I do not intend to try to prove that Shakespeare was a Mason. If he was, he was taught to be cautious, for I can detect no clear indication of the fact in his works. We must not be deceived by expressions which are common tg him and to our Ritual. Shakespeare wrote before our Ritual took concrete shape, and the framers of that Ritual are more likely to have used him than he to have used them. Moreover, he and they had a common source of inspiration, viz., the V.S.L., the book which has had so large an influence on the every- day language and expression of the modern Englishman.
Title
1918 - The Principles of Freemasonry as Exemplified in Shakespeare - Bro W E Hawkins
