New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-27
THE SHAKESPEARE BLOCKS.
THE HALLTWELL-PHILLIPPS REQUEST TO
THE NETWORK SHAKESPEARE
SOCIETY.

THE NETWORK SHAKESPEARE
SOCIETY.
After many legal and other delays and tcchnicaliIes
settled the matters included In the Hallwel-Philpps
bequcst have arrived this port and passed safely
into the custody of the society to which their collector
left them chc collection consists Of wOodblocks and
eIcctros Of wood blocks Of almost conceivable
entry signature or scraw in any public or private
record book in England which possibly be traced
10 an origin IN any vicinity Of Shakespeare. These
were given to the NewYorS society because Mr..
| HalIwell- Phillips felt that his hers-io whom he
passed the least valuable part Of his collectionS-were
not specially Interested in the researches TO which he
| had given his life. and would doubtless send these
| blocks the material for which it had taken so many
long years to discover. the auction room (as. In
decd they did send much OF his library as they
| could within few weeks OF his lamcnted death''
They were given to the York Shakespeare society,
therefore because Mr. Hallwcl Phillips believed they
would not he dispersed destroyed but preserved
and finally employed in pcpetuating his life work. and
this Is the intention Of the society The most curious
portion of the collection by far is small deal box
about 6 by by inches, with sliding cover care
uIlv labelled in Mr. HallIwel Phillippss neat hand
| writing:
every small blocks electros and originals Of Marks
Of stratford on Avon People sixteenth and Seven
| tcenth Centuries
! This box contains about twenty minute wood blocks,
the largest not half inch square, of the various
| scravIs and marks with which these contemporaries
| ~ Shakespeare signed such conveyances, leases or
o,bcr documents as It become necessary for them to
| execute These blocks were prepared Tor sun
later edition Of The Outlines" than the one-the
sevcnth-which was issued shortly before Mr. HALL
we'll Phlipps's death, which never OF course ap-
peared II was his plan-as he grew older and work
| bocan N fatir1e him. much As he loved ito send
new edition of his work press fast as he had closed
any particular line Of research or inquiry ms OUT
| NJ the way he would be ready with an unoufueheu
mind TO 20 to work at another detail Ana 80 II i
that even the great work Of this great oharspeareah
was after ALL left unfinished. It's author hah IN
contemplation for example, carefnl investigation vi
cbaLcsncare'S residence I'm ST. Heens Place, In the
old city Of London also to inquire thoroughly 'i''
! the history of Shakespeares wife, who, as the
discoveries Of the last dozen years '"
| so render not at all unlikely ""'
named Agnes Whatcy instead Of Annie Tor Ann
Hathaway and lastly-a matter In when these very
small wood blocks were to be used-their spccia
value was TO he 10 show that William SHAKESPEARE
who sgrs his name in writing, and not win a mara
AS did his ncghbors must have had some exceptional
advantages q education denied 10 them 30 the o'u
cry about Shakesrcare's having shared the general
ignorance Of an interior English town OF the siN'eehn
and seventeenth centuries may be laid at rest why may
not Shakespeare have been well educated As bacon
! Queen Elizabeth did to the universities 1et
She found teachers outside of them, and IL Is nov iii
POSSIBLE that. since there were teachers Shasp'd.'
may have found his way to them History is simply
silent as to the matter that IS all There Is great
deal Of difference between the silence of history and
a hint TO supply the place Of history.
Some Of these sign manuals are very curious. TWO
extraordinary scrawls together stand for Nv. W.
or William Walker This WALKER was remembered IN
Shakespeare will thus: To my sod son william
walker ms in gold7 He the son Of Henry
walker. a mercer and alderman Of stratford and was
boptzed October 10. 1908. Shakespeare himself
being ono OF the Sponsors OF his subsequent career
except that evident that he never learned TO write
his name-nothlng whatever is known.
OF course the minute work which would preserve
these scrawS In perpetu!ty-worl Of not the slightest
commercial value. and Of interest only TO very
limited special class OF scholars-can only challenge
admiration for this devoutest Of devotecS who spent
life and income for fifty years I'm such mlcWscOpcal
! rvearches Fancy calling artist from London TO
! sratf0rd. 10 Wurtcmburg I'm Germany, 10 photo
graph and ink blot from musty old town record or
indeclpherable diary, and then cutting It block
and clcctrotypng the block for the benefit poserty
such work Is sometimes nowadays done in the service
Of the state IN the detection Of crime or whore great
estates arc involved, in the Of the mlllonalrcs
will. But 1t IS to Say the least unusual that one
should go into all this costly mnrlac for the sake of
a literary question three hundred years old and ap
pcane the smallest discpleshp. II Is difficult 10
select from among these four five hundred blocks of
originals only accessible by reference 20 the old
libraries and record whore the parchmens con.
! tanning them preserved. But a few of them may
| be mentioned.
IN the year 1910 there was Embassy from Ger.
| many received by tho English Court and among
other entertainments offered for its amusement by tho
court was a visit to the Globe Theatre on the evening
| Of Monday April 30. The Embassy consisted
Of Prince Louis Frederick Of Wurtcmburg second son
of tho Duke Frederick Of Wurtemburg: the Princes
secretary, WuTmsOer, AMI sur. The secretary kcpt
an official diary Of the English experiences of IN,
Embassy, which consits, unhappiy, Of only the brief
est entries. But from one entry We learn that on the
evening of that particular Monday tho play performed
ar the Globe was "Othcllo" The diary /, In tho
ROYAL Museum at Wurcmburg Mr.. Ualliwell.
Philips has fac similed It. Translated il reads:
HIS serene hghness visited the Globe Theatre the
which occasion was acted the history OF the Moor Of
Venice
Equally important Is the celebrated diary of John
Manningham esq., a barrfster OF the Middle TEMPLE
which under date Of February o 1901. records the
performance Of Shake peares Twelfth Night This
entry Is also in fac.slmilcd block in the New-York
shakes peare SOcicty's collection and I'm partly modern
English j. follows.
Febr 1902. At feast had play
called Twelve Night what you Will, much like the
commede OF Errores. or McneChni In Plautus. but
mo.t like and necre that In Italian called Inganni
A good practise In II Is 10 mako The steward believe
iaytlng a letter a. from his lady I'm general terms
telling him what shca liked best In him, and pres
scrblng his gesture I'm smiling his apparae sc and
when he 20 practise making him believe they
took him TO be mad
As MIR Morgan has pointed out in one Of