To dig the dust inclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.”
The Editor of the Morning Chronicle does not give his authority for stating that Shakespeare was buried by his own desire in a Protestant Church. The poet, in his will, does not express any desire about being buried in any particular place, and being buried in a Protestant Church, neither proves one thing nor another respecting his religion. It is no proof that he was a Protestant because he was buried in a Protestant Church, even if it were clearly shewn that it was by his own desire; neither is it any proof that he was not a Roman Catholic because he was buried in a Protestant Church. Let us ask the Editor of the M. C. where the Catholics of Shakespeare’s time could bury their dead but in Protestant Churches, or in consecrated ground belonging to Protestant Churches?
The inscription which the Editor of the M. C. mentions to have been placed upon Shakespeare’s tomb, certainly does not prove any more respecting his religion than does his being buried in a Protestant Church. It has been observed with a high degree of probability that the inscription in question alludes to the custom which was then in use of removing skeletons after a certain time, and depositing them in Charnel Houses. Similar execrations are found in many ancient Latin Epitaphs.
It is one of the observations of Mr. Butler, in proof of his suspicion, that Shakespeare was a Roman Catholic, that the poet has not eulogized the Reformation. In the speech (play of Henry VIII. scene the last) which Archbishop Cranmer makes at the christening of the Princess Elizabeth, Shakespeare puts into the Prelate’s mouth these prophetic words—
“In her days ...
“God shall be truly known” ...
which appear evidently to infer that in the Roman Catholic times God was not truly known, but that the Reformation, so eminently promoted by Queen Elizabeth, had brought forth light and truth. Mr. Butler seems to have overlooked these lines, and the inference that may be drawn from them, namely, that Shakespeare was not a Roman Catholic.
The author of a Tragedy, recently published, entitled “Moscow,” says (p. 67.) that “he has discovered that Shakespeare was a Free-Mason. Let every brother of the third degree, therefore SEARCH the works of the immortal bard, and he will find the TRUTH of the above assertion.”