It would only be giving good value for his money to his churchwardens if he added a cloak, a pen, and manuscript. He could not help changing the expression, from the worn and thoughtful face preserved by Dugdale, to the plumped-out foundation he made in some “material” convenient for his re-beautifying colours. I have stated elsewhere that I consider the so-called “portrait” at the birth-place to have been painted either by Hall or from Hall, and the little, old representation of Shakespeare’s tomb lent by the Earl of Warwick for the present Shakespeare Exhibition at Whitechapel Art Gallery probably dates from the same period.
I myself consider Dugdale and his draughtsmen wonderfully careful for their period. Those tombs which have not been altered are remarkably faithful representations. See, for instance, the tomb of Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlecote. Now, Dugdale was a Warwickshire man, born only a comparatively short distance from Stratford, eleven years before Shakespeare died. He was an admirer of Shakespeare, and knew the bust he engraved. He was in Stratford in attendance on Queen Henrietta Maria when, at the outbreak of the Civil War, she stayed in Shakespeare’s house as the guest of his daughter, Mrs. Hall. There was every reason to believe that he would be more careful in regard to representing Shakespeare’s tomb (instead of less careful) than he was with others.
The second edition of Dugdale’s “Warwickshire” was revised, corrected, expanded, the illustrations checked, and added to by Dr. Thomas, who was also a Warwickshire man, residing very near Stratford-on-Avon. And he produced the representation of the original tomb from the same unaltered block which Dugdale used. There is, therefore, little reason to doubt that Dugdale was fairly correct both in the face and figure of the “curious monument,” and that the alterations made in 1748-9, great as they are, did not strike the gentlemen of Stratford-on-Avon as anything worse than “beautifying.” The dates and verses were left as they were, and the monument, thus strengthened, survives to preserve the memory of the “Sweet Swan of Avon!”
All this has no bearing on the Baconian controversy. It only relates to the likeness of the presentment and the reliability of Dugdale.
“Pall Mall Gazette,” 18th and 21st November 1910.
P.S.—My later discoveries appear on p. 122.
FINIS
FOOTNOTES:
[111] Mr. Savage has just given me a note: “The Roman writers use ‘Adolescens’ and ‘Juvenis’ promiscuously. So Alexander is called Adolescens when he died at thirty-two; Cæsar that year when he was High Priest, and thirty-five at least (Livy?); and Brutus and Cassius in their Praetorship when they were forty (Sallust?).”
[112] Mrs. Wilson (since married to Mr. Butcher) plays very well and genteely on the violin.