_,,- llPRl 1194S ·S THE SHAKESPEARE FELLOWSIDP UNIV£RSITY C WASHINGTOl\

11'Aers r / !i The Shakespeare Fellowship was founded in London in 1922 ,under the presidency of Sir George Greenwood.

VOL. x& SPRING, 1948 NO l

Rarest Contemporary Description of "Shakespeare" Proves Poet to Have Been a· Nobleman Vivid Word-Portrait by , Long Declared "Unidentifiable" by the

Stratford Experts, Yields Its Secrets Under X0 Ray of Oxford Documentation

By CHARLESWISNER BARRELL

ONE OF THE RARESTBOOKS ever printed in the Rosamond; and laments the fact that Amintas · English langu~e contains a heretofore unidentified () and Leander (Christopher Mar­ description of the poet-playwright Earl of Oxford lowe) are "gone"-both of these poets having died as a dominating creative spirit of the Shake- by June 1, 1593. Edwards then continues his spearean Age. · "Envoy" with what are probably the earliest refer­ This is Cephalus and Procris (and) Narcissus ences extant to Venus and Adonis, as that poem by Thomas Edwards. In addition to a fragment was licensed for publication on April 18, 1593, comprising the. title-page and a small part of the only six months before the Edwards' manuscript opening poem, only one complete copy is known. was officially approved. What makes this Shake­ It was discovered in 1878 in the library of Peter­ ~pearean commentary of paramount interest, how­ bQrough Cathedral, and was reprinted for the Rox­ ever, is the fact that Edwards adds to his apprecia­ burghe Club in 1882 with editorial comments by tion of 11en.us and Adonis a remarkable pen-por­ W. E. Buckley. While the printed date of this trait of its author which, while negating the corpus unique volume published by John ~olfe of L

The Edwards' verses are reprinted thus in the us tropes or allegorical metaphors; and when 1909 edition of The Shakespeare Alluswn Book, "qaies" is spelled bars, meaning laurel wreaths. Volume I, page 25. L. Toulamin Smith, one of the In the second stanza, "eke" is the early synonym editors, adds this footnote: for likewise, moreover or also. "Roabes" is, of "The two stanzas referring to 'one whose power course, robes and "destained" the ancient variant floweth far' I insert, but he has not been identified." of distained, meaning stained or, as the author of The Comedy of Errors ( 1 I.2) uses it, disgraced, Adon deafly masking thro sullied: "I live distain' d, thou undishonored." Stately troupes rich conceited, Also, "saie" is pronounced say and "bene" been, Shew'd he well deserved to Loves delight on him to gaze, the rhythm accenting have been. In the second line · And had not love her selfe intreated, of the third stanza, a poetic ellipsis of have before Other nymphs had sent him bales. done is apparent. The word "Frieries" in the fourth line is the Elizabethan plural of Friary, its Eke In purple roabes destaln'd, Amld'st the Center of this clime, capitalization by Edwards indicating a definite I have heard sale doth remaine group of former religious buildings which had One whose power ftoweth far, become the scene of noteworthy poetical tourna­ That should have bene of our rime ments. 'l'he only object and the star. The Edwards' orthography having been some­ Well oould his bewitching pen what modernized and defined, this, then, is what Done the MWICSobjects to us, our Shakespearean commentator tells us: Although he differs much from men TIiling under Frlerles, Shakespeare's Adonis, although deaf to the insis• Yet his golden art might woo us tent advances of Venus, is so realistically por• To have honored him with bales. trayed in the poet's rich allegory of love scorned that other nymphs or feminine admirers of Adon's Editor Smith's footnote has· a familiar ring. It creator would have open\y hailed the author for is another admission by a recognized Stratfordian his artistry-hut for one consideration. A real life expert that any such contemporary allusion as this Venus had intervened to prevent this. to a "Shakespeare" who was obviously of premier Who was the living Queen of Love with social rank and Court influence when P,mus and authority so to ordain? Adonis was published, is too inexplicable to war­ None other than Queen Elizabeth, her Court rant investigation. In the present instance, t\le total · nickname being "Venus," as correspondence of the failure of all Elizabetlian literary and biographical period assures us. But while it would be absurd to law-givers---with ample money and leisure at their suggest that the Queen mi~ht descend to such inter­ rommand-to pursue the Edwards' lead, and give ference in the professional doings or public adula­ us some rational and convincing explanation of tion to which William Shakspere of Stratford-on­ this contemporary description of the 1593 overlord Avon would thus be assumed to have been sub­ Qf Shakespearean art, unquestionably convicts jected by