New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-03-24
SHAKESPEARE MIsQUOTED.
WEBSTER AND THE SHOES OF HENRY Wis TINE
THE WESTMINSTER INSCRIPTION.
To LIZ E6ifnr Of Lie TtihMMe

WEBSTER AND THE SHOES OF HENRY WIS TINE
THE WESTMINSTER INSCRIPTION.
To the RAZOR Of me Tribune.
SIR: An item OF news In this morning 5
TglBrsE contains "a statement which seems worthy OF
notice for The anachronsm. want Of logic, or both
which i, suggests the critic. In account Of the per-
sopal recolicc.ons of Daniel Webster by President
LaIobe Of the MaTyl land Historical Society he Is re-
ported as saying: " He WCbstcJ great quotcr Of
Siakcsularc and proved from Shakespeare that right
and left shoes were worn in the time of Henry VIII
where the tailor is described falsely tdatmg slip
plrs on contrary icet.'" Now, to ny mind, the logic OF
a Webster wJaid probably have Gcduccd nothing lurther
from TINS than that right and spp in
SEnac 0carcs time, VINO WIS bonn II years
AFTER tie death OF Henry VIII. and wrote the lines III
question 80 years ai,rr the death OF that kin.
I'm, if II is intended that the character whom Shakes
pearc .aaGcs 10 the Tc, did therein sct forth the
abstract and brief chronicle OF the tines in which he
lived and tha fashions actually existed Shakespeare
makes nix character G,in c Ihcn, then tie bunder IS
uupardouahlc for the lines in Net w.. Scene =, Of
XII Johu," in which lie makes Hubert describe the
excitement among the "unwasAed artiGyrrs," and in
which Hubert depicts tailor as
"Staudn, On slippers which his uiublc haste
HAD falsely thrust up'n CohlIar, lr,t.'
This Was more than 800 ycar'i lore the reign Of
Henry VIII, md could not dCincate he fashion 81 his
time. While collatcraly upon the subject Of SHAKES
peare wEom it is fashionable to nisquotc, will ven
permit 10 call attention 20 the fact that the lines upon
Slllc.p".r"s tablet n Westminster Abbey purporting
be from The Tenn est" a fri.htul misquotation
lot warranted by any reading Of the author In Of
the London letters Of your correspondent John Paul Of
trcnclant Wit aud PEN Ac takes oil" in his ininablc
style the blmdcIs OF grammar and rhetoric the guide
book TO tie Abbey but makes alluion to these lines
thcmsclyc, being bundeI, they copied by him.
The lines pronounced by rrosgcro rite Tempest, Act W.
scene l, are follows:
- And Ike The has less fabric Of This vision
The handicapped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
Tho solemn temples. the great globe ITSELF
Yea, all lIicu IL Inherit SHALL dissolve,
Aud ike Chs misunderstanding pageant faded,
Leave not 4 wreck behind"
The lines upOn the tablet in the Abbey are follows
"1-he Handicapped towers. the gorgeous palaces;
the sOlcmu temples, the great globe tscf
Yea, all which II inherit shall Dissolve
And like the baseiess fabric Of vision
Leave not Il wreck behind"
70 far as have been able 20 find there is no disputed
reading OF these lines in the different editions OF
Shakespeare except the unimportaut of the word
wTecl" in the last line, which has been written crack
0loudl and track" But the monumentmakers are an
pareRty responsible for complete change OF the lines
aud rnarng Of the delicate poetic shades Of
thought in that most exquisite poen-PrOspcros speech
viii some "canon OF Westminster" please rise to
plant .. Y. WHITE.
Nel0- York, March i, 1877.