;&&!: 
 
 ma 
 
 !\^- : f-ra 
 
 IllMl 
 
 
 
 
 f'^^mjy 
 
JVo..... 
 
 Division 
 
 Range 
 
 Shelf 
 
 Received 
 
 V3 
 
 
 
 ?i 
 & 
 
p> 
 
 
 !> > _> > 
 
 2> > J 
 
 S> > > 
 
 3->;> 
 .2> > 
 >^> > 
 ^>.?i> > 
 
 r TK>^ ^> 
 
 t3>> v >:> 
 >^> ^ 
 
 > o^> y_> 
 
 
 
 ^ >> Qt> 
 
 ) > >> 
 D > >> i 
 . > > >^ 
 ^ > ^"J 3>' 
 > > P> 
 

Library 
 
 California 
 
THE TOMB OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
THE 
 
 HOME OF SHAKSPEARE, 
 
 ILLUSTRATED AND DESCRIBED. 
 
 BY F. W. FAIRHOLT, F. S. A. 
 
 AUTHOR OP " COSTUME IN ENGLAND," ETC. 
 
 THIRTY-THREE ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 WM. TAYLOR & CO., 
 
 151 NASSAU-STREET, CORNER OF SPRUCE. 
 

THE 
 
 HOME OF SHAKSPERE, 
 
 ALL that is known with any degree of certainty concerning 
 Shakspere is that he was born at Stratford-upon-Avon married 
 and had children there went to London, where he commenced 
 actor, and wrote poems and plays returned to Stratford, made his 
 will, died, and was buried. Such is the concise biography of our 
 greatest poet, as given by Steevens ; and although volumes have 
 been written, more or less conjectural, on his life and times, they 
 scarcely add a single fact to the meagre list of ordinary events he 
 has enumerated. Slight, however, as these notices are, they invest 
 the humble town of Stratford-upon-Avon with an interest which it 
 would not otherwise possess. It was peculiarly the home of Shaks- 
 pere : here he was born ; here he passed his early youth ; here he 
 courted and won Anne Hathaway ; here he sought that retirement 
 which the avocations of his London career would occasionally allow 
 him to indulge in ; and here, when in riper age he had won honours 
 and fortune in the great capital, he chose to return, and pass the 
 latter days of a life where he had first seen the light : at Stratford 
 he died and was buried. " From the birthplace of Shakspere," says 
 Washington Irving, " a few paces brought me to his grave." 
 
 All that connects itself with the personal history of " the world's 
 poet" at Stratford is thus almost as closely condensed as are the 
 
6 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 few words quoted above, which form his biography. A day at Strat- 
 ford affords ample time to visit all these places ; they lie so close, 
 that a few minutes' walk only separates them. In these days of 
 change, when the birthplace of the Poet is scarcely safe, and Strat- 
 ford is threatened with the spoliation of what little remains to it, it 
 must be a work of interest to record and picture the few relics con- 
 nected with the Bard of Avon, the more particularly as alterations 
 are continually taking place there ; which, if they do not destroy, 
 do at least change the aspect of much that is interesting to all lovers 
 of the poet, and " their name is legion." We will therefore con- 
 duct the reader over Stratford and its neighborhood, minutely des- 
 cribing all that at present exists, and enumerating what has passed 
 away, commencing our journey at 
 
 SHAKSPERE'S BIRTHPLACE. 
 
 The house in Henley Street, as it at present exists, is but a frag- 
 ment of the original building as purchased by John Shakspere, the 
 Poet's father, in 1574, ten years exactly after the birth of his son 
 William, the entry of whose baptism is dated in the parish register, 
 April 26, 1564. John Shakspere had purchased in 1555 a copyhold 
 house in Henley Street, but this was not the house now shown as 
 the Poet's birthplace ; he had also another copyhold residence in 
 Greenhill Street, and some property at Ingon, a mile and a quarter 
 from Stratford, on the road to Warwick. From these circumstances 
 a modern doubt has been cast on the truthfulness of the tradition 
 which assigns the house in Henley Street to be the Poet's birthplace. 
 Mr. Knight says : " William Shakspere, then, might have been born 
 at either of his father's copyhold houses in Greenhill Street or in 
 Henley Street; he might have been born at Ingon, or his father 
 might have occupied one of the two freehold houses in Henley 
 
1 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 9 
 
 Street at the time of the birth of his eldest son. Tradition 
 
 that William Shakspere teas born in one of these houses ; tradition 
 points out the very room in which he was born. Let us not disturb 
 the belief" A wise conclusion ! Antiquarian credulity has given 
 place to an extreme degree of scepticism ; and from believing too 
 much, we are now too much given to believe too little; add to 
 this the anxiety which many evince to write about Shakspere, al- 
 though little else but conjecture in its vaguest form be the result; 
 and the value of the modern conjecture as opposed to the ancient 
 tradition may very readily be estimated. Let Stratford ever sacred- 
 ly preserve the venerable structure with which she is entrusted; 
 pilgrims from all climes have felt a glow of enthusiasm beneath the 
 humble roof in Henley Street. Let no rude pen destroy such heart- 
 homage, or seek to deprive us of the little we possess connected 
 with our immortal countryman ! 
 
 When John Shakspere purchased this house from Edmund Hall 
 for forty pounds, it was described in the legal documents as two 
 messuages, two gardens, and two orchards, with their appurtenances. 
 It passed at his death to his son William, and from him to his sister 
 Joan Hart, who was residing there in 1639, and probably until her 
 death in 1646. Throughout the Poet's life the house is thus inti- 
 mately connected with him. Its original features may be seen in 
 our first view, which was taken in 1769. It was a large building, 
 the timbers of substantial oak, the walls filled in with plaster. The 
 dormer windows and gable, the deep porch, the projecting parlour, 
 and bay window, all contribute to render it exceedingly picturesque. 
 The division of the house into two tenements is here very visible. 
 The changes it has undergone since this view was taken, and which 
 has reduced the original building to a mere fragment, will be best 
 understood by a glance at our next two views. In 1792, when Ire- 
 land visited the house, it exhibited the appearance given in the 
 
10 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 upper portion of our third plate. The dormer windows and gable 
 had been removed ; the bay window beneath the gable had given 
 place to an ordinary flat lattice-window of four lights ; the porch in 
 front of that portion of the building in which Shakspere was born 
 was removed, and a butcher's shop-front constructed. At this time 
 there lived here a descendant of Joan Hart, sister to the Poet, who 
 pursued the humble occupation of a butcher. The other half of the 
 house was at this time converted into an inn, and ultimately sunk 
 into a low public-house. It had been known as the Maidenhead 
 Inn in 1642 ; and when, in 1806, the house was disposed of to Mr. 
 Thomas Court, who became "mine host" thereof, he combined that 
 name with the one it then held of the Swan. About 1820, excited 
 by a desire for " improvement," he destroyed the original appear- 
 ance of this portion of the building by constructing a new red-brick 
 front, exactly of the approved fashion in which rows of houses are 
 built in small towns, and which consists generally of an alternate 
 door and window, repeated at regular intervals below, while a mon- 
 otonous range of windows above effectually repulses attention. 
 This brings us to its present aspect, delineated in the lower cut of 
 Plate 3. The house is now divided into three tenements ; the cen- 
 tral one is the portion set apart for exhibition, in the back rooms of 
 which live the proprietors ; the shop, the room above, and the kitch- 
 en, are sacred to visitors. When the lower part of the central ten- 
 ement was made to serve for a butcher's shop, its window was re- 
 moved, and has not been replaced ; and when the butcher's trade 
 ceased, a few years since, no attempt at restoration was made, and 
 the shop still retains the signs of its late occupation. The old win- 
 dow in the upper story, originally a lattice of three lights, had been 
 altered into one of four ; and modern squares of glass usurped the 
 place of the old leaded diamond-panes. A board for flower-pots 
 was erected in front of the window ; but more recently a large, ob- 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 11 
 
 trusive, rudely -painted sign-board projects from the front to tell us 
 "the immortal Shakspere was born in this house." Such is its 
 present external aspect : " it is a small, mean-looking edifice," says 
 Irving ; it was not so in Shakspere's time. 
 
 Ascending the step, we pass into the shop. The door is di- 
 vided into a hatch, and we look back into the street above the 
 lower half, and through the open window of the shop, with its pro- 
 jecting stall for meat, and its wooden roof above. The walls of 
 this room are of plaster, and the solid oak beams rest on the stone 
 foundation. On entering, the visitor looks towards the kitchen, 
 through the open door communicating with the shop. On the right 
 is a roomy fire-place, the sides built of brick, ana having the chim- 
 ney-piece above cut with a low-pointed arch out of a massive beam 
 of oak. To the left of the door is a projection in the wall, which 
 forms a recess or " bacon cupboard," the door of which opens in 
 the side of the kitchen chimney of the adjoining room. The floor 
 
12 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 is covered with flag-stones, broken into fifty varied shapes ; the roof 
 displays the bare timbers upon which the upper story rests. 
 
 A raised step leads from the shop to the kitchen ; it is a small 
 square room, with a stone floor and a roof of massive timbers. A 
 door opposite the shop leads to an inner room, inhabited by the 
 person who shews the house. The fireplace here is large and 
 roomy, the mantel-tree a solid beam of oak. Within the fireplace, 
 on one side, is a hatch, opening to the " bacon cupboard" already 
 spoken of; on the opposite side, is a small arched recess fora chair: 
 here often sat John Shakspere ; and here his young son William 
 passed his earliest days. Ireland compares the kitchen to the sub- 
 jects which " so frequently employed the rare talents of Ostade." 
 In the corner of the chimney stood an old oak chair, which had for 
 a number of years received nearly as many adorers as the celebrated 
 shrine of the Lady of Loretto. This relic was purchased in July 
 1790 by the Princess Czartoryska, who made a journey to this place, 
 in order to obtain intelligence relative to Shakspere ; and being told 
 he had often sat in this chair, she placed herself in it, and expressed 
 an ardent wish to become the purchaser; but being informed that it 
 was not to be sold at any price, she left a handsome gratuity to old 
 Mrs. Harte, and left the place with apparent regret. About four 
 'months after, the anxiety of the princess could no longer be with- 
 held, and her secretary was despatched express', as the fit agent, to 
 purchase this treasure at any rate ; the sum of twenty guineas was 
 the price fixed on, and the secretary and chair, with a proper certi- 
 ficate of its authenticity on stamped paper, set off in a chaise for 
 London. 
 
 With that anxiety to supply relic-hunters who visit Stratford, and 
 who sometimes feel disappointed with the little which remains there 
 connected with the Poet, the absence of the genuine chair was not 
 long felt. A very old chair is still in the place ; and Washington 
 
PLATE III 
 
 SHAKSPERE'S BIRTHPLACE, 1792. 
 
 SHAKSPERE'S BIRTHPLACE, 1847. 
 
 13 
 
PLATE IV. 
 
 SHARSPERE'S BIRTHPLACE INTERIOR OF T#E SHOP. 
 
 SHAKSPERE'S BIR THPLACE _ THE 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 17 
 
 Irving thus speaks of a chair he saw in 1820 : " The most favorite 
 object of curiosity, however, is Shakspere's chair. It stands in the 
 chimney-nook of a small gloomy chamber, just behind what was his 
 father's shop. Here he may many a time have sat when a boy, 
 watching the slowly-revolving spit with all the longing of an urchin ; 
 or of an evening, listening to the crones and gossips of Stratford, 
 dealing forth churchyard tales and legendary anecdotes of the 
 troublesome times of England. In this chair it is the custom for 
 every one that visits the house to sit ; whether this is done with the 
 hope of imbibing any of the inspiration of the bard I am at a loss 
 to say ; I merely mention the fact ; and mine hostess privately as- 
 sured me, that though built of solid oak, such was the present zeal 
 of devotees, that the chair had to be new-bottomed at least once in 
 three years. It is worthy of notice also, in the history of this ex- 
 traordinary chair, that it partakes something of the volatile nature 
 of the Santa Casa of Loretto, or the flying chair of the Arabian 
 enchanter; for though sold some years since to a northern princess, 
 yet, strange to tell, it has found its way back again to the old chim- 
 ney-corner." 
 
 Of the sort of Shaksperian relics exhibited in the house at this 
 time he gives an amusing list. " There was the shattered stock of 
 the very matchlock with which Shakspere shot the deer, on his 
 poaching exploit ; there, too, was his tobacco-box, which proves that 
 he was a rival smoker of Sir Walter Raleigh ; the sword also with 
 which he played Hamlet ; and the identical lanthorn with which 
 Friar Laurence discovered Romeo and Juliet. There was an am- 
 ple supply also of Shakspere's mulberry-tree, which seems to have 
 as extraordinary powers of self-multiplication as the wood of the 
 true cross, of which there is enough extant to build a ship of the 
 line." 
 
 Opposite the fire-place in the kitchen is a window, and beside 
 
18 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 this is the stair which leads into the room in which the Poet was 
 born. It is a low-roofed apartment, receiving its only light from the 
 large window in front. The same huge beams project from the 
 plastered walls, one of considerable solidity crossing the ceiling. 
 The fire-place projects close to the door which leads into the room; 
 an immense beam of oak forms the mantel tree ; a large piece is cut 
 out of one corner, the work of an enthusiastic young lady so said 
 the late proprietress, who declares that she was kept in conversation 
 below by the lady's female friend while the act was done. She 
 told many similar stories of Shaksperian enthusiasm, and never left 
 the room or lost sight of any one after this daring trick. To be 
 permitted to sleep in the room, she stated, was a very ordinary re- 
 quest made to her which she occasionally gratified ; while such fits 
 of enthusiasm as bursting into tears, or falling down and kissing the 
 floor, were ordinary matters, scarcely worth her noticing. 
 
 Of the old furniture in this room, and that throughout the house, 
 it may be hardly necessary to remark, that it has no absolute con- 
 nexion with Shakspere. A portrait of Shakspere, on panel, a poor 
 performance, was brought from the White Lion Inn, a few doors 
 from this house. 
 
 In this room the visitor, if he pleases, may sign his name in the 
 book kept for that purpose. About 1815, the conductors of the 
 public library at Stratford gave to Mrs. Hornby, the then proprie- 
 tress of the house, a book for that purpose, the walls and windows 
 having been covered before. Among many hundreds of names of 
 persons of all grades and countries, occur those of Byron, Scott, 
 and Washington Irving, the latter three times. Many are accom- 
 panied by expressions of feeling, others by stanzas and attempts at 
 poetry, which have been thus commented upon by one among the 
 
 number : 
 
 " Ah Shakspeare, when we read the votive scrawls 
 With which well-meaning folks deface these walls ; 
 
o 
 o 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 21 
 
 | 
 
 And while we seek in vain some lucky hit, 
 
 Amidst the lines whose nonsense nonsense smothers, 
 
 We find, unlike thy Falstaff in his wit, 
 Thou art not here the cause of wit in others." 
 
 The most curious feature of the room is the myriad of pencilled 
 and inked autographs which cover walls, windows, and ceiling, and 
 which cross and recross each other occasionally, so closely written, 
 and so continuous, that it gives the walls the appearance of being 
 covered with fine spider-web. Irving, speaking of the house, says : 
 " The walls of its squalid chambers are covered with names and 
 inscriptions in every language, by pilgrims of all nations, ranks, and 
 conditions, from the prince to the peasant, and present a simple but 
 striking instance of the spontaneous and universal homage of man- 
 kind to the great Poet of Nature." Books for the entry of names 
 are now kept. 
 
 In the adjoining public-house, when Ireland visited it in 1792, 
 was a square of glass upon which was painted the arms of the mer- 
 chants of the Wool Staple, which he considered to be conclusive 
 evidence of the trade of Shakspere's father, who by some author 
 was said to have been a dealer in wool. Aubrey assures us he was 
 a butcher. Mr. Knight has clearly pointed out the likely origin of 
 both stories, in the custom of landed proprietors, like John Shaks- 
 pere, selling their own cattle and wool. The glass was brought 
 here from the Guild Chapel. It therefore has no connexion with 
 Shakspere. 
 
 In a lower room of the public-house, Ireland also saw " a curious 
 ancient monument over the chimney, relieved in plaster, which from 
 the date, 1606, that was originally marked on it, was probably put 
 up at the time, and possibly by the Poet himself. In 1759 it was 
 repaired and painted in a variety of colors by the old Mr. Thomas 
 Harte before-mentioned." Upon the scroll over the figures was in- 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 scribed, 'Samuel xvii. A. D. 1606;' and round the border, in a 
 " continuous line, was this stanza in black letter : 
 
 comes toft!) sfoorB an& spear 
 a sltnjj; 
 e antj stoeare, 
 |)fm 
 
 We copy Ireland's engraving of this solitary fragment of the in- 
 ternal decoration of Shakspere's house ; although we much question 
 the propriety of imagining the possibility of Shakspere placing such 
 ludicrous doggrel there. The house was at that time in the occu- 
 pation of his sister ; and she most probably resided in the other half 
 of this then large tenement. So that neither may have been guilty 
 of it The bas-relief was carried away some years ago by the pro- 
 prietor of the inn. 
 