lov~sick admirers in 1593, it is a matter them of gross incompetence. Their complacent of detailed history that Elizabeth selfishly cir­ laxity is, moreover, particularly inexcusable when cumscribed the poet Earl of Oxford's career as a the fact is so patently susceptible of proof that man covetous of military or naval glory in order Edwards' lines are all of a piece here, and that the to enjoy his intimate compaJly. Also, when this masking A don of tropes rich conceited can so procedure failed, she intervened in his private logically be taken to be the most powerful example relations with other women with all the jealous then typographically extant of the golden art of ruthlessness of a Venus scorned. this Great Unnamed. Eke or like the Adonis of his creation, who is Ob,serve, then, the telling cogency of these com­ transformed into a purple fjQwer at the end of the ments upon the foremost narrative and dramatic poem, Shakespeare's own robes of aristoc~atic poet of that day, as they may now for the first purple oblige him to remain deaf to expressions time in modern English literary history he read of love and esteem for his vulgarly popular crea­ with reasonable understanding. tive achievements. This, Edwards broadly inti• Archaic spelling of several of Edwards' words matP.s, is to be regretted because the real-life should not confuse when "troupes" is translated Shakespeare is the only ( meaning one) poet of ,rt' RING, 194 8 3 supreme power lo whom Edwards should be dedi­ Oxford's character in preference lo the commenda­ cating his fullest meed of praise. But the governing tions of the notables I have mentioned is, in fad, Venus has ruled otherwise. the real mystery. Moreover, though his place is at the sovereign's But when we find this learned aristocrat in Court-the Center of this clime-the master's intimate personal contact with a whole group of purple robes are already distained or sullied in popular poets, playwrights and novelists, such as the sense that Adriana uses the word in The Com­ Thomas Watson, Anthony Munday, , edy of Errors to describe the "adulterate blot" Thomas Churchyard, Robert Greene and Thomas with which she charges herself for failure fully to Nash-all of whom acknowledge him as their · perform her duties as a wife. In other words, "Maecenas" and active supporter-Oxford's Shakespeare has been recre~nt to the expectations gradual loss of social prestige is accounted for. of aristocratic usage in devoting too much of his Thus, during the 1580's and early 90's when power to popular creative art-particularly the most should he expected of him in the aristocratic art of public entertainment. Lord Oxford's per­ pattern, he is otherwise engaged. It is also during sonal documentation proves that his standing had the same period that explicit records are found of been compromised in the same way that Edwards his lead'ership in stage affairs, and "in the rare suggests. In the light of the rigid etiquette of the devices of poetry." period, the poet Earl's literary and dramatic pre­ Legal proof that Oxford's official title of Lord occupations operated against his advancement in Great Chamberlain of England was commonly those aristocratic circles where Court politics, high­ shortened to that of "Lord Chamberlain" further ffown social activities, foreign diplomacy or mili­ nrgue.s that he was the permanent supervising tary prowess were the approved roads to eminence. patron of "Shakespeare's company" of players. In those days a nobleman might dabble in light The fact that he is placed first in Meres' contem­ verse or take part in Court theatricals occasionally. porary list of those professional playwrights con­ But seriously to engage in literary and dramatic sidered "the best for comedy among us," certainly creation in competition and collaboration with indicates his artistic endowment for such a task. professionals meant loss of "credit." That during His possession of the literary nickname of "Gentle the latter half of his life Oxford's personal fame Master William," by the same token, makes his as a courtier bore a mysterious blot admits of no identification as the one humanly accountable doubt whatever. Glibly to attribute this beclouding entity behind the long-suspected pen-name of impediment to the Earl's "light-headedness" or "" thoroughly logical. Every "quarrelsome disposition" or alleged inhuman standardized "life" of the Bard dwells upon the treatment of his wife, or an insanely revengeful fact that his plays were produced by the "Lord desire to "destroy his estates" to spite his Cather­ Chamberlain's men" - dogmatically assuming in-law, the Lord Treasurer Burghley-as many ill-informed. historians have done-will no longer thereby that one of the numerous Lords Chamber­ serve. lain of the Queen's Household is the patron indi­ The records proving otherwise are now