H. C. K.'s derivation of _awkward_
(Vol. viii., p. 310.), but I must observe that the more exact correlative
of _toward_ seems to be _wayward_. The Anglo-Saxons appear to have
pronounced their [gh] as _g_; but after the Conquest it was pronounced hard
in some cases, and so _wayward_ and _awkward_ may have the same origin.

_Shakspeare Portrait._--Can any of your correspondents state whether the
sign of Shakspeare, said to have been painted at a cost of 150l., and which
in 1764 graced a tavern then in Drury Lane, called "The Shakspeare," and in
that year was taken down and removed into the country, and used for a
similar purpose, still exists, add where? and is the artist who painted
such known?

CHARLECOTT.

_"Taming of the Shrew."_--I cannot help thinking that Christopher Sly
merely means that he is fourteenpence on the score for _sheer_
ale,--nothing but ale; neither bread nor meat, horse housing, or bed.

He has _drunk_ the entire amount, and glories in his iniquity, like a true
tippler.

G. H. K.

_Lord Bacon and Shakspeare._--Can any of those correspondents of "N. & Q."
who have devoted attention to the lives of two of England's greatest
worthies, Francis Bacon and William Shakspeare, account for the
extraordinary fact that, although these two highly gifted men were
cotemporaries, no mention of or allusion to the other is to be found in the
writings of either? Bacon was born in 1561, and died in 1626; Shakspeare,
who was born in 1563, and died ten years before the great chancellor, not
only loved

"To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy,"

but breathes throughout every page of his wondrous writings a spirit of
philosophy as profound as his imagination is unlimited; yet nowhere, it is
believed, can he be traced as making the slight allusion to the great
father of modern philosophy. Bacon, on the other hand, whom one can
scarcely suppose to have been ignorant of the writings of the dramatist,
but who indeed may rather be believed to have known him personally, seems
altogether to ignore his existence, or the existence of any of his
matchless works. As the solution of this problem could not but throw much
light on that most interesting subject,--the history of the minds of
Shakespeare and Bacon,--I venture to throw it out as a fit subject for the
research of some of your contributors versed in the writings of these great
spirits of their own age, no less than of all time.

THETA.

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