S, ®: | Z I. = | os ¢ & i - a ~ i a Res. 4 yar sculp® i Me | Pie ae | . | WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. ‘ ? ifn. : J Sas , } 4 After “. WUuidlOie tw We Mipfagvin Vi J Vd ‘» A ; . ¢ y ) LOE. Ae ' CHW « Jeme Wend oe Baigis ae Boar. “ y \. Bie wre ‘ | PLAYS AND POEMS WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, CORRECTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS eager OF VARIOUS COMMENTATORS: COMPREHEN DING A Life of the Poet, AND AN ENLARGED HISTORY OF THE STAGE, BY THE LATE EDMOND MALONE. WITH A NBW GLOSSARIAL. INDEX. THS #T3EQ> [TPAMMATETS HN, TON KAAAMON ATIOBPEXQN EIZ NOTN. ~—_——~*Vet. Auct. apud Suidam. VOL. Il. LONDON: PRINTED FORSF. C, AND J. RIVINGTON; T. EGERTON; J. CUTHELL; SCATCHERD AND LETTERMAN; LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN; CADELL AND DAVIES ; LACKINGTON AND CO.; J. BOOKER; BLACK AND CO.; J. BOOTH ; J. RICHARDSON; J. M. RICHARDSON; J. MURRAY; J. HARDING; R. H. EVANS; J. MAWMAN; R, SCHOLEY; T. EARLE; J. BOHN; C. BROWN; GRAY AND SON; R, PHENEY; BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY; NEWMAN AND CO.; OGLES, DUN- CAN, AND CO.; T. HAMILTON; W. WOOD; J. SHELDON; E. EDWARDS; WHIT- MORE AND FENN; W. MASON; G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER; SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL; R. SAUNDERS: J. DEIGHTON AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE: WILSON AND SON, YORK: AND STIRLING AND SLADE, FAIRBAIRN AND ANDERSON, AND D. BROWN, EDINBURGH. 1821. % | ‘ | : ue j ke sf yy . . 2 tT bY iG Bae: ° A . ; - thet ec a WAR AW ek -4 hf A | 4 . 7 a a» ‘ ‘ . / . | ’ > j ' . ; Op aeeh fas co Ree i. 5 Bhs; 4 Eee 20 aa eA MODALONY i rm 20 af , iP De bar . asui2 Wy ¥ Fi ae a ps = an q . os J q u ‘ fi pages ’ , . } . ‘ i by . 4 Bayerioche | Steatadib! én bins MOnchen ' THE LIFE ponies WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. | SECTION I. Or all the accounts of literary men which have been. given to the world, the history of the life of Shakspeare* would be the most curious and in- ? Before we proceed further, it may be proper to ascertain the orthography of our poet’s name. That the . pronunciation of his own time was Shakspeare, is proved decisively, by illiterate persons, who spelt by the ear, writing the name either ‘Shaz- Spere, Or Shackspere ; 3 of which, instances from authentick docu- ments will be given hereafter: and that he himself wrote his*~ 4--<. name without the middle e, appears from his atitogreph; of which ~~ Lares z SF a fac-simile will be found in a subsequent page.” With respect—“s5 ar HES iad to the last syllable of his name, the people of Stratford appear to) <<. 2» <.e have generally written the name Shakspere, or Shackspere : and @° 73 < 2°) I have now great doubts whether he did not frequently write the Sg.. cee final syllable so himself; for I suspect that what was formerly “= = * /” supposed to be the letter a over his autograph above-mentioned, was only a coarse and broad mark of a contraction; and in the ; signatures of his name subscribed to his will (as avery ingenious ; ‘anonymous correspondent observes to me), certainly the letter a 4 is not to be found in the second syllable. It should be remem- bered, that in all words where per oceurred, in old English VOL, II, B | Q 2 THE LIFE OF structive, if we were acquainted with the minute cir- cumstances of his fortunes, the course and extent of writing, this contraction (P) was generally substituted. The true origin, I believe, of his countrymen thus spelling the latter part of his name, was this: instead of speare (hasta) following the sound, they constantly wrote spere; and hence the name of Sperepoynt, another family in Stratford, was thus exhibited. Mr. Richard Quiney, and many of the Stratfordians, in consequence of this being the common mode of spelling the word spear or speare, and of being used to the contraction above-mentioned, frequently wrote our poet's name thus: Mr. Shaksp.; and in some of the writings of the borough, I have found the name written at length Shaksper, which was probably the vulgar pronunciation. But as spere was a mispelling of the word speare, from the cause already assigned ; and as it is not so properly old spelling, as false spell- ing; in my opinion it ought not to be adopted in exhibiting our author's name at this day; and therefore I write Shakspeare, and . “Ate by Fo , graphy which we now adopt, as will be seen hereafter. Shana? oor The various modes in which our poet's name has been exhi- cate *. g-& ited; have been the subject of much disquisition; but those who "4 nonut ¢& are conversant with the laxity of ancient orthography, must have ane oe Yen “met with so many instances of the same kind, that this variance A epaey 7m be no novelty tothem. ‘“ The same surname (says Fuller, in his English Worthies, p. 51), hath been variously altered in writing: first, because time teacheth new orthography, altering Pe spelling, as well as speaking : secondly, the best gentlemen an- ciently were not the best scholars; and, minding matters of more moment, were somewhat too incurious in their names. Besides, writers engrossing deeds were not over-critical in spelling of names, knowing well where the person appeared the same, the simplicity of that age would not fall out about misnomer. Lastly, ancient families have been often removed into several coun- ties, where several writings follow the several pronunciations.” So variously was the name of Percy written, that the learned and ingenious Bishop of Dromore has, I think, enumerated above twenty different ancient modes of spelling that name. ‘The name of Villiers, Fuller observes, was spelt fourteen different ways; and WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 3 his studies, and the means and gradations whereby he acquired that consummate knowledge of mankind, which, for two centuries, has rendered him the delight and boast of his countrymen: but many of the mate- in the spelling of the name of Gascoygne, Thoresby and Oldys have exhibited twenty-one variations. Sir Walter Ralegh has written his name in a book in the Bodleian Library, as I now have done ; yet his contemporaries much more frequently wrote Raw- leigh, or Raleigh, or Rawley ; nor was he himself, I believe, uni- form in his practice. Mr. Abraham Sturley, an alderman of Stratford, with whom the reader will be better acquainted here- after, as often wrote his name Sfred/ey as Sturley : and the name of our poet's son- -in-law was written Hawle, Halle, Haule, and Hail ; in the first and the last of these ways he himself wrote it at different periods of his life. A similar variance is to be found in the names of Burghley, which is exhibited in four or five dif- ferent ways; of Habington the historian (frequently written and printed Abington), Massinger and Dekker the poets, and many others. Edward Alleyn, the player, wrote his name sometimes Allin, sometimes Allen, and at others Aleyn or Alleyn. The names of Heminges and Condell, our poet's fellow comedians, are written differently in the very volume which they themselves pub- lished. And lastly, to come nearer to our own time, instead of John Dryden, the name to which we are now familiarized, we haye before the second edition of his Essay of Dramatick Poesie, and also in an advertisement in the London Gazette, N’ 1, John Dreyden ; and in the last page this name was also writte Driden and Dreydon, Fuller, writing on this subject, concludes like a truc antiquary : ** However such diversity appeareth in the eye of others, I dare profess that Iam delighted with the prospect thereof.” Though I fear my readers may not have so much enthusiasm (as I “ dare profess” I have not), yet I trust they will pardon the length of this disquisition, which perhaps nothing but the name of Shak- ‘speare could justify. Under the protection of that seven-fold shield an editor may set eriticks and cavillers at defiance. Bry? ap im’ Atavros canst Ternpwnadao. B 2 few evets fon LP eatasnanoa 1h Fo eI, Come phere angotn A ~ & nese the FF 4 THE LIFE OF rials for such a biographical detail being now un- attainable, we must content ourselves with such par- ticulars as accident has preserved, or the most sedu- lous industry has been able to collect. From Sir William Dugdale, who was born in 1605, and bred at the school of Coventry, but twenty miles from Stratford upon Avon, and whose Antiquities of Warwickshire appeared in 1656, only thirty years after the death of our poet, we might reasonably have ex- pected some curious memorials of his illustrious countryman : but he has not given us a single parti- cular of his private life; contenting himself with a very slight mention of him in his account of the church and tombs of Stratford upon Avon. The next biographical printed notice that I have found, is in Fuller’s Worthies, folio, 1662, in Warwick- - shire, p. 116 ; where there is a short quibbling account of our poet, furnishing very little information concern- ‘ing him. In Theatrum Poetarum, which was not published till 1675 (though in the Bodleian, and other catalogues, that book is mentioned as having appeared in MDCLX, in consequence of the last two figures (xv) having, in some copies, dropped out of their place, at the press), Edward Phillips gives this cha- racter of our author : “ William Shakspeare, the glory of the English stage, whose nativity at Stratford upon Avon is the highest honour that town can boast of, from an acto1 of tragedies and comedies, he became a maker; and such a maker, that though some others may perhaps pretend to a more exact decorum and economy, espe- cially in tragedy, never any expressed a more lofty and tragick height; never any represented nature yy sere 4 * Ble WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 5 more purely to the life: and where the polishments of art are most wanting, as probably his learning was not extraordinary, he pleaseth with a certain wild and native elegance ; and in all his writings hath an un- vulgar style, as well in his Venus and Adonis, his Rape of Lucrece, and other various poems, as in his dramaticks.” I had long since observed, in the margin of my copy of this book, that the hand of Milton, who was the author’s uncle, might be traced in the preface, and in the passage above quoted. The book was licensed for publication two months before the death of that poet. My late friend, Mr. Warton, has made the same observation. Winstanley, in his Lives of the Poets, 8vo. 1687, merely transcribed Dugdale and Fuller; nor did Langbaine, in 1691, Blount, in 1694, or Gildon, in 1699, add any thing to the former meagre accounts of our poet. | . That Antony Wood, who was himself a native of Oxford (but thirty-six miles from Stratford), and was born but fourteen years after the death of our author, ‘should not have collected any anecdotes of Shak- -speare,' has always appeared to me extraordinary. Though Shakspeare had no direct title to a place in ‘the Athene Oxonienses, that diligent antiquary could have easily found a niche for his Life, as he has done for many others, not bred at Oxford. The Life of ‘Davenant afforded him a very fair opportunity for such an insertion. _ About the year 1680, that very curious and inde- fatigable searcher after anecdotes relative to the 6 THE LIFE OF eminent writers of England, Mr. John Aubrey, col- lected some concerning Shakspeare, which I shall have occasion to mention more particularly hereafter. But the person from whom we should probably have derived the most satisfactory intelligence con- cerning our poet’s theatrical history, was his contem- porary, and fellow comedian, Thomas Heywood, had he executed a work which he appears to have long had in contemplation. In the margin of Braithwaite’s Survey of Histories, 4to. 1614, I find the following note: “ Homer, an excellent and heroicke poet, sha- dowed only, because my judicious friend, Maister Thomas Heywood, hath taken in hand, by his great industry, to make a general, though summary, de- scription of all the poets.” Heywood himself, twenty years afterwards, mentions the same scheme, in a note to his Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels, folio, 1635, p- 245, in which he says, that he intends “ to com- mit to the publick view, The Lives of the Poets, foreign and modern, from the first before Homer, to the novissimi and last, of what nation or language soever;” but, unfortunately, the work was never published. Browne, the pastoral poet, who was also Shakspeare’s contemporary, had a similar in- tention of writing the Lives of the English Poets ; which, however, he never executed. Though, between 1640 and 1670, the Lives of Hooker, Donne, Wotton, and Herbert, were given to the publick by Isaac Walton, and in 1679 some ac- count of Spencer was prefixed to a folio edition of his works, neither the booksellers, who republished our author's plays in 1664 and 1665, employed any WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 7 person to write the Life of Shakspeare; nor did Dryden, though a warm admirer of his productions, or any other poet, collect any materials for such a’ work, till Mr. Rowe, about the year 1707, undertook an edition of his plays. Unfortunately, that was not an age of curiosity or inquiry: for Dryden might have obtained some intelligence from the old actors, who'died about the time of the Restoration, when he was himself near thirty years old; and still more au- thentick accounts from our poet’s grand-daughter, Lady Barnard, who did not die till 1670. His sister, Joan Hart, was living in 1646; his eldest daughter, Susanna Hall, in 1649; and his second daughter, Judith Queeny, in 1662. Of those who were not thus nearly connected with our poet, a large list of persons presents itself, from whom, without doubt, much intelligence concerning him might have been obtained, between the time of the publication of the second folio edition of his works, in 1632, and of Mr. Rowe’s Life, in 1709. Francis Meres, who will be more particularly men- tioned hereafter, and who appears to have been well. acquainted with the stage, when our author first ap- peared as a dramatick writer, lived till 1646. Richard Braithwaite, a very voluminous poet, was born in 1588, and commenced a writer some years before the death of Shakspeare: Having’ once, as” it should seem, had thoughts of compiling a’ history of the English poets, he probably was particularly anxious to’ learn’ all such circumstances as might be most conducive to such an undertaking. He 8 . °) THE. LIFE OF - died in 1673, at the age of eighty-five. To him may be added, 1. Dr. Jasper Mayne; 2. Penelope Lady Spencer; 3. John, the second Lord Stanhope ; 4. Sir Aston Cockaine; 5. William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle; and, 6. Frances Countess of Dorset; who all died between the time of the Restoration and the year 1695; and Sir Robert Atkins, Sir Richard Verney, and Sir William Bishop, whose lives were extended to the beginning of the eighteenth century. . Jasper Mayne, who had written two papers of * verses on our author, in 1623, lived till 1671. - Penelope Lady Spencer, who died in 1667, sixty- nine years old, probably had heard, in her youth, some particulars concerning Shakspeare, from her father, his great patron. (0 -#@-4£G/ Not only the age of John, the second Lord Stan- hope, but the papers which he must have derived from his father, the first Lord, must have furnished him with many curious particulars respecting the plays of Shakspeare and his contemporaries. Sir John Stanhope, the first Lord Stanhope, was. ap- pointed, in 1595, Treasurer of the Chambers, through whose hand passed all money disbursed for plays exhibited at Court; and continued possessed of this office till March, 1620-21, when he died. His son, the second Lord, was born in 1595; was made a Knight of the Bath in 1610; and lived to the age of eighty-three, dying in 1677. How conversant Sir Aston Cockaine was with the history of our poets, particularly the dramatick poets, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 9 his own works abundantly prove. He was born in 1606, and died in 1684, i in the seventy-eighth year of his age. William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, himself & a dramatick poet, and a patron of Ben Jonson, in the latter days of that writer, could hardly have failed _ to have heard much of Shakspeare, in his youth. He was born in 1592, made a Knight of the Bath in 1610, and died on Christmas-day, 1676, at the age of eighty-four. At the time of sgiaaeiecaei death, he was twenty-four years old, Frances, the wife of Richard, the fifth Earl of Dorset, and mother of Charles Earl of Dorset, the patron of Dryden, was, according to tradition, ex- tremely intimate with Sir John Suckling, a professed admirer of our poet. This lady, who was born in 1619. or 1620, and married in 1637, lived till 1693. Some account of Shakspeare’s domestick habits and private life, it may be presumed, might have been obtained from Sir William Bishop, of Bridge- town, adjoining Stratford upon Avon, who was born in 1626, and died there in 1700. His father, Sir Richard Bishop, who might have been personally ac- quainted with the poet, was born in 1585, and died at Bridgetown, in 1673, at the age of eighty-eight. _ Sir Robert Atkins, Knight of the Bath, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer, died in 1709, at the great age of eighty-eight. Being fond of antiquarian re- searches, he, doubtless, was not inattentive to the history-of our early poets; and being himself born in 10 THE LIFE OF 1621, five years only after Shakspeare’s death, had an opportunity of learning many particulars concerning him, from his father, who was born in 1588, and died in 1669, at the age of eighty-two. To these numerous sources of information may be added one more, whence even Mr. Rowe him- self might probably have obtained much information, in 1708, when he was collecting materials for his Life of Shakspeare ; I mean Sir Richard Verney, of Compton Murdock, about eight miles from Stratford, the first Lord Willoughby de Broke. He was born: in January, 1621-2, and survived the publication of Mr. Rowe’s edition of Shakspeare, dying at the great age of ninety, July 18, 1711. He is described by Wright, in his History of Rutlandshire, as “a true lover of antiquities, and a worthy Mecenas;” and without doubt had, in his early days, made some inquiries concerning his illustrious countryman, from his father, who was born in 1588, and died in 1642, when Sir Richard was twenty years old. His grandfather, Sir Richard Verney, who was born in 1563, and died in 1630, often sat in commission; as a Justice of Peace, at Stratford, before Shakspeare re- moved to London. He married a daughter of Sir Fulke Greville, the elder, who was many years Re- corder of Stratford ; and his mother was Jane, one of the sisters of Sir Thomas Lucy, Shakspeare’s sup- posed prosecutor. That almost a century should have elapsed, from the time of his death, without a single attempt having been made to discover any circumstance which ail WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 11 could throw a light on the history of his private life, or literary career; that, when the attempt was made, it should have been so imperfectly executed by the very ingenious and elegant dramatist who undertook the task; and that for a period of eighty years? afterwards, during which this “god of our idolatry” ranked as high among us as any poet ever did in any country, all the editors of his works, and each succes- sive English biographer, should have been contented with Mr. Rowe’s meagre and imperfect narrative ; are circumstances which cannot be contemplated without astonishment. The information which I have been able to collect on this: subject, even at this late day, however in- adequate to my wishes, having far exceeded my most sanguine expectation, the perusal of the following pages, while it will ascertain the numerous errors and inaccuracies which have been so long and so patiently endured, and transmitted from book to book, will, I trust, at the same time, show, in some small degree, what may be done in biographical researches, even at a remote period, by a. diligent and ardent spirit of in- quiry : it must, however, necessarily be accompanied with a deep, though unavailing regret, that the same ardour did not animate those who lived nearer our author’s time, whose inquiries could not fail to have been rewarded with a superior degree of success.. The negligence and inattention of our English. ‘writers, after the Restoration, to the history of the celebrated men who preceded them, can never be mentioned 2 In 1790, the present writer endeavoured, in some degree, to supply the defects of Mr. Rowe's short narrative, by adding to it copious annotations. 12 ' THE LIFE OF without surprise and indignation. If Suetonius and Plutarch had been equally incurious, some of the most valuable remains of the ancient world would have been lost to posterity. WitiiaM SHAKSPEARE was the son of John” Shakspeare, by Mary, the youngest daughter of Robert Arden*, of Wilmecote*, in the county of Warwick, Esquire, and Agnes Webb, his wife’. 3 This family is of great antiquity in the county of Warwick. The woodland part of that county was anciently called Arderne, whence they derived their name. ‘‘ I learned at Warwike (says Leland), that the most part of the shire of Warwike that, ; lyeth as Avon river descendeth, on the right hand or ripe of it? Z—~+~%--Li+4 igin Arden (for soe is [the] ancient name of that part of the jas 2 shire) ; and the ground in Arden is much enclosed, plentifull of “=== grasse, but not of corne. The other parte of Warwikeshire that * lyeth on the left hand or ripe of Avon river, much to the south, is for the most part champion, somewhat barren of wood, but b- plentifull of corne.” Itin. vol. iv. p. 2, fol. 166, a. So also Cam- den: ‘ Woodland trans Avonem ad septentriones expanditur spatio multo majori, tota nemoribus infessa, nec tamen sine pas- cuis, arvis, et variis ferri venis. Hec, ut hodie Woodland, id est, regio sylvestris, ita etiam Ardern antiquiori nomine olim dice- batur, verum eadem plane, ut existimo, significatione.. Ardern enim priscis Britannis et Gallis sylvam significasse videtur, cum in Gallia sylvam maximam Ardern, oppidum in Flandria juxta alteram sylvam Ardenburg, et celebratam illam Anglie sylvam vec. 13 ffa eacalo vocabulo Den nominari videamus. Ex hac Turkillus de Vn "Fin~’, Ardern, qui hie floruit magno honore sub Henrico primo ag 7G oe *[A. D. 1100], nomen assumpsit, et propago ejus admodum clara Tipe longe per Angliam succedentibus annis est diffusa.” Britan. Has £e—~F wy, BOL, edit. 1600. “aa Pen The original name, Arderne, was in process of time softened into Arden, anterior, as it should seem, to the forest of Den being : : WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 13 : The name of Shakspeare, or Shake-speare, for 0,7... 4/4 ; without doubt, it was originally written, were we os ET Lo? An eae go Ph wht w thus denominated. Our ancestors were always extremely fond”~¢“~7 ““** of abbreviations (vocabula truncata), and seem to have had a peculiar aversion to the letter 7, which they very frequently omitted, by placing a line or stroke over the word as a mark of the abbre- viation. _Arderne being generally thus written [Ardene], the r was at length wholly omitted in writing and speaking. The i successive representatives of the family of Arden, however, ‘ac- ; cording to the capricious modes of ancient spelling, were by no | means uniform in writing their names: some exhibiting it in one 7 way, some in another. In Leland’s time, the name, we find, had te acquired the softer sound which we now give it: indeed, a century : { before, if Fuller is correct, Robert Arden (not Ardern), Esq. 4. fe 24 (/ | of Bromwick, was returned in the list of the gentry of this county | by the commissioners appointed for that purpose in the twelfth \s ‘ year of King Henry VI. A. D. 1433. ia Many other names have undergone a similar change. Thus the name of. Nangle, in process of time became Nagle ; Grenville, became Greville ; the word Nursery, became Nurs'ey, &c. 4 Usually pronounced Wincot. So, Mr. William Clapton, in his will, made May 9, 1521, devises Clapton and Wyncote to his executors till they shall have received 200 marks, as a marriage portion for Elizabeth his daughter. This village was formerly more considerable than it is at pre... 423/+/ sent, having had achurch, as appears by the Register of the Guild of the Holy Cross at Stratford. ‘* Raphe Couper, rector . hia : of the church at littell Wilmicote, was admitted into the brother- hood of the Gild, An°. Dni. 1408, x Henry iii.” fol. iii. b. The tithes of this rectory do not appear to have belonged to the Guild of the Holy Cross in the 22d year of Henry VIII. (1530); not being mentioned in the Rent-Roll of the Guild for that year, now among the archives of Stratford; but in the $7th of Henry VIII. according to a survey then made (Dug- dale’s Antiq. of Warw. p. 485), ‘‘ the lands and tenements ! of the Guild, with the tithes of Wylmyncote, certified to belong thereto, were valued at 50/. 23d. ob. per ann.” In a Rent-Roll, » 14 THE LIFE OF regard etymology, might lead us to suppose that the founder of this family, in the tenth or eleventh cen- tury, before surnames became common, had, like uv. (-o. longue-espee, or Longsword, Earl of Salisbury °, dis- tinguished himself by military achievements, and thence obtained this designation ; but I know not that the history of other families of kindred denomi- nation, of the family of Spearepoint, in Stratford, or of Nicholas Breakspeare, better known by the title of Pope Adrian the Fourth, whose names denote a similar origin, would warrant such an hypothesis. It is, however, a very probable conjecture, and coun- tenanced by a learned antiquary, who was contempo- ety larkamom - Ed, VI. [1547], I find the tithes of Wilmecote were then let at 20s. per. ann., and the total revenue of the guild was 49/. 18s. 84d. Bob har fe 5 Agnes Webbe was a native’ of Bearley, a village about three | ee Rovnyeom ‘© miles from Wilmecote. In the proceedings of a court leet held at Stratford in April, 1558, I find the following entry: “ Raf Cawdrey for making a fray upon Alexander Web of Bereley, he stands amerced xiid.” From the will of Mrs. Arden, of which a more particular ac- count will be given hereafter, it appears that she was sister to Alexander Webbe, She survived her husband twenty-four years, as appears from the register of the parish of Aston Cantlow, in which, among the burials, is found—* 1580 The xxix" daye of Dec. was buried Agnes Arden, wyddow.” Christopher Arden was buried there August 8, 1581; and Elizabeth Arden March 29, 1588: but I know not in what degree of relationship they stood to our poet’s grandfather. bev? oc. 1197: 6 William, Earl of Salisbury, a natural son of Henry II. by fair ~ Coeur de Lien, acquired the title of Longue-espee, in consequence ne A of his gallant exploits at the siege of Messina, under our Richard Am A: pot the First, when he was on his way to the Holy Land. Bein At ey S Te te aga AN eFt~ Sy pangauaatrag 2 OS: PTET ad Pr? wey a eg CAGE AT- “hares WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 15 rary with our author’, His townsmen, indeed, ap- pear to have paid no attention to the etymology of his name; but very soon after he became known to the literary world, its heroick and martial sound was recognized and alluded to in some encomiastick verses, of which even our poet had reason to be proud. Whatever may have been the origin of the name, the family of Shakspeare is of great antiquity in the county of Warwick, and was established long before our poet’s time, in the woodland part of it, princi- pally at Rowington® and Lapworth®; from which «4, 7 “ Breakspear, Shakspear, and the lyke, have byn surnames imposed upon the first bearers of them, for valour and feates of armes,” Verstegan’s Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, Ato. 1605, p. 294, See also Camden's Remaines, 4to. 1605, p. 111. Nicolas Breakspeare, as well as our poet, bore arms which have a reference to his name; a broken lance, &c. See his "arms accurately described in the Notes on N. Upton’s treatise De Militari Studio, p. 46. 8 No information concerning the Shakspeares of Rowington during the fifteenth century, at which period, and probably long before, they flourished there, can be obtained from the register of that parish, the earliest register being lost, and the oldest book now extant commencing in 1639. But other documents fully as- certain what is stated in the text. ** Will". Wethyford of the parish of Rownton in the county of Warwick,” made his will 31st March, 1564; and it was proved at Worcester, on the 25th of Feb, 1574. An inventory of his effects is annexed with the following title: «« This is the Inventorye of all and singular the goodes and cat- tel of Willm Wethyford of Rownton, latelye deceased, praysed by / fhe Jhon Benett, Rich*. Shakspere, Willi. Ley & Thomas Ley, the’ xiii day of September, 1564.” Bundle of Wills, sub an. 1574, in the Consistory Office at Worcester. From the will of John Shaxpere of Rowington, made the 26th of June, 1574, it appears that he had two sons, and one ey eg 16 THE LIFE OF places several of them branched out, and settled at Wroxall', Knowle”, Claverdon *, Warwick *, Balsal, Stratford, Hampton °*, and Snitterfield. daughter. To his son Thomas he bequeathed twenty pounds ; to his son George, his “ freeland called Madge Wattons ;” to his daughter Annis, fifteen marks, to be paid on the day of her mar- riage. The testator mentions a brother of the name of Nicholas. That part of the paper which contained an account of the probate, being torn off, and wanting, I know not when he died. Senne Wills, sub an. 1574, ut supra. George, the younger son of the above-mentioned John, died in 1628 ; and by his will, made Jan. 30, 1627 [8], devised to his son Thomas, Madge Wattons, adjoining to Schrewle heath, in the pa- rish of Hatton, and after the death of his wife his copyhold in Rowington. Bundle of Wills in 1627, ut supra. Richard Shazsper, the elder, of Rowington, probably the person /. mentioned in the inventory annexed to the will of William Withy- ford, in 1564, made his will, Sept. 6. 1591. He had four sons; John, Roger, Thomas, and William. John was then married, and had three sons born, of which the eldest was Thomas. Richard Shaxper died between Sept. 1591, and March 81, 1592: his will having been proved on that day. Bundle of Wills, sub an. 1592, ut supra. From the Court Rolls of the manor of Rowington (from which /. I have been obligingly furnished with an extract by Mr. John - Payne, of Coventry, Attorney at Law), it appears that John Shakspeare, the eldest son of Richard above-mentioned, died in 1609; and that Thomas Shakspeare was admitted to the Hill Farm as his son and heir. This Thomas, from his will, which was “made in 1614, appears to have been a mealman, or baker, and lived at Mouseley End, in Rowington. May 5, 1614, his widow was admitted in the Court Baron to her free-bench, and after- wards surrendered to her son John, who was then admitted ‘ac- cordingly. He died in- Feb. 1652-3, leaving two sons, William, who died in 1690, and John, who died in 1710. Another Richard Shaxper of Rowington, who is likewise styled the elder, died in April, 1614. His sons, as appears from his will, were William, Richard, Thomas, and John. Richard, the younger, had’ four sons then living, all minors; and William had ™ WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 17 Our poet’s family, says Mr. Rowe, “ as appears by the register and publick writings of Stratford, were of one son, named John, likewise a minor. Bundle of Wills, sub an. 1614, ut supra. Richard the elder having surrendered a mes- suage in Turner's End, or Church End, Rowington, to the use of his youngest son John (who was a weaver), after the death of himself and his wife Elizabeth, the eldest son, William, contested this disposition. From a bill filed by John against William, in May, 1616, and the answer of William in the same year, it appears that the copyhold and tenement above-mentioned had been pos- sessed by the father for fifty years. In Tur. Londin. Record Office, S. xiv. 57. “ In May, 1595, a bill was filed by Thomas Shackspeare, of Row- ington, yeoman, and Mary his wife, daughter and heir of William Mathew, deceased, against William Rogers. This Thomas claimed, in right of his wife, ‘‘a messuage and tenement with the appur- tenances in Rowington and Claredon, and of certain lands in. Hatton Schrewle, Rowington, and Pinley.” This bill contains. nothing else worth notice; and is only mentioned here, as ascer- taining the existence of such a person. Jn Tur. Lond. Record [| Offce, Ss. xi. 32. Various branches of the family of Shakspeare continued at Rowington, during the last and present century. The only per- son, as I have been informed, now remaining in that parish of the name of Shakspeare, is a person who keeps a publick house at a place called Pinley Green, the son of Thomas Shakspeare, black-. _ smith, who died in 1785. The Hill Farm, however, above-men- ’ tioned, which descended from Richard Shakspeare who died in 1592, was possessed by the late Mr. William Shakspeare, of Knowle Hall, who died in August, 1762, at the age of seventy-five, and, as I learn from Mr. John Payne, of Coventry, attorney-at- law, is now the property of Mr. John Edward Yarrow, the fifth in descent from Mary Shakspeare, grand-daughter of John Shak- speare, who, as we have already seen, died in 1609. 9 It appears from the register of Lapworth, that William Hart 4 and Alice Shakspeare were married there, October 15, 1564. We shall presently see that our poet's sister, Joan Shakspeare, married a William Hart, at Stratford, in or before 1599, who might have “ VOL: I. c fob 18 : THE LIFE OF good figure and fashion there, and are mentioned as gentlemen.” But this statement is extremely in- been the son of William Hart, of Lapworth. There were, how- ever, Harts settled at Stratford early in the 16th century. Anne, the daughter of George Shakspeare, was baptized at Lapworth, Feb. 7, 1586. : Richard, the son of George Shakspeare and Elizabeth, his wife, was baptized there, Jan. 18, 1590. John Shakspeare and Mary Huett [Hewitt] were married there Feb. 16, 1617. Alice, the wife of John Shakspeare, was buried there, July 21, 1624. ' John Shakspeare and Mary Whiting were married there, Nov. 7, 1638: Humphry Shakspeare, of Lapworth, was buried at Rowington, October 30, 1’729; and Sarah, his wife, was buried there some years before, October4, 1720, aged eighty-two. John Shakspeare died at Lapworth in 1637, and bequeathed two shillings a-year to the poor ot he parish for ever. In the Chirographer'’s Office I found a fine levied in 1603 by George Robins to Joseph Shakspeare, of Lapworth. * John Shaxper, of Wroxall, labourer, made his will, Dec. 17, 1574, and died in Jan. 1574-5, leaving one son, named Edward. He mentions in his will his brother William; and his cousin Laurence Shaxper, of Balsal. Bundle of Wills, sub an. 1575, ut supra, William Shaxpeare, of Wroxall, husbandman, made his will April 17, 1609, and died some time before April 11, 1613, when it was proved at Worcester. He was probably a nephew to the preceding. Bundle of Wills, sub an. 1613, ut supra. 2 The early register of the hamlet of Knowle is lost ; but there was in the present century a respectable family of the name of Shakspeare established at Knowle Hall. 3 From the Chirographer’s Office I have been furnished with the following note of a fine levied Mich. 12 Jac. I. [1614.] ** Warwickshire.—Between William Shakespeare and George Shakespeare, Pifs, and Thomas Spencer, Esq". Christopher WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 19. accurate and erroneous. From such a representation, it might naturally be supposed, that a long series of ancestors, all denominated gentlemen, might. be found in the archives of Stratford; but neither the parish- register, nor any other ancient document that I have met with there (and I have examined several hun- dred), furnishes the slightest notice of even his pater- _ nal grandfather ; nor is any one of the family styled, in the register, gentleman, except the poet himself, though his immediate ancestor, in consequence of the office which he held, ranked, during the last thirty Flecknoe and Thomas Tompson, Deforciants, of eight acres of pasture, with the appurtenants, in Claverdon, otherwise Clardon.” 4 In the Rolls Chapel I found a deed enrolled, which was made in the 44th year of Queen Elizabeth [1601-2], conveying “ to Thomas Shakespeare of Warwick, yeoman, Sachbroke, alias ber Sachbroke in Com. Warr.” Thomas Shaxper, of Warwick, shoemaker, as appears by his will, in the registry of Worcester, died in 1577, possessed of the lord- ship of Balsal; leaving three sons, William, Thomas, and John, 4.; 4 fu. ht and one daughter, married to Francis Ley; another, Thomas “— Po wen Shakspeare,[perhaps the second son of the preceding, |made his 77". iar tz. will, Aug. 20, 1631, and died in 1632. By an inventory annexed ee to his will, his personal’ effects appear to have been worth 1500. “47? 7k Le poe 3s, 6d. Bundle of Wills, sub an, 1632, ut supra. In 1619, when — the visitation of Warwick was made by Sampson Lennard and Augustin Vincent, deputies for William Camden, Thomas Shak- Speare was one of the burgesses of Warwick. He mentions his %. 7. 