 The font in which the Poet was christened is here engraved. It 
 
Library. 
 
PLATE VI. 
 
 EXTERIOR OF THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 
 
 INTERIOR THE MATHEMATICAL-SCHOOL. 
 
 24 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 25 
 
 is but a fragment, the upper portion only. The same style was 
 adopted with singular good taste for the new font in the church, 
 which may therefore be considered as a restoration of it. Mr. 
 Knight has thus given its history : " The parochial accounts of 
 Stratford shew that about the middle of the seventeenth century a 
 new font was set up. The beautiful relic of an older time, from 
 which William Shakspere had received the baptismal water, was, 
 after many years, found in the old charnel-house. When that was 
 pulled down it was kicked into the churchyard, and half a century 
 ago was removed by the parish-clerk to form the trough of a pump 
 at his cottage. Of the parish-clerk it was bought by the late Cap- 
 tain Saunders ; and from his possession came into that of the pres- 
 ent owner. Mr. Heritage, a builder at Stratford." It is still in his 
 possession. The font shewn at the Shakspere Arms is reported to 
 have been brought from the neighboring church of Bidford. 
 
 From the house where Shakspere was born to the place where he 
 obtained his " small Latin and less Greek," is but a short distance. 
 
 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 
 
 is situated in the High Street, beside the Chapel of the Guild, or 
 of the Holy Cross, a good specimen of the ecclesiastical architecture 
 of the reign of Henry VII. ; and the interior of which was origin- 
 ally decorated with a series of remarkable paintings ; the principal 
 being the legendary history of the Holy Cross. In this chapel, at 
 one time, the school was held ; and an order in the corporation 
 books, dated February, 1594, directs " that there shall be no school 
 kept in the chapel from this time following." The occupation of 
 the chapel as a school may have been but a temporary thing ; but 
 Shakspere may have imbibed some portion of his learning within 
 its walls. The foundation of the Grammar School took place in 
 the reign of Edward IV. In 1482, Thomas Jolyffe gave certain 
 
 g 
 
26 
 
 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 lands and tenements to the Guild of the Holy Cross, to maintain " a 
 priest fit and able in knowledge to teach grammar freely to all 
 scholars coming to the school in the said town to him, taking noth- 
 ing of the scholars for their teaching." On the dissolution of the 
 guild, Edward VI., in the seventh year of his reign, ordered that 
 "the free grammar school for the instruction and education of boys 
 and youth there, should be thereafter kept up and maintained as here- 
 tofore it used to be." 
 
 The Latin schoolroom is situated over the old Guildhall, and is 
 that portion of the building nearest the chapel. It is a perfectly 
 plain room, with a low plaster ceiling ; but from the massive beams 
 at the sides of the room, and those above the modern piaster, to 
 which the struts from the side beams form a support, as well as from 
 the external appearance of the deeply-pitched roof, there can be 
 little doubt that an open timber roof originally decorated this apart- 
 
H 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 w 
 w 
 
 H 
 (4 
 P 
 O 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 29 
 
 ment The Mathematical schoolroom beside it has a flat roof, crossed 
 by two beams of the Tudor era ; and in the centre of the roof, where 
 they meet each other, is a circular ornament or boss. The school 
 has been recently repaired, and it has entirely lost its look of an- 
 tiquity. A few years ago there were many very old desks and form, 
 there ; and one among them was termed Shakspere's desk. It is 
 now kept below. We engrave a representation of it. The tradi- 
 
 tion which assigned it to Shakspere may be very questionable ; its 
 being the oldest and in the worst condition may have been the 
 reason for such an appropriation. The boys of the school very gen- 
 erally carried away some portion of it as a memento, and the relic- 
 hunters frequently behaved as boyishly, so that a great portion of th r 
 old wood has been abstracted. 
 
 The court-yard of the school presented many features of interest ; 
 but the hand of modern " improvement" has swept them away. On 
 a visit to Stratford eight years ago, the author obtained the following 
 sketch. The schools were at that time approached by an antique 
 external stair, roofed with tile, and up which the boys had ascended 
 from the time of Shakspere. This characteristic feature has passed 
 away ; its only record is the cut now given ; the court-yard has been 
 subdivided and walled ; and the original character of this portion of 
 the building has departed for ever. 
 
30 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 For the mementoes of Shakspere's later life, we must look m the 
 neighborhood of Stratford. Tradition assigns adventures and visits 
 to many places in its vicinity ; but the most important locality with 
 which his name is connected is the Park of Sir Thomas Lucy at 
 Charlecote. 
 
 This \vas tne scene of his deer-stealing adventures, which led, 
 says tradition, to his quarrel with Sir Thomas, to a lampoon by the 
 Poet, which occasioned him to leave Stratford for London in greater 
 haste than he wished, and produced his connexion with thetheatres. 
 Of these tales we must speak farther on. But first let us say a few 
 words on this ancient mansion. 
 
 Dugdale has given the history of Charlecote and its lords with 
 much minuteness. It is mentioned in Domesday Book ; and its old 
 Saxon name Ceorlcote the home of the husbandman carries us 
 back to years before the Conquest. The present house was built in 
 1558 by Thomas Lucy, who in 1593 was knighted by Queen Eliza- 
 beth. It stands at a short distance from, and at some little eleva- 
 tion above, the river Avon. The building forms three sides of a 
 quadrangle, the fourth being occupied by a handsome central gate- 
 house, some distance in advance of the main building. The 
 octangular turrets on each side, and the oriel window over the gate, 
 are peculiar and pleasing features. The house retains its gables 
 and angular towers, but has suffered from the introduction of the 
 large and heavy sash-windows of the time of William III. or George 
 I. In Thomas's edition of Dugdale's Warivickshire. published in 
 1730, there is an interesting " East prospect of Charlecote," drawn 
 by H. Beighton in 1722, which gives a curious bird's eye view of 
 the entire house and gardens in their original state ; that is, in the 
 state in which Skakspere would see them. A reduced copy of this 
 view appears opposite. There is another view,- showing the back 
 of the house from the river, preserved in the hall, and which appears 
 
> 
 
 H 
 
 81 
 
Library. 
 
34 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 35 
 
 to have been painted about the reign of James II. It shows the 
 building to have been at that time precisely in the same condition ; 
 and as all modernisation has affected the interior principally, the 
 exterior aspect is now much the same as it was in the daysof the Poet 
 
 Passing through the old gate, we enter the court-yard, which, in 
 place of the old fountain and circular tank of water, is now laid out 
 in flower-bed. The hall is entered by a porch having the family 
 arms and crest at each angle. We give a view of the interior as it 
 is now. It has undergone alterations since Washington Irving 
 thus described it in his Sketch-book : " The ceiling is arched and 
 lofty ; and at one end is a gallery, in which stands an organ [this 
 has now been removde]. The weapons; and trophies of the chase, 
 which formerly adorned the hall of a country gentleman, have made 
 way for family portraits. There is a wide hospitable fireplace, 
 calculated for an ample old fashioned wood fire, formerly the rally- 
 ing place of winter festivity. On the opposite side of the hall is 
 
36 
 
 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 j 
 
 the huge Gothic bow-window with stone shafts, which looks out 
 upon the court-yard. Here are emblazoned, in stained glass, the 
 armorial bearings of the Lucy family for many generations, some 
 being dated in 1558 I was delighted to observe in the quarterings 
 the three white luces, by which the character of Sir Thomas was 
 first identified with that of Jus- 
 tice Shallow." The seal of Sir 
 Thomas Lucy, here engraved, 
 exhibits the three white luces 
 interlaced. The autograph is 
 
 written in a bold hand. Our 
 
 cut is reduced to one half the size of the ori- 
 ginal. The document from which it is obtained 
 is in the possession of Mr. Wheler, of Strat- 
 ford-on-Avon, and is appended to the presen- 
 tation of the Rev. Richard Hill to the rectory 
 of Hampton Lucy, in the gift of Sir Thomas ? 
 and is dated October 8th, 1586. Upon the 
 vanes of the house at Charlecote, the three 
 luces interlaced between cross crosslets are 
 also displayed ; an engraving of one of 
 these vanes may be seen in Moule's Heraldry 
 of Fish, p. 55, who says: "The pike of the fisherman is the luce 
 of heraldry ; a name derived from the old French language lus, 
 or from the Latin lucius ; as a charge it was very early used 
 oy heralds as a pun upon the name of Lucy." 
 
 The deer-stealing story, unlike a matter of fact, has grown to be 
 more defined and clear the nearer it approaches our own time. It first 
 commences by traditionary stories loosely put down, and exceedingly 
 inaccurate in detail. Mention is made of a lost ballad satirising Sir 
 Thomas. By and by a Stanza is found ; and ultimately we get the 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 37 
 
 entire ballad, about as scurrilous and worthless a composition as 
 ever forger fixed on a great man. This ballad is evidently made up 
 from the allusions in the first scene of the Merry Wives of Windsor^ 
 which, as Malone observes, "certainly afford ground for believing 
 that our author, on some account or other, had not the most profound 
 respect for Sir Thomas Lucy. The ' dozen white luces,' however, 
 which Shallow is made to commend as l a good coat,' was not Sir 
 Thomas Lucy's coat of arms." Granting, however, that Shakspere 
 had in his youthful days mixed with " roysterers," which is far from 
 unlikely, the offence of deer-stealing at that time was looked upon 
 in a very different light from that in which we should now view it. 
 The laxity of game-laws then, and the sympathy with which popu- 
 lar feeling regarded the act, re-echoed only the sentiments rendered 
 popular by the constant singing of the Robin Hood ballads ; and 
 viewed such adventures much as we should regard the boyish 
 robbing of an orchard. The plays and pomes of the period abound 
 with the expression of similar sentiments. In the play of The 
 Merry Devil of Edmonton, mine Host and Sir John the Priest both 
 join in the fun of deer-stealing ; the Host declaring, " I'll have a 
 buck till I die, I'll slay a doe while I live." Reputation was not 
 lost by such outbreaks ; and Shakspere might have stolen a deer 
 without any serious consequences. It is commonly related at the 
 time as often done. Malone has quoted many passages to prove 
 this ; and in Reynolds' Epigrammasticon, 1642, occurs the following 
 lines, which are conclusive : 
 
 " Harry and I ; in youth long since, 
 Did doughty deeds, but some nonsense : 
 We read our books, we sang our song, 
 We stole a deer, who thought it wrong ? 
 To cut a purse deserves but hanging, 
 To steel a deer deserves btct banging." 
 
38 
 
 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 Shakspere may therefore have stolen a deer; Sir Thomas ma. 
 have treated the matter a little more seriously than was generally 
 the wont with those who only judged of other's property ; but the 
 vindictiveness and ill-feeling of the whole story is the invention of 
 more modern times. Sir Thomas appears to have been an exem- 
 plary country gentleman. He died Aug. 18, 1600, and is buried in 
 Charlecote Church, a short distance from the family seat. His 
 effigy, and that of his wife, are sculptured there. They are exe- 
 cuted in a masterly manner, and may be considered as careful 
 
 portraits. That of the knight has been given by Ireland, but his 
 copy has no resemblance to the original. The cut here engraved 
 is a more careful copy of a finer head than any Justice Shallow 
 could show. That Sir Thomas had an equally fine heart, the epi- 
 taph on the black slab in the recess at the back of the tomb will shew. 
 With singular good taste his own name is not mentioned ; but his 
 
X! 
 
 S3 
 O 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 H 
 
 rt 
 
library. 
 
 ^^r 
 
 Of 
 

 Library 
 
o 
 D 
 O 
 
 H 
 H 
 O 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 fe 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 43 
 
 wife's virtues are recorded in the following touching and beautiful 
 inscription : 
 
 HERE ENTOMBED LYETH THE LADY JOYCE LUCY, WIFE OF SIR 
 THOMAS LUCY, OF CHERLECOTE, IN THE COUNTY OF WARWICK, 
 KNIGHT, DAUGHTER AND HEIR OF THOMAS ACTON, OF SUTTON, IN 
 THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, ESQUIER, WHO DEPARTED OUT OF 
 THIS WRETCHED WORLD TO HER HEAVENLY KINGDOME, THE TENTH 
 DAY OF FEBRUARY, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD GOD 1595, OF HER 
 AGE LX. AND THREE. ALL THE TIME OF HER LIFE A TRUE AND 
 FAITHFUL SERVANT OF HER GOOD GOD, NEVER DETECTED OF ANY 
 CRIME OR VICE ; IN RELIGION MOST SOUND J IN LOVE TO HER HUS- 
 BAND MOST FAITHFULL AND TRUE ; IN FRIENDSHIP MOST CON- 
 STANT ; TO "WHAT WAS IN TRUST COMMITTED TO HER MOST SECRET ; 
 IN WISDOME EXCELLING; IN GOVERNING OF HER HOUSE, AND BRING- 
 ING UP OF YOUTH IN THE FEARE OF GOD THAT DID CONVERSE WITH 
 HER, MOST RARE AND SINGULAR. A GREAT MAINTAINER OF HOSPI- 
 TALITY ; GREATLY ESTEEMED OF HER BETTERS ; MISLIKED OF NONE 
 UNLESS OF THE ENVIOUS. WHEN ALL IS SPOKEN THAT CAN BE 
 SAID, A WOMAN SO FURNISHED AND GARNISHED WITH VIRTUE, AS 
 NOT TO BE BETTERED, AND HARDLY TO BE EQUALLED BY ANY. AS 
 SHE LIVED MOST VIRTUOUSLY, SO SHE DYED MOST GODLY. SET 
 DOWN BY HIM THAT BEST DID KNOW WHAT HATH BEEN WRITTEN 
 TO BE TRUE. THOMAS LUCY. 
 
 Respected be the memory of Sir Thomas ! A boyish outbreak, 
 if rebuked harshly in a moment of irritability, was, we are sure, 
 forgiven and forgotten by Shakspere, whom we know to have been 
 in friendly communication with the family afterwards. The dignity 
 
44 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 -.. 
 
 of a great man's biography should not be broken up by such tales. 
 This deer-stealing story has even become more firmly fixed in an 
 adjoining locality, where we are certain it could not be true. Ful- 
 brooke Park is made the scene of the exploit, and Ireland engraves 
 the keeper's lodge there, in which Shakspere was confined when 
 caught in his lawlessness. The deer-barn at the same place, where 
 Shakspere concealed the venisn he stole, is also shewn. Mr. Knight, 
 to whom belongs the merit of investigating clearly the whole of this 
 deer-stealing story, says, " A word or two disposes of this part of 
 this tradition : Fulbrooke Park did not come into the possession of 
 the Lucy family till the grandson of Sir Thomas purchased it in the 
 reign of James I. ! " 
 
 Passing from all unpleasant reminiscences of Shakspere's resi- 
 dence at Stratford, let us take a quiet walk by the field-path that 
 leads to 
 
 ANNE HATHA WAY'S COTTAGE. 
 
 By this footway the Poet must have often wandered in the even- 
 ing to his " lady-love." It is a pleasant walk a short mile from 
 Stratford. Quiet and luxuriant is the landscape which meets the 
 eye all around : corn-fields, and pasture-land, and snug farms ; the 
 quiet, old-fashioned gables of Shottery before ; the wood-embosom- 
 ed houses of Stratford behind ; where from among the trees shoots 
 up the elegant spire of one of the most beautiful of our country 
 churches. Shottery abouds with old half-timbered houses ; and one 
 now a little road-side inn, called " The Shakspere," is a capital ex- 
 ample, and stands beside the field-path at the commencement of the 
 lane leading to Anne's house. Proceeding down this lane, we 
 cross a brook ; a few yards farther, and we reach the house. It is a 
 long thatched tenement of timber and plaster, substantially built 
 
45 
 
'<: : 
 
 ir* 
 
 Library 
 
IH 
 1697 
 
 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 47 
 
 upon a foundation of squared slabs of lias shale, which is a charac- 
 teristic of the* Warwickshire cottages, and is seen in Shakspere's 
 birthplace, as already noted. On looking 
 up at the central chimney, the spectator 
 may be startled at the date which is here 
 engraved. It is cut on stone, and let into 
 the bricks ; and simply records the repara- 
 tion of the house by John Hathaway, who 
 appears to have done much for its comforts, 
 
 as we shall see. But the house itself has 
 
 come in for a share of the doubts which 
 
 nave succeeded the credulity of past times, and it has been declared 
 not to be Anne's father's. Mr. Knight has sifted the evidence, and 
 triumphantly disproved the doubt. John Hathaway held property 
 at Shottery in 1543. Richard Hathaway, the father of Anne, was 
 intimate with Shakspere's father, for the latter stood as his bondman 
 in an action at law dated 1576. There is no doubt that the Hatha- 
 ways held the house here long before ; the purchase was, however, only 
 effected in 1606. That Anne should be described as " of Stratford " 
 in the marriage-bond is not singular : Shottery is but a hamlet of 
 the parish of Stratford. 
 
