Was Shakespeare A Freemason?*

WAS SHAKESPEARE A FREEMASON ?*

FT is said , ancl evidences of the truth of the statement are not wanting , that J- elaborate essays have been written , and most satisfactory proof given , that Shakespeare must have been a lawyer , a doctor , a soldier , a sailor , an actor , a gardener , a wool-stapler , a horse-boy , a glover , a schoolmaster , a publican , a poacher , a tanner , a grave-digger—indeed , if a tithe of the statements made respecting him be true , he must verily have " played many parts , " and his " acts" must have numbered considerably over seven ages !"

We have in our time listened to grave attempts , made with more or less success , to show that he must have been "a Papist , " " a Jew , " "a spleeny Lutheran , " " an ambitious Churchman , " " a dissentious rogue , " " a heathen philosopher , " " a pagan rascal "—in brief , he has been trotted out in more characters than we "have thoughts to put them in , " or "imagination to give them shape . " Passing all these inquiries by , however , not as " unconsidered

trifles , " but rather as " deserving of high commendation ancl applause , " we propose to consider within the present limits if there is a fair ground for the oft-asserted statement that Shakespeare was a Freemason!—premising , for general information , that we have it not in intention to rake up ancl produce , as evidence , any " special word , " " set phrase , " or " certain marks , " whereby his brotherhood might unquestionably be established after a fashion ancl in a manner unfitting- for profane ears , but more by reference to such " covert illusions , " " hidden meanings , " " veiled teachings , " ancl " symbolic

illustrations as may be sufficiently well understood b y the initiated , if not b y the general reader . An eminent Freemason , upon the occasion of his installation as W . M . of the " Bard of Avon" Lodge , in June , 1827 , in the course of an admirable address , delivered to a singularly appreciative audience , quoted several passages from the plays of the great dramatist , ivhich , according to his

judgment , had not merel y a Masonic bearing , but also indicated the possession b y the author of very special Masonic knowledge . It was not to be expected that " cabin'd , cribb'd , confin'd " within the narrow bounds of an after-dinner speech , any more could be clone in this direction than simply to offer for acceptance a few illustrations ; the aptness and the force of which , and the skill exhibited in their selection , produce in our mind a profound regret that

one so gifted , so _ competent , so thoroughly qualified to deal exhaustively with such an interesting inquiry , should have permitted the handsome volume entitled " Shakespeare a Freemason " to be printed and published , without having given himself the trouble—nay , the gratification—of collecting ancl accumulating further proofs from the vast stores at his disposal : stores of wealth which his skilled hand would have found no difficult y in arranging "in order , " and with his ready pen presenting his brethren " in clue form" ancl " cunning manner" with much additional evidence ; f or " in faith he is a worthy gentleman , exceedingly well read !"

The inquiry is one in which , in . our " salad days , " when we were "green in judgment , " some thirty years ago , we took an absorbing interest—an interest which " age has not withered nor custom staled . " It possessed for us an attractive charm which has not yet entirely left us , for it is , so to speak , the lingering perfume laden with the pleasant influences of the past—alieni temporis fores—which has aroused us from the drowsiness engendered by years of apathy and neglect , to accept the challenge of the distinguished brother aforesaid , as conveyed b y him in his most instructive ancl interesting book , to wit