The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-07
SIEGE OFSHAKESPEARE' TOMB
PERSISTENT EFFORT TO MOVE
BONES AT STAFFORD.

n,or,nx belief Tnat in spite OF Curse and
WatchfuIness the W I'm Holy TriDity's
1hanceI WIN Yet nc Ralscd-A Secret
Society formed 60 Guard tho Tomb.
LONDON, June 2s.-How much longer is
shAkespeare 10 be allowed to sleep on un-
,nolesied in the chancel Of Holy Trinity
church at Stratford-on-Avon?
In London. a fortnight ago.. that question
came I'D for discussion. A private meet
,na was being held by n OF the many
soclot!es that exist for the study OF the
,,rd's lie and works. and something more
Shsn n mere bid for idle talk and speculation
ca. inten-ed by the author OF the query.
As an earnest S~hskespearian lovcr and
sr,dent he made some surprising state
repts and stirred his sobersided audience
hv openlv expressing tho melancholy
,oinIon that the time il fast approaching
chen Shakespeare car no longer be
hracgetol with Moses and Merlin as n
a, the few heroes whose tombs remain
T,,peeted and inviolate. Merlin. of course.
admitted this pessimistic club member.
was lurlel under a spell, and his grave.
like that Of the leader Of lsrael's exodus.
IN Nebo's lonely mountain. dedss lis
cover and Dissertation
Shakespeare. however. enjoys no such
soyar,ace. For nearly three hundred
,sars he has maintained his last sleep IN
disuruei. and for the most part in an I'M
rIsrded grave but it is a growing and dis
concertlnE convection among his most faith
MI w~orshippers that the days of the pres
aviation of his post mortem privacy are
practically numbered.
Until about sixty-fve years z he was
~fe Bot times have changed: the Shake
mearian controversy has reached almost
critically intense stage. and IL is hardly
N be expected that Homief's creator will
ooptin4e undisturbed when kings and
conouerors have fallen victims to the in
stisble modern curiosity.
All the great folk of Westminster Abbey
have experienced the dismal humiliation OF
bejne turned out OF their leaden winding
sheets. In victoria's reign Dean Stanley
Systematically exhumed every oodJ IN the
Abbey. and even the royal bones In Wind
pr's famous Chapel of st. George were
dragged to the light.
Over in France and Italy the irreverent
treatment Of the remnant left Of the heroes
and heroines of history has beer quite
"A pronounced as in England. The German
Emperor thought il no impiety to disturb
mighty Charlema gne at AK. Even Aga
nemnon has suffered at the hands Of the
modern ~excavator of the ruins Of Troy.
and the Pharaohs and Ptolemies Of Egypt
would he disguised could they but know
what fimey protection vaults in the living
rock and gigantic pyramids prove for
helpless dead folk when the twentieth GEN.
ury intruder 10 up and doing.
But while Cleopatra and the great Rameses.
Henry VIII. Pythagoras and v Abraham
have been hustled ruthlessly back TO tbs
Nsht. Shakespeare has benefited by the
dignity Of a noble repose.. IL is true that
until a comparatively recent date his grave
remained unhonored. unvisited n almost
unnoticed.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth con-
turtles nobody was gnawed by a desire to
use upon his ashes. and his famous epitaph
vas all the defence he required. But in
those simple old days the Pyramids kept
their secrets and nobody dreamed any
more Of trying 10 prove that Shakespeare
was Bacon or the Ear OF ESSEX than Of
maintaining that January was June.
When. however. the first doubts 10 TO
the identity Of the writer OF the plays and
sonnets arose an astonishing effort was
almost Immediately made to remove the
craven slab lying over him in Holy Trinity
chanoel. Just when occurred the first
sttsmpt to open the poets tomb no man
ID able 20 say. for there ia an old crack
ACROSS the slab. This sign remains I'M
uplained. yet it may Indicate that an as
nul. on lead Shakespeare bad been made
bsiore that inspired by the faith and curl.
olty Of an American
The amazing enterprise and conviction
If the frail lady from New England who
forty years ago crossed the Atlantic for
ts purpose Of exposing the IVAN Of Avon
u common impostor was the means Of
rousips the rector Of Holy Trinity to tho
valuation that Shakespeare was not quite
% safe as he had thought him