The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-12-31
END OF THE BARD OF AVON.
IL 4. satd shaksspesre's Death was
Aseribed 20 = MERRY Aeeuias
with Jouson aad Drsytea.


The work Of the one hundred and
twentv-sixth session Of the London
Medical society was begun on Monday
evening al TIA rooms Of the society, In
! Chances street, by q short Introductory
eedrcss from the president, Edmund
: Owen, surgeon TO ST. Mary's hospital
who remarked tina, among the many
treasures Of their library Y@se Is vol
umes OF manuscriplSsfeE formed the
diary or eommeSFlSee book Of Rev.
John Ward. n 4. Oxon. who was vicar
/ Of Stratford-on-Ayon from iees 10 1881.
Having taken his NJ. A. degree In 1859,
Ward left Oxford for London 10 study
snatomy at the Barber hyrurgeons'
hall, In Monkweil street (Shere DR..
Scarborough. the friend Of Harvey, was
giving demonstrationsl, and TO acquire
a general knowledge Of the healing art
Not very many years ago II was quite
usual for the professions Of divinity and
medicine 10 be combined in the one indi-
vidual, and It was 10 be admitted that
the custom stiil fingered in the persons
Of certain Wears and ~yicaresses, who
were unable to keep themselves from
dabbling in parochial medicine and
quack remedies. Not q few country vii
lagos still contained such unorthodox
practitioners, who dispensed medical
advice TO the peril OF their too-confd-
ing pa~rishioners and often TO the an
noyance Of the local doctor.
But Rev. John Ward was not an en-
piric Of this sort. he had worked dill
gently TO acquire a knowledge Of the
medical profession, and was doubtless
well fitted to practice 1t under the H.
cense which he probably received from
his bishop at the time that he entered
upon his clerical duties, In his diary
Ward asked himself specially TO re-
member that he must study such dis
eases as are peculiar to women and also
to children, so as to be ready at them
when ! come into the country" He
evidently meant 10 be a good. all-round
man.
But the point TO which Mr.. Owen spe-
cially referred was that on taking up
bis work in Stratford-on-Ayo In the
~forty-sixth year after Shakespeare's
death. Ward must, both as vicar and
doctor, have been told Of many facts
concerning the bard by those who had
been intimately acquainted with him.
Unfortunately he did not record much
about him in those memorandum
books; what he did say had been seized
upon by the industrious Halliwell Phil.
lips and duly recorded in his "Life OF
Shakespeare"
This was one of the extracts, and,
coming as it did from a highly educated
man, who had lived In the village OF the
Shakespeares, II was Of undoubted BIZ
o%graphical value: II have heard that
Mr.. Shakespeare was n natural wit,
without any art at all; he frequented
the plays all his younger time, but In bis
elder days lived at Stanford and sup.
piled the stage with two plays every
year, and for that had an allowance so
large that he spent at the rate of $1,000
a year"-which In those times was a
very considerable amount, correspond.
ing perhaps TO $4,000 or c4.OOO OF TO-
day.
Another extract ran as follows:
Shakespeare. Drayton and Ben Jon
o had . merry meeting, and. It seems.
drank too hard, for Shakespeare died
Of a Favour there contracted" In
those times, said Mr.. Owen, 1t was Gus
tomary to call obscure diseases "ieay-
ours" just as they are now called '1n.
iuenzas" or "neuroses," but whatever
the actual cause Of Shakespeare
death might have been 1t was evident
that local tradition ascribed It, rightly
or wrongly, TO the effects Of that "mer-
ry meeting" One had only to think Of
ttoge 'three sAssFy friends together,
Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Dray-
ton, to be assured that 1t was. A pity,
however, that Ward unperceived, could
not have been there with his notebook.
London Chronicle.