THE SHAKESPEARE-BACON 
 CONTROVERSY: 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM WILLIS. 
 
 /
 
 i. OGDEN 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT 
 
 Mrs. Robert H. Ward 
 Yoch Collection
 
 THE 
 
 SHAKESPEARE-BACON 
 
 CONTROVERSY.
 
 THE 
 
 SHAKESPEARE-BACON 
 
 CONTROVERSY: 
 
 A REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE TRIAL OF AN ISSUE 
 IN WESTMINSTER HALL, JUNE 20, 1627, 
 
 READ IN THE INNER TEMPLE HALL, 
 THURSDAY, MAY THE 29TH, 1902, 
 
 AND 
 
 PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION 
 
 ^ BY 
 
 WILLIAM WILLIS 
 
 Treasurer of the Honourable Society of the Tuner Temple. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND CO., LTD. 
 
 ig02. 
 
 NEXT PRICE, 3s.
 
 FAKENHAM AND LONDON, 
 
 MILLER, SON, AND COMPY., LTD. 
 
 TRINTERS.
 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 The Shakespeare- Bacon controversy involves to-day 
 questions of character, and if it had arisen soon after 
 the pubhcation of the Folio volume, might have involved 
 questions of property. There is no better method for 
 determining questions of reputation and of property 
 than the method of judicial investigation. Entertaining 
 this view, I have long thought that the Shakespeare- 
 Bacon Controversy could be best determined by a trial 
 legally conducted, particularly as such a process would 
 exclude all hearsay evidence or second-hand information. 
 Nothing can be more discreditable than to listen to 
 hearsay, when it affects the character of another. If the 
 person who speaks to the disparagement of another, 
 professes to speak of his own knowledge, his statement 
 should never be accepted, without an opportunity 
 being afforded for denial or explanation. This conduct 
 is due to the living ; in respect of the dead, it is 
 atrocious to accept or repeat to their injury second- 
 hand gossip, or even direct statements, which they have 
 not had the opportunity of denying or explaining. I had 
 rather suspend my judgment than accept such state- 
 ments. By retailing gossip of the worst kind, some have 
 endeavoured to make Shakespeare an adulterer and a 
 drunkard ; some have also endeavoured to establish his 
 youthful ignorance by retailing an anecdote which never 
 saw the light until 137 years after Shakespeare's death. 
 I apologize for putting into the mouth of the cross-
 
 examining: counsel questions as to Shakespeare's holding; 
 horses at the theatre door ; no one then could have 
 suggested such questions. I did it, because some of my 
 hearers who had heard of this matter, might think that a 
 question, founded on it, ought to be put. The story came 
 in the following way. D'Avenant heard it from sodic 
 one. D'Avenant told it to Betterton, Betterton told it 
 to Rowe, Rowe told it to Pope, Pope told it to Newton, 
 Newton told it to Johnson, Johnson told it to Shiels, 
 who told it to the world. 
 
 It may not be unnecessary to state that the report 
 
 of the trial in the following pages is not the report of a 
 real trial, but such a report as I believe would have come 
 into existence if the trial had taken place at the time 
 named. The trial, although imaginary, is a real test of 
 the question in dispute. 
 
 I hope the reader will pardon the introduction of 
 certain passages, which do not directly advance the 
 hearing of the cause. The paper was prepared for 
 reading, and it seemed to me necessary to make the 
 trial as nearly like a real one as possible. I therefore 
 put in the interruptions of Counsel, the laughter and 
 cheers of the spectators, and the loss of temper and 
 indignation of witnesses, such as occur in a real trial. 
 As the result of these imitations, some of my hearers 
 supposed I was reading the report of a trial which had 
 actually taken place, and asked for an inspection of the 
 MS. they thought I had discovered. 
 
 Although the history of Shakespeare's youth has, I 
 think, little bearing upon the question of the authorship 
 of the plays, I considered that some account of his youth 
 should be given ; I thought some of my hearers might 
 look for and require such information. I hoped to give 
 the information by the examination of Mr. K. Field, 
 a native of Stratford, well-known to Shakespeare, 
 
 VI
 
 the printer of "Venus and Adonis" and " Lucrece " 
 which Shakespeare dedicated to the Earl of Southamp- 
 ton. I could not, however, find any evidence of Mr. 
 Field being alive in 1627. I found he gave up business 
 in 1624. I did not like to call him as a witness unless I 
 was satisfied of his existence at the time of the trial. To 
 procure the account of Shakespeare's youth and early 
 manhood, I adopted the statement of Mr. Malone, that 
 John Heminge, the actor, and one of the editors of the 
 folio volume, was born within a mile of Stratford-on- 
 Avon. Mr. Sidney Lee states that Heminge was born 
 at Droitwich. I hope I may be pardoned, if "for this 
 occasion only," I state that Heminge was born at 
 Shottery, and through his mouth, get a slight sketch of 
 the poet's early life. 
 
 I fixed upon the year 1627 for the trial, because at 
 that time both Shakespeare and Bacon were dead. 
 With every desire to be impartial in the conduct 
 of the trial, I could not bring myself to suppose that 
 the historian, lawyer, and philosopher would make any 
 claim to the authorship of the plays. By fixing the year 
 1627 for the trial, I lost the testimony of three or four 
 important witnesses, such as Burbage, the fellow-actor 
 of Shakespeare, Camden, and R. Field. 
 
 The readers of this address must remember the year 
 of the trial, 1627, or they may commit the mistakes of 
 some of my hearers, who asked me why I did not use the 
 quotation from Greene's "A Groat's Worth of Wit," in 
 which a reference to Shakespeare is supposed to be made 
 under the word " Shakescene," and why I did not call 
 John Milton, who was in Court, and use his noble words 
 on the dramatic author, Shakespeare. The answer is that 
 Greene died in the year 1592, and that Milton could give 
 no direct evidence. He was only eight years of age 
 when Shakespeare died, and had nothing to do with the 
 
 vii
 
 preparation and production of the folio volume. I have, 
 in the Appendix, set forth the quotation from Greene, and 
 the lines of Milton, which appeared for the first time in 
 the second folio edition of Shakespeare's plays published 
 in 1632. 
 
 In placing the various witnesses in the box, I have 
 assumed that men would speak in Court to the truth of 
 that which they had written under their own hand, or 
 which their conduct necessarily involved. Their 
 credibility must be determined by the judgment of 
 each reader. 
 
 I hope I have not done an}' injury to the claim of 
 Lord Bacon, when I make the Counsel state " he has 
 no living witness he can call in support of it." I can 
 only say that my reading did not supply me with the 
 name of any such person. 
 
 I cannot suppose that my address is free from error 
 or defect : I shall be delighted, however, if it help in any 
 degree to the re-establishment of the belief that William 
 Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon was the author of the 
 greatest poetical work which, with the exception of the 
 "Paradise Lost," has appeared in the English tongue. 
 
 If the ' trial ' should not be of any service, I hope the 
 Appendix may be useful to students of Shakespeare. Its 
 preparation has involved considerable labour, and I do 
 not think, with my many engagements, I could have 
 published the Appendix, unless I had received the kind 
 and learned assistance of Mr. Pickering, the Librarian 
 of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. P^or 
 this service, I tender him my sincere thanks. 
 
 W. W . 
 
 vin
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page3, last line, for " Sly, Philips," read " Lowin, Taylor." 
 Page 51, line 20, for " Polemanteia " read " Polimanteia." 
 Pagelxiv., line 13 of note, for "semi-colon" read "full stop."
 
 preparation a' 
 in the Appen( 
 the lines of A 
 the second fo 
 in 1632. 
 
 In placin 
 assumed thai 
 that which t 
 which their 
 credibility i 
 each reader. 
 
 I hope I 
 Lord Bacor 
 no living w 
 only say th 
 name of any such pcisuu. 
 
 I cannot suppose that my address is free from error 
 or defect : I shall be delighted, however, if it help in any 
 degree to the re-establishment of the belief that William 
 Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon was the author of the 
 greatest poetical work which, with the exception of the 
 "Paradise Lost," has appeared in the English tongue. 
 
 If the ' trial ' should not be of any service, I hope the 
 Appendix may be useful to students of Shakespeare. Its 
 preparation has involved considerable labour, and I do 
 not think, with my many engagements, I could have 
 published the Appendix, unless I had received the kind 
 and learned assistance of Mr. Pickering, the Librarian 
 of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. For 
 this service, I tender him my sincere thai^ks. 
 
 \V. W. 
 
 vui
 
 THE ADDRESS.
 
 When I was about to enter upon my duties, as Treasurer 
 of this Society, I received a volume, in which a claim 
 was made on behalf of Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, 
 Viscount St. Alban, to the authorship of the Plays 
 contained in the folio volume, which appeared in the 
 year 1623, under the name of ' William Shakespeare.' 
 
 The writer stated that he claimed no less for Lord 
 Bacon, than the authorship of these Plays, and that the 
 claim had come to stay.* 
 
 I had, for some time, taken an interest in the deter- 
 mination of the respective claims of Shakespeare and 
 Lord Bacon, and had become, to some extent, familiar with 
 writings passing under both these names. I knew that 
 some of my predecessors in office had delivered addresses 
 on purely literary questions, and I thought I might, 
 without impropriety, deliver an address to the members 
 of this Society on the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy. 
 
 I found also, that the controversy excited considerable 
 public interest, particularly, in connection with the 
 establishment of the claim of Lord Bacon, by the 
 alleged discovery of a cipher, contained in the folio 
 volume itself. 
 
 I remembered, that for nearly three centuries, Masters 
 of this house had been familiar with the dramatic 
 literature of our country, and intimate with the principal 
 actors who have appeared on the English stage. 
 
 *" Shakespeare Studies in Baconian Light," by R. M. Theobald.
 
 r also remembered, that Mr. Edward Malone, one of 
 the greatest admirers of the poet Shakespeare, and the 
 most industrious editor of the works passing under that 
 name, was a member of this house." 
 
 I resolved, therefore, to deliver, as Treasurer, an 
 address on the subject, whether William Shakspeare, or 
 Shakespeare, of Stratford-on-Avon, was the author of 
 the Plays contained in the folio volume. 
 
 Just as I was preparing materials for the address, a 
 paper came to my hand, which throws considerable light 
 upon the (Question, and will, I trust, be interesting to all 
 who study the works which appeared under the style of 
 ' William Shakespeare.' 
 
 The paper purports to be an account of a 
 trial which took place in Westminster Hall, in 
 the month of June, 1627. I propose to read this 
 paper, as a contribution to the discussion of the 
 question. 
 
 The writer says, that a man of the name of William 
 Shakspeare, or Shakespeare, died at Stratford-upon-Avon, 
 in the month of April 1616; that he had made his will in 
 the month of March previously ; and that it was attested 
 by five witnesses. The writer, further, says that it 
 became necessary about the year 1620 to file a bill in 
 Chancery, for the administration of the testator's estate. 
 In the course of the administration, it became important 
 to determine, whether the testator was the author of the 
 plays published under the name of William Shakespeare ' 
 in the folio volume of 1623. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor, thinking it well that this 
 
 ■•'■ In the Variorum Edition of 1821, the name of the Poet is 
 invariably written Shakspcre : — even when a quotation is made, 
 although the writer wrote and printed the name Shakespeare. Ben 
 Jonson always wrote " Shakespeare." Mr. Malone makes him write 
 Shakspeare. This is very misleading. The alteration occurs in 
 numerous instances. Mr. Malone may call the poet by what name 
 he pleases. Let others have a similar freedom.
 
 question should be determined by a jur}-, directed an 
 issue to be sent for trial by the Court of King's Bench. 
 The issue was in these words. 
 
 "HALL V. RUSSELL, 
 In re Shakspeare. 
 Was William Shakspeare, the testator in the cause, 
 the author of the plays, which appeared under the name 
 of ' William Shakespeare ' in the folio volume published 
 in the year 1623 ? " 
 
 Accordingly, the 20th June, 1627, was appointed for 
 the trial by the Chief Justice and a special jury. 
 
 As soon as it was known, that this question was to be 
 tried by a jury, considerable excitement prevailed, and in 
 the City many were looking forward with interest to 
 
 the trial. 
 
 [It is well to note, that the proofs of the various witnesses 
 have been preserved, and have come down with the paper. The 
 witnesses seem to have written out their respective proofs. As 
 frequently happens in such case, the proofs contain much which 
 is only impliedly stated. The Counsel have, by proper questions, 
 endeavoured to turn the implied statements into express and 
 positive statements. The fairness of the examination can be 
 judged, by a study of the proofs, contained in the Appendix.] 
 
 On the 20th June, 1627, the Chief Justice took his 
 seat, in Westminster Hall, at g a.m. Long before that 
 hour the Court was well filled with persons of every rank 
 and station. 
 
 The reporter says he noticed among the early arrivals 
 Mr. John Milton, the scrivener of Bread Street, with his 
 son John, a youth of singular beauty and great 
 promise. Mr. Benjamin Jonson was conspicuously 
 present. Near him stood Mr. Selden, Mr. Vaughan, 
 Sir John Elliott, John Hampden and Sir Thomas 
 Wentworth. Among the divines, might be noticed the 
 Rev. Thomas Adams, the Dean of Worcester, and Dr. 
 Richard Sibbes ; among the actors, Heminge, Condel, 
 Sly, Ehilips ; among the poets, Drayton, Marston, and
 
 Chapman. The Earls of Pembroke and ' Montgomery 
 were also present. The Bar was well represented. 
 
 A respectable jury of citizens was sworn. 
 
 Mr. Noy appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Robert 
 Heath for the defendant. 
 
 After a short opening address of Counsel, in which 
 he said he should call many witnesses for the establish- 
 ment of the affirmative of the proposition, and that the 
 question was so simple that the jury could follow the 
 evidence without much explanation from himself, he 
 proceeded to put in evidence the following documents : — 
 
 The Will of William Shakspeare, executed 25th 
 March, 1616. 
 
 It was produced from the office of the Prerogative 
 Court of Canterbury. 
 
 It began thus — In the name of God, Amen. I, 
 William Shakspeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the 
 County of Warwick, Gent. 
 
 John Hall and Susanna his wife, daughter of the 
 Testator, were appointed executors. 
 
 Thomas Russell and Francis Collins, were appointed 
 overseers. 
 
 It appeared that the Will was signed in three 
 different places. The Chief Justice, on examining the 
 Will, expressed the opinion that the first and second 
 signatures were spelt " Shakspeare," and that the third 
 and last was spelt " Shakespeare." 
 
 Counsel for the plaintiff also put in evidence a 
 petition from the Lord Chamberlain's players ' to the 
 Right Hon. the Lords of their Majesties Most Honour- 
 able Privee Councell,' dated 1596. 
 
 The object of the petition was to entreat that they, 
 the players, might be permitted to carry on the repairs 
 of and to continue their performances in, a private house 
 belonging to them in the precinct of the Blackfriars.
 
 The first five names of the Petitioners were Thomas 
 Pope, Richard Burbage, John Heminge, Augustine 
 PhilHps, WiUiam Shakespeare. 
 
 Counsel for the plaintiff also put in evidence a grant of 
 King James the first, dated May 17th, 1603, to Laurence 
 Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, John 
 Hemmings, Henrie Condell and others, wherein they are 
 styled the King's servants. 
 
 Counsel for the plaintiff also put in a letter from 
 Richard Twyney, of Stratford, dated 25th October, 1598, 
 addressed 
 
 "To my loving, good friend and Countryman, Mr. 
 Wm. Shackesp'e." 
 
 The Counsel for the defendant asked to put in a letter 
 of same date from Abraham Sturley, of Stratford, to 
 Mr. Bredon Twyney, then in London. The Judge 
 assented. Council read from it the following : — 
 
 " It seemeth to him that our Countryman, Mr. 
 Shaksp'e"; and in another part, "our Countryman, 
 Mr. W. Shak." 
 
 In order to show how the name of Shakespeare was 
 written, the Counsel for the plaintiff tendered in evidence 
 a volume entitled " Remains concerning Britaine," pub- 
 lished in 1605 by William Camden. 
 
 The Court held that the book was admissible for that 
 purpose, not to prove any fact stated therein. 
 
 Counsel read from the chapter of the excellence of 
 the English Tongue, p. 43. — "Whatsoever grace any 
 other language carrieth in Verse or Prose, in Tropes 
 or Metaphors, in Echoes or Agnominations, they may 
 all be lively and exactly represented in ours. Will you 
 have Plato's verse ? read Sir Thomas Smith. The 
 lonicke ? Sir Thomas Moore. Cicero, Ascham. 
 Varro ? Chaucer. Demosthenes ? Sir John Cheke. 
 Will you read Virgil ? Take the Earl of Surrey's.
 
 Catullus ? Shakesphearc and ''"Barlovve's fraj^ment. Ovid ? 
 Daniell." 
 
 The Judge : How spelt ? 
 Counsel : Shakcspheare. 
 The Counsel for the plaintiff also read from the 
 Chapter on " Poems " the following passage : — 
 
 " If I were to come to our time, what a world could I 
 present to you out of Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spencer, 
 Samuel Daniel, Hugh Ballard, Ben Jonson, Thomas 
 Campion, Michael Drayton, George Chapman, John 
 Marston, William Shakespeare, and other most 
 pregnant wits of these our times, whom succeeding 
 ages may justly admire." 
 The Judge : How spelt ? 
 
 Counsel for the plaintiff: Shakespeare. I may say, my 
 Lord, William Camden died the very year the folio 
 appeared. I cannot, of course, call him. 
 
 The Counsel for the plaintiff also put in evidence 
 " Barnfield's Poems," published 1598, and read the 
 following lines : — 
 
 " And Shakespeare thou, whose hony-llowing Vaine, 
 (Pleasing the world) thy Praises doth obtaine, 
 Whose Venus and whose Lucrece (sweete and chaste), 
 Thy Name in fames immortell Booke have plac't. 
 Live ever on, at least in Fame live ever : 
 Well may the Body dye, but Fame dies never." 
 
 The Counsel for the plaintiff also put in evidence a 
 book entitled, " Avisa " — by Henry Willobie, published 
 1594, ^"<^ re^id the following passage: — 
 
 " He betrayeth the secrecy of his disease unto his 
 familiar friend, Will Shakespeare, who not long before 
 had tried the courtesy of a like passion, and was but 
 newly recovered of the like infection." 
 
 The Counsel for the defendant also put in evidence 
 
 '■' As published ; should be Marlowe.
 
 two deeds executed by the Testator, the signature in 
 each case being written "Shakspeare." Both the deeds 
 were prepared in the name of WiUiam Shakespeare. 
 
 Edward Blount was then sworn and examined. 
 
 I was one of the printers and pubHshers of the foHo 
 volume, which appeared in the year 1623. It contained 
 thirty-seven plays ; on the title page they are said to be 
 Mr. William Shakespeare's, Comedies, Histories, and 
 Tragedies. 
 
 I am now in my sixty-seventh year. 
 
 I was admitted a Freeman of the Stationers' 
 Company, June 25th, 1588, and in that year I opened 
 a stationer's shop at the sign of the Black Baar in Saint 
 Paul's Churchyard. I have carried on business there 
 ever since. 
 
 Among other books, I have published Florio's 
 Dictionary, in English and Italian ; Florio's translation 
 of Montaigne's Essays; and the first English transla- 
 tion of " Don Quixote " by Thomas Shelton. 
 
 I have, from my commencement in business, been 
 familiar with the principal authors of my time, and also 
 the principal actors on the stage. 
 
 I remember Mr. William Shakespeare, as an actor, 
 from the year 1588. 
 
 He was then taking part in the pieces presented b)^ 
 the Lord Chamberlain's servants, who performed at the 
 Theatre in Blackfriars, and subsequently, at the Globe 
 Theatre, on Bankside. 
 
 I saw him play in that year. 
 
 I do not know of my own knowledge when he first 
 began to write, but I know plays were presented about 
 1590 and 159 1, as having been altered and adapted by 
 William Shakespeare. 
 
 The first publication, with the name of William 
 Shakespeare upon it, appeared in 1593.
 
 It was entitled "X'eniis ami Adonis," printed by 
 K. 1-icl.l. 
 
 K. l-'iclil was a native of Stratford-on-Avon, and was 
 well known to Shakespeare. 
 
 I do not think Mr. l^cld is alive. 
 
 There is no name of any author on the title page. 
 
 It was dedicate<l to the Earl of Southampton, and 
 purports to be dedicated, by William Shakespeare. 
 
 The Judge : Shakespeare with the " e " after " k " ? 
 
 Yes, my Lord. 
 
 In his dedication, the writer hopes he shall not offend 
 in dedicating /;/s unpolished lines. He vows to take 
 advantage of all idle hours till he has honoured his 
 lordship with some graver labour. He says, " If the 
 first heir of m}- invention prove deformed, I shall be 
 sorry." 
 
 The Earl of Southampton was a youth of great 
 promise. He was at that time about twenty-one years 
 of age. 
 
 He was the friend of the Earl of Essex, and was well 
 acquainted with Francis Bacon. 
 
 The Earl of Southampton died in 1611. 
 
 I produce a copy of the " Venus and Adonis," lirst 
 edition. It was put in and marked B^. A second edition 
 appeared in 1594, '^ third in 1596, a fourth 1599, fifth 
 1600, a sixth in 1602, all with the name of " Shakespeare " 
 on them. An edition also appeared in the year 1616, the 
 year of the testator's death. 
 
 The next publication, with the name of Shakespeare 
 on it, was entitled, " Lucrece." It was printed by R. 
 Field, for J. Harrison, 1594. It was dedicated, like 
 the " Venus and Adonis," to the Earl of Southampton, 
 by William Shakespeare. 
 
 The name to the dedication is spelled with the 
 "e" after k. Put in marked B~. 
 
 8
 
 I may say, my lord, with one or two exceptions, I have 
 never seen the name, on a book, printed in any other way. 
 
 A second edition appeared in 1598, a third in 1600, a 
 fourth 1607, all with the name of Shakespeare upon them. 
 An edition of 1616, with name on title page and marked 
 B^, also an edition of 1624 marked B*, were put in. 
 
 I have often seen the Earl at the theatre where 
 Shakespeare performed, and I have seen the Earl 
 conversing with him on some occasions. 
 
 I produce 35 editions of Plays in Quarto, published 
 prior to the Folio, on 34 of which is printed the name of 
 Shakespeare, and on one of which W. Sh. is printed — all 
 put in marked B' to B^^. 
 
 In twenty-nine of these editions, the Christian 
 name William is given. 
 
 On the title pages of 12 of these editions you can 
 read — " written by William Shakespeare." 
 
 In nearly all cases the plays " written by," or "by " 
 William or W. Shakespeare, are said to have been acted 
 by the Lord Chamberlain's servants or His Majesties 
 servants, of whom Shakespeare was one. 
 
 The earliest in date are three in the year 1598, one in 
 the year 1599, six in the year i6co, two in the year 1602, 
 one in 1603, one in 1604, two in 1605, four in 1608, three 
 in 1609, three in 1611, one in 1612, one in 1613, 1615, 
 three in 1619, three in 1622. 
 
 One of the editions of 1611 is " The Troublesome 
 Reign of King John." 
 
 A quarto of the year 1591 is nearly the same as the 
 edition of 1611. 
 
 The quarto of 1591 bears no name. If it is fair to 
 infer, that the edition of 1591 was written by Shakespeare, 
 he began to correct and augment plays 1589— 1590. On 
 one of the plays, William Shakespeare is styled " Gent.," 
 his description in the Will.
 
 I had seen most of these plays acted, and on looking at 
 the printed cjiiartos, I knew they were for the most part im- 
 perfect. I saw some other plays acted, which passed under 
 the name of Shakespeare, and I knew there were and must 
 be plays in manuscript, which had not been printed. 
 
 Ml. W. Shakespeare, at the time of the petition to 
 the Trivy Council, posses:-ed a share in the Hlackfriars 
 Theatre and the Globe, and was a fairl\- prosperous man. 
 
 I have often seen Shakespeare in tlie company of 
 Richard Burbaj^e, John Heminge, Henry Condell, and 
 Benjamin Jonson. I have seen Shakespeare in con- 
 versation with the Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of 
 Montgomer}-. Until I printed and published the folio 
 volume, I had not printed or published anything written 
 by Shakespeare. I do not, of my own knowledge, know 
 where he was born. I know that, sometimes, I did not 
 see him for months together. I do not of my knowledge 
 know where he went to, when he left town. I have not 
 seen him since the year 1614. I have heard that — 
 
 " Do not tell us what you have heard, sir," said the 
 the Counsel for the defendant. 
 
 I was only going to say I believe he died in 1616. 
 
 Some time in the early part of the year 1622, 
 Mr. Ileminge and Mr. Condell called upon me. They 
 brougiit a large bundle of manuscript. They said they 
 were desirous of publishing all the plays that Shake- 
 speare had written, in order to keep alive the fame of 
 Shakespeare, and as an entertainment and instruction 
 for succeeding generations; that the\' ougiit to do it 
 at once, because imperfect copies were getting abroad, 
 and tliat some had just appeared; such as "Othello," 
 " Henry the Fourth," ist part, and " King Richard the 
 Third." 
 
 The manuscripts were handed over to me ; I cannot 
 say they were all in the same handwriting. I do not 
 
 10
 
 know the handwriting of Shakespeare. I saw, by a hasty 
 inspection, that there were twenty plays which, to m}' 
 knowledge, Jiad nol appeared in pnnt, in any shape or 
 form. They asked me to print and publish all the plays. 
 They said they did not want anything for the 
 manuscripts, and that they would assist me in every way 
 they could, without remuneration. I said if they would 
 leave the manuscripts with me, I would look them 
 through, consider the matter, and give an answer. 
 They left them with me. I compared " Henry the 
 Fifth," "Richard the Second," "Richard the Third," 
 "King John," "Merry Wives of Windsor," "Othello," 
 " Hamlet," " Taming the Shrew," " Henry the Fourth " 
 in the manuscripts, with whatever had been printed 
 upon the same subjects, and at once saw the supe- 
 riority of the Manuscripts over every previous edition. 
 Some of the manuscripts were quite independent copies, 
 containing only a small portion of any previous edition. 
 I then read the manuscripts which had never been 
 in print. "The Tempest," the performance of which I 
 witnessed, seemed perfect. But when I had read "Julius 
 Cassar," " Antony and Cleopatra," " Macbeth," " Henry 
 the Eighth," " Timon," "As You Like It," my heart 
 was — 
 
 " Do not tell us about your heart, sir," blurted out 
 the Counsel for the defendant. 
 
