(xxiv, 10) the sapphire stone is said to be "as it were the body of
heaven in its clearness". However, that Shakespeare wrote of "the
heaven-hued sapphire" ("Lover's Complaint", l. 215) has no necessary
connection with this, as the celestial hue of the beautiful sapphire
is spoken of time and again by many of the older writers.

FIVE OF THE SIX AUTHENTIC SHAKESPEARE SIGNATURES

[Illustration: Signature on the purchase deed of Shakespeare's house in
Blackfriars dated March 10, 1613. In the Guildhall, London]

[Illustration: Signatures on the three pages of
Shakespeare's will executed March 25, 1616. Original in Somerset
House, London]

[Illustration: Signature attached to the deed mortgaging the house
in Blackfriars, dated March 11, 1613. In the British Museum]

It should be borne in mind that the great English translation of the
Bible, popularly called "King James' Bible", was published only after
Shakespeare had completed his last play in 1611. Before that time,
dating from Tyndale's version of 1525, and in great measure based on
it, a number of English translations had appeared, the most
authoritative in Shakspeare's time being perhaps the "Bishops' Bible",
printed under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth in 1568, and edited by
the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Geneva Bible of 1560, the first entire Bible in English in which
the division into chapters and verses was carried out, had, however,
the widest dissemination in Shakespeare's time, and a careful study of