The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-09-30
BUST OF SHAKESPEARE.
The Interesting History Of the Davcnant
Head OF the Poet,

Head of the Poet.
When Lincoln's Inn Fields was still
a rural suburb, where aristocratic and
wealthy people lived, says the st. James
Fudget, there stood on the southern
side, or ION the back side of Portugal
Row. close by an old inn called the
Grange, a famous tennis court, together
with one of those great and stately
inns of court from which the name
OF that locality was obtained. Early in
the year 1860, or late in 1869, Sir Will.
lam DaVenant obtained possession OF
the tennis court-then called Gibson's-
converted it into a handsome and roomy
theater, which a contemporary, Pepys,
sale was the "the finest playhouse that
ever was in England" Over its two
chief entrances recesses were made tc
accommodate busts, and these, appa.
rently, were those Of the managers
godfather, and his predecessor as poet
laureate, Ben Jonson. At tina time
many of S~hakespeare's younger friends
were still alive, and so were old actors
who had been the poets fellow players,
and so was Shakespeare's youngest
daughter, and his granddaughter, and
old playgoers who had seen the poet
play. TO all Of these Shakespeare's
bust would be attractive, and many OF
them doubtless often paused on their
way past. into or out Of the theater to
look up at it. Presently came the reign
OF opera in the italian style and come
dies In the French style, and Shakes.
peare was again neglected. The men
who remembered the mighty poet were
booming very few, the stories tina were
told Nf h}vo uyoro hojx,- Foc< <on-2%o-
and the bdsts e the theaters were
no longer the objects Of interest they
had been. In 1868 Sir William Davenant
died. Sir William had looked his last
upon the beloved Dust above the thea
ter door. and after his death we grad
ually hear less and less of Shakespeare
and his works and more Of dancing and
singing Nod coarse buffonnery. If, then,
ShakesI .are's plays were contemptu-
ously neglected, what wonder Is it to
lind his personal relics equally disre-
garded? When in TIA the Dukes
theater ceased to be a playhouse and
became a barrack, the busts over the
entrance remained. They were portraits
or men unknown; and when (probably
about that time) the entrances were
bricked up, they were lost to sight al
eo6eIIel. lien the DuilQ1nS was de-
serted by the military it became an auc-
tion-room and warehouse, and after
ward, in 1877, Messrs. Copeland and
Spode converyted it int a pottery ware
house. In 1875 the old building was re-
moved for tt e erection of the College
of Surgeons, and in 184S, when it's last
remains were also removed, the long
forgotten terra Gotta busts once more
saw daylight. Before their real value
and Importance were discovered the
workmen had thrown down the bust Of
Jonson and utterly destroyed it.. From
this fate the Shakespearean bust was
preserved by Mr.. Cliff, whose daughter
afterward became the wife of the late
Sir Richard Owen, to whom it was be-
queathed, and from whom. thanks to
the kindness of his son, Rev. Mr.. Owen
Of Richmond, and Sir William Flower,
1t has now become the most valuable
OF the many valuable Shakespearean
relics in the library Of the Shakespeare
Memorial at Standardization. There
we may hope it's continued existence
will never again be endangered by that
ignorance and careless indifference
through which we had so narrow an
escape Of losing it altogether.
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