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Dictionary definition: ‘Spiritual Testament’, John Shakespeares
- Article from:
- A Dictionary of Shakespeare
- Author:
Copyright© A Dictionary of Shakespeare 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press 1998. (Hide copyright information)
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‘Spiritual Testament’, John Shakespeare's
A booklet containing a handwritten Catholic protestation of faith by John
Shakespeare
in fourteen articles discovered in the rafters of his house in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1757. John
Jordan
submitted a transcript of all of it except the first leaf (which by then was missing) for publication in
The Gentleman's Magazine
in 1784, but it was rejected.
Malone
studied the original and printed it in his ‘Historical Account of the English Stage’ in his 1790 edition of Shakespeare's works, along with a transcript of the missing first page which Jordan was somehow able to supply. By this time, Malone was ...