INTRODUCTION 
LLthe commentators on Shakespeare are agreed 
upon one point, that he was the most wonder¬ 
fully many-sided writer that the world has yet 
seen. Every art and science are more or less 
noticed by him, so far as they were known in 
his day; every business and profession are more 
or less accurately described; and so it has come to pass that, 
though the main circumstances of his life are pretty well known, 
yet the students of every art and science, and the members of 
every business and profession, have delighted to claim him 
as their fellow-labourer. Books have been written at various 
times by various writers, which have proved (to the complete 
satisfaction of the writers) that he was a soldier , 1 a sailor, a 
lawyer , 2 an astronomer, a physician , 3 a divine , 4 a printer , 5 an 
1 “Was Shakespeare ever a Soldier?” by W. J. Thoms, F.S.A., 
1865, 8vo. 
2 “ Shakespeare’s legal acquirements considered in a letter to J. P. 
Collier,” by John, Lord Campbell, 1859, i2mo. “Shakespeare a Law¬ 
yer,” by W. L. Rushton, 1858, i2mo. “Was Shakespeare a Lawyer?” 
being a selection of passages from Measure for Measure and A IPs Well, 
by H. T., 8vo, 1871. 
3 “Remarks on the Medical Knowledge of Shakespeare,” by J. C. 
Bucknill, i860, 8vo. 
4 Eaton’s “Shakespeare and the Bible,” 1858, 8vo. 
5 “ Shakespere and Typography; being an attempt to show Shake- 
spere’s personal connection with, and technical knowledge of, the Art of 
Printing,” by William Blades, 1872, 8vo. 