 This house, like Shakspere's birthplace, is subdivided into three 
 tenements. By referring to our engraving of the exterior from the 
 garden, this will be most clearly understood. The square, compact, 
 and taller half of the building to the reader's left forms one house. 
 The other two are divided by the passage, which runs entirely through 
 the lower half, from the door in front, to which the steps lead, to that 
 seen close to the railings in our back view. This passage serves 
 for both tenements. That to the right on entering consists of one 
 large room below, with a chimney extending the whole width of the 
 house, with an oven and boiler ; shewing that this was the principal 
 kitchen when the house was all in one. The door to the left leads 
 
48 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 into the parlor, which is here engraved. It is a large, low-roofed 
 room, ceiled with strong beams of timber, and much resembling the 
 
 kitchen of Shakspere's birthplace. A "bacon cupboard" of simi- 
 lar construction, is also on the left side of the fire-place, upon the 
 transverse bar of which is cut " I H E H I B 1697," the initials of 
 John Hathaway, his wife Anne, and, it may be, the maker of the 
 door, which has been cut ornamentally. The first two initials and 
 the date are the same as upon the large chimney, which belongs to 
 this room, and which has been already noticed. Upon an old table 
 beneath the window, " M H " is carved ; all indicative of the pro- 
 prietors. Mr. Knight says: "The Shottery property, which was 
 called Hewland, remained with the descendants of the Hathaways 
 till 1838." The present resident in this central tenement is the 
 granddaughter of John Hathaway Taylor ; a relative, whose Bible, 
 dated 1776, still lies on the dresser. He was a man who cared little 
 for relics, or the associations connected with the house, which was 
 then seldom visited. The furniture, and a full service of antique 
 pewter, which had garnished the dresser for many years, in his time 
 disappeared. When Ireland visited this cottage in 1792, he speaks 
 

 a 
 
 w 
 E 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 rt 
 p 
 
 w 
 w 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 51 
 
 of the descendants of the family as " poor and numerous ;" and at 
 this time he saw and purchased an old 
 oak chair, which he has engraved in 
 his Picturesque Views on the Avon, 
 and which is here copied. He says 
 it was called " Shakspere's courting 
 chair." With a similar desire to 
 please relic-lovers to that which has 
 been already shewn to ha\ e once ex- 
 isted in Shakspere's birthplace con- 
 cerning the chair there, this chair, al- 
 though long since gone, has a succes- I 
 sor dignified by the same name, in an 
 old settle in the passage through the house, and which has but one 
 old bit of wood, the seat, in it. It is but fair to add, that those 
 who are sceptical are not met by bold assertions of its genuine 
 ness, although there be no denial of its possible claim to that 
 quality ; but all credulous and believing persons are allowed the 
 full benefit of their faith. In addition to Shakspere's chair, Ireland 
 was shewn " a purse which had been likewise his, and handed down 
 from him to his granddaughter Lady Barnard, and from her to the 
 Hathaway family," then existing. At the time of the Stratford Ju- 
 bilee, George, the brother of David Garrick, purchased from the old 
 lady who then lived here, an inkstand and a pair of fringed gloves, 
 said to have been worn by Shakspere. David, with his usual care- 
 fulness, purchased no such doubtful ware. 
 
 The bed-room over this parlor is ascended by a ladder-like stair 
 and here stands an old carved bedstead, certainly as old as the 
 Shaksperian era. It is elaborately and tastefully executed, and has 
 been handed down as an heir-loom with the house. In Ireland's 
 time, the old woman of the house, who was then upwards of seventy, 
 
52 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 declared that she had slept in the bed from her childhood, and was 
 always told it had been there since the house was built. Whether 
 there in Anne's time, or brought there since, it is ancient enough 
 for her or her family to have slept in, and adds an interest to the 
 quaint bed-room in the roof. In a chest beside it is a pillow-case 
 and sheet, marked " E. H.," and ornamented with open-work down 
 the centre ; they are of home-spun fabric, the work of " the spin- 
 ster " when single country girls earned the name. 
 
 The back-view of the house is more picturesque than the iron 
 one. The ground rises from the road to a level with the back-door. 
 Tall trees overshadow it, and a rustic stile beside them leads into a 
 meadow, where stands some cottages as old as the home of the 
 Hathaways. There is much to interest the student-lover of the old 
 rural life of England in Shottery. 
 
 From the period of Shakspere's marriage to that of his retirement 
 from London, there is nothing to connect him with Stratford and its 
 neighborhood. We must look elsewhere But with the natural love 
 of a true-hearted man, we find that he made his native town the 
 home he visited whenever he had the opportunity, and chose for his 
 place ro retirement when the busy metropolitan duties he had fulfilled 
 ensured him competence. 
 
 NEW PLACE, 
 
 the house he had purchased at the early age of thirty-three, he died 
 at that of fifty-two. " He was wont to go to his native country 
 once a year," says Aubrey ; and he had so intimately connected 
 himself with Stratford by the purchase of property and other things, 
 that his mind was evidently fixed on that town with an endearing 
 affection through life, and which led him to look towards it as his 
 resting-place. New Place, we are informed by Dugdale, was 
 

 
 i! 
 
 o 
 
 53 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 55 
 
 originally erected by Sir Hugh Clopton, temp. Henry VII. It was, 
 he says, " a fair house, built of brick and timber. 7 ' It was sold to 
 the Underbill family, and was purchased from them by Shakspere in 
 1597, who having repaired and modelled it to his own mind, changed 
 the name to New Place, which it retained until its demolition, 
 Shakspere, by his will, gave it to' his daughter, Mrs. Hall, for her 
 life, and then to her daughter Elizabeth, afterwards Lady Barnard. 
 On her death it was sold to Sir Edward Walker, whose only 
 daughter marrying Sir John Clopton, it again came into the hands 
 of its ancient possessors. Sir John gave it to his younger son, Sir 
 Hugh, who resided in it during the latter part of his life, and died 
 there in Dec. 1751. By him the mansion was repaired, and a 
 modern front built to it; and here, in 1742, he entertained Macklin, 
 Garrick, and Dr. Delany, beneath the mulberry-tree which Shakspere 
 had planted in the garden. By Sir Hugh's son-in-law the mansion 
 was sold, in 1753, to the Rev. F. Gastrell, a man of unhappy temper, 
 who being annoyed by visitors requesting to see the mulbery-tree' 
 ruthlessly cut it down in 1756, to save himself the trouble of 
 shewing it. This rendered him exceedingly unpopular in the town, 
 and he resided there but seldom ; but the house being rated as if he 
 constantly lived there, in a fit of ill-humor, he declared that that 
 house should never be assessed again, he pulled it down, sold the 
 materials, and left the town universally execrated. 
 
 There are no views of the house as it was in Shakspere's time. 
 The view engraved so frequently is an imposition. Malone first 
 published it, " from an ancient survey," in which it is not stated to 
 represent New Place, or any other place in particular. He ordered 
 the discoverer of this survey, Mr. Jordan of Stratford, to add the 
 arms of Shakspere over the door, because " they were likely to have 
 been there !" and to add " neat wooden pales " in front. To which 
 liberal direction Jordan added the porch! and so originated this 
 
56 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 authentic picture. A view of New Place, as altered by Sir Hugh 
 Clopton, and as it appeared previous to its demolition, may be seen 
 in Mr. R. B. Wheeler's " History of Stratford-on-Avon." Not a 
 feature of the ancient Shaksperian residence had then been suffere 
 to remain. 
 
 In the garden of Mr. Hunt, to whose family Mrs. Gastrell sold 
 the site of New Place in 1775, are two fragments of the house. 
 One is a stone lintel ; the other, a portion of sculpture, in stone 
 also, which may have been placed over a door. It is ornamented 
 with a shield, but the bearings cannot now be distinguished, 
 owing to decay. On each side are groups of flowers, also much 
 injured by time. 
 
 It is traditionally reported that the White Lion Inn was built from 
 the materials of New Place. The panelling of an entire room was 
 fitted up in the parlor of the Falcon Inn opposite, where it still 
 remains. It exhibits a series of square sunk panels, covering the 
 entire walls, the upper row being elongated, with a plain cornice 
 aud dentals above. From the similarity of the panel and cornice 
 upon which the portrait of Shakspere is painted, already spoken of 
 as standing in his birth-room, and the tradition that it was brought 
 from the White Lion Inn, it may have been also a part of the 
 decoration of New Place when it was last " repaired and beautified." 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 57 
 
 There is another and apparently genuine relic of New Plaee at 
 present in the possession of the Court family, who own Shakspere T s 
 house. It is a square of glass, measuring 9 inches by 7, in which 
 a circular piece is leaded, having the letters u W. A. S.," tor Wil- 
 
 liam and Ann Shakspere, tied in " a true lovers knot," and the date, 
 3615, the year before the Poet's death, beneath. A relative of the 
 late Mrs. Court, whose ancestor had been employed to pull down 
 New Place, had saved this square of glass, but attached little value 
 to it. He gave it to her, but she had an honest dislike to the many 
 pretenders to relics, and never shewed this glass unless it was 
 expressly requested by the few who had heard of it. She told her 
 story simply, made no comments and urged no belief. The letters 
 and figures are certainly characteristic ; they are painted in dark 
 brown outline, tinted with yellow. The border is also yellow. The 
 lead is decayed, and the glass loose. It altogether appears to be as 
 genuine a relic as any that have been offered. It has not been en- 
 graved before. We have now but to visit 
 
 THE TOMB OF SHAKSPERE 
 in the chancel of the beautiful church of Stratford. It is placed 
 
58 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 against a blank window, on the left of the spectator as he faces the 
 altar. How soon it was erected after the Poet's death, we cannot 
 confidently say ; but that it was before 1623 we can ascertain from 
 Leonard Digges verses prefixed to the first edition of the Poet's 
 works. A half-length figure of him is placed in a niche, above is 
 his arms ; on each side of which are seated cherubs, one holding an 
 inverted torch, with a skull beside him, the other a spade ; on the 
 apex above is another skull. Beneath the cushion on which the 
 Poet is writing is inscribed : 
 
 JVDICIO PYLIVM, GENIO SOCRATEM ARTE MARONEM, 
 TERRA TEGIT POPVLVS M^ERET, OLYMPVS HABET. 
 
 STAY, PASSENGER; WHY GOEST THOU BY so FAST? 
 READ, IF THOV CANST, WHOM ENVIOVS DEATH HATH PLAST 
 WTHIN THIS MONVMENT: SHAKSPEARE, WITH WHOME 
 QVICK NATVRE DIDE J WHOSE NAME DOTH DECK YS. TOMBE 
 FAR MORE THEN COST; SITH ALL YT HE HATH WRITT 
 LEAVES LIVING ART BVT PAGE TO SERVE HIS WITT. 
 
 Obiit. Ano. Doi. 1616 
 Stalls 53. Die 23. Ap. 
 
 The half-length effigy of Shakspere was originally painted after 
 nature. The eyes were a light hazel ; the hair and beard auburn. 
 The dress was a scarlet doublet slashed on the breast, over which 
 was a loose black gown without sleeves. The upper part of the 
 cushion was crimson, the lower green ; the cord which bound it 
 and the tassels were gilt. John Ward, grandfather of the Kembles, 
 caused the tomb to be repaired and the original colors restored in 
 1748, from the profits of the performance of Othello. In 1793, 
 Malone, in an evil hour, gained permission to paint it white ; and 
 also the effigy of Shakspere's friend, John Combe, who lies beside 
 the altar. Mr. Knight has most justly stigmatised this act as one 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 59 
 
 of " unscrupulous insolence." Certainly Malone was at much pains 
 ^o write himself down an ass. 
 
 We learn from Dugdale's correspondence, that the sculptor of 
 
 this monument was Gerard Johnson. His work has been subjected 
 
 to much criticism, particularly by such as are anxious to have Shak. 
 
 spere not only a great poet, but a handsome man. This bust does 
 
 notplease them. Mr. Skottowe declares that it " is not only at 
 
 variance with the tradition of Shakspere's appearance having been 
 
 prepossessing, but irreconcilable with the belief of its ever having 
 
 borne a striking resemblance to any human being." A most sweep- 
 
 ing conclusion, against which most modern authors and artists have 
 
 arrayed themselves. It is a curious fact that Martin Droeshout's 
 
 portrait prefixed to the folio of 1623, and beneath which, Ben John- 
 
 son has affixed verses attesting its accuracy, and which all his " fel- 
 
 lows" who aided in this edition as well as others who knew and loved 
 
 the nv\n could also confirm, bears a decided similarity to this bust. 
 
 Marshall seems to have depended on the same authority for the 
 
 portrait he engraved for the edition of Shakspere's poems in 1640. 
 
 All agree in one striking feature ; the noble forehead and quiet un- 
 
 ostentatious kindly expression of feature which must have belonged 
 
 to " the gentle Shakspere." These early artists appear to have been 
 
 literal copyists, and the bust at Stratford is the best, and I incline to 
 
 think the only authority to be depended on. It was probably cut 
 
 from a cast taken after death ; and it is remarkable that it stands a 
 
 good test phrenologically as if it had been adapted to the Poet a 
 
 singular instance of its truth. Another corroborative proof exists in 
 
 what has been objected to as inaccurate, the length of the upper 
 
 lip ; but Sir Walter Scott, whose intellect most nearly approached 
 
 the Poet, had the same feature and the same commanding head. 
 
 The ghastly white paint upon the bust, the high position it occu- 
 
 pies in the church, and the bad light that there falls on it, hinders 
 
60 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 the due appreciation of its merits. The features are regular, nay, 
 handsome and intelligent ; but it is evident that such a head de- 
 pended on its living expression, and that then it must have been emi- 
 nently gentle and prepossessing. The lower part of the face, 
 though inclined to be fleshy, does not injure the features, which 
 are all delicately formed, and the side-view of the head is very fine ; 
 a careful copy adorns our title-page. An intent study of this bust 
 enforces the belief, that all the manifold peculiarities of feature so 
 characteristic of the Poet, and which no chance could have originat- 
 ed, and no theory account for, must have resulted from its being a 
 transcript of the Man ; one that has received the confirmation of his 
 own living relatives and friends, the best and only portrait to be 
 now relied on. 
 
 The gravestones of the Shakspere family lie in a row in front of 
 the altar-rails, upon the second step leading to it. His wife's is 
 immediately beneath his tomb. It is a flat stone, the surface in- 
 *ured by time, having a small brass plate let in it with this inscrip- 
 tion : here given literally, as are all the other inscriptions. They 
 have been incorrectly printed in most instances. 
 
 HERE LYETH INTERRED THE BODY OF ANNE 
 WIPE OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. WHO DEPTED 
 THIS LIFE THE 6 DAY OF AVG : 1623. BEING OF 
 THE AGE OF 67 YEARES : 
 
 Vbera tu mater, tu lac vitamq, dedisti, 
 
 Vse mihi pro tanto munere Saxa dabo ; 
 Quam mallem amoveat lapidem bonus AngeP ore' 
 
 Exeat Christ! corpus imago tua ; 
 Sed nil vota valent, venias cito Christe, resurget, 
 
 Clausa licet tumulo mater, et estra petet. 
 
Library* 1 
 
 
 
 .-. 
 
 K 
 
 .2 
 
 a 
 
 ' 
 
 -- 
 
 
 
 J '3 s ' 5 
 
 * S | 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 ,0 
 r^ 
 
 
 
 5 <) 
 
 
 0) 
 
 <8 
 
 ci 
 
 .2 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 "3 
 
 s 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 o | I 
 
 o^ 
 
 > 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ~ pf ^ 1 
 
 
 5 
 
 c- 
 
 a 
 
 .^x 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 <c 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 \f^''/^^\^ * * 
 
 '"" 
 
 !z 
 
 'a. 
 
 
 
 a 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 ite/ .- S *. a 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 ^ 
 
 ; 
 
 c 
 3 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 V-*" . *'~ZS * ^j 
 
 tL 
 
 
 w 
 
 "M 
 o 
 
 
 
 ry 
 
 > S 
 
 
 22 
 
 w 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 C j O 
 
 3 * 
 
 tL 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 OH 
 
 ' Q . 
 
 rC W * 
 
 O Q " .0 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 S 
 
 0) 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 .2 
 
 '5 
 
 cr 1 
 ^c" 
 
 "3 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 
 O2 
 
 W W ^ H W m 
 E H Q 5 
 
 o 
 
 p. 
 
