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Article WILLIAM SHAKSPERE. ← Page 4 of 17 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
William Shakspere.
his many letters sent to A . W . with folliries and misinformations which sometimes would guid him into the paths of error . " * This hits the man to the life , and gives us an idea of a character ever ready to pick up any stories he might hear , and by putting them into a consistent shape , to impart to them an appearance of credit and authenticity , whichhad they been
, suffered to remain in their original state , they Avould most probably have never obtained . Yet upon such rubbish as this were the early biographies of the poet built up , and to such " baseless fabrics" are Ave to attribute the ill odour and the discredit into
Avhich his name had fallen . Several tales of this kind accumulated about the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries . We shall notice but one more , which is remarkable , as being the first in Avhich mention of the deer-stealing story occurs . HalHwel ] , ' in his folio edition of " Shakspere , " UOAV in progress , thus notices this statement : —
" ihe Bevd . William Eulman , who died m June , 1688 , at Meysey—Hampton , co . Gloucester , bequeathed his biographical collections to his friend the Bev . Eichard Davies , afterwards ( 1695 ) rector of Sapperton , in Gloucestershire , who made several additions to them . Davies died in June , 1708 , and these manuscripts were presented to the library of Corpus Christi College , Oxford , where they are still preserved . Under the article Shakespeare , Eulman made very few notes , and those of little importance ; but Davies inserted tho curious informationso important in the
con-, sideration of the deer-stealing story . The following is a complete copy of what the MS . contains respecting Shakespeare , the additions made by Davies being distinguished by italics : ' Willliam Shakespeare was born at Stratford-upon-Avon , in Warwickshire , about 1563-4 . Much given to cdl unltiKhinesse in stealing venison and rabbits , particularly from Sr . . . . Lucy , who had him oft whipt and sometimes imprisoned , and at last made him flhis native country to his great advancementbut his icas so
y , reveng great that lie is his justice Clodpate , and calls him a great man , and that in allusion to his name bore three lotoses rampant for his arms . From , an actor of playes he became a composer . He dyed Apr . 23 , 1616 , astat . 53 , probably at Stratford , for there he is buryed , and hath a monument ( Dugd . p . 520 ) , on ^ t >^ lich he lays a heavy curse upon auy one who shed remoove his bones . He dyed a papist . ' " "j "
Such testimony as this , written nearly a century after the death of the ] ioet , and unaccompanied by proofs of any kind whatever , is altogether Avorthless and inadmissible . NeA'er before Avere stories so extravagant for one moment entertained , and that , in the case of Shakspere , they have been actually received as trustworthy eA'idence can only be attributed to the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
William Shakspere.
his many letters sent to A . W . with folliries and misinformations which sometimes would guid him into the paths of error . " * This hits the man to the life , and gives us an idea of a character ever ready to pick up any stories he might hear , and by putting them into a consistent shape , to impart to them an appearance of credit and authenticity , whichhad they been
, suffered to remain in their original state , they Avould most probably have never obtained . Yet upon such rubbish as this were the early biographies of the poet built up , and to such " baseless fabrics" are Ave to attribute the ill odour and the discredit into
Avhich his name had fallen . Several tales of this kind accumulated about the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries . We shall notice but one more , which is remarkable , as being the first in Avhich mention of the deer-stealing story occurs . HalHwel ] , ' in his folio edition of " Shakspere , " UOAV in progress , thus notices this statement : —
" ihe Bevd . William Eulman , who died m June , 1688 , at Meysey—Hampton , co . Gloucester , bequeathed his biographical collections to his friend the Bev . Eichard Davies , afterwards ( 1695 ) rector of Sapperton , in Gloucestershire , who made several additions to them . Davies died in June , 1708 , and these manuscripts were presented to the library of Corpus Christi College , Oxford , where they are still preserved . Under the article Shakespeare , Eulman made very few notes , and those of little importance ; but Davies inserted tho curious informationso important in the
con-, sideration of the deer-stealing story . The following is a complete copy of what the MS . contains respecting Shakespeare , the additions made by Davies being distinguished by italics : ' Willliam Shakespeare was born at Stratford-upon-Avon , in Warwickshire , about 1563-4 . Much given to cdl unltiKhinesse in stealing venison and rabbits , particularly from Sr . . . . Lucy , who had him oft whipt and sometimes imprisoned , and at last made him flhis native country to his great advancementbut his icas so
y , reveng great that lie is his justice Clodpate , and calls him a great man , and that in allusion to his name bore three lotoses rampant for his arms . From , an actor of playes he became a composer . He dyed Apr . 23 , 1616 , astat . 53 , probably at Stratford , for there he is buryed , and hath a monument ( Dugd . p . 520 ) , on ^ t >^ lich he lays a heavy curse upon auy one who shed remoove his bones . He dyed a papist . ' " "j "
Such testimony as this , written nearly a century after the death of the ] ioet , and unaccompanied by proofs of any kind whatever , is altogether Avorthless and inadmissible . NeA'er before Avere stories so extravagant for one moment entertained , and that , in the case of Shakspere , they have been actually received as trustworthy eA'idence can only be attributed to the