A Short History of Freethought Ancient and Modern, Volume 2 of 2 by J. M. Robertson

[50] Pref. to complete trans. of Iliad. [51] Bk. v, ch. ii, §§ 1-4. Works, ed. 1850, i, 432-36. [52] Exposition upon Nehemiah (1585) in Parker Soc. ed. of Works, 1812, p. 401. [53] Work cited, pp. 8-11, 22. [54] Works, i, 432; ii, 762-63. [55] Eccles. Pol. bk. i, ch. vii; bk. ii, ch. i, vii; bk. iii, ch. viii, § 16; bk. v, ch. viii; bk. vii, ch. xi; bk. viii, § 6 (Works, i, 165, 231, 300, 446; ii, 388, 537). See the citations in Buckle, 3-vol. ed. iii, 341-42; 1-vol. ed. pp. 193-94. [56] Supplication of Travers, in Hooker's Works, ed. 1850, ii, 662. [57] Answer to Travers, id. p. 693. [58] Some typical attempts of the kind are discussed in the author's two lectures on The Religion of Shakespeare, 1887 (South Place Institute). [59] Shakespeare Commentaries, Eng. tr. 1863, ii, 618-19. [60] Id. ii, 586. [61] In the last edition I had written to that effect; but I have modified the opinion. [62] The allusion to "popish ceremonies" in Titus Andronicus is probably from his hand. See the author's work, Did Shakespeare Write "Titus Andronicus"?, where it is argued that the play in question is substantially Peele's and Greene's. [63] Shakespeare Soc. rep. 1853, pp. 14, 16-17, 18, 24, 28, etc. [64] This has been shown to be his by Fleay and Mr. Crawford. [65] See his Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance. [66] Compare the Jane Shore portions of his Edward IV with the close of A Woman Killed with Kindness. Note also the conclusion of The English Traveller. [67] See the poem England's Elizabeth, 1631. [68] Henslowe's Diary, ed. Greg, i, fol. 96. [69] E.g., the lines, The best of men That e'er wore earth about him, was a sufferer, A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit, The first true gentleman that ever breathed, at the close of Part I of The Honest Whore; and the phrase, "Heaven's great arithmetician," at the close of Old Fortunatus. [70] Green, Short Hist. ch. vii, § 7 end. Cp. Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, Lect. iii, § 115. [71] The old work of W. J. Birch, M.A., An Inquiry into the Philosophy and Religion of Shakspere (1848), is an unjudicial ex parte statement of the case for Shakespeare's unbelief; but it is worth study. [72] The town paid for his bread and wine, no doubt by way of compliment. [73] Cp. the author's Montaigne and Shakespeare, 2nd ed. sec. viii. [74] A Woorke concerning the trewnesse of the Christian Religion,