New-York tribune., 1903-07-05
4 SHRINE VULGARIZED.
The Offences Committed at StratfOrd- on
4UOn.
From The London Daily Mail.

From The London Daily Mail
What should they know of Shakespeare who
only Shakespeare know" asks StratfOrd of the
world ard its amazing shops quite justify the
question. Until you have looked into them.
ninety-nine hundredths of the man-all Of him.
that is, that StratfOrd really cares about
simply must have escaped you For instance.
you, average EnglIshman, are proud OF
your Shakespeare You think of him with a
kind of awe you wonder how such an lmmen-
sity of imagination could cO-exist with such an
immensely of mellOWneSs and sanity. you mar
vel at those overwhelming gifts of mind and
heart that made him not only the greatest or
poets and dramatists but one Of the clearest
and shrewdest of thinkers. philosophers and OBJ
servers. Possibly you even read him.
But this, it will be said is after all confined
to the ShOpkeepers and ShOpkeeperS in all such
matters are necessarily-what We know them to
be. Well. if you think this. go to the Shakes
peare Memorial and examine it's exhibits The
building itself is tumble of all styles of archi-
lecture and therefore of none and the contents
correspond. Indeed, it will not take you long
TO decide that there atrocities and inCOngru-
tiles under the glass cases in the library that
really ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the special sense
in which the library is cOnSeCTated to Shake
speare-anything to be found in the High-st
shops.
For example in this building-which stands
there as a national tribute to Shakespeare's
cases, an egg shell sort of face had been
painted on it, Disgusting bits OF hair had been
gummed on to represent eyebrows, beard and
mustaChe The artist had so arranged things
that, in the result. there was something that
might have passed for an insulting caricature
Shakespeare
Strauord possesses 1t was specimen or pro-
vinciai handiwOrk and wit that would have
sckened one even at charity bazaar Yet
there it repOsed. a part of English Offering
on Shakespeare's shrine. And that nothing OF
its exquisiteness might be lost. there a
scrap of paper close by with this inscription:
! An eggzact likeness. The most eggshellent in
eggsistence"
How came such a dastardly vuIgarism there?
1t was. it turned out the gift of the late Mr.
c. E. Flower. and Mr.. Flower not only presented
the site for the memorial buildings but was a
very large subscriber toward the cost of erect
ing them l am fully sensible of Mr. Flowers
Hberality and know quite we'll how much the
whole memorial scheme owed to his enthusiastic
energy and his genuine passion for Shakes
peare- But l cannot think either the egg shell
or the inscription he composed to go with il adds
anything substantial to his credit. 1t doesn't
illustrate" Shakespeare in any very tangible
way; 1 doubt whether even a German would
find it helpful; and am quite it is not
the sort of thing l should like American to
catch sight of. There is only one place where
it would be re ally appropriate. and that is the
dust bin.
In the same way stuffed wild cat may do
capitally for a dark corner of a hotel smoking
room, but its presence in the Shakespeare Me-
moral IS not 10 be Justlhed by quotation from
the Tanning 80 80 Shrew." A similar objection
applies to a stuffed crocodile; 1 am not in the
least reCOnCiled to its inclusion by a line from
Antony and Cleopatra" If the council think
themselves bound to have specimens of every
thing that Shakespeare mentions thew NAV as
we'll hire the British Museum at once
But there are other exhibits that cannot plead
even this exceedingly indirect excuse for their
presence In one case, for instance is rather
curious old fishing tackle box Its sole justih-
cation for being there is that it found near
StratfOTd. Otherwise it has just as much con-
nectlon with Homer as with Shakespeare. a
KRUGER half-crOwn some jubilee and corona
tion medals that figure in other cases have il
possible. even less An improved genealogical
chart of the royal family is simply irrelevant
new set q Shakespearian playing cards"
to be had of all StatiOnerS," and DISPLAYED il
you please under glass, is something worse
After this it is almost a relief to turn to a kew
of an old church where Shakespeare may have
been married and to a pair of nut crackers, Of
which nobody knows anything except that they
may have been Shakespeare's. BY comparison
their appositeneSs is quite startling