 2 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 ^ 
 
 '> 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 8 
 
 y 
 
 bfj 
 
 ^ 
 
 <n 
 
 W 
 
 
 ffi 
 
 ffi 
 
 
 Q 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 02 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pq 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ffi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 
 .2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 ! 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 Si-' ' P-" ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 w 
 
 "o w 
 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 B .11 
 
 o 
 
 ! ' e 'B 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 2 
 
 ^ 
 
 fe s a, o 
 
 g 
 
 
 'i 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 o 1 g 
 
 w 
 
 J^*^ \ ^ 
 
 [ 
 
 g 
 
 
 *a> 
 
 1 
 
 1 i - 
 
 tf 
 
 \ " ^ g 
 
 c 
 
 | 
 
 
 tg 
 
 
 
 ,c 
 
 jri 
 
 o 
 
 1 o S fi 
 
 
 
 J^ 
 
 R 
 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 - ^ - 5 
 
 
 H ^ . hi O 
 
 
 
 
 tjj 
 
 '$ 
 
 
 
 ^ o 2 +^ 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 > S ^ J5 
 
 
 ^ n S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o o ^ 
 
 c 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 w 
 
 y 
 
 Q, 5 O 
 
 
 H OT | o 
 
 t 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 *! 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 1 1 
 
 
 W !- ^ *" 
 
 X <? H S S g> 
 
 o3 
 
 > 
 
 'o 
 
 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 rt ^ "^ 
 
 
 u 
 
 1 
 
 X3 
 
 
 
 
 
 61 
 
W 
 
 W 
 
 W 
 
 W 
 w 
 
 fo 
 O 
 
 ESTON 
 
 2s 
 !l a 
 
 ~ 2 
 
THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 63 
 
 Next comes that placed over the body of the Poet It is right 
 here to state that the four lines upon it have been generally printed 
 with an absurd mixture of great and small letters : it is here care- 
 fully reduced from a rubbing taken on the stone. The only pecu- 
 liarity it possesses over ordinary inscriptions is the 
 
 GOOD FREMD FOR IBS VS. 5 A# IORBEABE, 
 TO PIGG /HE DVST EN CXOASED H:AKE ". 
 
 BLEST: BE y MAN Y SPARES TJES STONES, 
 
 AMD CVRSTBEHE Y M OVES MY ,.B ONES - 
 
 abbreviation for the word t hat, and the grouping together of some of 
 the letters after the fashion of a monogram. Other instanced of 
 similar usages are common in inscriptions of the same age. There 
 is a traditionary story, bearing date 1693, which says, " His wife 
 and daughters did earnestly desire to be laid in the same grave with 
 him," but that " not one for fear of the curse above said dare touch 
 his gravestone." 
 
 Next to that of Shakspere lies a stone commemorating the rest- 
 ing-place of Thomas Nash, who married the only daughter of the 
 Poet's daughter Susanna ; this lady afterwards married Sir John 
 Barnard, and died at Abington, near Northampton, in 1670, in whom 
 the direct line of the Poet's issue ceased. Dr. John Hall, her father, 
 lies next ; and last comes Susanna, his wife. The whole of the 
 rhyming part of her epitaph had been obliterated, and upon the 
 place was cut an inscription to the memory of one Richard Watts. 
 This has in its turn been erased, and the original inscription restored 
 by lowering the surface of the stone and recutting the letters. The 
 tombs of Hall and Nash have also been renovated by deepening the 
 letters and recutting the armorial bearings, which has been done 
 
64 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 under the judicious and careful superintendence of R. B. Wheler, 
 Esq., of Stratford, and the sole expense of the Rev. W. Harness, 
 whose public-spirited and honorable act deserves as much praise as 
 Malone's miserable meddling does reprobation. 
 
 Such are the relics, genuine and supposititious, and the localities 
 which connect themselves with the history of " the world's Poet" at 
 Stratford. It has been the object of the author of this unpretending 
 hand-book to collect, engrave and describe all that could be found, 
 and which no work of greater pretensions has yet done so com- 
 pletely. The drawings have all been placed upon the wood by his 
 own hand, and engraved under his superintendence. Several visits 
 to Stratford have enabled him to obtain many drawings and many 
 facts of a local character not elsewhere set down. In this world of 
 change and fancied improvement such records may be useful, par- 
 ticularly when they are connected with one who has most honored 
 his native land by his writings, and of whom Englishmen have 
 most reason to be proud! 
 
 " Triumph, my Britain ! thou hast one to show, 
 To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. 
 He was not of an age, but for all time 5 
 And all the Muses still were in their prime, 
 When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm 
 Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm. 
 Nature herself was proud of his designs, 
 And joy'd to wear the dressing of his lines." 
 
 B. JoNSON 
 
PROSPECTUS, 
 
 THE subscriber having, by a train of fortunate 
 circumstances, become possessed of all the ori- 
 ginal one hundred copper-plates of Boydell's 
 folio Illustrations of Shakspeare, and believing 
 
 " How came they here 9 It has been intimated to us that the original 
 plates of BoydelPs large Illustrations of Shakspeare are in the posses- 
 sion of a gentleman of this city, who is having them retouched, with the 
 intention of publishing an edition of them. We very much doubt the 
 truth of the intimation, as the plates, weighing near two tons, cost the 
 Boy dells over a million of dollars. If the plates were here, they would 
 be a great curiosity and treasure, but it will be a greater curiosity if 
 any Shakspeare humbug can be played upon the Yankees at this late day." 
 The Sun, Jan. 6th. 
 
 THE SHAKSPEARE PLATES. 
 
 " To the Editor of the Sun. Dear Sir : Observing a paragraph respect- 
 ing the Boy dell Shakspeare Plates, I think it my duty (knowing the 
 fact) to inform you the plates are the original, and were sent to this 
 country about four years since, and were purchased by Dr. Spooner, who 
 is having them recut at an enormous expense. The first cost, Mr. Boy- 
 dell informs us in the preface of the work, was over five millions of dollars, 
 including the original paintings they were engraved from. I have no 
 interest in this statement but the dissemination of truth. Dr. Spooner 
 bought the splendid copy of proof impressions at the sale of the late 
 Ithiel Town, to have them recut from. Yours, respectfully, 
 
 TALBOT WATTS." 
 
 "Many Artists. Any one who is in possession of the copper-plates, con- . 
 taming the engravings of what was called the Shakspeare Gallery, has 
 the identical plates belonging to Alderman Boydell. How they got here 
 we know not, but there was only this gallery this series of pictures 
 published.'' Sunday Times and Noatts Weekly Messenger, Jan. 9th. 
 
 "Many Artists, consider that the report relative to BoydelPs Shak- 
 speare Gallery being at present in this country, must be meant to hum- 
 bug the community. It is no doubt true. All the plates have been pur- 
 chased, are here, and are in process of being retouched by the engraver, 
 
2 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 that he would render the public a service by 
 restoring them to their original beauty, applied 
 himself with diligence to effect this object. As 
 a work of art, in design, in execution, in unlim- 
 ited outlay of time and money, in the employ- 
 merit of the best talent in Great Britain, and in 
 the patronage and cordial support of the king, 
 
 We saw one of the retouched plates, which looked nearly as good as a 
 proof print. We understood the owner to say he had 100 plates j and they 
 can be no other than Boydell's mammoth work." Sunday Times and 
 Noatts Weekly Messenger , Jan. 16th. 
 
 a From the Commercial Advertiser^ Feb. 1. 
 
 "A CURIOUS PIECE OF HISTORY. About the year 1785, Alderman J. Boy- 
 dell, of London, conceived the project of establishing a l Shakspeare 
 Gallery,' upon a scale of grandeur and magnificence which should be in 
 accordance with the fame of the poet, and, at the same time, reflect honor 
 upon the state of the arts in Great Britain and throughout- the world 
 Mr. Boydell was at this time a man of great wealth and influence, and a 
 patron of the fine arts, being an engraver himself, and having accumu- 
 lated his fortune mostly by dealings in works of that character. 
 
 He advertised for designs from artists throughout Great Britain, and 
 paid a guinea for every one submitted, whether accepted or not ; and for 
 every one accepted by the committee, a prize of one hundred guineas. 
 The committee for selecting these designs was composed of five eminent 
 artists, Boydell himself being the president. The first painters of the 
 age were then employed to paint these pictures, among whom were Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, Sir Benjamin West, Fuseli, Romney, Northcote, 
 Smirke, Sir William Beechy and Opie. 
 
 Allan Cunningham, in his l Lives of Eminent British Artists,' men 
 tions that Sir Joshua Reynolds was at first opposed to Boydell's project 
 as impracticable on such an immense scale, and Boydell, to gain his appro 
 bation and assistance, privately sent him a letter enclosing a J 000 Ban\ 
 of England note, and requesting him to paint two pictures at his OWE 
 price. What sum was eventually paid by Boydell for these pictures was 
 never known. A magnificent building was erected in Pall Mall to ex- 
 hibit this immense collection, called the Shakspeare Gallery, and was 
 for a long time the pride of London. 
 
 The first engravers of England were employed to transfer these gems 
 
PROSPECTUS. 3 
 
 nobility and gentry of England, Boydell's Illus- 
 trations of Shakspeare stands pre-eminent and 
 wholly unrivalled. a 
 
 After having finished a number of the plates, 
 the most worn and difficult to be restored, and 
 taken proofs from them, all the most distin- 
 guished artists, engravers, and connoisseurs, in 
 
 to copper, and such artists as Sharp, Bartolozzi, Earlom, Thew, Simon, 
 Middiman, Watson, Fy ttler, Wilson, and many others, exerted their tal 
 ents for years in this great work. In some instances the labor of moro 
 than five years was expended on a single plate, and proof impressions 
 were taken for subscribers at almost every stage of the work. At length 
 in 1803, after nearly twenty years, the work was completed. The price 
 fixed (which was never reduced) was two guineas each, for the first 300 
 impressions, and the subscription list was then filled up at one guinea 
 each, or one hundred guineas a set, of one hundred plates. 
 
 Besides these subscriptions, large donations were made by many of the 
 noblemen of England, to encourage the undertaking and to enable Boy- 
 dell to meet his enormous outlay. The cost of the whole work, from the 
 commencement, is said to have been more than one million pounds ster- 
 ling; and although the projector was a wealthy man when he com- 
 menced it, he died soon after its completion, a bankrupt to the amount, it 
 is said, of 250,000. 
 
 After these plates were issued, Boydell petitioned Parliament to allow 
 him to dispose of his gallery of paintings by a lottery. The petition was 
 granted, and the whole collection was thus disposed of. One of the 
 finest of these pictures, King Lear, by Sir Benjamin West, is now in the 
 Boston AthenaBum. 
 
 One fact in relation to these plates gives great value to them. All 
 the principal historical characters are genuine portraits of the persona 
 represented in the play ; every picture-gallery and old castle in England 
 was ransacked to furnish these portraits. 
 
 After a certain number of copies had been taken from the plates they 
 were laid aside, some of them having been worn but little, while others 
 required much labor to restore them to their original beauty. A few 
 copies of the work have been brought to this country at different times, 
 and are now to be found in the hands of amateurs, and in public libraries. 
 Many of the single prints have been sold in this city at from 15 to 25 
 dollars each. But it is now almost impossible to procure them at aiw price, 
 
4 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 the city of New York, were invited to examine 
 and scrutinize the work, and to compare criti- 
 cally these proofs with the best copies in Ameri- 
 ca, some of which were engraver's proofs before 
 the letter. The result of this trial has been most 
 satisfactory ; and the subscriber has, upon their 
 decision, and by the advice of his friends and the 
 
 and nothing but the occasional breaking up of a public, or extensive pri- 
 vate library, gives any opportunity of procuring them. 
 
 By some means which cannot now be accounted for, all the plates have 
 found their way to this country, and the one hundred, weighing nearly 
 4000 pounds, have been purchased by Dr. S. Spooner, of this city. This 
 gentleman, who has long been conversant with works of art, has been 
 for many months silently but steadily pushing on the work of restoring 
 thfl plates, and has been peculiarly fortunate in securing the services of 
 Mr George Parker, an engraver of no ordinary merit. It is a little sin- 
 gular that this gentleman was a pupil of the celebrated lt Thew, ;? when 
 the latter was engaged on these same plates originally, and as Thew 
 was considered almost the inventor of the art of stipple engraving, it 
 will be seen that there is every reason to suppose Mr. Parker well qual- 
 ified to do justice to the work. Dr. Spooner spares no pains or money 
 in the prosecution of the labor, and has succeeded in restoring a num- 
 ber of the plates to such perfection that proofs from them cannot be dis- 
 tinguished from the original impressions. Some two years will be con- 
 sumed in accomplishing the entire restoration and publication, and al- 
 though he will be obliged to expend a large sum of money, there can be 
 no doubt that he will be compensated by the admirers of the arts in the 
 United States." 
 
 From the Home Journal, Feb. 14. 
 THE FINE ARTS IN AMERICA. 
 
 " Something more than fifty years ago, England imported from France, 
 Holland. Germany, and other portions of Europe, almost all the specimens 
 of good engraving to be found in that kingdom. By the exertions of a 
 single individual, aided by national taste and patronage, in less than 
 twenty years this trade was entirely changed, and Great Britain supplied 
 for a length of time, the rest of the civilized world with almost all that 
 if? beautiful and meritorious, in this branch of the Fine Arts. Napoleon, 
 with his strong arm, and bold policy, tore from European kings and no- 
 
PROSPECTUS. 6 
 
 lovers of the Fine Arts, determined to push the 
 work to its entire completion as rapidly as the 
 necessity for accuracy and care will admit. b 
 
 To those who may not be acquainted with this 
 great work, the subscriber begs leave to say that 
 it contains 100 plates, all of which are perfect 
 studies, having from ten to twenty full-length fig- 
 
 bles, all those monuments of genius and cultivation, with, which peace 
 had enriched their palaces and castles: and, while these trophies still 
 adorned the walls of the Louvre, with characteristic sagacity, he took 
 measures to have these beautiful paintings transferred to copper, by the 
 first artists of the age. This was the first check which England and 
 English artists experienced in the growing monopoly of their own bu- 
 rines- But during this harvest of British engravers, one monument was 
 erected to the glory of the Arts in England, by John Boydell, afterwards 
 Lord Mayor of London, which no subsequent efforts of genius or wealth 
 seem at all likely to eclipse or rival. Selecting a subject which belongs 
 to. and equally interests the whole civilized world, he lavished millions 
 of dollars upon a work, which no individual, or even government, will 
 ever again undertake to duplicate. Thirty-two painters, and thirty en- 
 gravers, were employed with a princely liberality ; and all that wealth? 
 perseverance, enthusiasm, and a kingly patronage, could do, was done in 
 twenty years' labor, to produce that magnificent work, BoydeWs One 
 Hundred Illustrations of Shakspeare. 
 
 But the author of this immense undertaking, although he placed his 
 name among the highest on the list, as a noble patron of the Arts, and 
 gave an energetic and powerful impulse to the cultivation of those Arts, 
 which will never be lost or forgotten, yet, in doing it, he beggared him- 
 self, and died in 1804, at the age of 85, almost broken-hearted at not 
 being able to bestow upon the British public his immense gallery of 
 paintings as a gift worthy of their acception. 
 
 Immediately after Boydell's death, this whole collection of pictures, 
 was scattered over the world but one of them, it is believed, ever find- 
 ing its way to America ; and that can be seen in the Boston Athenceum 
 But the copper-plates, upon which all these paintings have been so accu- 
 rately and so beautifully copied, after having been suffered to lie idle 
 for many years, have at last caught the spirit of emigration, have crossed 
 the Atlantic, been landed in this city ; and having fallen into the hands 
 of Dr. Spooner, who, knowing how to appreciate them, they will, under 
 
6 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 ures in the foreground, most of which are genuine 
 portraits, in every variety of grouping and compo- 
 sition, and every human passion faithfully delin- 
 eated, forming a series of the most original pictures 
 ever executed. It is also believed that nothing 
 can be done that will have so great a tendency 
 to cultivate a taste for the fine arts, in our country, 
 
 the burine of Parker and other artists, in the course of eighteen months, 
 be fully restored to all their former beauty. A portion of them are 
 already finished ; and we have compared proofs from those completed 
 with a fine copy of the work struck by Boydell, and which was the pro- 
 perty of the late Ithiel Town, of New Haven ; and the most skilful con- 
 noisseur in such matters cannot detect the least difference between the 
 two. 
 
