THE Story of the "Grafton" Portrait of William Shakespeare

"ETATIS SVE 24, 1588"

with an account of the Sack and Destruction of the Manor House of Grafton Regis by the Parliamentary Forces on Christmas Eve, 1643

BY

THOMAS KAY

LONDON:

S. W. PARTRIDGE & Co., LTD.

OLD BAILEY.

"Plain pathed experience the unlearned's guide,
Her simple following evidently shews
Sometimes what schoolmen scarcely can decide,
Nor yet what reason absolutely knows."

Michael Drayton.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PHOTOGRAPH OF THE GRAFTON SHAKESPEARE

THE BRIDGEWATER Arms, WINSTON

PORTRAIT OF THE GRAFTON SHAKESPEARE

PORTRAIT OF JAMES I.

THE "CHANDOS" PORTRAIT

PAGE

Frontispiece

PARALLEL-LINED PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE "DROESHOUT
ORIGINAL" AND GRAFTON" PORTRAITS
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE BUST IN THE CHURCH AT STrat-
FORD-UPON-AVON, AND OF THE ILLUSTRATION IN
DUGDALE'S" HISTORY OF WARWICKSHIRE

VIEW OF GRAFTON HOUSE FROM THE LAWN

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