 Then, sir, I saw I had in my hands a treasure, and 
 I resolved, if possible, to undertake the printing and 
 publishing the plaj's. 
 
 I could not undertake the work myself— so I spoke to 
 Mr. Jaggard. He was never my partner in business, in 
 any sense. After telling him about the manuscripts, he 
 suggested that we should unite with two others in 
 running the risk, and finally Jaggard and I, and I. 
 Smithweeke and W. Aspley agreed to undertake the work. 
 
 II
 
 We brought out the edition in 1623, entirely at our 
 own charges. Some vohimes were printed before the 
 close of the year 1O22. 
 
 John Ileniinge and Henry Condell gave every assist- 
 ance in the printing and overlooking the punctuation. I 
 and my coadventurers gave them nothing for their labour. 
 The writer had punctuated very largely ; and as far as I 
 know, the punctuation of the plays, in the folio volume, is 
 excellent, particularly when compared with the quartos. 
 
 The printing of the folio was not done from any 
 printed book or books ; it was done all from manuscript. 
 When the pla\s were all printed, I suggested that a 
 portrait of Shakespeare should be placed at the beginning 
 of the Book. Heminge and Condell agreed to this. 
 
 I gave instructions to Droeshout, the Dutch artist, 
 to prepare the etching. 
 
 After the portrait was prepared, which is a very fair 
 resemblance of Shakespeare, I spoke to Mr. Jonson, and 
 asked him to write, a few lines, to be placed under the 
 portrait. Up to this time, I had not spoken to Mr. 
 Jonson about the work I had on hand, nor he to me. 
 
 He brought me, in manuscript, the lines which are 
 now printed opposite the portrait in the volume.' 
 
 At the same time he brought to me, to my surprise — 
 
 Counsel for the defendant : " Don't tell us of your 
 surprise." 
 
 He brought me the Commendatory Verses that are also 
 printed at the beginning of the folio.- 
 
 The folio is dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke and 
 the Earl of Montgomery. They are brothers. I asked 
 them to allow the folio volume to be dedicated to them. 
 They consented. The folio volume was here produced. 
 
 One was handed to the Judge. 
 
 ' App., p. xlix. - See App. Iv. 
 12
 
 The Judge said, I have my own copy. 
 
 Two other copies, with the one intended for the 
 Judge, were handed to the jury. 
 
 Some of the jury said they had seen Shakespeare on 
 the stage, and that any one would know the engraving 
 was intended as a portrait of him. 
 
 The Judge quite agreed with the jury in the opinion 
 they expressed. 
 
 Cross-examined. 
 
 How could you procure the consent of the noble 
 Earls to the dedication of the folio volume ? 
 
 I have known them many years. 
 
 In 1607 they permitted me to dedicate to them a 
 book entitled " The Courtier's Arte," which had been 
 translated from the Italian. 
 
 The dedication of that work I wrote myself. 
 
 Why did you ask them both to be patrons of the 
 folio volume ? 
 
 Because I knew they were well acquainted with 
 Shakespeare, and had seen in manuscript some of the 
 plays which are contained in the folio volume. 
 
 You say }Ou were acquainted with Shakespeare as 
 early as 1588. How did this come about ? 
 
 I was the intimate friend of Mr. Marlowe, who wrote, 
 for the stage, some excellent dramatic pieces. 
 
 Is that the Marlowe, to whom Mr. Jonson refers, 
 in the commendatory verses printed in the folio, 
 " Marlowe's mighty Line " ? 
 
 It is. 
 
 I was then acquainted with all the theatres and knew 
 the principal actors, and about that time Shakespeare, a 
 young man from the country, as I believed, appeared on 
 the stage. 
 
 To show you my intimacy with INIarlowe and so with 
 the stage, I may tell you that in 1598, five years after 
 
 13
 
 Marlowe's death, I pulilished his " Hero and Lcander," 
 and dedicated it to Sir Thomas Walsinj^'ham. I wrote 
 the dedication. Marlowe had placed the nianuscri})! in 
 mv hands. I published tiic remains of Marlowe and 
 the remains of Shakespeare. 
 
 You say you have seen the Earl of Southampton with 
 Shakespeare. Does not that seem strange ? 
 
 No, the Earl was of easy access and generous 
 disposition. I was myself well-known to the Earl, and 
 in 1600 I dedicated to him a book entitled, " The Uniting 
 of the Kingdom of Portugal to the Crown of Castile." 
 
 How could Shakespeare be noticed by the Earl as 
 early as 1591 or 1592, when, as we know, he held horses 
 at the theatre door whilst the riders entered the theatre, 
 to see the play ? 
 
 You assume he did this. 
 
 I do not, and never heard that he did. 
 
 He no more held horses, sir, than you have held 
 asses. (Loud laughter.) 
 
 Be respectful, sir, said the Counsel. 
 
 I am sorry if I spoke hastily, my lord, but (turning to 
 Counsel) you provoked me. 
 
 Mr. Heminge will tell you all about it. 
 
 Counsel for the defendant, " Speak for yourself, sir." 
 
 Whatever he may have done or been, when I first 
 knew Shakespaare, he was a bright, attractive, well- 
 featured, intelligent young man. 
 
 Have you in your possession the Manuscripts from 
 which you printed ? 
 
 No, I have not. 
 
 Is not this strange ? 
 
 I do not think so, I did not see any reason for keeping 
 them. They passed away, I believe, with other material 
 that was no longer required. I did not keep the 
 manuscript of the Dedication, the Preface, or the lines 
 
 14
 
 opposite the portrait, nor the manuscripts of the 
 Commendatory Verses, nor have I the manuscripts of 
 many books I have printed and pubhshed. 
 
 Did you not destroy the manuscripts, from which you 
 say you printed, in order to destroy the evidence of 
 authorship ? 
 
 Certain!}' not. I had no such intention. 
 
 Did you never hear that Shakespeare the actor, 
 whom you knew, had nothing to do with the pieces 
 pubhshed under his name ? 
 
 I never did. 
 
 Did you never hear that the name ' Shakespeare,' Theobald 
 that is, with the " e " after the " k," was assumed to cover 
 and conceal the writings of a very great, distinguished 
 man ? 
 
 I never did. 
 
 Would you be surprised to hear that Lord Bacon, — 
 
 The reporter says that as soon as this word escaped 
 from Counsel's lips, the whole Court was convulsed with 
 laughter, in which the jury joined. 
 
 To save appearances, the learned Judge retired into 
 his private room, as he said, in order to fetch his copy of 
 " Venus and Adonis." His laughter was heard in the Hall. 
 
 " We noticed," says the reporter, "that Mr. Jonson 
 never smiled. He seemed deeply moved, and exclaimed, 
 ' What next ? And next ? ' " 
 
 On the return of the Judge, the laughter had not quite 
 subsided, and the usher cried " Order, Order." 
 
 The Judge, on again taking his seat, said to the 
 Counsel for the defence, " I am sorry, sir, your question 
 should have been so received, but you must remember 
 the spectators are human, and that the jury and myself 
 are not free from infirmit}'. We are, however, quite 
 impartial." 
 
 The Counsel resumed. 
 
 15
 
 Now that this indecent lauj,'hter is over, tell nie, sir, 
 do you not know that Lord Hacon was the author of the 
 plays contained in the folio volume ? 
 
 I do not know it, and never until now have I heard a 
 doubt cast upon the authorship of Shakespeare. 
 
 Die! }ou never have an)- communication from Lord 
 Bacon in respect of the publishing the folio volume ? 
 
 Never. I never received a paper of any kind from him, 
 nor did I communicate any portion of the manuscript to 
 him. 
 
 Did not Mr. Benjamin Jonson bring you the manu- 
 scripts or some of them, from which you printed ? 
 
 " My lord, my lord," said Jonson. 
 
 Pray be quiet, Mr. Jonson, you will have your turn 
 directly, said the Judge. 
 
 He did not, nor did he touch any sheet of them. As 
 I have told you, I never communicated with him until I 
 spoke to him about writing some lines for the portrait. 
 
 Did not Mr. Jonson write the Dedication or Preface ? 
 
 He wrote neither. Heminge and Condell wrote 
 the Dedication, and the Address to the Readers they 
 composed in consultation with myself. 
 
 Did you not receive money from some one in order to 
 induce you to print the folio ? 
 
 I did not. I looked to the sale and the sale only to 
 recoup myself and my co-adventurers. 
 
 Re-exaniinccl : I myself never touched the manuscripts 
 nor added a line to them. After they were in my 
 possession, Heminge and Condell never, to my knowledge, 
 altered the manuscripts, nor did anyone else. 
 
 I could, if necessary, have written a Dedication and 
 the Address to the Readers. I wrote a work entitled " A 
 Hospital for Incurable Fools." I hope some day such 
 hospital will be founded. The second part of Shelton's 
 translation was dedicated to the Duke of Buckingham. I 
 
 i6
 
 wrote the dedication. I wrote the Address to the Reader 
 in the book entitled '* Horae Subsecivae," which I 
 printed and published 1620. If you read it, I think you 
 will see the trace of my hand in the Address to the Great 
 Variety of Readers, printed in the folio. 
 
 Have you ever had a manuscript handed to you 
 without payment ? 
 
 Yes, the manuscript of the Essays entitled " Horae 
 Subsecivae" was given to me. I paid nothing for it. 
 Writers do not often receive much for their compositions, 
 I am credibly informed. 
 
 " Do not tell us what you are informed," said the 
 Counsel for the defendant. 
 
 I meant, that the authors of the four gospels, the finest 
 biographies in the world, received nothing for them. 
 
 The reporter says that here Mr. Milton looked to his 
 son John, who smiled approvingly. 
 
 Is it uncommon for imperfect copies of writings to be 
 printed ? 
 
 Not at all; so common is it, that many, to my know- 
 ledge, have been obliged to print their manuscripts, in 
 order to do themselves justice. 
 
 Writings often circulate in manuscript, before they 
 are in print. 
 
 Did you know Richard Burbage ? 
 
 I did. 
 
 I believe he is not alive ? 
 
 No, he died in i6ig. I saw his gravestone, as I left 
 my shop this morning, and read the epitaph, " Exit 
 Burbage." 
 
 Mr. Blount then retired.* 
 
 *The evidence of Mr. Blount cannot be too carefully considered, 
 in the face of Mr. Bompas's statement; " that the printers and their 
 associates who undertook the charges (of the folio volume) were 
 none of them literary men; but one of the chief literary figures of 
 
 17
 
 W. Jaggard : — I am a stationer by trade. 
 
 I was asked by Mr. lilDiint to join him in the publica- 
 tion of the foho vohniie. 
 
 We received no money except what arose from the 
 sale of the books. 
 
 I saw the iiKUiiiscripts from which the fuho was 
 printed. I cannot say in whose handwriting tliey were. 
 The portrait is not unhke the features of Shakespeare. 
 I have often seen him as an actor at the Globe Theatre, 
 and at the theatre in Bhickfriars. I have seen the editions 
 of the Phiys in circulation which Mr. Blount produced. 
 
 I never heard a doubt cast on Shakespeiire beini; the 
 author of the plays and poems, printed and published in 
 his lifetime. I never heard, until now, any suggestion 
 that he was not the author of the plays contained in the 
 folio volume. I never added a single line to the manu- 
 scripts, nor did any one else to my knowledge. 
 
 He was not cross-examined. 
 
 The Counsel for the plaintiff stated that J. 
 Smithweeke and W. Apsley were prepared to give 
 similar evidence to that of W. Jaggard. 
 
 The Counsel for defendant said they need not be 
 
 the day, Ben Jonson, worked in co-operation with them. He wrote 
 the principal preface, and ' probably ' the dedication, and 'seems' 
 to have been the chid" editor. Here may be found the solution ot 
 the mystery. Whatever control Jonson had over the production oi 
 the folio was, in fact, or may well have been, the control ol Bacon." 
 In support of any one of these statements, Mr. liompas cannot 
 adduce a particle of evidence. Althoui^h born, I believe, in the last 
 century, Mr. Bompas writes, as if he were present, heard the 
 arrangements made, and saw the pieces composed and written. 
 ' Probably,' and ' seems,' and ' perhaps ' and ' may well have been,' 
 are in every part of his Book. His arj,'umentfor the liditorshipof the 
 folio by Jonson rests upon a statement, for which there is no 
 foundation, — the reckless statement, that none of the printers were 
 literary men. IJlount was a man of remarkable literary skill. Read 
 his dedication of the ' Hero and Leander ' of Marlowe. 
 
 16
 
 called. He would take it that they would speak as 
 W. Jaggard had done. 
 
 John Heminge sworn. 
 
 The reporter says he was a fine, venerable-looking man, 
 and entered the box with delightful ease. He said, I am 
 by profession an actor, and one of the two editors of the 
 folio volume. 
 
 I am sevent5'-one years of age, and was formerly for 
 many years one of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, and 
 afterwards and until recently one of the King's servants. 
 
 I retired from the profession about two years ago. 
 I was born at Shottery, a mile from Stratford-upon- 
 Avon in the year 1556. 
 
 When I was a boy I often went into Stratford. I 
 was educated at the Grammar School there. 
 
 I came to know Mr. John Shakespeare, or Shakspeer, 
 for the name was spelt in many ways. He was in 
 business as a glover at Stratford, and in his shop and 
 in the street I often saw his son William, a little boy, 
 then about three years of age. 
 
 I afterwards knew his brother Gilbert. He was 
 about two years younger than William. 
 
 William Shakespeare was just entering the Grammar 
 School as I was leaving. 
 
 I was about seven years his elder. 
 
 I was at the School with him about one year. 
 
 I went to London in the year 1574, when I was 
 eighteen years of age. Just about that time, the 
 Blackfriars Theatre was being built. 
 
 I became connected with the theatre there, first of 
 all in humble employment, but afterwards as an actor. 
 
 I was one of the Lord Chamberlain's servants, and 
 became interested in the Blackfriars Theatre, and 
 subsequently 'the Globe.' 
 
 I frequently returned home to Shotter}-, and saw on 
 
 19
 
 many occasions William Shakespeare. He was growinj^ 
 into a bright, active, handsome youth. 
 
 I heard he was assisting his father in business. 
 
 When I returned home in 15.^5, I found he had fallen 
 in love with and married Anne Hathaway, whom I knew 
 very well. She was about my age. 
 
 She was of a good family, with pretty face and sweet 
 manners. Shakespeare was, at the time of the marriage, 
 eighteen, and his wife twenty-six. 
 
 A child was born in 1584, Susanna, and twins in the 
 following }'ear, Samuel and Judith. 
 
 Samuel was the only son of Shakespeare, and died in 
 1596. 
 
 The business of Shakespeare's father declined, and 
 Shakespeare was obliged to look out for some means of 
 livelihood. 
 
 He came to London about 1586. He was well 
 acquainted with Richard Burbage, one of the Lord 
 Chamberlain's Company. Burbage was connected with 
 Stratford. Shakespeare sought me out at Blackfriars. 
 Burbage and I procured him employment at the 
 theatre. 
 
 He soon shewed capacity for the stage and for 
 business management. Although he began in small 
 parts, he soon shewed himself a fairly good actor. He 
 became a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, 
 and was united with myself and others in the manage- 
 ment of the Blackfriars Theatre and subsequently the 
 Globe Theatre on Banksidc. Burbage, Condell, and 
 myself were his fellow-actors. 
 
 He soon saw the importance, if we were to be 
 successful, of having a good set of pieces to perform. 
 
 He had a ready flow of bright, clear speech, and a 
 powerful imagination. He could readily describe the 
 characters he saw passing around him. He could 
 
 20
 
 realize the situations and the feeHngs of men who had 
 done great acts, whether good or bad. 
 
 I found as soon as he came to London he was reading 
 everything he could put his hands on. 
 
 I knew he was reading Holinshed and Hall, North's 
 " Plutarch," just then translated, and all the stories and 
 novels and plays that were within his reach. 
 
 He suggested, first of all, that he should adapt old 
 plays for our Company. Burbage and I agreed to this. 
 
 I remember his producing " The Troublesome Reign 
 of King John " about 1589 or 1590. It was printed in two 
 parts in 1591, as acted. 
 
 During the next twenty 5'ears he wrote a number 
 of Plays for the Company, of which he and I were 
 members. I have often seen him engaged in writing 
 and preparing the manuscript of the plays. 
 
 Our Company, through his plays, became very 
 successful. He was thus repaid for all his trouble. His 
 manuscripts were copied out, sometimes in parts, for 
 actors and sometimes for loan. 
 
 I remember Lord Pembroke and Lord Montgomery 
 having some manuscript plays for private reading. 
 
 The plays produced at our Theatres were greatly 
 sought after. Many portions, more or less, got into 
 print. 
 
 You could not converse with Shakespeare without 
 seeing his dramatic power. 
 
 He was a happy imitator of nature. He was a most 
 gentle expresser of it. 
 
 What he thought, he expressed with that easiness 
 that we have scarcely received from him a blot in his 
 papers. 
 
 Mr. Blount was correct in giving the list of the copies 
 of his plays that were printed in his lifetime. 
 
 Shakespeare ceased to act about 1603. He, however, 
 
 21
 
 produced many plays between i6o3an(l i')i2 — "Hamlet," 
 "Lear," " Coriolanus," "Macbeth,"' "Timon," and 
 " The Tempest." 
 
 The last pla}' he produced was "The Tempest" in 
 1611. 
 
 About 1612 he left London for good, and went to 
 live at Stratford. 
 
 I visited him there in 1615, and found him quite well. 
 
 The will of 1616, which has been produced, is signed 
 b}- William Shakspear, the man of whom I have been 
 speaking. That (pointing to the will) is his signature. I 
 am the John Heminge mentioned in the will, to whom 
 the testator gives a ring. 
 
 Richard Burbage, who is mentioned in the will, and 
 to whom a ring also was given, was m)' dearly-loved 
 friend, one of Shakespeare's fellows. He died 1619. I 
 wish he were here to-day. 
 
 "None of your wishes," said the Counsel for the 
 defendant. 
 
 The Judge : Let us have a little relaxation. This 
 would be a dull affair, if all were as formal and precise as 
 you. 
 
 Henry Condell, nientioned in the will and to whom 
 a ring is given, was also Shakespeare's fellow actor. I 
 am sorry I could not attend the funeral. After Shake- 
 speare's death, the plays which he had composed, and 
 which were at the theatre, came into my charge as the 
 business manager of the Company. 
 
 His plays, five or six years after his death, were not 
 so frequent!}- on the stage, and as no large sum of money, 
 if an}', could be got for the plays, I decided to print and 
 publish them, to keep alive the memory of so worthy a 
 friend and fellow as Shakespeare, if I could find any 
 one who would bear the charges. 
 
 I spoke to Henr}- Condell and other players, who 
 
 22
 
 consented to the publication, and Condell decided to edit 
 the plays jointly with myself. I spoke to Mr. Blount and 
 an arrangement was made, as he has stated. He and 
 I saw to the preparation of the sheets for printing, and 
 also to the punctuation. 
 
 We did not see the proofs to correct them. The 
 plays are, I think, well punctuated, and have attained in 
 printing a very substantial accuracy. 
 
 I did not add a line to the manuscripts, nor, as far as 
 I know, did any other person. 
 
 There are twenty plays in the folio, of which I never 
 saw any copy in print. 
 
 The folio was printed from independent manuscripts, 
 not from any book. 
 
 I wrote the dedication of the folio volume. 
 
 I never received anything for allowing the manuscripts 
 to be printed, or for my work in editing, nor did my 
 colleague, Henry Condell. 
 
 The portrait is very much like the Poet. No one 
 could mistake it. 
 
 Cross-examined — I am not a man of straw, as you 
 suggest. I am possessed of considerable real estate in 
 the City of London and the suburbs. 
 
 I do not believe that the stealing of deer had anything 
 to do with Shakespeare's coming to London. I do not 
 believe, from what I heard, that he stole any deer, or 
 exposed himself to an indictment at the instance of Sir 
 Thomas Lucy. 
 
 I believe he did not kill any deer at Charlcote Park. 
 I have heard that he killed a deer at Fulbroke close by. 
 Fulbroke Park was not the property of Lucy. Fulbroke 
 belonged to Sir Francis Englefield, who was attainted and 
 his property sequestered, but the proceeds not appro- 
 priated by the Queen. Lucy sported there without right, 
 and so did Shakespeare. 
 
 23
 
 Sir Tiio.nas Lucy was angry at what he called the 
 insolence of youni,' Shakespeare in daring to interfere 
 with his claim of sport over Fiilbroke Park. 
 
 William Shakespeare was not, when he came to 
 London, a rude, uncultivated youth. He was not a 
 runaway poacher. 
 
 I do not believe Shakespeare ever was in a lawyer's 
 office. I never heard so. 
 
 Did he not stand for hours, holding a horse at your 
 theatre door ? 
 
 Is it likely? 
 
 Answer the question. 
 
 Then certainly not — never. Persons came to the 
 theatre on horseback, and when they arrived, either there 
 was no one to take the horse or no one on whom they 
 could rely, to take due care and bring the horse when the 
 play was over. 
 
 Shakespeare saw that it would be a great convenience, 
 if boys, well selected and known, should be ready to 
 hold the horses when the riders dismounted, or take 
 them to some stables. 
 
 Shakespeare organised a body of boys for this purpose, 
 and they were called by his name. As for his holding a 
 horse, himself, it is an idle story. 
 
 I never heard of Shakespeare receiving any assistance 
 in the composition of his plays. 
 
 He may have received such help. I think he found 
 all the materials of his plays ready to his hand. He 
 supplied the dramatic energy; all that made the dry 
 bones live. 
 
 I never heard of his receiving help or assistance from 
 Francis Bacon. 
 
 He may have read some of Bacon's manuscripts. 
 
 May he not have visited Bacon by night and taken 
 away the plays as Bacon composed them ? 
 
 24
 
 He ma}' have gone by night, like Nicodemus, but I 
 never heard that he did. 
 
 I never heard of or saw any communications, passing 
 between him and Bacon. 
 
 I did not add a line to the manuscripts, nor suffer any 
 one to do so. 
 
 Is not the account of the condition of the Plays 
 vou gave in vour Address to the Reader a fiction ?* 
 
 What do you mean ? Certainly not. 
 
 I said we collected and published what we believed to 
 be the best text of Shakespeare. 
 
 I said that the copies printed before the folio were 
 very often stolen and surreptitious copies, maimed and 
 deformed, and that I now put them forth cured and 
 perfect in their limbs, I say we did and have done this. 
 
 I believe I came into possession of the true original 
 copies, that is, as they received the last finish from 
 Shakespeare's hands. The twenty not printed before 
 are undoubtedly the original. No one has pretended 
 to be in possession of the original manuscripts of 
 these plays, nor of any manuscript copy of them, nor 
 has any one printed a better text of them. All the 
 prints of these plays are from the text of the folio. 
 
 Of those printed before the folio I can give you 
 abundant proof that I gave the better, and, as I believe, 
 the final text. 
 
 Take "Othello," published for the first time, in 
 quarto, in 1622. 
 
 There are passages and songs in the folio not found 
 in the quarto. 
 
 Spelling and punctuation much improved. 
 
 * After quoting the preface to the foHo, which, if true, estabHshes 
 by proper inference the claim of Shakespeare, Mr. Bompas 
 exclaims, " The story is a fiction " (" The Problem of Shakespeare's 
 Plays," by Geo. C. Bompas, p, 100). 
 
 25
 
 Tlie same with " Hamlet " ; tlicrc are very important 
 portions in the folio, not in the quartos. 
 
 One passage is omitted from the folio, which is 
 found in the quartos. I did not omit it. 
 
 It is a portion of the speech of Horatio when, after 
 seeing the Ghost, he speaks of the palmy state of 
 Rome, and says, 
 
 " A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, 
 The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 
 Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets." 
 
 Shakespeare may have omitted this passage, because 
 it was somewhat far fetched, a little bombastic, and 
 the connection with the succeeding lines defective. 
 
 The " Merry Wives of Windsor " in the folio is almost 
 entirely a new play. "Taming the Shrew" the same. 
 " Richard the Third," " King John," " Henry the Fifth," 
 are all different from and superior to the quartos. The 
 whole of the plays were printed from the manuscript, and, 
 as I believe, the original, in the sense of the complete 
 and last manuscripts of Shakespeare. My belief is that 
 after correction and addition, they were re-written. 
 
 To my knowledge, no one has revised or touched the 
 manuscripts since Shakespeare's death. 
 
 You ought to be ashamed of yourself in stating my 
 story is a fiction. 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Jonson had nothing to do with editing 
 the folio. 
 
 Neither he nor I^ord Bacon ever made the slightest 
 alteration in the manuscripts or supplied a line. 
 
 HenryCondell: lamanactorandresidein Alderman- 
 bury, and have a country house at Fulham. I own several 
 houses in Fleet Street and the Strand. I was for many 
 years associated with William Shakespeare on the stage. 
 
 I only knew him after he had been in Lomlon for 
 some time. 
 
 2r.
 
 1 was one of the actors when Jonson's " Every Man in 
 his Humour" was performed in 1598. People are pleased 
 to say that I created the part of Captain Bobadil, 
 
 I had known Shakespeare then about a year. 
 
 I was afterwards one of His Majesties' servants, and 
 am the Henry Condell mentioned in the will before me, 
 by which a ring is given me. 
 
 I took a leading part in some of Shakespeare's plays. 
 
 I concur in the statements Mr. Heminge has made 
 as to Shakespeare and his writings, and particularly as to 
 the preparation and production of the folio volume. 
 
 I only desire to add that I employed the last portion 
 of my strength in discharging the duties of friendship. 
 
 This witness was not cross-examined. The reporter 
 says the witness seemed very feeble, and that he died in 
 the following December. 
 
 Francis Meres : I am a clerk in Holy Orders and 
 Rector of Wing in Rutlandshire. 
 
 I also keep a school there. ' 
 
 I was born in 1565, and am now sixty-two years of age. 
 
 I am a Master of Arts in both Universities. 
 
 In the year 1596 I was living in Botolph Lane, 
 London, and I continued there until 1602, when I became 
 Rector of Wing. 
 
 During my residence in London, I took considerable 
 interest in contemporary English literature. 
 
 I also visited the theatres and made the acquaintance 
 of play writers and actors ; among these was William 
 Shakespeare. He was then one of the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's Company, and was both an actor and as I 
 believed, a writer. 
 
 I have seen many of his plays in manuscript. 
 
 I also saw some of his sonnets. 
 
 They were to my knowledge lent to some of his friends, 
 and I have received some from Shakespeare himself. 
 
 27
 
 
 lie was a man ot the most sweet and facile expression, 
 and was a brij^dil, intelligent man. 
 
