The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-11-29

l When men of various occupations 1 and professions familiarize themselves 1 Bard of Avon," there is invariably an l inclination to claim that the greatest l of dramatists was of the same busi- ness as they.
 I tical language of the poet, and lays 1 down the book with the thought that l the author must have been a sailor. The mechanic, req ding the plays, 1 reaches scenes so familiar to him | that he thinks only a man of his oc- l cpation could have recorded them. vast scientific knowledge of the poet that he believes Shakespeare may have been a scientist. The physician hnds such aez storehouse of medical that the bard might have practiced medicine.
 There is little history to support 1 these theories. For evidence on any , of them we have but to look tos the lines of the poet, who had mint of phrases in his brain upon nearly ev- cry subject.
 The claim that Shakespeare was lawyer sounds more plausible than any claim to him made by others. Shakespeare loved legal phraseology. and his frequent use of it shows that Ee must have been familiar with the legal profession and the law. It has been 9 matter of dispute among critics whether or not the poet clerk, yet much evidence from his tory as we'll as from the lines sus- experience in the law was of pro- fessional nature is unknown, but there is no doubt that he did have some personal experience in criminal law true.
 That Shakespeare was brought up in an atnosphere of Itigation is con of the chief unbelievers in the Shakespeare lawyer theory. He says
 that the little town of Stratford was
 the greater part of the population en- joyed their "potations of home-brew- ed ale. in the love of which they ex- cel1ed no less than in the love of lit igation, there being at that time about
 thirty ale houses in the town
 Cotinuing, MT. Devecmon asserts that shakespeare vas. not, not necessarily ,s anthology. The critic seeks to &C., count for Shakespeare's legal phrases from the fact that the poet was and that England is, and always has been, the true home of the lawyer: and the Englishnan takes as natur- ally to a legal contest as the Irish man to a rough and tumble fight, or the FTenchmap to duel.
 On the other hand, Lord Campbell, rr.etiees in 2 letter to MT. Payne Col Her, calls attention to the fact that in twenty three of thirty seven dra- mas generally attributed to Shakes law. After citing over one hundred Shakespearean quotations which illus trate some point of law, the writer 'dissects the will of Shakespeare and finds evidence of the poets having been clerk to an attorney at Strat- 1 ford previous to his joining the actors at London.
 gro Shakespeare law" says Lord Campbell, .slavfes,Iv as 70 @-7et,-ss- it, there can neither be demurrer. nor bill of exception, nor w. It Of slrof.1s
 Senator Cushnan K. Davis says:
 s'Shakespearess persistent and cor rect use of law terms was long ago noticed, and caused the conjecture that he must have studied in an at torney's office. What is the truth in his respect will probably never be cer- tainly known: but that he was more nomenclature than any (other) Eng fish writer (excepting, of course, the | jurists) is incontesta ble-'
 It would be possible within the scope of this article to present only | a few quotations taken from MT. Da- wis admirable book, entitled ..The | quotations are cited by text-writers | in illustration and support of some | definition. while American judges in l many instances have reserved the quotation for the climax of an Opin- | ion.
 MT. Levin, in his work on Trusts, was so taken with the way that An tonic handled the property of Shy lock that he quotes Antonio'S words in illustration of use. He writes as follows:
 as a use appears from the Merchant of Venice. Thus, when Shylock had forfeited one-half of his goods to the state. to be commuted for a fine. and and latter offered that, if the court. as representing the state, if the court, as representing the state, would forego | the forfeiture Of the other half. he, (Antoniol would content himself to | hold the other one-ha1f in use, that | is, in trust for Shyiock, for life. with remainder after ShytockS deaCns TOT Jessica's husband. :. So pleas my lord the duke and all To quit the fine for one-haIf of his
 goods; I am content so he will let me have 1 The other half in use-to render it, Upon his death, unto the gentleman | That lately stole his daughter.
 ssThis incarceration clears Antonfo's character from the charge of selfish ness, to which ;t would be exposed 1T he were to keep the half for his own use during life"
 man, 100 Mo. $50, sums up one Of the points in his opinion thus:
 'sThe testimony of the girl. when cOntr1StoQ W1tI LGE dCl1OiS. onIv Furnishes one of the long list i of instances of which that profound philosopher of human nature. Shakes peare. speaks. {. .rhe wiles and guiles that women
 work. Dissembled with an outward show"
 Tn Gall vs Bank, 50 ". Va. 604, Judge Dent in a. dissenting opinion gays:
 ssThe equity of this case is too plain for further comment. It is not, though, an infringement of the or dinary policy of the times to surrcn- tfa- edIIcatad haulxar