4. Head shop in his will; and I suspect that he was a butcher. A fine was/ 7 a - Ae. el | levied by one Thomas Shakspeare to Michael Lee, in Michael- ~ 7 mas Term, 1608, of lands in Nuneaton, in the county of Warwick. | 5 In the register of Stratford, we find that Elizabeth, the daugh- ter of Anthony Shakspeare, of Hampton, was baptized Feb. 10, 1583-4. c 2 20 THE LIFE OF years of his life, with the most respectable persons in that town, and was denominated by an honourable addition, being. styled, in the parochial register, Mayster Shakspeare. There is good ground for believing that John Shakspeare, the father of our great dramatick poet, was not originally of Stratford upon Avon. A very curious and well-preserved register is yet extant, which: formerly belonged to’ the gild of the Holy Cross at: Stratford, containing an account of all the masters, aldermen, procurators, brothers, _ and sisters of that gild, from the time of King Henry the Fourth to its dissolution, in the time of Edward the Sixth. In this ancient record, which I have care- fully examined, during the entire reigns of Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth, the name of Shakspeare does not once occur; though the names of most of the other families, which were of any con- sideration at Stratford in the time of Queen. Eliza- beth, are found there; such as Clopton, Quiney, Combe, Underhill, Lewes, Sadler, Smith, Trussel, Jefferies, Reynolds, Gilbert, Parsons, Rogers, Bole, Hunt, Hill, Whatley, Gibbes, Phillips, Roberts, &c. In another very ancient manuscript, commenc- ing with the reign of Henry the Eighth, in which the names of the wardens of the bridge of Stratford are preserved, antecedent to that town’s being incorpo- rated by King. Edward the Sixth, the name of Shak- speare no where appears; nor among the tenants of the lands belonging to the gild, whose names are enumerated in arent-roll, made in October, 1530, and also in the charter granted to this town-in 1553, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 21 amounting, I think, to seventy-one, does the name of any of our poet’s ancestors, at either period, occur: all which circumstances afford a strong confirmation of what I have suggested. In further support of this: conjecture, it may also be observed, that in Dethick Ie Camden’s grant of arms, in 1599, John Shak- speare is styled “ now of Stratford upon Avon; ” from which it may plausibly be inferred that his son, from whom they received their instructions, knew that he had not been originally of that town: but as the word now does not occur in the ne neg grant of 1596, and may have been formal’rather than sig-. F stow’ Y Mh te nificant, this argument, it must be owned, is not of < eee hs a” oe much force, though, connected with others, it may Z Gis BI ia a have some weight. The heralds, in their grant or confirmation of arms to John Shakspeare, in 1599, by omitting the Christian name of our poet’s mother, and writing, by mistake, Wellingcote, instead of Wilmecote, as the place of her father’s residence, involved the history of this family in great difficulty and confusion. In their former grant, indeed, in 1596, which I shall soon have occasion to mention, they were more accurate, and had rightly described the lady to whom mankind is so much indebted, as well as the place of her birth: a circumstance which has hitherto escaped the micro- scopick eye of the antiquary. Could any doubt still remain on this subject, it would be removed by the will of Robert Arden, our poet’s maternal grandfather, -which I discovered in the Consistory Office at Wor- cester, as well as by other ancient documents, which I shall hereafter have occasion to quote. . From this 22 THE LIFE OF will, compared with that of his widow, preserved in the same office, we learn, that the mother of our poet was the youngest of, at least, four daughters, and was a fayourite of her father, being appointed one of his executors, in conjunction with her eldest sister, and in preference to his wife. The personal fortune of Mr. Arden, as appears from an inventory annexed to his will, amounted only to seventy-seven pounds, eleven shillings, and ten-pence. He had likewise, we find, some property in the neighbouring manor of Snitterfield ; and this circumstance, perhaps, was the occasion of John Shakspeare’s introduction to his daughter ; for there are some grounds for supposing that he had some relations settled at Snitterfield,a town about three miles from Stratford. From a declara- tion filed in the Bailiff’s Court, at Stratford, where b an action of debt was brought, by Nicholas Lane, against John Shakspeare (our poet’s father, I believe), in Hilary Term, 29 Eliz. [1587], it should seem that he had a brother of the name of Henry; and another paper, which I have also found among the archives of Stratford, informs us that Henry Shak- speare was of Snitterfield *, 8 To the will of Christopher Smyth, otherwise Court, of Strat- ford upon Avon, made Nov. 2, 1586, and: proved at Stratford, Dec. 2. in the same year, is subjoined a list of ‘*. Debts due to the said Christopher.” ** It. Henry Shakspere of Snytterfield oweth me vii, ixs.”’ It appears from the register of the parish of Snitterfield that Henry Shakspeare was buried there Dec. 29, 1596 ; and Marga- ret, his widow, was buried there a few weeks afterwards, Feb. 6, 1596-7. “ ~/ 242, wn.i~ ‘There was alsoa Thomas Shakspeare settled at Snitterfield’; An. Gi haw Som WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 23 Mr. Arden had, without doubt, frequent occasion to visit Stratford °, it being a considerable market- town, and much better furnished with both the neces- saries and luxuries of life than Wilmecote. The: business of the law also, sometimes, led him there. In an: ancient manuscript, containing an account of the proceedings of the Bailiff’s Court, at Stratford, in the reigns of Philip and Mary, and Queen Eliza- beth, I find a memorial of a suit instituted by him for the small sum of four shillings’. John Shakspeare, ue te, evens ner 9Ke for John, the son of Thomas Shakspeare, was baptized there, March 10, 1581-2. Our poet’s grandfather might, however, have been originally of Ingon, in the parish of Hampton upon Avon, or as it was then called, Bishop Hampton ; for a Henry Shakspeare (whether the same person already mentioned, or another, does not appear,) lived 4: + ae at one time in that parish, the register of which contains the fole ~~/~* A= lowing entries : .* =~ Soe * 1582, June 10, Lettyce, the daughter of Henrye Shakespere, pager was baptized, Sf FE be, “1585, Oct. 15, Jeames the sonne of Henrye Shakespere was ~~” baptized. ** 1589, Oct. 25, Jeames Shakspeare of Yngon was buried.” Henry Shakspeare might have lived at one time at Snitterfield, afterwards have moved to Ingon, and finally returned to Snitter- field. Ingon is in the parish of Hampton, but nearer to Snitter- fieldthan Hampton. It is observable that Mr. John Shakspeare, as we shall presently see, held a farm at Ingon; to which he might be attached either as the place of his nativity, or as being in the neighbourhood of Snitterfield, if he was born there. 9 Though Great Wilmecote, in which Mr. Arden lived, is in the 4 ‘parish of Aston Cantlow, Little Wilmecote, which adjoins it, is in that of Stratford; and this circumstance, together with its vicinity to that town, for it is but two miles distant, necessarily occasioned some intercourse between these places. + “Stratford 7 Cur. ibm. tent. vicesimo nono die Novembris, Cur. J primo anno regni die nostre Marie, &c. (1553.] 24 ‘THE LIFE OF being, perhaps, originally: of Snitterfield, which is but two miles from Wilmecote, and three from Stratford, | found an easy introduction to his daughter; who, after the death of her father, must necessarily, as one of his executors, have had frequent occasion to visit Stratford, for the purpose of settling his affairs, and collecting such sums as were due to him at. the time of his death. ~ Robert Arden, our poet’s maternal ghaandbathheaa died in December, 1556; and his youngest daugh- ter’s marriage certainly took place in the following year. Her portion, I find, from her father’s will, was a tract of land called Asbies, and the sum of six pounds, thirteen shillings, and four-pence. Of this land, I, for some timé in vain, endeavoured to ascer- tain the extent and value; no trace of the denomina- tion above-mentioned being, at present, to be found at Wilmecote. But a bill in Chancery, which I dis- covered in the Record Office, in the Tower, filed by our poet’s father, in November, 1597, against John | Lambert, son and heir of Edmond Lambert, of Bar- ton on the Heath, in the county of Warwick, to whom, in the year 1578, he had mortgaged the estate which he acquired by his wife, has furnished me with the precise amount of this property, the value of which turns out to have been, within a few pounds, what I had conjectured. It was an estate in fee ; and according to the acknowledgment of the son of the mortgagee in his answer, consisted of a messuage, one Johés Dyckson fatet. accion: quem Robertus Arderne de Wyl- mecot versus eum pros. sup. dem. iiijs. Id. fiat. leva, et concord, in cur. quod pecunia Pd. solut. fuerit citra prox. cur.” » Codex MS. in Camera Stratforden. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 25 ‘yard land? and four acres, shit Wilmecote;, but, from a fine levied by John and Mary Shakspeare, in Easter Term, 1579*, it appears, more particularly, that this estate consisted of fifty acres of arable land, 2..<-<—~ “= two acres of meadow, four acres of pasture, and com- Lanne Kom re mon of pasture for all manner of ‘cattle; the. house + $3.4 at Wilmecote being probably let for forty shillings ii ee a-year (the usual rent of such a house at that time), 7° ““**~ this estate, though mortgaged only for the sum of forty pounds, may be estimated as fairly worth one hundred and four pounds, supposing the land to have been let at three shillings the acre, and the common rate: of purchase to have been at that time ten years; each of which suppositions I have reason to believe well founded. The fortune, therefore, on the whole, of Mary Arden, was, one hundred and ten pounds, thir- teen shillings, and four-pence. Let not this moderate portion be compared with the more ample fortunes of the present age. At that time such a sum was con- sidered a very good provision for a daughter, in a ‘sphere of life much superior to that of our poet’s mother. Mr. William Clopton, a man of the greatest estate in the neighbourhood of. Stratford, whose manors comprehended several thousand acres, by his 2-A yard land (virgata terre), from the Saxon gyrd land, varies much in different counties; in some containing twenty-five, in others thirty, in others forty acres. The yard land here mentioned, as will’ be shown hereafter, contained near fifty acres. In the: fields ‘of Old Stratford, where our poet's estate lay, a yard land contained only about twenty-seven acres. 3 F, levet in Term. Pasch..20 Eliz. in Officio Finium juxta Me- -dium Templum. 26 THE LIFE OF will, made in January, 1559-60, only three years after the period of which I am now treating, gave to his eldest daughter but one hundred pounds, and to his three younger daughters one hundred marks each, that is, sixty-six pounds, thirteen shillings, and four- pence*. I shall subjoin, in the Appendix, the will of our poet’s grandfather °, which has furnished me 4 Will. of William Clopton, proved in Feb. 1589-60. In Off: Cur. Prerog. 5 Having taken a journey to Worcester with the hope of finding this, and some other wills, that might throw a light on our au- thor’s history, 1 thought myself fortunate in meeting with the information which has just now been submitted to my readers ; but, according to a doctrine maintained in an anonymous work [The Pursuits of Literature], I ought rather to make an apology for taking up their time with such idle prible-prabble, worthy only of Sir Hugh Evans or Master Slender. A modern poet, not wholly without humour, among a great number of notes appended to his verses, of which the object is not very apparent, unless it were to show, that while he inveighs against the supposed folly and absurdity of those who have attempted to illustrate our great poet by their annotations, he can himself occasionally ‘‘out- herod Herod,” has the following sagacious remark: ‘““When I speak of rational men, it passes the bounds of all sagacity to divine by what species of refined absurdity the wills and testaments of actors could be raked up and published to illustrate Shakspeare. (See Malone’s edit. vol. ii. p. 186, &c. &c.) A critick for such an in- genious invention should be presented with the altum Sagane@ ca- liendrum, which would not easily fall from his head.—But Mr. M.. has redeemed this piece of folly by many valuable excellencies.’’ As in the course of the present work the reader will find several similar pieces of folly (if this be one) it may not be improper to say a word or two on this ‘subject én limine ; and, after acknow- ledging the courtesy of the concluding words above quoted, to ex- amine how far the preceding charge is well founded. ) WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 27 with several of these facts, and the inventory that ‘ac- companied it, as a curious exhibition of the furniture It has been long since observed, that those who write should read. If this judicious, though much neglected document had been attended to by the writer of the paragraph above quoted, he would not have fallen into the manifest error, I will not say the refined absurdity, with which it is justly chargeable. He would have learned, in the first place, that the wills which he alludés. to, were not raked up [i. e. discovered with infinite difficulty and trouble], or published to illustrate Shakspeare, but the History of the Stage, and of the old actors who were fellow comedians with our great poet, which it is humbly conceived they in some small measure do; the number of the testator’s wives and children, the fortune which he acquired by his profession, with various other circumstances which are frequently furnished by his will, and the time of his death, which is generally nearly ascertained by the pro- bate, being, it is supposed, of some little consequence in the his- tory of his life. He next would have learned, that though the primary object of the publication of these wills was not, as he has erroneously supposed, to illustrate Shakspeare, they do in fact il- lastrate the works of this poet; if furnishing the means of ascertaining the genuine copy of an author's writings, and of dis- tinguishing it from spurious and adulterated editions of them, de- serves the name of illustration: he would have found from these wills, that the two'actors who were editors of the first complete collection of our author's plays in folio, were dead before the end of the year 1630, and thus he would have escaped the refined ab- surdity of asserting that two dead men “corrected the spurious edition ‘of those plays in 1632.” The truth, however, I believe, is, that when his satire was first published, this writer was an humble candidate to be employed by the booksellers of London, in continuing and ‘completing some of the great biographical works, which for many years past have heen given to the publick; the editors of which, however diligent or tespectable, seem to have thought, with this anonymous rhymer, that in ‘biographical researches it is quite unnecessary to examine a single manuscript in the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, or any other curious repository. ‘To open a parish register, or peruse 28 “THE LIFE OF and other effects of a gentleman of moderate fortune in that-age °. SECTION II. From the loose language employed by Sir William Dethick and Camden, in their grants of arms to John Shakspeare, it might be supposed, and not with- out some reason, that one of his ancestors had been in the service of King Henry the Seventh, and had ob- tained from that frugal monarch some profitable grant. atomb-stone ora will, they seem to have held, with him, an abo- mination, and.an invasion of the sacred rights of the dead: the ge- nealogies of families preserved inthe College of Heralds, the curious notices furnished by the patent and clause rolls, by dormant privy seals, by the Signet, Auditors, and Chirographer's Office, and by the inquisitions taken post mortem, which, from the time of Richard the Third, are preserved in the Chapel of the Rolls (as those an- tecedent are in the Tower), appear to have been equally objects of their aversion ; and the Record Office in the same ancient re-_ pository,:and the dlack-book in the Exchequer, they, without ' doubt, concurred with him in considering as appropriated only to ‘the use of those who profess the black art, and are worthy of an altum Sagane caliendrum. ‘‘Wouldyou wish for better sympathy?” From the. specimen above given by this judicious, and_ well-in- Jormed critick, it is manifest that he is admirably suited to the li- terary employment to which he seems to have aspired: and by sub- joining to the old inaccurate and imperfect lives of our illustrious men, copious extracts from modern editions of their works (which arein every one’s hands), embellished with a few college jokes and that kind of merriment Dr. Johnson has so pointedly described, (Boswell’s Life of Johnson, vol. i.) I have no doubt he will be able very speedily to furnish his employers with a trim volume of bio- graphy perfectly free from any ingenious invention, without a single will, or deed, or anecdote, or any curious or valuable information whatsoever. © See the Appendix. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 29 In the confirmation of arms in 1596, this ancestor is /,.,.. only said to have been advanced and rewarded; but in the subsequent confirmation, the nature of the be- nefit. is specifically mentioned, and we are told, that he was rewarded “ with lands and tenements given to him in those parts of Warwickshire where he and his | successors. had continued, by some descents, in’ good V reputation and credit.” If such a grant had been made by King Henry the Seventh to any of John Shakspeare's lineal ancestors” (for which of them was”_% x... . in the’ contemplation of the heralds, whether his 7.2727 grandfather, or a more remote: progenitor, it is not 4 ne Ack 7 a2 easy to ascertain’), the first. question that may be Ey. oe asked is, how came John Shakspeare, or at least some ~ one of his name, not to be in possession of those lands when these armorial ensigns were a second time assigned to him? Supposing the lands and tenements thus granted, to have been forfeited, or otherwise alienated, by the family, yet still the original record of the do- nation would not have been annihilated, but would indubitably have: appeared on the patent. rolls; and Z ,.-« Lb few hharveivca aA hha 7 The first grant of arms to John Shakspeare was made by pple z pe a Robert Cooke, Clarencius, in 1569 or 1570; but it is not now Hap x ZB: Spry oe tare sb ~~ aey : nN extant in the Herald's Office. A book of grants of arms made * A npn nok A by this herald to. persons living in the county of Warwick, is, “~ carrey wae however, probably somewhere extant, for it was formerly, aad, A 4 ee learn from one of Antony Wood's Manuscripts, in Ashmole’s Museum, in the possession of Ralph Sheldon, of Weston, in Warwickshire, Esq. Of the second grant made, by Sir William’ Dethick, in 1596, there are two drafts in the Herald’s Office, Vincent, 157, n. 23 and 24; the latter of which is much mutilated, a considerable part of the sheet having been torn off. The more perfect of the two may be found inthe Appendix. 4 °* 30 THE LIFE OF no trace of it being there to be found, after a very careful examination, in the Chapel of the Rolls, dur- ing the whole reign of Henry the SevEnth, it is abso- lutely certain, that no such favour was ever conferred by that’ King on any person of the name of Shak- speare. ‘The heralds, however, were not entirely unfounded in what they have asserted. It has already been mentioned, that our poet’s mother was the daugh- ter of Mr. Robert Arden, of Wilmecote, near Strat- ford; and I have no doubt, that one of his ancestors was the person denoted by the vague words in ques- tion, though the lands granted to him did not lie, as they supposed, in the county of Warwick. In the age of Queen Elizabeth, and indeed down to the last century, it was customary (a custom not “yet wholly disused) to denominate by the same appella- tion, relations equally near, whether the relationship arose from consanguinity or affinity. Thus, John Shakspeare, if he had occasion to speak of his wife’s grandfather, or great grandfather, would certainly have called him his grandfather, or great grandfather ; his wife’s uncle, or even grand-uncle, he would have called his uncle; and a still more remote relation, the wife of such grand-uncle, he would have called aunt. Edward Alleyn, the player, constantly styles Philip Henslowe his father, though he was not even his step-father *, being only second husband to the mo- ther of Alleyn’s wife. In like manner, Thomas Nashe, who married Elizabeth Hall, our poet’s grand- daughter, calls Mrs. Hall, in his last will, his mother ; and if he had had occasion to speak of our poet, he 8 He was only his wife’s step-father. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. ‘31 ‘unquestionably would have called him his grand- father ®. Viewing the assertion made by the heralds 9 So, also, Sir John Hubaud, of Idlicote, in Warwickshire, in his “will, made in. 1583, constitutes his cousin George Digby, his brother _John Egeock, and his servant Richard Clark, his executors ; and Edward Coombe, in 1597, makes Christopher Hales, who-had mar- ‘ried his sister, and whom he calls his brother, one of his executors. The appellations, father-in-law, and son-in-law, seldom occurin that .age. So fond were our ancestors of extending the circle of relations, that they frequently considered a mere connection as a ground of this kind of designation: thus Philip Henslowe was, in fact, no rela- tion whatsoever of Edward Alleyn, though he constantly called him son. Bishop Hall, in the Dedication of his Quo Vadis, in 1617, addressing Lord Denny, calls Lord Hay his noble son, in consequence of his having married Lord Denny's daughter; and Bayle, taking Hall's words in a literal sense, supposed Lord Denny to be actually father to Lord Hay. See Gen. Dict. v. 716, note H. So Lord Strafford, in 1637, writing to the mother of his first wife, styles himself her obedient son (Straff. Lett. ii, 123): and our ‘author, in Julius Cesar, styles Cassius the brother of Brutus, ‘though, in truth, only his brother-in-law. The term, indeed, of son-in-law, or brother-in-law, rarely occurs in that age, At a subsequent period, Oliver Cromwell, and Waller, the poet, called each other cousins, only because John Hampden was cousin to them both. With respect to the relations of a wife, the husband always ad- dressed them, and spoke of them, as standing in the same degree of relationship to him, Thus Thomas Killigrew dedicates his _ play, entitled The Princess, to bis dear niece the Lady Anne Wentworth, who was in truth only his wife's niece. It was the constant custom in old times, and the practice is not -wholly disused, for a nephew to call his great uncle, only uncle ; ‘and the wife’s grandfather and grandmother werealways considered and called the grandfather and grandmother of the husband ; with equal laxity, grandmothers denominated a grandson by the nearer appellation of son. So Joan, Lady Abervagenny, in her will in 1436, calls Sir James Ormond her son, though he was in fact her grandson. From these usages it is clear, that the inter- 32 _. THE LIFE OF in this light, all the difficulty vanishes ; for the father of that Robert Arden, whose daughter John Shak- speare married, or, in other words, the grandfather of Mary Shakspeare, who, according to the usage above- mentioned, was popularly called the grandfather of John Shakspeare also, had been very highly distin- guished and rewarded by King Henry the Seventh, as the heralds rightly state the matter, in general terms, in their first draft in 1596'. Sir John Arden, pretation given in the text, of the ambiguous words in the grant of the heralds to our poet, is by no means fanciful or far-fetched. I may add, that a similar error to that, which I believe has prevailed for near a century, of supposing Shakspeare to be de- scended from a paternal ancestor who had been rewarded with a royal grant of lands, instead of a maternal one, has happened in the case of Oliver Cromwell, who was thought by many to be descended from Cromwell, Earl of Essex ; because forsooth his wife was descended from a nobleman with that title; not indeed Thomas Cromwell, but William Bourchier, Earl of Essex , See Dugdale’s Bar. ii. 132. 1 In their subsequent grant, indeed, in 1599, they have deviated from their original statement, and added that he was rewarded with a grant of lands in Warwickshire, which we shall’ presently see was not the fact. But this slight inaccuracy in the latter in- strument cannot affect the present hypothesis, when we recollect, that, after having rightly stated, in the grant of 1596, the degree of his relationship to John Shakspeare (grandfather), his son's place of residence, ‘‘ Wilmecote,” and his grand-daughter’s Christian name (Mary), they, in two of these particulars in their grant of 1599, are inaccurate; and the third, they have wholly omitted. I may add, that grants of lands in Warwickshire having been made by King Henry the Eighth to the elder branch of Robert Arden’s family (see p. 38, n. 9), the heralds being in- structed that Henry the Seventh had been equally liberal to one of the younger branches, might have taken it for granted that the lands conferred on him were in that county, where his family had WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 33 the elder brother of our Robert’s grandfather, was Squire for the body to that king®; the duty of which...’ long resided ; and as they express it, ‘‘ had continued by some descents in good reputation and credit.” Heralds, when once they were satisfied that there was a sufficient ground for granting the arms which were claimed, were not very rigid in examining into the title-deeds of men's estates. 2 Dugdale’s Antiq. of Warwickshire, p. 653, edit. 1656. For this assertion he only quotes Holgrave, qu. 19, by which is meant the nineteenth quire of the book so denominated in the Prerogative Office ; but in that quire there is no will of any person of the name of Arden. I suppose, therefore, that in the will of some other person contained in the quire cited, Sir John Arden is men- tioned (probably as one of the feoffees in some feofment), and is described as Squire for the body to King Henry the Seventh; but the laxity of this reference prevents me from furnishing my readers with the words alluded to by Dugdale. A passage, how- ever, in Sir John Arden’s will, which is in the Prerogative Office (Parch. qu. 8), proves that he was frequently honoured by the visits of the King, whom he probably attended in Bosworth 4; 5. field. By’ his will, which was made on the 4th of June, 1526 ~~ (not 1525, as Dugdale has it), he gives to his son Thomas, as “heire lomys and to remayne in the maner of the Loge from heire to heire, a standing cup with a cover well gilt, and the best salt with a cover.” He likewise bequeaths to him “a paire of swannys, breedyfig in the mote; a great pott with a great paire of gobbards; a great broch; a paire of andyrons for the hall; a folding table with the kerven cupbord ; the bedde in the king's <7. our: : chamber with all that belongeth of the best, with a hanging of the 5" same, rede and grene.” To his son John, “a gowne furred with 4? *>-~~—~-.7-7" _foye, a blak gowne furred with booge, a blak velvet doublet; — 4 ~~-~-- ©; his “‘ best hose, the secunde salt with a cover, the secunde ¥ seMcs ref atm wayne, two oxen, an oxe-harrowe, with the hole tynys, two can- ee Pred dlesticks, a better and a worse.” ‘To his wife Elizabeth, “all 2. <--~ a the goods that she brought, both here and at the Holt.” Of his brother Robert, who is one of the witnesses to his will, he thus speaks: “‘Item, I will that my brothers, Thomas, Martin, and VOL, II. D 34 THE LIFE OF office, requiring a personal attendance on his sovereign both by day and night, accompanied with a constant familiar intercourse *, he necessarily had frequent op- Robert, have their fees during their lives.” This will was proved, June 27, 1526; and it appears from the Office found after the ' death of the testator, that he died on the day on which his will {was made. Esc. 18 Hen. VIII. p.1, n. 9. Dugdale was unac- quainted with the exact time of his death. 3 See a manuscript in the Herald’s Office, M. 7, entitled “ The Services of Divers Officers of the Courte,” one part of which was written in the time of King Henry VII. another in the ‘18th year of Henry VIII. “ As for the Squyers for the body, they ought to aray the kyng © and unaray, and no man else to sett hand on the kyng, and the eman or grome of the robes to take to the Squyer for the body all the kyngs stuffe, as well his shone as his other gere. And the Squyer for the body to draw theym on. And the Squyer for the body aught to take the charge of the cupborde for all nyght ; and if please the kyng to have a palett abowt his traverse for all night, there must be two Squyers for the body, or ells one knyght for the body; or els to lye in their owne chambers. And the usher must kepe the chamber dore untill the kyng be in bedd: and to be thereat on the morowe at the kyngs uprysyng: and the usher must see that the watche be sett, and to know of the kyng where they shall watche.” P. 33, verso. ** Item, a Squyer for the body or gentleman huisher pein to sett the kyngs sworde at his bedd hed. ‘ ened gy WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 47 term ’, reserving a rent of 64/. 8s. 4d. I have not been able to discover. So early as the time of King Richard the First, the burgesses of Stratford are mentioned *; and the town, I believe, was for a long time siaiiienall by wardens, or bailiffs, chosen from among them. It is certain, that during the reign of King Henry the Eighth, wardens were annually chosen, to keep the great bridge of Stratford in repair ’; and in the time.of Ed- ward the Fourth, they had a steward or town-clerk 2. The town, however, was not incorporated till. the se- venth year of the reign of Edward the Sixth;. who signed the charter of incorporation on the 28th.of June, 1553, eight days only before his death®. By this charter the principal inhabitants were incorpo- rated by the name of the bailiff and burgesses. of ‘Stratford upon Avon, and the corporation was ap- pointed to consist of fourteen aldermen, one of whom was to be elected annually to the office of bailiff, and of fourteen burgesses. The first bailiff named in the charter was Thomas Gilbert *, whose trade is not ? Pat, 18 liz. p. 12. 8 Dugdale’s Antiq. of Warwicksh. p. 476. 9 The bailiffs of Stratford are mentioned in a patent, 5 Ed. III. p- 3, m. 10. ,* This bridge, consisting of fourteen arches, was built by Sir | Hugh Clopton, Knight, in the time of Henry the Seventh. 2? Thomas Throckmorton, Esq". Steward of Stratford, was ad- mitted into the Guild of S'. Mary, 9 Ed. IV, 1469. Registr. Gild. fol. 92, a. 3 The warrant for the grant of this charter is inserted in the A endix. ; Jur * 2, 4 4 The other aldermen named in the original charter, were : Richard Lord, Hugh Reynolds, William Smythe, Thomas Phi- ew Rete 6) _ 48 THE LIFE OF mentioned in that instrument, but who, I find from other documents, was a dyer. For their better main- tenance and support, all the lands and possessions of the gild of the Holy Cross (an amicable and chari- table fraternity, which had subsisted at least from the time of Edward. the Third [1327], and had been dis- solved in the first year of the reign of Edward the Sixth, excepting only a single house called the Man- sion House of the Guild), were granted to the alder- men and burgesses, expressly, however, on condition that they should continue and maintain the alms- house, for twenty-four decayed inhabitants of the ftown, and the grammar school for the education of youth, as they had been maintained by the late guild ; _and that they should pay the master of the school a “stipend of twenty pounds a-year. All the tithes of hay and corn in Old Stratford, Welcome, and Bishop- ton, which had belonged to the lately dissolved college of Stratford, being likewise granted by this charter, the aldermen and burgesses were very properly re~ quired to pay the vicar an annual salary, which at that time was no more than twenty pounds, and forty shillings to enable him to pay his tenths and first lippes, Thomas Wynteeld, John Jefferies, Thomas Dixon, George Whatley, Henry Biddle, William Whatley, Robert Mors, Robert Pratt, and Adrian Quiney. The original burgesses are not named in the charter; but from another instrument fin the archives of Stratford, I find that about two years afterwards (April 20, 1555), the burgesses were, then, John Burbadge, William Mynsker, Daniel Phillips, Robert Perrot, Laurence Peynton, Roger Sadler, Humphry Plymley, Richard Harrington, William Smith, corvizar, Francis Harbadge, George Turnor, Richard Symmonds, John Wheler, and Lewis ap Wil- liams. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 49 fruits.. In addition to the grant of a common seal, a weekly market, and two annual fairs, the bailiff was“. A, invested with the powers of escheator, coroner, al-“7~ ee 5 hk. moner, and clerk of the market, and authorized to/~<~ ¢ >, hold a court of record, every fortnight, for the trial ee i of all causes within the jurisdiction of the borough, in*-*~< Gong which the debt and damages did not amount to thirty pounds *. The whole revenues of the guild of the Holy Cross, which were granted by this charter, pro- duced at that time only forty-six pounds, three shil- lings, and two-pence halfpenny®. In addition to which his Majesty gave the borough, by the same charter, the tithes of all the lands which had be- longed to the late dissolved college, which were. let for 34/. per annum. SECTION IV. John Shakspeare, wherever he may have been born, settled in Stratford not very long after the year 1550 ; S Pat. 7 Ed. VI. p. 13. 6 Antecedent to this grant, the revenues of the borough of Stratford appear to have been extremely small: for in the earliest rent-roll of the borough, which I have found, after the grant of this charter, that for the year 1563, their whole revenue, exclu- sive of the tithes of the late college, amounted only to 52/. 0s.’7d. The personal property of the guild, about seventy years before its dissolution, is ascertained by the curious inventory, which, being too long for this place, may be found in the Appendix, The ~.. .4~70. guild, it should be observed, was governed by eight ‘aldermen, chosen annually out of their own body, and a master, who was also elected annually, by the aldermen. The master, together with two proctors, elected by him and the aldermen, had the entire management of the lands and revenues of the guild. The ( famous lawyer, Littleton, was admitted a member of this frater- \ nity in 1479, 19 Ed. IV. Registr. Gild. fol. 110, b. VOL. II. E — ss fi’ 50 THE. LIFE OF" for in the middle of the year 1555 a suit was instituted against him, in the bailiff’s court, which, for another purpose, I shall hereafter have more particular occa- sion to mention. He was, as I conjecture, born in or before the year 15307. From Mr. Arden’s will, made in Dec. 1556, there is ground to believe that his daughter Mary was then single. She must have © _ married our poet’s father in the following year; for in Sept. 1558, she brought him a daughter, named Joan, who died in her infancy. In consequence of misinformation obtained at Strat- ford, as it should seem, by Mr. Betterton, in the early part of the last century, and communicated by him to Mr. Rowe, originating probably in: too hasty an in- spection of the register of that parish, we have been told,—and the tale, together with the few other facts recorded by the same writer, has been transmitted from book to book,—that our poet’s father “ had so large a 7 He was chosen a burgess of Stratford about the same time as John Tayler, a shearman or cloth-worker of that town, and served with him the office of chamberlain in the year 1562. It is \ not unreasonable, therefore, to suppose them to have been nearly * of the same age. In the register of the proceedings of the corporation in the’ Council Chamber, 30 June, 34 Eliz. (1592), Mr. Tayler is called old John Tayler; and in the account of Henry Wilson, Cham- berlain, made 24 January, 34 Eliz. (1593-4), he is denomi- nated Father Tayler: ‘‘ Receaved of Father Tayler for Michael common appellation for old men. So, in another account made by George Badger for the year 1596: “‘ Item, Receaved of Father Degge for his entrance into the Almshouse, vis. viiid.” So also in the register of the parish of Stiatford, I find among the burials in 1587, March 23, ** Jone, wife to Father Bell of Bishopton.” WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 51 family, ten children in all (according to Mr. Rowe’s theory, heshould have said eleven), that, though he was his eldest son, he could give him no better education than his own employment *. The truth, however, is, that our poet’s mother never appears to have borne ‘to her husband more than eight children, five of whom 2. 2 2. 4g only, namely, four sons and one daughter, attained lo7 paar: years of maturity; William, Gilbert, Richard, Ed-“ (ea. Foe aoe z, fa mond, and Joan (on each of whom I shall have occa-- rake fo as Feat Ee sion to-speak hereafter); Margaret, Anne, and an elder aia ie reo Joan, having died in their infancy®. Instead, there- 77: °7- fore, of being charged with the maintenance of so CLs i oon a numerous a family as ten children, the father. of ow 2s yen 5 poet had only half that number for any considerable 7~ ahs period to support. aoe ae tage“ + The principal cause of the confusion and error in ~ which this subject. has been involved, was the supposal that Ursula, Humphrey, and Philip Shakspeare, who were baptized at Stratford, between March, 1588-9, and Sept. 1591 (at the former of which periods, John and Mary Shakspeare had been more than thirty = Mian Jaa 7, 8 Rowe's Life of Shakspeare. 9 Joan, the eldest daughter of John Shakspeare, was baptized at Stratford on September 15, 1558 ; and though her burial is not -recorded in the register (perhaps from. her dying in some other place), she probably died before April, 1569, under nine years of sage; because another daughter was then baptized: by the same -name. Although parents sometimes gave the same Christian ‘name to two children living at the same time, the other circum- ‘stances attending this child, render it improbable: that should -have been the case in this instance. Margaret Shakspeare was baptized Dec. 2, 1562, and was buried April 13, 1563; and ; 7.4 ¢ Anne was baptized Sept. 28, 1571, and was buried A April 4, 1579./ ‘EQ 52 THE LIFE OF years married), were the children of our poet’s father; whereas they were, in fact, the children of another person of the same Christian and surname, who then lived in that town, and was of the humble occupation of a shoemaker’. In consequence of this erroneous notion, our poet’s father has been supposed to have ah 66 et Ad aulam ibid. tent. xxix° die Marcii, A°. regni _Burgus.J die nostre Elizabethe, &c. xxiv’. [1592] = «¢ A Note of M‘. Okers money, and to whom yt is lent; and the names of their sureties, and also of Bakers money, « Bakers Money. “ Thomes Fourde, Shoemaker, v". for I’. and Henrie Rogers, butcher, and John Shaxspere, shuemaker, his suerties. « Okers Money. «* Philippus Grene in x". for v", Henrie Rogers, butcher, and John Shaxspere, shuemaker, his suerties. « John Fisher, shuemaker, in x", for v". and Humphrey Wheler, and Humphrey Cowper, shoemakers, his suerties. «< Ad aulam ibid. tent. xxx°. die Junii, a°, 1592: «‘ At this Hall John Shackspere, Master.of the_companie_of Shuemakers, paid to the same Henrie Wilson, the moitie of Richard Fletcher the sadler his freedome, xx*. which saied xx*. is due to the chamber, and so paied.” On the 6th day of Sept. 1586, “‘ George Badger, Roger Welshe, John Shaxspere and Humphry Brace, were elected constables for the ensuing year, and John Shaxspere and Hum- phrey Brace were sworn.” These two persons again served the same office in the following year, together with Edward Bushell and David Jones. Humphrey Brace was a grocer and mercer at Stratford, and died possessed of a good property in the year 1591-2, as appears by his will, which is in the Prerogative Office. « Burgusy At a Hall there holden the xvii". daie of Fe- Stratford. J bruarie, anno 1590°...... Thomas Okers money was delivered to the persons whose names are underwritten. «* John Shaxspere v'. his sureties Richard Sponer and Robert Yonge.” Registr. Burg. Stratford. A. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 53 married three wives, though he never had more than one; and the Christian name of his wife, as well as the time of her death, have been hitherto unascertained. _ Ifthe parish register of Stratford had been care- fully attended to, it might have been observed, that the father of our poet, antecedent to his holding the respectable office of bailiff, is always denominated by his Christian name, without any honourable distinction or addition ; and his children, whether their baptisms or deaths are recorded, are mentioned only as the chil- dren of plain “ John Shakspere.” Subsequently to that period, that is, from the year 1569}*they are in- 7, Loky 0: 0h variably described as the children of Mr. John Shak-“, ete fe spere [filius aut filia Magistri Shakspere]; and so, Z Ee “7g from that time, their father (as every other bailiff) is vat ti! Ba always entitled, in all the records of the proceedings ’2<~ y nme CF" of the corporation, which I have examined with this <> ioe 4a particular view, Magister or Mr. being the denota- tion of a person somewhat above the lower orders of men, at a time when the addition of gentleman to a name was considered a respectable designation, and that of esquire was not, as at present, indiscriminately given to persons who have not the smallest claim to be so entitled. On the other hand, fifteen years after our poet’s father had acquired this honourable dis- tinction, John, not Mr. John Shakspere is recorded in the register to have married Margery Roberts in the year 1584; and Ursula, Philip, and Humphrey Shakspere, the issue of this John, by a subsequent wife (whose name is unknown), in the respective en- j tries of their baptisms in the parish register, are de- scribed as the children of plain John Shakspere, with- - 54 ' THE LIFE OF out ‘any addition®. This circumstance alone fur- nishes a very strong presumption that these three children were not the offspring of the bailiff. Buta more minute investigation of this matter has placed — it beyond a doubt: for our poet’s mother, Mary Shak- Ba bey wees A speare, having lived till the year 1608, it is manifest pan yee that John Shakspeare, who married Margery Roberts, Sa EF Nov. 25, 1584, was the shoemaker already mentioned; | ater ae 8 6657 and that the children in question must have been his ga eel ban children, though not by her; for she died in 1587. o—~« 7 °6 *-2°Tt appears from the oldest book belonging to the cor- poration, containing an account of their proceedings from 1563, that Thomas Roberts, who died in Sept: 2 The same distinction is always preserved in the parish re- gister between Mr. Thomas Reynolds, a gentleman of Old Strat- ford, with whom our poet was acquainted, and to whose son he bequeathed a legacy, and Thomas Reynolds, a tradesman of Stratford. The children of the tradesman are uniformly described as the children of Thomas Reynolds, those of our poet’s friend as the children of Mr. Thomas Reynolds. Thus I find in the re- gister : ** 1580, Jan. 26, baptized Margaret, baster daughter to Tho- mas Reynolds. “©1581, Nov. 8, bapt. Jane, daughter to Mr. Thomas Reynolds. «1581, Feb. 25, bapt. William, son to Thomas Reynolds. “ 1582, Nov. 25, bapt. Thomas, son to Mr. Thomas Reynolds. “* 1582-3, Jan. 22, bapt. Annis, daughter to Thomas Reynolds, “©1583, Nov. 21, bapt. Henry, son to Mr, Thomas Raynolds. “©1589, Nov. 22, bapt. Mary, daughter to Mr. Thomas Ray- nolds.” So, in the account of Thomas Goodwynne, Chamberlain, for the year 1582 : f Zs “ Receaved for the bell [i. e. for the bell’s being rung] for Thomas Reynhold’s child, iiijd. “ Receaved for the bell for Mr. Thomas Reynold’s child, iiijd.” WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 55 1583, was a shoemaker®; and that the John Shak- speare, who followed the same occupation, was a trus- tee for his children*. I at first, from this cireum-, hes « ene oh _ 3 In an accompt made by William Wilson, one of the chamber- “= ee 3 fate be lains of the borough of Stratford, on the 26th day of Jan. 1581, ae eS stating his several receipts and disbursements. from Michaelmas, 1579, to Michaelmas, 1580, is the following article : ** Receaved of Thomas Asplyn for his freedome, by the hands of Thomas Roberts, and Thomas Swanne, Wardeins of shuemakers, xxs.” Registr. Burg. Stratford. A. . Thomas Roberts, as appears by the register of the parish of Stratford, was buried there, Sept. 11, 1583. 4 “ Stratford te aulam ibm. tent. ix® die Januarii anno regni Burgus. / die Elizabethe, &c. xxij° [1589-90.] « At this hall Mr. Abraham Sturley hath delivered three several 4. 2... (22- obligations to the use of the children of one Thomas Roberts de- q ceased; viz. one bande made to Thomas Roberts, one of the sonnes of Thomas Roberts deceased, of fyftie pounds, wherein Richard Masters of Milverton yeoman and John Shaxpere of Stratford, corvizer, stand bounde for the bredinge of the seyd Tho- mas Roberts, and the payment of xxxij/. according to the condy- cions of the seyd bande, which bande berithe date quarto die Oc- tobris anno tricesimo Elizabethe regine [1588], and one other bande beringe date tertio die Octobris, a° xxx° Elizabethe Regine of fyftie pounds made from John Laurence of Studley, husband- man, and William Broukeley of Studley, tanner, to John Roberts, one other of the sonnes of the seyd Thomas Roberts, for the pay- ment of xxvi/i. accordinge to the condicions of the same bande; and also one other bande from John Shaxpere of Stratford, cor- vizer, and Edward Bushell de eisdem, wolsted weaver, in Ix//. for the bredinge of Richard Roberts, the youngest sonne of the seyd ivase fix Gee Thomas, and also for payment of suche money as ys conteyned in*%—~ “- (“7 the condycions of the same bande, beringe date tertio die Octo-. sali pre a bris a° xxx° E. Regine.” Registr. Burg. Stratf. A. _From a preceding entry in the same book, it appears to have Z.. A395 -< ie ‘ was not a native of Stratford. He had probably ae ' served part of his apprenticeship there ; otherwise he oA yee would have paid two pounds, the sum required by this company from those foreigners who had not served their time within the borough. In this case, « as well as in many others, somewhat less than the re- - then carried on there, those persons who were foreigners, that is, not born in the borough, and wished to set up any trade there, were obliged to pay a much higher sum for their freedom than the natives. In “the Declaration of the Constitution and Ordi- nances of Skinners and Taylors,” which was signed and sealed March 2, 1585, and is yet preserved in the chamber of Stratford ; the seventh and eighth rules in substance are, that no foreigner or person born out of the borough, who hath not served an ap- prenticeship within it, shall be allowed to set up or exercise the trade of a skinner or taylor, unless he hath served an apprentice- ship for seven years in some city, borough, or town corporate’ and if he hath so served, he may be admitted to his freedom on paying 3/.6s, 8d. Every person born within the borough, but having served out of it, may be admitted on paying ten shillings ; and every person born within the borough, and having likewise served his time there, may be admitted on paying three shillings and fourpence. Similar regulations were made by other ‘com- panies; though the terms of admission, both to natives and foreigners, in the different companies, were various. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 61 gulated sum was accepted on composition, probably on the ground which I have suggested. The truth, I believe, is, that the Shaksperian shoe- maker, of whom I have been obliged to say so much, was either the son or brother of Thomas Shakspeare, foabs otherwise Greene (a shoemaker also, as I believe), who, perhaps, migrated from some of the neighbour- ing towns to Stratford, where he died in March, 1589-90; or the son of another Thomas Shak who died at Warwick, in 15777; or of Richard’Shak- 2 In “ the Accompte of Thomas Rogers, one of the Chamber- lens, &c. made the thyrde of October 1589, which he then yielded up in respect he was elected to be Mr, Bayleefe for the year followinge, a° regni Eliz. xxxi°’.” the following persons are specified as living in Bridge-street, many of whom appear to have been shoemakers : “ The Rents receaved as followeth, for iij quarters of a year. _ Bridg Street. Whole Rent. Richard Baylis.......... VSe.+0+-+ +. Vis. Viijd. Thomas West ...... Ptr, Ae Et vis. viijd, Robert Wyllson ........ REVS: shaiste xxxiijs. ivd, Mr. Barber .. . .{sis/5-% +++ xvis. iijd .. . xxis. viijd. {This is inserted by mistake, for he lived in Church-street.] Haray fylde... oo .400s . + Wild. Vids... XS Shon Shackspeare. +. +++ iX8.r- 000000 Xiis. Reyc. Ayn ge vane» «00 vowe RVS00 6 vonee XXSe | Wyllin Greenwaye ...... Xxiijs..... «|. XXXxs. viijd. _ Francis Smith ..., .4...4XSesesene ees xiijs. iiijd. Arthur Cawdrey ...+ 440+ XXVSe see 00 XXXiijs. iiijd.” In the accounts of 1593 and 1594 the names of the persons who held houses from the corporation are not specified: but a / subsequent ‘‘ Accompt of Richard Ange and Abraham Sturley. Chamberleyns, from the xx day of December 1594, for one whole yeare then next followinge,” furnishes us with a complete list. of the tenants who held houses from the corporation, and the rents they paid. i ~ “ WH fo Ma whan tim oe © hnemer - fi 17. 62 THE LIFE OF speare, the elder, of Rowington, who died in: April, 1614°; and it is probable that he, and all his family, left Stratford, and returned to his native town, wheresoever it may have been, in 1593, or 1594 *. The last notice which I have found concerning him, is in June, 1592, at which time he was master of the Company of Shoemakers ; and three years afterwards his house was inhabited by another person. His eldest son, Humphrey (who, as well as his younger son, Philip, has so long been supposed.to be a brother of the poet’s), I have good reason to believe, settled at Lapworth *, about. ten miles from Stratford. Of Philip, I have not been able to obtain any intelli- gence. SECTION V. Having, I trust, by the foregoing necessary, though I fear tedious, disquisition, dispelled the mist of con- fusion and obscurity in which our poet’s family has, 3 See p. 15, n. 8. 4 Ibid. s-Sarah, the wife of Humphrey Shakspeare, of Lapworth, died at Rowington in the last century, Oct. 2, 1720, at the age of eighty-two. Her husband Humphrey, who died at Rowington, in 1729, is thus described (‘‘ of Lapworth”), both in the register of Rowington, and. on-his wife’s tombstone in the churchyard there. If we suppose ‘him to have. been only as old as his wife, then he must have been born in-1638: consequently at least ninety-one when: he died ;-and he might have been either the son or grand- son of that. Humphrey Shakspeare who was baptized at Stratford, May 24, 1590 ; and consequently either grandson or great grand- son of John Shakspeare, the shoemaker. ** John, the son of Humphrey Shakspeare, of Lapworth,” was buried at Rowington, Nov. 14, 1693, as appears by-the rroecor of that parish. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 63 for ear a century, been involved, I now return to the more immediate object of our present inquiries. Involvere diem nimbi, et nox humida celum Abstulit : tandem Italie fugientes prendimus oras, ... Jamque novum terre stupeant lucescere Solem. William Shakspeare was born at Stratford upon 7 4...... = Avon, probably ® on Sunday, April the 93d, 1564 57-~* a 3? and on the 25th was baptized, we may presume, by : the Rev. John Breechgirdle’, then vicar of thats <. |. ee 6 I say “ probably,” because we have no direct evidence for. ~~ this fact. The Rev. Joseph Greene, who was master of the free<~ *~~ school at Stratford, several years ago made some extracts from the register of that parish, which he’ afterwards gave to the late James West, Esq. They were imperfect, and-in other respects not quite accurate. In the margin of this paper Mr. Greene has written, opposite the entry relative to our poet’s baptism, “* Born on the 23d ;” but for this, as I conceive, his only authority was the inscription on Shakspeare’s tomb—‘‘ Obiit aio Do‘. 1616, etatis 53, die 23 Ap.” which, however, renders the date here assigned * /,.,. — for his birth sufficiently probable.” ; ' The omitting to mention the day of the child’s birth in bap- tismal registers, is a great defect, as the knowledge of this fact is often of importance. 7 He died at Stratford the following year, and was buried there, June 21, 1565, — The successive vicars of Stratford in our poet's time were, John Breechgirdle, 27 Feb. 1560-61. Hygford, 1563. [Qr.] Henry Heicroft, Jan. 1, 1569-70. Richard Barton, Feb. 17, 1584. John Bramhall, 1590. Richard Bifield, Jan. 23, 1596. Thomas Rogers, 1604. Thomas Wilson, May 22, 1619. 64 | "THE LIFE OF parish. The custom of giving a son the baptismal name of his father or paternal grandfather, or in com pliment to his mother’s father, was not so common in the age of Elizabeth as at present. Not one of John Shakspeare’s children were named. after him or Mr. Robert Arden. Our poet, I believe, derived his Christian name either from William Smyth, a mercer, and one of the aldermen of Stratford, or William. Smith, a haberdasher in the same town, one of whom probably was his godfather; and all his brothers, in like manner, appear to have been named after the . persons who stood sponsors for them. Such, I con- ceive, was then probably the general, as it was cer-. tainly a frequent usage ; a practice which we seem to have derived from our German ancestors*. Our author’s only son, Hamnet, we find, did not take the Christian name of his father or grandfather, but of. that friend who appears to haye been his sponsor ; and our author’s. godson, William Walker, whom he has kindly remembered in his will, was not only his godson, but his namesake. In like manner, the bap- tismal name of young D’Avenant, who was the son of. a vintner in Oxford, and born in 1605, was not -de- rived from his father, or any other relation, but from: our oon dramatick poet, who was his godfather ®. _ és Sea Verstegan's Restitution ‘of Decayed Intelligence, 4to. 1605; Epistle to the English Nation, i in marg. ‘*It is often seen in Germanie, that either godfather [he means each of the two godfathers] at christning giveth his name to his godsonne, and thereof it cometh that many have two proper names, besydes their surname,” 9 Three of Sir Francis Bacon’s godsons, to whom he leayes legacies, were christened after him. See his will. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 65 It may be worth observing, that the nativity of our illustrious countryman, of . whom England will proudly boast as long as» she continues to be ‘a polished nation, took place on the day consecrated to its patron saint, for whom his native town appears to have had particular respect ': a happy presage, as it * In an ancient account-book which belonged to the wardens of the bridge at Stratford, before the charter of incorporation was granted, I find various articles which ascertain the predilection of our poet's countrymen to the patron saint of England. In an account made by Richard Cotton and Thomas Gilbard, bridge-wardens, 23 March, 34 Henry VIIL. [1542-3] is this item: “* Item, payd Whitley for kepynge the Alter, iijs. iijd.” and ina subsequent account, evidently relating to the same matter, 36 Henry VIII. “Item, payd to Thomas Whitley for kepynge St. George Alter, viijd.” _ “Item, payd for scowring St. George harnes, [armour,} ijs. 10d." “ Primo anno Marie regine, &c. videlicet decimo quarto die Aprilis, Richard Pers and John Tayler, wardens : ; * Item, payd for dressing the Dragon, and for bering the Dra- gon, and werynge Sext George harnes on holy thursday, ijs. viijd. Payd for gune powder, iiijd. Payd for scowring Sent George harnes, ijs.” In the account of George Whatley and Robert Pratt, bridge- wardens, 8 April, 1 Ed. VI. 1547: “ Payd for scowring Sent George harnes, ijs. viijd. ** Item, to Walter for ridynge Sent George, vid. ** Item to hym that bare the Dragon, iiijd.” “Tn an account made by John Bell and Edward West, 2& 3 Ph. & Mar. April 23, 1556 : _**Payd to 2 men for berynge the Dragon and Sent George harnes, ijs.” 'The'same custom was long kept up ; for in the accompt of Ro- ( bert Smart and William Wilson, chamberlains, from Michaelmas, 1578, to Michaelmas, 1579, I find— *“P* to William Evans [a smith] for scowring of the George . Armour, the vi" daye of June, iiijd.” VOL. II. bs cts ytuf- Oo 66 THE LIFE OF should seem, that his name and reputation should for. ever be united with that of England, and should, to all future time, shed a lustre on the country rari , thegood fortune to give him birth. That he was snatched from the world at a ims when his faculties were in their full vigour, and before he was “ declined into the vale of years,” must ever be a subject of deep, but unavailing regret, to the liberal ‘part of mankind. Let us, however, be thank- ful that this “ sweetest child of fancy ” did not perish while he yet lay in the cradle. When he was but nine weeks old, the plague, which in that and the preceding year was so futal to England *, broke out at Stratford upon Avon, and raged . with such violence, between the 30th of June and the last day of December, that two hundred and thirty-eight persons, in that period, were carried to the grave, of which number, probably, two hundred and_ sixteen died of that malignant distemper ° ; and only one of the whole number resided not in Stratford, but in the neighbouring hamlet of Welcombe. The total / + In the year 1563, between the 1st of August and the last day | of December, 20,136 persons died of the plaguejin London. It broke out again with great violence in August, 1564. 3 From the two hundred and thirty-seven inhabitants of Strat- ford, who, it appears from the register, were buried in this period, twenty-one.are to be subducted, who, it may be presumed, would have died in six months in the ordinary course of nature; for it the five preceding years, reckoning according to the style of tha time, from March 25, 1559, to March 25, 1564, two hundred anil twenty-one persons were buried at Stratford, of whom two hun- dren and ten were townsmen: that is, forty-two died each year, at an average. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 67 number of the inhabitants of Stratford, at that time appears to have been about 1470 +,. and consequently 4 Such appears to have been the number of inhabitants at that time, calculating one in thirty-five to have died annually. IT sup- pose one in ‘thirty-five to have then died in a year on account of the superior mortality in former times from the small-pox, and the ill treatment of other disorders : one in, forty would at present be amore just calculation, In the parish of Bookham, in the county of Surrey, in the neighbourhood of which I passed the summer of the year 1788, the inhabitants were numbered, and found to be five hundred. In the preceding year there died there, only eleven persons, that is, one in forty-six. Ina country parish in Hamp- shire, the annual proportion of deaths for ninety years previous to 1774, was found to be one in fifty. See Howlet’s Essay on the Population of England and Wales, p. 11. - The baptisms and burials at Stratford during the five years mentioned in the preceding note, compared with the baptisms and burials during five years from 1783 to 1788, confirm the cal- culation that has been made. The baptisms ftom March 25, 1559, to March 25, 1564, were two hundred and seventy-six; i.e. fifty-five per ann. at an average The baptisms from Jan. 1, 1783, to Dec. 31, 1787, were four hundred and seventy-four: i. e. ninety-five per ann, at an ave- rage: but of Stratfordians probably only eighty-five. The burials in five years from March 25, 1559, to March 25, 1564, were, of Stradfordians, two hundred and ten, i. e. forty-two perann.; which, multiplied by thirty-five, gives 1470, the num- ber of inhabitants stated in the text. If we multiply the average number of the annual baptisms during the same period (i. e. fifty- five) by twenty-six, the number of inhabitants will be found to have been 1430. ‘The burials in five years from Jan. 1, 1783, to Dec. 31, 1787, were four hundred and nine; i. e. per ann. eighty-two; but of Stratfordians only seventy ; which number, multiplied by forty, ee COE es “2 4 / makes the inhabitants of Atgastond, on Dec. 31, 1787, 2800, nearly ee Pee Fe 4 numbered, and were then found to be 2987. In 1730, the houses in Stratford (including the old town) were F2 68 THE LIFE OF. the plague, in the last six months of the year 1564,» carried off more than a seventh part of them. For-. tunately for mankind, it did not reach the house where the infant Shakspeare lay: for not one of that. name appears in the dead list. A poetical enthusiast. will find no difficulty in believing that, like Horace, he reposed secure and fearless in the midst of conta- gion and death, protected by the Muses to whom his future life was to be devoted : ——— sacra Lauroque, collataque myrto, Non sine diis animosus infans 5. If I were to acquiesce in the tradition communi- cated to Mr. Rowe, in the beginning of the last cen- tury, I should now, in due order, and in imitation of all the biographers who have implicitly followed him on the same subject *, inform my readers, that. our poet’s father, John Shakspeare, “was a considerable four hundred and fifty-seven. If'we reckon five to each house, the inhabitants were then 2285. By the returns made to Par- liament in 1811, it appears that the inhabitants in Stratford amounted to 2842, whereof 1340 were males, and 1502 were fe- males, and that the inhabited houses were 548, and the un- inhabited 13. 5 Hor. lib. iii. ode iv. 6 Jacob’s Lives of the Poets, 8vo. 1720. Pope’s Edition: of Shakspeare’s Plays, 4to. 1725. Theobald’s Edition, 8vo, 1733. General Dictionary, folio, 1739. Hanmer’s Edition of Shak- speare’s Plays, 4to. 1744. Warburton’s Edition, 8vo. 1747. Il- lustrious Heads, 1748. Cibber’s Lives of the Poets, 12mo. 1753. Biographia Britannica, folio, 1747. Biographical Dictionary,: 8vo. 1760. Biographia’ Dramatica, 1780, &c.. &c. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 69 dealer in wool, and had so large a family, ten children in all, that though he was his eldest son, he could give him no better education than his own employ- ment. He had bred him, it is true (continues Mr. Rowe), for some time, at a free school, where it is probable he acquired what Latin’ he was master of ; but the narrowness of his circumstances, and. the want of his assistance at home, forced him to with- draw him from thence, and unhappily prevented his further proficiency in that language ®”. It is somewhat remarkable, that in Rowe’s Life of our author, there are not more than eleven facts men- tioned ?; and of these, on a critical examination, 7 So Rowe's second edition. In the first, “‘ that little Latin he was master of.” : _® Rowe's Life of Shakspeare. 9 These facts are: 1. That he was the son of John Shakspeare, and born at Strat- ford, in April, 1564. 2. That he died there in 1616.—These are both true, and were furnished by the parish. register. 3. That his father had éen children. 4. That his father was a woolman. 5. That when the poet came to London “ he was received into the company of-actors then in being,” as if there was then but tt pe yt Coton one company. AT 6. That he was but an indifferent actor. hy pA oe 7. That Falstaff was originally called Oldcastle, and that the’ poet was obliged to change the name of that character. ‘8. That Lord Southampton gave him 1000/. to complete a pur- chase. 9. That he left three daughters. 10. That he was driven to take shelter in London in consequence of stealing deer from Sir Thomas Lucy's park. The preceding eight facts will all be shown to be false. 70 . ‘THE LIFE OF eight will be found to be false. Of one (of very little importance) great doubt may be justly entertained ; and the two remaining facts, which are unquestion- ably true (our poet’s baptism and burial), were fur- nished by the register of the parish of Stratford. We have already seen that one part of the fore- going account is not true. John Shakspeare, it has been proved, never had but eight children; and only five of them lived to be any burthen to their father, with respect to their education’. This circumstance, were we reduced to the necessity of conjecture, might suggest some doubts concerning such other parts of this relation as are not supported by better evidence, particularly that which concerns the occupation of his father. But on the subject of the trade of John Shakspeare, I am not under the necessity of relying on conjecture ;* being enabled, after a very tedious and troublesome search, to shut up this long agitated question for ever. In a manuscript account of our author, written above a century ago, by Mr. Aubrey, an ingenious man, and a most careful, laborious, and zealous collector of anecdotes relative to our English poets and other celebrated writers of his native coun- try, our author’s father is said to have been a but~ cher. Mr. Rowe, we have just now seen, about thirty years afterwards, was informed, from oral tradition, 11. That he introduced Ben Jonson to the stage, may certainly be considered as extremely doubtful. This tale probably took its rise from Shakspeare’s having assisted Jonson in writing Sejanus, In the printed play, however, the author omitted whatever our poet had contributed.to that piece. t See p. 51. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 71 that) he was:a:woolman. Now, though both these accounts are equally false, I do not think it necessary “ <..., <~-~ or becoming to throw any ridicule on either of these *’.; ae gentlemen; nor shall I represent them as foolish ** Aha. foneenn oT gossips, because they have: transmitted to us such ~~~ 272; accounts, on this subject, as they could procure. And 72.-6G23% I shall particularly abstain from ridiculing Mr. Aubrey (whose. name ought never to be mentioned by any friend to English literature without respect), on account of the tradition which he has transmitted, lest the weapon pointed at that learned antiquary should recoil against the breast of him who levelled it; for, strange to tell! we shall presently find that Ralph Cawdrey, one of the aldermen of Stratford, at the time our poet was born, was a butcher *, and was 2 This fact is proved by a deed among the archives of Stratford, which begins thus: ‘«* This Indenture made the xx™ day of April in the first and second yere of the reigne of Phylip and Mary [1555], by the grace of God kynge and quene, &c. between Will™. Whatley, _nowe Justice of the peace, hy bely of the burrow of Stratford upon Avon, in the county of Warr. George Whatley, now Justice of y peace and hye. alderman of the same toune, Richard Lord, ord, W", “Smyth. ‘mercer, John Jefferies, Thomas Wynfyld, Thomas Dixon, Thomas Phyllipps, Henry Bydyll, Thomas Gilbard, Robert Mors, Robert Pratt, Raf Cawdrey, and Adrean Quyny, aldermen, John _Burbage, William Mynster, Daniel Phyllypps, Robert Perot, Laurence Beynion, Roger Sadler, Humphrey Plymley, Richard Harentone, W™. Smyth corvizar, Frauncis Harbage, George Turnor, Richard Symons, John Wheler, and Lewes ap Williams, Capital burgesez ther of thone party, and Raf Cawdrey of Strat- ford aforesaid, Bocher, of the other party: Witnessethe, &c. that the befor named hy bely, aldermen and capital burgesez, with one assént, consent, agreement, for them & ther successors, have dé¢myzed, graunted, set, and to ferme let, and by theis pre- — $2 THE LIFE OF bailiff of the borough the very year before Mr. John Shakspeare filled that office. So much for this mon- strous and incredible story, to which, we have beem told, no one but a man who believed in preternatural appearances could, for a moment, give any credit °. . It is anold and just observation, that omnis fabula fundatur in historid ; the most fictitious accounts sents do demyse, graunt, and to ferme let over unto the said Raf Cawdrey, on tenement in Stratford aforsaid, in Burge Street, late in the holdynge of Richard Marchell ther callyd The Aungell,” &c, 3 Ralph Cawdrey. kept a butcher’s shop in Stratford so elt as 1541. He died in May, 1588. See Mr. Steevens’s Advertisement, vol. i. p. 254. I shall in another place * have occasion to speak more particu- larly on this subject, and shall show the sources from whence Mr... Aubrey derived the various and valuable intelligence which he communicated to Antony Wood in the latter part of the last cen- tury, while that laborious antiquary was employed in compiling his Athene Oxonienses. At present, it is only necessary to ob- serve, that if the representation attempted to be given of this in- genious and unfortunate gentleman, were just and well founded; if it were true that every man who is weak in one place must ne- cessarily be weak in all; that all those persons who in the last century were idle enough to put their faith in judicial astrology, and to give credit to stories of preternatural appearances of the dead, were fools, and their judgment or testimony of no value on any subject whatsoever, however unconnected with these weak- nesses; then in this large list of ninnies must we class, with Mr. Aubrey, the accomplished and literate Charles the First, the grave and judicious Clarendon, the witty Duke of Buckingham, the fer-. tile and ingenious Dryden, and many other names of equal cele- brity. They must all ‘ bench by his side,” and must be set down as persons incapable of forming a true judgment on any matter whatsoever presented to them, and wholly unworthy of credit. * See Appendix. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 73 which tradition has handed down to us, have gene- rally had: some little semblance or admixture of truth in them; and thus, gilded by artifice or ignorance, they acquire a currency and reception in the world; which bare and genuine falsehood could never obtain: Of this kind is the tale in question, which, not with- out a due portion of those minute and embellishing circumstances in which such fables usually abound, was transmitted to Mr. Aubrey, about one hundred and thirty years ago, by some of the old actors, after the Restoration ; confounding, it should seem, our great dramatist with a person of the same name and county, who lived at the same period, but moved in a very different sphere; for, on examining the re- cords of the Company of Stationers, I learned from one of their registers, that John Shakspeare, son of Thomas Shakspeare, a butcher, at Warwick, was 1..¢ ...... bound apprentice in March, 1609-10, to William “ “—~ ~~ Be fora Gi ed Jaggard, stationer, who, in 1598, had published some gate gee of our author’s early poetry, and for whom, in con- ig: ae fom junction with others, the first folio edition of his 7 ‘Mpg en aw £40 Shot plays was printed; and on further inquiry it appeared 77 7.“"7. F that this butcher’s son was admitted to his freedom, ~~ a ‘i May 22, 1617. Of John Shakspeare, the apprentice <.* 2 age of William Jaggard, it is not necessary to say more Dae We fee é-Th ot in this place, though, hereafter, I may have occasion to Oy es me add a few words concerning him. Unquestionably his 4 Leys em name and parentage, however they were confounded ro ee with those of his great countryman, fifty years after- wards, were well known, in his own time, among players and stationers; for he served his apprentice- 74 THE LIFE OF ship to a respectable citizen, appears to have com menced the business of a bookseller on his own ae- count, and was, I believe, the only person of the name of Shakspeare, who migrated from Warwick- shire to London, at that period, beside our poet, and his brother Edmond, and Thomas Shakspeare, who \ was one of the Queen’s messengers, in 1577. John Shakspeare, the father of the. illustrious subject of our present narrative, as has been already observed, settled at Stratford, not very long after the / 9. year 1550. On April 30, 1556, and September 30, 3 1558, [find him one of the jury of the court leet ; on the 12th of August, 1556, he was summoned: on a jury in a civil action; and in June, 1557, he was one of the ale-tasters, an officer appointed and sworn ‘at every leet to take care that the due assize was kept of all the bread, ale, and beer, sold within the jurisdiction of the leet*. At the leet, October 6; 1559, he was one of the four affeerors' appointed to mulct those who had committed any offence which ke é ' 4 Restal’s Termes de la Ley, in v. From: the following entry it appears that he was fined while invested with this office, for three non-attendances in the bailiff’s court, which was held once a a fortnight. “Stratford y Curia de recordo ibm tent. secundo die Junii, ozs te 2 Burgus. 7 anno regnorum Philippi et Marie tertio et quarto ee cons pe “ZZ [2 June, 1557): 2 Las SEs ss vilid. de Jdhe Shakspere, uno ¢estator ([tentator] servicii Piteancig Goren ge > burgi_ pd. quia not venit ad exequend. officium suum P iii Cur, Id. Os in agent ~ in mia. [miserecordia].” 47+ For the oath and duties of an ale-taster, see Kitchen on the Jurisdiction of Courts Leet, p. 96. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 75 was punishable arbitrarily, and for which no express penalty was prescribed by statute*; and he was again chosen for the same purpose in May, 1561. It appears from a paper inserted below ®, that he was not a member of the corporation of Stratford ante- cedent to Michaelmas day, 1557; but he was cer- tainly chosen a burgess either on that day, or very soon afterwards’. In 1558, and the following year, 4 tant oe he served the office of constable; which office, as well <<~, ~, ia as that of ale-taster, all the most respectable members *- Lea fas of the corporation filled, antecedent to their rising to 5 The oath of an affeeror was this :—** You shall swear, that you will truly and indifferently tax, assess, and affeer all such amerciaments as are presented at this court ; wherein you shall spare no man for love, favour, affection, or corruption, nor raise nor inhance upon any man, of malice, more grievous amercia- ments than shall be thought reasonable, according to the qua- lity of the offence, and the faults committed, and not otherwise. So help you God,” &e. Greenwood on Courts, p. 346. In some cases the jury of the leet ascertained the amerciaments themselves. So in the proceedings of the leet at Stratford, 30th Sept. 1558: ‘‘ Mem. y‘ the xii men did amerce the offenders, and no Ferars [Affeerors] chosen.” That they had a right to do so, Sir Edward Coke has shown, 11 Rep. Godfrey's case. 6 See Appendix. tad di fhe ffs ? There were at that time four vacancies of the burgesses thefi~ aiataaa assembled. John Lewes was the last; he being the last person who had been elected a burgess; and I find that at a subsequent period, a few years afterwards (Sept, 6, 1564), the name of John Shakspeare stands the second in the list of burgesses immediately following that of John Lewes; so that it is clear that Shakspeare, together with John Taylor, William Smyth, haberdasher, and John Jones, whose names immediately follow in that list, was \ elected a burgess in the latter end of the year 1557, or early in 1558, to fill up the four vacancies already mentioned. ~ Dt Phin. - 76 THE LIFE OF ~ higher stations in the borough *. Having discovered, among the archives of Stratford, several scattered fragments, containing an account of the proceedings of the court leet, twice a year, from 1554 to 1562, which I have since arranged and bound up together, I am indebted to them for most of these facts; and as some of the orders and presentments made in this court exhibit a curious picture of the times, I shall insert a few of them in their proper places °. In September, 1561, Mr. John Shakspeare was elected one of the chamberlains of Stratford, which office he filled during the two succeeding years. On July 4, 1565, about fifteen months after our poet’s birth, he was chosen an alderman; and on the 12th of September following he took the usual oath’. The names of the aldermen, when he was chosen, are furnished by the books which contain an account of the proceedings of the corporation in their cham-° ber; but their occupation was not so easily learned, 8 William Tyler was an ale-taster in 1557, and, like John Shakspeare, fined for non-attendance: Richard Hill executed the same office in 1555, William Perrot in 1558, and Thomas Dixon, otherwise Waterman, in 1559. All these persons were soon af- terwards aldermen. William Tyler was bailiff in 1563, Richard » Hill in 1564. Francis Harbage was constable in 1555, and bailiff in 1557; and Robert Perrot, who was bailiff in 1558, executed the office of constable in 1554, together with Adrian Queeny, who was bailiffin 1559. Humphry Plymley, who was bailiff:in~ 1562, served the office of constable with John Shakspeare in 1558; and William Smith, haberdasher, and William Tyler, who has been already mentioned, together with John Taylor, were joined with him as constables in 1559. 9 See the Appendix, * Registr. Burg. Stratford. A. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 77 being scarcely ever noticed in those records, except in the instances already mentioned, for the purpose of distinguishing two persons of the same Christian and surname. However, from various researches for other purposes, I have been enabled to ascertain their several trades; and I subjoin them, as it may tend to make us more intimately acquainted with the state of Stratford at this time. ‘The aldermen, when our poet’s father was elected into that body, were, Richard Hill, woollen-draper, who was then bailiff; Lewis ap Williams, ironmonger, and afterwards inn- holder ; William Smith, mercer ; George Whateley, woollen-draper; Ralph Cawdrey, butcher; Robert Perrot, brewer; Adrian Quiney, grocer; Roger Sadler, baker; Humphrey Plymley, mercer ; Robert Pratt, victualler and tipler ; John Wheler, yeoman ; William Tyler, grocer; John Jefferies, attorney, and , soon afterwards steward or town-clerk of the borough. ye In 1568 our poet’s father attained the supreme honours of the borough of Stratford, being then ( elected high bailiff, an office which he held from , Michaelmas, 1568, to Michaelmas, 1569; and two ‘years ‘afterwards, September 5, 1571, he was elected and sworn chief alderman for the ensuing year *. Tn the various leases granted by the corporation to several members of their own body, and to others, the occupation of the lessee is always mentioned ; but our poet’s father never having taken any lease from them (as far as I can find), after a reasonable waste of time, at Stratford, Worcester, and elsewhere, I began to 2 Ibid. fe rf fx 78 THE LIFE OF despair of ever being able to obtain any certain intel~ . ligence concerning his trade; when, at length, I met, with the following entry, in a very ancient manu- script, containing an account of the proceedings in the bailiff’s court, which furnished me with the long, sought-for information, and ascertains that the trade of our great poet’s father was that of a glover. « Stretford, ss. Cur. Phi. et Marie Dei gra. &e. secundo et tercio, ibm tent. die Mareurii. videlicet xvij. die Junii, ann. predict. [17 June, 1555,] coram Johni Burbage Ballivo, &e. « Thomas Siche. de Arscotte*® in com. Wigorn. querit." versus Johm Shakyspere de Stretford, in Com. Warwic. Glover, in plac. quod reddat ei oct. libras, &c.” The tradition that Mr. John Shakspeare was a woolman, or rather a wool-driver, for such was the . denomination used at Stratford, in his time, perhaps e arose, and certainly derived some little support, from avery slight circumstance. In a window of one of the houses in Stratford, which belonged to him, was formerly a piece of stained glass, now in my posses- sion, on which are painted the arms of the merchant of the staple *; and the same arms may be observed Coe Pers x |, Oe ae ewtte ArrchKet & Rengshet A 3 Armiscotte, in Worcestershire, was probably the place here meant. I suppose Arscotte was the usual pronunciation. In the 6th of Elizabeth I find a suit by Richard Hannes of Armyscotte, against John Lord, of Stratford. Arlescote, is a small village near Edghill, in the hundred of Kine- - ton, in Warwickshire; I can find neither Arscote, nor Alescote, in ““ Worcestershire. , 4 Barry, Nebule of six argent and gules, on a chief of the se- cond, a lion passant or. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 79 on the front of the porch of the chapel at Stratford, built by Sir Hugh Clopton, who was Lord Mayor of London in the time of Henry the Seventh, and a merchant of the staple. But this circumstance, which I formerly mentioned as affording some sup- port to the traditionary tale, must now yield to supe- rior and unquestionable evidence. Expressum facit cessare tacitum, is good sense, as well as good law: _ This house, as we shall presently see, was purchased by John Shakspeare in 1574, and might have been 4 és ya previously possessed by a dealer in wool; or: the 4 Pie ae stained glass above-mentioned, which, pochnen; mane <— “7 days of fanaticism and rebellion, was taken out of the erie ancient chapel. of the guild of Stratford, might have 77°: ye been placed there in the middle of the seventeenth — “<< sadn hatha century. Se ee The trade of a glover, at least in the metropolis, ~~“ es = . should seem, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, not tox. Foray ~ 2m Kuo Dana ee: _s have been an unprofitable one; for the demand for this article appears to have been very general. I find there were, at this time, at least five glovers in the town of Stratford®, and there may have been others, whose names I have not discovered. Gloves were 5 Thomas Nichols, Gilbert Bradley, John Davies, Richard Rad- ‘man, John Coxe, and —— Hyll, were all glovers at Stratford nearly at this period. One or two of them, however, may have been ssomewhat later. From an accompt made by Richard Hathaway and Wm. Smith, in 1618, it appears that the following seven persons were then glovers in Stratford: George Perry, jon. John Perkins, Henry Hill, Richard Nicholls, John Cawdrey, Augustine Boyse, Michael Hare. Besides these there were at least three other glovers then residing there, viz. John Smith, Robert Butler, and William Shaw, elder brother of Julius Shaw. Sie Ap Asem Btls l-y.e, — 80 THE LIFE OF then a more ornamental part of dress than they are at present ; many of them being perfumed, and some decorated with gold®. The high-topped gloves of bishops, judges, and others. of the graver professions, were frequently trimmed with gold fringe ; and on Ja PMG. 6 « — their fingers must be deckt with gold, sie and pre- cious stones, their handes covered with their sweete washed gloves, imbroidered with gold, silver, and what not.” Stubbes’s Anatomie of Abuses, 8vo. 1583. “Here, hold this glove, this milk-white cheveril glove, “* Not quaintly overwrought with curious knots ; ivaay ** Not deck’d with golden spangs, nor silver spots, “Yet wholesome for the hand, as thou shalt prove.” Cynthia, a collection of Sonnets, by Richard Barnefield, 8vo. 1595, Son. xiv. * After that they presented to his Majesty a Greek Testament in folio, , . .and two pair of Oxford Gloves with deep fringe of gold, the turnovers being wrought with pearl; the cost 6/. a pair.” Account of King James's Reception at Oxford in 1605, 7 oe Mem, ii. 140. In the wardrobe account of Prince Henry, eldest son of James ‘i dated Sept. 28, 1607, the following articles occur: * One pair of gloves lined through with velvett, and laid with three gold laces, and gold fringe curled, Ixs. *¢ Two pair of Cordevant gloves, perfumed and laid with broad silver lace, and fringe curled, at 32s. Ixiiijs. *« Four pair of staggs leather gloves perfumed and fringed with gold and silver fringe at 16s. [per pair] Ixiiijs. ** Six pair of plain gloves with coloured tops be? ecg perfumed, at 6s. [per pair] 36s. * Six pair plain gloves agegs coloured tops, and some white - at 3s. “Twelve pair fine ssi stiched, the fingers and the tops white silk and silver, and some trymmed with taffata and reben, at 11s.” Archeolog. xi. 93. In Chapman’s All Fools, a comedy, 1606, aldven from half a crown to twenty crowns a pair are mentioned. penne sis ae ree ~~ i Foeefe la ee evens By fF Lin Ganee “STO CAL. L. 2. he 4 “ e WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, “81 the celebration of weddings, and the presentation of new-year’s gifts’, ‘gloves were a dex costly article. * About the 14th or 15th year of Queen Eliza- “beth,” [1571 or 1572,] says the continuator of _Stowe’s Annals, “the Right Hon. Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, came from Italy, and brought with him gloves, sweet bags, a perfumed leather jerkin, and other pleasant things; and that yeare the queene had a payre of perfumed gloves, trimmed onlie with four tuftes or roses of ‘cullored silke*.” The chronicler, writing near fifty years after the period mentioned, is not quite accurate as to the time when this fashion “was imported; for the Earl of Oxford, as appears from Lord Burleigh’s Diary®, did not return to England, from his travels in Italy, till the year 1576, which was the 18th year of Elizabeth. This foreign fashion, of perfuming and adorning gloves, “was, without doubt, soon imitated by the English; and, accordingly, I find that perfumed gloves were ‘sold in common, in London, only two years afterwards, in 1578’: at a subsequent period, the pack of our poet’s Autolycus is plentifully furnished with them *. That a great number of persons followed this occupa- 7 In the Manuscript Diary of Edward Alleyn, the player, pre- served at Dulwich College, is the following article : “1618. Jan, 1. Given Mr. Austin a pair of gloves, 11. 10s. Od.” 8 Stowe’s Annals, published by E. Howes, fol. 1615, p. 868. The paragraph in question was an interpolation by the editor. 9 Murden’s State Papers, p. 778. 1 Florio’s First Fruites, 4to. 1578. 2 Gloves as sweet as damask roses, Masks for faces, and for noses; ... Come, buy,” &c. Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. III. VOL, II. G 8 aac 82 THE LIFE OF tion, may be collected from a petition presented to the lords of the council, in 1594, by the glovers dwelling within forty miles of London, against the leather-sellers, who, by engrossing the skins used in the manufacture of gloves (which were chiefly those of deer and goats), had so enhanced the price of that commodity, that if some regulation were not made to restrain them, thousands of glovers (it was alleged) would be forced to beg in the streets *. In the country, gloves of the most ordinary kind were, I find, sold at so low a price as four-pence the pair*; but those used by persons of a superior rank were undoubtedly much dearer; and sometimes, on marriages and other occasions, when gloves were intended to be given as presents, the country manufacturers vied with the Londoners in the ornament and expense of this part of dress. Tlie great profits of trade, however, depend rather on an equal and constant sale, than on the caprice of fashion, or the casual demands made on extraordinary and incidental occasions; and in this surer basis of successful commerce, the trade of a glover was not deficient: for, at that period, in the country, and probably in the metropolis too, he furnished his eus- tomers with many articles, beside gloves, of more necessary and ordinary use; with leathern hose, aprons, belts, points, jerkins, pouches, wallets, Ee Pe Tee agatchels, and purses: each of which, except, perhaps, 7, the last, the lower classes of society had feangnt occasion to purchase. 3 Strype’s Hist. of London, 4 This appears from various inventories of the effects of dealers in leather at Stratford. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 83 . SECTION VI. The manufacture of gloves, which was, at this - period, a very flourishing one, both at Stratford and Worcester (in which latter city it is still carried on with great success), however generally beneficial, should seem, from whatever cause, to have afforded our poet’s father but a scanty maintenance. Of his circumstances, about the time of his eldest son’s birth, some conjecture may be formed from a sub- scription entered into, for the relief of those that were visited by the plague, in 1564, and from other contributions towards the aid of the poor in the same year: the benefactions of John Shakspeare, at that time, seem to denote a moderate, though not the lowest, rank among the contributors °. He was not,“ pau the fenntae Sane oom 3 i a COOK, Af: 5 * Ata hall holden in oure garden, the 30 daye of Auguste, a’. 1564, money p* towards the relief of the poure. Mr’ Baylie, iiis. iiijd. John Taylor, viiid. Mr’ Alderman, iis. viiid. John Shackspere, xiid. M' Smyth, iis. vid. John Lewes, vid. M' Jefferies, xiid. Jhon. Sadler; viid. ~M' Cawdre, iis. Jhon Aylmer, xiid. Mr Adrian Quiney, iis. vid. Will Tyler, xiid. M* Lewis, iis. W" Smyth, haberdasher, xiid. {i e. Lewis ap Williams] W™ Smyth, corvesar, iiid. John, Weler, iis. id. Jhon Belle, xiid. Robert Bratte, vid. W” Brace, ijs. Robert Parot, iis. vid. Thomas Dixun, viiid. M" Botte, iiiis. 'Th* Dyer, ijs. On the; 6th of Sep. the: bailif and six aldermen gave twelve penceeach ‘ to the relief of those that were visited ;” Mr. Quiney, G2 84 THE LIFE OF indeed, then an alderman. ‘There is, however, abundant proof that, about twelve years after he had obtained that station, when our author was about fourteen years old, he was, by no means, in affluent, or even easy, circumstances. Though his wife was an heiress, and King Henry the Seventh had been very liberal to her grandfather, she brought to her husband, we have seen, no other land but the small estate of Asbies, which was mortgaged, for forty pounds, to Mr. Edmond Lambart, in 1578; probably to pay for the purchase of two houses in __-. | Stratford, for which that sum, precisely, was disbursed. The valuable lease, which had been made to her grandfather, it should be remembered, expired in 1528, some years before she was born. With respect, however, to the distressed situation of Mr. Alderman Shakspeare, at this period, we have surer grounds to rest upon, than conjecture; for the following extracts, from the records of the borough of Strat- ford, afford a decisive proof of what has been sug- gested : “ Burgus ) Ad aulam ibm tent. xxix° die Janu. Stratford. ) arii, a° regni dne Elizabeth, &c. vicesimo [1577-8]. ne « At this hall yt is agreed that every alderman except such underwrytten excepted, shall paye towards the furniture of three pikemen, ij billmen, 1s. 6d.; Jn. Shakspeare, John Sadler, Wm. Smyth, haberdasher, Jn. Botte, and Jn. Taylor, 6d. each ; and Rob. Brat, 4d.; and on the 27th of Sept. another donation nearly in the same proportion. Registr. Burg.’ Stratford. A. iseninata WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 85 and one archer, vis. viijd. and every burgess, except such under wrytten — shall paye iijs. ivd. « Mr. Plymley, vs.° « Mr. Shaxpeare, iij. ivd. « John Walker, ijs. vid. “ Robert Bratt, nothinge in this place. * Thomas Brogden, ijs. vid. “ William Brace, ijs. * Anthony Tanner, ijs. vid. © Sum vili. xiiijd. “The inhabitants of every ward are taxed as by the notes to them delivered yt may appear.” « Ad aulam ibm’ tent. xix.? die Novembris a° regni dn Elizabeth &c. xxi.° [1578] : “Itm yt is ordeined that every alderman shall .paye weekely towards the releif of the poore iiijd. saving John Shaxpeare, and Robert Bratt, who shall not be taxed to paye anythinge. Mr. Lewes and Mr. Plimley are taxed to pay weekely, eyther of them iijd. apece, and every burgesses are taxed weekeley at ijd. apece’.” An account of money levied on the inhabitants, in the following year (1579), for the purpose of pur- chasing armour and weapons of defence, corresponds with the foregoing statements; for the name of John Shakspeare is found among the defaulters °. 6 Humphrey Plymley died in such poor circumstances in April, ‘1594, that the sum total of his effects, as appears from his inven- tory, amounted only to 6/. 15s. 2d. 7 Registr. Burg. Stratford. A. 8 <* Accompt of money levied xi°. die Marcii An°. regine Eliza- beth xxi’. [1578-9]: by John Smith and William Wilson : 86 THE LIFE OF A will, also, which I found some time ago, in the Prerogative Office, has furnished me with a further confirmation of the distressed circumstances of our High strete warde—als. ijd. Ship strete warde—xxxis. vid. Henley strete warde—xxxis. viijd. Sum vid. i iis, viijd. whereof disbursed iij/i. xis. xid..so remaneth xxxis, vijd. w™ was payd to M’ Barber, and not yet accounted for. Accompt of Richard>) Woodstrete warde. Received xlis. viijd. Court and James } Chueh strete warde - - xiliiijs. viijd. Salisbury, for - 7 Bridge stretewarde - - xxxijs. xd. Sum vii. xixs. ijd. not accompted for ; remaneth. which was payd to Mr. Barber ; whereof leid out by him for iij corselets +. =f Rot ijl, xijs. for iij calivers with the furniture =) & Sigs xls. for the cariage ofthem = - - - vis. iijd. Sum wi. xviijs. iijd. Remaneth xxixs, ijd. dew by M' Barber. John Eonge—iiijd. George Badger—xiid. Thomas Ward—vid. t M'. Shaxpeare—iijs. iijd. , M' Nashe—iijs. iiijd. These somes are unpayd and unac- \ M' Reynolds—iijs. iiijd. compted for. William Brokes—ijs. Bazill Burdit—iiijd. Hugh Pyggyn—vid. Widow Bell—iiijd. « Richard Court ys to accompt for money collected by him for the hygh waye.” I am aware that among the above defaulters, are some persons who were probably in easy circumstances ; but though their neg- lect may not have arisen from want of money, the other proofs which have been given relative to the straitened circumstances of John Shakspeare, warrant us in supposing that he was.a defaulter, from its not being conyenient to him to pay the rate imposed. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 87 poet’s father, at this time. Mr. Roger Sadler, as has been already mentioned, was a baker, in Strat- ford; and, living in the same street with him, pro- bably served him with bread. He died in the latter end of the year 1578. To his will, made on the 14th of November, in that year (in which he appoints his: kinsman, and our author’s friend, Hamnet Sadler, one of his residuary legatees, as well as one of his executors), he has subjoined a list of debts due to him (a common practice at that time); by which it appears, that John Shakspeare was then considered insolvent, if not as one depending rather on the credit of others than his own '. The following extract from the register of the Bailiff’s Court is also observable. * Stratford Ape: dne Regine ibm tent. xiii. die Januarii, anno Burgus. / regni &c. vicesimo octavo [1585-6]. ** Ad hunc diem Servien. ad Clavam burgi predict. retorn. pr. ( , [preceptum] de distr. eis direct. versus J ohem Shackspere ad sect. Johis Browne, qa, predict. Johes Shackspere nihil habet unde distr, potest levari. Ideo fiat Ca. [Capias] versus Johem Shack- pere ad sect. Johis, Browne, si petatur.”” On the 2d of March following an alias Capias was issued against him. ‘ Debtes which are owing unto me Roger Sadler. ‘* Imprimis, of M'. John Combes, the elder, for.a horse, 3/. “Item, of the same J..C., dueto me by bond at Christmas, next 201, “ Item, of Richard Hathaway,” alias Gardyner, of Shottery, irae 2 2 Senet aoe, . 8s. 4d. ‘ Item, of Edmond Lambart *, and Cornishe, for the debt of pw mae eo "Mr. John Shacksper, 51.” “eee < ann * Mr. Edmond Lambart, who it appears had entered into a we oe security for John Shakspeare to the amount of five pounds, and © et had also furnished him with forty pounds on a mortgage of his “72. “72 RU ile. Con neo & SL f z ep Sy ee a ne ee itive Lookefea (Cag ene pa. Fee AF - igen eer a Fe v apg Parade TAIT A EY, ae pe Fae PS 7 } Rin, hm wens Sa? soe AER: a ceue page | me one Lame farnt om 88 THE LIFE OF ‘ In addition to all these concurring circumstances; we have the confession of our poet’s father himself; for, in'the bill which he exhibited in chancery, in 1597, he describes himself asa “ man of very small wealth, and who had very few friends, or mean in the county of Warwick.” This declaration, in- deed, was made several years after the period now under consideration; but, at the same time, corre= + fonts Annee = Sponding with all the various proofs here adduced, CarAret, Baker i Du tn ane Coney Sama Ae ef. /- , Serves, in some degree, to corroborate them. While this subject is under our consideration, the. following notices, preserved in a manuscript, in the Herald’s Office, which I have already had occasion to quote, require to be particularly considered. At tlie bottom of the grant of arms to John Shak- speare, made in 1596, we are told—*“'This John estate, lived, as we have already seen, at Barton on the Heath, in Warwickshire, where he died, according to his son’s account, about the year 1586. He was perhaps a relation of Mary Shak- speare ; for her mother, Agnes Arden, left a legacy to “ Joan Lambard,” who might have been the wife of Edmond. That Mr. Lambart was obliged to pay this debt for Mr. John Shak- speare, may be inferred from the statement made by Shakspeare himself in the bill which he filed against his son. [See Appendix./ The other friend of our poet's father, here mentioned, who, ac- cording to the mode of that time is familiarly called Cornish, was perhaps the son of Walter Cornish, who lived in Stratford, in Wood-street, as appears from the following entry in an account book of the bridge-wardens of Stratford: ** Anno regni regis Henrici Octavi decimo sexto. “Item the saide Bruge-wardens lafte in the box at their de- partyng [a blank here in the original] the which was geven by the hole consent of the honesty of Stratford to the reparation of the tenement in Woode Streete in the tenure of Walter Cor- nyshe.” WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 89 sheweth a patent thereof under Clarence Cook’s hands in paper xx years past *. Agr ee © A justice of peace, and was baylif, officer, ana LAT: chief of the towne of Stratforde upon Avon, xv or Xvi years past’. «That he hath lands and tenements of good wealth and substance, 500/. «That he married a daughter and heyre of Arden, agent. of worship *.” ‘One of these assertions, it must be acknowledged, is is wholly inconsistent with the account I have now given, concerning the distressed circumstances of John Shakspeare; but, when the history of this paper is known, it will not, I conceive, tend, in the smallest degree, to invalidate the foregoing state- ment.’ - It appears, from another manuscript in the same office *, that Sir William Dethick, and Camden, had 2 This grant was made by Robert Cook, Clarencieux ; and if it was made to John Shakspeare whilst he was bailiff, it must have been made between Michaelmas, 1568, and Michaelmas, 1569, which was twenty-seven years at least before these notes were written. In the exemplification of 1599, the heralds ex- pressly say that John Shakspeare obtained a grant of arms while os he was bailiff: ye ‘3 This also, as appears from the foregoing note, is a great inac- 7% curacy. ‘‘ Twenty-six or twenty-seven years past’’ would have ° been nearer the truth. x ws "4 Vincent, 157, No. 24.—A gentleman of worship was the* 4, phrase of the day, denoting a person of a respectable situation ;~“2-'~ sy 3 wee if not wealthy, yet at least in easy circumstances. BE SS ee SW. Z. p. 274. “The Answer of William Dethick, Garten * po 7% fi principal king of arms, to two matters, among others, whereof he<=-<~ 3%) eae was accused by some of the officers, whereof information was 5.-— Menara ke we yoy AA 90 THE LIFE OF been charged, by some of the officers of the College of Arms, with having granted several arms wrongfully, either in respect of the arms themselves, which, -in some cases, were said to be too similar to others already possessed by various ancient families, or in respect of the persons to whom they were granted, who, it was alleged, were either tradesmen, or per~ sons of so low a condition as not to be entitled to such an honourable distinction. Among the persons to whom objection seems to have been made, on both these grounds, was John Shakspeare ; and the notices or minutes concerning him, above given, appear to have been short hints, preparatory to the defence which was made in form, on the 10th of May, 1602, before Henry Lord Howard, Sir Robert Sidney, and Sir Edward Dier, chancellor of the order of the Garter, against the libellous scrowl, as Dethick terms it, which had been exhibited against. him and Camden*; and, therefore, these notices are not to heard the Ist day of May before the Right Hon, Henry Lord Howard [Qr. Lord Henry Howard, afterwards Earl of North- ‘ampton], Sir Robert Sydney, Lord Governer of Flushing, and Sir Edward Dier, Chancellor of the order of the garter, and day given the said Garter to answere hereunto, namely, the 10th of May ensuing, 1602.” roe 6 « 2 rey &. in Michaelmas term, 17 Eliz. [1574] which was obligingly com- —". * / ie =a | Ga to me by the late Charles Boothby mio hy ee a Clopton, Esq. grandson of Sir Hugh Clopton, of Stratford wee «<< ee Avon. That these two houses were situated in Henley-street, isz._> Me 2ffteme ascertained by a deed executed in 1639, by our author's grand.“ ae << Ae daughter and her husband, for which I was indebted to the same~~ , E. Shakespere et hered. suis unum tent. cum . et croft. cu tn “| pertinent i in Grenehyll stret, tent. de Dito li libe +e cart. Predd. aa BM Sith ow we] dio p annu vi‘ et sect. cur. et idé Johes pd. in cur, ferit. dite “es Sie fidelitatem P eisdem. fot fr RC , It. quod Edwardus West alienavit pd. eo Johe Shakespere ail {unii tent, cum gardin, adjacen. in Henley street p redd. inde: ns ip ann. vi‘. et sect. cur. et idé Johes pd. in cur. fecit fidelitatem:” Greenhill-street, where one of these houses was.situated, was at the end of Rother-street, and seems to have been partaker more of the country than the town; for in the leet, Oct. 1, 1557, I find the following entry: ‘ Raf Hilton (presented) for his wyfe beyng a hedge-breker, and takynge and carryeng away of Nichols hedge in Grenehyll stret. And he stands amersyd.” 1 In an indenture made June 11, 1581, is (in substance) the following recital: ‘* Whereas William Clopton by a former in- WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 95 this little farm, the annual rent was eight pounds?; which is above eleven shillings an acre, and near three times more than the usual rent of that time. Some peculiar circumstances attending the ground must have been the occasion of so high a price having been paid for it. Probably there was a good dwell- ing-house and orchard upon it *. In the short notes, which I have had occasion par- ticularly to consider, the heralds mention that Mr. denture tripartite dated Dec. 11, 13 Eliz. [1570] and enrolled, between William Clopton and William Sheldon of the first part, Rice Griffin of the second part, and Edward Griffin of the third part, in consideration of 1550/. did fully and absolutely give, grant, bargain and sell to the said Rice Griffin all and singular the lands, tenements, &c. in Bishop Hampton, Stratford upon Avon, Ingon, the old towne of Stratford, &c. in the said former indenture par- ticularly mentioned, that is to say, one leasehold or pasture, &c. ..-- and also one other freehold with the appurtenants, called or known by the name of Ingon alias Ington meadowe, ‘containing by estimation fourteen acres, be it more or less, then in the oc- cupation of John Shaxpere or his assigns,” Rot. Claus, 23 Eliz. . 10. : This spelling of our author's name, which, as we have already seen, was then very common, ascertains beyond a doubt how it “was pronounced in his own time, 2 This appears from an indenture made May 30, 1568, between . William Clopton, Esq. of the one part, and Sir Robert Throck- morton, Sir Thomas Lucy, Knight, Edmond Plowden, Esq. Ralph, son of William Sheldon, Esq. William Underhill, of Newbold Reyel, in the county of Warwick, Esq. John Acombis, of Stratford upon’ Ayon, in the said county of Warwick, gentleman (and others), on the other part. Claus. 10 Eliz. p. 13. Ingon mea- dow was not then in the possession of John Shakspeare. 3. This meadow, it is observable, is described as “ a freehold, with the appurtenances.” See Claus.13 Eliz. p. 6, and 23 Eliz, p, 10. ei 96 |. THE LIFE OF John Shakspeare was a justice of peace; from which, however, we are not to suppose that he was in the commission of the peace for the county of Warwick. He was, in fact, only a justice of peace in Stratford, during the year when he exercised the office of bailiff, and the year when he was elected chief or capital alderman; each of whom, while they filled those stations, were invested, by the charter, with the full power and authority belonging to a justice of peace, within the precincts of the borough *. Lest, however, any doubt should be entertained on this subject, I think proper to add, that I have examined a manu- script list of the justices of peace, in each county in England *, made; in the year 1579, by order of Lord Burghley, and that the name of John Shak- speare is not found among them. ' 4 See the list of aldermen in a lease made to Ralf Camdrey i in the year 1555, p. 71, n.2. s MSS. Reg. 18 D. 3. Another ‘paper in the same volume furnishes a remarkable proof of the inaccuracy of our ancestors in the computation of miles ; and which, therefore, may be worth recording, though not connected with the present subject. It contains an account of - the posts which, it is said, were laid towards Ireland, ‘for her majesties speedier and better service, both for the carrying of packets and expedition of messengers,” in 1579, 1580, and 1581. The road through Lichfield to Chester is estimated at one hun- dred and thirty-three miles; and from Chester through Rhyd- land and Beaumarris to Holyhead, at fifty-four miles... Total from London to Holyhead, one hundred and eighty-seven miles. The real distance is two hundred and seventy-eight miles. At that time one packet-boat only sailed every week from pesca to Dublin. intel WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, | 97 SECTION VII. In the age of Queen Elizabeth, to read and write, it is well known, was not nearly so common as at pre- sent, but was considered a valuable accomplishment. Fitzherbert, about thirty years before she ascended the throne, advises those gentlemen in the country, who could not write, to aid their memory by making notches on a stick®. About the time of our poet’s birth, the majority of the corporation of Stratford ap- pear to have been entitled to the eulogy bestowed by Jack Cade upon those who “ do not use to write their names, but have a mark of their own, like honest plain-dealing men ;” for out of nineteen persons who signed a paper, relative to one of their body who had been elected bailiff, ten of whom were aldermen, and the rest burgesses, seven only could write their names ; and among the twelve marksmen is found John Shak- speare’, To the order that has furnished me with ©« The Boke of Husbandry, very profitable and necessarie for all persons.” 8vo. 1534. 7 The mark of the bailiff is thus pompously introduced : “The sign manuel of George Whateley, high Bailiff” Among the aldermen, Roger Sadler, Ralph Cawdrey, and Lewis ap Williams, make their marks. Adrian Quiney, Humphrey Plymley, William Smythe, bsyabiy William Bott, and Richard Hill, sign their names. _ The mark of John 7 eae fr 8 is considerably below his name, the name immediately above, that if he had made his mark di- rectly opposite to his name, it would have intrenched on that of the person who preceded him. It was, indeed, his usual custom to set his mark lower than his name. In the latter part of his VOL, II. Hi ; Baverlache f i Staatabibliothak - } Manchen f i 98 THE LIFE OF this intelligence, which is dated Sept. 27, 1564, the high bailiff, Mr. George Whatley, and three of the aldermen, assented by making their marks. Of the burgesses, one only (William Brace) subscribes his - name. The mark then used by our poet’s father, nearly resembles a capital A, and was perhaps chosen in honour of the lady whom he had married. The same mark appears opposite to his name as one of the affeerors, appointed at the court leet, in October, 1559. On the 29th of January, 1588-9, of twenty-. seven persons who signed a paper in the council-cham- ber of Stratford, fourteen make their marks; and among the marksmen are found Mr. William Wilson, the high-bailiff, and four of the aldermen. Such, however, was the change, and so great the improve- ment in this respect, in a short period, that about. eight years afterwards, out of twenty-eight persons who sanction another paper, on the 9th of January, 1596-7 (including all the aldermen and burgesses of Stratford), seven only were marksmen *; and of nine- teen persons whose signatures are affixed to an order, YX made on the 27th of Sept. 1598, six only do not sub- scribe their names. Our poet’s father, however he might be counte- nanced by a great number of those with whom he lived in intimacy, who were equally deficient in this respect with himself, could not but have had frequent occasions in the course of his business to feel and la- ment the want of this useful accomplishment, and to life he contented himself with making a cross instead of the A, which he had formerly used. 8 Registr. Burg. Stratford, A. ane. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 99 observe the solid advantages derived from literary’ attainments, even of the lowest class ; and therefore, we may be sure, would not neglect the education of his: children. Perhaps a deficiency of this kind in‘a father of a good understanding, is one of the strongest incentives to take especial care that his son shall not labour under the same defect. At Stratford, there had been, long before the char- ter of incorporation granted by King Edward the Sixth, a free school for the education of youth®. By that charter, this school, which was ordered from thenceforth to be called The King’s New School of Stratford upon Avon, was confirmed and established 9 Hugh Clonne, scholemaister of Stretford, was ‘admitted into the fraternity of the Guild of the Holy Cross in the year “1430 ; 9 Henry VI. Registr. Gild. fol. xxxviii. b. The grammar school of Stratford, according to Leland (Itin, vol. iv. p. 2, fol. 167, a.), ‘‘ was founded by one Jolepe, a Master of Arts, born in Stratford, whereabout he had some patrimony, and that he gave to this schoole.” But both he and Dugdale are mistaken in the name of the founder, who ‘was Thomas Jolyffe, as appears by a rent-roll of the lands, &c. of the guild of the Holy Cross, made October 5, 1530 [22 Henry VIII.], and now I ; er among the archives of Stratford; the last article of which is— ** Redditus terrarum et tenementorum Magistri Thome Jolyffe.” The land which he bequeathed lay in the hamlet of Dodwell. The whole value of a close there, and of his tenements in the old town, and in Rother-street, tan at ‘that time’ only to 21. 17s. 6d. The school seems to have been beph in our author's time in the chapel of the guild; for on the 18th of February, 1594-5, the fol- lowing order was made’ by the ‘corporation of Stratford: “ At this halle yt ys agreed by the Bayliffe and the greater number of the company nowe present that there shalbe no schole kept i in the chapel from this titne followinge.” H 2 a. Meg emas - Foca 5 rf be ge 3 100 THE LIFE OF for ever, with a salary of twenty pounds a-year to the master. Here, without doubt, our poet was placed; and if we suppose him to have been first made ac- quainted with the rudiments of literature in the year 1572, when he was eight years old, and to have con- tinued his grammatical studies to the year 1578, his instructors must have been Mr. Thomas Hunt (curate of Luddington, a village in the neighbourhood of Stratford), and Mr. Thomas Jenkins, who were succes- sively masters of the free school during that period '. * As it may gratify those persons who are more immediately connected with the town of Stratford, I subjoin as perfect a list as I have been able to form from various loose and unconnected papers, of the successive masters of the free school there, from the latter end of the reign of Henry the Eighth: 1546, William Dalam (not Dalum, as ore has it). 1554, William Smart. 1563, Allen. 1565, John Brownsworde. 1568, —— Acton *. 1570, Walter Roche. 1572, Thomas Hunt. [ob. Ap. 7, 1612.} 1577, (or before), Thomas Jenkins. 1580, John Cotton. 1583, Alexander Aspinall +. 1624, John Trapp. 1669, John Johnson. 1689, Thomas Willes. 1716, Gabriel Barrodale. 1735, Joseph Greene. * Cambridge Coll. Corp. Christi. 1572, Tho* Acton, conv". 2dus, matriculated, perhaps the son of Acton, schoolmaster. t+ Brazen Nose Coll. Alex’ Aspinall, Lanc. 20 ann. Oxon. venit 1573. Reg™. Matric. So he must have been born in 1553, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 101 Of his school-days, unfortunately, no account whatso- ever has come down to us; we are, therefore, unable to mark his gradual advancement, or to point out the early presages of future renown, which his extraordi- nary parts must have afforded ; for as it has been ob- served by a great writer of our own time, all whose re- marks on human life are sagacious and profound, 1772, David Davenport. 1774, James Davenport. 1792, John Whitmore. In a paper without date of year, containing a list of contri- butors of certain sums as ‘‘a free and voluntary present to his Majesty, in pursuance to an act of parliament, and a commission thereupon issued, dated the 6th day of August last past;” signed by John Holbech, Rec. I find the name of ‘‘ Benjamin Bed- dome Schoole-master ;”” but I know not to what period he ought to be referred: perhaps to the reign of Edward VI. immediately after William Dalam. During the years 1575, 1576, and part of 1577, in the cham- berlain’s accounts, from which, during those years, I derive my information, the annual stipend is only stated generally to have been made “to the schoolmaster” without specifying his name ; so that it is uncertain whether the office during that period was filled by Mr. Hunt or Mr. Jenkins, though from preceding and subsequent entries, it is certain that it was filled by one or the other of those gentlemen. Mr. Thomas Hunt, who had the honour to be one of our poet’s school-masters, was buried at Strat- ford, April 12, 1612. Mr. Alexander Aspinhall, who was near forty years school-master of Stratford, and was chosen one of the burgesses, married Oct. 28, 1594, Anne, the sister of Julius Shaw, one of the witnesses to Shakspeare’s will. William Dalam, the first person in the foregoing list, was one of the five priests of the guild of Stratford, as appears by an ancient deed, executed March 10, 35 Henry VIII. which is preserved among the archives of that corporation. The other four priests at that time were, Roger Egerton, Nicholas Coterel, John Payne, and Thomas Hakyns. 7 102 . | THE LIFE OF Life truest, © there is no instance of any man, whose history has Ba oe been minutely related, that did not in every part of ees 6" life discover the same proportion of intellectual ee. vigour *.” Were our poet’s early history accurately known, it would unquestionably furnish us with many proofs of the truth of this observation ; of his acute- ness, facility, and fluency; of the playfulness of his fancy, and his love of pleasantry and humour; of his up hn. £4, fe Cdtiosity, discernment, candour, and liberality; of all ate gig those qualities, in a word, which afterwards rendered him the admiration of the age in which he lived. - How long he continued at school, or what profi- ciency he made there, we have now no means of ascer- taining. I may, however, with the highest proba- bility assume, that he acquired a competent, though perhaps not a profound knowledge, of the Latin lan- guage: for why should it be supposed, that he who surpassed all mankind in his maturer years, made less proficiency than his fellows in his youth, while he had the benefit of instructors equally skilful? His friend Mr. Richard Quiney, one of the aldermen: of Strat- ford in his time, who had certainly been bred some years before our poet, at the same school, his family having been long established in Stratford, was so well acquainted with that language, that his brother-in-law, Mr. Abraham Sturley, who was also an alderman, fre- quently intermixed long Latin paragraphs in his letters to him, several of which I have read ; nay, on one oc- casion I have found an entire Latin letter addressed to him *; and Mr. Sturley certainly would not have 2 Dr. Johnson’s Life of Sydenham. 7, Te 3 See Appendix, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 103 written what his brother could not understand. His eldest son too, Richard Quiney, who afterwards became a grocer in London, but returned finally to his native town, where he died in 1656, sent his father, »whilst he was employed in the metropolis on the business:of the corporation, a Latin letter, which, though it had been required.as an exercise from his master, it would have been ridiculous to send to one who could not read it*. In the school of Stratford, therefore, we have no reason to suppose. that Shakspeare was outstripped by his contemporaries. _Even Ben Jonson, who undoubtedly was inclined rather to depreciate than over-rate his rival’s literary talents, allows, that he had some Latin. Dr. Farmer, indeed, has proved, by unanswerable arguments, that he was furnished by translations with most of those topicks which for half a century had been urged as indisputable proofs of his ‘erudition *°. But though his Essay is decisive in this respect, it by no means proves that he had not acquired, at the school of Stratford, a moderate knowledge of Latin, though perhaps he never attained such a mas- 4 The writing of Latin letters to their fathers, appears to have been a common exercise enjoined to the scholars of Shakspeare's age. Thusin the Mastive, or Young Whelp of the Old Dogge [a collection of epigrams and satires], 4to. 1615, Signat. D. verso : ‘** Who dares say Doltas speaketh barbarisme, «« That scholar-like, can make a syllogisme ; «* Can cap a verse which may deserve commend, « And hath his grammer rules at’s finger’s ende ; ; «* Can write a’ pistle to his dad in Latin,” &c. 5 “* Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare, by the Rev. Richard Farmer, B; D.” 8vo. 1767. 104 THE LIFE OF tery of that language as to read it without the occa- sional aid of a dictionary. Like many other scholars who have not been thoroughly grounded in the an- cient tongues, from desuetude in the progress of life, he probably found them daily more difficult; and hence, doubtless, indolence led him rather to English translations, than the original authors, of whose works he wished to avail himself in his dramatick compositions : on which occasion he was certainly too careless minutely to examine whether particular pas- sages were faithfully rendered or not. That such a mind as his was not idle or incurious, and that at this period of his life he perused several of the easier Latin classicks, cannot, I think, reasonably be~doubted ; though perhaps he never attained a facility of reading those authors with whom he had not been familiarly acquainted at school. From Lilly’s Grammar, which we know furnished him with the rudiments of the Latin tongue, and a small manual, entitled Pueriles®, 6 See the Dedication prefixed to his Arthur Gorges’ Transla- | tion of Lucan, by his son Carew Gorges, folio, 1614. ‘1 re- ‘member this sentence in my Pueriles, Voluntas ubi desunt vires, est laudanda, &c,” From Peele’s historical play of Edward I. 4to. 1593, if he did not intend a blunder, Pueriles and Cato’s Moral Distichs should seem to. have been the same book, with a double title: “It is an old sayde saying I remember I redde it in Catoes Pueriles, that cantabit vacuus,” &c. But Drayton mentions them as different : «* And when that once Pueriles I had read, ** And newly had my Cato construed,” &c. Epistle to. Henry Reynolds, Esq. Tully's Offices was at that period a common school-book. “© Whereunto (says Peacham) I might add Gyges’ Ring and his [Tully’s] Offices, which booke, let it not seeme contemptible rm, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 105 and the Moral Distichs of Cato, he proceeded, as-was the fashion of that age, after reading Tully’s Offices, tothe Eclogues of Baptista Mantuanus’, and those of Virgil; and from thence, probably, to Cornelius Nepos, some parts of Ovid (whom he has cited in the Taming of the Shrew, and from whom he has taken the motto prefixed to his first publication), and finally, perhaps, to the Aineid of Virgil. Such I imagine was the pro- gress, and the extent of his scholastick attainment. He needed not, however, as Dryden has well observed, the spectacles of books” to read men ; and I have no doubt, that even from his youth he was a curious and diligent observer of the manners and characters, not only of his young associates, but of all around him; a study in which, unquestionably, he took great delight, and pursued with avidity during the whole course of his future life. That his father was compelled by the narrowness of his circumstances, and the want of his son’s assistance at home, to withdraw him from school, at least before unto you, because it lyeth tossed and torne in every schoole.” Comp. Gent. 4to. 1622, p. 45. Lord Burghley, Peacham tells us, was so fond of Tully’s Offices, that he always carried that book in his pocket. Drayton’s. Epistle, above quoted, furnishes us with the first poetry then put into the hands’ of learners ; Mantuan, and the Eclogues of Virgil. . For the method of teaching then adopted by school-masters, see Mount Tabor, or Private Exercises of a Penitent Sinner, 8vo. 1639, p. 10, by R. W. [i. e. R. Wallis,] Esq. The author was, like Shakspeare, born in 1564. 