2-982-601 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Great Seal for the Royal Dramatic College by John Leighton, 1858. 'The design for the Great Seal of the Royal Dramatic College, which we engrave, is in the form of the beautiful old seals of English institutions - a vesica pices - in the centre of which is the bust of the great dramatic poet of all time [ie Shakespeare], from the Stratford monument, under a Royal crown and arch, ending in a thyrsus of the antique drama; whilst on each side are initials of patron Queens, and types of Infancy and Old Age - the periods of life when mankind requires the aid of others. Below is the monogram of the society, and around the seal is a legend from "As You Like It": All the world's a stage, & all the men & women merely players: They have their exits & their entrances; & one man in his time plays many parts'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.