Personality and Beliefs
The only record that survives of his personality is a note written by Thomas Plume fifty years after his death. Plume records a conversation with Sir John Mennis (1599-1671), who stated that he had once met him in his shop and described him as a "merry cheeked old man" who said of his son that "Will was a good honest fellow, but he durst have cracked a jest with him at any time." As Katherine Duncan-Jones points out, this is impossible, since Mennes was two years old when John Shakespeare died. She thinks Plume may have been recording an anecdote related by Mennis taken from his father.
In the 18th century a tract signed by John Shakespeare, in which he pledged to remain a Catholic in his heart, was found in the rafters of the house on Henley Street. It was seen and described by the scholar Edmond Malone. Although it was subsequently lost, a very similar copy of the formulaic text came to light in the 20th century that showed the original to be very likely genuine. The only non-genuine portion was the first leaf of the document; it had been forged by John Jordan, a man who had acquired the manuscript and attempted to have it published.
Read more about this topic: John Shakespeare
Famous quotes containing the words personality and/or beliefs:
“The child begins life as a pleasure-seeking animal; his infantile personality is organized around his own appetites and his own body. In the course of his rearing the goal of exclusive pleasure seeking must be modified drastically, the fundamental urges must be subject to the dictates of conscience and society, urges must be capable of postponement and in some instances of renunciation completely.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“All beliefs are bald ideas.”
—Francis Picabia (1878–1953)