7 Of this author, then very popular, he has quoted the first line in Love’s Labour's Lost. 106 THE LIFE OF the year 1578, to which period I suppose him to have remained there, though it is asserted by Mr. Rowe, no sufficient proof has been produced. At the free school of Stratford he was entitled to a gratuitous education; and he certainly could be of no great use to his father, before he had attained the fourteenth year of his age. He had, it should be remembered, three brothers: Gilbert, who was born in October, 1566, and without doubt derived his Christian name from Gilbert Bradley, a glover, who lived in the same street with John Shakspeare, and who was chosen a burgess on the same day that our poet’s father was elected an alderman; Richard, baptized March 11th, 1573, whose god- father was probably Richard Hill *, one of the alder- men of Stratford, and, I believe, related by marriage to his wife ; and Edmond, who was baptized May 3, 1580, and, doubtless, derived his baptismal name from his father’s friend, Mr. Edmond Lambarte, with whom at that time he appears to have been on amicable terms, though a few months afterwards a breach took place between them. Gilbert, the second son, was little more than two years younger than our poet, and, at the time now under our consideration, was as capable 8 Having found the will of Mr. Richard Hall in the Prerogative Office (which was made May 16, 1590, and proved Feb. 8, 1593-4, in the beginning of which year he died), I hoped to have been able to ascertain this circumstance; but was disap- pointed. He bequeaths “ to every god child that he then had, 12d.,” but does not mention any of them specifically by name. ; On an action on the case being. brought in the. bailiff’s court , against our poet’s father, by Mr. Nicholas Lane, in Hilary term, \ 29 Eliz. [1587], Mr. Richard Hill entered into a special bail- (_ bond for the appearance of the defendant. — WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 107 of carrying out parcelsof gloves for his father (all that a boy could do) as his elder brother. For this pur- pose, therefore, it was not necessary to impede the progress of the eldest son’s education. _ Instead of being brought home to:assist his father in. trade, various passages in his works incline me ‘to believe, that our poet’s ardent curiosity about that period, led him frequently to attend the court of re- cord, which sat at Stratford once a fortnight; in which the bailiff, with the assistance of the steward, or town clerk, who was always a legal practitioner, heard and determined all causes arising within the jurisdiction of the borough, where the matter in con- test did not amount to thirty pounds. ‘In this court the proceedings appear to have been very regular and orderly; they had their appearances, their essoins, their imparlances, their demurrers, their issues knit, and. their trials by jury, all in proper form. . There were at that time, in Stratford, at least six attorneys who practised in this court, beside Mr. Henry Rogers, the steward or town-clerk 1, who was also an attorney. t Mr. Henry Rogers was town clerk of Stratford in 1577, and continued to hold that office till Michaelmas, 1586. ' This officer was called town-clerk at a very early period ; Mr. Richard Symons being so described in the account of the pro- ' ceedings of the leet, October 5, 1554. Afterwards he was called steward, which name he uniformly bore from 1570 to 1610, when Mr, Thomas Greene, a solicitor in chancery, and a relation of our poet, is stated in the chamber- lain’s account to receive his salary by the name of town-clerk. From that time the two names were indiscriminately used. Sir Hugh Clopton, who filled the office in 1705, signs. himself seneschallus. The salary of the office was then 104. a year. hee Ar€ fou 108 THE LIFE OF In the office of this person, who was immediately con- nected with the corporation, having a salary of seven pounds per annum, a part of which was given “ for assisting the bailiff and chief alderman with his counsel, in affairs appertaining to their office,” or with Mr. William Court, who appears to have been o¢ca- sionally employed by Mr. John Shakspeare, I suppose . our poet to have been placed for two or three years; and I think it very probable that his friendship with Mr. Francis Collins, who, I believe, was nearly of the same age, and afterwards was an eminent attorney at Stratford, commenced at this early period, in conse- quence of their passing some time in the same office. The comprehensive mind of our poet, it must be owned, embraced almost every object of nature, every trade, and every art, the manners of every description of men, and the general language of almost every pro- fession: but his knowledge and application of legal terms, seems to me not merely such as might have been acquired by the casual observation of his all- comprehending mind; it has the appearance of teeh- nical skill; and he is so fond of displaying it on all The successive town clerks of Stratford, in our author's time, were Mr. Henry Higford, 1560. Mr. John Jefferies, 1570. Mr. Henry Rogers, 1577. Mr. John Jefferies, jun. 1586. Mr. Thomas Greene, 1603. The principal attorneys of Stratford about the year 1580, were Mr. Henry Rogers above-mentioned, Mr. Thomas Trussel, Mr. William Court, alias Smith, Mr. Richard Spooner, Mr, Edward ‘Davies, Mr. Richard Symmons, and Mr. William Bott. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 109 occasions, that there is, I think, some ground for sup- posing that he was early initiated in at least the forms of law. Of this notion, which perhaps professional habits first suggested to me, I shall subjoin below, I will not say the proofs, but such circumstances as seem to me to render it extremely probable ?. 2 « __. for what in me was purchas'd, ‘ Falls upon thee in a much fairer sort.” King Henry IV. P. II. Purchase is here used in its strict legal sense, in contradis- tinction to an acquisition by descent. “Unless the devil have him in fee-simple, with jine and re- covery.” Merry Wives of Windsor. “s hile is ’rested on the case.” _ Comedy of Errors. — with dills on their necks, Be it known unto all men by te presents,” &c. As You Like It. — who writes himself armigero, in any d7//, warrant, quit- tance, or obligation.” Merry Wives of Windsor. “* Go with me to a notary, seal me there ‘* Your single bond.” Merchant of Venice. **Say, for non-payment that the debt should double.” Venus and Adonis, On a conditional bond’s becoming forfeited for non-payment of money borrowed, the whole penalty, which is usually the double of the principal sum lent by the obligee, was formerly recover- able at law. Tothis our poet here alludes. * But the defendant doth that plea deny ; ** To ‘cide his title, is impanelled «A quest of thoughts.” “Sonnet 46. vile Much Ado About Nothing, Dogberry charges the watch to keep their fellows’ counsel and their own. This Shakspeare transferred from the oath of a jury-man. * And let my officers of such a nature ‘* Make an éxtent upon his house and lands.” As You Like It. ** He was taken with the manner.” Love's Labour's Lost, « Enfeof'd himself to popularity.” King Henry IV. P. I. 110 THE LIFE OF - »However this may have been, our poet appears to have continued at Stratford at least till the year “ He will seal the fee-simple of his salvation, and cut the entail from all) remainders, and a perpetual succession for it perpetu- ~ ally.” All's Well that Ends Well, Ne “ Why, let her except before excepted.” Twelfth Night. ««— which is four terms, or two actions ;—and he shall laugh without intervallums.” King Henry IV. P. II. tit _ © — keeps leets and law-days.” King Richard II, «© Pray in aid for kindness.” Antony and Cleopatra. — No writer but one who had been conversant with the technical language of. leases and other conveyances, would have used de- termination as synonymous to end. Shakspeare frequently uses the word in that sense. See vol. xvii. p. 183, n. 3; and vol. xx. P- 235,n. 8. “From and after the determination of such term,” is the regular language of conveyancers. “ Humbly complaining to your highness.” King Richard ITI, ** Humbly complaining to your lordship,’ your orator,” &c. are the first words of every bill in chancery. ‘© A kiss in fee-farm! In witness whereof these parties inter- changeably have set their hands and seals.” Troilus and Cressida. «< Art thou a feodary for this act?” Cymbeline. See the note ‘on that passage, vol. xiii. p. 100, n. 6. “Are those precepts served?” says Shallow to Davy in King Henry IV. Precepts in this sense is a word only known in the office of a justice of peace. “Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honour, ‘© Can’st thou demise to any child of mine?” K. Richard III. **— hath demised, granted, and to farm let,” is the constant language of leases. What poet but Shakspeare has used the * word demised in this sense ? “ This fellow might be in his time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries.” Hamlet. Perhaps it may be’ said, that our author in the same manner may be proved to have been equally conversant with the terms of — WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 111 1585. “ Upon his leaving school,” says Mr. Rowe, “he seems to have given entirely into that way of living which his father proposed to him; and in order to settle in the world in a family manner, he thought fit to marry, while he was yet very young.” Our poet, like many other persons at. that period, entered into the matrimonial state when he was little more than eighteen years old ; but that this measure was proposed to him by his father, we have no evidence whatsoever, nor is it very probable. His writings, as well as the testimony of his contemporaries, afford abundant proofs of the warmth, the tenderness, and the sensi- bility of his disposition; and this, much more than any recommendation of his father, was the occasion of his wishing, at an early period of life, to participate in “the sweet silent hours of marriage joys;” for I be- lieve it will be found invariably true (and I wish to impress this truth on the minds of my fair country- women), that the most beautiful part of the creation have ever experienced the most ardent attachments in the bosoms of men whose manners were elegant, and divinity or physick. Whenever as large a number of instances of his ecclesiastical or medicinal knowledge shall be produced, what has now been stated will certainly not be entitled to any weight. Matoneg. A large addition might be made to this list.of the instances in which legal language has been used in Shakspeare. But as this notion, after it had been suggested by Mr. Malone, originally in a note appended to his Essay on the Chronological Order of Shakspeare’s Plays, Art. Hamlet, was adopted both by Mr. Steevens and Mr. Ritson, these gentlemen have called the attention of the reader to many passages of this description in the course of their comments. Boswett. 6 112 THE LIFE OF whose understandings and taste were vigorous 05 re- feet t “ « Imperious love hath highest set his throne 4.” - Anne Hathaway, whom our poet married, probably in June or July, 1582, was then in her twenty-sixth year, that is, seven years and a half older than her husband : a disproportion of age, which seldom fails, at a subsequent period of life, to be productive of un- happiness, and which, perhaps, about thirteen years afterwards, gave rise to a part of the following beau- tiful verses on the subject of marriage ; which no man in the gentlest 3 hearts Sm i who ever felt the passion of love, can read wie emotion: «Ah, me! for aught that I could ever read, ** Could ever hear by tale or history, ** The course of true love never did run smooth ; “« But either it was different in blood, “ Or else misgraffed in respect of years, ** Or else it stood upon the choice of friends, “ Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, “* War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it ; ** Making it momentany as a sound, ** Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, “ Brief as the lightning in the collied night, ** That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth ; ** And ere a man hath power to say, Behold! “* The jaws of darkness do devour it up. “* So quick bright things come to confusion 5.” Perhaps, indeed, the same feeling suggested tha 3 Gentle was used by Spenser and his contemporaries with the sense of generosus, bene moratus. 4To the truth of this sentiment our author himself bears tes- timony in his Two Gentlemen of Verona : WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 113 following judicious precept, at a still later period, when our poet was in his forty-third year: — “ Duke. —— What years, i’ faith? “ Viola. About your years, my lord. ‘* Duke. Too old, by heaven! Let still the woman fic ** An elder than herself: so wears she to him; - * So sways she level in her husband's heart ; ** For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, ** Our fancies are more giddy and infirm, “* More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, ** Than women’s are. ** Then let thy love be younger than thyself, * Or thy affection cannot hold the bent ®.” From this inequality of years, I have sometimes fancied that the object of our poet’s choice was a widow’. They were not married at Stratford, no as in the sweetest buds ‘* The eating canker dwells, so eating love ** Inhabits in the finest wits of all.” s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I. Se. I. 6 Twelfth Night, Act II. Se. IV. vol. xi. p. 403. 7 This notion was first suggested to me by finding that Mr. William Wilson was married to Anne Hathaway, of Shottery, January 17, 1579-80; and I suspected that he died between that time and 1582. But, on a further examination, I found that Mr. William Wilson, who was an alderman of Stratford, lived to the year 1605.. She could not, therefore, have married Shakspeare. Besides, as I have observed above, it is much more probable that our poet’s wife was of Luddington. . The late Mr. Joseph Greene, vicar of Welford, near Stratford, imagined that our poet's wife was of Shottery ; induced, probably, fockefe- nfm ome by finding, in the Stratford register, the names ames of Richard “= °-?~' ‘Hathaway, otherwise Gardiner, of Shottery, and his descendants, frequently occur; and he supposed that a remarkable house in Shottery, which in his’ time was the property of two ladies ‘of the name of Tyler,’ and had formerly belonged to an old Mr. VOL, II. I larbrble b: cect Fe Kat ~ ee Rit boo a ke my ww Slocm- pooton ye? Gat fowewrtAs Fi 4 i pix fb Gwetem {of foe hii Mr tha: at Govt f el —— a Re G4: Lee 114 THE LIFE OF entry of their marriage appearing in the register of that parish ; nor have I been able to ascertain the day Quiney, might have descended from Thomas Quiney, on whose marriage, with the poet’s second daughter, he might have settled this house, which, it was s suggested, he might have acquired as a part of his wife’s portion. But it is clear, from Shakspeare’s will, that he had not paid his second daughter's portion, at the time of his death, though he had covenanted to give her 100/. which, ac- tok by he does, in his will; and he makes no mention of a house i in Shottery. hate Bartholomew Hathaway, a substantial yeoman, who was he possessor of the Shottery estate, and who, I believe, was the son of Mr. Richard Hathaway, born before the ‘commencement of the register, died at a good old age, in 1624. From his will, which was made December 16, 1621, and proved at Stratford, Decem- ber 6, 1624, I find that he had three sons ; John, Richard, and Edmond. To Richard he bequeaths twenty shillings; to Edmond, his third son, 120/. to be paid in seven years after his decease ; and to his eldest son, John, his messuage, in Shottery, with the appurtenances, and two yard lands and a half [about seventy-five acres], lying in the fields of Shottery and Old Strat- ford; limiting the said lands to him and the heirs of his body, remainder to his son Edmond, remainder to Richard, To each of . the children of his son John, viz. Alice, Richard, Anne, and Ursula, one of his best ewes. To his own daughter, Anne, the now wife of Richard Edwards, the sum of thirty shillings ; and to each of her seven [q. six] children, Avery, Bartholomew, Alice, Thomas, Richard, and Ursula, 6s. viiid. His executor is his son John; and Mr. John Hall, of Stratford, and Stephen Burman, of Shottery, his overseers ; to each of whom he leaves 2s. vid. Avery Edwards, the person above-mentioned, lived, in the year 1622, at Luddington, as appears from the collector’s subsidy book, 19 Jac. in the chamber of Stratford. Richard oe baker, who was elected an alderman of Stratford, April 18, 1623, = and died there in October, 1636, was probably the Seti oe son of the above-named Bartholomew. oa sag Ife ., I do not believe that there was any other person of the name of wane + Lov B ee meso OF Braga Hathaway, who had an estate at Shottery; and Bartholomew’s Denti firmed © Ve fo ro Ae Bf 9 Ee Ig Vibe f (a area a2. Dekh poe ae op ‘ ee ate: oe pe re Be ES WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 115 or place of their union, though I have searched the registers of several of the neighbouring’ parishes for ~, . ¢.. ; that purpose. The tradition, however, concerning é ee poe the surname of his wife, is confirmed by the will of ; Lady Barnard, our poet’s grand-daughter, which I discovered a few years ago; for she gives several lega- cies to the children of her kinsman, Mr. 'Thomas Hathaway, formerly of Stratford ; and still more de- daughter, Anne, we see, was married to Richard Edwards. The wife of our poet might, indeed, have been Bartholomew Hatha- way’s sister; but, as she was yet living when his will was made, and no mention is made of her in it, nor any memorial given to her, I think it improbable’that she should have been his sister. hed a nite. Whe I may add, in confirmation of what I have suggested (that our ‘~ sip Oe poet's wife was not of Shottery), that Susanna, the daughter of Doe ae pest On Pett a Thomas Hathaway (Shakspeare’s great nephew, as I believe), ae neg ie who was baptized at Stratford, June 11, 1648, and to whom, Pe without doubt, Mrs. Susanna Hall was godmother, is de- aig FD Kae scribed, in the parish register, as the daughter of Thomas Hath- away, without any addition; as are William, son to the same Thomas Hathaway, baptized April 19, 1640 ; Rose, his daughter, Atp Rp “a Z Fw - baptized November 6, 1642; and Elizabeth, another daughter, “75*,4.-> 2 baptized January 10, 1646-7. Whereas, we find that Edmond, Boe cenins Frees **son to John Hathaway, of Shottery,” baptized November 23, sees, ilo 1628, and Elizabeth, daughter of the same John Hathaway, of : ' Shottery, baptized January 22, 1625-6. This distinction is con= , | 5 stantly preserved in the register. I mention these circumstances, as they show that the Hathaways, who were related to our poet’s 49 daughters, were not of Shottery. Mrs. Judith Quiney was, with- * out doubt, sponsor for Judith, another daughter of the same le PRS Lez gy a wae A C02 Caren Pe eee Bewey Kar fuer £ Kew LH; Bl oltre cm, Rei £2 on fpirrkeofor ome & Forges gee linthan VY aes Mh Fi é 416 ; THE LIFE OF ‘eisively by adeed, which was executed June 2, 1647 °, in order to lead the uses of a fine and recovery of our é poet’s estate, then in the possession of his eldest daugh- ~ ter, Susanna Hall; in which the parties were, that lady, and her daughter, Elizabeth Nash, of the. first part ; _ William Smith, of the second part; and William Hathaway, of Weston upon Avon, yeoman, and Thomas Hathaway, of Stratford, joiner, of the third part. This Thomas Hathaway was, without doubt, either the son or brother of William; and was origin- ally not of Stratford, but, as I conjecture, of Weston, a town in Gloucestershire, about four miles from it: That he was not originally of Stratford, appears ‘not only from there being no notice of his baptism in the register of that parish, but from his having paid, asa foreigner, on the 25th of March, 1636, fifty shillings. for his freedom ; of which sum twenty shillings were restored to him, as a grace, by the corporation °. We have seen already, that our poet was naturally con- nected with the family of Arden. Mr. William Arden, who appears to have been second cousin to his mater- nal grandfather, Robert Arden, married a daughter of Edward Conway, Esq.’ a gentleman of large fortune, who was proprietor of Luddington, a village about two miles from Stratford. Some persons of the name _ ‘8 Penes Charles Boothby Schrymshire Clopton, Esquire. _ 9 Registr. Burg. Stratford, B. The ordinary sum paid by a native was but 3s. 4d. Mr. Thomas Hathaway died at Stratford, where he was asia Kor. ofan / /A2 January 15, 1654-5. © Cod. MS. in Officio Arm. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 117 of Hathaway, were tenants to his grandson, Sir John Conway, early in the reign of Elizabeth, though one of them is said to have had a little patrimony of his own, probably at Weston ; and the Marquis of Hertford, to whom Luddington belongs, has informed me, that in his youth he rervembers a person of the name of Hathaway, a tenant on that estate*. Here, therefore, it is not improbable, Shakspeare found his wife ; and the marriage, in consequence of her father having some property at Weston, was perhaps celebrated either there (rather than Stratford, in which parish Luddington is), or at Billesley, of which parish the church is very little distant from Wilmecote, the ori- ginal residence of his mother. The ancient registers of Weston and Billesley having, like many other an- cient registers, been thrown by and lost, as soon as they were filled with names, and it became necessary to procure a new blank book, it is now impossible to ascertain this point °. ~—_— « * Ihave since learned that Mr. John Hathaway farmed part. of this estate, till the year 1775, when he died. . 3 The earliest register of the parish of Weston now extant, 22. Ap sen begins in 1680. Weston being in the diocese of Gloucester, 1/7” a). is Soe hoped to have found, in the proper office there, a duplicate of the “<= ~-— "95 oy several entries contained in the more ancient register, which has ~ or, pe Puae been lost; but, after taking a journey to Gloucester expressly % fon hs Fi ten He | for the purpose, I was disappointed; no transcript of the names of is any persons married in the year 1582, being there extant. These very useful transmisses were, indeed, first enjoined to be sent from the various parishes, in each diocese, by the canons made in 1601; but, I apprehend, the practice, in some places, pre- vailed before. Though Cromwell's injunctions for the orderly G.<~/ Suse de registering of all marriages, baptisms, and burials, were not “~~ “<9 154: issued till 1538, I have seen some registers of an earlier date. — $62). 7 118 THE LIFE OF In May, 1583, our poet’s wife brought him a daughter, who was named Susanna; a name which she, perhaps, derived from Mrs, Susanna Collins, the wife of Mr. Francis Collins, already mentioned ; and, about eighteen months afterwards, she was delivered of twins, a son and a daughter, who were baptized (Feb. 2, 1584-5) by the names of Hamnet* and Judith. Shakspeare’s friend, Mr. Hamnet Sadler, and his wife, Judith Sadler, were, without doubt, sponsors to these children. Our author’s wife does not appear to have ever brought him another child. SECTION VIII. The course of the present narrative now leads us to advert to a circumstance, in our poet’s life, of the utmost moment ; since to it, if the tradition is to be trusted, we are indebted for his'removal from Strat- ford to London, and for the rich legacy which, in consequence of his connexion with the stage, he afterwards bequeathed to posterity ; and, if it be a mere fiction, it is the bounden duty of the historian The ancient register of Billesley is also lost, It is observable, that our poet's grand-daughter was married to her second husband in the church of Billesley (which is but three miles from Strat- ford) ; perhaps, in consequence of her grandfather's having been married there. 4 In consequence of a mistake committed by the late Rev. Joseph Green, in making an extract from the register of the parish of Stratford, which he gave to the late Mr. James West, in 1770, our poet’s only son was, for a long time, erroneously sup- posed to have been baptized by the name of Samuel. His true name I recovered from the register. _— WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 119 of his life, minutely dnd explicitly to refute an un- founded calumny. The deviation from truth which the inquiries I have made have enabled me to detect, in several received accounts concerning our poet and his family, which, for a century, have been considered as authentick, did not originally much in- cline me to place an implicit confidence in the tra+ ditionary tale which I am now to relate: and a minute examination of it has, by no means, contri- buted to give it any additional support. I do not, however, mean to shake the credit of all traditionary evidence. There is, certainly, a great difference between traditions ; and some are much more worthy of credit than others. Where a tradition has been handed down, by a very industrious and careful in- quirer, who has derived it from persons most likely to be accurately informed concerning the fact related, and subjoins his authority, such a species of tradition must always carry great weight along with it. For the tradition which I am now to mention, we have no such authority. Our poet, we are told, at some period in his youth, gave Sir Thomas Lucy, a gentleman who lived about five miles from Stratford, such offence, that he was obliged, on this account, to quit his mative country, and to seek a refuge in London. “He had,” says Mr. Rowe, “ by a mis- fortune common enough to young fellows, fallen into ill company; and, amongst them, some that made a frequent practice of deer-stealing engaged him, more than once, in robbing a“park that belonged to Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote, near Stratford. For. a eres this, he was prosecuted by that gentleman, as he=*- 136 i THE LIFE OF enacted, that if any person, by night or day, break into or wrongfully enter’ any wane or other arias It is afterwards called « 4 “The bill for casiaielans of sca taking of fish, conies, or deer, out of parks and enclosed grounds.” It was engrossed on the 25th of February. The House divided on it, on the 8th of March, and it was carried to the Lords on the 11th, under the title of “A Bill to prevent the stealing’ of fish, deer, or hawks ;" the article of conies having, in the. pro- gress of the bill, been omitted, and the punishment of felony, which was originally proposed, changed to that mentioned in thé text. On the 29th of March, an additional clause or proviso to this bill was brought from the Lords, and there was a ‘division*on that proviso, on the 3lst of the same month. Com. Journ. i. 71. This proviso was, without doubt, the second in the Act, which enables the party. aggrieved, on certain conditions, to release a offender from his recognizance for his good behaviour. Thus, we find, this bill was above two months in its progress to a law, and the session lasted but three; from the 12th” of January to the 10th of the following April. By a former statute, made about twenty years before, $2 Hen. VIII. ch. 2. (to which this reasonable preamble is pre- fixed, “ Forasmuch as justice and equity requireth that every in- heritor and possessor of manors, lands, or tenements, within the realme of England should, according to their estates or posses- sions, peaceably and quietly have, take, and enjoy the profits, revenues and commodities of the same, as well in things of plea- sure, as in things commonly valuable; without injury, rapine,: or other extort wrong to be committed or done to any of them within or upon the same—”), it was enacted, that if ‘any person, with his face hid with hood or visor, or with painted face, or otherwise disguised, to the intent he should not be known, should steal deer or conies, in the day-time, in a lawful park or warren ; or if any person should steal deer or conies, in a lawful park or warren, in the night-time, he should-be adjudged guilty of felony of death. But tnis severe act subsisted but seven years, being repealed by 1 Edward VI. c. 12. Afterwards, it was revived for three years, by 3 & 4 Edward VI. c. 17; again, by the 7th of the same King, c. 11; and once’ more finally repealed by WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 137 enclosed and used for keeping deer, before the making of this statute, or afterwards enclosed, by licence of the Queen, and hunt, drive out, hurt, or~ kill, any deer there, he shall, on conviction, pay to the party aggrieved treble damages, be imprisoned for ‘three months, and, after the expiration of that time, find security for his good abearing for seven years; the party aggrieved, however, is empowered, at any time within the seven years, or befure, to release, at his _ pleasure, the said suretyship for good. behaviour, the offender having first satisfied him in damages, and confessed his fault before the justices in open session. Corporal correction, therefore, we see, was no part of the punishment appropriated by law to this offence. The penalties of the act of Elizabeth were founded on a former law, repealed some years before, by which “this offence, in certain cases, was made felony. ‘If Shakspeare had been indicted on the statute of Elizabeth, he undoubtedly could easily have found the security required; nor could there have been any difficulty in making a compensation for the damage done; but he could not so easily commute the im- prisonment of his person. Without, however, in- 1 Mar. sess. 1; c. i. Hence, however, it was, that when the bill was brought in first, in 1562-3, it. was. proposed to make the offence felony, and the stealing of conies as criminal as the stealing of deer. In the parliament which met in the 14th year of Elizabeth, in which Sir Thomas Lucy was not. a. member, another ineffectual attempt was made to punish the destroyers of rabbits « “* May 20, 1572. The Bill against hunting, and killing of conies, the first reading, and rejected.” Com. Journ. 1, 96. — - 138 THE LIFE OF forming us whether he was imprisoned or not, the more modern relater of this anecdote tells us, that «thinking he was prosecuted somewhat too:severely, he revenged himself on his prosecutor by making \a ballad on him +.” And here, as formerly, we are left to explore, by conjecture, the date of this early essay of our poet’s muse. If he was indicted, this certainly was not a likely mode to conciliate the knight of Charle- cote, and to induce him to release the recognizance for good behaviour, to which the law entitled him. On the other hand, if he was only threatened with a prosecution, a lampoon would not contribute to miti« gate his adversary’s wrath, or to defend the criminal from its effects. We are, therefore, compelled to suppose, that our poet did not choose to abide the consequences of the prosecution ; and, before it could be commenced, fled from his native country, leaving it to.some friend to affix his verses on the park gate of the lord of Charlecote; for such is the tale which the late Mr. Oldys, and a Mr. Thomas Wilkes, have transmitted unto us. According to Mr. Wilkes, the story is said to have come originally from Mr. Thomas Jones, a gentleman, who, I find, lived at Turbich,a village in Worcestershire, about eighteen miles from Stratford, and died there in 1703, aged upwards of ninety. “He remembered (we are told) to have heard, from several old people of Stratford, the story of Shakspeare’s robbing Sir Thomas Lucy’s park ; and their aceount (Mr. Wilkes observes) agreed with Mr. Rowe’s; with this addition, that the ballad 4 Rowe's Life of Shakspeare. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 139 written by Shakspeare, against Sir Thomas Lucy, was stuck upon his park gate ; which exasperating the knight, he applied to a lawyer, at Warwick, to proceed against him *.” Mr. Jones, it is added, re- collected the first stanza of this ballad, which was all that he could remember of it; and to Mr. Wilkes, grandson of the gentleman to whom he repeated it, we are indebted for this fragment; which was given to the publick, in 1778, by Mr. Steevens, from the manuscript collection of the late Mr. Oldys®, to whom 5 It;was not known that there were not less than five or six @~< a+ cofa— attorneys at Stratford, at this time. Hence it is that a Warwick © oa Pag ee ae lawyer was introduced on this occasion. MO ani’ According to this improbable account, our author commits an offence against a gentleman, who takes no notice of him; and then he writes a lampoon on the person whom he has injured, who becomes so exasperated that he determines to prosecute the offender. These relaters seem to suppose that our poet acted on the principle of his own Richard : ‘I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.” 6 I have endeavoured to exhibit what Mr. Capel has left on this subject, in intelligible language; but am not sure that I understand him rightly. Asa specimen of his style, I will add his own words, which the reader will interpret as he can : “«* The writer of his ‘ Life,’ (the first modern) speaks of a ‘ lost ballad,’ which added fuel, he says, to ‘ the knight’s before con- ceived anger,’ and ‘ redoubled the prosecution,’ and calls the ballad ‘ the first essay of Shakspeare’s poetry :’ one stanza of it which has the appearance of genuine was put into the editor’s hands many years ago by an ingenious gentleman (grandson of its preserver) with this account of the way in which it descended to him. Mr. Thomas Jones who dwelt at Turbich a village in Worcestershire a few miles from Stratford upon Avon, and died in the year 1703, aged upwards of ninety, remembered to have heard from seyeral old people at Stratford the story of Shak- speare’s robbing Sir Thomas Lucy's park, and their account of it 140 THE LIFE OF also this anecdote was communicated, by a relation of Mr. Jones.» I have since ‘been furnished with the —_— a which was found in a chest of drawers, repre F agreed with Mr. Rowe's, with this addition, —that the ballad written against Sir Thomas by Shakspeare was stuck upon his park-gate, which exasperated the knight to apply to a lawyer at Warwick to proceed against him. _Mr. Jones had put down in writing the first stanza of this ballad, which was all he remem- bered of it, and Mr. Thomas Wilkes (my grandfather) transmitted it to my father by memory, who also took it down in writing, and his copy is this [Mr. Capel then gives the first stanza]. An exact transcript, bating the O [Sing o lowsie Lucy]:” to which is added a note, telling us that “the people of those parts pro- nounce Lowsie like Lucy.” ‘* Mr. Jones of whom we had it [this stanza] originally was also the hander-down of that anecdote which has been given you in a note upon As You Like It [in Mr: Capel’s commentaries on Shakspeare, in quarto], and of this anecdote Mr. Wilkes quotes another confirmation in the erro - Mr. Oldys, a late stage antiquarian.” (Query. Of which of these anecdotes does this writer mean to name Mr. Oldys as the voucher? I suppose of that in As You Like It; though the word this, which he has used, should seem to relate to that which we are now considering.] As I have not the smallest doubt that the whole of this ballad is a modern invention, it is hardly worth while to examine the evidence concerning this first stanza: nor, indeed, is it very easy to comprehend Mr. Capel’s account. He first tells us, that this stanza was put into his hands, many years ago, by an ingenious gentleman, grandson of its preserver. I suppose, “ by the inge- ' nious gentleman,” he means’ Mr. Thomas Wilkes, whom he | afterwards calls his grandfather. He then tells us, that though ~ Mr. Jones had put it down in writing, and, we are to presume, gave it in writing to Mr. Wilkes, that gentleman transmitted it to his [Mr. Capel's] father by memory ; and from his father’s written copy, thus founded on ‘a memorial copy, he gives it to his readers, though he ‘has previously told them that, many years ago, a writ- ten copy was put into his hands by the grandson of the preserver _ WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. — 141 that formerly belonged to Mrs. Dorothy Tyler 7, of Shottery, near Stratford, who died in 1778, at the age of eighty, and which I shall insert in. the Ap- _ oar __ pendix ; being: fully persuaded that one part of this “© ballad is just as genuine as the other; that is, that the whole is a forgery. The greater part of it is ae of this rarity, inhiche being one step nearer the original, should seem to carry with it more authority, I may add, that the other anecdote, which is said to be sin derived from Mr. Jones [that one of Shakspeare’s brothers lived till after the Restoration, and recollected having seen our poet — play the part of Adam, in As You Like It], is utterly impossible By. : to be true, as I ‘Shall show in its proper place. So much for Mr. 7. ‘fate Capel’s account of these verses. Horn a Mr. Oldys thus introduces the stanza of this ballad preserved by him, which corresponds exactly with Mr. Capel’s copy : ** There was a very aged gentleman living in the neighbour- hood of Stratford (where he died fifty years since), who had not only heard from several old people in that town of Shakspeare’s transgression, but could remember the first stanza of that bitter ballad, which, repeating to one of his acquaintance, he preserved it in writing, and here it is, neither better nor worse, but faith- fully transcribed from the copy, which his relation se courte~ ously communicated to me: ‘A parliemente member, a justice of peace, Tes ie ror «* At home a poor scare-crowe, at London an asse, ** If lowsie is Lucy, as some volke miscalle it, ** Then Lucy is lowsie whatever befall it : “ He thinks himself greate, “ Yet an asse in his state ** We allowe by his ears but with asses to mate. * If Lucy is lowsie, as some volke miscalle it, * Sing lowsie Lucy, whatever befall it.” 7 She was sister to Samuel Tyler, Esquire, who purchased an | otf y t estate, at Shottery, from the heir of Mr. Richard Quiney of London, and died at Shottery, in June, 1763, aged seventy. 142 |) THE LIFE OF formed on various passages in the first scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor, which certainly afford ground for believing that our author, on some account or other, had: not the most profound respect for Sir Thomas Lucey. The dozen white duces, however, which Shallow is made to commend as“ a good coat,” was not Sir Thomas Lucy’s coat of arms; though Mr. Theobald asserts that it is found on the meyer 4 one of the family, as represented by Dugdale. such coat certainly is found, either in Dugdale’ ete. quities of Warwickshire, or in the church of Charle- cote, where I, in vain, sought for it. It is probable that the deviation from tle real coat of the Lucies, which was gules, three lucies hariant, argent °, was 8 It is remarkable, that the seal used by Sir Thomas’Lucy, was not that which is placed over his tomb; and which all the heralds have ascribed to his family, ‘‘ gules, three Lucies hariant argent,” but three of the same little fishes braced or entwined ; similar, in this respect, to a coat assigned to another ancient family. See Ferne’s Blazon of Gentrie, 4to. 1584; p-. 