 I saw nothing in his appearance or conversation to 
 make me doubt his authorship of the plays and sonnets. 
 I never had a doubt as to his being the author. I believe 
 the manuscripts were in his handwriting. 
 
 I remember "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and 
 " The Comedy of Errors " among the plays in manuscript. 
 Thev were never printed until they appeared in the folio. 
 
 Cross-examined : Do you think he was the author of 
 the plays you mention ? 
 
 Yes, I do, although I feel quite certain he found to 
 his hand much of their material. 
 
 I believe the plays, I saw, were shaped and put into 
 form by him, and that the plays for the most part were 
 in his language. 
 
 In my opinion large portions of the plays could not 
 have been written by Francis Bacon. They arc not in | 
 I his style. I never heard of Bacon rendering Shakespeare I 
 I any assistance. 
 
 Do you mean that the actor, \\''illiain Shakespeare, 
 whom you knew, was the author of the plays or sonnets 
 you speak of? 
 
 Undoubtedly. 
 
 Have you said anything like this before to-day? 
 
 I have not only said so, but written and published so. 
 When I was in Botolph Lane I published in 1598, 
 ' Palladis Tamia,' * Wits' Treasury,' being the second 
 part of ' Wits' Commonwealth.' 
 
 I wrote what you can read in this volume (producing 
 it). " As the soul of Euphorbus was thought to live in 
 Pythagoras, so the sweet, witty soul of Ovid lives in 
 mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare, witness his 
 ' Venus and Adonis,' his * Lucrece,' and his sugred sonnets 
 a)iiong his private friends.'" 
 
 28
 
 In using the word Shakespeare did you not use it as 
 a noni-de-pluine ? 
 
 No, sir, certainly not; or I should not have written 
 as I have. When I wrote Shakespeare, I meant the man 
 who played at Blackfriarsand the Globe, — the man I knew. 
 I read by his permission some of the sonnets he 
 handed to me. They afterwards appeared, in print with 
 others, in a volume published in i6og. I had nothing 
 to do with their preparation for the Press or with their 
 publication. I had been in the county of Rutland seven 
 years at the time of the publication of the Sonnets. 
 
 I also gave in the same volume a list of some of 
 Shakespeare's plays which I had seen acted at his theatre, 
 and used his name, in my book, eight or nine times, in 
 connection with different kinds of poetry. I always 
 wrote the name with an "e" after the " k." 
 
 Re-examined : I believe, to-day, that Shakespeare was 
 the author of the plays in the folio volume, and from my 
 knowledge of him, believe that he was quite capable of 
 producing them. I have never, until to-day, heard a 
 doubt cast upon his authorship. 
 
 Will you give me the list of plays you published in 
 1598 as being Shakespeare's ? 
 Yes ; I gave — 
 
 " Two Gentlemen of Verona." 
 
 " Comedy of Errors." 
 
 " Love's Labour Lost." 
 
 " Love's Labour Won." 
 
 " Midsummer Night's Dream." 
 
 " Merchant of Venice." 
 
 " Richard the Second." 
 
 " Richard the Third." 
 
 " Henry IV." 
 
 " King John." 
 
 " Titus Andronicus." 
 
 " Romeo and Juliet," 
 
 29
 
 Twelve in all. Only four had been printed when 1 
 wrote, viz. " Richard the Second," " Richar^l the Third," 
 " Konieo and Juliet," and the " Troublesome Reign 
 of King John," and they were without the name of 
 Shakespeare. Of the remaining eight, four appeared under 
 Shakespeare's name in his lifetime. " The Two Gentlemen 
 of Verona," " The Comedy of Errors," and "Love's Labour 
 Won," under the title of "All's Well That Ends Well," 
 did not appear in print until the folio was published. 
 
 The pla}' of "Romeo and Juliet" did not appear 
 under Shakespeare's name until the folio appeared. 
 
 William Uasse : 
 
 1 am a member of the household of Francis Lord 
 Norrevs. 
 
 I have a taste for poetry, and have from time to time 
 written several pieces. 
 
 They are all in manuscript. 
 
 I knew the actor, William Shakespeare, member of the 
 Lord Chamberlain's Company and the King's servants. 
 
 1 have read many of his pieces in print and some in 
 manuscript. I got the manuscript pieces at the theatre. 
 
 I remember hearing of his death, and shortly after 
 I wrote an epitaph on Shakespeare. 
 
 Cross-examined : When you say }ou wrote an epitaph 
 on Shakespeare, you mean, do you not, that xou wrote 
 an epitaph on Lord Bacon ? 
 
 No, I do not, and did not. Lord Bacon died last 
 year, and I wrote the epitaph in i6i6. 
 
 My epitaph was on Shakespeare, the actor and 
 author, whom I knew well. 
 
 I spelled his name without the "e" — Shakspeare. 
 
 Did you ever shew the epitaph to any one ? 
 
 I shewed it to Mr. Benjamin Jonson, soon after I 
 wrote it. 
 
 It has not been printed. 
 
 30
 
 Have you the manuscript here ? 
 Yes, I have. 
 
 Re-examined : Will you give it me ? 
 Witness handed it to Counsel. 
 Put in and read. 
 
 ON WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, WHO DIED 
 
 APRIL, 1616. 
 
 Renowned Spencer, lie a thought more nigh 
 
 To learned Chaucer ; and rare Beaumont lie 
 
 A little nearer Spencer, to make room 
 
 For Shakspeare, in your threefold, fourfold Tomb. 
 
 To lodge all four in one bed make shift 
 
 Until Doomesday ; for hardly Avill a fift 
 
 Betwixt this day and that by fate be slain, 
 
 For whom your curtain needs be drawn again. 
 
 But if precedency in death doth bar 
 
 A fourth place in your sacred sepulchre, 
 
 Under this carved marble of thine own, 
 
 Sleep, rare tragedian, Shakspeare, sleep alone. 
 
 Thy unmolested peace, unshared cave, 
 
 Possess as Lord, not tenant of thy grave ! 
 
 That unto us and others it may be 
 
 Honour hereafter to be laid by thee. 
 
 After the reading of the lines, the witness said, 
 Perhaps your Lordship will permit me to say that 
 when I wrote these lines I thought a cenotaph would be 
 erected to William Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Benjamin Jonson, sworn and examined : 
 
 I am fifty-three years of age. 
 
 I have written many plays, masks, and poems. I 
 published an edition of my dramatic pieces in the year 
 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death. 
 
 I gave, in that edition, the names of the actors, in 
 the respective pieces, and I spelt the name of Shakespeare 
 
 31
 
 with an "e" after the " k." I never saw it otherwise 
 in print, except in one or two instances. 
 
 I began to write when I was quite young, and had 
 written my first play when I was about two and twenty. 
 
 I knew the Company entitled the Lord Chamberlain's 
 servants. They played at the theatre in Blackfriars, in 
 winter, an 1 at the Globe, on Bankside, in summer. 
 
 I was desirous that my play should be presented by 
 the Lord Chamberlain's servants. 
 
 I applied to one of tiiem, I forget which, to receive 
 my piece for performance. 
 
 I left it for perusal, and afterward, when calling, I 
 was told it was not suitable". 
 
 As I was leaving, an actor of the name of Shakespeare 
 came up, and finding that I was an author, he asked to 
 be allowed to look at my manuscript. I put it into his 
 hands, and after reading for some little time, he said, 
 " This will do. Leave it with me." 
 
 A few days after I received a message that my play 
 was accepted for performance, and subsequently it was 
 placed upon the stage by the Lord Chamberlain's 
 servants. 
 
 I always believed that this was due entirely to the 
 influence of William Shakespeare. 
 
 I had prior to this seen two little volumes of 
 poetry entitled " Venus and Adonis " and " Lucrece." 
 They were published under the name of William 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 I knew no other William Shakespeare or Shakspere 
 than the William Shakespeare of the Lord Chamberlain's 
 Company. 
 
 So far as I know, no one ever suggested a doubt as 
 to the William Shakespeare, of the Lord Chamberlain's 
 servants, being the author of them. 
 
 I knew the Earl of Southampton. I have often seen 
 
 32
 
 him at the Blackfriars and at the Globe and seen him 
 in conversation with Shakespeare. 
 
 I do not know, of my own knowledge, whether the 
 Earl rendered any pecuniary assistance to Shakespeare. 
 
 Early in 1598 I produced my comedy, " Every 
 Man in his Humour." It was accepted by the Lord 
 Chamberlain's servants, and acted by them. 
 
 \Villiam Shakespeare, whom I had frequently seen 
 acting at the Blackfriars and the Globe, decided to take 
 a part in the performance. 
 
 Pie represented the elder Knowell. 
 
 Richard Burbage, John Heminge, and Henry Condell 
 were among the performers. 
 
 During the rehearsals and at the various performances 
 I constantly saw William Shakespeare. 
 
 He was then about thirty-five years of age. 
 
 From the time of his acting in my comedy, I became 
 very friendly with him. 
 
 Between 1598 and 1600 I remember seeing in print 
 dramatic pieces, said to have been acted by the Lord 
 Chamberlain's servants and written by William 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 In 1600 Sir Walter Raleigh, and others founded 
 a Club, where they could meet together for social enjoy- 
 ment .and intercourse. They met at the Mermaid, 
 in Friday Street, in the City. Shakespeare was a 
 member of this Club. 
 
 Shakespeare was a fine, intelligent, handsome-looking 
 man, possessing a sparkHng eye and a lofty and expan- 
 sive forehead. 
 
 His conversation was peculiarly brilliant. His witty 
 and rapid allusions attracted the attention of all. 
 
 From the year 1600 until 1614 I frequently met him 
 at the club; very frequently until 161 r. 
 
 Only occasionally afterwards. 
 
 33
 
 I did not see Shakespeare in London after the year 
 1614. 
 
 Shakespeare acted apart in my ' Sejanus,' when in 
 1603, it was presented by the King's servants. 
 
 Biirbage, Heininge, and Condell also took parts. 
 
 I do not remember Shakespeare appearing on the stage 
 after this time. 
 
 Ahhough he did not act, I saw him frequently 
 between 1603 and 161 1, because his Company presented 
 mv ' Volpone or Fox,' 1605; 'The Alchemist,' 1610; and 
 ' Cataline,' 161 1. 
 
 I saw him frequently during these performances. 
 
 Between 1603 and 161 1 his more important pieces 
 appeared. 
 
 I remember " Hamlet " being presented under his name 
 in 1603 and in print in that year and in succeeding 
 years; his "Lear" in 1608, and " Troilus and Cressida " 
 in i6og. 
 
 During this time also, the plays of " Macbeth," 
 "Timon," " Othello,". " Henry the Eighth," "Antony 
 and Cleopatra," and "The Tempest," although not 
 printed, were produced under his name, and acted. 
 
 He was from 1603 to 161 r very busy writing his 
 plays. I have seen his manuscript plays. 
 
 "The Tempest" was the last piece of Shakespeare 
 that appeared on the stage. 
 
 I saw at the performance Mr. Selden and Mr. 
 Vaughan. 
 
 I looked through the folio volume as soon as it was 
 in print, and remembered the whole of the plays therein, 
 as having been performed, under the name of William 
 Shakespeare, and some printed under his name. 
 
 I knew that many of the printed pieces were very 
 i'n perfect. 
 
 The folio is a great advance on nearly all of them, 
 
 34
 
 and represents, in my opinion, more distinctly the mind 
 and expression of Shakespeare. 
 
 Those plays that appeared in the folio volume, for the 
 first time, in point of printing and punctuation, are with 
 two or three exceptions, an admirable piece of work.'^^ 
 
 I do not, of my own knowledge, know where 
 Shakespeare was born or the date of his birth. 
 
 I visited my friend Shakespeare in the early part of 
 1616 at Stratford-on-Avon, and found him living there 
 with Mrs. Shakespeare, who seemed some few years 
 older than himself. 
 
 Susanna, his elder daughter, was married to Dr. John 
 Hall, who was practising as a physician in Stratford. 
 
 His second daughter, Judith, had been married to 
 Thomas Queeney just a few days before my arrival. 
 
 Shakespeare and his wife seemed to be on affectionate 
 terms. They were living by themselves in considerable 
 comfort. 
 
 Drayton the poet was with me. 
 
 Before leaving, Shakespeare, Drayton, and myself 
 dined together at one of the principal Hostelries. 
 
 I heard soon after, that he had caught a cold, which 
 led to his death. 
 
 I never had any of Shakespeare's manuscripts in my 
 possession. 
 
 I did not see him composing any of his plays. From 
 time to time, 1 saw some manuscripts of plays lying 
 before him at the Theatre. 
 
 I never heard any doubt as to his authorship of the 
 pieces that passed under his name. 
 
 ■'- Look at " Macbeth " in the folio edition and compare it with the 
 text and punctuation of the Cambridge edition. There are mistakes 
 in about ten words in the folio, mistakes which are readily detected, 
 and the right word at once perceived. " Macbeth." in the folio, 
 is a marvel of accurate printing and punctuation. 
 
 35
 
 I had nothing to do with the preparation of the foho 
 vohmie. 
 
 I did not dehver any manuscript to Mr. lilount or 
 alter or add to any that was in his possession. 
 
 The first time, I i<new of the vohime beini^ prepared, 
 was when Mr. Blount showetl me the portrait of 
 Shakespeare, and asked me to write a few lines to be 
 placed under, or opposite to, it. 
 
 The portrait in the folio is a fairly .s^ood representation 
 of the Shakespeare whom I knew and of whom I have 
 been speaking, ami with whom I was acquainted for 
 twenty years. 
 
 Whilst I was writing the lines, I thought I would 
 write some Commendatory Verses, and I wrote those 
 lines that appear in the beginning of the volume, and 
 gave them to Mr, Blount. 
 
 How came you to say in your ' Commendatory 
 Verses ' that you would not lodge Shakespeare by Chaucer 
 or Spencer, or bid Beaumont lie a little further? 
 
 Because Mr. Basse, who has just been called, shewed 
 me his lines in Manuscript which he had composed on 
 Shakespeare, and they led me to write thus. 
 
 Cross-examined : 
 
 Somewhat rash and hasty, in your conduct, Mr. 
 Jonson ? 
 
 I do not think so. 
 
 Temper somewhat violent ? 
 
 I hope not. 
 
 A little border blood in you ? 
 
 I am of Scotch extraction, if you mean that. 
 
 I come, I think, from the Johnstons of Annandale. 
 
 You fought a duel with Gabriel Spenser, an actor, 
 and killed him, did you not ? 
 
 My Lord, am I bound to answer this question ? Has 
 it anything to do with what you are trying ? 
 
 36
 
 Judge : You had better answer the question. Counsel 
 have great licence. I cannot say the question if 
 answered one way, may not remotely go to your credit. 
 It goes also to the credit of the Counsel. 
 
 I was unfortunatel}^ concerned in his death, and very 
 much deplore it. 
 
 I do not think I was to blame in the matter. 
 
 You frequently say things that are unpleasant and 
 annoying ? 
 
 Not very often, sometimes I do. 
 
 Why, you told Marston, did you not, that his father- 
 in-law, who was a clergyman, wrote his plays, and that 
 he wrote his father-in-law's sermons ? 
 
 I did. 
 
 Somewhat annoying, Mr. Jonson, you know, and 
 rather hasty? 
 
 Perhaps so. 
 
 But you thrashed him as well ? 
 
 I did that also. 
 
 You pretend now to be a friend of Shakespeare the 
 actor ? 
 
 I do not pretend, sir. I have always been his friend, 
 from the first hour of our acquaintance. 
 
 Did you not try to bring contempt upon his 
 writings? 
 
 Then you admit some writings ? 
 
 Never mind what I admit, answer my question. 
 
 I never did. His fame was so great, and his writings 
 for the most part so supreme, I cannot say I was always 
 free from envy. I never expressed it and I never 
 entertained it long. I always truly admired and loved 
 him. I can tell you, that no feuJ or jealousy ever 
 disturbed our intercourse. 
 
 Have you not said that you thought he wrote too 
 hastily ? 
 
 37
 
 I have, and when Hemingc and Condell have said 
 that Shakespeare never blotted a line, I have said, would 
 he had blotted a thousand. 
 
 I know they thought it was a malevolent utterance. I 
 spoke to show their mistaken judgment; not to bring 
 contempt on Shakespeare. 
 
 He was so great and good that I loved the man, and 
 I now honour his memory, on this side idolatry, as much 
 as an\'. 
 
 Come now, you do not believe he wrote the plays in 
 this volume ? 
 
 Yes I do, most assuredly I do. 
 
 Had he no one to assist him ? 
 
 I cannot say. I know I never assisted him, nor did 
 he at any time ask me. 
 
 You do not pretend that he invented the fables of his 
 plays ? 
 
 Oh no, nor yet that the language was always his. 
 I believe he took whatever he found suitable. He had a 
 tenacious memor}'. I should think, he did not forget 
 anything he read. 
 
 His vivacious wit and powerful imagination soon 
 clothed a story in surpassing splendour. I think he laid 
 his hands on anything he could find. Read and compare 
 the " Lear " of 1605, and the " Lear " of 1608, and in the 
 latter you see a dramatic force and energy which in my 
 opinion only Shakespeare could have supplied. 
 
 He could put more into a situation than an\' man I 
 ever knew. He could realize and intensify the past. 
 
 Still, still you cannot say he was the author of the 
 folio volume ? 
 
 I do, and again I say I do. I never peruse the plays 
 in the folio, without seeing the race of Shakespeare's 
 mind nor without noticing how in them his manners 
 brightly shine. 
 
 38
 
 Do you not consider that the writer of the plays was 
 a great philosopher ? 
 
 I do not. There is a great deal in them, and a very 
 large portion too, that no philosopher could or would 
 have written. 
 
 There is no doubt in the plays a good deal of 
 philosophy and much that is pleasing to a philosopher. 
 There are also many difficult problems presented in the 
 plays. It is impossible to escape from these, in setting 
 forth conspicuous actions in great men's lives, whether 
 the actions be good or bad. 
 
 He took the story and gave it form and life. He 
 wrought from without and struck down on conscience, 
 the passions, temptation, sorrow, remorse, and retri- 
 bution. 
 
 He did not, in my judgment, like a philosopher, work 
 from within man to the external world, or seek to put 
 down human experience in any abstract statements. 
 He has, however, wrought up more wise sayings and 
 proverbs in his plays than any man I know. 
 
 Was not his speech common-place and vulgar ? 
 
 By no means. His vocabulary was extensive, lan- 
 guage choice, and flowing. 
 
 I have seen Raleigh, Selden and others sit lost in 
 admiration as he has discoursed, and when he has 
 descended to the common scenes of life, he has set the 
 table in a roar. 
 
 Do you not know that your Shakespeare was a mere 
 money-grubber, a coarse, bustling man of business ? 
 
 He may have lent money and made it, but I tell you 
 he was honest and of an open free nature, had an 
 excellent fancy, of brave notions and gentle expressions, 
 wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes it 
 was necessary he should be stopped. His wit was in his 
 own power. I would the rule of it had been. 
 
 39
 
 Is the portrait in the folio hke the man you speak of? 
 
 It is, and it would remind any one of Shakespeare. 
 
 Now when you were asked to write the lines, you 
 knew, did you not, that the man Shakespeare, of whom 
 you have told us, was not the author of the book ? 
 
 I knew nothing of the sort. 
 
 Rather a sly suggestion of yours, was it not : "look 
 not on his picture but the book " ? 
 
 Did I say the book? I said, I think, "his book." 
 
 The Judge looked at the folio and said, " Yes, the 
 words are ' his book.' " 
 
 Scarcely fair, Mr. Heath. 
 Theobald I ask you again, a rather sly suggestion of yours ? 
 
 What on earth do you mean ? Do you mean that 
 whilst I was leading people, who do not scan language 
 very carefully, to think that the Shakespeare of Stratford 
 was the author of the book, I saved my own conscience 
 by asking them to turn away from the portrait and look 
 on the book; the book not being, in my own mind, 
 written by Shakespeare ? 
 
 Yes, said the Counsel, that is my meaning. 
 
 Then, sir, you deserve just such a thrashing as I gave 
 Marston. 
 
 ]\Iy lord, my lord, is this the way I am to be treated ? 
 said the Counsel. 
 
 The Judge : It may be a cruel suggestion, but I must 
 ask the witness to be quite calm. 
 
 I am very sorry, my lord, but it is very easy for you 
 to preach calmness. 
 
 When I was writing the lines I thought of Shake- 
 speare's wit as well as of his face, and I wished the engraver 
 could have drawn his wit as well as his face, but as I 
 knew he could not draw his wit, and I wished people to 
 know it, I simply asked them to look for his wit not in 
 his picture but in his book. 
 
 40
 
 May I call attention to the Commendatory Verses, 
 my lord ? They will show that when I said his book, I 
 meant the book of my friend William Shakespeare. 
 
 Yes, you may, said the Judge. 
 
 I wrote thus, my lord — 
 
 " To the memory of my beloved, the author, Mr. 
 William Shakespeare; and what he has left us." 
 
 That is explicit enough, is it not ? 
 
 Does the learned Counsel mean that I wrote a lie ? 
 That I knew Shakespeare the actor was not the 
 author of the plays, and that he had left no literary 
 compositions behind him ? 
 
 Do you really mean to state upon your oath, that you 
 believe that Mr. Shakespeare, the actor and moneylender, 
 and the man you visited at Stratford, was the author of 
 the plays contained in this folio (holding up the volume) ? 
 
 I do, most certainl)'. I have no doubt of it. 
 
 Have you never heard it suggested that the plays and 
 poems passing under the name of Shakespeare were 
 really written by Lord Bacon ? 
 
 Never, until I heard it fall from your lips to-day. 
 
 You were frequently in consultation with Lord Bacon 
 from his fall to his death ? 
 
 I was. 
 
 Did you not see him with the manuscripts of all or 
 some of the plays in the folio volume ? 
 
 Not one. You must remember his fall was in May, 
 1621, and the plays were printed in 1622, only a year 
 and a half subsequently. 
 
 Did you write any portion of this volume ? 
 
 I did not. 
 
 Did Lord Bacon ? 
 To my knowledge, no. 
 
 Were you not, by arrangement with Lord Bacon, 
 writing Commendatory Verses which, whilst nominally on 
 
 41
 
 Shakespeare, were really intended for Lord Bacon 
 himself as the author of the folio ? Were you not 
 commending; the book, not the man ? 
 
 Certainly not. How dare you ask me the question ? Do 
 you mean, I did this, with Lord Bacon's concurrence ? 
 
 The witness was very much excited and violently 
 j::^esticulated. 
 
 The Judge: Becalm, Mr. Jonson. If Counsel should 
 ask you, if you murdered your own mother, you must 
 keep very calm and answer. No. You must observe the 
 proprieties, Mr. Jonson. 
 
 My lord, the suggestion is infamous. 
 
 Counsel : Notwithstanding your violence, I put the 
 question again. 
 
 Then I repeat, my lord, the suggestion is infamous. The 
 great Lord Chancellor, for such I deem him, fell from 
 office in May, 1621. There never was a greater fall. His 
 health was much broken. He finished his life of "Henry 
 the Seventh " by the end of October, 1621, and published 
 it in the following year. Then, with my assistance, he 
 translated into Latin the "Advancement of Learning" 
 which appeared in October, 1623, as " De Augmentis 
 Scientiarum." The folio volume had already appeared, 
 in 1622. In March, 1622, Lord Bacon was turning his 
 attention to a digest of the law. Early in that year he 
 wrote the fragment of the " Life of Henry the Eighth." 
 During 1622 he wrote some of the twenty new essays 
 which appeared in the edition of " The Essays " in 
 1625. He conducted between June 162 1 and 1^)23 a 
 considerable correspondence. 
 
 All the time, from his fall to the publication of the folio, 
 was taken up with his own special work. He busied him- 
 self with his " Historia Ventorum"and "De Vitaet Morte." 
 Until the close of 1623 his grief was fresh upon him; he 
 was still, to use his own language, "a bruised reed." 
 
 42
 
 He never tried to forget his fall, by trickery, but 
 by constant work of his own special kind. 
 
 In the depth of his grief he often sat reflecting on 
 the fate of great men, who, having occupied high station, 
 had fallen to low estate. 
 
 It was not a time for playing such a trick, as the 
 learned counsel here suggests. 
 
 Did not Lord Bacon write the fragment of " Henry 
 the Eighth " in order to get State papers into his 
 hands, and then, discontinue the prose, to write the play 
 of "Henry the Eighth? " 
 
 No, sir, it is a shameful suggestion. My Lord, as I 
 have said. Lord Bacon had, to my knowledge, nothing to 
 do with the folio volume. 
 
 I had not Lord Bacon in my mind when I wrote the 
 Commendatory Verses. 
 
 I still call the man, who helped me to the performance 
 of my first play, my friend, my gentle Shakespeare. 
 Take him for all in all I never shall see his like again. 
 
 He was not of an age, my Lord, but for all time. 
 (Slight cheers, which were quickly suppressed.) 
 
 Did not ' this man for all time,' as you call him, get 
 drunk with you at the dinner you had just before you left 
 Stratford, and did not that debauch kill him ? 
 
 Certainly not. It is well you and I, sir, are not 
 outside in Palace Yard. 
 
 The Judge : Mr, Jonson, be calm. 
 
 Do you not see in some of the words used in the folio 
 volume a direct reflection of Lord Bacon's philosophy ? 
 
 I do not remember any; perhaps you will suggest one. 
 
 Yes, I will. In the folio you find the word " modesty " 
 used in the sense of keeping due measure ? 
 
 Yes, I remember now. 
 
 You also know, do you not, that Bacon's philosophy 
 required that in the indulgence of feeling in forming 
 
 43 
 
 Theobald.
 
 opinion, a true measure should be observed between the 
 mind and its objects ? 
 
 Yes, I remember something like that. 
 
 Lord Bacon uses thevvord "modesty," does he not, in the 
 same sense as that in which the word is used in the folio ? 
 
 Yes, I think he does. 
 Theobald Is it not interesting to sce ' the poet's large Latinity' 
 
 appearing in such an unexpected form ? 
 
 Not at all ; there is no appearance of Latinity in it. 
 
 The word " modesty " was used in English in the sense 
 to which you are referring, before Bacon wrote a line. 
 
 It can be found in a book published in English in 
 I579> Nortii's "Translation of Plutarch's Lives," a book 
 which I know Shakespeare read and studied. 
 
 It appears twice in a few pages in the translation of 
 Calvin's " Harmony," 1584. 
 
 Shakespeare need not have gone to Bacon, nor become 
 a Latin scholar, for the use of that word. 
 