 It certainly must be considered a fortunate circumstance that the 
 American public are now to reap the advantage of the great original out- 
 lay on this work ; and although some $30,000 will necessarily be ex- 
 pended upon it by its present owner, yet the copies will be offered to 
 subscribers at so low a price as will enable every gentleman who posses- 
 ses a library, to add a set of these fine illustrations to it, and which will 
 do much towards cultivating a taste for the Fine Arts on this side of the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 Thus, whilst the van of our nation is marching boldly across the con- 
 tinent, carrying the blessings of civilization, and a free government, to 
 the shores of the Pacific, the great masses of the Anglo-Saxon race who 
 swarm our eastern cities, are scattered along the vallies of our noble 
 rivers, and the borders of our great lakes will be steadily and constant- 
 ly making progress in all the Arts and Sciences, which have heretofore 
 enriched and refined the inhabitants of Europe ; and a few centuries 
 heuce will find America great in her population, great in her produc- 
 tions and resources, and great in all the refinements of society and taste, 
 without the vices and miseries, which degrade and stultify the nations oi 
 the old world.' 7 
 
 From the Courier and Enquirer^ March 2d. 
 
 " THE COST OF THE SHAKSPEARE GALLERY. It has been a maxim with 
 the prudent, calculating portion of mankind, " that a thing is worth 
 what it will sell for." Grant it. What, then, did the works of William 
 Shakspeare sell for in 1596, when they came fresh from the mind and 
 
PROSPECTUS. 
 
 as a general circulation of these splendid prints, 
 illustrating as they do the genius of the great 
 poet, and emanating from the most distinguished 
 British artists, as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Ben- 
 jamin West, Sir William Beechy, Fuseli, Rom- 
 ney, Northcote, Westall, Smirke, Opie, as paint 
 ers ; and Sharpe, Bartolozzi, Earlom, Thew, Si- 
 
 hand of that wonderfully gifted man? Ten pounds ten shillings, or less 
 than $60 each, is about the average of what he realized for his plays ! 
 And was this amount equal to their real and intrinsic value ? Yet it 
 was all they sold for. x But there is another way, in which this time-serv- 
 ing standard may be applied, which will startle even the rankest mat- 
 ter-of-fact calculator that ever " pshawed" at the poetry of Milton, or 
 shook his wise head at the beautiful ravings of Ossian. What amount 
 of good hard dollars has ever been received for Shakspeare' s works 
 throughout the civilized world, from the year 1591 to the present mo- 
 ment ? Not less, we presume, than ten millions of dollars ! Of course, 
 we hold it to be right that an individual is entitled to credit, for the 
 creations of his own brain in all their various illustrated forms, and if so, 
 Shakspeare must have the honor and credit of all those beautiful Illus- 
 trations , for the painting, engraving, and printing of which Alderman 
 Boydell, of London, paid over two millions of dollars. 
 
 Chalmers, in bis Biog. Dictionary, says : "The services of Boydell 
 were universally appreciated. He was eulogized even from the pulpit 
 for his zeal in making the fine arts subservient to the cause of religion. 
 Such was the enormous cost of his favorite project, the Shakspeare Gal' 
 lery, which he had intended to have presented to the city of London, as 
 a lasting monument of his love of the fine arts, that he became in- 
 extricably involved in difficulties, and petitioned and obtained from 
 Parliament an act to enable him to dispose of his Gallery by Lottery." 
 He lived till the last ticket was disposed of, and died on the 12th day of 
 Dec., 1804, at the advanced age of 85 years, his death being hastened, as 
 is asserted by his son, Mr. William Boydell, by the chagrin he expe- 
 rienced at being compelled to dispose of the Shakespeare Gallery, con- 
 trary to his cherished designs. This gentleman further declares that the 
 entire cost of the Shakspeare Gallery the buildings, designs, paintings, 
 copper plates, &c. was rising 1,000,000 sterling. 
 
 The copper-plates here spoken of, have been purchased and senjt to 
 the United States, and are all to be restored to their former beauty. 
 
8 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 mon, Middiman, Watson, Fyttler, Wilson, and 
 many others, as engravers. We have few pub- 
 lic galleries of paintings, and must therefore 
 mostly form our taste for this branch of the fine 
 arts, from engravings ; and these plates are fit to 
 grace the drawing room or portfolio of any gen- 
 tleman. Nothing, it is conceded, has a greater 
 
 without in the least changing their character of originality, or altering 
 a single line. A portion of them are already completed, and experienced 
 critics in such matters tell us, that the proof impressions from the 
 restored plates, are fully equal to the original, taken by Boydell him- 
 self, before his death. 
 
 The effect of the publication of this magnificent work in America, 
 must be to increase the love of the fine arts, and greatly to improve and 
 extend a correct and cultivated taste throughout the United States. 
 With this view, every gentleman who owns a library can possess himself 
 of a copy of these beautiful illustrations, which, in themselves, are almost 
 a necessary accompaniment to the works of Shakspeare, and with them 
 forms the best and most perfect library of human nature, and tb^e human 
 heart, with the exception of the Bible, that ever has or ever will be 
 written.' 7 
 
 From the Morning Star, March 18th. 
 
 u ALDERMAN BOYDELL'S GALLERY. The admirers of Shakspeare will 
 remember, that the late Alderman Boydell, of London, published what 
 was called the Shakspeare Gallery, at an expense of a million of dollars. 
 The Paintings and Engravings were exquisitely finished. Many of the 
 characters in the historical plays were from original portraits. Our 
 readers will be pleased to learn that the whole gallery consisting of 100 
 Copper Plates, is in possession of Doctor Spooner of this city, who last 
 evening exhibited them to a number of artists and literary men. The 
 Doctor will, at a great expense, have all the plates retouched.' 7 
 
 From the Commercial Advertiser, March 18th. 
 
 " THE BOYDELL PICTURES. There was a meeting, last evening, at the 
 house of Dr. Spooner, in Liberty-street, for the purpose of critically ex- 
 amining the copper-plates of Boydell's Illustrations of Shakspeare, and 
 comparing proofs taken from the restored plates, with Town's proof copy, 
 struck by Boydell himself. We learn that more than a hundred invita- 
 tions were issued to artists, engravers, connoisseurs, and literary men. 
 
PKOSPECTUS. 9 
 
 tendency to refine the mind, than the culls v; = 
 of the fine arts, and it certainly adds greatly to 
 our pleasure. If the subscriber can be instru- 
 mental in assisting to cultivate the growing taste 
 for the fine arts, he will not consider his under- 
 taking fruitless, even though he should fail in 
 reaping the pecuniary recompense, which he 
 
 The meeting was well attended, especially by artists and engravers, who 
 have taken great interest in the work. But one opinion was expressed, 
 that the restoration of the work thus far has been completely successful, 
 and that the proofs from the restored plates are fully equal to the origi- 
 nal first impressions. 
 
 Dr. Spooner had all the copper-plates arranged for the inspection of 
 the curious. The examination of several plates now in the process of 
 restoration is very interesting. Every line in the plates is re-cut with the 
 graver. This is certainly a work of great magnitude, and it is to be 
 hoped that the enterprising owner will be seconded in his efforts by a 
 liberal patronage of this magnificent work. 
 
 Dr. Spooner keeps open house on Saturday and Monday, and invites 
 all who feel interested to call and examine the engravings."' 
 
 From the Courier and Enquirer ', March 2Qth. 
 
 " INTERESTING WORKS OF ART. We have already stated that the original 
 plates of BoydelFs Illustrations of Shakspeare have been procured by 
 Dr. Spooner, of this city, and brought hither. Efforts have been in 
 progress for some time past for their restoration, and they are now, we 
 are happy to say, completed, and prove to be completely successful. 
 Proofs have been taken from them, and carefully compared by some of 
 our best artists with the original engravings struck by Boydell him- 
 self from the same plates, and we believe we are justified in saying that 
 they were unanimously pronounced fully equal to the London work, as 
 issued in 1806. 
 
 These engravings have long enjoyed a reputation as being the finest by 
 far ever made in illustration of the world's greatest poet ; and as they 
 have become very rare, it is a matter of no small interest that the plates 
 should have been restored, and the faculty thus acquired of multiplying 
 these splendid pictures. 
 
 Dr. Spooner has been strongly urged to continue his efforts in this 
 matter, and to push the work to a speedy completion. We cannot doubt 
 
10 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 trusts a liberal public will feel willing to bestow 
 upon a project of this nature, involving as it does 
 a very heavy outlay of capital in the commence- 
 ment, and much risk of loss in its prosecution. 
 
 The subscriber pledges himself to spare no 
 efforts or expense in perfecting the work, and 
 making it in every way worthy of its magnitude, 
 
 that it will prove eminently successful, and that he will find himself 
 abundantly repaid for the heavy outlay of money, and the still heavier 
 expenditure of labor, which he has incurred. The enterprise is one 
 which must enlist the sympathies of every cultivated person : and it can- 
 not fail to meet a hearty welcome from the entire literary community.'' 
 
 From the Express^ March 21st. 
 
 ;c Boydell's celebrated Illustrations of Shakspeare have been purchased 
 by Dr. Spooner, of this city, and are now here. He has succeeded, won- 
 derful to relate, in restoring these valuable plates, so as to aiford proof 
 impressions, almost, if not quite, equal, in freshness, distinctness and 
 effect, to the originals. We are aware that this will seem, to those 
 9f our readers who have seen Moon's impressions, a hard thing to be- 
 iieve, but it is the opinion of some of our best artists. Such an enter- 
 prise as this should be well sustained by all lovers of high art, and we 
 learn that an opportunity will be given shortly, it being the object and 
 intention of Dr. Spooner to publish the whole series by subscription ere 
 long.' 7 
 
 From the Home Journal, March 25th. 
 
 ct THE FINE ARTS. We have never been more strongly impressed with 
 the truth of the old proverb in relation to perseverance, than at the "re- 
 cherche" entertainment, given by Dr. Spooner, to some eighty or a hun- 
 dred artists, engravers, and literary gentlemen, on Thursday evening 
 last. It is true that the " good things of this life " were not wanting : 
 and if any went for the mere purpose of tasting the " Involves? or of im- 
 bibing a glass of good Madeira, or sparkling Champagne, they were ; jwt 
 disappointed. But we believe that, like ourselves, the pleasure of the 
 entertainment to all, arose from the rare opportunity of closely inspect- 
 ing that wonder of talent, perseverance, and triumph of the engraver's 
 art, exhibited in the " One Hundred Shakspeare Plates^' which are so 
 justly becoming famous in this city. It is pleasant to look at a beautiful 
 engraving : but how few persons, in doing so ? understand or appreciate 
 
PROSPECTUS, II 
 
 and of the subjects illustrated. He proposes to 
 publish the work in monthly parts of two or 
 more plates each, at the unprecedented low price 
 of one dollar per plate, to subscribers. BoydelPs 
 subscription price was two guineas ($10) per 
 plate, for the first 300 proofs, and one guinea per 
 plate, for the prints ; besides, many noblemen and 
 
 the patient toil and skilful protracted labor bestowed upon the plate, by 
 the artist.. It is not mere manual labor ; but skill, caution, and care 
 must all be constantly exercised to their fullest extent ; the slightest 
 mistake being almost fatal to the perfection of the work. The Boydell 
 Shakspeare Plates employed over thirty engravers, for many years? 
 in their execution ; and the cost of the work can be best under- 
 stood by the knowledge of the fact, that one of the plates has had 
 over six years of labor bestowed upon it. The style of engraving is a 
 compound of the stipple and line, and, as some of the designs and finish 
 are superior to others the latter having been most printed from, are, of 
 course, most worn ; and it was of these plates, which have been first 
 commenced upon by the doctor, that nearly all the engravers in this 
 country pronounced it impossible to effect a perfect restoration, without 
 changing the character of the work, or, by preserving it, involve an expen- 
 diture of something like a hundred thousand dollars. But Dr. Spooner, 
 with a perseverance worthy of great praise, has surmounted all difficul- 
 ties, and overcome all doubts, and the examination of the restored plates 3 
 on Thursday evening, by artists, engravers, and those best capable of judg- 
 ing of the work, has resulted in the full conviction, freely expressed, that 
 the proofs from the restored plates are fully equal to the original and first 
 impressions, when they came fresh from the hands of Alderman Boydell. 
 In effecting this restoration, every line, however minute, has to 
 be re-cut or deepened, and then " bit up" with acids, until the work is 
 wrought up as high as is desired, and it is then "proved." This 
 process is repeated with great care, in some instances, five or six 
 times, or until the plate is brought up to its original state. It is cer- 
 tainly very fortunate that the services of Mr. Parker, who was a pupil 
 of " Thew'Sj" has been secured for this work ; for, aside from his 
 knowledge of the art, and his skill in this particular branch of it, his 
 early connection with the engravers of these plates, imparts a kind of 
 national pride and enthusiasm to his labors, which ensures, and has so 
 far effected, complete success in the undertaking. 
 
12 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 others made handsome donations, in addition to 
 their subscriptions, to encourage the work ; and 
 yet he failed for the enormous sum of tv\v> hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. During 
 the lifetime of the Boydells it was never sold 
 for less than one hundred guineas per set. Some 
 of the proofs in former years have brought at pub- 
 
 That the publication of this great work in the United States, under 
 such favorable auspices, will be of immense benefit to the progress of the 
 Arts, cannot be doubted ; and we wish the Doctor all the- success which 
 his enterprise deserves ; and as it is now acknowledged by all. that the 
 engravings will be equal to the first proofs, we cannot consider the ex- 
 pense attending it too great an outlay for so important an undertaking ; 
 and lovers of the fine arts, amateurs, admirers of Shakspeare, owners of 
 private, and managers of public libraries, and gentlemen of fortune, 
 must all feel a deep interest in encouraging and patronizing this mag- 
 nificent work." 7 
 
 From the Sunday Times and Noatts Weekly Messenger, March 26. 
 " THE BOYDELL GALLERY. Dr. Spooner's collection of the Shakspeare 
 Gallery has excited considerable attention among amateurs and profes- 
 sional men. He has all the original plates of the entire Gallery, and has 
 succeeded in restoring them, so as to obtain valuable proof impressions 
 This enterprise should be sustained by the patrons of the fine arts 
 throughout the Union. The collection is a splendid one. 7 ' 
 
 From the New York Tribune, March 25th, 1848. 
 
 c - BOYDELL'S SHAKSPEARE GALLERY. We looked in at Dr. Spooner's, 
 106 Liberty-street, yesterday to observe the success of an attempt now 
 in progress, in our city, to renovate the plates of the famous Boydell's 
 Shakspeare. These plates, one hundred in number, and of the largest 
 size, were got up at an enormous cost ;" designers, painters, and engravers, 
 Laving been engaged at the most prodigal rates, and the whole artistic 
 talent of Great Britain laid under contribution to produce a gallery 
 worthy of Shakspeare. The whole was issued at some $500 for the se- 
 ries, and the plates were in due time worn to dimness and comparative 
 worth! essness by the demand for impressions. Having been purchased 
 by an American, a daring and costly eifort has been made to restore 
 them to their pristine sharpness of outline and vigor of expres- 
 
PROSPECTUS. 13 
 
 lie sales, fifteen guineas each in London, and 
 twenty-five dollars in New York. 
 
 The work will be printed on thick linen pa- 
 per, 24 by 30 inches, weighing 140 Ibs. to the 
 ream. Each print will be accompanied with a 
 stereotype letter-press description of the same, 
 with quotations from the text which it illustrates, 
 
 sion, and, in the judgment of our artists and connoisseurs, with com- 
 plete success. Eight of the plates have been renovated, and their im- 
 pressions are fully equal to the earliest proofs. As what has been done 
 may again be, this triumph is of the first importance to the world of Art 
 An American edition of the Shakspeare Gallery will in due time be 
 issued." 
 
 From the Evening Post^ March 28th. 
 
 cc DR. SPOONER'S RESTORATION OF BOYDELL'S SHAKSPEARE GALLERY. 
 Dr. Spooner, of this city, is engaged in a very successful attempt to re- 
 store the worn-out plates of Boydell's Illustrations of Shakspeare. 
 There are one hundred of these plates, of a very large size, forming a most 
 sumptuous work. The designs were furnished by the best artists of Eng- 
 land, at the time when West was in his prime. They comprise many by 
 West himself, some by Northcote. some of the remarkable conceptions of 
 Fuseli, and various other eminent artists the price was a hundred 
 guineas. The old plates have been purchased by Dr. Spooner, who has 
 already restored five or six of them, so perfectly that the impressions 
 appear like proofs, and compare very accurately with the early proofs. 
 
 We* shall be glad to see an American edition of the Shakspeare Gal- 
 lery, rivalling in beauty the original London edition." 
 
 CERTIFICATES. 
 
 b " We, the undersigned, having examined some of the ORIGINAL copper- 
 plates of ( BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE,' and compared 
 the proofs taken from them by Boydell himself, with those taken by DR. 
 S. SPOONER, within the last few weeks, from a number of the plates resto- 
 red by him. give it as our deliberate opinion and judgment, that his efforts 
 to restore this magnificent work, have, so fur, proved entirely successful, 
 and we heartily recommend it to the American public as being in every 
 respect worthy of their liberal patronage, and as eminently calculated 
 
14 
 
 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 printed on the best hot-pressed linen paper, of 
 the same size as the print, with tissue paper be- 
 tween, which will add greatly to the beauty and 
 interest of the work. In Boy dell's editions, there 
 is no description of the plates, nor tissue paper ; 
 and only a list of the plates at the end of the vol- 
 umes. The work, when completed, will form 
 
 not only to gratify those who may become its possessors, but also, to en- 
 courage and promote the advancement of the Fine Arts in our country 
 Nero York, March, 1848. 
 
