The Will
might therefore have been, and I myself am perfectly certain that it
was, marked with the name of William Shakspeare by the Solicitor, Fra
(ncis) Collyns, who wrote the body of the Will.
[Illustration: Plate XIV. The Five so-called "Shakespeare Signatures."
THE FIVE SO-CALLED "SHAKESPEARE SIGNATURES."]
He also wrote the names of the other witnesses, which are all in the
same hand-writing as the Will; shewing that Shakspeare's witnesses were
also unable to write their names.
This fact, that Shakspeare's name is written by the solicitor, is
conclusively proved by the recent article of Magdalene Thumm-Kintzel in
the Leipzig magazine, _Der Menschenkenner_, which was published in
January 1909.
In this publication, photo reproductions of certain letters in the body
of the Will, and in the so-called Shakspeare signatures are placed side
by side, and the evidence is irresistible that they are written by the
same hand. Moreover when we remember that the Will commences "I Willim
Sha_c_kspeare" with a "c" between the "a" and "k," the idea that
Shakspeare himself wrote his own Will cannot be deemed worthy of serious
consideration.
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