 Take the word "fact," Mr. Jonson. In the folio, the 
 word is often mentioned and invariably means 'deed.' 
 Thus, " I say the truth, the fact was infamous." This is 
 quite a classical style, you know, and you can find its use 
 in Bacon's " Life of Henry VII.," thus, " that barbarous 
 fact," meaning deed. How can Shakespeare, who had 
 little Latin, attain to this classical and scholarly style ? 
 
 I will tell you, sir, though first reminding you that 
 Bacon's "Life of Henry VTI." was not published until 1622. 
 Shakespeare attained to this classical style by familiarising 
 himself with English literature and English talk. Fifty 
 years before Bacon used fact, meaning deed, in his " Life 
 of Henry VII.", the word " fact," meaning deed, was in 
 common use. You will find the word "fact "used in 
 the sense of ' deed ' in six different places in North's 
 "Translation," 1579. You find there also the expression 
 " with the fact," meaning " in the deed." You will find 
 
 44
 
 the word " fact " used with the same meaning in John 
 Rainolds' "Lectures on Obadiah," 1.584, and in King's 
 " Lectures on Jonah," delivered in 1594. The word 
 "fact," meaning deed, was in common use. 
 
 Take " merely," used thus in "Hamlet," "Things gross 
 and rank in nature possessed merely," meaning com- tT" 
 pletely. Lord Bacon uses the word in this sense. What 
 do you say to that ? 
 
 Yes, quite right, and used by North in his "Translation" 
 in the same way, 1579, used by Hooker, 1586, and six 
 times by Richard Sibbes, 1610 — 1624, and also by 
 Thomas Adams. 
 
 I will take another word, " facinorous." Where did 
 Shakespeare get that word from ? 
 
 In the folio you have the words " of a most facinorous 
 spirit," meaning especially bad. 
 
 Where did your friend, the moneylender, get that 
 from ? 
 
 Ben Jonson : Did he get it from Bacon ? 
 Counsel : Do not ask me questions. 
 I must, my Lord. I do not find it in any of Lord 
 Bacon's writings. 
 
 I cannot say where Shakespeare got it, but this I 
 know, it has been in use for many years, and some years 
 ago, addressing a large congregation, I heard Thomas 
 Adams, the preacher at St. Gregory's, speaking of the 
 conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament, 
 describe it as a "facinorous deed." Richard Sibbes, the 
 preacher at Gray's Inn, has the word " facinorous " 
 in each of two sermons preached in commemoration 
 of the Gunpowder Plot. The use of the word was not 
 uncommon. 
 
 Take " translate," Mr. Jonson, used, as \ou know, 
 by Shakespeare in the sense of conveyance or removal — 
 fine Latinity there — where did he get it ? 
 
 45
 
 Common use. In 1594 I heard King, Bishop of 
 London, say ' the first translation ' was made in Paradise, 
 when the man put the sin on to the woman and the 
 woman put it on to the serpent. Tliere is ' your con- 
 veyance,' quite common. I have heard Mr. Sibbes speak 
 of " ill translations" to others. In an Epitaph on the 
 Earl of Warwicke, in St. Mary's Church, Warwick, you 
 can read, ' the executors did translate worshipfully the 
 said body into the vault aforesaid.' 
 
 Let us consider the word "preposterous," Mr. 
 Jonson. Does not Shakespeare use it in the classical 
 sense of having the last first, or of something being in an 
 inverted order, and do you not find the word " pre- 
 posterous " used in the same sense by Lord Bacon ? 
 
 Yes, undoubtedly, you do. 
 
 How do you account for this use in common, unless 
 Lord Bacon was the author of the folio ? 
 
 I account for its use by Shakespeare, because it formed 
 part of the current language. It has been in use in the 
 sense you speak of, to my knowledge, for more than forty 
 years. I find the word used in the classical sense in a 
 Translation of Calvin's " Harmony," published in 1584, at 
 a time when Lord Bacon had not published a line. 
 "They objected that Christ did it preposterously"; 
 that is, He visited all the towns of Galilee before He 
 visited Nazareth. He visited in ' an inverted order.' I 
 find the word ' preposterous ' in the translation of Calvin, 
 1584, used in the classical sense six times, in a few pages. 
 I remember the use of the word in the same sense in 
 Adams' sermons. 
 
 Look at the word "dissemble," Mr. jonson. 
 Shakespeare uses it in quite a classical sense, of con- 
 cealing or feigning a thing as different from what it 
 really is, does he not? 
 
 Yes, I remember the clown, putting on a gown or 
 
 46
 
 beard for disguise, and saying, " I'll put it on, and will 
 dissemble myself in it." 
 
 Does not Lord Bacon use the word " dissemble " in 
 the same sense ? 
 
 Yes, I think so. 
 
 How do you account for this fine use of the word in 
 Shakespeare ? 
 
 Again, I tell you, common use, current language. 
 I heard Thomas Adams, preaching on Jacob's supplanting 
 Esau, cry out, " Here is prodigal dissembling : a dis- 
 sembled person, a dissembled name, dissembled venison, 
 and a dissembling answer." 
 
 What do you say, Mr. Jonson, to ' gross as a mountain, 
 open, palpable.' Is not that combination quite Baconian ? 
 
 Jonson : If it is, it will go hard with Shakespeare. 
 
 Mr. Heath : — Lord Bacon uses the words ' gross ' and 
 ' palpable ' together. Thus, he speaks of ' gross and 
 palpable darkness,' of 'gross and palpable flattery.' 
 How do you account for this same combination of 
 words in Shakespeare ? Are they not quite from the 
 Baconian mint ? 
 
 Jonson : Chaucer used the word gross. 
 
 In the translation of Calvin's ' Harmony' I find ' gross 
 errors,' ' gross mockers ' : ' filthy and palpable mistakes.' 
 
 No doubt, said Mr. Heath, there the phrases are 
 separate. But where do you find the combination ? 
 
 In a sermon, preached 1614, Adams says, " Imagine 
 the Egyptian's case, in that gross and palpable darkness, 
 the longest natural night that the Book of God specifies." 
 Whilst standing here, I have been looking through Mr. 
 Blount's " Horae Subsecivae," published 1620, manuscript 
 about 1615, and I find the words gross and palpable 
 applied twice to ' flattery.' The word palpable has been 
 in very common use. I have often heard Adams exclaim, 
 ' The disease is palpable.' 
 
 47
 
 Yes, sir, you have found ' sfross and palpable ' in Adams 
 and in the " Horae Subsecivae ; " but these are in the time 
 when Bacon had spoken and written. Can you find me 
 an instance of it before Bacon wrote ? 
 
 Yes, sir, I can I find in Hooker, 'grossly and palpably 
 offended,' 15S6. 
 
 Mr. Heath : There it is adverbial in form. 
 Is that your refuge ? You shall not escape, for I find 
 the words 'gross and palpable blindness ' in an address to 
 the reader prefixed to the Translation of Calvin's sermons, 
 published in 1582. The address is signed T. T. — no doubt 
 a comparatively unimportant person. I am satisfied that 
 the combination 'gross and palpable' was in common 
 use long before Bacon was born. 
 
 Shakespeare did not require ' great latinity ' to 
 become acquainted with the words, nor was he, in any 
 way, indebted to Lord Bacon's mint for the phrase. 
 
 Lord Bacon himself was indebted to others for the com- 
 bination ' grossand palpable,'* of which you make so much. 
 
 Try again, said the Judgi£, but this really must be the 
 last, for it is a strong order to ask the jury to find, in the 
 absence of direct evidence, that Lord Bacon is the author 
 of the plays because there are words and opinions common 
 to both writings. 
 
 Take " acknown," Mr. Jonson. It occurs only once 
 in Shakespeare, and is an attempt to bring the Latin 
 word Agnosco into our language, is it not? 
 
 * Mr. Theobald (p. 264) says, " Most people use the twin 
 a.d']eci'ives gross and palpable without thought of their origin. It is 
 one of Bacon's many contributions to verbal currency. It was a 
 new coin when it issued from his affluent mint. Anyone using it in 
 the early part of the seventeenth century, would have felt almost 
 obliged to quote Bacon while employing it. It is as well to recall our 
 obligation to him, now that we have reached the twentieth 
 century." This is deliciously bold. Mr. Theobald uses ' the twin 
 adjectives gross and palpable without thought of their origin.' They 
 are from ' the affluent mint of T. T.' 
 
 48
 
 I know the word. I have used it myself. It has 
 been recently used by the Dean of Worcester. It was 
 not an attempt on the part of Shakespeare to introduce a 
 new word. It had been in our language for two centuries 
 and was dropping out, not coining in. 
 
 Would you, sir, said Mr. Jonson, like to put me 
 another word ? looking at the Counsel with an air of 
 triumph. 
 
 Would you, my Lord ? 
 
 Not I, Mr. Jonson, said the Judge, with a smile. 
 Then, my Lord, said Mr. Jonson, let me say that the 
 word extenuate, which is found in the folio volume, and 
 upon which so much stress is laid to show Shakespeare's Haiiam 
 unusual classical diction, was used, in the sense in which 
 Shakespeare used it, more than forty years ago. 
 
 It can be found in Calvin's " Harmony," 1584. " The 
 Majesty of God was not extenuated, although it were 
 compassed about with the flesh." 
 
 I heard Henry Smith use it in that sense in his sermon 
 on usury, published in 1592. I have heard Thomas 
 Adams use it, in the same sense. 
 
 Shakespeare had little Latin, and less Greek ; but just 
 before his birth and whilst he was coming to manhood, 
 words were being introduced from the Latin into our 
 language and first of all with the Latin meaning, and 
 many of these words from the Latin are found in the 
 sermons published by the great preachers of Shakespeare's 
 age. These words must, therefore, have got into common 
 use ; and their use by Shakespeare does not, to my mind, 
 afford the slightest evidence of his being indebted to Lord 
 Bacon for the knowledge of them. 
 
 Now, Mr. Jonson, do you not find a number of 
 parallel passages in the folio and in the writings of Theobald 
 Lord Bacon which show how remarkably the ideas 
 of Shakespeare and Bacon correspond ? 
 
 49
 
 I cannot say I do, but perhaps you may present 
 to me such a parallel. 
 
 I will. Take the subject of " usury." Lord Bacon 
 condemned " usury," did he not, though he thought, 
 that it might in some cases advance merchandise, and, 
 that if the rate of interest were moderate, the use of 
 money might encourage industry ? 
 
 Yes, I remember those opinions. They are presented 
 in his essay on " Usury," which did not appear till 1625. 
 Shakespeare's opinion, as expressed in " Hamlet " ismuch 
 more strongly against " usury " than that of Lord Bacon. 
 Theobald Ah ! but the poeVs iiimd widened ; became more 
 
 generous between 1617 and 1625, did it not? 
 
 By that, sir, you mean that the poet and Lord 
 Bacon are one, which is begging the very question 
 in dispute. In my opinion Shakespeare did not derive 
 his condemnation or views of usury from Lord Bacon at 
 all. Usury was most severely condemned in the pulpit 
 between 1580 and 1620, and if Shakespeare took his view 
 of usury from anyone, he took it from the preachers. 
 In 1592, Henry Smith, the most popular preacher of 
 his age, delivered two most remarkable discourses in 
 condemnation of usury. They were printed in 1592, 
 and in them the preacher pointed out that whilst the 
 Jewish law allowed usury to be taken from a stranger, 
 it did not allow usury to be taken from a friend. It was 
 from this teaching, that Shakespeare took the view 
 expressed in these lines in the "Merchant of Venice": 
 
 " If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not 
 As to thy friends ; for when did friendship take 
 A breed for barren metal of his friend ? " 
 
 I do not think Shakespeare derived his views of political 
 economy from Lord Bacon. If ycni can show me that 
 Bacon was the first that spoke against usury, and no 
 
 50
 
 one else, there might be something in your suggestion ; 
 but in my view there is nothing. 
 
 Now, sir, let me ask you, don't you think Shake- 
 speare got his views of ambition from Lord Bacon ? 
 Shakespeare says, " Caesar's ambition, which swelled so 
 much." Don't you think this came from Lord Bacon's 
 statement of a fact in natural history, that Turkey cocks 
 swell greatly when angered ? 
 
 Well, if we cannot say, "There goes a man with 
 swelling pride,' without getting it from Lord Bacon's 
 Turkey cock, we have come to a pretty pass. I do not 
 think the use of 'swelling,' or 'blown,' or ' swollen ' come 
 from the natural history of the Turkey cock. The words 
 ' swelling,' ' high pride,' ' high blown pride ' have been in 
 common use all my life. 
 
 Do you not think Shakespeare got the constant use 
 of sweetness, sugar, and honey as applied to spirit, from 
 Lord Bacon ? 
 
 I do not — words in most common use — applied every- 
 where to speech. In " Polimanteia," 1595, you find ' sweet 
 Shakespeare.' Meres speaks of Shakespeare's sugared 
 sonnets, and the honey-tongued Shakespeare, and Dr. 
 Richard Sibbes is styled " The honey dropping, Sibbes." 
 
 Chief Justice : I don't think we can have any more 
 of your parallels, Mr. Heath, and if you have no better 
 than these three, I do not think it will be worth while to 
 proceed with this kind of cross-examination, for the 
 best parallels would, in my opinion, have only a very 
 remote bearing on the question we have to try. 
 
 Let me take one other. Shakespeare speaks of love as Theobald 
 "engendered in the eyes, with gazing fed," does he not ? 
 
 Yes, he does. How would you have it engendered ? 
 In the pocket ? 
 
 Do not be rude, sir. Does not Lord Bacon state 
 the same thing as a ' scientific fact ' ? 
 
 51
 
 I believe he does — it is not however scientific because 
 he states it. If, however, it is scientific in his mouth, so 
 it was in my grandmother's. I heard her say ' No eyes, 
 no love,' and ' that if you took the infection, you would 
 look again, and the more you looked, the more you 
 would be in for it.' That is pretty much the same 
 thing as 'fed with gazing,' is it not? In consequence of 
 what my grandmother said, I wrote : 
 
 " Drink to me only with thine eyes." 
 The notion is quite common-place. Marlowe, in his 
 " Hero and Leander," says: 
 
 " Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight." 
 
 Touch increases love, but who that had eyes, ever 
 touched, without having first looked. 
 
 Do not trifie, sir. The poet Shakespeare shows 
 intimate acquaintance with the most subtle and recondite 
 teachings of Plato and Aristotle, does he not ? 
 
 I do not know. Every man that has lived has 
 experienced what Shakespeare says, and it is foolish to 
 shut us up to Plato or Aristotle for every common-place 
 notion, or make everything scientific, which Bacon 
 utters. You seem to think, if there is in any writings 
 anything like that which Bacon has written, he must 
 be the author of the writings. 
 
 Now, ?vlr. Jonson, did you ever hear that Shake- 
 speare was in a lawyer's office at any tinie ? 
 
 I never did. 
 
 Well then, sir, how can you account for the many 
 references to law, and law proceedings appearing in 
 the plays, unless he had some lawyer to assist him ? 
 
 I must say for myself, I do not see any very 
 remarkable references to law and legal proceedings in 
 the plays. There is one thing that does make me 
 think that Shakespeare may have been in a lawyer's 
 office, he puts in the mouth of Jack Cade the remark 
 
 52
 
 " that it would be well it all lawyers' throats were 
 cut." Another thing that makes me think he may have 
 been in a lawyer's office is, that he said a lawyer's 
 opinion is not worth anything unless it is paid for. 
 
 But where, sir, could he have got to know about 
 " recoveries " and " fines " and " vouchees " and " sealing 
 of bonds," and " indentures in three parts," and "Be it 
 known unto all men by these presents," unless he had 
 been in a lawyer's office ? 
 
 Why, sir, in the common conversation and business 
 of life. 
 
 Did you, or do you know anybody, who was not 
 a lawyer, have as great a knowledge of law as is 
 displayed in this folio volume ? 
 
 Oh, yes, many. It has been quite common for 
 Divines, who to my knowledge have never been in 
 any lawyer's office, to draw some of their happiest 
 illustrations from legal proceedings. Why, there is my 
 friend Thomas Adams. I know he has not been in a 
 lawyer's office, because I heard him one Sunday morning 
 in his discourse " nonsuit the devil," a thing a lawyer 
 never would do. In the same sermon he asked every- 
 one of the congregation whether God had acknowledged 
 a fine to him. That's pretty technical, I think, and 
 accurate. You ' suffer ' a recovery, and you ' acknow- 
 ledge ' a fine. I heard him one morning, when he 
 had not cleared a matter up quite to his satisfaction, 
 say he must have a writ ad Jiielins inquirendum; and 
 on another occasion he said that when God cites 
 men to judgment there will be no return to the writ 
 " non est inventus." Preaching at St. Paul's Cross, 
 March 7th, 1612, to eight thousand people, he said : 
 " If no plummets, except of unreasonable weight, can set 
 the wheels of the lawyers' tongues a-going; and then if 
 a golden addition can make the hammer strike to our 
 
 53
 
 pleasure ; if they keep their ears and mouths shut, till 
 their purses be full ; and will not understand a cause 
 till they feel it; then to speak in their own language 
 Noverint nniversi, he it known to all men by these presents, 
 that these are thieves ; though I could wish rather that, 
 Noverint ipsi, they would know it themselves and reform 
 this deformity." On another occasion Thomas Adams 
 said, " The inheritance is ours already, not in re but in 
 spe. Our common law distinguisheth between two 
 manner of freeholds: a freehold in deed, where a man 
 hath made his entry upon lands and is therefore 
 really seised ; a freehold in law, where a man hath a 
 right to possession, but hath not made his actual entry." 
 I heard him exclaim, "Do not complain, Esau: 
 Volenti non jit injuria.'' I have heard my friend Dr. Sibbes 
 ask whether the congregation had a " freehold " in the 
 love of God or whether they were only " tenants at will," 
 and whether they held all they possessed in capite of God. 
 Not long since, I heard the Dean of Worcester, 
 when preaching from " Buy the truth," exclaim, 
 "Here, my friends, is a bargain and sale" — highly 
 technical, Mr. Heath — and say that in every bargain and 
 sale there must be a thing, a subject, which the writers 
 on Roman Law called " merx." My Lord, I could go 
 on, I could go on. It is absurd to suggest from 
 Shakespeare's references to law and use of law phrases, 
 that he must have had the assistance of such a lawyer, 
 as my friend, the Lord Chancellor Bacon, I may say, 
 that everybody in this court, is more or less familiar 
 with the transactions of law ; they take place before the 
 eyes of all of us. I could not get along Paul's chain 
 yesterday, because of the people who had come out of 
 their houses, to let a m.ortgage be effected by ' livery of 
 seisin.' Right phrase, Mr. Heath, I think, and yet / 
 was never in a lawyer's office, Mr. Heath. 
 
 54
 
 What do you say to Shakespeare's medical knowledge 
 and his knowledge of plants ? 
 
 Very good. But such knowledge was quite common. 
 Thomas Adams in one of his sermons sets forth nineteen 
 diseases of the soul. He finds nineteen diseases in the 
 body which answer to them, and he sets forth the 
 diseases in the body with more skill than half the 
 faculty. Adams' knowledge of plants and herbs is 
 equally remarkable. He describes dogs, and sports as 
 if he had been a sporting man. No man in the age of 
 Elizabeth and the early years of James confined himself 
 to one little portion of knowledge. 
 
 Have you noticed, Mr. Jonson, that in many instances Bompas 
 the name of Shakespeare, appearing on the books pub- 
 hshed in Shakespeare's life time, is printed with a 
 hyphen between the syllables ? 
 
 I had not until now. On looking at the books before 
 me, it would seem to be so. 
 
 Does not the ' hyphen ' indicate that it is a nom de plume ? 
 
 I should say not — only an accident — a fancy of the 
 printer. Let me look at my own volume and see how 
 the name Shakespeare is printed. It is remarkable. The 
 first is printed without the hyphen, and the second is 
 printed with the hyphen, and a capital S begins the 
 second syllable. 
 
 I gave no instructions to print it so. Of course, my 
 actor was a real living man, the same in both plays. No 
 nom de plume took part in one of my plays, I find in the 
 title page of " Hamlet," 1603, a hyphen, and in the title 
 page of " Hamlet," 1604, Shakespeare without a hyphen. 
 It was never written with a hyphen until 1598 ; one 
 without the hyphen, two with it. The editions of 
 "Venus and Adonis" and " Lucrece " are without it. 
 
 In 1608 you have Shakspeare with a hyphen. No 
 one contends that Shakspeare is a nom de plume. 
 
 55
 
 There is nothing in it, sir. 
 
 Had you, before you wrote the Commendatory Verses, 
 ever spoken to any one of Shakespeare, as the author of 
 dramatic pieces ? 
 
 I had. I mentioned his name to Drnmmond of 
 Ilawthornden at the time of my visit to him. 
 
 Was that when you went on your wild-goose chase to 
 Scotland in 1618? 
 
 Not on my wild-goose chase — a very pleasant journey 
 on foot to Fee my relatives in Annandale. Taylor, the 
 water-poet's journey to Scotland, on foot, was a wild-goose 
 chase, sent after me by people of London, to cast ridicule 
 upon my journey. He would never have got home 
 without my assistance. 
 
 During my stay in Scotland I visited Drummond, of 
 Hawthornden. I stayed with him a considerable period, 
 during which time we discussed the characters of many 
 men, among others, the character of Shakespeare. 
 
 Drummond brought and put on the table before us 
 Shakespeare's " Venus and Adonis," " Lucrece," and 
 three or four of his dramatic pieces in quarto. 
 
 We spoke of Shakespeare, and among other things I 
 stated that he wanted art, and that so hasty was he in 
 composition, that he had placed Bohemia on the sea-coast 
 and landed sailors there. 
 
 Did you speak of Shakespeare as a real man and an 
 author ? 
 
 I did. I was speaking of my friend, whom I visited 
 at Stratford in 1616. 
 
 Can you give me any other occasion ? 
 
 Yes, I spoke to Shakespeare himself about his play of 
 " Julius Caesar." 
 
 In his "Julius Caesar" he made Caesar say, "Know, 
 Caesar doth not wrong, but with just cause; nor without 
 cause will he be satisfied." 
 
 50
 
 I pointed out the absurdity of doing wrong with just 
 cause. He laughed heartily. Whether he altered the 
 phrase or omitted it, I do not know. 
 
 The Judge : Let me look at the play in the folio. 
 
 Yes, here it is. It stands thus — 
 
 "Know Caesar doth not wrong; nor without cause 
 will he be satisfied ; " " but with just cause " is omitted. 
 
 B}^ the Judge : Had you, Mr. Jonson, anything to do 
 with the omission ? 
 
 Not at all, my lord ; nor did I know of the omission 
 until now. 
 
 How came you to omit Shakespeare from your 
 " Scriptorum Catalogus ? " 
 
 Because I was giving a list chiefly of orators and 
 statesmen, not of poets. I did not forget Shakespeare, 
 or omit him from the list/ because I did not rank him 
 among the greatest. I had only a few minutes before 
 written my account of Shakespeare, in which I had 
 declared I loved him as much as any one, this side 
 idolatr5^ My account of Shakespeare is in paragraph 71 
 of my " Timber or Discoveries": and my " Scriptorum 
 Catalogus " is No. 79 of the same work. I think the two 
 paragraphs show I regarded the two men. Bacon and 
 Shakespeare, as distinct, but equally objects of my QuvvU.^^/^ 
 veneration and regard. If you read paragraph ']'], ^"^^ t-**^ b 
 De Claris " Oratoribus," and paragraph 78, " Dominus 'C^"'^*^ 1^ 
 Verulamius," you will see at once that my " Scriptorum 
 Catalogus " was not intended to include the poets. 
 
 You wrote in the Commendatory Verses, did you not — 
 
 " Or, when thy socks were on, 
 Leave thee alone for the comparison 
 Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome 
 Sent forth or since did from their ashes come." 
 
 You also in " Timber or Discoveries '* wrote that Lord 
 Bacon hath performed that in our tongue, which may be 
 
 57
 
 compared or preferred cither to insolent Greece or 
 haughty Rome. 
 
 Did you not mean by these later words to declare 
 that Lord Bacon wrote the plays ? 
 
 Certainly not. You will notice that I expressed the 
 opinion that Shakespeare's comedies would stand the 
 comparison. In the "Timber or Discoveries" I was 
 thinking of Lord Bacon's speeches, histories, and philo- 
 sophical writings. I could not intend to state that the 
 author of the plays was Bacon, seeing, as I have already 
 said, I wTote of Shakespeare and Bacon as two distinct 
 and equally eminent persons, in the course of a few 
 pages. I applied to both a common phrase of my own. 
 I may tell you that if I had intended to say that 
 Shakespeare was not the author of the pla^ s in the folio 
 '-^vivj T^*/ * rt^ volume, but that Lord Bacon was, I would have said so 
 C^^^yl^rt^i^s c-o^yS-^ /openly, and expressed my contrition for the deception 
 «f K'vt^ *<*^ rA^«- I Lord Bacon and myself had jointly practised. 
 ;,«voKn "f" ^"'^ "7^^ • The reporter adds that Mr. Jonson uttered these last 
 
 ' ^,. ^.o« pvu>. words with much feeling, and retired after being under 
 , eeH^*44 tv#t ,<*«-^ examination for nearly four hours. 
 
 » hjv*.d.y ^ K^^ 5jj^ Robert Chester then entered the Box. 
 
 '■$ . J • , . . . „ 
 
 " I am livmg m Essex. 
 
 I am about sixty-one years of age. 
 I was knighted in the year 1603. 
 
 In 1601 I published a poem entitled, " Love's Martyr 
 or Rosalin's Complaint," allegorically shadowing the 
 truth of love in the constant fate of the " Phoenix and 
 Turtle." I was anxious to include, in my volume, a few 
 poetical pieces on the subject by some of the best authors. 
 'Yi\\<tA^<^ . Ui I appHed to Mr. John Marston, Mr. George Chapman, 
 
 - ■ 1,<A^ and Mr. Jonson, and they each gave me a piece, and the 
 ■ ". ''^'',''- pieces are printed under their respective names. I 
 i nXv. , applied to Shakespeare, the actor and writer, whom I 
 
 «jtc«»\ ol T^ knew well, and asked him also to supply me with a 
 
 ,r^M^jJj> ^'^^^ '^^ '■^ 58 

 
 piece. He immediately promised, and not long after he 
 supplied me in manuscript with a piece, signed by him- 
 self. It was printed and published under his name, 
 William Shakespeare, spelled with an *'e" after the k. 
 I see, by looking at the Book, the name is printed with 
 a hyphen between, the " e " and the " s." I did not order 
 this ; it was purely the act of the printer. 
 
