ite paint to imitate marble, while
it destroyed identity and age: it has since been recolored from
traditional knowledge, but it is too rude to give us the expression of his
face.

The only other probable likeness is that from an old picture, an engraving
of which, by Droeshout, is found in the first folio edition of his plays,
published in 1623, seven years after his death: it was said by Ben Jonson
to be a good likeness. We are very fortunate in having these,
unsatisfactory as they are, for it is simple truth that beyond these
places and things, there is little, if anything, to illustrate the
personal history of Shakspeare. All that we can know of the man is found
in his works.

DOUBTS OF HIS IDENTITY.--This ignorance concerning him has given rise to
numerous doubts as to his literary identity, and many efforts have been
made to find other authors for his dramas. Among the most industrious in
this deposing scheme, have been Miss Delia Bacon and Mr. Nathaniel Holmes,
who concur in attributing his best plays to Francis Bacon. That Bacon did
not acknowledge his own work, they say, is because he rated the dramatic
art too far beneath his dignity to confess any complicity with it. In
short, he and other great men of that day wrote immortal works which they
were ashamed of, and were willing to father upon the common actor and
stage-manager, one William Shakspeare!

While it is not within the scope of this volume to enter into the
controversy, it is a duty to state its existence, and to express the
judgment that these efforts have been entirely unsuccessful, but have not
been without value in that they have added a little to the meagre history
by their researches, and have established the claims of Shakspeare on a
firmer foundation than before.

WHAT IS KNOWN.--William Shakspeare (spelt _Shackspeare_ in the body of his
will, but signed _Shakspeare_) was the third of eight children, and the
eldest son of John Shakspeare and Mary Arden: he was born at the beautiful
rural town of Stratford, on the little river Avon, on the 23d of April,
1564. His father, who was of yeoman rank, was probably a dealer in wool
and leather. Aubrey, a gossiping chronicler of the next generation, says
he was a butcher, and some biographers assert that he was a glover. He may
have exercised all these crafts together, but it is more to our purpose to
know that in his best estate he was a property holder and chief burgess of
the town. Shakspeare