WAS SHAKESPEARE A ROMAN

THE

CATHOLIC?

'HE 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 personæ, 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.]

Pandulph.-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, unworthy and ridiculous,

To charge me to an answer, as the Pope.

Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England,
Add thus much more,- that no Italian priest

Shall tithe or toll in our dominions.

So tell the Pope; all reverence set apart

To him, and his usurp'd authority.

K. Philip. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this. K. John.-Though you, and all the kings of Christendom, Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,

Dreading the curse that money may buy out,

And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,

Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,

Who, in that sale, sells pardon from himself;
Though you, and all the rest, so grossly led,
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish;
Yet I, alone, do me oppose

Against the Pope, and count his friends my foes.

Pandulph.- Then by the lawful power that I have, Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate."

In the first part of King Henry VI. our readers will find the following (Act i., Scene 3)- a scene between Winchester and Gloster :

Win.-"How now, ambitious Humphrey! What means this? Glos.- Piel'd priest, dost thou command me to be shut out? * Win.- I do, thou must usurping proditer,

And not protector, of the king and realm.

Glos.- Stand back, thou manifest conspirator;
Thou that contriv'dst to murder our dear lord;
Thou that giv'st whores indulgence to sin.†
I'll canvas thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,
If thou proceed in this thy insolence.

Win.- Nay, stand thou back; I will not budge a foot.
This be Damascus; be thou cursed Cain,

To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.

Glos.- I will not stay thee, but I'll drive thee back.

*"Piel'd priest." Piel'd is what is now usually spelled peel'd, and in the folio of 1623 the orthography is pield. It occurs in the same sense in "Measure for Measure." The allusion is to the shaven crown of the Bishop of Winchester.

The public stews in Southwalk were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester. In the office book of the court all fees were entered that were paid by the keepers of these brothels - the church reaping the advantages of these pests to society.

"This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain," etc. In "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville," we find this passage: "And in that place, where Damascus was founded, Kayn sloughe Abel his brother."

Thy scarlet robes, as a child's bearing cloth,

I'll use to carry thee out of this place.

Win.- Do what thou dar'st. I'll beard thee to thy face. Glos.- What! Am I dar'd and bearded to my face? Draw, men, for all this privileged place;

Blue coats to tawny coats.* Priest, beware your beard,
[Gloster and his men attack the bishop.]

I mean to tug it, and cuff you soundly.
Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat,
In spite of pope or dignities of church;
Here by the cheeks I drag thee up and down.
Win.- Gloster, thou 'lt answer this before the pope.
Glos.- Winchester goose! † I cry — a rope! a rope!
Now bear them hence; why do you let them stay?
Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.
Out, tawny coats! out, scarlet hypocrite." +

"The cardinal is more haughty than the devil."
I Henry VI., i.

"Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh,
And ne'er, throughout the year, to church thou go'st,
Except it be to pray against thy foes."

3

I Henry VI., i. I.

Hopkins, that made the mischief.

*Tawny coats were worn by the attendants of the Bishop. Stow, in a passage quoted by Stevens, speaks on one occasion of the Bishop of London, who was " attended on by a goodly company of gentlemen in tawny coats. Gloster's men wore blue coats.

"

"Winchester goose." That the reader may better understand the terrible words of Gloster addressed to the Bishop and the insult aimed at his church, the word goose was a particular stage of the disease contracted in the stews. Hence Gloster bestows the epithet on the Bishop in derision and scorn, referring to his licentious life so strongly painted in Act. iii., Scene 1, of this most extraordinary play.

We have no doubt but Shakespeare introduced these terrible passages against the Church of Rome to please Queen Elizabeth, she having been trained up in a hatred of Popery.

That was he

That fed them with his prophecies."

Henry VIII., ii. r.

"These cardinals trifle with me: I abhor

This dilatory sloth, and tricks of Rome."

Worse than the sacring bell, when the brown wench
Lay kissing in your arms, Lord Cardinal."

Henry VIII., iii. 2.

"Out of mere ambition, you have caus'd
Your holy hat to be stamp'd on the king's coin.”

Henry VIII., iii. 2.

"The paper has undone me: 'Tis the account
Of all the world's wealth I've drawn together
For mine own ends: indeed, to gain the popedom,
And fee my friends in Rome."

Henry VIII., iii. 2.

"This is the cardinal's doing - the King Cardinal,
The blind priest,- the king will know him one day."

Henry VIII, ii. 2.

"Oft have I seen the haughty cardinal,

More like a soldier than a man o' the church,

As stout and proud as he were lord of all,
Swear like a ruffian."

2 Henry VI., i. I.

There are numerous other passages all tending to show the author's sentiments in regard to the Church of Rome, as well as his thorough belief and reverence of the Protestant faith. This is exemplified in the similitude of his religious sentences to the passages drawn from the Bible and the liturgy of the Church of England.

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