ample cated. With equally dogmatic finality we are told and of unquestionable authenticity. The falsity of that there could not possibly he any other "William all such ill-founded gossip •becomes doubly appar­ Shakespeare" connected with this company than ent when it is found to emanate in the main from one William Shakspere of Stratford-on-Avon birth, proven traitors and unscrupulous Court rivals and notably illiterate family background and signifi­ their known agents. What the great scholars, such· cantly unrecorded personal qualifications as to as Laurence, Nowell, Sir Thomas Smith, Arthur creative genius. The fact that William of Stratford Golding, Thomas Underdowne (translator of Hel­ never once w';.ote his name in the grand manner, iodorus), Thomas Twyne ( translator 'of the and that his six signatures-representing his sole lEneid) as well as Gabriel Harvey and Edmund surviving manuscript output-hear every evidence Spenser, have to say of Oxford's love of learning of unfamiliarity with a pen, we are ordered to and marked liberality is in illuminating contrast. disregard. Just why the tainted words of historic scoundrels Fortunately for the verification of biographical such as Sir Charles Arundell and Lord Henry fact, however, it appears that there were no Strat­ Howard should he deemed fair estimates of fordian "authorities" issuing such ukases when 4 QUARTERLY

Thomas Edwards paid his respects to the author quill-lances to the honor of Thalia, Muse of of Venus and Adonis. Comedv, al the little theatre in the Blackfriars The second stanza of this tribute to the purple­ Priory· before the Puritan forces of London put a robed master whose power floweth far, ends with halt to their fun. a punning personal metaphor of approved Eliza­ Athough he differs much from men bethan currency. For when Edwards laments that Tilting under Friaries the courtier-poet should have been could hardly refer to any other creative personality The only object and the star allied with the Blackfriars Theatre than Lord of his "Envoy," he points with graphic aptness­ Oxford for the reason that he was the only play­ at Edward de Vere. This for the reason that the wright in the group of high social degree. All · silver star in the Earl's ancient shield of arms was the rest were commoners and lived largely upon the most famous star device then displayed by the Earl's bounty. It is also plain that in using the any English family. In referring to an aristocrat, term tilting, Edwards signifies literary activities it was, moreover, common practice to {lersonify or wit-combats. The Bard uses this tilting metaphor him by his heraldic symbols. Thirty years after in exactly the same sense in the final scene of Edwards used this metaphorical pun, Ben Jonson, Love's Labors Lost, together with much tilt-yard in accordance with his own penchant for the same word-play in Much Ado and other comedies. Pope type of word-play, applied the same heraldic­ in the 18th century echoes with this example: literary pun to "Shakespeare" in concluding the Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet introductory verses to ihe First Folio Plays: To run a muck, and tilt at all I meet. Shine forth, thou Starre of Poets. The only creative tournaments or notable wit­ In 1630 Milton also tells us in his "On combats which could be said with any allusive Shakespeare" that we do not need a star-ypointing in.mort. to have been carried on under Friaries in pyramid to recognize the master's intrinsic worth. Edwards' day were those in the old Blackfriary, And for those who may question the personal where the famous little "painted theatre" of application of these star metaphors in identifying Spenser's Tears had been established. Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, with his pseudon­ Moreover, Edwards' metaphor is an effectively ymously printed plays and poems, I would draw witty double-entendre allusion to Lord Oxford's attention to Andrew Marvell's verses "On Appleton early reputation as a champion of the tilt-yard­ House," the Fairfax-Vere manor where he acted a reputation which had been accorded revived pub­ as tutor to the collateral descendants of Lord licity in an account of the Earl's 1581 tournament Oxford during the 1650's. Marvell extols the intel­ exploits as The Knight of the Tree of the Sun, lectual joys he experienced therein printed in 1592, or the year before Edwards Under the discipline severe penned these lines. Of Fairfax and the starry Vere. Thy countenance shakes a spear declares Gabriel Edwards' final stanza in tribute to the Eliza­ Harvey in 1578, in urging Oxford to give up bethan. Star of Poets contains perhaps the most bloodless books and writings that serve no useful revealing lines of all to alert students of the purpose, while Edwards' words bear witness that Oxford-Shakespeare records. this same