The political, social, and physical conditions of his country
have altered since Shakespeare lived. England has ceased to be an
island-power. The people rule instead of the king. Social
responsibilities are more widely acknowledged. But the dramatist's
doctrine of patriotism has lost little of its pristine vitality, and
is relevant to current affairs.
IX
A PERIL OF SHAKESPEAREAN RESEARCH[38]
[Footnote 38: This paper was first printed in _The Author_, October
1903.]
I
For some years past scarcely a month passes without my receipt of a
communication from a confiding stranger, to the effect that he has
discovered some piece of information concerning Shakespeare which has
hitherto eluded research. Very often has a correspondent put himself
to the trouble of forwarding a photograph of the title-page of a late
sixteenth or early seventeenth century book, on which has been
scrawled in old-fashioned script the familiar name of William
Shakespeare. At intervals, which seem to recur with mathematical
regularity, I receive intelligence that a portrait of the poet, of
which nothing is hitherto known, has come to light in some recondite
corner of England or America, and it is usually added that a
contemporary inscription settles all doubt of authenticity.
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