750 The Bight Hon. D. H. Madden [May 20, 



There is yet anotlier cliaracteristic of the early plays and poems, 

 which would be of still greater value if we were driven to discover 

 their authorship from internal evidence ; for it would exclude many 

 competitors and considerably narrow the area of search. I have 

 elsewhere collected the allusions to field sports and to horsemanship 

 which are scattered throughout the works of Shakespeare. They are 

 to be found in his later, as well as in his early works, but nowhere 

 in such freshness and abundance as in the first heir of his invention 

 — ' Venus and Adonis.' Of the descrij^tion of the hare-hunt in this 

 poem Mr. Bagehot remarks, that it is idle to say that we know 

 nothing of its author, for we know that he has been after a hare. 

 This is a concise statement of the inference to be drawn from the 

 Shakespearian allusions to sj)ort and to horses. In mere point of 

 number they are without parallel in literature. There are to be 

 found in Shakespeare about four hundred words and pbrases dis- 

 tinctly relating to field sports, horses and horsemanship. Many of 

 these terms of art can only be detected by those who have made a 

 special study of the sporting literature of the age. For example, 

 although the words " career " and " race " are still in use, they have 

 long since lost the technical meaning which they once possessed in 

 the language of the manege. Reading the passages in which these 

 words occur, in the light of the technical knowledge which Shakespeare 

 possessed, they acquire a fresh significance and convey a fuller mean- 

 ing. Time will not permit me to enter into this subject at any length, 

 but I may mention some of the characteristics of the Shakespearian 

 allusions to sport or horsemanship. Sometimes they convey a secret 

 of woodcraft or horse knowledge, as when we are warned against a 

 horse with a cloud in his face, or taught how to avoid scaring a herd 

 of deer by the noise of a cross-bow. Often they are used in illustra- 

 tion of human nature and character, as when we are told that " hollow 

 men, like horses hot at hand, make gallant show and promise of their 

 mettle," but when the time of trial comes on and they should " endure 

 the bloody spur," they, "like deceitful jades, sink in the trial." 

 Sometimes they convey a lively image, often an irrelevance, by which 

 I mean an idea somewhat out of place with its surroundings ; and 

 puns on words connected with the chase, especially on the words 

 " hart " and " deer," are almost beyond counting. 



There is a distinctive note about Shakespeare's allusions to sport, 

 which I have failed to find in either the detailed descriptions or 

 casual allusions of any other writer. Applying Mr. Bagehot's canon, 

 we surely know something of the man whose thoughts for ever run 

 on horse, hound, hawk and deer. We know that many years of 

 his early life must have been spent in the pursuit of sport, and if 

 we were to draw any conclusion from local allusions, we should 

 infer that those years had been spent not far from Gloucestershire 

 or from Cotswold. And here we find the ShakesjDeare of fact and 

 of tradition in perfect accord with the testimony of his early works. 



I have directed your attention to some aspects of the Shakespeare 



