FATHER WILLIAM, FATHER JOHN

In a recent issue of the "North American Review," a writer arrives at the surprising conclusion that the parents of John Harvard were probably first brought together by William Shakespere. Following the clue offered by the circumstances that Miss Katherine Rogers lived near the home of Shakespere in Stratford and Robert Harvard lived in London, between which city and Stratford William Shakespere was the only "antecedent link" that research has brought to light, this writer continues that the poet probably invited his London friend Robert Harvard to Stratford. There he may have introduced this friend to Miss Rogers, whom Shakespere surely knew, as both his father and hers were Aldermen in the little town. Furthermore, Shakespere was in Stratford about the time the Rogers-Harvard wedding took place there.

The article closes with this quotation from the president of the Robert Browning Settlement in London: "After Master John Harvard had made his appearance on this world's stage, is it not possible that the great poet visited the Harvard home in Southwark and dandled the infant university-provider on his knee? And so you have before you the probability that the founder of the first American university was the issue of a marriage brought about through the instrumentality of the Bard of Avon a combination of which we may well be proud."

All this, of course, may be on the wrong track. Conceivably, John Harvard's mother and Shakespere may have been unacquainted neighbors. But the peculiar circumstances are certainly inviting of speculation, especially to those who like to see striking relationships among great men. In any event, however. It is pleasing to think that the remembrance of his early association with the imperial poet may have influenced the founder of Harvard College to forward learning in the New World.