The Old Cambridge Shakspearo Associa- 
tion 
i fThnTast meeting: of the Season of the 
j Cambridge Shakspeare Club which meets 
regularly every other Tuesday evening 
from November through April, happened 
to fall last night on Shakspeara’s birth¬ 
day. By a happy coincidence It turned 
out to be also the birthday of the genii,1 
secretary of the Club, Mr. Walter Deane, 
who rounded out on the occasion the 
unique record of thirty years’ indefa- 
tigably faithful service. The casting 
committee and the council, accordingly, 
took advantage of the opportunity to 
vary the usual programme, and provided 
an entertainment as successful as it was 
unique. 
The regular custom of the Club Is to 
read a play of Shakspeare in two suc¬ 
cessive meetings without cuts, or in one 
evening with cuts; for last evening, the 
secretary was innocently induced to send 
out ' a notice that “the committee is 
arranging the giving of a selection of 
scenes from ' several of the plays, and 
the members cast for these will be per¬ 
sonally notified.'’ For the first time m 
thirty years, he did n’t know what'the 
evening’s entertainment was to be. He 
was consequently somewhat disconcert¬ 
ed, when he innocently began the pro¬ 
gramme with Hamlet’s address to the 
players, to face a back parlor full of 
Shakspearean characters in costume; and - 
still more so, when Mr. W. C. Dane, pres¬ 
ident of the Club, after a scene from the 
“Merchant of Venice” with Miss Dexter, 
gracefully presented him with an ele¬ 
gantly bound volume of the Variorum 
Shakspeare, accompanied by appropriate 
verses. His embarrassed but withal 
characteristic remarks bore witness to , 
the genuineness of his surprise, which was 
intensified by the successive presenta¬ 
tion of the whole sixteen volumes with 
verses, original or aptly quoted from 
the plays, from which selections were 
rendered by members in costume. Each 
volume was embellished by an artistic 
book-plate, designed by Mr. Bruce Rogers, 
of the Riverside Press: 
TO WALTER DEANE 
Our Secretary for Thirty Tears 
The members of the 
Old Cambridge 
Shakespeare Association 
With Grateful Affection 
April 23, 1912 „ 
“As recompense of your dear services. Past 
and to Come." ' 3 
“Too little payment for so great a debt. 
The club has hitherto varied Its regular 
programme only by the reading of Eliza¬ 
bethan and occasionally modern non- 
Shakspearian plays, and works like Mil¬ 
ton’s "Samson Agonlstes”; but never be- , 
fore was such an original, happily con¬ 
ceived, and favored programme so artis¬ 
tically rendered before so large a meeting 
as this. Selections from the following plays 
were given. In addition to those already , 
"mentioned: “Dove’s Dnibor’s Dost,” “As 
You Dike It,”. “Othello,” “A Mid-Summer 
Night’s Dream,” “Macbeth," “The Tem¬ 
pest," “The Winter’s Tale,” “Richard III.,” 
“Twelfth Night," "King Rear,” "Romeo 
and Juliet," "Much Ado About Nothing,” 
“Antony and Cleopatra," and “Hamlet.’’ 
The first Idea of a Shakspeare Associa¬ 
tion occurred in the autumn of 1880, when 
Mrs. J. G. Cilley (now Mrs. Arthur E. 
Clarke) was entertaining a few friends at 
her house, among them Colonel T. W. Hig- I 
ginson, Dr. George Zaprlskie Gray and Dr. I 
Henry N. Hudson. The idea was broached j 
and Shortly after Mrs, Cilley invited a com¬ 
pany to her house and an organization was 
effected with Dr, Gray as president, Colonel 
Hilgginson as vice president and Mrs. Cilley 
as secretary and later as treasurer. Ap¬ 
parently the meetings were held from the 
first bi-weekly, with the usual intermis¬ 
sion in the summer. No organization was 
effected until April 25. 1882, when at the 
residence of Hon. H. O. Houghton a consti¬ 
tution was adopted and the following offi¬ 
cers were elected: President Dr. George Z. 
Gray, first vice president, Colonel T. W. 
Higginson; second vice president, Mrs. A. 
C. Thorp; treasurer, Mrs. J. G, Cilley; sec- i 
re tary. ilr^. 'William P. Fowler. Under Mr. 
Fowler’s secretaryship but two records 
were made. On Jan. 0, 1883, the following 
officers were elected: President, Dr. G. Z. 
Gray; vice president. Colonel T. ’w. Higgin¬ 
son; secretary, W. Deane; treasurer, Mrs. 
J. G. Cilley, besides an executive commit¬ 
tee. Since then the following officers have 
served: 
1 Presidents—Dr. G. Z. Gray. 18SO-18SO; Mr, S. 
I feo^p r , ni 3 tk0 ’ H 80 ^ 189 ^ Dr- V. ,T. Rolfe, 1895— 
Ames ' 1M °- 1909: Mr ' wu - 
. V i n e Ej^l4c tt tg ~C o I aa o l~T. 
P A. Wells, Mr. S. L Thorndike, Dr. 
W- J. Rolfe, Mr. A. McF. Davis, Professor J. 
B. Ames, Mr W. C. Lane, Mr. John Aliyn. 
Second Vice Presidents—Mr: S. L. Thorndike, 
Dr. W. J. Rolfe, Mr. A. McF. Davis. Professor 
L B. Ames, Mr. William C. Lane, Mr. George 
H. Browne 
T Trea surers—Mrs. J. G Cilley, Miss A. M. 
Jones, Miss C. Howe. 
Secretary-—Mr. Walter Doane. 
The membership Is limited to sixty-five, 
about twenty-four are present at each meet¬ 
ing, Twelve to fourteen meetings are held, 
during the year between November and 
May at the residences of the members 
The evening’s entertainment consists chiefly 
in reading the plays of Shakspeare. Oc¬ 
casionally a play is read of some contem¬ 
poraneous author. 
At the annual meeting in January a pa¬ 
per is generally read by either a member [ 
or an invited guest. 
The following have contributed to the 
annual meetings by reading or papers: 
Mr. Oscar Fay Adams, 
Prof. J. H. Beale, Jr., 
Mr. A. P. Cranch, 
Dr. H. E, Cash man, 
Mr. A. McF- Davis, 
Prof. A. E. Fay, - ■ 
, Mr. W. A. Lane, 
Mr. W. W. Newell, 
Miss Josephine Preston Peabody (Mrs, L. S. ’ 
Marks), 
Dr. William J. Rolfe. 
Mr S. L. Thorndike, 
Prof. George L. Klttredge (Invitation 1808, 
The Sources of King Lear). 
Mr. George D. Latimer. 
1900—Mr. G. H. Browne (Shakespeare’s Dra¬ 
matic Inheritance in Hamlet). 
1010— Professor William A. Noilson (invita¬ 
tion). Milton—Puritan or Poet? 
1011— Prof. George H. Palmer (invitation). 
Sonnets of Shakespeare. 
1912—Mr. Percy MacKaye (Invitation). Some 
Problems of Verse in the Modern Theatre. 
