The Life of William Shakespeare

more reason that a good poet must be a man of spotles character than that a bad one must be a villain, I have ventured to submit in every case the best evidence I could obtain, frankly grounding my opinion in every instance on testimony or reasonable probability, uninfluenced by any preconceived notion that what was not favorable was likewise not true, but certainly leaning in most instances to the more honorable interpretation, for Shakespeare's contemporaries have recorded the amiability of his character in terms that cannot be misinterpreted.

All the documents of any importance respecting the Shakespeares are here printed at length, so that the reader will be much better able to judge of their value and importance than if abstracts only were furnished. Their authenticity will also be more evidently perceived, a matter of no small importance, when it is considered how many forgeries of Shakespearian manuscripts have been attempted to be made current, though reference to none of them is made in the following pages.

It would have been no very difficult task to have impugned the accuracy of my predecessors, for here are silently corrected many hundreds of mistakes, some of the greatest magnitude, others merely literal. Indeed, the corrections have been in some instances so overwhelming, that it is scarcely possible all could have been detected. In the course of one short Latin document, there are, in all copies hitherto printed, no less than fifty-seven blunders, so that it is absolutely unreadable, and hence its exact purport has never been mentioned. The recurrence of ad 20. cur. for ad proximam curiam, the MS. reading pa, which has

been taken for ax, is one out of many examples that night be produced of the singularly small knowledge of records that has been brought to assist in these enquiries. Literal accuracy, I admit, is not to be attained without having free use of the originals, but, in fact, ordinary care has seldom been observed in cases where the MSS. were personally consulted. In the will of Agnes Arden, as printed by Mr. Hunter, which occupies not quite two octavo pages, eightyseven errors have been committed, but these are mostly literal, and do not affect the sense. In the case of any question of authenticity, however, such variations might cause serious inconvenience; and where the subject is susceptible of so many delicate arguments, it is generally best to follow the originals as minutely as possible, except in the refined antiquarian absurdities of retaining the u for v, or imitating the capital letters and punctuation of early scribes.

It must not, however, be supposed that great literal accuracy can be attained in every case, for there has not always been an opportunity for collating the documents in type, and, when they are of much extent, the only possible method of completely avoiding mistakes in a few final or unnecessary letters, is to compare the printed copy letter for letter with the originals. I can only lay claim to great care, and be contented with the reflection that few errors of much importance are likely to have escaped notice, leaving those when discovered to expect the courtesy here exhibited to others. Above all, before such a body of error as that just pointed out is alleged, let me mention that there are duplicate copies of several documents in the Council Chamber at Stratford, differing very materially from each other in

their orthography.

Many of the early accounts of the Chamberlains are found in duplicate, some of them written at greater length, and containing more information than the brief notices entered in the books of the corporation. Whenever a document here printed differs in any great degree from an early copy, it may be safely concluded that another manuscript has been used.

The Latin documents, I fear, will occasionally bid defiance to a correct grammatical construction, nor must the classical scholar expect or desire this in our old legal papers. The language is peculiar, and the intended construction not always clear, although the sense is generally apparent. The terminations are not filled up, for in many cases they might have been interpreted in more ways than one; but I have printed the contractions in extenso, and have left no passage in an unreadable state. The originals have been carefully followed, even when not grammatically accurate. Thus we have priorissa for priorissæ, p. 4; filius Johannes, p. 28; cum pertinentiis jacencium, p. 37; hujus parothia, p. 116, and numerous other instances; but even such barbarous specimens may serve to show the state of knowledge among a certain class of people at the time, and objections might have been raised against their alteration.

In the selection of the woodcuts, the same star of rigid authenticity has throughout been my guide; and great advantage has been derived from the taste of Mr. F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A., to whose careful pencil the reader is indebted for all the illustrations and fac-similes in this work. Nothing has been copied which will not bear the test of the strictest examination, and, as in the literary portion of this

volume, no allusion will be found to the clumsy and disgraceful forgeries of Shakespearian documents that have so frequently deceived the public for short periods, so nothing of the material which is not unquestionably genuine is here perpetuated. Mr. Fairholt has also carefully abstained from those fanciful imitations which have so little real value, and in which the characteristic features of the original objects are so seldom preserved.

In conclusion, perhaps I may be permitted to allude to the many new facts published in this volume, as evidences of a reasonable confidence in the inexhaustible treasures of our English archives, a belief in hidden stores of knowledge which destroys all reliance on the finality of previous enquiries, leading us to trust to no examinations but our own. Entertaining this belief in its fullest extent, and feeling confident our discoveries are not yet at an end, I venture to suggest the propriety of the manuscripts belonging to our ancient families, especially those in Warwickshire, being searched for information relating to the poet. Need I add, one, how gratefully I should receive any communication on the subject, or how willingly my services would be rendered in such a cause?

for

BRIXTON HILL, SURREY.

Nov. 21st, 1847.