Statue: Albert Grant & Shakespeare
Erection date: 2/7/1874
{On the front of the plinth:}
This enclosure was purchased, laid out and decorated as a garden by Albert Grant Esq. M.P. and conveyed by him on the 2nd July 1874 to the Metropolitan Board of Works to be preserved for ever for the free use and enjoyment of the public.
{On Will's scroll:}
There is no darkness but ignorance
"There is no darkness but ignorance" is a quote from "Twelfth Night". The sculptor, Fontana, copied the statue by Scheemakers in Westminster Abbey. Note that there is no reference to Shakespeare in the inscription. Perhaps Grant believed in glory by association.
Site: Albert Grant & Shakespeare (1 memorial)
WC2, Leicester Square
The statue of Shakespeare stands rather lumpenly at the centre of a (often not-working) fountain. Update 2013: the Square has been renovated and the statue restored, the fountain even seems to be working.