 Cross-examined : Do you mean that you applied to the 
 man of whom Mr. Jonson spoke? 
 
 I do. I applied to the man who played Knowell in 
 " Every Man in his Humour " — the member of the Lord 
 Chamberlain's Company. 
 
 I was familiar with his writings or the writings 
 passing under his name, and from my conversation with 
 him and what I knew of him, I felt assured he could do 
 what I asked. 
 
 I did not apply to Francis Bacon, nor hear of him in 
 the matter. 
 
 I never, until this trial, heard a suggestion that 
 Shakespeare was assisted by Francis Bacon in the 
 composition of his plays. 
 
 I do not consider the piece Shakespeare wrote for me 
 was of the highest class, but it indicates the command 
 of poetical language, the possession of imagination, and 
 the words, " threne " and "threnos" shew his acquain- 
 tance with words of classical origin. 
 
 These three verses will afford a specimen of, I believe, 
 his genuine work : — 
 
 1. Beauty, Truth and rarity, 
 Grace in all simplicity, 
 Here enclosed in cinders lie. 
 
 2. Death is now the phcenix' nest, 
 And the turtle's loyal breast 
 To eternity doth rest. 
 
 59
 
 3. Leaving no posterity, 
 
 'Twas not their infirmity, 
 It was married chastity. 
 
 Henry Walley : I am a stationer, carrying on 
 business at the Spread Eagle in St. Paul's Churchyard, 
 over against the great north door. 
 
 In 1609 I was carrying on business there in partner- 
 ship with Mr. R. Bonian. We heard that Mr. Shakespeare 
 was just bringing out a new play called " Troilus and 
 Cressida," and thinking we should like to procure a copy 
 of it and print it before it was acted, we applied to 
 William Shakespeare and asked him if we might have a 
 copy for publication. 
 
 He consented, and gave us a manuscript copy. I did 
 not know the handwriting. 
 
 There seemed to be other copies at the theatre. 
 
 They were just about to place it on the stage. On 
 getting the copy we printed and published it— date i6og. 
 
 Cross-examined : You did not see him compose the play ? 
 
 Certainly not. 
 
 You surely did not believe that he had composed it ? 
 
 Yes, we did, and stated so on the title page of our 
 edition. You can read here — (producing a copy) 
 "Written by William Shakespeare." 
 
 Why did you not sa\' more about the play and whose 
 it was ? 
 
 We did. Read the preface, headed " A never writer to 
 an ever reader, Nevves'. Eternal reader, you have here a 
 new play, never stal'd with the stage, never clapper claw'd 
 with the palms of the vulgar." 
 
 I may tell you we took that word * clapper claw'd ' 
 from the play itself. 
 
 We go on to say that were " the vain names of 
 comedies changed for the titles of commodities, you would 
 tlock to them for the main grace of their gravities, 
 
 60
 
 especially this author's comedies. So much and such 
 favoured salt of witte is in his comedies, that they seem 
 (for their height of pleasure) to be borne in that sea that 
 brought forth Venus." 
 
 What do you mean by that ? 
 
 That the same man who wrote the " Venus and 
 Adonis " wrote the play. 
 
 We also said, " Believe this, that when he is gone and 
 his commedies out of sale you will scramble for them." 
 
 We heard nothing about Sir Francis Bacon during 
 the negotiations for the play. 
 
 Had not the play of " Troilus and Cressida " been 
 acted before i6og ? 
 
 Yes, a play under that title ; but different from the play 
 we printed and published. 
 
 Counsel for the plaintiff said that R. Bonian was 
 prepared to speak to the same effect as his partner 
 Walley. On this 
 
 Counsel for the defendant said there was no occasion 
 to call him. It should be taken that he agreed in 
 substance with his partner. 
 
 Thomas Walkley: 
 
 I am a stationer and carry on business at the Eagle 
 and Child, in Britain's Bursse. 
 
 I knew William Shakespeare the actor, and as, I 
 believe, writer or author. 
 
 I have sold numbers of copies of plays purporting to 
 be written by him. 
 
 I knew the play " Othello," and have seen it performed 
 on several occasions. It was produced under Shake- 
 speare's name. 
 
 In the year 1621 some one, I forget his name, brought 
 me a manuscript copy of the play of " Othello." 
 
 I examined it and found it to be a very fine copy, and 
 much like what I had seen on the stage. 
 
 61
 
 I did not know the handwriting^. 
 
 I printed and pubHshed it in 1622. 
 
 I put on the title page that the piece had been acted 
 at the Globe and at the Blackfriars by his Majesty's 
 Servants, and that it was written by William 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 It had been ac-ted frequently by his Majesty's 
 Servants. 
 
 Cross-examined : Had Othello been in print in any 
 form before you printed your edition ? 
 
 No, to the best of my belief it never had. 
 
 Was there any preface to your edition ? 
 
 Yes, sir. It is short ; I will read it. " To set forth a 
 Book without an epistle, were like the old English 
 proverbe, A blew coat without a badge ; and the author 
 being dead I thought good to take that piece of work 
 upon me ; to commend it I will not ; for that which is 
 good, I hope every man will commend, without entreaty ; 
 and I am the bolder because the author's name is 
 sufficient to vent his work." 
 
 I wrote that because I knew Shakespeare as a writer 
 was highly esteemed. 
 
 Have you compared your edition of " Othello " with 
 that contained in the folio volume ? 
 
 I have. 
 
 Which do you say is the better ? 
 
 I am bound to admit both in punctuation, printing, 
 and text, the folio is far superior. 
 
 The folio contains passages which are not in my 
 edition. 
 
 Mr. Jonson had nothing to do with bringing me the 
 manuscript from which I printed, nor Lord Bacon either. 
 
 I have never heard of Lord Bacon assisting Mr. 
 Shakespeare to write, or of his being the author of, 
 the play of " Othello." 
 
 62
 
 I should not have written the author being dead if I 
 had. 
 
 In 1622, when my edition was pubhshed, Lord Bacon 
 was alive, Shakespeare was dead. He was the dead 
 author to whom I referred. 
 
 Did you know of the name ' Shakespeare ' being a 
 nom-de-plume when you printed ' Othello,' 
 
 Certainly not. I believed it was Shakespeare's, the 
 actor, and printed the name as I believe he used it. 
 
 Hugh Holland : 
 
 I am Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. I was 
 educated at Westminster School under William Camden, 
 and was a Queen's Scholar. I was a member of the 
 Mermaid Club, and well acquainted with William 
 Shakespeare, the actor and author. I have frequently 
 met him at the Club. 
 
 He was all that Mr. Jonson described him. 
 
 I have seen Shakespeare on the stage, and was 
 familiar with most of the pieces that came out under his 
 name. 
 
 If he was not the author of them, he ought to have 
 been. He was so great. 
 
 Cross-examined : 
 
 I am myself somewhat of a poet. 
 
 I have written several pieces. 
 
 I wrote the lines on Shakespeare which appear in the 
 folio volume. 
 
 Did you speak of Shakespeare there as you have done 
 to-day ? 
 
 Yes, indeed, the heading would be sufficient for that. 
 
 " Upon the lines and life of the famous Scenicke Poet, 
 Master William Shakespeare." 
 
 I may read a line or two — 
 
 " For done are Shakespeare's days ; 
 His days are done that made the dainty plays." 
 
 Vu ft:. lU-^^ f*^ 
 
 63
 
 Did you believe that he made the plays in the folio 
 voluine ? 
 
 Undoubtedly, a man of brighter genius I never met. 
 
 ■Re-examined : 
 
 You also made a prophecy, did you not ? 
 
 Yes, I wrote that — 
 
 " Thoufrh his line of life went soon about, 
 The life yet of his lines shall never out." 
 
 Leonard Digges : 
 
 I was born in London in the year 1588. 
 
 My father was a most distinguished Mathematician. 
 
 I left London for University College, Oxford, in 1603. 
 
 Prior to leaving London I had seen Shakespeare on 
 the stage, and also in after years I saw pieces that were 
 produced under his name. 
 
 I proceeded B.A. 1606. 
 
 After this, I travelled abroad, studying at several 
 Universities. 
 
 In consideration of my continental studies I was 
 created M.A. at Oxford last year. 
 
 I have seen the monument erected to Shakespeare at 
 Stratford. 
 
 It is a very good likeness, and represents him as an 
 author with a pen in his hand. 
 
 The plays in the folio are very much as I heard them 
 when they were acted. 
 
 They were presented under the natne of Shakespeare. 
 
 I never heard a doubt cast upon his authorship. 
 
 Cross-examined : 
 
 Have you ever said anything like this before ? 
 
 Oh, yes, frequently. 
 
 Tell me one single occasion on which you have ? 
 
 Open the folio volume. 
 
 Do not tell me what to do, sir, said the Counsel. 
 
 64
 
 Then hand it me, sir. 
 
 The usher handed the foho to the witness. 
 
 He opened it and read — 
 
 " To the memorie ot the Deceased Author, Maister W. 
 Shakespeare." 
 
 So much did I believe it, sir, that I wrote — 
 
 " This Book, 
 When Brass and Marble fade, shall make thee looke 
 Fresh to all ages." 
 
 You were referring to the book, not to the man ? 
 
 Certainly not. 
 
 Re-examined. 
 
 Did you prophecy, Mr. Digges ? 
 
 Yes, I think I did. 
 
 I wrote — 
 
 "Be sure, our Shakespeare, thou canst never dye, 
 But crown'd with laurel, live eternally." 
 
 William, Earl of Pembroke, sworn and examined. 
 
 I am forty- seven years of age. 
 
 I am Lord Chamberlam to the King. 
 
 I succeeded to the Earldom when I was twenty-one. 
 
 I have always delighted in the society of men of letters. 
 
 Before I was of age, I knew Shakespeare the actor. 
 
 I became intimate with him, and admired his writings 
 very much. 
 
 I have seen most of his plays acted, and have received 
 from Shakespeare many of them in manuscript, in order 
 that I might read them privately. 
 
 My brother and I conferred some favours on Shake- 
 speare, but they are scarcely worth mentioning. 
 
 I never heard a suggestion of Lord Bacon being the 
 author of the plays, or his assisting Shakespeare to write 
 them. 
 
 65
 
 I was as much impressed by Shakespeare as I was 
 by the plays, and saw in him everything to make me 
 believe he was their author. 
 
 W^hen asked by Mr. Blount, I at once consented 
 to allow the volume to be dedicated to myself and my 
 brother, the Earl of Montgomery. 
 
 He was not cross-examined. 
 
 Earl of Montgomery, examined and sworn. 
 
 I am the brother of the last witness, and can say that 
 what he has just said is substantially true, 
 
 John Selden. 
 
 I am a barrister-at-law, of the Inner Temple, 
 
 I became acquainted with Shakespeare about 1608. I 
 had previously been introduced to Mr. Benjamin Jonson. 
 
 I was a member of the Mermaid Club, and frequently 
 met Shakespeare there. He was one of the most brilliant 
 men it has been my lot to meet. 
 
 I can see in the plays the characteristics of the man I 
 knew. The man and the plays seem tome identical. 
 
 I saw the play of " The Tempest " about 161 1 ; it was 
 announced as Shakespeare's. 
 
 I saw in it the genius of Shakespeare, and said to 
 some of my friends he had not only found out a new 
 character in his Caliban, but also devised a new manner 
 of language. 
 
 I knew Lord Bacon intimately towards the close of 
 his life. He asked me if I would, after his death, advise 
 as to the preservation or destruction of his manuscripts. 
 I said I would, and he named me in his will as the person 
 to be consulted by his executors. I saw a great many of 
 his manuscripts. I did not see a paper that had a scrap 
 of dramatic poetry on it. 
 
 This witness was not cross-examined. 
 
 Mr. Nov said : My Lord, I have a number of 
 gentlemen here to speak to Shakespeare having the 
 
 66
 
 reputation of authorship, but, I have told them, reputation 
 in this case of private matter is inadmissible ; if it 
 were admissible, I could call nearly all the citizens of 
 London. 
 
 This is my case, my Lord. 
 
 Thereupon the Judge said to the Counsel for the 
 defendant, Mr. Heath: I have watched with very great 
 care your cross-examination of the witnesses. I have not 
 noticed any questions, which indicate to me that you 
 have any witnesses to call in opposition to the testimony 
 which has been given. 
 
 Will you tell me, is there a living witness you can \ 
 call who will give evidence of any fact relevant to the 
 claim of Lord Bacon ? 
 
 The Counsel for the defendant hesitated, looked 
 surprised by the question, and said : 
 
 I must say, my Lord, your Lordship's question gives 
 rise — 
 
 Judge : I want yes or no, Mr. Heath. 
 
 Then I must say I cannot call any such witness, 
 said Mr. Heath. 
 
 Further, Mr. Heath, I do not want this question sent 
 down for trial again, because evidence has been 
 improperly rejected. Can you produce a piece of paper, 
 printed or written, which contains a statement by any 
 man, dead or living, which is relevant to such a claim ? 
 
 I cannot, said the Counsel for the defendant. 
 
 Can you produce any book containing a play or plays, 
 or any portion of a play, upon which the name of Francis 
 Bacon, or Lord Bacon, or Viscount St. Albans appears 
 as the author ? 
 
 I cannot. 
 
 Have you any manuscript found in Lord Bacon's 
 possession, whether in his handwriting or not, that has 
 any bearing upon his claim ? 
 
 
 
 67
 
 Mr. Heath : I have none, in\- Lord, nor can I 
 produce any. 
 
 Have )0u any person, whom you could call, to speak 
 to Shakespeare's ij^morance as a young man, or to his 
 having held horses at the theatre door? 
 
 I have not, my Lord, 
 
 The Learned Judge: You can address the jury, 
 then, Mr. Heath. 
 
 Mr. Heath: My Lord, I propose to put in evidence 
 the whole of Lord Bacon's published works. 
 
 The Judge: What for, Mr. Heath ? 
 
 Mr. Heath : To establish, b}' a careful examination 
 of them, so many close parallels between passages in 
 the folio volume and passages in Bacon's works, in- 
 volving such profound reflection and insight, as shall 
 lead the jury to conclude that the plays were written not 
 by the man of no education, but by Bacon the 
 philosopher and thinker. 
 The Learned Judge: 
 
 In the absence of all direct evidence, I think such 
 parallelisms could only have a very remote bearing on the 
 question we have to try, especially in the face of the 
 affirmative evidence adduced by the plaintiff. However, 
 I will allow you to put in evidence the works of Francis 
 Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. 
 
 The learned Counsel for the defendant here began to 
 hand in several volumes. 
 
 The Judge, interposing, said : Mr. Heath, what 
 are you doing ? You cannot put these books in 
 without some evidence they were written by Lord 
 Bacon ? 
 ' Mr, 1Ii:atii : Will not the name on the title-page be 
 
 '' * ^\* sufficient ? 
 
 ^. - The Judge: Yes, I should have thought so, "but 
 
 ^ ' sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." 
 
 68
 
 What do ycu say to the forty-two volumes lying 
 before me with the name of Shakespeare upon them ? 
 
 If the name is sufficient to establish authorship, you 
 know the consequence, Mr. Heath. 
 
 After a pause the Judge said : They can all go in, Mr. 
 Heath, without any other evidence of authorship, than 
 what the title page supplies, only do not be too long in 
 your examination, and use only your best instances. 
 
 Mr. Heath then put in evidence printed copies of 
 Lord Bacon's works, and a manuscript copy of the ' Con- 
 ference of Pleasure,' composed by Francis Bacon, 1593. 
 
 The learned Counsel for the defendant and for the 
 plaintiff, respectively addressed the jury. 
 
 THE SUMMING UP. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Jury, 
 
 The question, you have to determine, is one of the 
 simplest kind, and the evidence bearing upon it may be 
 easily and readily appreciated. 
 
 You have nothing to do with the faults or beauties of 
 the works in question ; nothing to do with the meaning of 
 some of the words employed therein ; nor are you called 
 upon to fix the text of the various plays, in respect of 
 which there has even now arisen a difference of opinion. 
 Neither are you called upon to determine with what 
 object or purpose the plays or any of them, were written. 
 You are not called upon to determine the facts of 
 Shakespeare's early life or the extent of Shakespeare's 
 learning in his youth, except so far, that extreme 
 ignorance on his part as a young man, would not be 
 favourable to the suggestion of his being the author. 
 You will not, however, forget, that a man may have had 
 in early life a defective education and yet in the course of 
 a few years, by study and natural taste and gifts, become 
 a most distinguished author. You will also remember 
 
 'ft' 
 
 69
 
 that the Grammar Schools of our country have produced 
 youths, of such excellent knowledge and rare mental 
 capacity, that they have passed direct from the school 
 to the University as ' Poor Scholars.' 
 
 The only question, you have to determine, is, whether 
 the plays which are found in the folio volume before 
 you, were written by William Shakespeare, by whom I 
 mean the man who died at Stratford-on-Avon, April, 1616, 
 The affirmative of this proposition rests on the plaintiff, 
 and unless he has made it out to your satisfaction, you 
 ought to find that William Shakespeare was Jiot the 
 author. If you find that Lord Bacon was the author, 
 the claim of William Shakespeare is from the very 
 nature of that finding, rejected; but although you may 
 be of opinion that Lord Bacon was not the author of 
 the plays, you may still think that the evidence is so 
 unsatisfactory that you cannot find that Shakespeare was. 
 
 I ought to tell you, that you may properly come to 
 the conclusion that William Shakespeare, the testator 
 in the cause, was the author, although he did not, in 
 your opinion, invent any of the fables of the plays, and 
 although you may think he was — I do not say he 
 was — a plagiarist and took and appropriated material 
 for constructing the plays, wherever he could find 
 it. You may think that many of his plays were 
 fashioned out of plays previously written, or out of 
 stories and histories found ready to his hand. He may 
 have used much that he heard in conversation, saw in 
 life passing before him, or things found in manuscripts 
 l)laced at his disposal. If you think the idea and design 
 of these plays, with the arrangements of the parts and 
 the language, for the most part, are Shakespeare's, you 
 are entitled to find, and ought to find, that he was the 
 author, without any regard as to where and how he 
 obtained the materials. If you think the method, the 
 
 70
 
 style, and the compilation be his, although he had the 
 matter from others, you may still justly find that he was 
 the author. 
 
 " A poet," as an ancient writer has said, " may be 
 compared to one walking in a garden and making a poesy 
 of flowers which he culls and plucks from divers beds and 
 banks. Now though the flowers be none of his, yet the 
 choice of them and the twisting of them together to give 
 the fragrance, is solely his own work." 
 
 If you think that William Shakespeare, the testator, 
 culled from other writers, the various beauties found in 
 the folio volume, twisted them together, and arranged 
 them ; that he gave shape and form to the plays before 
 you ; you may find that he was the author of them 
 although the material were none of his, and that others 
 even assisted in the selection and arrangement. The 
 fact that he borrowed from other writers may detract 
 from his originality, but not from his claim to be the 
 author. Let me give you an illustration from the plays 
 before you. 
 
 Mr. Jonson in his evidence called your attention to the 
 distinction between the Chronicle history of King Lear, 
 published in 1605 and the play of " King Lear " under the 
 name of William Shakespeare, published in 1608. He 
 told you there was a dramatic power in the play of 1608 
 which only Shakespeare could supply. I myself have 
 read those two plays, and I think, gentlemen, no one can 
 read the play of 1605, and the play of 1608, without 
 feeling in this latter play the presence of a dramatic 
 power and energy of which there is scarcely any trace 
 in the former. It is clear also that the man who created 
 the play of 1608, used the material of the play of 1605, or 
 was indebted to that play for most important sugges- 
 tions. Yet whoever was the man who prepared and 
 brought into existence the play of 1608, he may claim 
 
 71
 
 to be, and should justly be, regarded as the author, 
 although perhaps without the play of 1605, the play of 
 1608 would never have been written. You mav take this 
 case as an illustration of the direction I have given you ; 
 and you may dismiss from your mind much that the 
 learned counsel for the defendant has addressed to you 
 as to the materials out of which the plays were composed. 
 
 His claim of authorship for Lord Bacon, you must 
 not and cannot disregard ; for if you should be of opinion 
 that Lord Bacon was the author of these plays in the 
 sense in which I have directed you, the claim of 
 William Shakespeare is necessarily excluded. Indepen- 
 dent authors of the plays you can scarcely conceive 
 possible. Two writers working independently of each 
 other, and producing substantially identical arrangement, 
 thought and language, in thirty-seven plays, is beyond 
 human conception. Two persons have worked together 
 in the production of plays, as Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 with whose names and writings some of 3'ou are doubt- 
 less familiar. If you think these plays, or any of them, 
 were the joint production of William Shakespeare and 
 Lord Bacon ; that Lord Bacon assisted to such an extent 
 as to be deemed a co-worker, you will say so by your 
 verdict. 
 
 The learned counsel for the defendant says that he 
 regrets that Lord Bacon is not alive to be called. He 
 has speculated very largely on what Lord Bacon would 
 say if he were here, and intimated that his Lordship 
 would claim the authorship of all or some of the plays. 
 On the other hand, the monosyllable " No," which might 
 fall from his lips, would destroy the whole case of the 
 defendant. 
 
 He might also express, in bitter terms, his repudia- 
 tion of the attempt to make him the author of the plays 
 by implicating himself and others in fraud and falsehood. 
 
 72
 
 The learned counsel for the plaintiff has speculated 
 as to what Shakespeare would say if Jie were here. 
 Dismiss these things from your mind. These parties 
 are not here. Their presence would perhaps in a 
 moment put an end to this cause ; but we must determine 
 this question in their absence. 
 
 The learned counsel for the defendant says he has 
 placed demonstrative proof before you that Lord Bacon 
 is the author. In such inquiries, as we are undertaking, 
 there can be no "demonstrative" proof; for the whole 
 question is resolved into one of probability, and Courts 
 of Justice are obliged to act upon probabilitv together 
 with proper inferences from facts placed before them. 
 The only reason why Courts of Justice act upon the 
 evidence of men, is because, from long experience, it 
 has been found, men do as a rule speak the truth, or 
 what they believe to be the truth. The probability is 
 in favour of their so doing. This probability rests 
 upon the unbroken experience of centuries, and is the 
 ground on which human testimony is accepted. Courts 
 of Justice cannot knoiv that the thing stated is true, 
 for even if one of the jury were to say that he knew 
 that what a witness had said was true, there would only 
 be a probability in favour of its truth, and it might 
 turn out, after all, that he was mistaken, as manv a 
 witness has been in Courts of Justice. Even if Lord 
 Bacon were to come into court and sav he was the 
 author of these plays, we should only have a probability 
 in his favour, to be met by opposing probabilities; and 
 the same observation would apply, if Shakespeare also 
 could be called as a witness. If they were in opposition, we 
 should have to conduct the very enquiry which has been 
 conducted before you to-day. Perhapsas interested parties, 
 they could not be examined, and we must proceed, without 
 any consideration as to what they might say, if prcFent. 
 
 Theobald 'VM-^v^ 
 
 73
 
 Perhaps, f!^entlcmcn, I should do best, if I hrstdeal with 
 the claim that is made on behalf of Lord Bacon. I do not 
 think I make an unfair observation when I say, that with 
 the exception of the argument founded upon parallel 
 passages, identical thought and similarity of language, and 
 the use of legal phraseology in the plays, not a particle of 
 evidence has been produced in support of his Lordship's 
 claim. No one has been called to speak to any fact 
 which could justify such a conclusion, and I can only 
 say, tliat I think the suggestion, which I now make, 
 that it would be scarcely wise for you to rest your 
 decision that Lord Bacon was the author, upon the 
 similiarity of language and such parallelisms as have 
 been offered to you by the learned counsel, is not 
 beyond my province. Mr. Jonson in his evidence showed 
 conclusively — it is a question however entirely for you — 
 that there is no evidence that Shakespeare derived his 
 classical and refined language from Lord Bacon, but as 
 Mr. Jonson said, from the common use of the language. ■-' 
 Direct evidence that Lord Bacon supplied the language, 
 it is certain, there is none. I think also the parallel 
 passages did not produce much effect on your minds, 
 and the learned counsel was quite willing to retire from 
 a further prosecution of such comparisons. It appears to 
 me that it would want a much more close identification^ Jj^^ "^ 
 
 A 
 
 of thought and language in the folio volume and the 
 works of Bacon, in order to justify you in finding that 
 Lord Bacon was the author of the plays, especially in 
 the face of the evidence in support of Shakespeare's 
 claim. The passages the learned counsel read from the 
 the " Conference of Pleasure," composed by Francis 
 Bacon, 1593, had not a trace of dramatic quality. 
 
 "Of the classical words set forth by Mr. Theobald as being in 
 Bacon's Works and in the folio, my narrow reading has supplied 
 mc with proof that seventy of them were in common usage. 
 
 74
 
 I think it is clear that Shakespeare never was in a 
 lawyer's office. After the evidence shewing how common 
 legal knowledge was among laymen, it seems scarcely 
 wise to draw the inference that Lord Bacon supplied 
 the small portions of law that appear in the plays. 
 
 The question whether Lord Bacon was the author 
 of the plays, however, is one for you. Before you can 
 come to that conclusion you must believe that ' Shake- 
 speare ' was a false name. That Southampton knew %*tA 
 he was receiving a dedication from Bacon under the 
 name of 'Shakespeare.' That Shakspeare himself, the '^^■^- 
 actor, knew of the use of * Shakespeare.' That twelve 
 or fourteen printers or publishers, who printed and 
 published works under the name of ' Shakespeare ' were ^^^ 
 told by Shakspeare or Bacon so to print the name. 
 Under such circumstances how could the secret be kept ? 
 Nor can you come to a conclusion in favour of Lord 
 Bacon without finding that the production of the folio 
 volume and the placing of Shakespeare's portrait therein, 
 involved conduct, on the part of Blount, Heminge, 
 Condell, Jonson, and Lord Bacon himself, to which 
 no decent mind would be a party. They played with the 
 very dead. Take, however, into your serious consider- 
 ation all that the learned counsel has urged. 
 
 Assuming you do not come to a conclusion favour- 
 able to Lord Bacon's claim, the question then arises, 
 Was Shakespeare, the testator, the author of the plays ? 
 
 Gentlemen, it is not my province to determine this 
 question. It is a question entirely of fact. I shall not 
 read over to you the evidence to which you have 
 listened with great attention. I would point out to you, 
 the fact of composition or authorship must be found by 
 you. You may find it as a fact inferred from other facts 
 established to your satisfaction. It is not necessary you 
 should have direct evidence of authorship ; and even if you 
 
 75 
 
 7lf»
 
 had such evidence, you would have to consider whetlier 
 you could accept it as true. Circumstantial evidence 
 may sometimes afford as ^'ood ground for a decision as 
 tiic most direct evidence. 
 
 Before drawing or attempting to draw the inference of 
 authorship, I should, if I were in your place, endeavour to 
 answer certain questions. The first would be, To what 
 extent, if au}', were the plays, contained in the folio 
 volume, printed from manuscript? If I accepted the 
 ; K^j^ Hw«^J>^ evidence/Of,iMr. Blount, Mr. Heminge and Mr. Condcll, I 
 ^1 should find that all the plays were so printed. Even if I 
 
 ^UO. ♦rJU R ^ flij not accept their evidence in its entirety, I should from 
 
 ^j.r>V^C» tli^ necessity of the case find that the whole of twenty 
 plays and large portions of the remaining seventeen, 
 which compose the volume, were so printed. Of the 
 twenty plays, no portion of them, as far as can be 
 known, was in print before the folio, and of the remain- 
 ing seventeen, considerable portions also were never in 
 print until the folio appeared. A very large portion, there- 
 fore, of the folio must have been printed from manuscript. 
 This conclusion is arrived at, apart from the determination 
 of the question, From whom did Mr. Blount receive the 
 manuscripts? nor is the conclusion as to the printing of 
 the folio from manuscript in any way affected by the 
 non-production of the manuscripts ; they must have 
 existed, or the book could not have been printed. Mr. 
 Blount has not preserved the manuscripts of the plays, 
 nor has he preserved the manuscripts of the dedication, 
 or preface or of any of the commendatory verses. Even if 
 the manuscripts were preserved, they might not be in the 
 handwriting of Shakespeare, as manuscripts were often 
 reproduced by men who were called 'poor Scribes.' You 
 have been told by two or three witnesses that manuscripts 
 have often been re-copied and passed into circulation. 
 Lord Bacon, we know, caused some of his manuscripts 
 
 76
 
 to be copied, and he himself possessed a manuscript 
 copy of " Camden's Britannia." If the manuscripts of 
 the plays in the folio were in the handwriting of 
 Shakespeare, still the question would remain, Did he 
 compose or was he the author of the manuscripts ? 
 In such a case the presumption that he was the author 
 would be very strong, but still, in the absence of 
 Shakespeare's evidence, you would have to find the fact 
 by inference, if at all. If you think the manuscripts 
 were destroyed for the purpose of concealing, if possible, 
 all trace of the authorship, you might hesitate before 
 you arrived at a decision in favour of Shakespeare's claiin. 
 Of the destruction of the manuscripts with any such 
 intention, there is not a particle of evidence. 
 
 If I found that the whole or the greater portion of 
 the folio volume was printed from manuscripts, the next 
 question I should put to myself would be, How did 
 these manuscripts reach the hands of the printer ? The 
 only evidence is, that they came into the hands of the 
 printers from the hands of Heminge and Condell, the' ^^ ■♦v^A*^''''- , i^ 
 friends and the fellow-actors of Shakespeare. They have ^ /'' ^ 
 sworn that they delivered the manuscripts to Mr. Blount, 
 and Mr. Blount has sworn he received from them the 
 manuscripts. There is no evidence of their having been 
 delivered to Mr. Blount, or any of his associates, by any 
 other person or persons. Heminge and Condell in their 
 dedication and preface to the folio, stated the facts to 
 which they subsequently deposed. Mr. Blount was a 
 party to their statement by printing it, and must be taken 
 to be implicated thereby, so far as the facts contained 
 therein come within his knowledge. Against this evidence, 
 it is suggested by the counsel for the defendant, that the Bompo 
 manuscripts, or some portion of them, came directly into 
 the hands of Mr. Blount from Mr. Benjamin Jonson ; that 
 the printer and supposed editors were so ignorant they 
 
 77 
 
 Pas
 
 
 
 could not have written the dedication and preface : that 
 Mr. Jonson must have written both the dedication and 
 preface; that he suggested the fictitious statements 
 contained therein, and in fact edited the volume at the 
 instance and in the interest of Lord Bacon. There is 
 not, it appears to me, any evidence of any one of these 
 statements. The examination and cross-examination of 
 Mr. Blount shewed you that he is a man of considerable 
 literary ability, and did not need, and would not need, the 
 assistance of Mr. Jonson in order to get the dedication 
 and preface written. The suggestion that the manuscripts 
 came from Lord Bacon and that Mr. Jonson edited the 
 volume for him, involves Lord Bacon and Mr. Jonson in 
 a series of untruths. Mr. Jonson has denied he brought 
 to Mr. Blount any portion of the manuscript from which 
 the folio was printed ; that neither he nor Lord Bacon 
 had anything to do with putting manuscript copy into 
 the hands of the printer or any other person. Mr. 
 Jonson has told you he did not bring to Mr. Blount any 
 portion of the manuscript of the play of " Henry the 
 Eighth," and that Lord Bacon did not write any portion 
 of that play, still less resort to any trick for the purpose 
 of getting papers into his possession from which to 
 compose it. If you can accept the evidence of Heminge 
 and Condell and Mr. Blount, then the manuscripts 
 from which the folio was printed in whole or in the 
 greater part, came to the hands of Mr. Blount from Mr. 
 Heminge and Mr. Condell. Ifyou can accept the evidence 
 of Mr. Jonson, not any portion of the manuscripts was 
 supplied or handed over by himself, or, as far as his 
 knowledge goes, by Lord Bacon. The employments of 
 Lord Bacon between Tune, 1621, and the close of the year 
 (March) 1622, are quite inconsistent with the^production 
 of any one of the plays contained in the folio volume. 
 On one of the folio volumes is the date 1622. 
 
 
 78
 
 Assuming you do accept this evidence, the next 
 question for you to ask yourselves is, How did Heminge 
 and Condell come by the manuscripts? Up to this point 
 you believe that Mr. Blount, Mr. Heminge, and Mr. 
 Condell have told you the truth. Believing Mr. 
 Heminge and Mr. Condell thus far, you will the more 
 readily accept their statements, when they stand alone, 
 supported, however, in some important particulars by other 
 witnesses. Mr. Heminge and Mr. Condell have told 
 you that the manuscripts they took to Mr. Blount had 
 been for a longer or shorter period in the possession of the 
 Company of Actors, of which Shakespeare was a member ; 
 that these plays were all produced and acted under the 
 name of William Shakespeare, their fellow-actor, and that 
 some, in a more or less perfect state, had been printed 
 and published in his life-time as ' by William Shakespeare,' 
 and some as ' written by William Shakespeare ' ; that 
 although they cannot speak to the manuscripts as being 
 all in his handwriting, they have seen him in 
 possession of manuscript plays and sometimes engaged 
 in writing or composition; they have told you that the 
 manuscripts they handed to Blount were all originally 
 in possession of Shakespeare ; that they did not receive 
 any of the manuscripts from Lord Bacon, or receive any 
 communication from him respecting them. The learned 
 counsel for the defendant did not .suggest that Heminge 
 and Condell wrote the plays or any portion of them. 
 Mr. Jonson and Mr. Blount tell you that all the 
 manuscript plays appeared on the stage under the name 
 of William Shakespeare, as their author, and that they 
 saw the greater number of the plays acted. Mr. Jonson 
 pointed out that the plays ' written by William Shakes- 
 peare ' are said quite correctly in point of time to have 
 been played by the Lord Chamberlain's servants or the 
 King's servants, of whom he was one. You will 
 
 79
 
 remember the very important evidence Mr. Meres 
 gave of the existence of some of the manuscript 
 plays as written or composed by Shat:cspeare. He 
 saw some of the manuscript plays in the possession 
 of Shakespeare, the actor, and gave in 1598 a list of 
 twelve plays as having been written by Shakespeare, the 
 actor. At that time, only four of these eleven plays had 
 been printed in an}- form, and printed without the name 
 of Shakespeare. Three of them were subsequently printed 
 with his name, but one of them, "Romeo and Juliet," 
 never appeared under the name of Shakespeare 
 until it was printed in the folio volume. Of the 
 remaining eight, four were printed, subsequently, with 
 Shakespeare's name, in Shakespeare's life-time. One, 
 "Titus Andronicus," appeared in 1600-1611, without any 
 name until it appeared in the folio volume. " Love's 
 Labour Lost" is supposed to be the play " All's Well 
 That Ends Well," which did not appear in print until it 
 appeared in the folio volume. Two others, the " Gentle- 
 men of Verona " and the " Comedy of Errors," did not 
 appear in print until they appeared in the folio volume, 
 twenty-five years after Meres had spoken of them as 
 being in manuscript. That these two plays with " All's 
 Well That Ends Well " were printed in the folio volume 
 from manuscripts, is manifest. No copies of these 
 plays have been subsequently printed, nor is there a 
 suggestion of manuscripts of these two plays being now 
 in existence. It is clear, if you accept the evidence of 
 Blount, Hemingeand Condell, tliat Hemingeand Condell 
 took the manuscripts of these three plays to Blount. If 
 so, have you any doubt that the manuscripts of these three 
 plays, which Heminge and Condell took to Blount, were 
 the very manuscripts of which Meres wrote in 1598 ? If 
 you have no doubt of their identity, have you any doubt 
 that Heminge and Condell, who, so to speak, were 
 
 80
 
 in the line of possession, and came into possession of 
 the manuscripts of the " Gentlemen of Verona," the 
 " Comedy of Errors," and "Love's Labour Won," did 
 come into possession of all, or nearly all, the manuscripts 
 of the plays which passed under Shakespeare's name ? 
 Heminge and Condell were the first to print " Romeo 
 and Juliet" and "Henry the Fifth" under the name of 
 Shakespeare. Several editions in quarto had appeared 
 without any name. On this evidence, you may find, that 
 Shakespeare brought all the plays contained in the folio 
 volume in manuscript to the theatre, and placed them at 
 the disposal of the Company of which he was a member, 
 and that they subsequently passed into the possession of 
 Heminge and Condell. 
 
 Assuming you do, the next question you should ask 
 yourselves, is. Was the William Shakespeare, the fellow- 
 actor of Heminge and Condell, in the opinion of those 
 who knew him, capable of the production of these plays ? 
 If you accept the evidence of Jonson, Selden, Digges, 
 Holland, Basse, Meres, Chester, the question can only be 
 answered in the affirmative. Never was such lofty praise 
 bestowed on any man, as was bestowed by them on 
 Shakespeare, the actor. 
 
 You will not forget the evidence of Mr. Jonson, 
 that in the plays he sees the race of Shakespeare's mind, 
 and that in them Shakespeare's manners brightly shine. 
 Assuming you find that Lord Bacon was not the author 
 of the plays, the next thing to bear in mind is, that if 
 Shakespeare was not the author, there is no evidence 
 to show that anybody else was. From all these findings, 
 and facts proved in evidence, what inference do you draw ? 
 Do you draw the inference that Shakespeare was the 
 author of the plays ? If you do, there is, in my opinion, 
 ample evidence to justify your finding. 
 
 I would point out to you that many of the plays, and 
 
 
 KM 
 
 8i
 
 all the poems, have appeared under the name of William 
 Shakespeare as the author. You might properly infer 
 from that fact itself, in the absence of evidence to the 
 contrary, that William Shakespeare, the testator, was 
 the author of such plays and poetry. There are forty- 
 two such volumes before you. If you believe he was 
 the author of these plays and poetry, in the sense in 
 which I have directed you to use that word, you may, 
 in my opinion, very readily find he was the author of 
 those plays which appeared for the first time in the folio 
 volume, under his name. 
 Theobald The learned Counsel has constantly reiterated that 
 
 Shakspeare is the name of the actor. If so, he is in some 
 difficulty, for in the year 1608, " King Lear " is published 
 under the name of " Shakspeare." I need scarcely say 
 that if the actor wrote or composed " King Lear " there 
 is an end of the defendant's case. In the same year, 
 there is an edition under the name of " Shakespeare," 
 and the names in both editions are with the hyphen. 
 Subject to your better opinion, it seems to me that 
 Shakspeare and Shakespeare both described the actor. 
 I do not attach much weight to the will being signed 
 " Shakspeare," without the " e " after the " k." - 
 
 Gentlemen, I asked the counsel for the defendant, 
 during his address, if he admitted that anyone of these 
 productions in print with the name of Shakespeare on 
 them was the offspring of the actor's intellect. He felt 
 the force of my observation, for I could not find out from 
 the whole of his address, whether he denied the author- 
 ship of all the plays and poems printed in his life-time, 
 or whether he admitted the authorship of Shakespeare, 
 
 * The learned Judge's view is sustained by the fact that the 
 preacher at Gray's Inn dedicated some of his works under the style 
 "Sibbes." He signed his will " Sibbs," without the " e," in the 
 year 1635. 
 
 82
 
 the actor, in respect of any one of them, or any 
 portion of one of them. It is a question entirely for 
 you, but if I had to decide this matter, and the learned 
 counsel for the defendant admitted that " Venus and 
 Adonis " was written by Shakespeare the actor, who could 
 not have been more than twenty-eight years of age when 
 it was written, I should without difficulty find that 
 in the course of years he was capable of writing any 
 of the plays which are before us. If I believed that 
 Shakespeare, the actor, wrote the " Venus and Adonis," 
 I certainly should dismiss at once all the observations 
 of the learned counsel about the rusticity and ignorance 
 of Shakespeare. If he admitted " Lucrece " was written 
 by Shakespeare, the actor, I should have then still less 
 difficulty, for in portions of that work I see indications 
 of every quality possessed by the great dramatist who 
 composed the plays. If you think, after the evidence of 
 Mr. Walkley, that William Shakspeare, or Shakespeare, 
 wrote " Othello," then it appears to me the case for the 
 defendant is gone — that all argument derived from 
 neglected education and rustic manners is absurd. The 
 man who wrote " Othello " could write all the plays. The 
 " Othello " of 1622 never came, as far as I can see, from 
 Lord Chancellor Bacon nor Mr. Jonson. The evidence 
 as to the " Troilus and Cressida," published in i6og, 
 seems to me to lead to the same conclusion. 
 
 I asked. Gentlemen, you will remember, the Counsel 
 for the defendant, if he really claim.ed for Lord Bacon 
 the authorship of the " Venus and Adonis." He stood 
 perplexed for a moment or two, and then said he did not 
 think he did ; but with the utmost boldness he claimed it Bompas 
 for Anthony Bacon, the brother of Lord Bacon. I 
 pointed out to him there was not a scrap of evidence in 
 support of such a claim. 
 
 It appears to me, upon the evidence of Sir Robert 
 
 83
 
 
 Bompas 
 
 Chester, you may come to the conchision, that 
 Shakespeare, the actor and testator, wrote, when about 
 thirty-six years of age, the piece attached to " Love's 
 Martyr," entitled "The Phrenix and the Turtle." He 
 wrote his own name, William Shakespeare, under it. 
 It is certain that Chester applied to Shakespeare the 
 actor, as to a poet. He did not apply to Francis Bacon. 
 No one ever knew of Francis Bacon in connection with any 
 of the pieces published under the name "Shakespeare." 
 The suggestion that the actor Shakespeare did not write 
 the lines he gave to Chester but got them from Francis 
 Bacon appears to me ridiculous ; there is no evidence of it, 
 I do not think Bacon could have composed them. It is a 
 matter, however, entirely for your consideration. If you 
 believe Shakespeare wrote that piece, his poetical taste, 
 command of language, and acquaintance with words of 
 classical origin are completely established. 
 
 Moreover, if Shakespeare, the actor, wrote the piece 
 entitled, "The Phoenix and the Turtle," then it is clear 
 that this is not his first piece of poetry. It is too good 
 for a first attempt. Where are his previous works ? 
 Are they the "Venus and Adonis," " Lucrece," and 
 some of the plays which had appeared under his name? 
 
 You cannot give too much consideration to Sir 
 Robert Chester's evidence. If true, it supplies, as it 
 seems to me, a combining power to all the other evidence 
 before you, which can only lead to one conclusion. 
 
 I ought also to tell you there is cogent evidence before 
 you that Shakespeare, the actor, wrote the Sonnets. If 
 you come to that conclusion, you will be materially 
 assisted in determining the question of the authorship 
 of the plays. 
 
 The learned counsel during his address to you, 
 frequently said the play of " Hamlet" was in existence in 
 1589, and that it was in the highest degree improbable 
 
 84
 
 that Shakespeare the actor could be the author of it. 
 If this were so, I confess it would be a serious impeach- 
 ment of Shakespeare's claim. I pointed out to him, 
 however, that all he could say was that a play of 
 "Hamlet" appeared in 1589, and that there was no 
 evidence that the play of 1589 was the same play as 
 the play of 1603, His answer was, there was a ghost in 
 both plays ; a rather ghostly argument, pardon the 
 expression. It is idle to draw from such a fact the 
 inference that the plays were the same. 
 
 Of the rudeness and ignorance of Shakespeare when 
 he came to town there is no evidence, and no evidence 
 of his holding horses at the stage or theatre door. 
 
 One further observation, gentlemen, before I cease to 
 address you. The case for the defendant presents a most 
 remarkable state of things. For thirty years there are 
 poems and plays set forth as the plays and poems 
 of William Shakspeare the actor, and thousands of 
 people, you and I amongst them, believed him to be the 
 author of them. According to the case of the defendant, 
 he is not the author. He dies, and the secret is not 
 disclosed. Seven years after his death, thirty-seven 
 plays are collected as his works and ushered in with 
 most kind and affectionate greetings from his literary 
 friends ; and the secret is not yet disclosed. Lord 
 Bacon is really the author, says the counsel for the 
 defendant, but his name is not mentioned or disclosed, 
 in connection with these works. Lord Bacon dies 
 in 1626, and in no scrap of paper, memorandum, 
 or private writing is there a reference to his author- 
 ship of either the whole or any part of these writings, or 
 to his connection therewith. Neither has anyone come 
 before you to-day to say he has heard a whisper of such 
 a suggestion. This seems to me a story characterized 
 by the highest degree of improbability. But more 
 
 85 

 
 than that, if the defendant's case be true, here is a 
 man, who, accordinj^ to the counsel for the defendant, 
 in mental capacity was a mere money-lender, and 
 a second-rate actor, in morals an adulterer and a 
 drunkard, has been deemed all through life as capable of 
 producing such plays as these ; that as the plays have 
 manifested the presence of increasing mental qualities 
 and endowments, so Shakespeare, as to those who 
 knew hiin, increased in mental power and greatness. 
 If he did to his friends appear to have these qualities — 
 and I think you cannot doubt he had them — then you have 
 this remarkable circumstance : that this man, who had 
 the most various gifts and the highest qualities, never 
 wrote or published anything. 
 
 Nor is this the only marvel created by this defence. 
 
 The learned counsel says that " William Shakespeare " 
 
 was a nom de plume, chosen by Francis Bacon in the 
 
 year 1593, under which should appear all the great 
 
 poetical works he contemplated. If he did, he chose the 
 
 name of a person actually living and well known, for I 
 
 believe the name by which the actor at the Blackfriars 
 
 ' was known, was "Shakespeare," with the "e" after 
 
 .. ,. the " k." Everybody, with two or three exceptions, 
 
 •^-^^"^ C*wfrw'tU , ^^,j.j|.^5 l^jg r\2iXVi& thus, and the deeds prepared for his 
 
 ^^^ w execution, were in that style. Francis Bacon selects as 
 
 a noiii de plume the name of a living person, and one 
 well and widely known. He selects the name of this 
 person with such marvellous insight and success, that 
 every one believes that William Shakespeare, the 
 actor, at the Blackfriars and the Globe, is really the 
 author of the plays and poetry, and capable of their 
 production. Never was there such a venture; yet so 
 successful was the choice, that suspicion never turned 
 her glance on Bacon, and neither during the lifetime 
 of Shakespeare, nor of Bacon, was the secret 
 
 86 
 
 C*/^
 
 discovered. Never before was the true author so 
 completely and miraculously hidden. 
 
 The learned counsel for the defendant says he shall 
 
 by your verdict lead Lord Bacon to the heights of 
 
 Parnassus. Gentlemen, if he does, it will be only 
 
 by leading Shakespeare down. He says he hopes 
 
 that no one will cast any dirt upon or asperse the 
 
 character of Lord Bacon. Gentlemen, the learned 
 
 counsel need not be afraid of anyone speaking unkindly 
 
 of the great Chancellor, whose many rare qualities and 
 
 bright intellect we all remember and revere. But he 
 
 must never forget he has degraded Shakespeare almost 
 
 to the lowest point of human existence — that he has 
 
 charged Mr. Jonson, and Mr. Blount, and Mr. Heminge 
 
 with conspiracy and perjury, and to secure a verdict for 
 
 his client he has not hesitated to suggest conspiracy on 
 
 the part of Lord Bacon himself, which, if true, will present 
 
 his character in a most doubtful light to coming ages. 
 
 Gentlemen, do not be influenced by anything I may 
 
 have said. Do not let your feelings prompt your 
 
 judgment. You may indulge your feelings after you have 
 
 pronounced your verdict. Examine carefully the whole 
 
 of the evidence before you, and pronounce that verdict 
 
 which your conscience and judgment approve. 
 
 The jury asked leave to retire. They were absent 
 about a quarter of an hour. There was a buzz of 
 conversation during which some could be heard to say 
 that they thought the jury would not agree. 
 
 The usher announced that the jury had agreed, and 
 they came into Court. 
 
 The Associate asked them whether they were all 
 agreed, and the foreman said they were. 
 
 The Associate : What do you find, gentlemen ? 
 
 The Foreman : We find that William Shakespeare, 
 the testator and actor, was the author of the plays 
 
 
 87
 
 contained in the volume of 1623. My Lord, we desire 
 to add, and it was for the purpose of preparing this 
 rider that we retired, that Lord Bacon was in no sense 
 the author of these plays, nor, as far as we can see, did 
 Shakespeare derive any marked assistance from Lord 
 Bacon. We wish to state that the name by which the 
 Testator was generally known, was * William Shakespeare.' 
 We desire to say that we believe that John Heminge 
 and Henry Condell, in the account they gave of the 
 preparation and production of the folio volume, spoke 
 the truth. We desire to express our sense of gratitude to 
 John Heminge and Henry Condell for their precious gift 
 to us and to all men to come, by publishing the remains 
 of their dear and beloved friend, William Shakespeare. 
 
 The Chief Justice said : 
 
 Gentlemen, I thoroughly concur in the verdict you 
 have given and also in the opinions and expressions 
 contained in your rider. I thank you for the faithful 
 discharge of your duty ; I dismiss you from further 
 attendance. We can now leave William Shakespeare, 
 whom many of us admired and loved, to the eternal 
 substance of his greatness. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 88
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 Bi 
 
 VENUS 
 AND ADONIS 
 
 Vilia mireiur vtilgus : uiihi flauus Apollo 
 Poctila Castalia plena niinistret aqua. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Imprinted by Richard Field, and are to be sold at 
 
 the signe of the white Greyhound in 
 
 Paules Church-yard. 
 
 1593- 
 
 (i)
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
 
 Henrie Wriothesley, Earle of Southampton, 
 
 and Baron of Titchfield. 
 
 I^^ht Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in 
 dedicating my nnpolisht lines to your Lordship, nur 
 lioii) the worlde will censure mee for choosing so 
 strong a proppe to support so weake a burthen, 
 onelye if your Honour feenie but pleased, I ac- 
 count my selfe highly praised, and vowe to take aduantage of all 
 idle houres, till I liaue honoured yon with some grauer labour. But 
 if the first heire of my inuention prone deformed, I shall be sovie it 
 had so noble a god-father : and neuer after care so barren a land, 
 for feare it yceld me still so bad a haruest, I leaue it to your Honou- 
 rable suruey, and your Honor to your hearts content which I wish 
 may alwaies answere your owne wish, and the worlds hope- 
 full expectation. 
 
 Your Honors in all dutie, 
 
 William Shakespeare. 
 
 (ii)
 
 B2 
 
 LUCRECE 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 Printed by Richard Field, for John Harrison ; and are 
 
 to be sold at the signe of the white Greyhound 
 
 in Faules Churh-yard. 1594. 
 
 (iii)
 
 TO THE RIGHT 
 
 HONOURABLE, HENRY 
 
 Wriothesley, Earle of Southampton, 
 and Baron of Titchfield. 
 
 HE loue I dedicate to 5'our Lordship is without 
 end : wherof this Pamphlet without beginning 
 is but a superfluous Moity. The warrant I 
 haue of your Honourable disposition, not the 
 worth of my untutord Lines makes it assured of 
 acceptance. What I haue done is yours, what I haue 
 to doe is yours, being part in all I haue, denoted yours. 
 W^ere my worth greater, ni}' duety would shew greater, 
 meane time, as it is, it is bound to your Lordship ; To 
 whom I wish long life still lengthned with all happinesse. 
 
 Your Lordships in all duety, 
 
 William Shakespeare. 
 
 (iv
 
 B' 
 
 The 
 
 Rape 
 
 of 
 
 Lucrece. 
 
 By 
 
 Mr. William Shakespeare. 
 
 Newly Reuised. 
 
 London: 
 
 Printed by T. S. for Roger lackson, and are 
 
 to be solde at his shop neere the Conduit 
 
 in Fleet-street. 1616. 
 
 (V)
 
 The 
 
 Rape 
 
 of 
 
 Lucrece. 
 
 By 
 
 Mr. William Shakespeare. 
 
 Newly Reuised. 
 
 London. 
 
 Printed by /. E. for Roger lackson, and are 
 
 to be sold at his shop neere the Conduit 
 
 in Fleet-street. 1624. 
 
 (vi)
 
 A 
 
 PLEASANT 
 
 Conceited Comedie 
 
 CALLED, 
 
 Loues labors lost. 
 
 As it was presented before her Highnes 
 this last Christmas. 
 
 Newly corrected and augmented 
 By W . Shakespere. 
 
 Imprinted at London by W. W. 
 
 for Cuthert Burhy. 
 1598. 
 
 (vii)
 
 THE 
 
 B« 
 
 TRAGEDIE 
 
 of King Richard 
 
 the third. 
 
 Conteining his treacherous Plots against his 
 
 brother Clarence : the pitiful murther of his innocent 
 
 Nephewes : his tyrannicall usurpation: with 
 
 the whole course of his detested life, and most 
 
 deserued death. 
 
 As it hath beene lately Acted by the Right honourable 
 the Lord Chamberlaine his sernants. 
 
