letters of Macaulay, 21.
Tudor, Catherine, 163.
Two Noble Kinsmen, a play, 242.
Tyndall, John, his instructions to Carlyle in matters of science, 40.

Udall, John, Puritan minister in State Trials, 44.
Underwood, John, an actor, 273.

Van Dyck, Sir Anthony, his name spelled in different ways, 16.
Vaughan, Henry H., his Notes on Shakespeare's Historical Plays, 182,
189, 205, 206.

Wadeson, Anthony, a dramatist and actor, 210, 278.

Waites, Alfred, his article, Did Ben Jonson write Bacon's Works ?

165 n.

Walker, William, legatee in Shakespeare's will, 282.
Wallace, John W., his Reporters, 39.
Warburton, William, 195.
Ward, Adolphus W., his History of English Dramatic Literature, 31,

138, 173, 190, 192, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 211, 242,

243, 261.

Ward, John, his Notes respecting Shakespeare, 279.

ip of
Warner, William, a poet, 277.

Wardship of minors, 117.

Warning for Fair Women, a play, 68.

Warwickshire scenery, names, etc., in Shakespeare, 170 et seq. ; also

local and trade terms, 178 et seq.
Watson, Thomas, a poet, 153, 200.
Watts, Isaac, 149.
Webster, John, a dramatist, referred to, 5, 62, 210, 240, 259, 276 ;

306 GENERAL INDEX

references to plays by him, or by him and others, as follows : Cure
for a Cuckold, 70, 106, 107 ; Devil's Law Case, 54, 65, 85, 80 87
101, 103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110; Duchess of Malfi, 63, 83, 106, 107,
120; Sir Thomas Wyat, 69, 92, 110; White Devil, 53, 73, 85, 105,
106. For Northward Ho, and Westward Ho, see Dekker, Thomas.

Weever, John, a writer, 158, 159, 277.

Whetstone, George, a dramatist, 13, 192.

Whipple, Edwin P., his Literature of the Age of Elizabeth, 190.

White, Richard G., his Memoir of Shakespeare, 23, 26, 28, 47, 173 ;
quoted by Furness, 194.

Wilder, Daniel W., his Memoir of Shakespeare, 152, 267.

Wilkins, George, a dramatist, referred to, 62, 241, 275 ; his Miseries
of Enforced Marriage, 28, 53, 54, 73, 89, 91, 93, 110. 118.

Willobie, his Avisa, 56.

Wilson, Jack, a singer, 208.

Wilson, Robert, a dramatist, 210, 240, 241, 275.

Wily Beguiled, a play, 52, 65, 67, 68, 80, 86, 93, 103, 105, 106, 107,

Winter, William, his Gray Days and Gold, 177.

Winthrop, John, his Letters, 15.

Wise, John R., his Shakespeare and his Birthplace, 171, 172, 174,

176, 181.

Witchcraft, 44, 45.

Wordsworth, Charles, Bishop, his Shakespeare and The Bible, 97.
Wotton, Sir Henry, 126.
Wright, William A., editor of the Cambridge Shakespeare, 35, 193,

Wyndham, George, editor of The Poems of Shakespeare, 248, 282 n.

Yeatman, John P., his Gentle Shakspere, 9.
Young, A. , an actor, 274.

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