 J. WATSON WEBB, 
 
 JNO. INMAN, 
 
 M M. NOAH, 
 
 GEO. P. MORRIS, 
 
 N. P. WILLIS, 
 
 HORACE GREELEY, 
 
 N. CALYO, 
 
 HENRY H. LEEDS & Co., 
 
 STEPHEN H. TYNG (D.D.), 
 
 AARON VANDERPOOL, 
 
 EGBERT BENSON, 
 
 WM. B. COZZENS, 
 
 JAMES W. GERARD, 
 
 VALENTINE MOTT (M.D.) ? 
 
 HORACE GREEN (M.D.), 
 
 GEORGE POTTS (D.D.), 
 
 SMITH W. ANDERSON, 
 
 C. TEMPLE EMMET, 
 
 DAVID GRAHAM, 
 
 J. I. CODDINGTON, 
 
 JOHN W. FRANCIS (M.D.) 
 
 JAMES R. WHITING, 
 
 JOHN McKsoN, 
 
 CAMPBELL P. WHITE, 
 
 JOHN VAN BUREN, 
 
 JONA. M. WAINWRIGHT (D.D.), 
 
 WM. BERRIAN (D.D.), 
 
 JOHN DOGGETT, JR.J 
 
 JAMES W. SMCTH, JR., 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING. 
 JOHN EADIE, JR., 
 ANDREW H. MICKLE, 
 JOHN WILEY, 
 GEO. P. PUTNAM, 
 DAN'L APPLETQN & Co., 
 W. L. OJRMSBY, 
 TALBOT WATTS, 
 E. M. TOWNSEND, 
 HUGH MAXWELL, 
 FRANCIS BARRETTO, 
 THEODORE SEDGWICK, 
 DUDLEY SELDEN, K 
 AARON CLARK, 
 WM. T. PORTER, 
 JOHN T. TUTTLE (M.D.), 
 AARON LEVY, 
 DAVID B. OGDEN, 
 EDWARD MILLS, 
 DANFORTH & HUFTY, 
 THEO. FRELINGIIUYSEN, 
 PROSPER M. WETMORE, 
 ROBT. P. MORRIS, 
 HAR.PER & BROTHERS, 
 G. & W. ENDICOTT, 
 HENRY BREVOORT, 
 GARDNIER G. HOWLAND, 
 WM. V.BRADY, 
 ELY MOORE, 
 
PROSPECTUS. 15 
 
 two volumes of surpassing beauty, far superior 
 to any of the old copies now in the country. 
 
 TEEMS. 
 
 To subscribers, $1,00 per plate, including the 
 two vignettes which embellish the title-page 
 of each volume. 
 
 RAWDON, WRIGHT & HATCH, ELEAZER PARMLY, 
 
 BENJ. F. BUTLER, H. W. HEWET, 
 
 S. DE WITT BLOODGOOD, D. D. HOWARD, 
 
 GERARD C. LESTER, JOSEPH M. SMITH." (M.D.) 
 
 " I have looked over the proofs of several plates restored by Dr. 
 Spooner, belonging to the engravings of BoydelFs Illustrations of 
 Shakspeare, and have been struck with the perfect precision and suc- 
 cess with which the process has been executed. So far as he has pro- 
 ceeded, that splendid work has been brought back to the distinctness 
 and beauty belonging to the first impressions taken from the plates in 
 England. The undertaking is one which deserves success ; and I hope 
 that Dr Spooner will meet with a liberal encouragement from the 
 American public. 
 
 WILLIAM C. BRYANT." 
 
 New York, March 25, 1848. 
 
 " I have had an opportunity to examine the proofs from several restored 
 plates, belonging to BoydelPs Illustrations of Shakspeare, now in pos- 
 session of Dr. Spooner. They are a very great improvement on the worn 
 impressions, and give the spirit of the very early impressions. Enter- 
 taining this opinion, I heartily wish success to the laudable undertaking. 
 
 ALEXANDER H. STEVENS." 
 
 (President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.) 
 New York. March, SO, 1848. 
 
 " I fully concur in the opinion expressed above by Dr. Alexander H. 
 Stevens, in regard to the proofs from the restored plates of Boydell's 
 Shakspeare, and, with that gentleman, heartily wish success to the ardu- 
 ous task of restoring the whole series undertaken by Dr. Spooner. 
 
 JOHN J. AUDUBON." 
 
 New York, April 3d, 1848. 
 
16 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 Terms cash on the delivery of every number. 
 All letters and orders must be post-paid. These 
 terms are not above one fifteenth part of the 
 present English publishing price for prints of the 
 same size and class, as will be seen by the ex- 
 tracts given below. c 
 
 The plates are numbered in small figures, from 
 
 "Mr. Boydell rose to great renown and distinction. He was elected 
 Allerman in 1782, Sheriff in 1785, and Lord Mayor of London in 1790. 
 He also held the office of the Master of the Stationers Company. As the 
 most generous promoter of those arts which refine and elevate the mo- 
 ral sentiments, he was .honored with a public funeral. 77 Chalmers Biog 
 Dictionary. 
 
 c The style of engravings ranks as follows : 1st, the Line, 2d, the Stip- 
 ple, 3d, the Mezzotint, 4th, the Aquatint, and 5th, the Lithograph. 
 
 Of the Shakspeare plates, about one third are line, and the balance 
 a compound of the line and stipple. They are exquisitely and elaborate- 
 ly engraved, and the general size of the coppers is 20 x 26 inches. In 
 many of the plates, especially where satins, laces, or embroideries are 
 introduced into the draperies, a grand effect is produced, which could 
 not possibly be attained with the simple line. 
 
 To show the extremely low price affixed to the Shakspeare Plates in 
 the Prospectus, the prices of the following prints are copied from the 
 trade catalogue of the great London publishing house, Ackermann & Co. 
 The custom of the trade is, to affix three prices to engravings, which 
 they call the print^ the proof, and the proof 'before the letter. The price of 
 the proof is usually double that of the print ; and of the proof before the 
 letter, three times as much ; and when the proofs become scarce, their 
 value sometimes is greatly increased. The price here given is always 
 for the print. The pound sterling is rendered into federal currency, 
 leaving out the fractions for brevity. Also, for the same reason, several 
 prints are grouped together, when the style, size, and price are about the 
 same. Line stands for line : stipple for stipple : mezt. for mezzotint ; aqt- 
 for aquatint 5 and lith. for lithograph. The names of the artists are gene- 
 rally omitted ; but where they are given, the first is the painter, and the 
 second the engraver. The figures refer to the size of the plate in inches. 
 Copied from " Ackermann & Go's Catalogue of prints, comprising the 
 new, important, and standard engravings, selected from their own and 
 the stock of every other publisher,' 1 containing about 600 different prints. 
 
PROSPECTUS. 17 
 
 1 up to 100, in the lower left hand corner, for the 
 direction of the binder, and for the convenience 
 of those sending orders. This is important, for 
 hardly a copy of the original work can be found 
 in which some of the plates are not misplaced ; 
 and, as there are many worn impressions in the 
 
 Two portraits of the Queen, 22 x 31, mezt. ; two portraits of Prince 
 Albert, as Field Marshal, and in full robes, 21 x 30, mezt. ; portraits of the 
 Queen, and Prince Albert, a pair, 22 x 31, line ; the Queen, equestrian 
 portrait, Six 36. mezt. 5 the Queen, dissolving Parliament, a full length 
 portrait, mezt. ; several other subjects, each $15,00. 
 
 Portraits of the Queen Dowager, 16 x 25, mezt. ; do. Emperor of Rus- 
 sia, 17 x26j mezt, ; do. Grand Duke of Russia, 17 x 26, mezt. ; several por- 
 traits of the Duke of Wellington, by different artists ; do. of other dis- 
 tinguished persons, mostly mezt., some line, each $10,00. 
 
 The Heroes of Waterloo at Apsley House, 22 x 28, mezt. ; the Queen's 
 First Council, 23 x 34, mezt. ; the Coronation. 22 x 34, mezt. ; do. another 
 24 x 34, mezt, ; Her Majesty's Marriage, 22 x 34, mezt. ; Trial of Effie 
 Deans, 22 x 26, inezt. ; Prince Charles Edward, 19 x 30, line ; Reading the 
 first Bible in St. Paul's, 19 x 27, line ; Haddon Hall in the days of yore, 
 22 x 34, mezt. ; and others, each $20,00. 
 
 About 30 portraits of the Queen, Prince Albert, Duke of Wellington, 
 and other distinguished personages, in mezt.j line, and stipple, size about 
 12 x 15, each, $5, to $7,50. 
 
 The Waterloo Banquet at Apsley House, after W. Slater, 25 x 44, $b' 
 
 The Waterloo Banquet at Apsley House, after Sir David Wilkie, i. _u., 
 $60,00. 
 
 The Queen's First Council, 23 x 34, mezt. ; the Coronation, 22 x 34 
 do. another, 24 x 34, mezt. ; each $25,00. 
 
 The Queen receiving the first sacrament, after Leslie, 23 x 43, $60,00 
 
 Martyrs in prison, 20 x 27, mezt. ; Jacob's Dream, 19 x 27, mezt. ; Death- 
 bed of Calvin, 20 x 26, mezt.; Death -bed of Wolsey, ^5 x 32, mezt. ; Cov- 
 enanter's Baptism, 18 x 24, mezt. ; Covenanters Preaching, 18 x 24, mezt. ; 
 Judgment of Solomon, 18 x 24, mezt. ; Opening of the Sixth Seal, 19 x 27, 
 mezt. ; King Charles the First in the Guard-room, 13 x 19, line ; Trial of 
 the Earl of Stafford, 14 x 21, mezt, ; and many other like subjects, each 
 $10,00. 
 
 Sunday Morning, 17 x 23, stipple ; Prayer of Innocence, 12 x 13, line- 
 Eleventh Hour, 17 x 20, mezt.; Canterbury Pilgrimage, 10 x 37. line; 
 
18 PROSPECTUS. 
 
 market, this will be a certain mark, by which to 
 distinguish the restored prints. 
 
 A list of all the patrons of the work, with a 
 preface, will be given in the concluding part, 
 to be bound up with it. 
 
 S. SPOONER. 
 
 Flitch of Bacon, 12 x 30, line ; Sale of the Pet Lamb, 15 x 20, mczt. ; By- 
 ron's Dream, 15 x 23, line ; Corsair's Isle, 22 x 27, mezt. ; Highland Hos- 
 pitality, 1 7 x 23, mezt. ; Saricho and the Duchess, 14x18, line ; Portia 
 andBassanio, 13 x 15, line; Shylockand Jessica, 14 x 13, line ; Child with 
 Flowers, 10x13, line ; Wolf and Lamb, 1G x 19, mezt. ; and over 100 sim- 
 ilar subjects, in mezt. ; line, and stipple form, 10 x 14 to 18 x 24, each, $5 
 to $7,50. 
 
 Italian Pilgrims, 19 x 28, line ; Trial of Charles the First, 22 x 29, mezt. i 
 Prince Charles Edward, and Flora McDonald, 21 x 30, stipple ; Baronial 
 Hall, 22 x 30, mezt.; Highland Drovers, after Landseer, 17 x 19, mezt. . 
 Bolton Abbey, 22 x 28, mezt. ; Slave Market, 22 x 24, mezt. ; and many 
 others each, $15,00. 
 
 There are also quite a number of other prints, ranging from 15 to 30, 
 and even 60 dollars. Prints after Sir David Wilkie, Landseer, and Mar. 
 tin, usually range from 5 to 20 dollars ; some few are much higher. 
 
 About 50 Lithographs, as All Fours, The Coronation, Too Hot, A Poser, 
 How are You ? The Bubble, Pet Pig, Pet Lamb, Domestic Felicity, Sleep- 
 ing Nymph, Done Up, &c., from 9 x 12 to 12 x 16, each, $1.50. 
 
 Eight hunting pieces, about 17 x 28, mezt. ; each, $15,00. 
 
 Fifty Hunting and Sporting Pieces, Stage Coaches, Races, Race Horses, 
 &c.. aqt.. each, about $5,00. 
 
 Thus, it will be seen, that the price of the Shakspeare prints is cer- 
 tainly not over one fifteenth part of the present price of English prints 
 of the same class, and is actually less than that of English Lithographs of 
 about one quarter the size. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 HAVING now issued nine parts (18 plates) of the American Edition of 
 BoydelPs Illustrations of Shakspeare, it appears to me proper, that I 
 should make some farther statements in order to correct the errors which 
 frequently meet my eye in the public prints, as well as to satisfy numerous 
 enquirers. I ought also to express my heart-felt thanks to those gentle- 
 men of the Press, and others, who have in the kindest and most liberal 
 manner noticed the work, and recommended it to public patronage. 
 Cheered on by these flattering testimonials of approbation, I heed not the 
 jealous attacks which have been wafted from the other side of the Atlan- 
 tic, nor shall I regard the attempts at BLACK MAIL, made by certain persons 
 in this city. My house has been open from the first, to every person 
 who felt interested in the work, and many hundred persons, among whom 
 are many of our most distinguished citizens, have called and examined 
 the original copper-plates, the process of restoration, compared the proofs 
 taken from the restored plates with the original proofs struck by Boydell 
 himself, side by side ; and they have pronounced the restoration entirely 
 successful, and have recommended the work in the most liberal spirit, as 
 every way worthy of public confidence and support. It were impossible 
 to deceive such men, and any attempt to palm off upon the public an un- 
 truth, or an imposition, would indeed be superlatively ridiculous. The 
 magnitude of the enterprise will at once be perceived on reflecting that 
 there are 100 plates in the series, one-third of which are line, and the 
 others a compound of the line and stipple ; that every line has to be re-cut, 
 the stippling re-stippled in every part of the plates, and in some parts of 
 them, the process has to be repeated several times in gradually working up 
 the plates to their original proof state. I have now seven engravers con- 
 stantly employed, and shall have to increase the number as the work pro- 
 gresses. It may not be thought improper for me to state, that I engaged in 
 the enterprise against the advice of many warm and respected friends,rely- 
 ing entirely upon my own resources ; and that when its success was placed 
 beyond a doubt, I promptly refused an offer of 10.000 for the plates, also 
 against their advice, not in any expectation of receiving greater offers or 
 greater profit ; but that it is my own favorite project, and that my belief 
 is that a man could in no way do so much to promote the advancement 
 of those arts which refine and elevate the mind, in our beloved country, 
 as the extensive circulation of these magnificent prints ; and for this 
 purpose I have made the price as low as possible, in order to put them 
 within the means of every man of taste. 
 
20 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following letter from Gov. Everett to my agents in Boston, is so 
 liberal and just, that I beg to call particular attention to it. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 4, 1848. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN 1 have received your letter of the 2d, with the copy of the 
 new edition of the Prospectus of the " Illustrations of Shakspeare " sent 
 with it. As I have not had an opportunity to place the impressions from 
 the restored plates side by side with the original prints, I have formed my 
 opinion of the probable success of Dr Spooner's great undertaking on the 
 testimony of the gentlemen whose names are given in the Prospectus as 
 having made the comparison. Several of them are so well known as 
 distinguished artists, and persons of highly cultivated taste, that I feel 
 confident the proposed American publication will be as substantial a re- 
 production of the original magnificent work of Boydell, as the nature 
 of the case admits. In this expectation I have subscribed for it, and wish 
 it all success. I am, gentlemen, respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 MESSRS. REDDING & Co. EDWARD EVERETT." 
 
 It would require a volume to give even short extracts from the nume- 
 rous recommendatory notices of the work which have appeared in the 
 public prints throughout the country. The work is so well known to the 
 world, that commendation seems superfluous. It has stood the test of 
 seventy years' criticism, and, like Shakspeare, its reputation has steadily 
 increased ever since its publication. No better proof of this fact can be 
 desired, than this that most of the Illustrations of Shakspeare, published 
 since Boydell's time, have been pirated in whole or in part from his great 
 work. A beautiful edition of Shakspeare has recently been published in 
 Germany, illustrated in miniature after Boydell. 
 
 l: The restoration is entirely successful, and has the unqualified appro- 
 bation of the best critics in such matters. The work originally cost an 
 incredible sum, and the whole artistic talent of Great Britain was laid 
 under contribution for twenty years in producing it. The restoration of 
 the work is a great enterprise which should enlist the sympathies and 
 liberal patronage of the public." Courier and Enquirer, July 20, 1848. 
 
