Ummm….holy cow?! Could this note to the Earl of Southampton be the first thing we have from Shakespeare in his own actual handwriting?
Doe notte esteeme me a sluggarde nor tardye for thus havyinge delayed to answerre or rather toe thank you for youre greate Bountye. Gratitude is alle I have toe utter and that is tooe greate ande tooe sublyme a feeling for poore mortalls toe expresse O my Lord itte is a Budde which Bllossommes Bllooms butte never dyes.
What’s up with all the double consonants? That’s weird. The details are still coming in, but apparently a whole trunk of the stuff has turned up, including references to “Anna Hatherrewaye” and even apparently pieces of King Lear!!? I’m bouncing off the walls over here. I hate when this stuff happens while I’m at the day job :(! Nobody seems to have any pictures yet, but I’m looking!!! Has Stratford Dig Uncovered Unknown Shakespeare Papers?
Wow! That's almost unbelievable! What an amazing find! Today's date will go down forever in annals of Shakespeare studies.
April Fools.
Zounds!!! no commas or semis??? Couldn't be Will…
…And you forgot the "e" at the end of "thank". 🙂
April Fools in the land of academia is far more interesting than I ever expected. Thank you, Twitter.
I thought it was pretty funny.
I didn't recognize it as an April Fool's Day prank at first, but I didn't think actual Shakespeare letters were found either. I just rolled my eyes and thought "Here we go again."
I didn't realize I'd been had until I clicked the link. Well played, sir.
🙂 I hope everybody enjoyed. I don't plan my April Fools stuff, I just whip something up off the top of my head.
Did anybody actually recognize the quote, without checking the link? I was wondering how famous the "Ireland forgeries" were and if I dropped the text straight into the post someone would immediately get it.
You're easy, Bill. 🙂 Didn't I get you last year, too?
http://blog.shakespearegeek.com/2009/04/announcing-bacongeek.html