SHAKESPEARE A HIGHLANDER.

Evening Star, Issue 7787, 7 December 1888, Page 4

SHAKESPEARE A HIGHLANDER.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Seeing the bills announcing the performance of one of Shakespeare's plays, rebrings to my memory a thought about the great poet which I should like now to record. To do so, let me first of all ask this question : Was Skakespeare wholly an Englishman ? As a rule, all believe him to have been so; but a little thoughtful ken of the Gaelic language would seem to point otherwise. More perhaps than is dreamt of in our philosophy, that tongue has played great parts in the affairs of man. Has it played any direct part in reference to the man Shakespeare? It would seem, on his mother's side, it has. His mother's name was Mary Arden. Now, Arden is the Gaelic name for " Pride " ; so that thus he was the son of Mary Pride. Then, along with that, there is the consideration of the great resemblance which his writings bear to the style of the Gaelic—so much so, that the turning of his prose poetry into Gaelic is a labor both easy and pleasant. As one example, take the phrase Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown into Gaelic: No-slueairach luidh a' chinn 'ta guilcan crun. So that for these reasons, and others which I will not mention at present, I have long held Shakespeare, instead of being wholly an Englishman, to be much more than half a Highlander.—l am, etc., A Highlander. Dunedin, December 7.