denyeth himself to have been a Protestant ever since his first being at Venice, and here also he hath used to frequent confession every seven or eight days, and upon Easter Eve he did communicate here; upon Easter Day he dined here in the English Colledge.” This will account for the attack on Sir John Oldcastle, egged on by his Jesuit friends, and his dropping the subject when he found that the wave of public opinion ran high against him. Last, but not least, we have a few landmarks of localities. “Burton” and “Wincot” stand out in eminence. Far and near have they been sought after by Shakesperians, but from Dan to Beersheba it is all barren; they locate poor Christopher Sly here, there, and everywhere, or else declare there must be mis-spelling; as follows is what one of the best and shrewdest of the commentators is driven to: Steevens: “I suspect we should read Barton Heath. Barton and Woodmancot, or as it is vulgarly pronounced, Woncot, are both of them in Gloucestershire, near the residence of Shakespeare’s old enemy Justice Shallow. Very probably also this fat ale wife might be a real character.” Dr. Samuel Ireland, 1795: “From the similarity of the name and the consideration that no such place as Barton Heath has been by any inquiry of mine discovered in the neighbourhood, I am led to conceive that Barton Heath, which lies in this county about 18 miles from Stratford, must have been the spot to which Shakespeare refers. It is worth hazarding a conjecture to have even a chance of tracing him in any one of his haunts.” Well, I need not such subterfuges, but go down to Stanford’s and buy an Ordnance Map of Sussex, and find _both_ places within an easy reach of Wiston. Names thereabouts seem to be strangely contracted, Wystoneston=Wiston, St. Botulph’s Bridge=Bootle Bridge, so also Woodmancote and Edburton; but if that will not please for Christopher Sly’s residence (when at home?), there is _another Burton proper_, within a few miles of Wiston; Woodmancote and Edburton are next parish to Wiston, aye, and joining on “Nightingale” Hill, how fond he was of them, he gives us even their notes; his father’s woods were as full of them as his park of deer. There is no question, it appears to me, I cannot answer, no puzzled point I cannot explain, no stumbling-block to commentators I cannot take out of their way. Why then not believe me? “All the world against nothing,” Romeo, III. 5. Although I have run a dark horse, he has run straight and true, and distanced Bacon, whilst Shakespere has alike dropped out of both betting and running. {42} Shakesperians have left their Dagon on the ground and hardly lift the feather of a quill to raise him up. Their last resource in argument is (fact) inspiration! in opposition ridicule! As to their other candidate, that weakly youth never could have been physically equal to have taken his share in youthful sports. Campbell’s Life of Bacon: “Francis was