The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-16
WAS SHAKESPEARE A LAWYER?
By FREDERICK c. HICKS.
Law Librarian Of Columbia Universi

Wv
each in turn has kept the other
alive Is the question whether Shakespeare
was a lawyer. Like the dispute over the
authorship Of the plays, It has been stig-
matized as the most useless and unwar-
rsnted of mental exercises and heralded AZ
the most pregnant subject for literary
.-,,dy and criticism. But while the star Of
the Raconians seems definitely to be on the
wane the legalists still give out light, and
I. can safely he said Of the advocates Of
both theories that they have added to our
knowledge of that group Of plays the pre-
ominencc Of which in English literature 10
beyond question.
The tcrcentenary Of Shakespeare death
ls therefore an appropriate time to review
me literature dealing with the legal acquire.
7'ents of shakespeare, tracing II from IL
tcginning in 1890 to the present day To
weigh all Of the arguments and evidence Of
the various writer's pro and con. attempting
to reach a conclusion and thus inviting an
answer. is not the purpose Of this article.
The hope Is rather. standing on neutral
ground, TO map out the controversy As
shown in u selection Of books and magazine
articles. leaving the contestants to pursue
their own particular kind Of warfare.
II will he seen that here We find lawyer
against litterateur. as we'll as revolution
within each camp. It IL a battle Of knowl-
edge in which the lawyer renders O judy
ment on legal grounds only to be control
verted by the literary man. who says that
the lawyer speaks with no authority be.
oeuse he knows no literature. But the
literary man will not let the law alone, and
attempting to answer the arguments based
on + 10 met by the assertion, You know no
law. While this Il going on the historian
~ Of one or both. You speak a. Q child,
because you do not know life as II was in
me days Of Elizabeth. Bacon and Shake.
speefA
The susseston that Shakespeare had
besn trained In the law wal arst made BY
D6mond Malone. himself . 0arrister, IN his
mt edftton Of Shakespeare works pub
dShed IN 1850. IN the following words:
The comprehensive mind Of our pcet
nnoraced almost every object Of nature,
svery trade. every art. the manners Of
svery description Of men and the general
language Of almost every profession; but
As knowledge Of legal terms Is not such an
might Do acquired by tho casual ohsery1-
ton OF even his all compromising mind; Il
has the appearance Of technical skill. ana
he IS 80 fond Of displaying It on all occa-
SONS that ! suspect he was early initiated
IN at least tho forms OF law and was en-
p.oyed while he remained at Stratford in
the once of some country attorney who
Vas at the same time a petty c~onveyancer
ard perhaps also the seneschal OF some
manor court"
THIS innocent conjecture was used az q
cid-cl AGAINST its author following his
publication in 1896 OF an Exposure Of
~" ireland F"rSerics.' an inquiry into the
Authenticity of certain papers attributed to
SljNoSl"ii". George Chalmers took the
npp"sit" Wow "f these papers. now known
%. plNs. t..f- ,r,,.ri,. a..p l.. t.n. -
a. "Apology FOR the Believers in the
Shakespeare %I'apcrs." in which he thus
rreIovantly expresses ~disapproval OF Ma
ones suggestions:
'Mr. Malone places the aspiring poet in
he office of some country attorney. or the
,"n'S'haI of some manor court and for
MS violation of probability he produces
many passages from his dramas to evince
Shakespeare technical skill in the forms
"l law. ''' But was it not the practice
. the times for other makers. like the
zoos toli!ng from every flower the v~lrtuous
sN"etS. to gather from the thistles OF the
,aw the sweetest honey?
No; suca an intellect. when employed
on the drudgery of a wool stapler, who had
been high bailif of Stratford-upon-Avon,
might have derived all that was necessary
from a very few books: from Totell's
Presidents, l572; from Pulton's Statutes.
1873. and from the LAWYERS Logike. 1855.
II IS one of the aXioms of the Flores
an.,
- -" "e"' ""''' '""''"''s
srna,o =. "atse ~
..'I''''"'' "poiosE' puo''si'eo III 1883
-, Wv ''"' ,r"'''" tnc cont.o'ers! wen on
10 way '.c Su"Ject oiu not however.
a."ac' Ih"ch attention uhtI the midoie
y '"c l'.l century, When W English
""EerS Almost simultaneously employed
',l'r lesai acumen in support OF Malone's
U'"orE'
IN The hrSt week OF August, 1858. Will
am l." ltushton, a Liverpool attorney.
punished a nth" book of fifty pages en-