Some years ago by the courtesy of the Corporation of London, the
Librarian and the Chairman of the Library Committee carried the Purchase
Deed to the British Museum to place it side by side with the Mortgage
Deed there.
After they had with myself and the Museum Authorities most carefully
examined the two deeds, the Librarian of the City Corporation said to
me, there is no reason to suppose that the Corporation deed has upon it
the signature of Wm. Shakespeare, and the British Museum Authorities
likewise told me that they did not think that the Museum Mortgage Deed
had upon it a signature of William Shakespeare.
The more you examine the whole five the more you will be certain, as the
writer is, after the most careful study of the Will and of the Deeds,
that not one of the five writings is a "signature," or pretends to be a
"signature," and that therefore there is a probability, practically
amounting to a certainty, that the Stratford Actor could not so much as
manage to scrawl his own name.
No! We possess not a scrap of writing, not even an attempt at a
signature, [see also Chapter XIV., p. 161] that can be reasonably
supposed to be written by the Stratford _gentleman_.
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