Rowe's figure is in the same attitude as
the Bust of the original monument engraved by Dugdale, and does not hold
a pen in its hand, but its two hands are supported on a wool-sack or
cushion, in the same manner as in the Bust from Dugdale which I have
shewn in Plate 5, on Page 14.
What are we to say respecting the frontispiece to the 1898 edition of
what he is pleased to describe as the "Life of William Shakespeare,"
which Mr. Sidney Lee tells us is "from the 'Droeshout' painting now in
the Shakespeare Memorial Gallery at Stratford-on-Avon"?
As a matter of fact there is no "Droeshout" painting. The picture
falsely so called is a manifest forgery and a palpable fraud, for in it
all the revealing marks of the engraving by Martin Droeshout which
appeared in the 1623 folio are purposely omitted. A full size photo
facsimile of Martin Droeshout's engraving is shewn in Plate 8, pp.
20-21. In the false and fraudulent painting we find no double line to
shew the mask, and the coat is really a coat and not a garment cunningly
composed of two left arms.
Still it does seem singularly appropriate and peculiarly fitting that
Mr. Sidney Lee should have selected as the frontispiece of the romance
which he calls the "Life" of Shakespeare, an engraving of the false and
fraudulent painting now in the Stratford-on-Avon Gallery for his first
edition of 1898; and should also have selected an engraving of the false
and fraudulent monument now in Stratford-on-Avon Church as the
frontispiece for his first Illustrated Library Edition of 1899.
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