or has not made a collection of black-letter books-in itself a useful and respectable amusement-puts on the seven-league boots of self-opinion, and strides at once from an illustrator into a supreme judge, and, blind and deaf, fills his three-ounce phial at the waters of Niagara; and determines positively the greatness of the cataract to be neither more nor less than his three-ounce phial has been able to receive."

His character, like his dramas, was assailed in every possible manner. He was said to have been a papist, a bad husband, a drunkard. Yet no sooner was a rigorous investigation instituted, than the scales began to fall from the eyes of the critics. He whom they had all made their butt, came out of the ordeal unscathed; and at length it was established in the most satisfactory manner, that the life and conduct of this glorious genius were as fully entitled to respectful admiration as his works. Both life and writings were found to be in all respects worthy of a great soul-of a king amongst mankind. On broad and substantial grounds he has become an object of veneration to the majority of Englishmen, as well as to thousands of kindreds and countries, who have learned, in his own expressive language, to believe that

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,"

when Mr. William Henry Smith starts his new theory, which we have not the slightest hesitation in denouncing as the most infamous and wanton attack that has yet been made, either at home or abroad, by insidious or avowed enemy, upon his reputation.

Innovators and their admirers would doubtless claim merciful and lenient treatment for this assailant of Shakespeare and Bacon. Has he dealt tenderly with them? has he respected their reputations? If what he advances be correct, is not Shakespeare branded as a cheat and an impostor ?-does not another stain fall on the escutcheon of the lord of St. Alban? That criticism alone can be

honest which is fearless, and shrinks not from calling things by their right names. Mr. William Henry Smith declares Shakespeare to be a rank impostor; and we say, without fear of contradiction, that such an accusation ought to have been accompanied by proofs. It is neither a light nor a trivial charge that he has brought against the Bard of Avon; it is one which no man of delicate and refined feelings would have advanced against the meanest of his fellows, unless able to substantiate it by proofs that nothing could shake. The literary merits of Shakespeare afford a fair and legitimate field for criticism and discussion-his private character ought to be sacred from attack.

Mr. William Henry Smith tells us, in the coolest manner possible, that Shakespeare did not write one of the dramas which he palmed off upon his contemporaries and posterity, and that he was content to strut in "borrowed plumes." To prop up an assertion so rash, he does not adduce one iota of evidence: on a bare surmise, he would consign to eternal infamy the two names that stand first in the roll of England's great spirits. Are we, then, to spare one who shows no mercy towards others to crouch before a critic who scatters calumnies at hazard? It is this weak toleration of every new folly and absurdity, to use the mildest terms, that has filled our literature with false forms, raised up erroneous standards, and given a certain semblance of importance to a mushroom class of writers, who, although they make a stir now, will be surely overwhelmed by the advancing tide of time, and be as speedily forgotten.

It would be easy to show from Bacon's writings, his position, his failures in poetical composition, and many collateral circumstances, that he did not write the dramas of Shakespeare; but in this inquiry we intend to take higher ground. Were Bacon's claim disposed of, Mr. William Henry Smith would probably look about for another candidate, or perhaps assert, as some have, we

believe, hinted, that these inimitable compositions were produced by a dramatic manufacturing company, formed upon the soundest principles, with limited liability. We hope, therefore, after disposing of his wretched pamphlet, with its theories and its calumnies, to adduce proofs-incontestable proofs-sufficient so satisfy any reasonable man, that Shakespeare's claim to be regarded as the author of the dramas that bear his name cannot be for one moment disputed it is clear and unassailable, established as certainly as any fact in our literary annals, and never ought to have been called in question.

The new theory is artfully introduced; and in order to pave the way for its reception, the principal events in the life of the poet are summed up in the most partial manner. The reader will perceive that such is the case from the following table, in which Mr. William Henry Smith's summary of what he would have the world suppose to be known respecting Shakespeare and his family, and the facts established by recent researches, are placed in opposite columns.

Mr. William Henry Smith's
Account.

"It will be desirable, in the first instance, to bring together the best-established facts respecting the family and conduct of Shakespeare, whose history, disconnected from his plays, is as ordinary and intelligible as can possibly be. His father, a humble tradesman at Stratfordupon-Avon, by patient industry and perseverance conciliated the respect and regard of his fellowtownsmen; and being admitted a member of the Corporation, rose, through the offices of Aletaster, Constable, and Chamberlain, to that of Alderman and Bailiff, and became, consequently,

Facts established by the latest investigations.

the

Richard Shakespeare, poet's grandfather, was a holder of land; and "thus," says Halliwell, we find the poet of nature rising where we would wish to find him rise, from the inhabitants of the valley and woodland, carrying in his blood the impress of the healthiest and most virtuous class possessed in these days by England."

John Shakespeare, the poet's father, took up his residence at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1551. As early as 1556, he became the holder of two copyhold estates, and in 1557 married Mary Arden, the daughter of a landed pro

Mr. William Henry Smith's

Account.

William Shakespeare, the infor mation we possess respecting his early years is even more scanty. There is neither record nor rumour of his having exhibited any precocity of talent. It is only known that, at the age of eighteen, he contracted, or was inveigled into a marriage with a woman eight years older than himself; and it is believed that, somewhere about the time at which his father was deprived of his alderman's gown, he left his wife and family at Stratford-uponAvon, and went to seek his fortune in the metropolis.”—Pamphlet, pp. 3-5.

Facts established by the latest investigations.

gentlemen and freholders," and died in 1601.

William Shakespeare was born in 1564, was most probably educated at "the King's New School of Stratford-upon-Avon,' to which a charter had been granted by Edward VI. in 1553, and in which there can be no doubt that Latin, if not Greek, was taught. Supposing the poet to have been taken away from school in 1578, as Rowe suggests, on account of the change in the state of his father's affairs, he would then have been in his fifteenth year, and would, consequently, have had ample time to lay the foundations of a liberal education, which his own tastes, inclinations, and ambition would induce him to complete.

In 1582 he married Ann Hathaway, and probably soon after left Stratford for London, where he would naturally enough hope to find a fairer field for the exertion of those abilities with which Providence had blessed him, than within the narrow precincts of a country town.

The marriage licence was discovered by Sir R. Phillips, in the Consistorial Court of Worcester, and published by Mr. Wheler in 1836. It is dated November 28th, in the 25th year of Elizabeth, 1582. The description of the poet's wife is as follows: "Anne Hath wey, of Stratford, in the Dioces of Worcester, maiden."

In his beautiful, though somewhat fanciful "Biography of Shakespeare," Charles Knight deals very successfully with the calumnies that have been invented by some