Page:A life of William Shakespeare (IA lifeofwilliamsha02lees).pdf/20

Two manuscripts on the subject have been courteously lent me for my perusal by Messrs. Pearson & Co., of Pall Mall Place. Both may confidently be ascribed to the year 1599. The first of them bears this title: 'A brieff Discourse of ye causes of Discord amongst ye Officers of arms and of the great abuses and absurdities com[m]ited by [heraldic] painters to the great prejudice and hindrance of the same office.'

This little paper book of eighteen leaves is an elaborate exposure of current heraldic scandals in the handwriting of William Smith, Rouge Dragon. The writer dedicates his work to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, K.G., a Commissioner for the office of Earl-Marshal, the chief controller of the College of Arms. Smith makes no mention of Shakespeare; but he pertinently illustrates the strange negotiation with the Heralds' College, in which Shakespeare took part. Smith does not ridicule Shakespeare himself, but he points his scornful finger at two of Shakespeare's closest professional associates, Augustine Phillipps and Thomas Pope, comedians of repute, whose names figure in the prefatory list of 'the principal actors in Shakespeare's plays in the First. Folio. Both these actors, Smith tells us, had outraged truth and decency in endeavours to secure heraldic badges of gentility. On leaf 8a of his pamphlet, Smith writes: 'Phillipps the player had graven in a gold ring the armes of S^r W^m Phillipp,