 " The impressions from the restored plates appear like proofs, and com- 
 pare very accurately with the early proofs. The restoration is most per- 
 fect and satisfactory. Boydell's price was one hundred guineas." N. Y. 
 Evening Post, July 21. 
 
 " We have examined the original proofs, the defaced impressions, and 
 the restored copies, side by side, and consider the last in no respect infe- 
 rior to the first." A'. Y. Tribune, July 28. 
 
 " It is an enterprise worthy of the most liberal encouragement." 
 Commercial Advertiser, July 20. 
 
 11 It is a subject of congratulation among the lovers of the fine arts, to 
 see the perfect revival of this magnificent Shakspeare Gallery. The 
 enterprising proprietor has twelve of the plates restored, and several 
 others are in rapid progress. Dr. Spooner has fixed the price of each 
 pla e at only one dollar. The original subscription, we believe, was 
 two guineas. It ought to have, and no doubt will have a large circula- 
 tion. Every housekeeper should possess himself of the entire series."-^ 
 Noah's Weekly Messenger, July 20. 
 
APPENDIX. 21 
 
 " The restoration is pronounced by the best judges perfectly successful 
 and equal to the first proofs. Each plate has a letter-press description 
 accompanying it, which is a perfect key to each figure, and which adds 
 greatly to the interest and beamy of the work. The price is only one 
 dollar' the plate, which is exceedingly low, being only one-tenth part of 
 Boydell's proof price. This is certainly a great undertaking, which 
 should be encouraged by every lover of the fine arts." Home Journal, 
 July '22. 
 
 " Having examined the original copper plates, and compared the proofs 
 taken from the restored plates with a prool copy struck by Boydell him- 
 self, we have no hesitation in saying that in our judgment the restoration 
 is perfectly successful in every particular. Dr. Spooner has a certificate 
 to this effect, signed by more than one hundred well-known citizens of 
 New- York." Commercial Advertiser, Aug. 7. 
 
 " THE SIIAKSPEARE PLATES PART III. This part contains the two fa- 
 mous prints after Peters, illustrating the Merry Wives of Windsor the 
 one, Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page comparing letters ; the other, Falstaff in 
 the buck basket. Both plates are engraved in the most masterly manner. 
 They were the most difficult to restore in the whole series, in consequence 
 of their having been Avorn to smoothness by the demand for impressions 
 The restoration, however, has be p n perfectly successful. The prints are 
 fully brought up to the beauty of the proof copy. We have compared 
 them side "by side. The work, as it progresses, inci eases in beauty, and, 
 when completed, will form the most splendid and original work ever exe- 
 cuted. This great and worthy enterprise ought to be encouraged by every 
 lover of the fine arts and every liberal man." Courier fy Enquirer, Sep. 10. 
 
 "BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF SIIAKSPEARE. An American edition of 
 this celebrated work is now publishing under the proprietory care of Dr. 
 Spooner, of New- York. Eight of these large and superb plates have ap- 
 peared, and on comparing them with the old English edition, we have 
 been surprised at the freshness and perfection of the impressions. The 
 London Athenaeum recently expressed its incredulity at the possibility of 
 procuring any more good impressions from these plates. But we think 
 that no candid examiner can deny that Dr. Spooner has succeeded fully 
 in his undertaking. Many of the impressions could not be distinguished 
 from the original issues, except from the tint of the paper. All amateurs 
 and lovers of prints should call at Redding & Co.'s, the Boston Agents, 
 and look at the eight plates that have been published. They are afforded 
 at less than one-fifth of the London price." Boston Evening Transcript, 
 Oct. 11. Park Benjamin, Esq., Ed. 
 
 BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE Some time since, after we 
 had examined the original plates in process of restoration, we called the 
 attention of our readers to the pleasure preparing for them. The expec- 
 tations which we then entertained have been more than realized. The 
 proprietor has spared no expense in the restoration. He has not only 
 brought the plates to the beauty of the most perfect copies we have ever 
 seen, but he has given them all the beauty and boldness and finish of 
 proofs. A more beautiful work of art than the whole series will present, 
 we cannot imagine. The genius of the poet and the artist combine to 
 lend a lustre to each picture ; the whole forming the most original work 
 ever executed. In comparison with these prints, all other illustrations 
 of Shakspeare fall into insignificance. It is a matter of public congrat- 
 ulation that our country has thus become possessed of one of England's 
 proudest monuments of intellectual ffjory. We ee tb^t it i<* pJre?.d tr Av- 
 erting envy on the other side of ihe Atlantic." Home Journal, Aug. 10. 
 
22 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following article is extracted from He wet's Excelsior and Illustrated 
 Times. Mr. Hewet's reputation as a man of taste, and as the illustrator 
 of a very beautiful edition of Shakspeare, and of other works, is toe 
 widely known to require comment. 
 
 " Boydell's Illustrations of Shakspeare is a work so well known that it 
 is unnecessary to comment upon it here to any extent. Beyond dispute, 
 it is the most magnificent work ever executed in any age or country. 
 Upwards of sixty of the most renowned artists of the world were en- 
 gaged in designing, painting and engraving the work, upwards of twenty 
 years. It was commenced in 1785, and finished in 1809. Alderman 
 Boydell, afterwards Lord Mayor of London, a very wealthy man, resolved 
 to immortalize his own name, as well as to gratify his love of the fine 
 arts, by getting up a series of Illustrations of Shakspeare that should be 
 worthy of the immortal bard, and an honor to his country. For this pur- 
 pose he poured out his money like water, laid the whole artistic talent of 
 the world under contribution, and, after many years of indefatigable ex- 
 ertion, produced his world-renowned " 100 Illustrations of Shakspeare/ 5 
 at an expense, as is said, of a million sterling. To give an idea of the 
 immense original cost of the work, it is only necessary to say, that in 
 addition to the preparatory expenses, such as designs, paintings, gallery, 
 &c., many of the plates are known to have had six years' labor of the 
 engraver bestowed on a single plate. 
 
 " About seven years ago Dr. S. Spooner, a wealthy citizen of this city, 
 and a man of great taste, bought all the original copper plates of this 
 magnificent work, with the intention to restore them to their original proof 
 state, as the greatest boon he could offer his country and the world. After 
 several years of fruitless efforts, he learned that Mr. George Parker, of 
 London, was the only man known capable of undertaking the supervision 
 of the great enterprise, and he forthwith made him such overtures as in- 
 duced him to come out and undertake the restoration of the work. Dr. 
 Spooner commenced operation on the most worn plates of course the 
 most difficult ones to restore and in due time several Avere restored to 
 such perfection as astonished every beholder. Sanguine of success, and 
 confident in his own resources, the Dr. went on with his great enterprise, 
 until it leaked out and got into the newspapers, which caused quite a 
 stir, when he began to encounter opposition from a quarter where he least 
 expected it. To counteract this mischief, he invited all the most distin- 
 guished artists, engravers, connoisseurs and literary men in the city to his 
 house, to critically examine the original plates, and to compare the proofs 
 taken from the restored plates with the late Ithiel Town's proof copy of 
 the old work. We had the pleasure of being present at this interesting 
 meeting. Many of our first engravers brought their glasses with them. 
 The result was, that the whole meeting, without a dissenting voice, de- 
 clared the proofs from the restored plates, fully equal to the proofs struck 
 by Boydell himself. Nay, many went further, and declared them superior 
 in several respects. 
 
 " It is now only necessary for us, as engravers, to describe how this 
 wonderful operation is performed. Every body knows, or ought to know, 
 that the great labor and difficulty of engraving is to transfer the drawing 
 to the plate, or to etch upon the plate the picture to be engraved, in all its 
 due proportion.?. No\v r , the process of restoring these plates is precisely 
 that of working up and finishing new plates. The ground work is all 
 there every line, however minute, has to be recut with the graver 
 Thus it is easily seen, that there is no difficulty in their restoration, to a 
 
p 
 B 
 
 APPENDIX. 23 
 
 man thoroughly conversant with the original work and the styles of en- 
 graving adopted ; yet it is an immense labor. It is one of the boldest 
 and most costly enterprises of the kind ever engaged in by a single man. 
 It is an enterprise that should arouse the sympathy and aid of every lib- 
 eral man, both by his subscription and his personal recommendation of 
 the work. The circulation of this truly magnificent work in our country, 
 cannot but be of the highest benefit to the fine arts, by giving a correct 
 taste and love for the highest works of art. It is a matter of public con- 
 gratulation that our country has become possessed of one of England's 
 greatest treasures: We have frequently examined the work in progress, 
 and know the truth of what we say. Dr. Spooner has the right kind of 
 taste and enthusiasm, as well as ample means, to engage in such an enter- 
 
 rise, and will complete the work, even were it at the loss of thousands. 
 
 ut this cannot be. The enterprise is only just getting known, yet sub- 
 scriptions are pouring in upon him from all parts of the country. He 
 has received an ofifcr of ten thousand pounds for his copper plates. The 
 offer was made by a London publishing house, through their agent 
 here. Of course it was unhesitatingly rejected by the proprietor, in jus- 
 tice to his subscribers, his pledges, and his reputation. Though the sum 
 seems large, what is it in comparison to the original cost of the work 
 .1,000.000 sterling ! These magnificent plates will live and be prized as 
 long as Shakspeare is admired, and they will find a ready market in every 
 part of the world." 
 
 The following article is extracted from the Tuscaloosa Monitor of Dec, 
 9th, 1848, edited by M. D. J. Slade, Esq. Of the many editorial notices 
 which have fallen under my observation, few have taken so noble, just, 
 and disinterested a view of the subject. The original article is more 
 than two columns in length. The Editor first calls attention to the enter- 
 prise in the following language: 
 
 " We would suggest to our exchanges, the expediency of giving to their 
 readers some information in regard to the re-publication of Boycleil's great 
 work, of which an account is contained in the present Monitor. We make 
 this suggestion without having the slightest personal interest in the mat- 
 ter, nor even any acquaintance with any one who has ; our motive being 
 simply a desire to see proper encouragement extended to a noble work of 
 art, and a general diffusion given to so excellent a means of elevating 
 the public taste." 
 
 He then goes on and gives an admirable historical account of the work, 
 and description of the same, which must be omitted here for want of 
 room. 
 
 " We have recently had an opportunity of examining eight of these 
 restored engravings, which are now in Tuscaloosa. Some years have 
 passed since we saw a set of the original proofs. We cannot, therefore, 
 ourselves speak of these impressions from direct comparison ; but we can 
 say that they are pre-eminently beautiful and striking; and we are wil- 
 ling to admit the testimony of the numerous artists and connoisseurs 
 who have made the comparison with close and severe scrutiny, that they 
 can in no manner be distinguished from the originals." 
 
 The editor here describes the plates and then proceeds : 
 
 u Description,' however, in matters of this kind, is of little value. To 
 be understood, these pictures must be seen. We presume that they ^iil 
 be accessible to any person interested. 
 
24 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Dr. Spoonor commenced his labor of restoration, by very wisely se- 
 lecting plates which had suffered most from wear, as the first subjects of 
 his experiments. The complete success which has attended his efforts, 
 has excited surprise and awakened a lively interest in the work, on the 
 other side of the water. He has already been offered from England, fifty 
 thousand dollars for the plates ; but he has resolutely refused to part with 
 them. His publishing price is one dollar only for each engraving. 
 Prints of equal size, executed in similar style, sell, according to Acker- 
 man & Co.'s catalogue, at prices varying from $15 to $25 in London. It 
 appears, therefore, to be abundantly manifest, that Dr. Spooner is by no 
 means mercenary in his present undertaking. His price is, plainly 
 enough, not fixed for the purpose of making profit by the operation. The 
 prints are sold very far below their value ; and were the plates to pass 
 into other hands, there can be no doubt that the price would at once go 
 up, and that the world of taste would suffer, while the speculators would 
 gain. The present proprietor seems to be actuated by a love of art him- 
 self, and a desire to promote such a feeling in others. Nothing certainly 
 in the power of one man to do, could txert a more beneficial influence in 
 improving the public taste, than the general distribution of so superb a 
 work as this. We sincerely trust, however, that one who has himself 
 evinced so liberal a spirit may not in the end prove a loser by his libe- 
 rality. The original projector of this great work succeeded in his grand 
 design, but sank, himself, beneath its enormous weight. Its restorer must 
 invest a very large capital in his difficult and hazardous undertaking ; 
 but it is to be hoped that his labors will terminate in a happier issue. 
 
 " There are in Alabama there are, we hope, in this community, some 
 who know how to value the achievements of art. There are those whose 
 refined tastes are capable of appreciating the beautiful, the magnificent, 
 the grand. And, utilitarian as this age may be, there are not wanting 
 individuals who do not believe that all usefulness is confined to the 
 mechanical and the physical. There are those who believe that the 
 world is made better in proportion as its tastes are elevated audits senti- 
 ments refined ; and who can therefore perceive, in painting and in sculp- 
 ture, in poetry, and in music, efficient means of improving the human 
 race. Such may esteem the patronage of a work of art like this, a thing 
 worthy to be encouraged on solid and substantial grounds. Others, who 
 feel more and who reason less, but who love the beautiful for its own 
 sake, may desire to possess so rich a collection of the master-pieces of art, 
 for the pleasure it is capable of affording. But whatever motive may 
 lead any to lend their aid to so laudable an undertaking, we trust that 
 Alabama may not be behind her sister states in promoting an enterprise, 
 which, when carried out, will confer the highest honor on the country in. 
 which it is attempted. 
 
 " The great labor of perfectly restoring one hundred large engravings, 
 each of them a perfect study, where every line has to be retouched by the 
 graver. -must necessarily occupy quite a length of time. It is intended 
 that the publication shall be made in monthly parts, each part containing 
 two plates. Thus, though the entire cost of the work, even at its present 
 very low price, is considerable, it is spread over so large a space as to 
 render it light. There are paintings in this city, we presume, which 
 cost, singly, more than the whole set of Bcydell's Illustrations ; but we 
 question whether there is one which a connoisseur would prefer to such 
 a set. Let those who have shown their good taste by encouraging the 
 productions of the pencil, consider whether they have not now a fit oppor- 
 tunity to do equal justice to the burin." 
 
 New-York, March 1, 1849. S. SPOONER. 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 THE Proprietor has the gratification to announce to the subscribers of 
 the American edition of Boydell's Illustrations of Shakspeare, that he has 
 succeeded far beyond his most sanguine expectations. Many obstacles 
 and difficulties which at first presented themselves, have been gradually 
 overcome. Sixteen of the plates, the most worn in the whole series, 
 have been fully restored to their original proof state, and several others 
 are in the hands of the engravers, in process of restoration. Thus, in 
 little more than one year, we have restored nearly one-fourth part of the 
 entire work, which will enable me to issue the work regularly in monthly 
 parts, as stated in the Prospectus. It may not be amiss to state that the 
 plates came into my possession more than six years ago, that I purchased 
 them with the intention to restore them, and that I found it impossible to 
 obtain such services as would ensure the success of the undertaking, until 
 it was my good fortune to secure the services of Mr. George Parker, who 
 has the entire supervision of the work. This gentleman, in addition to 
 his great knowledge and skill in the art of engraving, has all the enthu- 
 siasm of his old preceptor, Robert Thew, who was Alderman Boydell's 
 right hand man in getting up the work originally, and who engraved some 
 of the most admired plates. This fact, in connection with his intimate 
 knowledge of the work, and early acquaintance with many of the distin- 
 guished artists originally engaged upon it, are a sufficient guaranty that 
 no efforts on his part will be spared to make the work fully equal to the 
 first proofs struck by Boydell himself. No expense will certainly be 
 spared on my part to effect this object, and as I commenced the restoration 
 with the firm and deliberate determination to prosecute it to its entire 
 completion, I have made such arrangements as will effect this object be- 
 yond the doubt of any probable contingency. Indeed, since we com- 
 menced operations, several hundred of the first artists, engravers, connois- 
 seurs, and literary men in the country have examined the work in progress, 
 and compared the proofs taken from the restored plates with the original 
 
proof copy, and some proofs before the letter, in my possession, and 
 without a dissenting voice, they have pronounced the proofs taken from 
 the restored plates fully equal to the original proofs ; very many have 
 gone farther and declared them superior. I have no hesitation in saying 
 that the American edition, when completed, will be an improvement on the 
 English, in several respects, without interfering with the originality of the 
 work in the least, which will be preserved with the greatest care. The 
 ines are cut in deeper, which gives the prints a sharper and clearer ap- 
 pearance. - The work is also printed on far better paper. The letter-press 
 description and key to the plates is also a distinguishing feature of the 
 American edition, and adds greatly to the interest, beauty and value of the 
 work. Not one person in a hundred can fully appreciate these plates 
 without deep study, unless assisted by a descriptive key. This fact 1 
 have had ample opportunities of testing, by noting the observations con- 
 stantly dropping from the many persons who have called to examine the 
 work. The cheapness of the work I hardly need refer to ; the price set 
 is certainly not above one-fifteenth part of the present English publishing 
 price for the same class of prints. Besides its value as a source of end- 
 less amusement and instruction, it cannot fail to be a good investment : 
 for the work must always be rare : its value does not depend upon fashion-- 
 it is a work that equally interests the whole civilized world not a work 
 for a day, but for all time. So certain am I of the perfection of the re- 
 storation, that, with the advice of many friends, some of whom are for- 
 eigners, I am making arrangements to send the work to England and to 
 the continent confident that its republication where it originated, must 
 be attended with eminent success. S. SPOONER. 
 