232. ‘‘ This [the shield in the margin]. you will confess'to agree with the name; and yet it is honourable as may be. It is the coat of Geffrey Lord Lucy. He did bear gules, three lucies hariant, argent.” In a subsequent page, the same author adds, “ In like man- ner, Troutbeck hath taken up three trouts, whose coat, for the order of bearing the charge, I will set before your face, in this scutcheon. This shield is azure, three trouts braced in triangles argent, borne by the name of Troutbeck.” A similar conceit may be observed in the arms of the Arundel family, which are sable, six swallows argent. In like manner, the family of Roche, who were Viscounts Fermoy, in bela bore three vocies in their arms. The quibble 'in the first scene’ of The Merry Wives of Windsor - without question, was’ intended to allude to the arms of Sir ei WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 143 intentionally: made by our poet, that the application might not be too direct, and give offence to Sir Thomas Lucy’s son, who, when this play was written, was living °, and much respected, at Stratford. Other attempts have been made to recover this much sought-for ballad ; and, if we are to believe the author of a Manuscript: History of the Stage, full of forgeries and falsehoods of various kinds’, which I Thomas Lucy, and the pronunciation of the time aided the allu- sion. Lowsy, I have no doubt, was pronounced, as it is yet in Scotland, Loozy; and the name of Lucy, as pronounced in Warwickshire [Loosy], had a very similar sound. alas allusion to this coat of arms, and to his surname, Dr. William Lucy (grandson to Shakspeare's Sir Thomas Lucy), who finally became Bishop of St. David's, published in 1657, “ Ob- servations, &c. on Hobbes’s Leviathan,” under the disguised name of Christopher Pike; on which Waller very gravely ob- , pron = serves, that ‘no Englishman, who had not dabbled into latin’ ff uf would have changed so good a name as Lucy into that of a fish.” (... ¢ But we see, the Bishop did not need to have recourse to the AC Latin, Jucius ; the language of heraldry, at least, furnished him~~ the same word anglicised. - 9 Sir Thomas Lucy, the elder, the supposed prosecutor of Shakspeare, died at Charlecote, in the year 1600, as appears from the following entry in the register of that parish : “ Sir Thomas Lucy, Knight, departed this life the 6th day of July, 1600, and was buried the 16th of the same month.” He was, therefore, at his death, in the sixty-ninth year of his age [see the note quoted in p.123]. In the inquisition taken upon his death, at Warwick, September 26, 43 Eliz. 1601, he is _said to have died on the 7th of July; and so says his funeral cer- 4. 4..24 ads tificate, authenticated by his son. The same inquisition states J rt ant Fh that his son, Sir Thomas, was, at the time of taking it, forty-“7—* nay three years old, and upwards. Ese. 43 Eliz. p. 6. n. 7. clone. : 1 William Chetwood, formerly prompter of Drury Lane theatre, the unblushing fabricator of numerous unseen and non-existing 144 THE LIFE OF - perused some years ago, two stanzas of ‘it were rescued from oblivion by the learned Joshua Barnes, from a songstress in Stratford, about the year 1690. . The writer of these spurious verses, which are given below, unluckily did not know that the wife of Sir Thomas Lucy, whom he has represented as a wanton, was a lady of the most exemplary piety and virtue; _ and that a very high eulogy on her excellent qua- lities is yet to be seen in the church of Charlecote, written, as the author of it has mentioned, * by him who knew her best ;” without doubt, her husband, _who has particularly ee her for her pic aa & ~<~—~ ZZ editions of Shakspeare’s plays, of which he published a fictitious ben eae af & Ka ne catalogue, in 1751, while he was in the Marshalsea of Dublin, e~ <— “~———'was, I suspect, the author of this Manuscript History of the Stage, which, from some circumstances. mentioned in: it, dp- : pears to have been written some time between April, 1727, and October, 1730... The passage alluded to is as follows: ar ‘* Here we shall observe, that the learned Mr. Joshua Barnes, late Greek Professor of the University of Cambridge, baiting about, forty years ago at an inn in Stratford, and hearing an old woman singing part of the above-said song, such was his respect for Mr. Shakspeare’s genius, that he gave her a new gown for the two) following stanzas in it; and, could she have said it all, he would (as he often said in company, when any discourse has casually: arose about him) have given her ten guineas ; eA « Sir Thomas was too covetous, ** To covet so much deer, ‘* When horns enough upon his head “* Most plainly did appear. ‘* Had not his worship one deer left ? ‘What then? He had a wife * Took pains enough to find him horns ** Should last him during life.” 7 WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 145 from any crime or vice,” and for “ her’ love and truth, and faithfull adherence to her’ a vows. ” - But to this, which as passed current for. one a century, and. to all the circumstantial evidence’ by which it seems to be supported, I have’a very plain tale to oppose. I conceive it will very readily be granted that Sir Thomas Lucy could not lose that of which he never was possessed’; that from him who is not master of any deer, no deer could be stolen. It is agreed, that. there never was a park at Charlecote 3 and, if the knight never eat any venison but what came out of the park of Fulbroke, he certainly never partook of that delicacy ; for he never was’ possessed of Fulbroke;* nor was it enclosed in his time ; having ¢“14~-< 4 habiny.t . Bé Lan-p to AK 2 In the church of Charlecote is the following inscription, in “5 a = ze = honour of this lady : ORME “Here entombed lyeth the Lady Joyce Lucy, wife of Sir ae. Fog: daughter and heir of Thomas Acton of Sutton in the couiity of oe eed «. - eee eeceeae her betters ; misliked of none unless of the envious. When all* ~~ oe is spoken that can be said, a woman’ so furnished and garnished w Pee with virtue, as not to be bettered, and. hardly to be equalled ofs—"~ 7 ZF any. As she lived most virtuously, so she dyed most godly. a ae fa Sangh ** Set down by him that best did know what a 2 been written wah Lnwad- ee to be true, Tomas Lucy.”. ~~ -- pu f 209° VOL, Il. L 146 THE LIFE OF been disparked before he arrived at the age of man- hood, in which state it continued during the whole of his life. In the first year of King Edward VI. John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, obtained a grant of the inheritance of this park; and on his attainder 1 Mar. the Queen [March 8, 1554-5] gave the pannage and herbage of it to Sir Francis Englefield, who was one of her principal favourites, and Master of the Court of Wards; and, a few years afterwards (4& 5 Ph. &M.), she granted him the reversion of this disparked park (for so it is, again and again, expressly called), to hold of herself im capite.. In the first year of Elizabeth, Sir Francis Englefield went into foreign parts; from whence, I believe, he never returned. Being a Roman Catholick, and leagued with the enemies of the Queen on the throne, on the 27th of March, in the thirteenth year of her reign [1571], a commission was issued, to seize all such lands as belonged to him into the Queen’s hands. Whether he had, before that time, passed from him the disparked grounds of Fulbroke, I have not been able to ascertain ; but, however that may be, they assuredly were not purchased by our Sir Thomas Lucy, nor was he ever possessed of them; as appears by the inquisition taken at Warwick, after his death [September 26, 1601], which recites all the lands of which he was seized, in the county of Warwick and elsewhere, and does not mention Fulbroke. Neither was his son, Sir Thomas Lucy, who survived his father but five years, ever possessed of this manor. The fact is, that it was purchased some time in the reign of James the First, by Sir Thomas Lucy, grandson of our Sir Thomas, who, as Dugdale has oF _— WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 147 truly stated, renewed the park, which, as we have seen, from the year 1554, had been disparked and unenclosed, and, by the addition of Hampton Woods, enlarged it considerably. _ In further confirmation of what I have now stated, it may be observed, that, though Sir Thomas Lucy lived on avery amicable footing with the corporation of Stratford, we never find any notice of their re- ceiving a buck from him, which they undoubtedly would have done, had he been possessed of a park so near them. To Sir John Hubaud, who lived at Ipsley, not many miles from Stratford, and to Sir Fulke Greville, the elder, of Beauchamps Court, near Alcetor, and his son (afterwards Lord Broke), to these gentlemen alone, from 1576 to the year 1600, they appear to have been indebted for their venison feasts. - If, after all, it shall be said that Sir Thomas Lucy, though he had no park either at Charlecote, might yet, without any royal leave, have had some deer in his grounds, and that still our poet may have been guilty of the trespass which has been imputed to him, the objector must be told that no such grounds?’ were protected by the common law, every one having right to kill thereon all beasts of chase as fere nature ; and that the penalties of the statute "3 * A park is an enclosed chace, extending only over a man’s own grounds. The word park, indeed, properly signifies an en- closure: but yet'it is not every field or common, which a gentle- man chuses to surround with a wall or paling, and to stock with a herd of deer, that is thereby constituted a legal park ; for the king’s grant, or, at least, immemorial prescription, is necessary to make it so.” Blackstone, ii. 38. L 2 148 / ( THE LIFE OF of Elizabeth, already mentioned*, as well as preceding, statutes on this subject, extended only to offences committed ‘in a legal park, our author, had he even been guilty of the act imputed to him, would not have fallen within the peril of the law. He might, indeed, — have been proceeded against by an action of trespass; but it never has been alleged that any civil suit was instituted against Shakspeare on this ground. In: truth, the objection which I have now stated is searcely worth considering; for of keeping deer in unenclosed grounds no example can be produced. . » That there never was a park at Charlecote, is very easily proved. It is well known that, from the time’ of the Norman conquest, in consequence of the prin- ciple of the feudal law, that the king is the ultimate proprietor of all the lands of the kingdom, which are all considered as derived from him, and of his right by the common law, and by virtue of his royal preroga- tive, to all dona vacantia, which all beasts of chase are supposed to be, no person could possess a legal park but. by royal licence, or immemorial prescrip- tion. Hence it follows that, strictly speaking, no man was entitled, at common law, to hunt or sport éven.upon his own soil. By the grant of a chase licence to make a park or free warren, becoming, as Sir William Blackstone has well expressed it, a royal game-keeper, he obtained not only the power, but the sole and exclusive power of killing all beasts of venery, and all fowls of warren, so far as his chase, park, or warren, extended; and it was unlawful, at common law, for any other person to kill any beasts 4 See p. 135; WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 149 of chase, or fowls of warren, within its ‘precincts. Leland, whose journeys through England, as has been already mentioned, were made ‘between the years 1536 and 1542, never fails to take notice of every park that he passed by; but does not mention any park belonging to the Lucy family, though he rode by the mansion-house and demesne of Sir William Lucy, the father of Sir Thomas, which he has briefly described in his journey from Warwick to Stratford: Charlecote, therefore, certainly could not boast of any park by prescription or immemorial usage. If it shall be said that his son, Sir Thomas Lucy, at a subsequent period, might have made a park there, the answer is, that this could not have been done without a royal grant or licence: and it appears that he never did obtain any such franchise ; no trace of such a grant being to be found onthe patent rolls, during the whole reign of Elizabeth. SECTION IX. When our poet's mind was first applied to thesteieal subjects, is a curious speculation, on which, however, I am not furnished with sufficient documents to warrant any certain conclusion. At what time soever he re- moved from Stratford, he certainly had an opportu- nity of observing many modes of life in his native town, and his resolution to tread the stage might have been formed before he had ever seen London. - While he was yet a child, so early as 1569, the year when his father was chief magistrate, the Queen’s company of comedians, and the Earl of Worcester’s servants, visited Stratford; in 1573, Lord Leicester’s players were 150 THE LIFE OF there; in the following year the comedians of in Warwick, and those of Lord Worcester; and in 1576 vi the latter — and Lord Leicester’s servants again visited that town’. In the period between 1579, when our poet was fifteen years old, and 1587, in «Lexy om which, or the preceding year, he may be supposed to tat y a? ‘have migrated to the metropolis,"some distinguished ‘“/7°~ eompany of players entertained the inhabitants of cs, pa ls Af Stratford and its neighbourhood, by their dramatick |< ergdor ae “exhibitions every year but one; Lord Strange’s ser- a Joa. *.« vants, and the company, licensed by the Countess Dowager of Essex, in 1579; Lord Derby’s servants, in 1580; Lord Worcester’s and Lord Berkeley’s, in 1581; Lord Worcester’s alone, in 1582; the servants of Lord Berkeley and Lord Chandois, in 1583 ; the servants of Lord Oxford, Lord Warwick, and Lord Essex, in 1584; and a company of which the name is not speci- fied, in 1586. In the following year, no less than four different companies of comedians visited this town, among which were her Majesty’s servants °. s In the chamberlain’s account for 1569, I find the following articles : - Ttem, payd to the Quenes pleyers, ixs. - ‘Item, payd.to the erle of Worcesters pleers, xiid. V4 vIn 1573—“ Item, p*to Mr. Bayly for the Erle of Leicesters players, vis. viiid.” vy In 1574—* Given my lord of Warwicks players, xviis. “ «Pp the earle of Worcesters players, vs. vid.” ad In 1577, ‘ P* to my lord of Leicesters nibs xvs. yu a vo ©1579. ‘Item paid to my Lord PR men the xi'" day of February at the cOmaundement of M" Bayliffe, vs. u~ * P* at the cOmandement of M' Baliffe to the countys of Essex plears, .xivs. vid.” WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 151 ; _ The usual place of representation appears to have been the Guildhall, which seems somewhat extraordi- nary, as perhaps no town in England had in it at that time more barns, any one of which should seem to have been better adapted to such exhibitions than the chamber or guildhall, and would certainly have held a more numerous audience. During several of the following years, with which we have less concern, “1510. ‘* P* to the earle of Darbyes players at the cOmaunde- 1S — ment of M’ Baliffe, viiis. ivd.” Pe to the Lord Bartlett his players, iijs. ijd.” [Bartley was often written formerly for Berkeley.] ‘Thus, in Dugdale’s Chronica Series, p. 105, we have “ Robert Bartley similiter, 28 Feb. Pat. 2 Car. p. 15;” and in the next page but one, the same person is called Robert Barkley : ** Rob. Barkley constit. serv. regis ad legem, 12 April, Pat. 3 Car. p. 8.” 1582, ‘‘ Payed to Henry Russel for the earle of Worcesters players, vs.” -~ 1683. ‘* Payd to M* Alderman that he layd downe to the Lord Bartlitte his players, vs. ~ ‘“ P*to the Lord Shandowes players, iiis. iid.” 1584, ‘‘ Geven to my lord of Oxfords pleers, iijs. iiijd. * Geven to the earle of Warr. pleers, iijs. iiijd. v~ * P* to the earle of Essex pleers, iijs. viijd.” 1586. ** P' to M' Tiler for the pleyers, vs.” _ 1587. ‘ Item, p* for mending of a forme that was broken by the Quenes players, xvid. ~ * Item, Gyven to the Quenes players, xxs. “It. Gyven to my lord of Essex players, vs. — ‘It. Gyven to therle of Leycester his players, xs, “ It. Gyven to another companye, iiijs. iiijd. _~ “It. gyven to my lord of Staffords men, iijs. iiijd.” Accounts of the chamberlains of Stratford in the respective years. 162 “THE LIFE OF various companies of players occasionally visited Strat- ford?7. At length, at the very end of the Queen’s reign, this town appears to have been infected by the new and illiberal doctrines of puritanism, which after- wards overturned the church and state, and banished every art and every elegance from England. | Before, however, the dominion of the Saints was completely. established, their disciples at Stratford were able:to procure the following anathema to be issued out by the corporation, against the itinerant sons of 'Thespis: “17 Dee. 45 Eliz. 1602. me “At this Hall yt is ordered, that there shall be no ~ > 7/1592. * Paid to the Queenes players, xxs.” The account of Henry’ Wilson, chamberlain for 1592. sob / 1593. ‘* Paid unto the Queenes players, xxs.” Account of John Sadler for 1593. - 1596. “ July 16 and 17, paid the Queens plairs, xs.” Memo-. randum made by Richard. Quiney at the end of a paper con- taining an account of the charges of his journey to London in that year. :. ~ . It appears by another memorandum on the same paper, that Lord Derby's and’ Lord Ogle’s servants also visited Stratford in that year. 1597. ‘* Item. p*. for four company of players, xixs, ilija. . Account of John Smith, chamberlain for 1597. At Stratford, however, what. old Ben complains of in’ his Discoveries, : was experienced as well.as at London, and “the puppets were seen in spight of the players,” as appears by an item in the account of 1597: “Item, P* toa man at Mr. Lewis. by the appointment of Mr. Sturley then Bailiffe for the Show of the citie of Norwiche, iiis. iiijd.” So also in the chamberlain’s account for 1583 : “* Payd to Davi Jones and his companye for his pastyme’at Whitsontyde, xiiis. iiiid.” Davy Jones was an inhabitant of Stratford. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 153 plays or interludes played in the chamber, the guild- 4.2... « hall, nor in any parte of the howse or courte, from =<. foael hensforward, upon payne that whoever of the baylief, .< — 7 aldermen, or burgesses of the boroughe shall ine i leave or license thereunto, shall forfeyt for everies—* <<~ “= offence—xs.°” sane In consequence of this order, during the whole reign of James the First, I have found but two the- atrical performances at Stratford; and at length the puritanical zeal went so far, that in the year 1622 the king’s players were paid for not playing in the hall °. "In his native town, as I have already observed, Shakspeare had an opportunity of seeing a good deal of life in miniature, and many of those objects which he afterwards delineated with such a masterly hand. Stratford was by no means so inconsiderable a town, even in his time, as I believe it has been generally supposed, . Camden, in 1586, calls it emporiolum non inelegans ; and at.a still earlier period it is represented as “one of the fairest market towns in Warwickshire.” Ue-s 8 Registr. Burg. Stratf. B. 9 The account of Richard Robins, chamberlain for the year 1622. The sum paid to the King’s company for depriving the town of the entertainment which these comedians meant to have given, was only six shillings. ’ We find the same puritanical disposition in other places about this period. Soin an account of the chamberlains of Kingston upon Thames, in 1621; ‘ P* by Mr Bailiff to a company of Players, because they should not playi in the Townhall, O/. 10s. Od.” 4 See Lysons's Environs of London, i. 234. ‘Again, in 1625: “ To the Kings Players, because they should not play in the Townhall nor in the towne, for five yeares, 01. 10s. Od.” Ibid. 154 THE LIFE OF The number of houses was, I believe, not less than three hundred in the early part of the reign of Eliza- beth ; in the parish, which, we have already seen, was in cireuit fourteen miles, there were “ fifteen hundred houseling people,” that is, persons who received the communion, before she ascended the throne; and in 1590 the parish was supposed to contain three thou- sand souls. They had two great fairs every year, to which many persons from the adjoining counties re- paired. Though the charter did not invest the cor- poration with the power of holding courts-leet, they exercised this and several other rights by prescription, with the sanction of the lord of the manor, Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, who frequently made them a per- sonal visit’; and at Easter and Michaelmas every year their court-leet sat. The leet was usually held at the college mansion-house ’, of which some account 1 P' for the chardges at the Swanne the fyrste of October, when my Lorde of Warrwick was here, xiis. iiijd, “ Payed to Willyam Smyth for halfe a pound of sugar yim was geven to my Lord when he was here, xd. ‘* Payed for an oxe formy Lord of Warr. viil. xis, Od. * Payed for grass and dryving of the same oxe, iis.” Account of Thomas Gordayne, chamberlain for 1582. “ P* John Smith upon his bill for wyne bestowed upon my Lord of Warricke, xis. viiid. ‘“‘]tem for a pottel of claret wyne a pottel of sacke and half a pound of sugar for my lords officers at the grete Leet, iijs. id.” _ Account of Richard Courte, from Mich. 1583, to Mich. 1584. In the chamberlain’s account for 1576, I find this entry : “ Paid for candells the Lete court day at night, iiijd.” 2 ** Item pied for wyne to the Colledge when the. Leight [Leet] was, vs.” Account of John Taylor and Anthony Tanner, chamberlains for 1578. iam mei WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 155 already has been given. 'They had, we have seen, a court of justice, which sat every fortnight in the year, and was attended by several skilful attorneys, some of whom resided in the town. They were frequently visited by the principal justices of peace for the county, ** Payd fora pottel of clarett, and pottel of sacke and half a pound of suger-to my: lords officers at the Lyght [Leet], iiis. iid.” Account of Richard Courte from Mich, 1582, to Mich. 1583. Again, i in the account for the year 1585: «Paide for one gallant of claret wine sent to my Lords offi- cers when they kept the Lete,. ijs. ** One pottle of sacke, xvid. ** Sugar halfe a lb. ixd. ** Paide for wine sent to my Lo. his officers at the Lete after Michaelmas, one pottle of sacke, xvid. “Tow 2 fh cr eae < ** One pottle of claret wyne, xiid. ae, er ho i *¢ Sugar, halfe a lb. ixd.” Z 6) In the account for 1586 : La 1099 © Janet “ P* for. ij quarts of clarett wyne and a quart of sack at the Cae iia onthe =, Lete in April, ijs. vid. 2 preee - *¢ P4 for half a pound of sugar, viiid. Lh. (000. tfa. « P4 to M' Bailiffe for wine and sugar that he gave to my Lo. — Toy his [my Lord’s]: Steward, ijs. ijd.” ; In the account for 1587: ** Item for wyne and sugar bestowed upon my Lord of Warr. hys Steward at the two Letes, iiijs. id.” ' Again, in 1588: ‘It. for wyne and sugar the 21 of April bestowed on the Steward of the Lete, xvid. “It. for wyne and sugar bestowed upon hym at the Lete in October, 1588, xxiid.” The leet was, however, sometimes held at one of the principal inns, as appears by the account of John Smith, chamberlain for the year 1601 : « Paid fora potell of claret wyn and a quart of sacke at the Swaiie when Mr Ballye did dynner with M' Fauster at the Beare, “at the great Leat ihere then kept, ijs. iiijd.” p) 156 THE LIFE OF (Sir Fulke Greville the elder, Sir Thomas Lucy, Sir John Harrington, Mr. Ralph Verney, Mr. Clement Throckmorton, Mr. Henry Goodeere, Mr. Roger Bur- goyne, &c.) as reviewers of the trained men, as com- missioners of subsidy *, and at the quarter sessions *; who, without doubt, furnished the admiring crowd with many “ wise saws and modern instances.” In consequence of the criminal jurisdiction of the leet and sessions, they had stocks, a pillory, and a gaol*®; in which our poet could not fail of finding a “ wild Halfcan,” and some “ rapier-and-dagger men :” while 3 See A 4 “1587. It ad by M* Jefferies for the fyne and for the fees for a presentment of a highe wey at the Quarter Sessions, xs, viiid. 1604. P* for lyme to mend the guildhall before the Quarter Sessions, Sep. xxviii. ixd, «« P* for ij bottles of. claret wyne bestowed on the. Justices at the Quarter Sessions, Octob. 2. ijs. “It. to Heminge [the Beadle] for candles used at the: Quarter Sessions, id. “1570. Item paid to Humphrey. Getley for mending. of the stoxe, xiid. ** 1566. Item paid to M' Tyler towardes the reparacon of the _Pyllorie, xviijs. vid. ** 1583. P* to Richard Cowell for mending the ree wise? gunne stooles, xiid. AG ‘1580. P* to Richard Hornbie for lincks and staple to make fast the prisoners, xiid. ©1592. P* the i iij day of Julie to Richard Waterman fora sill for the Guile hall, iijs.” « Chamberlain's Accounts for the roapiill years, 5 The gaol was in Bridge-street, as appears from a memorandum in A Survey of the estate of the corporation made 24 Nov.. 1582: “The Jayle haull lacketh a syll on the syde towards Trowt’s: house.” Trowt, who was a renee lived in Bridge-street+. « WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 157 the annual muster of the trained. soldiers could not but exhibit Mouldys, Bullcalfs, and Feebles, in abun- dance. _ Supposing this extraordinary man to have left Stratford, from whatsoever cause, about the year 1586 or 1587, it is now our business to attend him to the metropolis. And here we are presented with another anecdote concerning him, to which, in my apprehen- sion, no credit ought to be given. » “In the time of Elizabeth (says Dr. Johnson), 7 4... ae coaches being yet uncommon, and hired coaches not at oP er et ee allin use, those who were too proud, too tender, or too 7; idle to walk, went on horseback to any distant. busi-“ ay Joes ness or diversion. Many came on horseback to the =.— play ; and when Shakspeare fled to London from the’ terror of a criminal prosecution, his first expedient was to wait at the door of the playhouse, and hold the horses of those that had no servants, that they might be ready again after the performance. In_ this. office he became so conspicuous for his care and readiness, that in a short time every man as he alighted called for Will. Shakspeare, and scarcely any other waiter was trusted with a horse, while Will. Shakspeare ‘could be had. This was the first dawn of better for- tune. Shakspeare, finding more horses put into his hand than he could hold, hired boys to wait under his inspection, who, when Will. Shakspeare was sum- moned, were immediately to present themselves, J am Shakspeare’s boy, Sir. In time Shakspeare found higher employment ; but as long as the practice of riding to the playhouse continued, the waiters that held the horses retained the appetetien of Shakspeare’s boys.” Cha spent frat 158 THE LIFE OF The genealogy of this story, it must be acknow- ledged, is very correctly deduced. It first appeared in print in The Lives of the English Poets, published in 1753, under the name of Mr. Cibber. “ Sir Wil- liam D’Avenant (says the author of that book) told it to Mr. Betterton, who communicated it to Mr: Rowe ; Mr. Rowe told it to Mr. Pope, and Mr. Pope told it to Dr. Newton, the late editor of Milton ; and from a gentleman who heard it from him, ’tis here re- lated ©”. This gentleman, without doubt, was Dr. Johnson, who was a school-fellow of Bishop Newton’s, and has himself introduced the anecdote in his edition of Shakspeare, published in 1765, ard whose amanu- ensis, Mr. Robert Shiels, had a considerable share in the compilation above-mentioned’. We have here cer- 6 Cibber's Lives of the Poets, vol. i. p. 130. 7 As this anecdote does not stand on the authority of Mr. Shiels, or Mr. Theophilus Cibber, the person here meant, it is unnecessary to enter into any disquisition concerning their re- spective claims to the work here quoted. However, as this curious circumstance of literary history has been involved in some con- fusion, it may not be improper to make some observations upon it. It is observable that Dr. Johnson told Mr. Boswell, “that the work was entirely composed by Mr. Shiels. The booksellers (he added)’ gave Theophilus Cibber, who was then in prison, ten guineas to, allow Mr. Cibher to be putin the title-page as the author: by this a double imposition was intended; inthe first place, that it was the work of a Cibber at all, and in the second place, that it was the work of old Cibber.” Boswell’s Life of Johnson, 8vo. ii. 392. Mr. Boswell adds, that Dr. Johnson has given the same account in his Life of Hammond, where he says, ‘‘ the manuscript of Shighe is now in my possession,” The writer of an article in the Monthly Review for May, 1792, has strenuously endeavoured to refute this statement. ‘* The al- leged design of making the compilement pass for the work of old WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 159 tainly a very fair pedigree; notwithstanding which, 1am utterly incredulous with respect to this first in- troduction of our poet to theatrical reputation. I do Mr. Cibber (he asserts) is founded on an uncharitable construc- tion, no such thought being harboured either by the proprietors or first designer of the work.” To this, on the part of Dr. John- son, it is only necessary to reply, that the thoughts or intentions of men are inscrutable ; we can only judge of them by their ac- tions. With what possible view could the name of Mr. Cibber be put to this work, but that it should be supposed to be the produc- tion of the father, who was known throughout England by that de- signation, and not that of his son, with whom for more than twenty years the publick had been acquainted by the title of Theophilus Cibber; and who during his father’s life-time had no title to the designation here given him ? “The materials for this work (according to the same anony- mous writer's account) were collected and digested by Mr. Shiels, for which he was paid seventy pounds; but his work was revised and corrected in the proof sheets, by Theophilus Cibber, who added some new lives and notes, and received for his trouble twenty guineas in the first instance, and at a subsequent period some ‘additional sum; and soon afterwards (we are further told) embarked for Dublin, bat the ship was cast away, and every per- son on board perished.” He embarked for Dublin ‘five or six years after this transaction, in the year 1758. I do not perceive any material difference between these two accounts. Mr. Theo- philus Cibber is, indeed, not here acknowledged to have been in prison, though, I believe, this was the fact; and there is a slight mistake in the sum said by Dr. Johnson to have been paid him ; nor does Dr. Johnson appear to have been acquainted with his labours, as a corrector, vamper, and reviser of the printed proof sheets of Shiels’s work ; but Ais work undoubtedly it originally was ; and Dr. Johnson had probably perused it in its original form; and in that form, it is believed, it was destroyed, with several of his own manuscripts. The true state of the case, however, yet remains to be dis- closed. The fact, I believe, is, that the only valuable additional information inserted in this work by Theophilus Cibber, was de- 160 THE LIFE.OF not, however, object to this anecdote, because, as has been suggested by Mr. Steevens, Mr. Rowe, having omitted to insert it in his Life of Shakspeare, must therefore be supposed not to have believed it; for though he did believe it, he might not think it worth insertion: nor do I object to it on another ground taken by Mr. Steevens, who doubts whether it was then the custom to ride on horseback to the play: “ The most popular of the theatres (says that gentle- rived. from the notes of the late Mr. Oldys and Mr. Coxeter. ** When I left London (says Oldys, in his manuscript notes on Langbaine) in the year 1724, to reside in Yorkshire, I left in the care of the Rev, Mr. B——'s family, with whom I had several years lodged, among many other books, goods, &c. a copy of this — Langbaine, in which I had written several notes, and references to \ further knowledge of these poets. When I returned to London in 1730, I understood my books had been dispersed ; and after- wards becoming acquainted with Mr. Coxeter, I found that he had:bought my Langbaine of a bookseller. As he was a great collector of plays and poetical books, this must have been of ser- vice to him ; and he has kept it so carefully from my sight, that I never could have the opportunity of transcribing into this I am now writing in, the notes I had collected in that. He died on ,the 10th of April, being Easter Sunday, 1747, of a fever, which Bf 1 (Gar ’ grew v from a cold caught at an auction of books over Exeter L spar fuel Change, or by sitting up late at the tavern afterwards.” eg fe ce ; Sia; After Mr. Coxeter’s death, his books and MSS. were pil He gg Ses = by Osborne, the well-known: bookseller of Gray’s Inn, and were & S 5 21 offered for sale in the year 1748, The book in question, No. 10131; Re in Osborne's catalogue for that year, was purchased either by 7 T. Cibber, or by some bookseller who afterwards put it into his hands ; and from the notes of Oldys and Coxeter, the principal part of the additional matter furnished by Cibber for the Lives of the Poets, was unquestionably derived. Mr. Coxeter's MSS. are mentioned in the title-page, but Oldys is unnoticed. Probably the secret history of this business was not then known. ‘i WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 161 man) were on the Bankside ; and we are told by the 7%... 2. satirical writers of the time, that the usual mode of ‘ ate «rH wha hk where conveyance to these places was by water ; but NOt ai tec a SEs enw‘ terse Cote ¥ single writer so much ‘as hints at the custom of riding". Ay on to them, or at the practice of having horses held dur-/- cae hs ee ing the time of the exhibition,”—In this and- many ~ jt-al, Giuda other disquisitions, a little attention to dates will save —< ae ra much trouble, It should be recollected, that we are< Kaew Am now speaking of the year 1586, or 1587, at which ~ time, though Southwark was not without a theatre, the most popular playhouses appear to have been that’ specifically called the Theatre, which was situated at Newington Butts, and the Green Curtain in Shore- ee hitiu.tf=-1 ditch *. To the former of these two theatres in sum mer, and to the latter in winter, as well as to'the plays performed by the choir-boys of St. Paul’s, and the representations at the Bull in Bishopsgate-street, the Cross Keys in Gracechurch-street, and the Bell-Savage on Ludgate-hill, the spectators were under the neces- *® The Lord Chamberlain’s servants, in which company Shak- ° f speare first entered himself, performed, till the year 1600, at The \ Curtain in Shoreditch. See The History of the Stage, vol. iii. There had been a theatre in Whitefriars, but it was HEC down ~ before the period we are now speaking of. . In a sermon preactied by John Stockwood in 1578, the ety computing the whole sum made by the theatre in a year, speaks of eight places for stage exhibitions in the city. As his object.was to aggravate the mischief arising from plays; he undoubtedly would not have left Southwark out of his account, had there been any playhouses on the Bankside.—Stephen Gosson, in his Plays confuted in Five several Actions, no date, but written about 1580, mentions exhibitions at Paul’s [St. Paul's school-room], the Blackfryars, and every other playhouse in London, but says not a word of Southwark. : VOL. Il. M 162 ‘THE LIFE OF sity of going either on foot or on horseback, coaches being then certainly not in ordinary use® Nor is it true, that no writer of the time has alluded to this mode of conveyance to the theatre; for Sir John Da- vies, and Dekker, himself a dramatick writer, ex- Fad Ph ~~ pressly allude to it'.” Though the fine gentleman KantrelOe Le Kutehn fuowla 9 According to the writer of an old pamphlet called A Dia- ae on ee logue between Coach and Sedan, the first coach used in Eng- land was one given by the Earl of Arundel to Queen Elizabeth, in which she went to St. Paul's cross, to hear a sermon [preached on account of a victory] obtained over the Spaniards in 1588. Anderson, in his Hist. of Commerce, p. 421, says Fitzallan, Earl of Arundel, introduced the use of coaches in England in 1580; and the continuator of Stowe’s Annals says a coach was made for the Queen by a Dutchman in 1564. However this may have been, it is certain that coaches were not in ordinary use when Shak- speare may be supposed to have first visited London. t Faustus, nor lord, nor knight, nor wise, nor old, «To every place about the Towne doth ride; “ He rides into the fields, Playes to behold,” &c. Epigrams written about the year 1590; printed at Middlebourg, no date, but about 1598. See also The Guls Horne-booke, by Thomas Dekker, 4to. 1609 : “« By this time [he is describing an ordinary] the pairings of fruit and cheese are in the voyder, cardes and dice lie stinking in the fire; the guests are all up, the guilt rapiers ready to be hanged, the French lacquey and Irish footboy shrugging at the doores, with their masters hobby horses to ride to the new play ; that’s the rendevous, thither they are gallopt in post; let us take a pair of oares and row lustily after them.” Here we see that / even when the Globe theatre on the Bankside, in Southwark, was f in high reputation, gentlemen frequently rode thither, instead of - going by water. Actors themselves rode to the playhouses in London. See Taylor's Wit and Mirth, § 30. ‘“ Master Field, the player, riding, up Fleet-street a great pace [going probably to the play-house in Blackfriars], a gentleman called him and asked him what Play was played that day ;” &c, /“#— aa. ow: af Fy WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 168 whom he describes going from an ordinary to the play- house on horseback, appears to have been attended by a lackey, yet many of inferior rank, without doubt, rode thither, unaccompanied by a servant; and it is very natural to suppose, that the horses of such per- sons should have been held during the representation by boys, each of whom might obtain a livelihood by taking charge of several of those animals. I do not, therefore, I say, object to this anecdote on any of these grounds ; but for the following reasons : 1. Because Sir William D’Avenant does not ap- pear at an early period to have obtained any correct information concerning Shakspeare ; as is evinced by another fact, which Mr. Rowe has expressly stated as derived from him; I mean Lord Southampton’s large donation to our poet, which I shall hereafter prove to have been extremely exaggerated ; and Mr. Betterton, though he was born about twenty years after Shak- speare’s death, and had trod the stage before the Re- storation, instead of making any inquiry about him in his youth, when that inquiry might perhaps have been attended with success, was obliged to go to Stratford in 1708, when he was above seventy years old, and our poet had been dead near a century, to pick up what intelligence he could get concerning him: and almost every part of the intelligence which he did procure, either there or elsewhere, proves to be erroneous. 