6.—SCHAAFHAUSEN, HERMANN, in the _Jahrbuch_, or Annual, of the German Shakespeare Society, vol. x, 1875, asks: “Should we be afraid to rely on this evidence [agreement of Mask with known portraits, &c.], there is an easy way of settling the question. We can dig up Shakespeare’s skull, and compare the two. True, this may seem to offend against the letter of the epitaph ‘BLESTE BE EY MAN TY SPARES THES STONES, AND CVRST BE HE TY MOVES MY BONES.’ But there is no desecration in entrusting the noble remains of the poet to the enquiring eye of science; which will but learn something new from them, and place beyond doubt the value of another precious relic of him, and then restore them to the quiet of the grave.”—(From the Tr. N. S. S., 1875–76. Appendix v.) 7.—Anonymous Article, in the _Birmingham Daily Post_ of September 29, 1877, headed “General Grant at Stratford-upon-Avon,” in the course of which Dr. Collis, the Vicar of the church there, is reported to have made some indignant remarks upon Mr. Parker Norris’s article. “Having dilated upon the cool presumption of the author of the letter [article], Dr. Collis continued, that persons proposing such an experiment would have to walk over his prostrate body before they did it; adding that the writer even forgot to say, ‘if you please.’” The American party, however, do not appear to have seen the matter from Mr. Collis’s point of view. 8.—Anonymous Article, in the _Birmingham Town Crier_ of November, 1877; a skit upon Mr. Collis’s foolish speech. Beyond this censure, however, _nil de mortuo_. It is to be regretted that the worthy Vicar’s remains were not buried in the church, so that persons approaching the grave with a laudable purpose might meet the reverend gentleman’s views, and “walk over his prostrate body.” 9.—Shakespearian, A, in the _Birmingham Daily Post_ of October 10, 1877, writes a sensible letter, taking Mr. Parker Norris’s side of the question. 10.—Anonymous Article in the New York _Nation_, of May 21, 1878, in which we read: “Is it sacrilegious to ask whether it is wholly impossible to verify the supposition that the Stratford bust is from a death-mask? Would not the present age permit a tender and reverential scientific examination of the grave of Shakespeare?” 11.—Anonymous Article in the _Atlantic Monthly_, of June, 1878, in the section entitled “The Contributors’ Club,” where it is said—“Since the time seems to have come when a man’s expression of his wishes with regard to what is to be done after his death is violently and persistently opposed by all who survive him, is it not a good opportunity to suggest that perhaps respect has been paid for a long enough time to the doggerel over Shakespeare’s grave? GOOD FRIEND FOR IESVS SAKE FORBEARE, TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HEARE: BLESTE BE EY MAN TY SPARES THES STONES, AND CVRST BE HE TY MOVES MY BONES. {45}