 NeivYork, Nov. 1, 1848. 
 
 PLAN OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 To be published in fifty parts, containing two plates each, to be issued 
 the first of every month, commencing July 1, 1848. Price $2.00 per 
 part, to subscribers only. All letters to the Proprietor or his Agents 
 should be post paid. 
 
APPENDIX CONTINUED. 
 
 THE foregoing comprises my Prospectus, and I publish it here as it is, 
 because the plates are stereotyped, and it contains an interesting history of 
 the commencement and progress of the enterprise. It will be perceived that 
 I had twelve plates fully restored, before I began to issue the work in 
 monthly parts, and that I have gone on gradually increasing my operatives 
 till I have now a sufficient force to complete the work within the time spe- 
 cified in the Prospectus. 
 
 As a matter of curiosity, I think it proper to state, that there is no diffi- 
 culty, in skillful hands, of restoring old plates, if they are not too much 
 worn. The engraver has his proof before him there is no invention he 
 sees exactly what is wanted he runs his graver through the lines with ra- 
 pidity, in comparison to the time and care required in entering new ones. 
 This is the secret of success in restoring the work. Every line is recut, 
 and the plates worked up, so that they are like new ones. 
 
 To give some idea of the immense labor bestowed on these plates, it has 
 been estimated by engravers, to be at least equal to 400 years of constant 
 labor that is, it would require 20 engravers constantly for 20 years to en- 
 grave the work. 
 
 The following card to subscribers, on issuing Part XIX., may, with pro- 
 priety, be introduced here : 
 
 C ARD. 
 
 Some subscribers to the Shakspeare Illustrations, having made com- 
 plaints to me, and expressed doubts as to whether the plates are fully 
 brought to their original color , I beg to make the following statements for 
 their satisfaction. 
 
 The great expense of restoring these plates is the recutting and restip- 
 pling. The getting in of color afterwards, with acids, is a small matter 
 ? t nd the danger is, the risk of getting in too much. Our object is to bring 
 (he work up to its original state. The great beauty of this work, is its strik. 
 ing originality, and the fidelity with which the paintings were copied by 
 the engravers. Some of the palest plates were engraved by Bartolozzi, 
 Earlom, Thew, and others, whose reputation is world-renowned. The 
 
28 A P P E N D I X CONTINUED. 
 
 modern cheap machine-made, black and white prints, (I mean mezzotint 
 and ruled engraving^,) have done much to vitiate the public taste. Such 
 prints have little estimation in the artist's eye, and make the "judicious 
 grieve." Indeed, the restoration of some of these plates costs more than 
 new plates would in this style of engraving. We find nothing of this in 
 the works of the most renowned engravers. 
 
 Now I have not issued a plate that has not been fully brought up to its 
 original color. Indeed, the lining and stippling are cut in deeper than in 
 the original plates, which gives the impression a clearness and shapeness 
 of line, and depth of color, not in the old work. I have, from the first, 
 courted comparison with the old work. 
 
 The twelve first plates were publicly exhibited, and the fidelity of the 
 restoration certified to by more than 200 of our most distinguished citizens, 
 (see certificate in Prospectus.) and almost daily since, the progress of the 
 work has been inspected by many of our best judges, (particularly by artists 
 and engravers,) with their entire approbation. 
 
 I have not spared any expense to perfect the work, although the cost thus 
 far has been double my receipts. A great deal of new lining and interlin- 
 ing has been introduced into the stipple plates. In the present No. (part 
 19, plate 24) the whole back-ground and the draperies have been lined with 
 beautiful effect. The old plate is a stipple, and has the flat appearance of a 
 lithograph, (see, in particular, parts 3, 4, 13 and 14.) All this, I need not 
 say, adds very materially to the cost of restoration. 
 
 I never engaged in this enterprise with the expectation of profit. Chance 
 alone threw the plates into my possession in 1842 ; and had it not been for 
 me, not one of them would now have been in existence. It is true, that I 
 bought them with a view to their restoration ; and when, after years of toil, 
 I began to issue the work, it was hailed as a magnificent and worthy enter- 
 prise, that could not fail to benefit the fine-arts in our country. I am frank 
 to say, that the work is my delight and my pride; and from the first, the 
 thought has cheered me on, that a failure of the enterprise could not de- 
 prive me of my legitimate means of support my profession. One-half of 
 the expense is incurred. Thirty-eight plates are before you ; two more are 
 finished ; twelve are in the hands of the engravers, and my engraving and 
 printing establishment is in perfect order; besides ; the commencement of 
 a novel enterprise like this is always attended with many extra expenses. 
 
 One thing is certain the work must always be rare and valuable. I 
 shall shortly publish the descriptions in quarto form, for the convenience 
 of subscribers ; and in French and English, for the Continent of Europe, 
 where the work has never been sold to any extent. The wars between Eng- 
 land and France were the great cause of Boydell's failure, by destroying his 
 print trade on the Continent. 
 In conclusion, I beg leave to complain on my part, that many of my sub- 
 
A P P E N D I X CONTINUED. 29 
 
 scribers are far in arrears, not only in this city, but in every part of the 
 country. Boydell was paid two guineas the plate, for the first 300 impres- 
 sions, and one guinea, for the general subscription list, always paid in 
 advance. I give you the same, printed on far better paper, with the addi- 
 tion of the description text, for One Dollar, on delivery, which, in con- 
 science, ought to be paid. 
 Hoping that this apology will prove satisfactorily, 
 
 I remain your obedient servant, 
 
 S. SPOONER. 
 NEW- YORK, April 1, 1850. 
 
 BOYDELL'S GALLERY. Another number of the American edition of this 
 valuable Gallery has been published by Dr. Spooner, containing two plates 
 in " Hamlet," The Ghost Scene on the Ramparts, and The Mad Scene of 
 Ophelia. We can confidently say of the 'latter, that in deep cutting and 
 bold relief it far exceeds the original, and is from the painting of our coun- 
 tryman. Sir Benjamin West. The Ghost, in the other plate, is more light 
 and spiritual than the original. When the whole is completed, and bound 
 with its beautiful letter-press, every gentleman who has a copy of it, will 
 place the highest value on it. Its cost is not the one-fourth of the original 
 subscription; besides, the monthly payments are made so easily as not to 
 be felt. The demand ought to exceed the possibility of supplying the sub- 
 scription. If every plate was framed, what a splendid gallery it would 
 make. NoaWs Messenger, May 5t/i, 1850. 
 
 " BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE," (No 20,) contains two 
 illustrations of Hamlet, after pictures by West and Fuseli. They have 
 been restored with extraordinary success, and will doubtless be considered 
 by all connoisseurs as decided improvements on the original. We are al- 
 ways happy to call attention to this great artistic enterprise, and rejoice 
 that it is advancing with so much spirit and energy. No lover of Shak- 
 speare, or friend of the Arts should regard it with indifference. N. Y. Tri- 
 bune, May 2d. 1850. 
 
 " BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE." (Part 20.) The restora- 
 tion of this great work is rapidly progressing. Part 20 has just been issued 
 by the publisher, containing the two renowned plates illustrating Hamlet, 
 after West and Fuseli. An examination of the two last numbers published, 
 must satisfy the most skeptical that no labor nor expense has been spared 
 in perfecting the restoration. We have carefully compared the restored 
 prints with The original, and give our preference to the former for these rea- 
 sons. Part 19 illustrates the Merchant of Venice, the first plate of which, 
 in the old work, (Shylock's Charge to Jessica,) is a pure stipple. The whole 
 of the draperies, in the restored plate, have been lined with fine effect. The 
 second plate, (Night Scene at Belmont.) is also improved in effect, by deep- 
 er shading in the back-ground, which throws out the flood of light poured 
 down by the full moon upon the silver waters. In the first plate. Part 20, 
 (Ghost Scene,) the figure of the Ghost, from which the light in the picture 
 emanates, is too dark in the old plate : it is much lighter in the restored 
 one, which gives it a more spiritual or ghost-like appearance. The deeper 
 shading in the fore-ground also adds to this effect. But the greatest im- 
 provement is in the superb line plate after West's Ophelia, by Legal. The 
 
30 A P P E N D I X CONTINUED. 
 
 old plate, though admitted to be a very masterly work, has been criticised 
 as defective in chiaro-scuro, or light and shade. This arises doubtless from 
 the effect of the painting having been exactly copied by the engraver. But 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds says that engravers, not having the advantage of the 
 pallet must give larger and broader masses of light and shade than the 
 painung would seem to warrant, in order to produce the necessary effect in 
 black and white, and that the Flemish engravers, under the immediate di- 
 rection of Reubens and Vandyck, pursued this practice in engraving their 
 works. In restoring this plate, the draperies of the King and Queen have 
 been deepened, and those of Ophelia and Laertes lightened, which gives 
 the required relief. There will be found, on close examination, many oth- 
 er minor improvements in these prints, which space will not allow us to 
 particularize, and which must be seen and compared to be appreciated. 
 We advise all who feel interested to call on Dr. Spooner and examine for 
 themselves, who not only wishes, but courts comparison, and is ever ready 
 to exhibit the copper-plates and proofs. Home Journal, May 4././1, 1850. 
 
 THE SIIAKSPEARK ILLUSTRATIONS. No. 1G of this work has arrived, and 
 fully sustains the opinion we expressed two weeks since in relation to the 
 merits of the restored plates. Sir Joshua Reynolds' picture of Macbeth in 
 the presence of the witches, (Act 4, Scene 1,) is one of the finest conceptions 
 in the range of art, and its great ideas and faithful accessories, its wild fan- 
 tastic shapes and spectre rings, make it a study that enchains the a'tention, 
 and not a tame representation of a fact, or a prettiness that pleases the fan- 
 cy. This series is beginning to attract the attention it so well deserves, and 
 we believe that a large number of copies will be retained in Cincinnati. 
 Cincinnati Columbian, Feb. 20, 1850. 
 
 It is impossible to compare these engravings with the originals of Boy- 
 dell's, without being satisfied that they are the genuine plates, and rendered 
 fully equal to what they were at first. Still more, no man of taste or liter- 
 ature can examine them, without being impressed with wonder at the min- 
 ute accuracy, historic truth and fidelity to nature, which truly renders 
 them what they profess to be Illustrations of Shakspeare. Cist's Cincin- 
 nati Advertiser, Dec. 12, 1849. 
 
 The restoration of the plates (part 13) is perfectly successful, and has 
 the unqualified approbation of the best critics in such matters. Courier <$ 
 Enquirer, July 20, 1849. 
 
 We have compared the proofs side by side, and consider the restored 
 plates in no respect inferior to the originals. Tribune, Jaly 21, 1849. 
 
 The impressions cannot be distinguished from the original issues, except 
 from the lint of the paper. Boston Transcript, Oct. 11, 1849. 
 
 He has succeeded, wonderful to relate, in obtaining valuable proof im- 
 pressions. N. Y. Express, March 21, 1849. 
 
 The restoration of these plates (parts 15 & 16) is eminently successful. The 
 enterprise undertaken by Dr. Spooner is worthy of the most liberal patron- 
 age and support. If the American Art-Union have paid three hundred dol- 
 lars for restoring the mezzotint plate of Gen. Marion, what must be the 
 expense of restoring one hundred plates like these, engraved in the most 
 elaborate and expensive manner 7 The publication of this work by one of 
 our own citizens, will not only tend to a cultivation of taste for the higher 
 
A P P E N D I X CONTINUED. 31 
 
 works of art, but it will add to our national reputation in the world of art , 
 for the restoring of old plates, so as to obtain valuable impressions, is novel, 
 and originated with Dr. Spooner. Home Journal, Jan. 12, 1850. 
 
 To the liberality and indefatigable perseverance of Dr. Spooner, the 
 world will be indebted for the complete restoration of one of the grandest 
 works ever undertaken by human hands we allude to Boydell's celebrated 
 Illustrations of Shakspeare. N. Y. Sun, Aug. 12, 1849. 
 
 It is a splendid work, and every gentleman who has a parlor or a library 
 ought to have a copy, at a rate so cheap, that the annals of art have nothing 
 equal to it. On a careful examination of this number, (part 14,) with the 
 originals, we do not hesitate saying, that the restored plates far surpass the 
 originals. The deep shades and lights are more boldly thrown out, and 
 the defects are avoided. Noah's Messenger, Oct. 7, 1849. 
 
 BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS. We had the pleasure on Saturday evening, 
 in company with a few friends in this city, of known taste in such matters, 
 of comparing the restored plates in the hands of Mr. Macomber, with the 
 complete work belonging to Ex-Gov. A, V. Brown ; and came to the con- 
 clusion as did all who were present that those now coming out are in 
 every respect, to say the least, equal to those first issued. It was a real 
 treat to all present, and no one who has not examined the series can imag- 
 ine the beauty and prodigal richness of this magnificent work of art. We 
 have heard of two other copies in this State since we had occasion to men- 
 tion this matter one belonging to F. B. Fog, Esq., of this city, the other 
 to the Columbia Institute ; the latter of which is used to lecture upon be- 
 fore the pupils. Every literary institution in the State should be provided 
 with a copy, particularly as after the first series is issued in this country, 
 ihe plates are to be taken back to England. It is a work, therefore, that 
 must hereafter greatly increase in value ; and those who contemplate se- 
 curing it should not delay making use of the opportunity now presented. 
 Nashville Republican Banner, April 30, 1850. 
 
 BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE Restored by Dr. Spooner, of 
 New-York From the time of Dr. Spooner's announcement of his inten- 
 tion to attempt the restoration of Boydell's splendid plates, we have felt the 
 warmest sympathy in the enterprise. The magnificence of the original 
 undertaking, the enthusiastic spirit in which Boydell embarked in his great 
 design, and the wealth he lavished with a liberal hand in laying the sister 
 arts of painting and engraving under contribution, in the production of a 
 monument to Shakspeare ; s genius, second only to that which '* the myriad- 
 minded" man had erected for himself long since, won the homage of all 
 lovers of Shakspeare's genius. But alas ! few of them, comparatively, 
 were able to enjoy the possession of the prize. The cost of Boydell's en- 
 gravings placed them beyond the reach of any but the wealthy. Boydell 
 received two guineas the plats for the first three hundred impressions, and 
 one guinea on the general subscription list, always paid in advance. Dr. 
 Spooner has performed wonders, we think, in the restoration of these plates. 
 Louisville Journal, May 2, 1850. 
 
AGENTS 
 
 FOR BOYDELL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OP SHAKSPEARE 
 
 BOSTON Redding & Co., No. 8 State-street. 
 WORCESTER Edward Livermore. 
 PROVIDEECE Rowe & Co. 
 SPRINGFIELD W. B. Brockett. 
 HARTFORD Brown & Parsons, 182 Main-street. 
 NEW-HAVEN Durrie & Peek, 70 Chapel-street. 
 ALBANY W. C. Little & Co., 53 State-street. 
 UTICA W. W. Backus, 155 Genesee-street. 
 ROCHESTER Edwin Scfanton, 25 Buffalo-street. 
 
 " D. M. Dewey, Arcade. 
 
 BATAVIA William Seaver & Son. 
 BUFFALO George H. Derby & Co., 164 Main-street. 
 CLEVELAND Joseph Sargeant, Superior Lane. 
 PITTSBURGH John D. Davis, corner of Wood and Fifth-streets. 
 CINCINNATI Post & Co. 
 
 LOUISVILLE Maxwell & Co., 451 Main-street. 
 ST. Louis Meredith Ogden. 
 
 NEWARK John L. Agnes, No. 2 Commerce-street. 
 PHILADELPHIA Getz & Buck. 
 BALTIMORE William Taylor & Co. 
 WASHINGTON Taylor & Maury, Pennsylvania Avenue. 
 RICHMOND A. Morris. 
 CHARLESTON William R. Babcock. 
 NEW-ORLEANS Daniel Rice. 
 TUSCALOOSA F. A. P. Barnard. 
 SAVANNAH W. T. Williams. 
 MOBILE J. K. Randall & Co. 
 
 OHIO (North of the Cumberland Road) Parsons & Co., Elyria. 
 DETROIT C. Morse & Son. 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 
 JAN 3 1963 
 
 DEAL 
 
 LD 21-100m-7,'33 
 
U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 YA 01514 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 - 
 
 ! 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ ^> 
 
wmw 
 
 fejMAf!^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^mm^L