2. Because I have myself discovered several cireum- stances relative to our author, and one particularly concerning his youngest brother, Edmond, imme- ~. £272. diately connected with his theatrical history, which 7 neither D’Avenant nor Betterton appear to have M 2 164 THE LIFE OF known; and which D’Avenant, if at an early period. he had made any ‘inquiries from Lowin or Taylor, or any of the old actors, concerning our poet’s connexion with the stage, undoubtedly would have known. On this ground, therefore, I have also a right. to assume that no such inquiries were made. 3. But, lastly, and principally, this anecdote iaathol gether unworthy of belief, because our author’s cireum- stances and situation at this time, and the various ex- tracts which I have just now given from the: Records of Stratford, loudly reclaim against it. The original framer or relater of it should seem to have supposed him at this time-a mere boy, “ hanging loose upon society,” without connexions and without friends; whereas, on the contrary, he had already “given hostages to fortune,” having a wife and three children. His father had been bailiff of Stratford ; and though about this time he withdrew from the corporation ?, and was not, as it should seem, in opulent, .or even’ 2°“ Stratford » Ad aulam ibid. tent. vi. die Septembris anno Burgus, } ree die Elizabethe vicesimo octavo’ [1586] William Tyler, Bailif. “ At this hall William Smythe and Richard Courte are chosen to be aldermen in the place of John Wheler and John Shaxspere ; for that Mr. Wheler doth desyer to be put out of the companye, / and Mr. Shaxspere doth not come to the halles, when they be { warned, nor hath not done of long tyme.” Registr. Burg. \ Stratf. A: I find, on inspecting the records, that our poet’s father had not attended at any hall for the seven preceding years. ‘ John Shakspeare, the shoemaker, was sworn a constable the same day that his namesake was removed from his place as alderman. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 165 easy circumstances, there is no reason to suppose that he did not still carry on his trade. He had himself visited. the metropolis, together with his wife, a few years before; and it is not improbable that he had some connexions there. Whatever might induce his eldest son to remove from Stratford to London, ‘it cannot be imagined that his father would there desert: him, or leave him to gain a precarious livelihood by’ the menial office of holding horses at the door of a theatre; where, I may add, the having a number of youths under him, publickly distinguished by the name of Shakspeare’s boys, was an expedient not very’ likely to contribute to that concealment, which his situation at that time has been supposed to require. Our poet’s. friend, Hamnet Sadler, who appears to /, tah a pas have been godfather to to his only son, and who was a“-“:- a substantial baker at Stratford, would certainly, in such’ 7. ve Vid « an extremity, not have left him unassisted. Mr. at ta oe jks Richard Quiney (the son of Adrian Quiney, an: ve, ae aed Op alderman and grocer of Stratford), who was not many ©’ 9f ai Iwate years.older than our poet, had doubtless been bred at Be ae we = the same school, and lived in intimacy with him, would ” —— ee a pn SK? Li - , , en “7 sr, a a ee at , Fiz 2 4 fen PLLI oe Pa L£ oe Af e fh. CA oA en CE on ot AC La Fe wee, OPS. Bets. px apis alia WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 167 had been honoured with a royal licence in 1574 ‘, With this company, therefore, or the Queen’s, or Lord Warwick’s comedians, it is reasonable to suppose, that. he agreed to enroll himself, and that with one or the other of them he first visited the metropolis. SECTION X. The period at which Shakspeare began to write for the stage, will, I fear; never be precisely ascertained, unless some manuscript or printed document, relating to him, which has hitherto eluded all our researches, shall fortunately be hereafter discovered. The books of the time, however, afford some glimpses of informa- tion on this interesting point, and may enable us to form at least a probable opinion upon it. Every cir- cumstance, therefore, which may be found in them, in any way applicable to a question of great importance in the history of every literary man, should be sifted and examined with our utmost industry and care ; every hint, however slight, must be seized and inves- tigated, and every allusion, however dark or myste- rious, must, if possible, be unfolded and explained. If, after all our pains, we shall not be able to gain our object, we yet may make a near approach to it; and shall at least have the satisfaction of reflecting—that nothing has been omitted to be done, which had the remotest tendency to attain it. In forming a conjecture on this subject, some lines in Spencer’s Tears of the Muses demand our parti- cular attention; since if they related to Shakspeare, Vig 4 Seethe Historical Account of the English Stage, vol. iii. p. 47. 7 L per 103, £ Bhi tress: tlds 168 * .. THE LIFE: OF ©! as by some has been supposed, they’ would ascertain’ that he had acquired a considerable share of celebrity as a dramatick writer, some years before the end of 1590, when that piece was first published. That the reader may be fully master of the question, “I shalh here transcribe the whole passage, The subject of the poem, it should be remembered, is the decay of literature and patronage, which the Nine’ Muses in succession pathetically. lament. After Calliope and Melpomene have uttered their complaints, Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, is introduced speaking as follows : “* Where be the sweete delights of earning's treasure 5, ‘“« That wont with comick sock to beautifie _ «« The painted theatres, and fill with pleasure ‘* The listeners’ eyes and eares with melodie ; “In which I date was wont to raine as Queene, “ And maske in mirth, with graces well beseene? _ Zz “© O, allis gone, and all that goodly giee “* Which wont to be the glorie of gay wits, * Ts laid abed, and no where now to see; ** And, in her roome, unseemly Sorrow © sits ; 5 The words in‘ this stanza exhibited in Italicks, are not so printed in the original edition of Spencer's poem. They are here thus distinguished, because some argument is founded upon them. 6 «*Unseemly Sorrow,........ ugly Barbarisme.” We learn from Spencer's Ruins of Time, that he was in England in the latter end of the year 1588. year, Sir Walter Ralegh having visited him in Ireland, he accompanied Ralegh in the autumn to England, and he appears to have resided there during the remainder of that year “and part of the next, during which time, the first three books of 7 his Faery Queen were printed. His representation of the de- Fo Kaotcr fe? Lin Borwe s - graded state of the stage, therefore, may be supposed to relate In the summer of the following — WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 169° “« With hollow brows. and greisly countenaunce *« Marring my joyous gentle dalliaunce : principally to this period, and was doubtless drawn from his own observation. During several preceding years, his time was chiefly passed in Ireland ; yet occasional visits even during that period gave him an opportunity of partaking of the ‘‘ unhurtful sport”. then furnished by theatrical exhibitions. The present) poem, though in its title-page we find 1591, was certainly: written in 1590 or before, and published probably in January or February, 1590-91; for in the Stationers’ Register, I find the’ following entry: ‘* William Ponsonby, 29 December, 1590. For _ his copie under the hands of D’cor Stuller and both the Wardens, “+ a hooke entituled, Complaints, conteyning sundrye small poemes of the worlds vanity, vid.” The wretched state of the stage in 1589 and 1590, is ascer- tained by the history and the productions of that period. “Of the tragedies which were then in vogue, or, as the poet expresses it, ‘‘ tyranized over the minds of men,” and which, though the “ offspring of ugly barbarism and brutish ignorance,” were preferred to any of the productions of the comick muse, the greater part have perished. Such of them, however, as have been: preserved, fully justify the description here given of the miserable taste of that period. See particularly Tamburlain the Great, The Spanish Tragedy, The Battle of Alcazar, Selimus Emperour of the Turkes, The Wars of Cyrus, Solyman and Perseda, &c. The preface to Tamburlaine, 8vo. 1590, as well as the piece itself, may afford a good comment on the poet’s words : “« Gentlemen, and courteous Readers whatsoever.. I have herein published in print for your sakes the tragicall discourse of the Scythian Shepheard, My hope is, that it will be now no lesse acceptable unto you, to reade after your serious affairs and stu- dies, than it hath been latelie delightfull for manie of you to see, when the same was shewed in London upon stages. I have pur- posely omitted and left out some fond and frivolous gestures, digressing aud in my opinion farre unmeet for the matter; which. I thought might seeme rather tedious unto the wise, then any way else to be regarded ; though happilye they have bene of some con- Jax tow haem 170 '’ | THE LIFE OF “« And, him beside, sits ugly Barbarisme, “ And brutish Ignorance, ycrept of late “* Out of dread darknes of the deep abysme, “« Where being bredd, he light and heaven doth hate: “« They in the mindes of men now tyrannize, “ And the faire scene with rudenes foule disguize. ceited fondlings greatly gaped at, what times they were shewed upon the stage in their graced deformities.” - Of the comedies of this period, very few have come down to us ; but Wily Beguiled, Mucedorus, and the old Taming of a Shrew, which were highly admired, may serve to show, of what materials those of an. inferior quality, which have perished, were made. The jiggs and other buffooneries, with which both tragedies and comedies were then frequently accompanied, are almost all lost. In the plays exhibited at this period, the authors and actors took such liberties, that the state was obliged to interfere. , Strype, in his Additions to Stowe’s Survey, mentions that in 1589, the servants of the Lord Strange and the Lord Admiral \ were, on the suggestion of Mr. Tylney [then Master of the Revels], restrained from playing, for their scurrilitie and licen- tiousness. Inthe same year (Nov. 12), the very period when Spencer appears to have visited England, and to which his verses seem particularly to relate, the Privy Council wrote a letter to the Lord Mayor of London (of which a minute may be found in the History of the English Stage), commanding him ‘‘ to ap- point a sufficient person, learned and of judgment, to join with- the Master of the Revels and a Divine to be named by the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the reforming of the plays daily exercised and presented publickly about the city of London ; where [in] the players take upon them without judgment or decorum to handle matters of divinity and state.” This is the _ first notice which is found of a licenser for stage entertainments, to which appointment the “ scoffing scurrility” alluded to by Spencer, appears to have given rise; as, in the last century, a similar degree of licentiousness produced an Act of Parliament for the same purpose. In an old tract entitled Martin’s Months Mind, which also ap- WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 171 4 ** All places they with follie have possesst, ~~ ** And with vaine toyes the vulgare entertaine, «* But me have banished, with all the rest ‘* That whilome wont to waite upon my traine ;— “¢ Fine Counterfesaunee 7 and unhurtful Sport, “ Delight and Laughter, deckt in seemly sort. peared in 1589, we find a further confirmation of what has been here stated: ‘* Never,” says the writer, “ were greater tragedies tendered abroad, nor higher comedies traversed at home.”—*“ Ros- cius ‘Plays in the Senate house; asses play upon harpes, the stage is oe into the church, and Vices make plaies of church-matters.”? 7 By counterfaisance, Spiced appears to have meant coun- terfeit or fictitious representation, imitating real life. So, again, in Mother Hubbard’s Tale : the fond ape him selfe uprearing hy, “* Upon his tip-toes stalketh statelie by, ‘As if he were some great Magnifico, ‘* And boldly doth among the boldest go : ** And his man Reynard with fine counterfaisance «* Supports his credit and his countenance.” ' Again, in The Faery Queen, b. i. c. viii. st. 49 : «* Such is the face of falshood, such the sight ‘© Of fowle Duessa, when her borrowed light ‘* Ts ta’en away, and counterfaisance knowne.” Again, ibid. b. iii. c. viii. st. 8: ** A wicked spright,————— * Him needed not instruct which way were best ** Him selfe to fashion likest Florimell, “* Ne how to speake, ne how to use his gest, ** For he in counterfesaunce did excell.” See also Cotgrave’s French Dict. fol. 1611: “ Farcerie. A playing, jesting, &c. a counterfeiting. “ Farceur. A comedian or stage-player ; a common jeaster, or counterfeiter of mens gestures.” See also Puttenham’s Arte of Poesie, 4to.. 1589, p. 228, | §*the boy-bishop with his counterfeit speeches,” and p. 243, ‘“* — a buffoon or counterfeit clown.” 172 THE ‘LIFE OF «« All these, and all that els the comick stage ~ ‘* With season’d wit and goodly pleasaunce graced, «* By which mans life in his likest image “< Was limned forth, are wholly now defaced; . “ And those sweete witts , which wont the like to frame, *« Are now despiz'd, and made a laughing game. 8 One of the comick writers whom Spencer had herein contem- plation, I have no doubt, was a person who was bred at the same college where he had been educated, and who is highly praised by. his contemporary Meres, in the following passage: « The best for comedye, amongst us bee, Edward Earl of Oxford, Dr. Gager of Oxford, Maister Rowley, once a rare scholar of learned Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, Maister Edwards of her Majesties Chapell, eloquent and wittie John Lillye, &c.” Wit's Treasury, 1598, p.280, b. The time when Mr, Rowley flourished, as well — as his Christian name, have been hitherto unascertained; and in — consequence of a mistake of Antony Wood, he has been con- founded with William Rowley, who was originally an actor about the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and became a popular dra- matick writer in that of her successor. Wood. in his first work, published in 1674, grounding himself manifestly on the passage _ above quoted from Meres, rightly describes this rare schollar, in the account which he has given of their poet’s contemporaries : “* Gulielmus Gager (says his Latin translator) poeta eximius erat, et quoad comedias conscribendas primum semper locum inter coevos obtinebat; posthabitis, nimirum, Edwardo Comiti Oxoniensi, Magistro Rowley, (is Aulam Pembrochianam apud Cantabrigienses ingenio ornavit), Ricardo Edwards, Johanni_ Lilly,” &c. (Hist. et Antiq. Acad. Oxon. P. II. p. 267); but he was afterwards led into an error, probably by having met in Phillips or Winstanley with the name of William Rowley asa dramatick writer; and in his subsequent English work (Ath. Oxon. 1690, i. col. 366), he observes, that ‘‘ Gager was reputed the best comedian of his time, whether it was Edward. Earl of Oxford, William Rowley, the once ornament for wit and inge- : nuity of.learned Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, Richard Edwards John Lilly,” &c. . Here first we find the Christian name-of this comick poet: but Wood was unquestionably mistaken ; for ** the WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. «173 “And ue, the man whom Nature selfe 9 had made “ To mock her selfe, and truth to imitate rare scholar of learned Pembroke Hall” was not William Rowley the actor, who had never reposed in academick bowers, but Ralph Rowley, a learned fellow of that house, whose theatrical exertions, it may be presumed, were made a few years before Spencer's poem was published. It is clear from the words—‘‘ learned: Pembroke Hall,” that Meres was in Wood's contemplation in both his works, and that ineach of them he is speaking of the same person. Beside, however, the misnomer in the Athenz, he is inaccurate in hoth these works, in saying that Gager (who appears to have written only Latin dramas) was preferred to Rowley and the rest. . Meres furnishes no authority for such pre-eminence. They are all classed under the same general term,—‘‘ the best for comedy.” Wood should seem to have supposed that Gager, being first named, was also first in’ reputation; but Meres appears to have arranged these poste in chronological order. ‘Ralph Rowley, I believe, was born in the same year with our author (1564) ; for I find that he became a student of Pembroke Hall in 1579, being on the first of October in that year matri- culated asa member of the University. (Registr. Acad. Cantab.) In 1582-3, he took his first degree in arts; in Nov. 1583, he was elected a fellow of his house; and in 1586-7, he proceeded Master of Arts. In 1587, he was appointed Lecturer in Mathe- matics, and also, in conjunction with Mr. Hall, read the Greek lecture: See a list of the fellows of Pembroke College, MS. Harl. 7029, p. $83: “ Rad Rowley, scholaris collegii, A. B. electus eodem tempore [Nov. 2, 1583], Anno 1586 [1586-7], incipit in art. An, 1587, Magistro Halls in usum_ Magistri Rowley ex parte prelecture Grece, 1". 10°. Eodem anno pre- lector fit in academia Mathematicas. Anno 1589, cautio Ma- gistri Rowley exposita est cist Lyndwood et Pyke, et habet in toto 2"".” It is probable, that either in 1586, before he was chosen mathematical lecturer, or in: 1588, the comick vein for which he is so highly celebrated by his contemporary Meres (who was also of Pembroke Hall, and took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1587), led him to attempt dramatick composition, and a Lite, foe os find © Ene eter game ou 174 THE LIFE OF “ With kindly counter ', under mimick shade,— “ Our pleasaunt Willy, ah, is dead of late *; that he furnished the stage at St. Paul’s with some of those comedies, “ the fine counterfaisance and due decorum ” of which appeared to Spencer so admirable. Not long afterwards, he en- tirely relinquished his theatrical pursuits, and went into holy orders. In 1593, he became rector of Alphamston in Essex, which he exchanged, in 1597, {for the rectory of Chelmsford, in the same county. (Newcourt’s Repertor, ii. 8—129.) This benefice he appears to have enjoyed till his death, which hap- pened in 1604 ; and it should seem, from the following entry in the register of Chelmsford (obligingly communicated to me, by the Rev. Mr. Morgan), that he died at Cambridge: ‘ Mr. Ralphe Rowley, late Parson of this towne, was buried in S*. Marie’s chancell in Cambridge, the ixth daie of Aprile, 1604." The only production of this “ rare scholar” that I have met with, is a short Latin poem, in the Cambridge Verses on the death ys! Sir Philip Sidney, 4to. 1587. It is, I trust, unnecessary to apologize for this long note, in commemoration of one who was probably a friend of Spencer's ; and who, though a comick poet of considerable celebrity, appears to have been unknown to all our biographical antiquaries and dramatick historians of the last century. 9 i.e. Nature her self. Such was the phraseology of Spencer's age; not, as we should now write, Nature's self. So, in The Faery Queen, b. ili. C. Vili. st. 5: [ ** That even Nature self envide the same.” Again, in the same canto: 6 thought ** She were the /ady selfe whom he so long had sought.” Again, ibid. b. iii. c. i. st. 6: “« But Guyon selfe ere well he was aware—.” Again, b. iii. c. iv. sf. 38: “ Sad life worse than glad death ; and greater crosse ‘« To see frends grave, then dead the grave se/f to engrosse,” Again, in Colin Clout: WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 175 «¢ With whom all joy and jolly merriment «Ts also deaded, and in dolour drent 3. * Instead thereof, scoffing Scurrilitie, “ And scornfull Follie, with contempt is crept, ** Rolling in rymes of shameles ribaudrie 4, tame “‘ Without regard or due decorum kept : ** Whose service high so basely they ensew, “That Cupid selfe of them ashamed is.” So also, Sidney, Arcadia, 1598, p. 379 : ** The ‘pestle selfe,” &c At a subsequent period, this phraseology became obsolete ; for D'Avenant wrote, perhaps, with less propriety (Works, 1673, p- 243) : * It shew'd like Nature's self, when she did bring - “ All she can promise by an early spring.” 1 Kindly means natural, or rather, agreeable to truth and real wut46 = porte li life. So, in the Glosse on Spencer's Eclogue for February : “~; “7-3 the affection and speech of ambitious men.” Counter is, 1’ SEY. believe, here licentiously used for counterfeiting, or counter- Jaisance. A late writer (Supplem. to Johnson's Dict. 4to, 1801), says, it means—‘“ trial of skill,” and that it is deduced *‘ from the adverb;” but, when counter is used in the com- pound, counter-action, &c. opposite action is meant ; and, there- fore, if we suppose a substantive to be thus formed, it would mean, not “‘ trial of skill,” but opposition ; asense not admissible here. 2 So, in Colin Clout: ** Whilst thou wert hence, all dead in dole did lie.” Again, in Shakspeare’s King Henry IV. Part II.: «‘ Even such a man, so faint and spiritless, *¢ So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone—.” Again, in A Midsummer Night's Dream : * So should a murderer look ; so dead, so grim.” 3 Drenched. 4 Spencer sometimes borrows from himself. See his tenth: Eclogue : « And roll with rest in rhymes of ribaudry.” 176 i THE LIFE OF ** Each idle. Wit at will presumes to make 5, © “ And doth the /earneds taske upon him take. Cad “ But that same gentle spirit, from whose pen A * Large streames of honnie and sweete nectar flowe, Avtty wer (uy fo — Seorning the boldnes of such base-borne men, : 4-Y(Y Which dare their follies forth so rashlie throwe, _ “‘ Doth rather choose to sit in idle cell, “Than so him selfe to mockerie to sell. ¢ “So am I made the servant of the manie, « And laughing-stock of all that list to scorne ; «* Not honoured nor cared for of anie, «* But loath’d of losels®, and a thing forlorne : ** Therefore I mourne and sorrow with the rest, “© Untill my cause of sorrow be redrest.” The sixth, seventh, and eighth of these stanzas were inserted by Rowe in the first edition of his short account of Shakspeare; and he then supposed that they related to our poet; alluding, as he thought, to his - having withdrawn himself for some time from the pub-_ lick, and discontinued dramatick compositions, from “a disgust he had taken to the then ill taste of the town, and the mean condition of the stage.” But as he suppressed the passage in his second edition (pub-. lished in 1714, about five years after the first), it may be presumed, that he found reason to change his opinion. Dryden, however, he informs us, always ar thought that these verses related to Shakspeare* But Clement or ZA vy fug% § “Torime and versifie; for in this word, making, our olde (f 3OCY Lh . 7 ‘24 7é2 ..-7 English poets were wont to comprehend all the skill of poetrie, «~~ 4 —-* according to the Greek word poiein, to make ; whence commeth foe Cenk 4 lex AS <2, the name of poets.” Glosse by E. K. on Spencer’s fourth a+ <7 % « Eclogue. Fés0- +4 “= 6 Worthless persons. ) WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 177 with all due deference to these great poets, their au- thority on either side is in this instance of no weight; because, in their time, little attention was given to the gradual progress and changes of our language, and mes — to have been very slightly acquainted » Aiph fopegp the literary history of the former age. It must, 7 4/~'— 2% however, be acknowledged that, at the first view, this / > 4-7 passage, in some respects, seems peculiarly applicable, -“—~* to our great dramatick writer, and admirably. deserip- tive of the character and powers of a poet, of whom it may be said with the strictest propriety, in the words of a learned and accomplished statesman’ ‘of. the seventeenth century, that “ Nature never had before so noble and so true an interpreter, never so inward a secretary of her cabinet *.” But supposing even that chronology and the dramatick history of that period did not stand in our way, as they certainly do, these lines cannot relate to Shakspeare ; for on a closer in- spection it will be found, that one part of the deserip- tion not only does not apply to him, but is totally in- consistent with the now received, and no longer eon- troverted, account of his moderate literary attain- ments. sialss When I published my first edition of his works, the evidence on each side of this question appeared to me ' so equally balanced, that I found myself unable to form any decided opinion on the subject; inclining, how-. 7 Sir. Henry Wotton apaiving of acon, pcan ih, , 8 It is remarkable that these words are almost a translation of [ partof the passage found in Snidas concerning Aristotle, which I t suggested to Mr. Steevens several years ago, as an apposite motto for the plays of Shakspeare; and which since has been prefixed — to the several editions of this author that have been published. VOL. II. N —e ye~. 4 ever, against the application of these verses to Shak- speare, for the reason just now assigned °: but a more minute investigation has entirely dispelled my doubts; | ‘and I think I shall be able, not only to show that our illustrious dramatist was not here pointed at, but to ascertain the person alluded to; whose fame, high as it was in his’ own time, must acquire additional celebrity from the eulogy of so great a poet: as 178 THE LIFE OF ' Spenser. 0 On an attentive consideration of these staitoasvit ; will be found, G yore 1. That they must relate to some conteniporaty : author, who was peculiarly celebrated for his ee talents. . aldomean Te 9 Ina note on The Tears of the Muses, the Rev. Mt. Todd, in his late edition of Spenser, vol. vii. p..335, speaking of my first | edition of Shakspeare, says, that I there. “ strenuously main- | tained the belief” that our poet was the person in Spenser's con- ) templation in the lines above quoted. But, I conceive, the | | learned editor has inadvertently made this assertion; and have | no doubt that his candour will induce him to agree to the state- | ment here made in the text, when he peruses the following pas- sage in the very same page which he has quoted, and which, by | some means, seems to have escaped his attention: ‘‘ If these lines [those quoted from The Tears of the Muses] were intended to allude to our author, then he must have written some come- dies in or before the year 1591, and the date which I have as- signed to A Midsummer Night's Dream is erroneous. I cannot expect to influence the decision of my reader, on a subject on which I have not been able to form a decided opinion myself; and, therefore, shall content myself with merely stating the difficulties on each side.” Surely those words do not furnish any ground for thinking that I then strenuously maintained the — : ascribed to me. [Mr. Todd supposes that these lines allude to Sir Philip Sidney. peg BoswELt.] WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 179 2. That the writer alluded to was a ditingniched scholar. 3. That at an antecedent period he had furnished the scene with several comedies, which had been acted with great success. 4. That in his dramatick writings he had been studious to observe a due decorum, and to construct his pieces according to the legitimate rules of the drama, observing this decorum, to use the words of an ancient writer, “ in personages, in seasons, in rei in speech?” And, 5. That, for some time previous to the composition of Spenser’s poem, he had discontinued writing for the stage, and retired from London to some sequestered spot, disgusted by the applause which the low ribaldry of some of his contemporary poets had met with for a year or two before these verses were written. If this be a just comment on them, the consequence follows, that they could not be intended to describe the untutored Shakspeare ; who, however we may be disposed to allow him a certain degree of literature (and no one is more willing to do so than the present writer), unquestionably cannot be rated as a learned man, and who, we have some grounds for believing, - had not produced, I will not say several comedies, - but any drama whatsoever, before the date of the poem under our consideration : and, if a stage-poet can be pointed out, the period of whose principal exertions, and whose character and celebrity as a writer at that * See the Preliminary Observations prefixed to Spenser’s Shep- heard’s Calender, by E, K f N 2 180 - THE LIFE OF period, correspond with the description here given, all _ difficulty, I conceive, will be done away. It should be recollected that Thalia is the ‘isan: and that comedy alone is here in Spenser’s co tion. In the outset she asks, «« Where be the sweet delights of /earning’s treasure, ap “That wont with comick sock to beautify «‘ The painted theatres,” &c. She then says, that all the innocent mirth which formerly was the delight of the ingenious, is now no where to be found; and that nothing prevails on the stage, but either dismal and barbarous tragedies, — which are preferred to all other exhibitions, or vulgar buffoonery under the name of comedy ; instead of that natural representation and harmless merriment, which formerly afforded the frequenters of the theatre so much entertainment. The lively and pleasant poet (she adds), who so truly exhibited human life in all its variety, has of /ate been idle and unemployed ; | and. instead of his classical and Terentian comedies, oa with which the publick formerly were gratified, each miserable scoffer produces on the scene, pieces of low ribaldry, constructed without any regard to decorum, — and takes upon him that task which the learned writer alluded to had so happily performed ; while this ad- | mired scholar sits retired in his cell®, rather than | 2 It is observable, that in speaking of that retirement from the stage, which Spenser so much laments, he says, the writer who | had been once so popular, now sits ‘in idle cell,” a word de- scriptive of the sequestered habitation of an academick. So, in ¢ The Return from Parnassus, a comedy, 1606: WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 18] descend from the dignity of his character, and accom- modate his productions to the gross and vulgar taste which then prevailed. The whole context, therefore, shows, that the person here commended was a man of learning, and a comick poet who had observed a strict classical propriety in his dramas ; a circumstance that, with others furnished by an attentive survey of the theatrical history of that period, will enable us to discover his name, and to dispel the cloud with which he has for more than two hundred years been enveloped. Spenser’s description, I have no doubt, was intended for John Lilly, “ the eloquent: and wittie John Lilly,” as he is denominated by one of his contempo- raries’; a poet, whose learning sufficiently entitled him to a part of this encomium: and if in other re- ** Academico. I'll haste me to my ene cell again, ** My fortunes cannot wax, but they may waine.’ ‘“ When I left the freedom of my cell, which was my college {said Hooker to the Archbishop of York, when he wished to be removed from the Mastership of the Temple), yet I found some degree of it in my quiet country parsonage.” Walton's Life of Hooker. It is not very clear what is meant by the title of one of Greene’s pamphlets, published in 1589 ; yet it perhaps alludes to Lilly's retirement from the stage, which I have supposed to ‘have taken place in that year. The title to which I allude is, *Menaphon, Camillaés alarum to slumbering Euphues in his melancholy cell in Silexedra,” &c. Silexedra, it is true, is men- tioned by Lilly at the end of his work ; yet Greene might have had here a double meaning. 3 Palladis Tamia; Wit's Treasury, being the second part of Wit’s Commonwealth, by Francis Meres, M. A. 8vo. 1598, p. 283, b. Ber cb ntthe [not bof Me tee tne Sema 182 THE LIFE OF spects it should be thought to exceed his real merits, let it be remembered, that in this point we are not te be governed by our own judgments, but to transport ourselves two centuries backwards, and not only to judge with the eyes, and ears, and opinions, of his con- temporaries, all of whom speak of his comick talents with the highest praise, but also to make some allow- ance for the particular taste and partiality of Spenser. How apt he was to exceed in the eulogy of his friends, —whether from good nature, or a disposition easy to be pleased,—is evinced by his high commendation of ' another poet of that age, which I shall presently have occasion to quote, and which certainly greatly exceeds what we should now be willing to allow him*. We should also bear in mind, that there are the strongest grounds for believing that Shakspeare had not yet afforded Spenser any specimen of higher excellence ; that at all periods, he who far surpasses his contempo- raries, must be allowed a considerable degree of merit ; and that in comedy, which alone was here in the writer’s contemplation, the reputation of the poet supposed to be alluded to, was at this time unrivalled. 4 See the verses on Daniel, infra, quoted from Sennen’ Colin Clout's Come Home Again. Drayton’s. eulogy on Mar- lowe, though a poet of considerable merit, is not less extravagant. In his “* Epistle concerning Poetry and Poets,” he seems to nae him in a higher rank than Shakspeare : ‘* Next Marlowe, bathed in the Thespian springs, “ Had in him those brave translunary things, “ That the first poets had; his raptures were ‘* All air and fire, which made his verses, clear; ** For that fine madness still he did retain, on ‘* Which rightly should possess a poet’s brain.” WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 183 When the genius of Shakspeare afterwards blazed out, we shall hereafter find that Spenser was not insensible to his merits. Edward Blount, who was at once a bookseller and a writer, and who. had undoubtedly often seen the effect produced by his comedies *, describes as the rarest poet of that time (that is, his own time,—the period previous to the appearance of Shakspeare), “ the witty, comical, facetiously quick, and unparalleled John Lilly®.” His contemporaries Webbe ’, Nashe °, 5 Edward Blount, who was one of the original publishers of Shakspeare’s plays, in folio, was probably born in 1564, having 2.4. /°47: been bound an ‘apprentice to William Ponsonby, for ten years, Z ¢r ao? from Midsummer, 1578. He was admitted to the freedom of the <: 27- ps Stationers’ Company in June, 1588. Pe 4 ~ lise © In 1632, Edward Blount published six of his comedies under 2 ~ - tot oe the following title: ‘* Sixe Court Comedies, often presented and - fone acted before Queen Elizabeth by the Children of her Majesties ee ee Chappell and the Children of Paules. Written by the only rare re <7 oe 7 poet of that time, the wittie, comicall; facetiously quicke and -20.% 7 * unparalleled, John Lilly, Master of Artes. Decies repetita place- ~ s=~7- “os bunt.” Ea Mase In his Dedication to Richard Lord Viscount Lumley, he ob- serves, ‘It can be no dishonour to listen to this poet’s musike, whose tunes alighted in the eares of a great and ever famous Queene: his invention was so curiously strung, that Elizaes Court held his notes in admiration.” Lilly, he adds, “ sat at the Sunne’s table: Apollo gave him a wreathe of his own bayes with- out snatching: the lyre he played on had no borrowed strings.’’ In his Preface, he says, ‘‘ Reader I have for the love I beare to posteritie, dig’d up the grave of a rare and excellent poet, whom Queene Blizabeth then heard, graced and rewarded. These papers of his lay like dead lawrels in a churchyard; but I have gathered the scattered branches up, and by charme, gotten from Apollo, made them greene againe, and set them up as epitaphés to his memory.....A sinne it were to suffer these rare monuments _ 184 THE LIFE OF and Meres °, give him no less praise; and Lodge? highly commends his “ extraordinary facility of dis- of wit to be covered in dust. . . . Oblivion shall not so fen ona sonne of the Muses, and Bich a sonne as they called their darling... .. These his playes crowned him with applause and the spectators with pleasure. Thou cannot repent the reading of them over. When old John Lilly is merry with thee in thy chamber, thou shalt see few or none of our poets now [1632] are such wiltie companions, and thank me that brought him to thy. ac- quaintance. " The six plays ‘here collected, are, Endymion, Alexander and Campaspe, Sappho and Phao, Galathea, Mydas, and Mother Bombie. They had originally been printed in quarto ;' but being, as he said, scattered and unconnected, he had the merit of making them more accessible, by printing them together in a small volume; and he added, from manuscript, the numerous songs which had been omitted in the original editions. The plays of Lilly, which were not collected in this volume, are, The Woman in the Moon, printed in quarto, in 1597, and a pastoral, entitled Loves Metamorphosis, quarto, 1600. Kirkman, a book- seller, after the Restoration, ascribed also to this author The Maids Metamorphosis; but it was printed anonymously in 1600; and on that, and other grounds, it may be ai whether it was Lilly's composition. Wood. erroneously ‘calls the collector of stig plays Sir Henry Blount, “ 7 Discourse of English Poetry, quarto, 1586. ; 8 See Nashe’s Apologie of Pierce Pennilesse, quali 1598, signat. G4. (Heis speaking of Lilly, and the person'whom he addresses is Gabriel Harvey.) ‘* He that threatned to conjure ‘up Martin’s wit, hath written something in thy praise in Pap- hatchet [a pamphlet written by Lilly in 1589] for all°you accuse him to-have covertlie incenst the Earle of Oxford against: you. Mark him well; he is but a’ little fellow, but hee hath one of the best wits in England. Should he take thee in hand againe (as he flieth from ‘such inferior concertation), I prophecie there would be more gentlé readers die of a merrie mortalitye ingendred by the eternal jests he would maule thee with, than there have done this wali WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 185 course,” by which he may have meant dialogue. But ‘0.’ the strongest proof, perhaps, that can be adduced to show how highly his comick talents were rated,is found in the encomiastick verses on Shakspeare, written by Jonson ; who, knowing the opinions of the former age, and the high estimation in which the productions that we are now considering had been held, thought he could not, in a few words, more forcibly describe our great dramatick poet’s comick excellence, than by say- ing he ‘out-shone even Lilly in comedy, as he sur- passed the admired and lofty stories of Marlowe it in the tragick drama: _“ That Inot mix thee so, my brain excuses ; “I mean, with great, but disproportion'd * Muses ; last infection. Imy self that enjoy but a mite of wit in compari- son of his talent, in pure affection to my native country make my style carry a presse sail,—am faine to cut off half the streame of thy sport-breeding confusion, for feare it should cause a general hicket throughout England.” See also his Have With You to Saffron Walden, quarto, 1596, signat. X 2. b. 9 Ubi supra. 