New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-12
LETTERS FROM THE Peep LIE
SHAKESPEARE OR sHAKspERE.

To ne Editor Of TIE n. Y TriSsns'
SIR The letter of your correspondent In repy V
nv brief note the correct orthograpny OF tne name
Of the Bard Of Avon having been published during my
absence from town, have it not by me to reply 70
specially He calls my attention to nine iscslmiies q
the name of the poet in which II s spes'ed
Shakspere as proof OF the correctness OF that method
of smelling il. But il is well known that there arc but
ak signatures Of shakespeares name which are sup
roeed 10 be authentic and the only one OF these nx
clearly written 80 that the photography csn ne dis-
tnc,ly made out Is on the hy-leaf OF copy OF Non-
,sirne and il nav or may not DC genuine; thoTe no
evidence of its being 90 although il Is generally sup
posed TO be. OF the other hve one Is hall erased I'VE
are plainly written with more than nine letters and
the other two may be anything that lively magma
ton NAV choose To make them.
But there doubt that In the town OF Strafford,
where the family resided, the name was often written
shakspeIe, and as often Shasspeyre, Shacksperc.
Shaxpire, &c. In bis will, which Is hled In Dog
tors Commons, and the signature OF which.
these who adopt the Shakspere method rely for proof
il s written in the body OF the instrument al through
Shncksreare. But of what importance is II how mo
name NAV have been written by ignorant scrivencu
and parish clerks All that can safely take as our
Guides in the matter the customs of the author HIM
self, his literary cotcnporares, and ihc prHcucc On
the scholars of the present day. Lazy Jane gray
wrote her name Graye but no author writes II 80 now
Tho name of the man whom we universally Designate
Michael Angelo was Michel Agnolo Buonarotto. The
rule in such cases depends altogether upon usage ana
in the case of Shakespeare there just az little reason
to doubt the proper photography as IN the name OF
Washington, which in shakespeare time was spelled
Washington.
Shskespeares father made his mark and conse-
quently his authority would go for little, but the name
Shakespeare in the inst of his published works, Venus
and Adonis in 1903, is printed w. shakespeare -
il is in the six editions Published during his lifetime;
so it is in his next poem the Rape of Lucrece ana 80
il is in all the plays published during nus lifeline. In
n a.. of VERY Ma I'm
the list of he players who appeared in Il IN 1898 the
name of "Win. Shakespeare" In the Tragedy Of
Seianus printed in 1909 the name Is W iham shake.
"fIeere.' Ben Jonson uniformly writes wi'n al
the letters but not always with the hyphen. In es
ter of Thomas Greene, written In 1914, he speaks
of "My Cozen Shakespeare In manuscript
letter of the Earl Of Southampton, the poet
il is written William Shakespeare; IN several MSS IN
the Harleian il il written in the same way; Milton
wrote. "What needs my Shakespeare for his honored
"bones" Doctor Doune, Sir Roger Estrange Fuller
in his Worthless, John Dryden, Beaumont, SIR William
Dayenant, the supposed son OF the poe', an w'ose
Stskespeare In the first folio edition OF his plays
published in 1923, commonly called Tho playem
s'edition" il is so written, and in all the commendatoy
verses published at that time. In the lines TO me
memory of NJ. w. Shakespeare supposed 70 bc oy
Iohn Marston "Upon the Lines and Life OF the 10.
s'mous Scenic Poet Master William Shakespeare.
h, HUGH Holland ''To the late author Master WIZ
'shake -Speare," by Leonard Digges. In the Com
mandatory NeIses to the Foho Edition OF loSS, pom
"Wham Shakespeare, and his Works" Again, IN
the came is "Rare Shakespeare" On the tomb o.
his wife inscribed Here yeh inferred the body Of
Anne, Wife OF William Shakespeare On the tomb
of his SON aw " Here lyeth the Body OF lohn Hail.
"Gent: Hee MARI. Susanna ye daughter and cohe're
"of " ill., Shakespeare"
ON the tomb OF his daughter the name is spelled tho
same way, and on his own tomb in Slratiord Church,
which was erected within seven years after his death
the name il Shakespeare In tie description OF tho
family court OF. arms by Sir William Dehic, Garter
King at Arms in 1899, il is spelled Shakespeare 30
il Is In MSS in the Ashmolean collection; so 1t was
sreed by Deayton Meare and Aot, and by all otbors
up 10 the time of Malone, who took the liberty OF
changing the photography to Shakespeare, and IN that
manner is now spelled by some English publishers,
but all the best editions spell the name az the poet
himself printed SO Coleridgc Collier Hazltt, Dycc,
Clifford Lamb, Hnlam White, Rowe, johnson, Bos
we'll and Pope spelled it. In the beautiful edition OF
the rlays called the "Landsdowne Edition." It =
spelled in full Shakespeare so II is In Harpers edi-
ton edited BY G. G. Verplanck, and by Shakespeare
sci olar X. G. White. But Mrs. Cowden Clark and
Cbares knight indulge in the eccenricity OF writing
"Shaksperc.'
there can be but proper manner OF spelling tho
name Of the great dramatic poet and that that manner
is Shakespeare But if there is TO be change IN tho
ortLography Of the name let us go back TO prsShake
spearan times and write it IL then spelled,
ether Shagspyre, Shaxpeere, Shackspecre Shnkspire,
Shekspecr or some other Of the many ingenious forms
which will give the necessary sound, any OF which
would be more peasing TO the eye and more nnaia-
pous TO the sound than the mean and diminutye-ook-
i's '"'A'f''' s. ADOLPHUs sMYTHE..
J,n.u Shakespeare Clsb.
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