I observe that, prefixed to Randolph's Poems, are some lines by Richard West, B.A., and student of Christ's Church: "To the pious Memory of my dear Brother-in-Law, Mr. Thomas Randolph." As West must have been unmarried, and as I believe Randolph was also unmarried, it is possible that West calls him his brother-in-law from his being also an adopted son of Ben. Jonson.
C. H. Cooper.
Cambridge.
SHAKSPEARE'S SEAL.
(Vol. v., p. 539.)
There is a very full and curious account of a ring-seal (of which I possess two red wax impressions), supposed to have belonged to Shakspeare, in a work unassumingly entitled A Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon, by R. B. Wheler, published in 1814. I presume that is the seal—or, rather, ring-seal—to which reference is made; but how far Mr. Wheler's statements and speculations may encourage "belief in the genuineness of this relic," your correspondent, and others taking any interest in such matters, must for themselves determine.
As the publication above named is before me, it may not be unacceptable to give a summary of Mr. Wheler's narrative, which occupies eight concluding pages of the Guide. It appears that on the 16th March, 1810, an ancient gold ring, weighing 12 dwts., and bearing the initials "W. S.," engraved in Roman characters, was found by a labourer's wife upon the surface of the mill-close adjoining Stratford churchyard, being the exact spot whereon Mr. Oldaker since erected his present residence. It had undoubtedly been lost a great many years, being nearly black; and, continues Mr. W.,—
"Though I purchased it upon the same day, for 36s. (the current value of the gold), the woman had sufficient time to destroy the 'precious ærugo' by having it unnecessarily immersed in aquafortis, to ascertain and prove the metal, at a silversmith's shop, which consequently restored its original colour. It is of tolerably large dimensions, and evidently a gentleman's ring of Elizabeth's age. Similar seal-rings are represented on cotemporary paintings and monuments: and the crossing of the central lines of the 'W.' with the oblique direction of the lines of the 'S.' exactly agree with the characters of that day. For proof we need wander no farther than Stratford Church, where the Totness and Clopton tombs will furnish representations of rings, and Shakspeare's monument of letters, perfectly corresponding in point of shape. The connexion or union of the letters by the ornamental string and tassels" [or True Lover's Knot, according to your correspondent], "was then frequently used, of which numberless instances may be found upon seals and upon inscriptions, in painted windows, and in the title-pages of books of that period; and for further coincidence of circumstances, it may be observed over the porch leading into the hall of Charlcote House near Stratford (erected in the early part of Elizabeth's reign, by the very Sir Thomas Lucy said to have prosecuted Shakspeare for deer-stealing), that the letters 'T. L.' are surrounded in a manner precisely similar."
After adverting to many vain efforts made by him to discover whether there existed anywhere Shakspeare's seal attached to letter or other writing, Mr. Wheler states that he had examined—