tilt-yard champion who was mad about Well could his bewitching pen, writing had finally developed into the most poeti­ Done the Muses objects lo us, cally powerful spear-shaker of his era by tilting evidently means that Edwards considers his own under the roof of the Blackfriars Theatre. poetry a task of supererogation in comparison. This playhouse in the ancient Friary bounded But the two lines which follow clinch the Oxford­ by F1eet Street and the Strand, was, the first of Shakespeare identification beyond reasonable ail enclosed theatre buildini:,;s in London. Its admis­ doubt. This for the fact that they corroborate sion prices were higher than those demanded in established realities of the Earl's theatrical inter­ the unroofed structures caterinq; to "the ground­ ests. At the same time they directly echo Edmund lings," a circumstance which restricted its audi­ Spenser's vivid description of the playwright peer ences to the wealthier and better educated classes. as "our pleasant Willy" in The Tears of the Muses, The Blackfriars company had been established in the aristocratic leader and master craftsman of the 1580 when two able stage directors-Richard group of satirical comedy-writers who broke many Farrant, Master of the Children at Windsor, and ~·•' R I N G , 1 9 4 8 5

William Hunnis, Master of the Children of the these same comedies were finally published many Queen's Chapel, combined the best of their talent years later under the "William Shakespeare" alias. for the enterprise. Neither of these directors are Other playwrights who tilted at the fads and known to have been capitalists, and Farrant died foibles of the day, such as Lyly, Munday, Cburch­ shortly after joining Hunnis. Yet the latter went on yard, Greene and Nash-all Oxford's proteges­ to notable success. It is apparent that Blackfriars may also be believed to have had their best works Theatre had an influential and monied patron from produced at the ancient Friary. its inception. In the opinion of Sir Edmund Cham­ Evans, the Welsh singing-master and one of the bers, foremost authority on the documentation of managerial staff at Blackfriars, seems to he hilar­ the Elizabethan stage, Lord Oxford was this iously burlesqued in the Merry Wives oi Windsor patron. For after Hunnis passed his lease of the characterization of Evans, the Welsh parson who house to one Henry Evans, a Welsh singing master, fulfills the office of satyr-director of the boys and the latter became associated with John Lyly, chorus of singinq; imps in the comedy's final scene. Oxford's secretary, in the public presentation of This ring of "Fairies," it will be recalled, sing Lyly's Court comedies, Chambers comments on and pinch the harried Falstaff into renunciation these circumstances by saying: of his evil intentions toward the ladies of the cast. " .. doubtless Hunnis, Lyly and Evans were Their song is· a very close paraphrase of the "Song all workin,i; together under the Earl's (Oxford's) of the Fairies" in Lyly's comedy of Endymio11, patronage." as Looney has shown. It is a certainty that Lyly became Oxford's secre­ And while Oxford's personal association with tary about 1578, that the Blackfriars boys enacted the successful establishment and temporary dis­ several of the Lyly comedies, that this company solution (through Puritan political interdiction) was also frequently recorded as "the children of of the first company of junior players to attain the Earl of Oxford," or "the Oxford boys;" also professional rating can be clearly traced in Eliza­ that Henry Evans is specifically named as payee bethan theatrical history, another fact is of illumi­ of "the children of the Earl of Oxford." By 1583 nating interest: Oxford himself is designated as the holder of the A significa11t commentary on the Blackfriars or Blackfriars lease, but hastens to transfer the prop­ "Oxford boys" appears in Act II, Scene 2 of erty to his man Lyly. , when Rosencrantz and the melancholy In Shakespeare's Theatre (p. 263), in seeking to Prince discuss the reasons why "the tragedians of explain the smooth operations of patron and per­ the city" have been obliged to travel abroad, to sonnel apparent in the development of "Shake­ beg en~agements at inns and castles. speare's" own group, Thorndike cites Oxford's connection with Blackfriars as Hamlet "The most striking case of personal relations What players are they? between a patron and his company." Rosencrantz The Earl can thus be personally associated with Even those you were wont to take such delight the fortunes of the Blackfriars acting and play­ in, the tragedians of the city. writing forces for a matter of four or five years, Hamlet at least, from 1580 onward. Even after the original How chances it they travel? their residence both premises at Blackfriars had to be given up, in reputation and pr;,fit was better both