[_To Shakespeare._] My sister’s downstairs and wants to know if you have altered the will. SHAKESPEARE: [_Wearily lying back._] Yes—yes. Ask her to come up. [_Judith goes to door and calls._] MISTRESS HALL: [_Comes in. To Judith._] How tired he looks! Run at once for my husband, see if you can bring him: I think he’s very ill. [_Judith hurries to the door and goes. Shakespeare lies with his eyes shut. Mistress Hall goes to him._] Do you hear me, father? SHAKESPEARE: [_With closed eyes._] Yes. MISTRESS HALL: You have altered the will? SHAKESPEARE: [_He bows his head._] Yes. MISTRESS HALL: I hope you have given something good to mother in it. She’s been so good to us. SHAKESPEARE: [_Opens his eyes._] Yes. MISTRESS HALL: Years ago she may have been jealous; but she has never left us for an hour. You must forgive, you know, if you hope for forgiveness. SHAKESPEARE: [_Very low voice._] I know. MISTRESS HALL: And you must think we love her as you loved your mother. SHAKESPEARE: [_Half wandering._] Ah! My mother! The gentlest, sweetest—the noblest mother in the world! I often call to her as if she were still here, and feel her hands upon my forehead. I think I’ll sleep now. The long day’s work is done! [_Closes his eyes in death._] JUDITH SHAKESPEARE: [_Enters._] The doctor’s coming. MISTRESS HALL: [_Looking at Shakespeare._] I am afraid he’s dead, Judith. JUDITH SHAKESPEARE: [_Sobbing on her knees._] O! Father, dear, dear, dear— [_Rises from her knees at the bedside._] Oh, Susanna, look! he’s happy; look! he’s smiling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRINTED BY A. BONNER 38, CURSITOR STREET, CHANCERY LANE, E.C. LONDON ------------------------------------------------------------------------ =The Man Shakespeare and His Tragic Life Story= =BY FRANK HARRIS= AUTHOR OF “MONTES THE MATADOR,” “THE BOMB,” ETC., ETC. Canvas Gilt, 448 pages, 7/6 net Over 6,000 lines of favourable criticism of this book have appeared in the Press of this country since publication. =A FEW EXTRACTS= “By far the most original, suggestive, and brilliantly conceived writing on Shakespeare that our times have known, or are likely to know.”—_The Nation._ “Nobody who cares for fine literature, however indifferent he may be to Mr. Harris’s main thesis, should pass this book by. As a thesis we call it a brilliant and fascinating _tour de force_. As a book concerned with the greatest poetry we assign to it critical merit of the first order. In both aspects we predict for it a permanent importance.”—_The Saturday Review._