violently. His interest then became abnormal.

"There are," Mr. Kennaston complained, rather reproachfully, "too many

inquiries, doubts, investigations, discoveries, and apologies. There

are palliations of Tiberius, eulogies of Henry VIII., rehabilitations

of Aaron Burr. Lucretia Borgia, it appears, was a grievously

misunderstood woman, and Heliogabalus a most exemplary monarch; even

the dog in the manger may have been a nervous animal in search of

rest and quiet. As for Shakespeare, he was an atheist, a syndicate, a

lawyer's clerk, an inferior writer, a Puritan, a scholar, a

nom de
plume