[Footnote 14: Sir Sidney Lee, "A Life of Shakespeare", new edition,
London, 1915, p. 26, note.]
The poem has sometimes been attributed to Edmund Falconer (1814-1879),
an actor and dramatist, born in Dublin, and whose real name was Edmund
O'Rourke. However, his poem entitled "Anne Hathaway, A Traditionary
Ballad sung to a Day Dreamer by the Mummers of Shottery Brook",[15]
falls far below the lines we have quoted in poetic quality, as may be
seen from the opening stanza (the best), which runs as follows:
No beard on thy chin, but a fire in thine eye,
With lustiest Manhood's in passion to vie,
A stripling in form, with a tongue that can make
The oldest folks listen, maids sweethearts forsake,
Hie over the fields at the first blush of May,
And give thy boy's heart unto Anne Hathaway.
[Footnote 15: Edmund Falconer, "Memories, the Bequest of my Boyhood",
London, 1863, pp. 14-22.]
In none of the allusions to precious stones made by Shakespeare is
there any indication that he had in mind any of the Biblical passages
treating of gems. The most notable of these are the enumeration of the
twelve stones in Aaron's breast-plate (Exodus xxviii, 17-20; xxxix,
10-13), the list of the foundation stones and gates of the New
Jerusalem given by John in Revelation (xxi, 19-21), and the
description of the Tyrian king's "covering" in Ezekiel (xxviii, 130).
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