Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ... WAS SHAKESPEARE A ROMAN CATHOLIC? THE silly attempt of a few Papist writers to connect Shakespeare with the Catholic Church has totally failed to command a single consideration from those entertaining views of a more liberal faith. There is not a single passage in his writings, or in the records of his life, that indicate his having held the Roman Catholic faith, and it may be fully presumed that, had he held that persuasion, he would not have exposed himself to the censure of that priesthood, by expressing the strong anti-popish sentiments conveyed in the following extracts. An old writer, alluding to these passages in the several plays of Shakespeare, says: "A reference to these extracts, it is presumed, that every mind capable of judging will be fully convinced that Shakespeare was not a Papist, and it must be borne in mind that the evidence in proof thereof is given by himself--a testimony more powerful than the arguments of commentators." No Papist would have been inclined, or would have dared, to have put into the mouths of dramatis persona, such expressions, counter to Papacy, as are presented in the extracts we now furnish: King John, Act III., Sc. 1. K. Philip.-- Here comes the holy legate of Rome. [Enter Pandulph.] randitlph.-- Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven. To thee, King John, my holy errand is. I, Pandulph, of fair Milan, Cardinal, And from Pope Innocent the legate here, Do in his name religiously demand, Why thou against the Church, our holy mother, So wilfully dost spurn; and, force perforce Keep Stephen Langton, chosen Archbishop Of Canterbury, from the Holy See? . . . K. John.--What earthly name to interrogatories Can task the free breath of a sacred king? Thou can'st not, cardinal, devise a name So slight, ...
