the original of his
character of Dogberry in the person of a parish constable who lived on
there till 1642. Howe was on familiar terms with the man, and he
confided his reminiscence to his friend Aubrey, who duly recorded it,
although in a somewhat confused shape.

VII

It is with early oral tradition of Shakespeare's personal experience
that I am dealing here. It is not my purpose to notice early literary
criticism, of which there is abundant supply. It was obviously the
free circulation of the fame of Shakespeare's work which stimulated
the activity of interest in his private fortunes and led to the
chronicling of the oral tradition regarding them. It could easily be
shown that, outside the circle of professional poets, dramatists,
actors, and fellow-townsmen, Shakespeare's name was, from his first
coming into public notice, constantly on the lips of scholars,
statesmen, and men of fashion who had any glimmer of literary taste.
The Muse of History indeed drops plain hints of the views expressed at
the social meetings of the great in the seventeenth century when
Shakespeare was under discussion. Before 1643, "all persons of quality
that had wit and learning" engaged in a set debate at Eton in the
rooms of "the ever-memorable" John Hales, Fellow of the College, on
the question of Shakespeare's merits compared with those of classical
poets. The judges who presided over "this ingenious assembly"
unanimously and without qualification decided in favour of
Shakespeare's superiority.

A very eminent representative of the culture and political
intelligence of the next generation was in full sympathy with the
verdict of the Eton College tribunal. Lord Clarendon held Shakespeare
to be one of the "most illustrious of our nation." Among the many
heroes of his admiration, Shakespeare was of the elect few who were
"most agreeable to his lordship's general humour." Lord Clarendon was
at the pains of securing a portrait of Shakespeare to hang in his
house in St James's. Similarly, the proudest and probably the richest
nobleman in political circles at the end of the seventeenth century,
the Duke of Somerset, was often heard to speak of his "pleasure in
that Greatness of Thought, those natural Images, those Passions finely
touch'd, and that beautiful Expression which is everywhere to be met
with in Shakespear."

VIII

It was to this Duke of Somerset that Rowe appropriately dedicated the
first full and formal biography of th