ways. "Oxford's children," also variously known as the "children of the hospital" and the "Paul's boys," Rosensrantz I think their inhibition comes by the means continued to give public performances at some o(the late i11novation. unidentified location contiguous to Blackfriars and St. Paul's Cathedral. Hamlet There can be little doubt in the mind of anyone Do they hold the same esti"!ation they did when thoroughly alive to the implications of Lord. I was in the city; are they so followed? Oxford's creative and theatrical documentation Rosencrantz that the Earl's "lost" comedies were produced by No, indeed, are they not. the Blackfriars boys for the edification of the Hamlet Elizabethan smart set. It is equally apparent that How comes it? do they grow rusty? 6 QUARTERLY

Rosencrant, Yet his golden art might woo us Nay, their endeavour keeps in the wonted pace: To have honored him with bays but there is, sir, an aery of children, little eyases, brings to mind Sir William Herbert's 1594 refer­ that cry out on the top of question, and are most ence to Shakespeare's silver pen. It is also reminis­ tyrannically clapped for't: these are now the cent of Cbettle's 1603 plea to the Bard as the silver fashion, and so berattle the common stages ( so tongued Melicert; and is especial! y remindful of they call them) that many wearing rapiers are Horatio's remark in Hamlet that "all his golden afraid of goose-quills, and dare scarce come words are spent." thither. Both the Cephalus and Procris and the Nar­ Hamlet cissus which Edwards versified are among the What, are they children? who maintains 'em? works of translated by Arthur Golding. The how are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality Golding translation is generally referred to as no longer than they can sing? will they not say "one of Shakespeare's best-loved books in youth." afterwards if they should grow themselves to com­ There is no record of the Stratford native having mon players (as it is like most will if their means either owned or read the volume. But Arthur are not better)' their writers do them wrong, to Golding was Lord Oxford's uncle, and the young make them exclaim against their own succession? peer's personal adviser and household companion Rosencrantz when the translation of Ovid was made about 1565. Faith, there has been much to-do on both sides: The Oxford-Shakespeare references in the great and the nation holds it no sin to tarre them to plays and poems to the Narcissus fable need not controversy. There was, for a while, no money bid detain us, but it is interesting to note that a refer­ for argument, unless the Poet and the Player went ence to Cephalus and Procris, spelled in satirical to cuffs in the question. phonetics, appears in the interlude.in Midsummer Night's Dream: Hamlet's query, "Will they pursue the quality Pyramus ( i.e., the acting profession) no longer than they Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true. can sing?" refers to the same sort of choir boys, trained to act, that Qxford had maintained or Thisbe "escoted" for long periods. Dr. Dover Wilson in As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you. his latest Cambridge edition of the play annotates thi~ passage with the remark that In the same play, the author refers to Spenser's Tears of the Muses (1591), wherein Lord Oxford, "The Children of the Chapel played at the Black­ then practically bankrupt, is described as "our friars, a 'private' playhouse." pleasant Willy," the learned aristocrat of the Blackfriars, whose theatrical career has been Throughout Hamlet there are a great many such brought to a "dead" halt by the type of puritanical direct allusions to Elizabethan events and per­ "innovation" mentioned in Hamlet. sonalities. The playwright Earl can be directly Theseus, host to the wedding party which ends associated with practically all of them, just as the Dream, describes one of the "devices" nomi• surely as Hamlet's interest in these young actors nated by way of entertainment as reflects Oxford's recorded patronage of his own "little eyases." So Thomas Edwards' use of the The thrice three Muses mourning for the death otherwise obscure metaphor tilting under Friaries Of learning, late deceased in beggary. can be seen to be a realistic reference to the same satirical wit-combats which the boy-actors de­ He rejects it, with this comment: scribed by Rosencrantz wage against the adult players of "the common stages" and many of the That is some satire, keen and critical, vulnerable gentry "wearing rapiers" who have Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony. ventured into the -Blackfriars theatrical tilt-yard. Returning to the concluding lines of Thomas Incidentally, various commentators on the Edwards' stanzas on the unnamed author of Venus Dream opine that the comedy was first given and ,1(/o,iis, during the 1594-5 Court celebration of the wed- :SPRING, 1948 7 ding of William Stanley, Earl of Derby, to Lady disappearance of every last line of the hundreds of Elizabeth Vere, daughter of tbe poet Earl of thousands of lines of ;,Shakespearean" manuscript Oxford. that had once existed, evidently occurred about the Perhaps it is well to emphasize the fact that in same time. personalizing Oxford metaphorically and by A few years previous to 1623, the London-made masking him under the title of Adonis, one of his monument to Oxford's pen-name, dated to make it own literary creations, Edwards is following the appear a mural memorial to one of the Lord approved method of Elizabethan commentary. Chamberlain's theatrical handymen who had lived is the most notable exponent of and died at Stratford-on-Avon, was hung ( without this art, paying tribute in like manner to prac­ record) in the local church. It was obviously tically all of his known patrons, friends and meant to confuse any genealogist hardy enough to fellow-poets throughout the pages of The Shep­ journey into the hinterlands. Moreover, such a heard's Calendar, The Fairie Queene and Colin Comedy of Errors subterf u~e to protect the social Clout's Come Home Again. Unless full considera­ prestige of the great Earldom of Oxford was tion is given to the .validity of this style of personal aqain all of a piece with the Elizabethan Lord address, a very large proportion of Elizabethan Chamberlain's reputation for comedy, i.e., irony. poetry loses its meaning. The same thing holds true For no sctap of credible evidence has ever been in regard to considerable personal correspondence, discovered to prove that the Lord Chamberlain's no,t to mention sermons, legal addresses, and state handyman (horse-groom or dummy director) was papers. The alleged "cryptograms" and unwork­ personally capable of writing anything more than able "cyphers" of the nineteenth century Baconians his own name. Even that seems to have Leen com­ are something else again, and not to be confused posed with laborious difficulty and marked uncer­ with the genuine metaphorical and allegorical tainty as to its spelling. writings of Spenser and his contemporaries. Every one of the 16th and earlier 17th century Alias commentaries on ~hakespeare are of this approved pattern. Where the poet's personality is described, 011e of the last letters received from the late Mrs. the metaphors apply to a man of high social caste Eva Turner Clark, distinguished Oxford-Shake­ or one who is condescending from such a caste to speare scholar and founder of The Shakespeare write poetry and plays for the populace. But signi­ Fellowship in this country, was accompanied by ficantly enough, none · of these commentaries several short pieces of research._ The following is printed during the lifetimes of ~ither Lord.Oxford the first of these stimulating items which we shall or William of Stratford applies in any particular print in memory of our much lamented friend, to the humble beginnings or well-recorded pro­ counselor and indefatigable co-worker. vincial background of Shakspere. Regarding the present commentary, Edwards' In a note in the late Professor Joseph Quincy pen-picture of the aristocratic Bard whose purple Adams' Shakespearean Playhouses (p. 350), the robes have been distained is actually too realistic. author lists a number of actors of the Elizabethan This circumstance undoubtedly explains the unique era who employed aliases. Those men named by rarity of Narcissus. It is apparent that those inter­ him are here given, each one's alias following after .ested in eliminating so keen a commentary upon his correct name: • the Lord Chamberlain of England's career as a Christopher Beeston = Christopher Hutchinson. popular poet and playwright may very well have Nicholas Wilkinson ='" Nick Tooley. hought up and destroyed all obtainable copies of Theophilus Bourne = (William) Bird. the N aicissus. James Ifunstan = James Tunstall. This could have taken prace when Oxford's Dr. Adams seems to have overlooked the fact son-in-law, the Earl of Montgomery, joined with that Thomas Dutton also appears in records of the other highly-placed members of the Vere family period as Thomas Dounton or Downton. in hiring Ben Jonson to collect and "introduce" It would not be extraordinary to find a man the First Folio collection of the plays in 1623. greater than any of these usinA an alias: The parallel (and mutually explainable) "loss" Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford = William of Oxford's unnamed plays, together with the total Shakespeare. 8 • ..... QUARTERLY

