"[13] Yes, the lawclerk marked the Stratford Gentleman's
"Answers to Interrogatories" with the name "Wilm Shaxp'r." Does there
exist a Stratfordian who will contend that William Shakespeare, of
Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman, if he had been able to write any portion
of his name would have marked his depositions Wilm Shaxp'r? Does there
exist any man who will venture to contend that the great Dramatist, the
author of the Immortal plays, would or could have so signed his name? We
trow not; indeed, such an abbreviation would be impossible in a legal
document in a Court of Law where depositions are required to be signed
in full.
With reference to the other so-called Shakespeare's signatures we must
refer the reader to our Chapter III. which was penned before these "New
Shakespeare Discoveries" were announced. And it is perhaps desirable to
say that the dot in the "W" which appears in two of those "so-called"
signatures of Shakespeare, and also in the one just discovered, is part
of the regular method of writing a "W" in the law writing of the period.
In the Purchase Deed of the property in Blackfriars, of March 10th
1612-13, mentioned on page 38, there are in the first six lines of the
Deed seven "W's," in each of which appears a dot.
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