GREAT MEN'S BODIES
these separate parts into one; he stands unapproached; and seemingly unapproachable."—American Encyclopædia.
He had a helpful body too; as not only every portrait and statue says; but his training as a youth, odd as it was, helped to develop it.
John Aubrey, in his manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, says: "Mr. William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon, in the county of Warwick; his father was a butcher; and I have been told heretofore by some of his neighbors that when he (William) was a boy, he exercised his father's trade; but when he killed a calf, he would do it in a high style, and make a speech.… He was a handsome, well-shapt man."
By-the-way, what a pity that those speeches were not kept till now! And in his pictures the face, neck, and shoulders are those of a vigorous man; while the fulness of the upper chest is noticeable and unusual. And look at his legs! For here is the MacMonnies statue from the Congressional Library. Strong, full, well made everywhere—a fit pair for this matchless man.
CROMWELL (1599–1658)
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