 By William Shake-speare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by Thomas Creede, for Andrew Wise, 
 
 dwelling in Paules Church-3'ard, at the signe 
 
 of the Angell. 1598. 
 
 ( viii )
 
 B7 
 
 THE 
 
 Tragedie of King Ri- 
 chard the second. 
 
 As it hath beene publikely acted by the Right Ho- 
 nourable the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. 
 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 Printed by Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise, and 
 
 are to be sold at his shop in Paules church3'ard at 
 
 the signe of the Angel. 
 
 1598. 
 
 (ix)
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 HENRIE THE 
 FOVRTH ; 
 
 With the battell at Shrewsburie, 
 
 betweene the King and Lord Henry 
 Percy, surnamed Henry Hot- 
 spur of the North. 
 
 With the humorous conceits of Sir 
 lohn Falstalffe. 
 
 Newly corrected b}- IT. Shakespeare. 
 
 AT LONDON, 
 
 Printed by S. S. for Andrew Wise, dweUing 
 
 in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of 
 
 the Angell. 1599. 
 
 (X)
 
 B'J 
 
 The most excellent 
 
 Historie of the Merchant 
 
 of Venice. 
 
 With the extreame crueltie of Shylocke the lewe 
 
 towards the sayd Merchant, in cutting a iust pound 
 
 of his flesh : and the obtayning of Portia 
 
 by the choyse of three 
 
 chests. 
 
 As it hath beene diners times acted by the Lord 
 Chamberlaine his Seruants. 
 
 Written by Wilham Shakespeare. 
 
 AT LONDON., 
 
 Printed by I. R. for Thomas Heyes, 
 
 and are to be sold in Paules Church-vard, at the 
 
 signe of the Greene Dragon. 
 
 1600. 
 
 (xi)
 
 BIO 
 
 THE 
 
 EXCELLENT 
 
 History of the Mer- 
 
 chant of Venice, 
 
 With the extreme cruelty of Shylocke 
 
 the lew towards the saide Merchant, in cut- 
 
 tmg a iust potind of his flesh. And the obtaining 
 
 of Portia, by the choyse of 
 
 three Caskets. 
 
 Written by W. Shakespeare. 
 
 Printed by J. Roberts, 1600. 
 
 (xii)
 
 B" 
 
 A 
 
 Midsommer nightvS 
 dreame. 
 
 As it hath beene sundry times pub- 
 
 likely acted ^ by the Right Honoura- 
 
 ble, the Lord Chamberlaine his 
 
 sertiaiits. 
 
 Written by William Shakespeare. 
 
 Printed by lames Roberts, 1600. 
 
 ( xiii )
 
 B12 
 
 A 
 
 Midsommer nights 
 dreame. 
 
 As it hath beene sundry times pub- 
 lickely acted, by the Right honoura- 
 ble, the Lord Chamberlaine his 
 
 seruaitfs. 
 
 Written by William Shakespeare. 
 
 H Imprinted at London, for Thomas Fisher, and are to 
 be soulde at his shoppe, at the Signe of the White Hart, 
 
 in Fleetestreete. 1600. 
 
 f xiv )
 
 B13 
 
 THE 
 
 Second part of Henrie 
 
 the fourth, continuing to his death, 
 
 and coronation of Henrie 
 
 the fift. 
 
 With the humours of sir lohn Fal 
 
 staffe^ and swaggering 
 
 Pistoll. 
 
 As it hath been sundrie times publikely 
 
 acted by the right honourable, the Lord 
 
 Chamberlaine his seruants. 
 
 Written by William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and 
 
 WiUiam Aspley. 
 
 1600. 
 
 ( XV)
 
 Much adoe about 
 Nothing. 
 
 BH 
 
 As it hath been sundrie times pub likely 
 
 acted by the right honourable, the Lord 
 
 Chamberlaine his seruants. 
 
 Written by William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and 
 
 William Aspley. 
 1600. 
 ( xvi )
 
 B15 
 
 A 
 
 Most pleasaunt and 
 excellent conceited Co- 
 medie, of Syr lolin Falstaffe, and the 
 merrie Wiues of Windsor. 
 
 Entermixed with sundrie 
 
 variable and pleasing humors, of Syr Hugh 
 
 the Welch Knight, Justice Shallow, and his 
 
 wise Cousin M. Slender. 
 
 With the swaggering vaine of Auncient 
 
 *•&>& 
 
 Pistoll, and Corporall Nym. 
 
 By Williaui Shakespeare. 
 
 As it hath bene diuers times Acted by the right Honorable 
 
 my Lord Chamberlaines seruants. Both before her 
 
 Maiestie, and else-where. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by T. C. for Arthur lohnson, and are to be sold at 
 
 his shop in Powles Church-}ard, at the signe of the 
 
 Flower de Leuse and the Crowne, 
 
 1602. 
 
 ( xvii )
 
 B16 
 
 THE 
 
 TRAGEDIE 
 
 of King Richard 
 the third. 
 
 Conteining his treacherous Plots against his brother 
 
 Clarence • the pittifuU murther of his innocent Ne- 
 
 phewes : his tyrannicall usurpation: with the 
 
 whole course of his detested Hfe, and 
 
 most deserued death. 
 
 As it hath bene lately Acted by the Right Honourable 
 the Lord Chauiberlaine his seruants. 
 
 Newly augmented, 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by Thomas Creede, for Andrew Wise, dwelling 
 
 in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the 
 
 Angell. 1602. 
 
 ( xviii )
 
 B" 
 
 THE 
 
 Tragicall Historie of 
 
 HAMLET 
 
 Prince of Denmarke. 
 
 By William Shake-speare. 
 
 As it hath beene diuerse times acted by his Highnesse ser- 
 
 uants in the Cittie of London : as also in the two V- 
 
 niuersities of Cambridge and Oxford, and else-where. 
 
 At London printed for N, L. and lohn Trundell. 
 
 1603. 
 ( xix)
 
 B" 
 THE 
 
 Tragicall Historic of 
 
 HAMLET, 
 
 Prince oj Denmarke. 
 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much 
 againe as it was, according to the true and 
 perfect Coppie. 
 
 AT LONDON, 
 
 Printed by I. R. for N. L. and are to be sold at his 
 
 shoppe under Saint Dunstons Church in 
 
 Fleetstreet. 1604. 
 
 (xx)
 
 B19 
 
 The 
 
 Tragicall Historic of 
 
 HAMLET, 
 
 Prince of Denmarke. 
 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much 
 again as it was, according to the true and perfect 
 Coppie. 
 
 AT LONDON, 
 
 Printed by I. R. for N. L. and are to be sold at his 
 
 shoppe under Saint Dunstons Church in 
 
 Fleetstreet. 1605. 
 
 ( xxi )
 
 THE 
 
 TRAGEDIE 
 
 of King Richard 
 the Third. 
 
 Conteining his treacherous Plots against his brother 
 
 Clarence : the pittifull murther of his innocent Ne- 
 
 phewes : his tyrannicall usurpation : with the 
 
 whole course of his detested hfe, and 
 
 most deserued death. 
 
 As it hath bin lately Acted by the Right Honourable 
 the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. 
 
 Newly augmented, 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by Thomas Creede, and are to be sold by Mathew 
 
 Lawe, dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the Signe 
 
 of the Foxe, neare S. Austins gate, 1605. 
 
 ( xxii )
 
 THE 
 
 Tragedie of King 
 Richard the second. 
 
 As it hath been pubHkely acted by the Right 
 
 Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine 
 
 his seruantes. 
 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed by W. W. for Mathcw Law, and are to be 
 
 sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at 
 
 the signe of the Foxe. 
 
 1608. 
 ( xxiii )
 
 B^ 
 
 M. William Shake-speare, 
 
 HIS 
 
 True Chronicle History of the Hfe 
 
 and death of King^ Lear^ and his 
 
 three Daughters. 
 
 With the unfortunate life of EDGAR, 
 
 Sonne and heire to the Earle of Glocestcr, and 
 
 hh sullen and assumed humour of TOM 
 
 of Bedlam. 
 
 As it was plaid before the Kings Maiesty at White-Hall, up- 
 pon S. Stephens night, in Christmas Hollidaies. 
 
 By his Maiesties Seruants, playing usually at the 
 Globe, on the Banck-side. 
 
 Printed for Nathaniel Butter. 
 
 1608. 
 
 ( xxiv )
 
 B23 
 
 M. William Shak-speare: 
 
 HIS 
 
 True Chronicle Historie of the life and 
 death of King Lear and his three 
 
 Daughters. 
 
 With the, unfortunate life of Edgar, sonne 
 
 and heire to the Earle of Gloster, and his 
 
 sullen and assumed humor of 
 
 Tom of Bedlam : 
 
 /Is it was played before the Kings Maiestie at Whitehall tt,pon 
 S. Stephans night in Christmas Hollidayes. 
 
 By his Maiesties seruants playing usually at the Gloabe 
 
 on the Bancke-side. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his shop in Panls 
 
 Church-yard at the signe of the Pide Bull neere 
 
 St. Austins Gate. 1608. 
 
 ( XXV )
 
 B34 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Henr}^ the fourth, 
 
 With the battell at Shrewseburie, 
 
 betweene the King, and Lord 
 
 Henry Percy, Surnamed Henry 
 
 Hotspur of the North. 
 
 With the humorous conceites of Sir 
 lohn Falstalffe. 
 
 Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at 
 
 his shop in Paules Church-yard, neere unto S. 
 
 Augnstines gate, at the signe of 
 
 the Foxe. 1608. 
 
 ( xxvi )
 
 B25 
 
 THE LATE, 
 
 And much admired Play, 
 
 Called 
 
 Pericles, Prince 
 of Tyre 
 
 With the true Relation of the whole Historie, 
 Aduentures, and fortunes of the said Prince : 
 
 As also, 
 
 The no lesse strange, and worthy accidents, 
 
 in the Birth and Life, of his daughter 
 
 MARIANA 
 
 As it hath been diuers and sundry times acted by 
 
 his Maiesties Seruants, at the Globe on 
 
 the Banck-side. 
 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 Imprinted at London for Henry Gosson, and are 
 
 to be sold at the signe of the Sunne in 
 
 Pater-noster row, &c. 
 
 1609. 
 
 ( xxvii )
 
 THE 
 
 Historie of Troylus 
 and Cresseida. 
 
 As it was acted by the Kings Maiesties 
 seruants at the Globe. 
 
 Written by William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Walley, and 
 
 are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules 
 
 Church-yeard, over against the 
 
 great North doore. 
 
 i6og. 
 
 ( xxviii )
 
 THE 
 
 Famous Historie of 
 Troylus and Cresseid. 
 
 Excellently expressing the beginning 
 
 of their loues, with the conceited wooing 
 
 of Pandariis Prince of Licia. 
 
 Written by William Shakespeare. 
 
 London 
 
 Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. W alley, and 
 
 are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules 
 
 Church-yeard, ouer against the 
 
 great North doore. 
 
 i6og. 
 
 ( xxix )
 
 A NEUER WRITER. TO AN EUER READER. 
 
 NEWES. 
 
 Eternall reader, you haue heere a new play, neuer 
 stal'd with the stage, neuer clapper-clawd with the 
 palmes of the vulger, and yet passing full of the palme 
 comicall ; for it is a birth of your braine, that neuer 
 undertooke any thing commicall, vainely : and were but 
 the vaine names of commedies changde for the titles of 
 commodities, or of playes for pleas ; you should see all 
 those grand censors, that now stile them such vanities, 
 flock to them for the maine grace of their grauities : 
 especially this authors commedies, that are so fram'd to 
 the life, that they serue for the most common commen- 
 taries, of all the actions of our Hues, shewing such a 
 dexteritie, and power of witte, that the most displeased 
 with playes, are pleased with his commedies. And all 
 such dull and beauy-witted worldlings, as were neuer 
 capable of the witte of a commedie, comming by report 
 of them to his representations, haue found that witte 
 there, that they neuer found in them-selves, and haue 
 parted better wittied then they came : feeling an edge of 
 witte set vpon them, more then euer they dreamd they 
 had braine to grinde it on. So much and such fauored 
 salt of witte is in his commedies, that they seeme (for 
 their height of pleasure) to be borne in that sea that 
 brought forth Venus. Amongst all there is none more 
 witty then this : and had I time I would comment vpon 
 it, though I know it needs not (for so much as will make 
 you thinke your testerne well bestowd) but for so much 
 worth, as euen poore I know to be stuft in it. It deserues 
 such a labour, as well as the best commedy in Terence 
 or Plautus. And beleeue this, that when hee is gone, 
 and his commedies out of sale, you will scramble for 
 them, and set vp a new English inquisition. Take this 
 for a warning, and at the perrill of your pleasures losse, 
 and iudgements, refuse not, nor like this the lesse, for 
 not being sullied, with the smoaky breath of the multi- 
 tude ; but thanke fortune for the scape it hath made 
 amongst you. Since by the grand possessors wills I 
 beleeue you should haue prayd for them rather than 
 beene prayd. And so I leaue all such to bee prayd for 
 (for the states of their wits healths) that will not praise 
 it. Vale. 
 
 ( XXX )
 
 B28 
 
 THE LATE, 
 
 And much admired Play, 
 
 Called 
 
 Pericles, Prince 
 of Tyre. 
 
 With the true Relation of the whole History, 
 aduentures, and fortunes of the sayd Prince ; 
 
 As also, 
 
 The no lesse strange, and worthy accidents, 
 in the Birth and Life, of his Daughter 
 
 Mariana. 
 
 As it hath beene diuers and sundry times acted by 
 
 his Majestyes Seruants, at the Globe on 
 
 the Banck-side. 
 
 By Williaiii Shakespeare. 
 
 Printed at London by S. S. 
 
 i5ii. 
 
 ( xxxi )
 
 THE 
 
 TRAGEDY 
 
 OF 
 
 HAMLET 
 
 Prince oj Denmarke. 
 
 BY 
 
 William Shakespeare. 
 
 Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much 
 
 againe as it was, according to the true 
 
 and perfect Coppy. 
 
 AT LONDON, 
 
 Printed for lohn Smethwicke and are to be sold at his shoppe 
 
 in Saint Dunstons Church yeard in Fleetstreet 
 
 Under the Diall. 1611. 
 
 ( xxxii )
 
 B30 
 
 The Firft and Second PART 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Troublefome RAIGNE of 
 
 John King of England. 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 Difcouerie of King RICHARD 
 
 Cor de lions bafe Sonne 
 (Vulgarly named, the Baftard Fawconhvidge :) 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 The Death of King lokn at Swinftead Abbey 
 
 As they were (fundry times) lately acted 
 by the Oueenes Majesties Players. 
 
 Written by W. Sh. 
 
 Imprinted at Londun by Valentine Siuiuics, for lolin 
 
 Hehue, and are to be fold at his Shop in Saint 
 
 Dun/ions Church-yard in Fleetftveet, 1611. 
 
 ( xxxiii ")
 
 Bsi 
 
 THE 
 
 TRAGEDIE 
 
 of King Richard 
 the third. 
 
 Containing his treacherous Plots against his brother 
 
 Clarence : the pittifull murther of his innocent Ne- 
 
 phewes : his tyrannicall usurpation : with the 
 
 whole course of his detested life, and 
 
 most deserued death. 
 
 As it hath beene lately Acted by the Kings Maiesties 
 
 seruants. 
 
 Newly augmented, 
 By William Shake-speare. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed by Thomas Creede, and are to besold by Mathevv, 
 Pauls Church-3ard at the Si^^n i^i6i2| 
 
 ( xxxiv )
 
 B32 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Henrie the fourth, 
 
 With the Battel! at Shrewseburie, betweene 
 
 the King, and Lord Henrie Percy, sur- 
 
 named Henrie Hotspur of the North. 
 
 With the humorous conceites of Sir 
 
 luhn Falstaffe. 
 
 Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to be sold 
 
 at his shop in Paules Church-yard, neere unto S. 
 
 Augnstines Gate, at the signe of the Foxe. 
 
 1613. 
 
 ( XXXV )
 
 THE 
 
 Tragedie of King 
 Richard the Se- 
 cond: 
 
 With new additions of the Parliament Sceane, 
 
 and the deposing of King 
 
 Richard. 
 
 As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges 
 Maiesties seruants, at the Globe. 
 
 By William Shake-speare. 
 
 At LONDON, 
 
 Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold 
 
 at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at the 
 
 signe of the Foxe. 
 
 1615. 
 
 ( xxxvi )
 
 B34 
 
 THE LATE 
 
 And much admired Play, 
 
 called 
 
 Pericles, Prince of 
 
 Tyre. 
 
 With the true Relatioti of the whole Hi- 
 story, aduentures, and fortunes of 
 the saide Prince. 
 
 Written by W. Shakespeare. 
 
 Printed for T. P. i6ig. 
 ( xxxvii )
 
 K 
 
 35 
 
 Most pleasant and ex- 
 cellent conceited Comedy, 
 of Sir lohn Falstaffe, and the 
 merry Wiues of Windsor. 
 
 With the swaggering vaine of An- 
 cient Pistoll, and Corporall Nyni. 
 
 Written by w. Shakespeare. 
 
 Printed for Arthur Johnson, i5ig. 
 ( xxxviii )
 
 The 
 
 Whole Contention 
 
 betweene the two Famous 
 Houses, Lancaster and 
 
 YORKE. 
 
 With the Tragicall ends of the good Duke 
 Humfrey, Richard Duke of Yorke, 
 
 and King Henrie the 
 sixt. 
 
 Diuided into two Parts: And newly corrected and 
 enlarged. Written by Williain Shake- 
 speare, Gent. 
 
 Printed at London, for T. P. [i6igj 
 
 ( xxxix ) 
 
 M
 
 BS7 
 
 THE 
 
 TRAGEDIE 
 
 OF 
 
 KING RICHARD 
 
 THE THIRD. 
 
 Contayning his treacherous Plots against 
 
 hh brother Clarence : The pittifull murder of his innocent 
 
 Nephewes: his tyrannicall Usurpation: with the whole 
 
 course of his detested life, and most 
 
 dcserued death. 
 
 As it hath been lately Acted by the Kings Maiesties 
 
 ■eruants. 
 
 Newly augmented. 
 B}^ William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed by TJiomas Purfoot, and are to besoldbyMa^/i^ze' Law, dwelling 
 
 In Paul's Church-yard, at the Signe of the Foxe, neere 
 
 S- Austines gate. 1622. 
 
 (xl)
 
 B38 
 
 THE 
 
 Tragoedy of Othello, 
 
 The Moore of Venice. 
 
 As it hath beene dizierse times acted at the 
 
 Globe, and at the Black Friers, by 
 
 his Maiesties Seruants. 
 
 Writtefi by William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed by iV. O. for Thomas Walkley and are to be sold at his 
 
 shop, at the Eagle and Child, in Brittans Bursse, 
 
 1622. 
 
 (xli)
 
 The 
 vStationer to the Reader. 
 
 To set forth a book without an Epistle, were Hke to 
 the old English proverbe ' A blew coat witlwut a Badge,' 
 and the author being dead, I thought good to take that 
 piece of work upon me : to commend it, I will not, for 
 that which is good, I hope everyone will commend 
 without entreaty : and I am the bolder, because the 
 author's name is sufficient to vent his worke. Thus 
 leaving every one to the liberty of Judgment : I have 
 ventured to print this play and leave it to the generall 
 censure. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Thomas Walkley. 
 
 (xhi )
 
 B39 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORIE 
 
 of 
 Henry the Fourth. 
 
 With the Battell at Shrewseburie, betweene 
 
 the King, and Lord Henry Percy, surnanried 
 
 Henry Hotspur of the North. 
 
 With the humorous conceits of Sir 
 lohn Falstaffe. 
 
 Newly corrected, 
 By William Shakespeare. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 51 Printed by T. P. and are to be sold by Mathew Law, dwelling 
 
 in Pauls Church-yard, at the Signe of the Foxe, near 
 
 S. Austines gate. 1622. 
 
 ( xliii )
 
 SHAKE-SPEARES 
 
 SONNETS 
 
 Neuer before Imprinted. 
 
 AT LONDON 
 
 By G. Eld for T. T. and are 
 
 to be solde by lo/in IJ 'right, dwelling 
 
 at Christ Church gate. 
 
 1 609. 
 
 ( xliv ) 
 
 &>
 
 TO . THE . ONLIE . BEGETTER . OF 
 
 THESE . INSUING . SONNETS . 
 
 Mr. W. H. all . HAPPINESSE . 
 
 AND . THAT . ETERNITIE . 
 
 PROMISED . 
 
 BY . 
 
 OUR . EVER-LIVING . POET 
 
 WISHETH . 
 
 THE . WELL-WISHING . 
 
 ADVENTURER . IN . 
 
 SETTING . 
 
 FORTH . 
 
 T. T. 
 
 (xlv)
 
 A Lovers complaint. 
 
 By 
 WILLIAM ShAKE-SPEARE. 
 
 329 lines — Printed at the end 
 of the 154th sonnet. 
 
 ( xlvi )
 
 SHAKE-SPEARES 
 
 SONNETS. 
 
 Neuer before Imprinted. 
 
 AT LONDON 
 
 By G. Eld for T. T. and are 
 
 to be solde by William Aspley. 
 
 1609. 
 
 ( xlvii )
 
 THE 
 
 PASSIONATE 
 
 PILGRIME. 
 
 By W. Shakespeare. 
 
 AT LONDON 
 Printed for W. laggard, and are 
 to be sold by W. Leake, at the Grey- 
 hound in Paules Churchyard. 
 
 1599- 
 ( xlviii )
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 This Figure, that thou here seest put, 
 It was for gentle Shakespeare cut ; 
 Wherein the Grauer had a strife 
 with Nature, to out-doo the hfe : 
 O, could he but haue drawne his wit 
 As well in brasse, as he hath hit 
 His face; the Print would then surpasse 
 All, that was euer writ in brasse : 
 But, since he cannot. Reader, looke 
 Not on his Picture, but his Booke. 
 
 B. I. 
 
 ( xlix )
 
 M^^- WILLIAM 
 
 SHAKESPEARES 
 
 COMEDIES, 
 HISTORIES, &' 
 TRAGEDIES. 
 
 Published according to the True Originall Copies. 
 
 [PORTRAIT] 
 
 LOiNDON 
 Printed by Isaac laggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623. 
 
 * One copy in the British Museum has this printed in full " and." 
 
 (1)
 
 To the most Noble and Incomparable pair of Brethren, 
 
 William Earl of Pembroke, &c 
 
 Lord Chamberlain to the Kings most Excellent Majesty ; 
 
 AND 
 
 Philip E. of Montgomery, &c. 
 
 Gentleman to his Majesties Bed-Chamber. Both Knights of the most Noble 
 Order of the Garter, and our singular good Lords, 
 
 Right Honourable, 
 
 WHILST we study to be thankful in our particular, for the many Favours we 
 have received from your L.L. we are fain upon the ill fortune, to mingle 
 two the most diverse things that can be, fear, and rashness, in the enterprise, 
 and fear of the success: For, when we value the places your H.H. sustain, we cannot 
 but know their dignity greater, than to descend to the reading of these trifles : and 
 while we name them trifles, we have depriv'd our selves of the defence of our 
 Dedication. But since your L.L. have been pleas'd to think these trifles something 
 heretofore, and have prosecuted both them, and their Author living, with so much 
 favour : we hope, (that they out living him, and he not having the fate, common with 
 some, to be Executor to his own writings) you will use the same indulgence toward 
 them, you have done unto their parent. There is a great difference, whether any Book 
 chuse his Patrons, or find them : This hath done both. For, so much were your L.L. 
 likings of the several parts, when they were Acted, as before they were published, the 
 Volume ask'd 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 
 Shakespeay, by humble offer of his Plays, to your Most Noble Patronage : Wherein 
 as we have justly observed, no man to come near your L.L. but with a kind of religious 
 address ; it hath been the height of our care, who are the Presenters, to make the 
 Present worthy of your H.H. by the Perfection : But there we must also crave our 
 
 abilities 
 (ll)
 
 abilities to be considered, my Lords. We cannot go beyond our own powers : 
 Countrey hands reach forth Milk, Cream, Fruits, or what they have: and many 
 Nations (we have heird) that had not Gums and Incense, obtained their requests with 
 a leavened Cake ; it was no fault to approach their gods, by what means they could ; 
 And the most, though meanest of things, are made precious, when they are dedicated 
 to Temples. In that name therefore, we most humbly consecrate to your H.H. these 
 Remains of your servant Shakcspear : that what delight is in them, may be ever your 
 L.L. the reputation his, and the faults ours, if any be committed by a pair so careful 
 to shew their gratitude both to the living, and the dead, as is 
 
 Your Lordships most boundcn, 
 JOHN IIEMINGE, 
 HENRY CONDELL. 
 
 (Ill)
 
 TO THE 
 
 Great Variety 
 
 OF 
 
 Readers, 
 
 FROM the most able, to him that can but spell. There 
 you are numbred. We had rather you / were weighed. 
 Especially, when the fate of all Books depends upon your capacities : 
 and not of j your heads alone, but of your Purses. Well, it is now 
 publick, and you will stand for your privi / ledges, we know : to read, 
 and censure. Do so, but buy it first ; that doth best commend a j 
 Boook, the Stationer says. Then how odd soever your brains be, 
 or your wisdoms, make your / silence the same, and spare not. Judg 
 your six-penny worth, your shillings-worth, your five shillings-worth / 
 at a time, or higher, so you rise to the just rates, and welcome. 
 
 But, whatever you do, Buy. Censure will / not drive a trade, nor 
 make the Jack go. And tho you be a Magistrate of Wit, and sit 
 on the stage at / Black-Fryers, or the Cock-pit, to arraign Plays 
 daily ; know, these Plays have had their tryal already, / and stood 
 out all Appeals ; and do now come forth quitted rather by a Decree 
 of Court, than any pur j cJias'd Letters of Comendation. 
 
 (liii)
 
 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 ordain\l otlicnvise, and lie by 
 death departed from thai / right, we pray you do not envy his Friends 
 the office of their care and pain, to have collected and published 
 thcui ; I and so to have piiblishW tlicm, as where (before) you were 
 abus\l with divers stoln a)id surreptitious Copies, / maimed and 
 deformed by the frauds and stealths of injurious Impostors, that 
 exposed them : even those, are noiv / offered to your view cured, and 
 perfect of their limbs ; and all the rest, absolute in their numbers 
 as he con j ceived 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 thai easiness, 
 that we have scarce received j from him a blot in his Papers. But it 
 is not our Province, who only ga'hcr his Works, and give them / 
 you to praise him. It is yours that read him. And there we hope, 
 to your divers capacities, you will find / enough, both to draw, and 
 hold you : for his wit can no more lie hid, than it could be lost. 
 Read him / therefore, again and again : And if then you do not like 
 him, surely you are in some manifest danger, not j to understand him. 
 And so we leave you to other of his Friends, who, if you need, can 
 be your guides : ;/ / you need them not, you can lead your selves, and 
 others. And such Readers we wish him. 
 
