Will Shakespeare's Little Lad/Google Books

Title: Will Shakespeare's Little Lad
Author: Imogen Clark
Publisher: C. Scribner's sons, 1897
Length: 306 pages
Overview

1914 Review:
In view of the coming celebration in the public schools of New York City on April twenty-third of the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, attention is directed afresh to Miss Imogen Clark's book, "Will Shakespeare's Little Lad."* sic[Three] children were born to William Shakespeare and his wife, sic[two] of whom were girls. The one boy, Hamnet, was born in 1583, and died when he was thirteen. Around the figure of this youth Miss Clark wove a story which by reason of its historical atmosphere, its imaginative skill, and its tenderness of feeling has appealed with uncommon force to not a few of the most famous Shakespearian scholars and interpreters of the time.
Thus the late Dr. Horace Howard Furness wrote to the author of the book, "Will Shakespeare's Little Lad":
"You have woven great romance about that little life, and seem to have retreated three hundred years in all your ways of thought and turns of expression, without losing those human instincts which are of no age but eternal."
The late Sir Henry Irving wrote:
"Although at first glance your story seems intended for juvenile readers, it is of interest and value to every admirer of the great poet because of the fidelity of the colour. The atmosphere of the day is reflected with rare charm, and the phraseology of the times is wonderfully depicted. The whole conception is exquisitely poetic, and there is beside a masterly delineation of character. I congratulate you heartily upon your work."
W. J. Rolfe wrote:
"The story is one that the young folks who are beginning to become acquainted with the poet will read with pleasure and profit, and children of larger growth will enjoy it as well. I take every opportunity to commend the book to my classes and everybody else."
Locke Richardson wrote of the story:
"It is a triumph of combined knowledge, imagination, and felicitous expression, and, moreover, is so illuminated with local colour and smacks so of the flavour of the time that it positively seems like a true story."
The late Dr. Robert Collyer wrote to the author:
"I have read your story of 'Will Shakespeare's Little Lad' once through and a half—the first half—and want to tell you of my great pleasure. It is a beautiful thing in conception and indeed done by the heart's sight which is the truest insight. He was a mere name, the little lad, evanescent as one of the fairies born of Shakespeare's imagination. Those who read the story will verify the lad in your portrait."