SHAKESPEARE’S RELIGION.

Evening Star, Issue 3861, 9 July 1875, Page 2

SHAKESPEARE’S RELIGION.

Mr George Wilkes, in the last chapter of his ♦ss iy on Shakespeare from an American po nt of view, has the following remarkable tribute to the Jews :—“ Before cl sing this chapter 1 mav a hl tout there is another in* tenor proof of hj ikeapeare’s KomanUm in the hitter hatred which he repeatedly exhi K its to the Jews. Ihe prej id ee does not exist am ng • rotestants ; at any nte not among the Protestants of tbo Unite i Mtales. On the contrary, the Jews mingle with us without any soc a) d sad vantage ; and, for my own part I have never heard of any historical, ethnological or moral reason why they should suffer the least dircount in any equitable estimttion. They oertainly are the purest race known to the world; and this purity could not have been preserved without great traits of character and great sacrifices. They are notoriously brave, for the proofs of their courage are stamped npon every age from the battlefield to the printing ; their women are proverbially virtueui and beautiful; an intense interior pride keeps them from ever billeting their poor upon any public charity, and the wonder ■s that under the excessive prejudice which the society of all Christian countries has unremittingly exercised against them, they remain snoh useful, inoffensive, law • abiding citisens. The world is not at all indeb ed to William Shakspenre for wha 1 ho has done to contribute towards this narrow, grovelling and contemptible reflection upon the Jews, and least of all should he be respected for it in Ameiica. Less, than at any time, to-day. Prejudice is the very meanest form of lavery, for it is the slavery of the mind. >ne black, shrivelling blot has r ce tly b en exuded from tbo national conscience - urely, there can be no excuse for allowing even a nhad->w of this other to remain." ‘»ue object of Mr Wilkes’s argume t is to prove that -ihake peare was a boman Catholic, and his treatment of the Jews, as represented in the character of Shylock, is nitod as a proof. If this rgumeut is trite, that the piay^ ! the internal evid nee of Catholicism in (heir author, then the Baconian theory is disuo eid of, for Ba on is known to have been a Protestant.