 J. HEMINGE. 
 H. CONDELL. 
 
 (Hv)
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED, 
 THE AUTHOR, MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, 
 AND WHAT HE HATH LEFT US. 
 
 To draw no envy, {Shakespeare,) on thy name, 
 Am I thus ample to thy book, and fame ; 
 While I confess thy writings to be such, 
 As neither Maii, nor Muse, can praise too much. 
 'Tis true, and all men's suffrage. But these ways 
 Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise : 
 For seeliest ignorance on these may light, 
 Which, when it sounds at best, but eccho's right; 
 Or blind Affection, which doth ne'er advance 
 The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance; 
 Or crafty malice, might pretend this praise, 
 And think to ruin where it seem'd to raise. 
 These are, as some infamous Bawd, or Whore, 
 Should praise a Matron. What could hurt her more? 
 But thou art proof against them, and indeed 
 Above th' ill fortune of them, or the need. 
 I therefore will begin. Soul of the Age, 
 The applause ! delight ! the wonder of our Stage, 
 My Shakespear, rise ; I will not lodg thee by 
 Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie 
 A little further, to make thee a 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. 
 That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses ; 
 I mean with great, but disproportion'd Muses: 
 For if I thought my judgment were of years, 
 
 (Iv
 
 I should commit thee surelx- with th\' Peers; 
 
 And tell how far thou didst our Lily out-shine, 
 
 Or sporting Kid, or Mixrlow's mij^hty Line. 
 
 And tho thou hadst small Laline, and less Creek, 
 
 From thence to honour thee, I would not seek 
 
 For names; but call forth thund'ring JEschylns, 
 
 Euripides, and Sophocles to us, 
 
 Pacuvius, Acciiis, him o( Cordova dead, 
 
 To live again, to hear thy Hnskin tread, 
 
 And shake a Stage : Or, when thy Socks were on. 
 
 Leave thee alone for the comparison 
 
 Of all, that insolent Creece, or haughty Rome, 
 
 Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come. 
 
 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 joy'd to wear the dressing of his Lines ; 
 
 Which were so richly spun, and wov'n so fit, 
 
 As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit. 
 
 The merry Creek, tart Aristophanes, 
 
 Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please; 
 
 But antiquated and deserted lie 
 
 As they were not of Natures family. 
 
 Yet must I not give Nature all ; Thy Art, 
 
 My gentle Shakespear must enjoy a part. 
 
 For tho the Poets matter Nature be, 
 
 His Art doth give the Fashion. And, that he, 
 
 ( Ivi )
 
 Who casts to write a living line, must sweat, 
 
 (Such as thine are) and strike a second heat 
 
 Upon the Muses Anvile : turn the same, 
 
 (And himself with it) that he thinks to frame ; 
 
 Or for the Lawrel, he may gain a scorn, 
 
 For a good Poefs made, as well as born. 
 
 And such wert thou. Look how the Fathers face 
 
 Lives in his Issue, even so the race 
 
 Of Shakespear's mind, and manners brightly shines 
 
 In his well turned, and true filed lines : 
 
 In each of which, he seems to shake a Lance, 
 
 As brandish't at the eves of Ignorance. 
 
 Sweet Sti'an of Avon ! what a sight it were 
 
 To see thee in our water yet appear. 
 
 And make those flights upon the Banks of Thames, 
 
 That so did take Eliza, and our James ! 
 
 But stay, I see thee in the Hemisphere 
 
 Advanc'd, and made a Constellation there ! 
 
 Shine forth, thou Star of Poets, and with rage. 
 
 Or influence, chide, or chear the drooping Stage, 
 
 Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourn'd like 
 
 night. 
 And despairs day, but by thy Volumes light ! 
 
 BEN JOHNSON. 
 
 ( Ivii )
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMORY OF THE DECEASED AUTHOR, 
 
 MASTER W. SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 Shakespear, at length thy pious Fellows give 
 The World thy Works ; thy Works, by which, out live 
 Th}' 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 Shakespear's ; ev'ry Line, each Verse 
 Here shall revive, redeem thee from thy Herse. 
 Nor Fire, nor cankring Age, as Naso said 
 Of his, thy wit-fraught Book shall once invade. 
 Nor shall I ere believe, or think thee dead, 
 (Tho mist), until our bankrout Stage be sped 
 (Impossible) with some new strain t'out-do 
 Passions oi Juliet, and her Romeo; 
 Or till I hear a Scene more nobly take. 
 Than when thy half sword parlying Yeomans spake. 
 Till these, till any of thy Volumes rest 
 Shall with more fire, more feeling be expresst, 
 Be sure, our Shakespear, thou canst never die, 
 But crown'd with Lawrel, live eternally. 
 
 L, DiGGES. 
 
 ( Iviii )
 
 UPON THE LINES, AND LIFE, OF THE 
 FAMOUS SCENICKE POET, 
 MASTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 Those hands, which you so clapt, go now, and wring 
 You Britaincs brave ; for done are Shakcspeares da}s ; 
 His dayes are done, that made the dainty Playes, 
 
 Which made the globe of heau'n and earth to ring : 
 
 Dry'de is that veine, dry'd is the Thespian Spring, 
 Turn'd all to teares, and Phcehns clouds his rayes ; 
 That corp'e, that coffin, now besticke those bayes, 
 
 Which crown'd him Poe-i first, then Foets' King. 
 If Tragedies might any Prologue haue, 
 
 All those he made would scarce make one to this; 
 Where Fame, now that he gone is to the graue, 
 
 (Death's publique tyring-house) the Nimcius is : 
 
 For, though his line of life went soone about, 
 
 The life yet of his lines shall neuer out. 
 
 Hugh Holland. 
 
 ( lix )
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF MR. W. SHAKESPEAR. 
 
 We wonder {Shakespear) that thou went'st so soon, 
 From the World's-Stage, to the Graves-Tyring-room. 
 We thought thee dead, but this thy Printed worth 
 Tells thy Spectators, that thou went'st but forth 
 To enter with applause. An Actors Art, 
 Can dye, and live, to act a second Part. 
 That's but an Exit of Mortality; 
 This, a Re entrance to a Plaudite. 
 
 J. M. 
 
 (Ix )
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Printed at the Charges of W. laggard, Ed. Blount, 
 I. Smithweeke and \V. Aspley, 1623. 
 
 ( Ixi )
 
 Palladis Taiiiia. 
 WITS 
 
 TREASVRY 
 
 Being the Second part 
 
 of Wits Common 
 wealth. 
 
 BY 
 
 Francis Meres, Maifter 
 
 of Artes of both Uni- 
 uersities. 
 
 Viuitur ingenio, ccetera mortis erunt. 
 
 AT LONDON 
 
 Printed by P. Short, for Cuthbert Burbie, and 
 
 are to be folde at his fhop at the Royall 
 
 Exchange. 1598. 
 
 ( Ixii )
 
 f 2801 ^s ^]-,g Greeke tongue is made famous and eloquent by 
 
 Homer, Hefiod, Euripedes, AcscJiilus, Sophocles, Pindarus, 
 Phocylides and A n'ftophanes ; and the Latine tongue by 
 Virgin, Onid, Horace, Silius lialicus, Lucamis, Lucretius, 
 Aufonius and Claudianus : fo the English tongue is 
 mightil}- enriched, and gorgeouflie inuested in rare 
 ornaments and refplendent abiliments by fir Philip 
 Sidney, Spencer, Daniel, Drayton, Viarner, Shakefpeare, 
 Marloiv and Chapman. 
 
 f. 28jb As the foule of Euphorbus was thought to Hue in 
 
 Pythagoras : fo the fweete wittie foule of Quid Hues in 
 mellifluous and hony-tongued SJiakefpeare, witnes his Venus 
 
 f. 282^^ and Adonis, his Lucrcce, his fugred Sonnets among his 
 priuate friends, &c. 
 
 As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for 
 Comedy and Tragedy among the Latines : fo Shakefpeare 
 among y*^ English is the moft excellent in both kinds 
 for the ftage ; for Comedy, witnes his Getleme of 
 Verona, his Errors, his Loue labors loft, his Lone labours 
 wonnc, his Midfummers nigJit dreame, and his Merchant 
 of Venice : for Tragedy his Richard the 2, Richard the 3, 
 
 ( Ixiii )
 
 f. 283' 
 
 Henry the 4, Kiu^ John, Titus Audru)iicns and his Romeo 
 and lulietr' 
 
 As Epiiis Stolo fiiid, that the Miifcs would fpcakc with 
 Plaidus tongue, if they would fpeake Latin : fo I fay that 
 the Mufes would fpcak with Shake/peat es fine tiled phrafe, 
 if they would fpeake English. 
 (. 282'' As Pindarns, Anacreon and Callimachns among the 
 
 Greekes; and Horace and Catullus among the Latines are 
 the bcft Lyrick Poets : so in this faculty the beft amog 
 our Poets are Spencer (who excelleth in all kinds) Daniel, 
 Drayton, Shakcfpeare, Brctto. 
 
 As thefe Tragicke Poets flourifhed in Greece, Aefchylns, 
 Euripedes, Sophocles, Alexander Actolus, Acha'us Erithvia-us, 
 AJtydamas Athenie/is, Apollodorus Tarfenfis, Niconiachns 
 Phry gills, Thejpis Atticus, and Tinion Apolloniates ; and thefe 
 
 *0f these plays mentioned by Mere?, four were in print at tlie 
 time of his enumeration, if we assume his " King John "' to be " The 
 Troublesome Reign of King John," dated 1591: the other three are 
 '• Richard II.," " Richard III.," and " Romeo and Juliet." These three 
 were published in 1597. All four were without any name of author. 
 " King John " was published under the title of W. Sh., 161 1 ; '' Richard 
 II." appeared under name of William Shakespeare, 1608, and " Richard 
 III." 1600; "Romeo and Juliet," 1599; one undated. Of the 
 remaining eight four were subsequently published under the name 
 of Shakespeare in his lifetime — (i) "Love's Labour Lost," 1598; (2) 
 "Midsummer Night's Dream," 1600; two editions "Merchant of 
 Venice," 1600, " Henry IV. " first portion, 1598, 1613 (newly corrected) 
 second part, 1600, " Love's Labour Won " is supposed to be the play 
 " All's Well That Ends Well," which did not appear in print until it 
 appeared in the folio volume. "Titus Andronicus" apj eared 1600, 161 1, 
 but without the name, till it appeared in the folio volume. " Two 
 Gentlemen of Verona" and the "Comedy of Errors" were not 
 published until they appeared in the folio volume. 
 
 ( l.xiv )
 
 f- 283^ among the Latines, Acciiis, M. Attilius Pomponius Sccundus 
 and Seneca : fo these are our beft for Tragedie, the Lorde 
 Buckhurst, Doctor Leg of Cambridge, Doctor Edes of 
 Oxforde, maifter Edward Ferris, the Authour of the Mirrour 
 for Magiftrafes, Marlow, Peek, Watfon, Kid, Shakefpeare, 
 Drayton, Chapman, Decker and Beniamin Johnfon. 
 
 The beft Poets for Comedy among the Greeks are thefe, 
 Menandcr,. Aristophanes, Eiipolis Athenienfis, Alexis Terius, 
 Nicoftratus, Auiipfias Athenienfis, Anaxadrides Rhodius, 
 £.28315 Aristonymus, Archippns Atheniefis and Callias Athenienfis; 
 and among the Latines, Plautus, Terence, Nceuins, Sext, 
 Turpilius, Licinius Imbrex, and Virgilius Romanus : so the 
 best for Comedy amongft us bee, Edward Earle of Oxforde, 
 Doctor Gager of Oxforde, Maifter Rowley once a rare 
 Scholler of learned Pembrooke Hall in Cambridge, Master 
 Edwardes one of her Maiefties Chappell, eloquent and 
 wittie lohn Lilly, Lodge, Gafcoyne, Greene, Shakefpeare, 
 Thomas Nasli, Thomas Heywood, Anthony Mundye our beft 
 plotter, Chapman, Porter, Wilfon, Hathway and Llenry 
 Chettle. 
 
 f. 283b As thefe are famous among the Greeks for Elegie, 
 
 Melanthus, Mymnerus Colophonius, Olympius, Myfius, 
 
 f. 284--> Parthcnitts Nicceus, Philetas Cons, Theogenes Megarenfis, and 
 
 (Ixv)
 
 Figres Halicixruajfaus ; and these among the Latines, 
 f 28411 Meccemn, Quid, Tibiilliis, Prupcrtius, T. Valgius, Caffins 
 Seueriis and Clodius Sabinus : fo thefe are the moft palTionate 
 among vs to bewaile and benioanc the per[)lc.\itics of Loue, 
 Henrie Howard Earle of Surrey, fir Thuuias ]Vyal the elder, 
 fir I'ruinis Brian, iir Philip Sidney, fir Walter Raivlcy, fir 
 Edward Dyer, Spencer, Daniel, Draytun, Shakef-pcare, 
 Whet/tone, Gajcoyne, Sainiiell Page fometimes fellowe of 
 Corpus Chiijti Colledge in Oxford, Churchyard, Breiton. 
 
 ( Ixvi )
 
 LOVES MARTYR: 
 
 OR 
 
 ROSALINS COMPLAINT. 
 
 Allegorically fhadowing the truth of Loue, 
 
 in the constant Fate of the Phoenix 
 
 and Ttcrtle. 
 
 A Poeme enterlaced with much varietie and raritie; 
 
 iwrv first translated out of the venerable Italian Torquato 
 Caehano, by Robert Chester. 
 
 With the true legend of famous King Arthur, the last of the nine 
 
 Worthies, being the firft Efsay of a new Brytifh Poet : collected 
 
 out of diuerse Authenticall Records. 
 
 To these are added some neiv compositions, of seiierall moderne Writers 
 
 whose names are subscribed to their seucrall workes, vpon the 
 
 first fnbiect : viz. the Phcenix and 
 
 Turtle. 
 
 Mar : — Mutare dominum nan poteft liber notus. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Imprinted fcM" E.B. 
 I 60 I . 
 ( Ixvii )
 
 HEREAFTER 
 
 FOLLOW DIVERSE 
 
 Poeticall Effaies on the former Sub- 
 iecft ; viz. : the Turtle and Phoenix. 
 
 Done by the beft and chief eft of our 
 
 moderne writers, with their names fub- 
 
 fcribed to their particular workes : 
 
 neuer before extant. 
 
 And (now firft) confecrated by them all generally, 
 
 to the lone and merite of the true-noble Knight, 
 
 Sir lohn Salisburie. 
 
 Digmnn laude virum Mufa vetat mori. 
 
 Anchova Spei. 
 
 MDCI. 
 
 ( Ixviii )
 
 T Et the bird of lowdeft lay, 
 On the fole Arabian tree, 
 Herauld fad and trumpet be : 
 To whofe found chafte wings obay. 
 
 But thou fhriking harbinger, 
 Foule precurrer of the fiend, 
 Augour of the feuers end, 
 To this troupe come thou not neere. 
 
 From this Seffion interdift 
 Euery foule of tyrant wing, 
 Saue the Eagle feath'red King, 
 Keepe the obfequie fo ftrift. 
 
 Let the Prieft in Surples white. 
 That defunftiue Muficke can, 
 Be the death-deuining Swan, 
 Left the Requiem lacke his right. 
 
 And thou treble dated Crow, 
 That thy fable gender mak'ft, 
 With the breath thou giu'ft and tak'ft, 
 Mongft our mourners fhalt thou go. 
 
 Here the Antheme doth commence, 
 Loue and Conftancie is dead, 
 Phcenix and the Turtle fled. 
 In a mutuall flame from hence. 
 
 So they loued as loue in twaine. 
 Had the effence but in one, 
 
 ( Ixix ) 
 
 Two
 
 \ 
 
 Two diftintfts, Diuifion none, 
 Number there in lone was flainc. 
 
 Hearts remote, yet not afunder ; 
 Diftance and no fpacc was fccnc, 
 Twixt this Turtle and his Queene 
 But in them it were a wonder. 
 
 So betweene them Loue did fhine, 
 That the Turtle faw his right, 
 Flaming in the Phccnix fight ; 
 Either was the others mine. 
 
 Propertie was thus appalled, 
 That the felfe was not the fame 
 Single Natures double name, 
 Neither two nor one was called. 
 
 Reafon in itfelfe confounded, 
 Saw Diuifion grow together, 
 To themfclues yet either neither, 
 Simple were fo well compounded. 
 
 That it cried, how true a twaine, 
 Seemeth this concordant one, 
 Loue hath Reafon, Reafon none, 
 If what parts, can fo remaine. 
 
 Whereupon it made this Throne, 
 To the Phccnix and the Done, 
 Co-fupremes and ftarrcs of Loue, 
 As Chorus to their Tragique Scene. 
 
 (Ixx)
 
 Tkrenos. 
 
 "DEautie, Truth, and Raritie, 
 
 Grace in all fimplicitie, 
 Here enclofde, in cinders lie. 
 
 Death is now the Phoenix neft, 
 And the Turtles loyall breft, 
 To eternitie doth rest. 
 
 Leaning no pofteritie, 
 Twas not their infirmitie, 
 It was married Chaftitie. 
 
 Truth may feeme, but cannot be, 
 Beautie bragge, but tis not fhe, 
 Truth and Beautie buried be. 
 
 To this vrne let thofe repaire, 
 
 That are either true or faire, 
 
 For thefe dead Birds, figh a prayer. 
 
 William Shake-fpeare. 
 
 ( Ixxi )
 
 From folio Edition of Ben Jonson 
 published 1616. 
 
 Every Man in his Humour. 
 
 [ at end ] 
 
 This Comoedie was first 
 
 Acted, in the yeere 
 
 1598. 
 
 By the then L, Chamberlayne 
 
 his Seruants. 
 
 The principall Comoedians were, 
 
 Will. Shakespeare. . Ric. Burbadge. 
 
 Aug. Philips. Joh. Hemings. 
 
 Hen. Condel. Tho. Pope. 
 
 Will. Slye. Chr. Beeston. 
 
 Will. Kempe. Joh. Duke 
 
 With the Allowance of the Master of Re veils. 
 
 ( Ixxii )
 
 From folio edition of Ben Jonson 
 published 1616. 
 
 Sejanus. 
 
 [ at end ] 
 
 This Traocedie was first 
 
 acted, in the yeere 
 
 1603. 
 
 By the King s Majesties 
 
 Servants. 
 
 The Principall Tragoedians were, 
 
 Ric. Burbadge. Will. Shake-Speare. 
 
 Aug. Philips. Joh. Hemings. 
 
 Will. Sly. Hen. Condel. 
 
 Joh. Lowin. Alex. Cooke. 
 
 With the allowance of the Master of Revells. 
 
 ( Ixxiii )
 
 FROM BEN JONSON'S TIMBER OR 
 DISCOVERIES. 
 
 Cunningham's Edition, gth vol., p. 155. 
 
 De Shakspeare nostrat. — Augustus in Hat. 
 
 I remember, the players have often mentioned it 
 as an honour to Shakespeare, that in his writing 
 (whatsoever he penned) he never blotted out a line. 
 My answer hath been. Would that he had blotted a 
 thousand. Which they thought a malevolent speech. I 
 had not told posterity this, but for their ignorance, who 
 chose that circumstance to commend their friend by, 
 wherein he most faulted ; and to justify mine own 
 candour : for I loved the man, and do honour his memory, 
 on this side idolatry, as much as any. He was (indeed) 
 honest, and of an open and free nature ; had an excellent 
 phantasy, brave notions, and gentle expressions; wherein he 
 flowed with that facility, that sometimes it was necessary 
 he should be stopped : Sufflaniinandus 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 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. 
 
 ( Ixxiv )
 
 " Is it not strange that I, to whom they have all been 
 beholding ; 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 of them 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 
 Wrapt in a Player's Hide supposes he is as well able 
 to bumbast out a blanke verse as the best of you ; 
 and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his 
 own conceit, the only Shake-scene in a countrie. 
 
 Greene, Groat's-worth of Wit. 
 
 ( Ixxv )
 
 ON SHAKESPEARE, 1630. 
 
 What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones 
 
 The labour of an age in piled stones ? 
 
 Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid 
 
 Under a star-ypointing pyramid ? 
 
 Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 
 
 What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name ? 
 
 Thou in our wonder and astonishment 
 
 Hast built thyself a livelong monument. 
 
 For whilst, to the shame of slow-endeavouring art, 
 
 Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart 
 
 Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book 
 
 Those Delphic lines with deep impression took, 
 
 Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving, 
 
 Dost make us marble with too much conceiving, 
 
 And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie 
 
 That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. 
 
 '?=>' 
 
 Milton (Edit. Masson, 1874.) 
 
 ( Ixxvi )
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 EDITIONS OF POEMS AND PLAYS 
 PUBLISHED BEFORE 1627. 
 
 Those marked a have the author's name in full. 
 
 b W. S. on the Title. 
 
 c W. Sh. 
 
 d no name 
 
 ( Ixxvii )
 
 shakp:speare. 
 
 Editions of Poems and Plays before 1627. 
 
 d KING JOHN. (Capell Coll.) 1591 
 
 c 4to 1611 
 
 a 4to 1622 
 
 d VENUS and ADONIS. Tide and 4to 1593 
 
 dedication. 2 11. 
 (Bodleian) 
 
 d (B.M.) 4to 1594 
 
 d sm. 8vo 1596 
 
 d (Sir C. Isham's i599 
 
 copy) 
 
 d (Bodleian) sm. 8vo 1600 
 
 d i6mo 1602 
 
 d (Bodleian) i2mo 1617 
 
 _^ (Bodleian) i8mo 1620 
 
 d a LUCRECE. Title and dedication. 2 11. 4to 1594 
 
 (Mentioned, not seen by 1596 
 
 M alone) 
 
 d (Capell Coll. Camb.) iSmo 1598 
 
 d (Bodleian) 24mo 1600 
 
 d (Capell Coll.) sm. 8vo 1607 
 
 a 8vo 1616 
 
 a i6mo 1624 
 
 a Author's name in full. 
 
 b W. S. 
 
 c W. Sh. 
 
 d No name. 
 
 ( Ixxviii )
 
 b 
 
 LOCRINE 4to 1595 
 
 d ROMEO and JULIET 410 1597 
 
 ^ 4to 1599 
 
 d 4to 1607 
 
 d 4to i6og 
 
 d KING RICHARD II. (Capell Coll.) ... 4to 1597 
 
 « 4to 1598 
 
 « 4to 1608 
 
 ci (another copy, 
 
 different Title, 
 
 Capell) 1608 
 
 a 
 
 4to 1615 
 
 d KING RICHARD III 410 1597 
 
 « 4to 1598 
 
 * 4to 1602 
 
 ^ 4to 1605 
 
 ^ 4to 1612 
 
 « _ (Doubtful 1621 
 
 Lowndes.) 
 
 a (B.M., Capell 4to 1622 
 
 and Bodleian) 
 
 a (Doubtful 4to 1624 
 
 Lowndes.) 
 
 a LOVE'S LABOUR LOST 4to 1598 
 
 a Author's name in full. 
 
 b W. S. 
 
 c W. Sh. 
 
 d No name. 
 
 ( Ixxix )
 
 d KING HENRY IV. Parti 4to 1598 
 
 ^ ~ 4to 1599 
 
 ^ (Bodleian) 1604 
 
 ^ - 4to 1608 
 
 ^ 4to 1613 
 
 ^ ____(another copy 4to 1613 
 
 different in 
 text only) 
 
 ^ 4to 1622 
 
 a PASSIONATE PILGRIM. (Capell Coll.) 4to 1599 
 
 ^ 2nd edition. 
 
 (No copy known Lowndes) 
 
 a (Bodleian) 4to 1612 
 
 a KING HENRY IV. Part 2 4to 1600 
 
 a iMERCHANT OF VENICE 4to 1600 
 
 a (different 4to 1600 
 
 Title) 
 
 a MIDSaMMER NIGHT'S DREAM 4to 1600 
 
 a 
 
 (different printer) 4to 1600 
 
 a MUCH ADOE ABOUT NOTHING .... 4to i5oo 
 a SIR JOHN OLDCASfLE 4to 1600 
 
 a Author's name in full. 
 
 b W. S. 
 
 c W. Sh. 
 
 d No name. 
 
 ( Ixxx )
 
 d KING HENRY V 4I0 1600 
 
 ^ - (Devonshire Coll. 410 1602 
 
 and Capell) 
 
 ^^ 4to 1608 
 
 d KING HENRY \'I. Parts 4to 1600 
 
 « . Part 2 and 3 4to i6ig 
 
 d TITUS ANDRONICUS 1600- 
 
 '^ 4to 1611 
 
 a MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 1602 
 
 (Bodleian) 
 
 a 
 
 4to 1619 
 
 a HAMLET 4to 1603 
 
 ^ (Devonshire Coll.) 4to 1604 
 
 ^ 4to 1605 
 
 ^ 4to 1609 
 
 ^ 4to 1611 
 
 a LONDON PRODIGAL 4to 1605 
 
 h THE PURITAN 410 1607 
 
 a KING LEAR 4to 1608 
 
 ^ (another edition with 4to 1608 
 
 differences) 
 
 a Author's name in full. 
 
 b \V. S. 
 
 c W. Sh. 
 
 d No name. 
 
 ='= A facsimile of this edition is in the B. M. Loinides. 
 
 ( Ixxxi )
 
 a YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 4to 1608 
 
 a 4to i6ig 
 
 a SONNETS 4to 1609 
 
 a (different imprint) 4to i6og 
 
 a TROILUS and CRESSIDA 4to 1609 
 
 a (different 4to i6og 
 
 Title) 
 
 a PERICLES 4^0 1609 
 
 a (another edition, variations 4to 1609 
 
 in Text) 
 
 a . 4to i6ii 
 
 a 4to 1619 
 
 b LIFE OF LORD CROMWELL 4to 1613 
 
 a OTHELLO ^to 1622 
 
 a WORKS. Editio princeps folio 1623 
 
 a (different Title) folio 1623 
 
 a Author's name in full. 
 
 b W. S. 
 
 c W. Sh. 
 
 d No name. 
 
 ( Ixxxii )
 
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