WHAT IS MAN? AND OTHER ESSAYS OF MARK TWAIN

hypothesis that in early life he was in an attorney’s office (!),

that he there contracted a love for the law which never left him,

that as a young man in London he continued to study or dabble in

it for his amusement, to stroll in leisure hours into the Courts,

and to frequent the society of lawyers. On no other supposition

is it possible to explain the attraction which the law evidently

had for him, and his minute and undeviating accuracy in a subject

where no layman who has indulged in such copious and ostentatious

display of legal technicalities has ever yet succeeded in keeping

himself from tripping.”

A lame conclusion. “No other supposition” indeed! Yes,

there is another, and a very obvious supposition–namely, that

Shakespeare was himself a lawyer, well versed in his trade,

versed in all the ways of the courts, and living in close

intimacy with judges and members of the Inns of Court.

One is, of course, thankful that Mr. Collins has appreciated

the fact that Shakespeare must have had a sound legal training,

but I may be forgiven if I do not attach quite so much importance

to his pronouncements on this branch of the subject as to those

of Malone, Lord Campbell, Judge Holmes, Mr. Castle, K.C., Lord

Penzance, Mr. Grant White, and other lawyers, who have expressed

their opinion on the matter of Shakespeare’s legal acquirements.

. . .

Here it may, perhaps, be worth while to quote again from

Lord Penzance’s book as to the suggestion that Shakespeare had

somehow or other managed “to acquire a perfect familiarity with

legal principles, and an accurate and ready use of the technical

terms and phrases, not only of the conveyancer’s office, but of

the pleader’s chambers and the Courts at Westminster.” This, as

Lord Penzance points out, “would require nothing short of

employment in some career involving CONSTANT CONTACT with legal

questions and general legal work.” But “in what portion of

Shakespeare’s career would it be possible to point out that time

could be found for the interposition of a legal employment in the

chambers or offices of practicing lawyers? . . . It is beyond

doubt that at an early period he was called upon to abandon his

attendance at school and assist his father, and was soon after,

at the age of sixteen, bound apprentice to a trade. While under

the obligation of this bond he could not have pursued any other

employment. Then he leaves Stratford and comes to London. He

has to provide himself with the means of a livelihood, and this

he did in some capacity at the theater. No one doubt that. The

holding of horses is scouted by many, and perhaps with justice,

as being unlikely and certainly unproved; but whatever the nature

of his employment was at the theater, there is hardly room for

the belief that it could have been other than continuous, for his

progress there was so rapid. Ere long he had been taken into the

company as an actor, and was soon spoken of as a “Johannes

Factotum.’ His rapid accumulation of wealth speaks volumes for

the constancy and activity of his services. One fails to see

when there could be a break in the current of his life at this

period of it, giving room or opportunity for legal or indeed any

other employment. ‘In 1589,’ says Knight, ‘we have undeniable

evidence that he had not only a casual engagement, was not only a

salaried servant, as may players were, but was a shareholder in

the company of the Queen’s players with other shareholders below

him on the list.’ This (1589) would be within two years after

his arrival in London, which is placed by White and Halliwell-

Phillipps about the year 1587. The difficulty in supposing that,

starting with a state of ignorance in 1587, when he is supposed

to have come to London, he was induced to enter upon a course of

most extended study and mental culture, is almost insuperable.

Still it was physically possible, provided always that he could

have had access to the needful books. But this legal training

seems to me to stand on a different footing. It is not only

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *