ses it
into the service of expression and illustration. At least a third of his
myriad metaphors are derived from it. It would indeed be difficult to
find a single act in any of his dramas, nay, in some of them, a single
scene, the diction and imagery of which are not colored by it. Much of
his law may have been acquired from three books easily accessible to
him--namely, Tottell's PRECEDENTS (1572), Pulton's STATUTES (1578), and
Fraunce's LAWIER'S LOGIKE (1588), works with which he certainly seems to
have been familiar; but much of it could only have come from one who had
an intimate acquaintance with legal proceedings. We quite agree with Mr.
Castle that Shakespeare's legal knowledge is not what could have been
picked up in an attorney's office, but could only have been learned
by an actual attendance at the Courts, at a Pleader's Chambers, and
on circuit, or by associating intimately with members of the Bench and
Bar."

This is excellent. But what is Mr. Collins's explanation? "Perhaps the
simplest solution of the problem is to accept the hypothesis that in
early life he was in an attorney's office (!), that he there contracted
a love for the law which never left him, that as a young man in London
he continued to study or dabble in it for his amusement, to stroll in
leisure hours into the Courts, and to frequent the society of lawyers.
On no other supposition is it possible to explain the attraction which
the law evidently had for him, and his minute and undeviating accuracy
in a subject where no layman who has indulged in such copious and
ostentatious display of legal technicalities has ever yet succeeded in
keeping himself from tripping."

A lame conclusion. "No other supposition" indeed! Yes, there is another,
and a very obvious supposition--namely, that Shakespeare was himself a
lawyer, well versed in his trade, versed in all the ways of the courts,
and living in close intimacy with judges and members of the Inns of
Court.

One is, of course, thankful that Mr. Collins has appreciated the fact
that Shakespeare must have had a sound legal training, but I may
be forgiven if I do not attach quite so much importance to his
pronouncements on this branch of the subject as to those of Malone,
Lord Campbell, Judge Holmes, Mr. Castle, K.C., Lord Penzance, Mr. Grant
White, and other lawyers, who have expressed their opinion on the matter
of Shakespeare's legal acquirements....

Here it may, perhaps, be worth while to qu