Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements Considered by John Lord Campbell; In a Letter to J. Payne Collier (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859 edition. Excerpt: ...down good law. Thus in the controversy, in the opening scene of 'KING J onu, ' between Robert and Philip Faulconbridge, as to which of them was to be considered the true heir of the deceased Sir Robert, the King, in giving judgment, lays down the law of legitimacy most perspicuously and soundly, --thus addressing_ Robert, the plaintiff: --"Sirrah, your brother is legitimate: Your fi11ther's wife did after wedlock bear him; And if she did play false, the fraud was hers, Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother, Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, Had of your father claim'd this son for his'? In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world: In sooth, he might: then, if he were my brother's, My brother might not claim him, nor your father, Being none of his, refuse him. This concludes--My mother's son did get your father's heir; Your father-'s heir must have your father's land." This is the true doctrine, "Pater est quem nuptioe demonstrant." It was likewise properly ruled that the father's will, in favour of his son Robert, had no power to dispossess the right heir. Philip might have recovered the land, if he had not preferred the offer made to him by his grandmother, Elinor, the Queen Dowager, of taking the name of Plantagenet, and being dubbed Sir Richard. In Act II. Sc. 1, we encounter a metaphor which is purely legal, yet might come naturally from an attorney's clerk, who had often been an attesting witness to the execution of deeds. The Duke of Austria, having entered into an engagement to support Arthur against his unnatural uncle, till...