Page:1909. Is Shakespeare Dead? From My Autobiography.djvu/110

IS SHAKESPEARE DEAD? legal technicalities has ever yet succeeded in keeping himself from tripping."

A lame conclusion. "No other supposition" indeed! Yes, there is another, and a very obvious supposition, namely, that Shakespeare was himself a lawyer, well versed in his trade, versed in all the ways of the courts, and living in close intimacy with judges and members of the Inns of Court.

One is, of course, thankful that Mr. Collins has appreciated the fact that Shakespeare must have had a sound legal training, but I may be forgiven if I do not attach quite so much importance to his pronouncements on this branch of the subject as to those of Malone, Lord Campbell, Judge Holmes, Mr. Castle, K.C., Lord Penzance, Mr. Grant White, and other lawyers, who have expressed their opinion on the matter of Shakespeare's legal acquirements. &hellip;

Here it may, perhaps, be worth while to quote again from Lord Penzance' s book as to the suggestion that Shakespeare had somehow or other managed "to acquire a perfect familiarity with legal principles, and an 96