Professor Feuillerat, in his John Lyly (p. 78), "Willy" and "William" is now tolerated in the states that "the critics of the epoch saw in him presence of this guide and counselor of youth. [ Lord Oxford] one of the best comic English At another college, an English professor set out actors; he was also well read in classic literature to write a brief which would bring his straying and spoke with ease both Italian and French; he Oxfordian sheep back into the fold. BuL when he surpassed, it is said, the best musicians." If the came to deliver his paper, he found his own argu­ Lord Great Chamberlain of England ever appeared ments missing fire so consistently that he ruefully on the public stage, he would have been obliged to concluded that "something had gone wrong" with use an alias. That could have been "William his ammunition. Others before him have learned Shakespeare" who, according to John Davies of that malt and corn will not explode heavy artillery Hereford, plaid some Kingly parts in sport. Pro­ although they do well enough for the pop-gun fessional actors take such parts in their stride, not targets of Stratford-on-Avon. "in sport." Such incidents as these are to be expected wherever the new Shakespeare evidence is Oxford and the Professors brought into conflict with the vested interests that control the formalized teaching or publication of From undergraduate and faculty personnel of the accepted theories of Shakespearean biography. a famous American seat of learning we have Too many salaries and copyrights are at stake for received news of actions and reactions of a well the teachers and exploiters of the academically known professor from a larger university who approved fables to admit without considerable was invited to conduct final examinations of the reluctance that they have misidentified the greatest senior class in English. creative personality in English history. During previous months, members of the class had-unknown to visiting Professor X-become exposed to the evidence for Oxford as "Shake­ THE SHAKESPEARE FELLOWSHIP speare." In fact, a highly creditable paper on the QUARTERLY matter had been submitted during the course by -A Continuation of the NEWS-LETTER- one of the students. This he had been requested VoL. XIX SPRING, 1948 No. 1 to read aloud by the regular English instructor, President who gave him an "A" on the performance, to the Louis P. Benezet, A.M., Pd.D. enthusiastic approval of his fellows. JIice-Presidents So it came about that when Professor X an­ James Stewart Cushman Flodden W. Heron nounced his test theme to be "The Life of William T. Henry Foster Mrs. Elsie Greene Holden Secretary and Treasurer Shakespeare," many in the class set about outlining Charles Wisner Barrell the poet-playwright Earl's career instead of the Official organ of The Shakespeare Fellowship in the U.S.A., the QUARTERLY is the only publication now printed which one attributed to the shadowy William of War­ is devoted chiefly to the perpetuation or documentary evidence that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604) was the wickshire. real creative personality behind the plays and poems of "Mr. William Shakespeare.'' Noting this, Professor X became very angry Meetings or The Shakespeare Fellowship for educational and allied purposes will occasionally be held, in which members will and threatened to withhold grading marks from be asked to cooperate. Membership dues are $2.50 per 7ear­ all heretics in his class who wasted their time on U.S.A. money- which sum includes one year's subscription to the QUARTERLY. Special rates of subscription to the publica• the Oxfordian "nonsense." Yet, not so long after t1on which do not include membership in The Fellowship may be arranged for student groups and libraries. announcing this high-handed method of crushing The Shakespeare Fellowship oxecutive:i; will act as an editorial board for the publication of the QUARTERLY, which will non-conformity to his doctrinaire rule, Professor appear four times a year, i.e., in January, April, July and Octo· ber. X admitted in private conversation that since look­ News items, comments by readers and articles of interest to all students of Shakespeare and of the acknowledged mystery ing more closely into the Oxford-Shakespeare that surrounds the authorship of his works, will he welcomed. case, he was "becoming an Oxfordian in spite of Such material must be of reasonable brevity. No compensati9n can be made to writers beyond the sincere thanks of the Edit· himself." To this gentleman must be accorded the orial Board. Articles and letters will express the opinions of their authors, not necessarily that of The Shakespeare Fellow­ respect due an honest-though emotionally chol­ ship as a .literary and educational corporation. eric-scholar who is willing to revise his opinion 'fhe Editors The Shakespeare Fellowship upon fuller consideration of the facts in dispute. Quarterly We understand that mention of the literary Lord Telephone 17 East 48th Street, Chamberlain whose Elizabethan nickname was PLaza 5-1127 New York 17, N. Y.