1 « Divine wits, for many things as sufficient as all antiquity, (I speake it not on light surmise, but considerate judgment,) to you belongs the death that doth nourish this poison ; to ‘you the paine that endure the reproofe. Lilly, the famous for facility in discourse; Spencer, best read in ancient poetry ; Daniel, choice in word and invention; Drayton, diligent and formal; Th. Nashe, true English’ Arctine ;—all you unnamed professors’ or friends of poetry, but by me inwardly honoured ; knit your indus- tries in’private, to unite our fames in publike,....and all so em- battle: your selves; that hate’ of virtue may not embase you.” Wits Miserie and the Worlds ers by Thomas Lodge, Ato. 1596. © » 2 Chaucer, Speneey, and Beaumont. He considered the last 6 oe - CBs nee , 186, THE LIFE OF « For, if thought my judgement were of years, «* I should commit thee surely with thy peers 3, ** And tell, how far thou dost our Lilly outshine, “ Or sporting Kyd 4, or Marlowe's 5 mighty line.” Supposing, however, that Spenser’s eulogy went. beyond the opinions of that age, which does not appear to have been the case, some allowance, as has been already hinted, may be claimed for the kindness of friendship, and for the feelings of this exquisitely tender and moral poet, whose taste would naturally prefer scenick productions, founded, as Lilly’s gene- rally were, on classick fables, and conducted in some instances with a pastoral simplicity, to any other. Whenever Spenser visited the playhouse, we may be confident that he directed his steps to the theatre where Lilly’s comedies were performed by the singing- boys of St. Paul’s, or the children of the Revels, rather than to the city theatres (the Red Bull, &.), where the compositions of Greene, Peele, and anon lowe, were represented °. named writer, though q dramatist, as disproportioned, probably * on account of his superior learning. _<~, 3 Thedramatick poets. lao t} “<7 4 This epithet appears to have been chosen merely in allusion -- to Kyd's name ; yet not a single comedy of his has come down ., to us. He was the author of The Spanish Tragedy (to which Jonson himself made additions) ; the tragedy of Cornelia, both printed; and probably several others, that have been lost. va 5 Of Marlowe, some account will be given hereafter. ; 6 How congenial the sentiments of Spenser and Lilly were, with respect to the decorum of the stage, and the true ends and objects of comedy, appears from the following passage in Lilly’s prologue, at Blackfriars, to Sappho and Phaon, 1584; which, when compared with the verses already quoted from the WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 187 John Lilly was born in Kent, about the same year with Spenser’ (1553); and it is not improbable that when Spenser quitted his residence in the North, and came into Kent *, about the year 1577. or 1578, he might have formed a friendship with this poet, then, I believe, newly returned from abroad, and perhaps a visitor in his native county. Lilly, in 1569, at six- teen years of age, became a member of Magdalen College in Oxford; in 1573 he took the degree of Bachelor, and that of Master of Arts in 1575-6°. He _ seems afterwards to have travelled; and in 1579; if not before, after his return from foreign parts, his cele- ‘Tears of the Muses, afford considerable support to my interpreta- tion,of that passage. See particularly the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh stanzas : ay “Our intent was at this time, to moye inwarde delight, not outwardelighnes, and to breede, if it might be, soft smiling, not lowd laughing : knowing it to the wise to be as great pleasure to heare counsell mixed with witte, as to the foolish to have sport mingled with rudenesse. They were banished the theater at Athens and from Rome hissed, that brought parasites on the stage with apish actions, or fooles with uncivill habites, or curtizans with immodest words... We have endevored to be as far from unseemly speeches, to make your eares glow, as we hope you will be free from unkinde reportes, to make our cheekes blush.” 7 In his Euphues and his England (signat. Hh 2 b.), he says, he can speak little of Queen Mary’s reign, being then. scarce born. Mary ascended the throne, June 1, 1553. I find, from the register of the University (in which he is described as “ ple- beii filius”), that he was matriculated in 1571. He is there said to be seventeen; which does not exactly agree with Wood's account, _-8 See the Commentary on Spenser's Fifth Eclogue, 4to. 1579. 9 Ath. Oxon. i. 295. Sa 188 THE LIFE OF brated work, entitled Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit', was published ; and in the following year appeared Euphues and his England, a composition not less ad- mired than his former production, of which it may be considered the sequel or second part. In both these works, though written in a quaint, affected, and. re- prehensible style, which yet at that time, and for many years afterwards, was extravagantly admired, are found a vein of good sense, and many just obser- vations on mankind. Probably in consequence of the high reputation acquired by the first of these produc- tions, he was, in 1579, incorporated a Master of Arts in Cambridge. It is a creditable circumstance to Lilly, that he was patronized by Edward Vere, the seven- teenth Earl of Oxford, whom he calls his master ; who appears to have been the most distinguished nobleman of his time for learning and poetical talents, and was himself an admired comick writer. Between the years 1580 and 1586, or 1587, Lilly, it may be conjectured, produced five comedies; Alexander and Campaspe, * In Mr. Capell's collection, in Trinity College, Cambridge, is an edition of Lilly’s Euphues, without date ; which I believe to be the first. It consists of eighty-one leaves, and has ‘not the apologetical address to the University of Oxford, which appears to have been written in consequence of some offence taken, by the Oxonians, at his book. My edition, which is dated 1579, and is said, in the title-page, to be ‘corrected and augmented,” has that address ; and I, therefore, suppose it to be the second. The work, having been entered in the Stationers’ register, in 1578, I imagine, was published either in the end of that year, or early in 1579. Lilly himself tells us it was first published in winter. The second edition appeared in the’ summer or autumn of the same year (1579). WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 189 Galathea, Sappho and Phao, Midas, and Endymion ; all of which were represented by the choir-boys of St. Paul’s, in their singing school-room, and often acted by them at court before Queen Elizabeth, with great applause. He had, as he himself tells us, been * entertained her Majesty’s servant by her gracious favour,” and had been taught to hope, that: he might have been rewarded with the reversion of the office of Master of the Revels, or with that of Master of the Tents and Toils ; but after thirteen years’ service and expectation, he found, “ when he had cast up the in- ventory of his friends, hopes, promises, and times, that the sum total amounted to just nothing.” His com- plaints on this subject were poured forth in two peti-. tions to the Queen *, the latter of which, I conjecture, from a circumstance mentioned in it, was presented in 1588 ; and it may be presumed, that not long after- wards, finding-his hopes of preferment disappointed, and the publick taste so vitiated that nothing but folly and vain toyes could succeed on the stage, he retired for some time either to Oxford or to a cottage in his native county *®. Soon afterwards, the theatre, 2 Catal. Lib. Manuscript. Anglie, &c. Col, Univers. 152, 13. MS. Harl. 1877. 3 About two years after Lilly appears to have made a tempo- rary retreat from the stage, the choir-boys of St. Paul’s. were pro- hibited from playing: and in 1591, or before, their playhouse was shut up, probably on account of the scurrility and licentious- ness which had prevailed for two or three preceding years in’ many of the theatres ; and this prohibition, I believe, continued for about _ ten years. Inthe preface to Lilly's Endymion, published in 1591, the printer says, “Since the playes in Paules were dissolved, 190 THE LIFE OF in which his comedies had been represented, was shut up by authority, on account of that licentiousness.and ' ribaldry to which Spenser alludes. The character of Lilly, as a dramatick writer, has 7 been unjustly depreciated in modern times, in conse- | quence, I conceive, of its being supposed, that his | scenick productions are written in the same faulty athe S7Gh there are certain comedies come to my handes, which were pre- sented before her Majestie at severall tymes: by the Children of Paules. This is the first,” &c. See also Nashe’s Haye. a You. to Saffron Walden, 4to. 1596 (signat. G 4. b.), “Tr would hee might for mee, (that’s all the harme I wish him,) fo then we neede never wish the playes at Paules up againe ; but if . _ we were wearie with walking, and loth to goe too farre toseeke _ sport, into the Arches, we might step, and heare him. [Gabriel | | Harvey] plead, which would be a merrier comedie than ever was old Mother Bombie”’ [one of Lilly's plays]. ; ' In 1600, or 1601, this interdiction was taken off, and 6 children of St. Paul's were again permitted to play. M: Antonio and Mellida,; Jack: Drum’s Entertainment, and Dekker's Satiromastix, were performed by them in 1601. Lilly, after having retired for some years, appears to have again resumed the pen; for his Woman in the Moon was entered in the Stationers’ register, September 22, 1595, and published in 1597; but the theatre where his former pieces were represented being then shut, it appears to have been acted only at Court, . probably by the children of his Majesty's chapel, or the children of the Revels. It may, however, have been presented aba former period. That Lilly was living in 1597, is ascertained by his verses | prefixed to.a book entitled Christian Passions,’ by H. Lok, pub- lished in that year. The exact time of his death is not known, { but it probably happened soon. after the year 1600. No particu- { lars of his person, or private life, have come down to us, except | that he was married ; ; that he was a little man, anda great het 1 \ of tobacco. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 191 style with his other works ; and that they all abound with perpetual allusions to a kind of fabulous natural history, in which he and some of his contemporaries frequently indulged themselves, and for which he-has been justly censured by Drayton and: others, But this is not the fact ; for though in three of his come- dies he has too often fallen into this kind of impro- priety, the general tenour of the other three is dif- ferent; and, notwithstanding his defects, many of which in his own time were thought beauties, he un- questionably makes a nearer approach to a just de- lineation of character and life, than any comick poet that preceded Shakspeare. That they are free from quaintness, a too frequent play upon words (which at that time, however, was esteemed genuine wit), and some other faults, cannot be asserted with truth ; but these defects are, in some degree, balanced. by a live- lier dialogue, and a more natural representation than his contemporaries produced. In the greater part of his plays, the division into acts and scenes is critically attended to, and the unities of action, time, and place, - are well observed. It may also be remarked, that Lilly has not. produced a single tragedy, and that all his comedies are replete with “learning’s treasure ;” for they not only are founded on classick fables, as the plays performed by the choir-boys of St. Paul’s generally were‘, but abound with allusions to mytho- a 4 See the passage quoted in note 6, next page, where they are spoken of as “‘ musty fopperies of antiquity.” In the History of the English Stage, it will be seen that the following plays, founded on classical subjects, were performed by the children of St. Paul’s, between the years 157] and 1589 : 192 THE LIFE OF logy, and quotations from the Roman poets.. If it should be objected, that in this respect he has little preserved that due decorum so much admired by Spenser, his courtiers, peasants, servants, husband- men, nymphs, and chambermaids, all occasionally speaking Latin, and all equally well, it should be re- collected that this practice was not peculiar to him*. A fact also should be remembered, which, I think, has escaped the notice of all our dramatick historians, though some of the passages by which it is ascertained have been quoted for other purposes. The circum- stance to which I allude is, that the audience usually assembled in the room behind the Convocation-House of St.-Paul’s, where all his plays were represented, was of a higher order, and composed of very different — | persons from those who frequented common theatres ; for it should seem to have principally consisted of ) gentlemen and scholars ®, without any intermixture 1571, Iphigenia. 1573-4, Alcmeon. i Timoclea at the Siege of Thebes. Perseus and Andromeda. | 1576, History of Errour (doubtless from Prego Before 1579, Cupid and Psyche. 1579, Scipio Africanus. 1580, Pompey. 1584, Alexander and Campaspe. Sappho and Phaon. Galathea. Between 1585 and 1589, Endymion, Midas. 5 Latin quotations are frequently found in the plays pasted at the period here spoken of, particularly in those which were — oe by the choristers of St. Paul's. 6 This appears from the following passages in an old <4 WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE., 193 of females; and appears to have borne’ some resem- blance to the audiences now annually collected to entitled ‘“ Jack Drum’s Entertainment, or the Comedy of Pasquil and Katherine, 4to, 1601, which was acted by the Chil- dren of St. Paul's. ‘In the Introduction, in answer to the Tyreman, who complains that the Author had. snatched.the play-book from him, and with violence kept the boys from entering on the stage, one of the children says,— * You much mistake the action, Tyerman ; ‘* His violence proceeds not from a mind “That grudgeth pleasure to this generous presence, ** But doth protest all due respect and love “ Unto this choice selected audience,” Again, in the fifth Act : “* Sir Edw. Now by my troth, and [if] I had thought on't, too ; “* T would have had a play ; i' faith, I would. “ T saw the Children of Pauls last night, . ** And troth they pleas’d me pretty pretty well ; ** The apes in time will do it handsomely. “* Pla. I’ faith, ** I like the audience that frequenteth there ‘* With much applause. Aman shall not be choked “* With the stench of garlick, nor be pasted to ** The barmy jacket of a beer-brewer. “ Brah, Jun. Tis a good gentle Audience ; and [ hope the boys ! ‘* Will come one day into the Court of Requests.” (This, I believe, is nothing more than a poor pun: ‘I hope they will one day be in request.") _. seit ~ © Brah. Sen. Ay, and [if] they had good plays; but they produce ** Such musty fopperies. of antiquity, “* And do not suit the humorous age’s back ** With cloaths in fashion.” ' See also the Prologue to Antonio and Mellda, 1601, acted by the children of St. Paul's : VOL. II. oO 194 | THE LIFE OF hear one of Terence’s comedies acted by the young gentlemen of Westminster school. Such dramas, “« The wreath of pleasure and delicious sweets “ Begirt the gentle front of this fair troop. “Silent and most respected auditors, “« For wit’s sake do not dream of miracles. “ Alas, we shall but falter, if you lay ‘« The least sad weight of an unused hope “« Upon our weakness : only we give up ‘“« The worthless present of slight idleness ;~ “To your authentick censure... . a ** But oh, the healthy dryness of her braine “ Foil to your fertile spirits, is ashamed ** To breathe her blushing numbers to such ears : ** Yet, most ingenious, deign to veil our wants.” © So also, Lilly himself, in the Prologue to his Campaspe: “We here conclude; wishing that although there be in your precise judgments an universal mislike, yet we may enjoy by your wonted courtesies, a general silence.” Again, in the Prologue to Sapho and Phaon, 1594, when it was acted at Blackfriars: ‘‘ — yet we have ventured to present our exercise before your judgments, when we know them [their exer- cise] full of weak matter, yielding rather to the curtesie which we have ever found than to the precisenes which we ought to feare.” Again, in the Prologue to his Mydas: ‘“We are jealous of your judgments, because you are wise ; of our own performance, because we are unperfect ; a of our author’s device, because ‘he is idle. Only this’ ‘doth encourage us ;—that presenting our studies before gentlemen, though ‘they receive an inward mislike, we shall not be hissd with an open disgrace. Stirps rudis urtica est ; stirps generosa rosa.” See also the concluding speech of Marston's" ‘Antonio’ s Revenge, performed at St. Paul's, in 1601 or 1602: «< And O if ever time create a Muse “That to the immortal fame of virgin faith «« Dares once engage his pen to write her death, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 195 perhaps it may be urged, were little suited to a courtly audience, composed of both’ sexes, before which they sometimes were exhibited: but let it be remembered that they were not originally intended for such an audience; and even at court, we know that many of the female nobility, and attendants on the Queen, were, like her Majesty, acquainted with the Latin language; consequently neither his allusions nor his quotations, could even there fail of being understood by a large portion of his auditors; and ** Presenting it in some black tragedy, * * * * * ‘* May it have gentle presence, and the scenes suckd up * By calm attention of choice audience.” . That the audience at) this theatre’ consisted only of men, ap- pears from Marston’s Epilogue to Antonio and Mellida ; in which, as well as in some of Lilly's plays, the address is only to the male sex; “‘ Gentlemen. Though I remain an armed Epilogue,” &c. See also Lilly's Prologue to Midas: ‘ Gentlemen ; so nice is the world,” &c.; and thé quotation above, from a ‘subsequent part ofthe same prologue. So, in the: Induction of Jack Drum’s Entertainment, played at St. Paul's: ‘ In good faith, gentlemen, I think we shall be forced to give you right Jack Drums Enter- tainment,” &c. The Epilogue to Lilly’s Galathed, where: we find ** You ladies may see,” &c. was a court epilogue. In the theatres, where women were admitted ‘as ‘well as men, those supplicatory addresses are to both sexes. See the Epilogue to As You Like It, and many other plays. Thé price of admission into the theatre of St. Paul's, appears to have been double to what’ was demanded at the playhouse at Newington Butts, which was then specifically called The Thea- . 2. 42.4. tre, and probably to the price of admission at the Curtain, at that 4..~. period ; a circumstance which contributed to render the audience more select. See Lilly's Pap with a Hatchet, &c. [1589], Signat.'D 3. in marg.: “If it be shewed at Paules, it will cost ‘you fourepence, at the Theater twopence.” 0 2 196 THE LIFE OF their introduction, instead of being thought a fault, was undoubtedly considered a beauty. In further support of Spenser’s eulogy on this poet, I may add, that several of his characters are happily conceived, and some of them may have been models to subse- quent dramatists. In our author’s early plays, we may sometimes trace, in the lower characters, an imi- tation of Lilly’s manner’. His Alchemist and As- tronomer in Galathea, perhaps, gave rise to Jonson’s Subtle, and Congreve’s Foresight ; and Sir Tophas in Endymion may in like manner have been the remote original of Malvolio in ‘Twelfth Night, where nearly the same name is applied to another character. In. his Galathea, to the change of sex in which piece I suspect Spenser particularly alludes, when he speaks of his admired poet’s “ fine counterfesance, and un- hurtful sport,” the opening may, longo intervallo, ve- mind us of the first scene in The Tempest, as that of Richard the Third is evidently formed on a passage in Lilly’s Campaspe*: and of the numerous songs in 7 See particularly The Comedy of Errors, and The Two Gen- tlemen of Verona, 8 ** Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths ; ‘* Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings ; “* Our dreadful marches to delightful measures ; “ Grim-visaged war hath smooth’d his wrinkled front, ** And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds, ‘* To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, ‘¢ He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber, *« To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.” K. Richard III. Act I. Sc. 1. ‘© Is the warlike sound of drum and trump turn’d to the soft noise of lyre and lute? The neighing of barb'd steeds, whose _ WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 197 his plays, many of which are uncommonly elegant and happy, and seem to have been particularly alluded to by Spenser°, some passages have been expressly imitated by Shakspeare. But how, it will be asked, can John Lilly be alluded to, under the words—* our pleasant Willy?” This seeming difficulty may. be easily removed, by attending to the phraseology of Spenser’s age, and adverting to a conceit, which seems frequently to have governed him in the formation of poetical names, shadowing real persons. In his time shepherd was a common denomination of a poet. Thus Shakspeare,in As You Like It, apostrophizing Marlowe, who was not a pastoral, but epee = a dramatick poet,— We Bt I Lash “ Dead shepherd, now [See thy saw of might ; ** Whoever lov'd, that lov’d not at first sight? ” In like manner Spenser, throughout his poem, en- titled Colin Clout’s Come Home Again, as well as in various other parts of his works, uses these terms as synonymous. loudness fill’d the air with terrour, and whose breaths dimmed the sun with smoak, converted to delicate tunes and amorous glances,” &c. Campaspe, 1584. Here we find the germ of the preceding passage, in which Shakspeare, with his usual felicity, has expanded Lilly's thought. This parallelism was first pointed out by Mr. Reid. 9 “ That want with comick sock to beautify ‘« The painted theatres, and fill with pleasure “ The listeners’ eyes and eaves with melody.” In the last line; I conceive Spenser particularly alluded to Lilly's songs, which are eminently smooth and elegant in their composition, and doubtless had the aid of such musick. as then. was most in vogue. Le 1 €9- | 198 THE LIFE OF As shepherd was a common appellation for any of the poetical tribe °, so Willy was a common name for a shepherd; and hence, probably, this denomination was sometimes applied by the writers of Shakspeare’s. age, to poets who had no claim to the Christian/name of William. Thus, in an ancient song, probably of she time of James the First, ** As Willy once essay’d “To look for a lamb that was stray’d,” &c. and in an Eclogue on the death of Sir Philip Sidney (as Dr. Farmer formerly suggested to me), which was written not long after that event, perhaps by Arthur Warren ', a poet very little known, we find 9 So, in Florio’s Second Frutes, 4to. 1591: “ But not I, nor this place, may halfe suffice for his [Lord Leicester's] praise, which the sweetest singer of all our western shepheards hath so exquisitely depicted, that, as Achilles by Alexander was ac- counted happy for having such a rare emblazoner of his magna- nimitie as the Alconian poete, so I account him thrice fortunate in having such a herauld of his virtues as Spencer.” t The Eclogue here quoted first appeared in Davison’s Poetical Rhapsodies, 8vo. 1602; where it is entitled ** An Eclogue made long since on the Death of Sir Philip Sidney;” and it is sub- scribed with the letters, A. W. In the Museum, among Sir Symonds D’Ewes’s manuscripts, is one (MS. Harl. 280, fol. 99) containing, ‘‘ acatalogue ofall the poems in ryme and measured verse, by A. W.,” and the first line of each poem is given. At the end is'a tickibe; that ‘in a parchment book bound with The Shepheard’s Calendar is an Eclog on the Death of Sir Philip Sidney, by A. W. beginning ‘Perin, aread,’ &c.” which is the eclogue in question; and it is highly probable that it was written immediately after Sidney’s death. The initial letters, A. W. I suspect to have denoted Arthur Warren, of whose avowed pto- | ductions, the only poem that I have seen is entitled ‘‘ The Poor Mans Passions, and Poverties Patience,” 4to. 1605, which is in my collection. a ee i WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 199 the celebrated author of the Arcadia, lamented in se- veral stanzas by the name of Willy*.. On _ this ground alone, therefore, “ our pleasant Willy ah! is dead of late,” might mean,—our spritely poet is of late as silent as the grave, and wholly unemployed. 2. But Spenser, I have no doubt, had a further object in view, and intended enigmatically to point out the person in his contemplation; though he might have thought it more suitable to the general tenour of his poem not expressly to name him’; and 2 * Willy is dead, %: : « That wont to lead ae se: iB thy eS “ Our flocks and us in mirth and shepherds’ glee. laine ow fino * * * * * for Cot’ met / : cry: “ Of none but Willy’s pipe they made account ‘ child,” By the laws,of,anagram, where the same letter occurs 57 twice in a name, one of.them may be disregarded. ee iy aa eco 7 See the Glosse on the first Eclogue, by E..K, probably Edward 7-7" 797 3 Bsr ree OS ke ies Ae” fom a Ae ew inn!) FE 8-0. 64 0 De oa = i. Shams oe ye aM A. Ka Cetagus 1 Lo pf P c er hee 4 Of< OT 9- Bee ED 52 tn o vA we nite, Sa ee Bae EF Kanne s-- Corban oo’ rr: | LES +E ae ee) PSO Oe ake a ee my me. Z . RET eS nw So oma «oe A ae oe (tage Ban. Sheen eich i ee YA Ee AN Soak ore 218 THE LIFE OF so variously was his name written), under that of Morel; and that, in other parts of his works, con- Kirke, who was of Caius and Gonville College, in Cambridge; and having taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1574, and of Master of Arts in 1578, was (as I learn from the Grace-book of that University), it may be presumed, one year younger than Spenser. “« Rosalinde is also a feigned name, which, being well ordered, will bewray the verie name of his love and mistresse, whom by that name he coloureth.” The writer of Spenser's Life, published in 1758, with some probability, conjectures that the lady’s name was Rose Linde ; a family of that name, as appears from Fuller’s Worthies, having been settled in Kent (where Rosalinde resided), in the time of King Henry the Sixth. Rosalinde’s real name, however, may have been Elisa Horden, the aspiration being omitted, and Ordn serving in the place of Orden; a licence. which the framer of such an enigmatical conceit would not scruple totake. ‘‘ The precise in this practise,” says Camden, ‘strictly observing all the parts of the definition [of an anagram], are only bold with (4) either omitting it, or retaining it, for that it cannot challenge the right of a letter. But the licentious, some- what licentiously, lest they should prejudice poetical libertie, will — pardon themselves for doubling or rejecting a letter, if the sense fall aptly; and think it no injurie to use e for @, » for w, s for z, and c for k, and contrariwise.” © Remaines, 4to. 1605, p- 168. Thomas Horden, as well as Mr. Linde, was a gentle- man of Kent, in the time of Henry the Sixth. »The Glossarist's observation seems to denote a transposition of letters, which Rosa, or Rose Linde, does not require. “ There is,” says Drummond of Hawthornden, “ in the composition of an anagram, transposition ; because, “if any sense be in the name of letters not transposed, it is not so much an anagram as whee as Anna Grame,—anagram : ms What needs an anagrame, ‘* Since that her very name is Anna Grame.” If it should be said that to the construction’ of this anagram it is necessary that the lady’s Christian name should be written with an s, instead of a z; Elisa, and not Eliza; the answer, without claiming the license granted by Camden, is, that such WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 219 ceits of the same kind may be found*; when all these fancies of this great poet, and others, his con- was Spenser's classical orthography. So, near the conclusion of The Tears of the Muses : ‘* Most peereless prince, most peereless poetresse,.... * Divine Elisa—.” Again, in his Prothalamion:: “ Divine Elisaes glorious name may ring.” Her Majesty's usage, however, was different; for she wrote» her name Elizabeth, . Spenser's orthography was founded: on classical authority. 8 As we have Lobbin, for Robbin, or Rodin ; Willy, for Lilly Rosalinde, for some unknown person (whether Rose Linde or Elisa Horden) ; Morel, for Elmor, or Elmer; and Algrind, for Grindal ; so, in Colin Clout's Come Home Again, Amaryilis re- presents Alice, Countess of Derby, the first and last four letters of Amaryllis answering, in sound, to her Christian name, the intermediate letters being rejected ; and this circumstance, it may be presumed, induced Spenser to distinguish her by that name; for, as she is represented as the wife of Amyntas, he would pro- bably, but for this conceit, have called her Phillis, instead of applying that name to her sister, Elizabeth Lady Carey ; the , loves of Amyntas and Phillis having been recently celebrated by | Watson, in an admired ‘poem. In like manner, the fictitious ‘ name, Theana, which in Colin Clout represents Anne, Countess of Warwick, may have a reference to her Christian name. So, in the fourth Eclogue we have Bellibone, by meta- thesis, for Bonnibel : and,in The Faery Queen, Belphebe re~ presents Queen Elizabeth ; because Sir Walter Raleigh had called her Cynthia ; Phebe, as well as Cynthia, being one of the names of Diana.. So also, in the Prothalamion, 4to. 1596, written on the marriage of Lady Elizabeth and Lady Catharine Somerset, he: has indulged himself in the same kind of conceit which dictated the various fanciful denominations above enume- rated; and, in his description of these ladies, he has condescended thus to play on their surname: ‘* For sure they did not seeme * To be begot of any earthly seede, 220 THE LIFE OF temporaries, shall have been considered, they cannot, I conceive, but add such strength and support to the ** But rather angels, or of angels kinde ; “ Yet were they bred of somers heat, they say, “ In sweetest season, when each flower and weede ; ‘* The earth did fresh array.” Nor was this kind of paronomasy peculiar to Spenser. One of his patrons, and a very admired poet, Sir Edward Dyer, bya similar conceit, has mysteriously divulged his own name, near the conclusion of one of his poems, of which there are two ancient manuscript copies at Oxford ; one in the Bodleian Library, the other in the Ashmolean Museum : “ Yet is my woe not feignde “ Wherein I sterve and pyne; ** Who feeleth most, shall finde his least, «« Comparing his with mine. “ My song, if any aske “ Who's grievous case is such, “ Dy er thou let his name be knowne,— “ His folly shewes to [too] much.” This poem is very corruptly printed among those ascribed erroneously to William Earl of Pembroke and Sir Benjamin Rudierd, in which volume the letter P, prefixed to several copies of verses, merely denotes that they were printed from a transcript in Lord Pembroke’s hand-writing, not that they were his. com- positions. At that time, it was much the fashion to transcribe in a fair paper- book, the most popular poetical productions of the day, while they yet continued in manuscript; and by frequent transcription they became very corrupt. To this common prac tice Drayton alludes, in the preface to his Polyolbion, 1612: **In publishing this essay of my poem, there is this great disadvantage against me, that it cometh out at this time, when verses are wholly deduc’t to chambers, and nothing esteemed in this luna~ tique age, but what is kept in cabinets, and mustonly ores by transcription.” WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE., 221 various circumstances which have been mentioned, all tending to show that Lilly alone could have been the In like manner, in The Looking Glasse for London and Eng- land, written by Thomas Lodge and Robert Greene (mentioned below), the cruel and brutal son who treats his parents, Alcon and Samia, with neglect and. contempt, and refuses them any succour in their utmost need, is called Radagon, by metathesis, from a dragon. And in Lodge's Fig for Momus, a collection of Epistles, Satires, &c. 4to. 1595, we find the poet himself intro- duced under the name of Golde [Lodge], and two of his contem- poraries, Roydon and Deering, under the names of Dowroy and Ringde. So, in a Collection of Poems, written, at various times, between 1615 and 1635, a manuscript in my possession, in a Replie to Mr. Randoll’s [Thomas Randolph’s] Verses on the Losse of his Finger, we find that poet's name thus anagramma- tized : *« Muse, ere we part let wyttie Arnold know, ‘* Haud pulchrum est monstrari digito.” How far the mystery of anagram was carried, may appear from one by Hugh Holland, on the initials of the two names of Edmund Bolton, which is much more enigmatical than any of Spenser’s : “« Mr. Hugh Holland to his learned friend Mr. E. B. the author, upon his Elements of Armorie s « ——— Here no need is of my sorry charmes *¢ To boast it, though my braines Apollo warmes ; ** Where, likein Jove’s, Minerva keeps a coile ; ** Yet I, a drone, shall but thy hony spoile, ** That art the maister—BE of all the swarmes.” Commendatory Poem prefiaed to Elements of Arm. 4to, 1610. - The writer's conceit here would, perhaps, never have been discovered, but for the following marginal note, on the words— ‘* Maister BE,” the last two letters being carefully distinguished by capitals : ** E. B, [i. e. Edmund Bolton] per anagrammatismum vel meta- thesin.” 222 THE LIFE OF comick writer here alluded to, that I trust I shall not incur the charge of critical temerity, or presumption, in supposing that no doubt whatsoever can henealiee be introduced on this subject. I am perfectly aware. how open and exiieistl thiees inquiries are to the petty assaults of shallow buffoons and half-witted scoffers; whose gross ignorance of the manners and customs of our ancestors is such, that they cannot even comprehend why the bequests; of an ancient will are noticed, or how any ‘useful in- formation can be derived from circumstances ap- parently trifling and unimportant; and who, there- fore, will be always ready, with the aid.of that glim- mering of knowledge which they possess, and such barren jests as they can glean from worthless common- place books, to ridicule disquisitions like the present. But they may be assured that they lose their labour, which, of however little value, might yet be better employed ; and, at the same time, their feeble artillery is wholly misdirected; for, if any ridicule belongs to these subjects, it should attach itself to those great | authors, who, though their works will live for ever, indulged themselves, sometimes, in conceits? which 9 As so much has been said in this section concerning ana- grams, and “ name-devices,” which are as old as the time of Lycophron, it is but justice to Spenser to advert to the opinions which very generally prevailed in his time on this subject, and particularly to quote the sentiments of the grave and Judtertee Camden on these playful conceits. After having explained the nature of anagram, he adds, 55 But ; some of the sower sort will say, it is nothing but troublous joy; — and because they cannot attaine to it, condemne it; lest by com- mending it they should discommend themselves. Others, moré 6 - WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 223 cannot be developed: without such: investigations, Judicious readers will always justly appreciate and highly approve of disquisitions tending to. illustrate the history and writings of the most distinguished poets which England has produced, and the manners and usages of their times, even though such disquisi- tions should occasionally deviate from more important topicks to the explication of verbal artifices, latent paronomasies, or forgotten anagrams; nor will they milde, will grant it to be a daintie devise, and disport of wit, not without pleasure, if it be not wrested out of the name to the reproach of the person. And such will not deny, but that as good names may be ominous, so also good anagrammes, with a delight full comfort and pleasant motion in honest mindes in no point yielding to many vaine pleasures of the body. They will also afford it some commendation in respect of the difficultie (difficilia que pulchra), as also that it is a whetstone of patience to them that shall practise it [and also our antiquary might have added, to them that shall develope it]. For some have beene seene to bite their penne, scratch their head, bend their browes,; bite their lips, beate the boord, teare the paper, when they were faire for somewhat, and caught nothing herein. If profound antiquity, or the inventour may commend an invention, this will not give place to many.” After various observations and examples, the same writer, in conclusion, adds, “ But here it is time to stay; for some of the sowre sort begin to laugh at these, when as yet they have no better inlight in anagrammes, then wise Sieur Gaulard, who, when he heard a gentleman report that he was at supper, where they had not only good company and good cheare, but also savoury epigrammes, and fine anagrammes, he, returning home, rated and belowted his cooke, as an ignorant scullion, that never dressed or served up to him either epigrammes or anagrammes. And as for these sowre surlings, they are to be commended to Sieur Gaulard, and hee with them joyally to their cookes and kitchen stuffe.” Camden's Remaines, 4to. 1605. 224 THE LIFE OF ever receive coarse ribaldry and saucy folly, for wit ; or vapid petulance and frothy inanity, for getinie reason, and argument. grd SECTION XIII. re Though the preceding observations have perfectly satisfied my own mind, and, I doubt not, will impress a similar conviction on my readers, it was not, I must acknowledge, without a considerable degree of regret, — that I found, by the success of my own researches, a strong obstacle placed against indulging in the pleas- ing notion, that the two great poets. of the age c Elizabeth lived in mutual harmony and friendship with each other, as far as Spenser’s short visits to England during his latter years would admit. The — modest and humble Shakspeare appears not to have thought his praise of any value ; and therefore, while all the poets of the time were complimenting each other’, we do not find a single encomium on a cons Ze": sa ? Ben Jonson has praised Selden, Donne, Splnehadi Rectiiy it Chapman, Drayton, Broome; &c. Donne has praised Jonson. Sir John Davys has praised Spenser, Chapman, Daniel. Chapman has encomiastick verses on Jonson, Fletcher; Beaumont. Dayison £ . , has most extravagantly praised Daniel, placing him above Spenser. ye °2 “Beaumont has eulogized Ben Jonson. Brownand Withers have en~ f wh comiastick verses on Drayton. Abraham Fleming has commended Whetstone. We have an eulogy, by Nashe, on Greene, Peele, Roydon, and Acheley; by Peele, or Spenser, Wilson, Mar- lowe, Greene, and Whetstone; by Harrington, on Constable, Daniel, Bustard, Davys, and Turberville; by Drayton, on Drum= mond, Lord Sterling, and many others; by Lodge, om Lilly, Nashe, Sylvester, Daniel, and Drayton; by Davies, of Hereford, Bow se ag \ WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 225 temporary writer? subscribed with the nameof our great dramatist: and indeed so few are the addresses or allusions to him, that one is led to suspect, that though he was very highly estimated, his age did not set a sufficient value on his transcendent abilities: But that Spenser, who has mentioned and praised many of the maker's of his time, after Shakspeare had acquired a considerable degree of celebrity, should have been wholly silent concerning such a phenome: non, may seem so improbable, as to weaken in some degree the force of the foregoing remarks; and indeed almost made me distrust my own hypothesis, till, by a very careful perusal of all his smaller pieces, I dis covered that he was not insensible to the merits of his illustrious contemporary; and, by a singular coinci- dence, the covert manner in which he is noticed, above four years after The Tears of the Muses was pub- lished, and the period at which he is ‘referred to, ina passage that has hitherto escaped the observation of all the commentators and editors of both these poets, affords a strong confirmation of what has been already suggested,—that Shakspeare was not the dramatick writer eulogized in that poem, and indirectly strengthens the explication of that eulogy given in the preceding pages. . ; on Roydon, Daniel, Shakspeare, Fletcher, &¢e.; and by Fitz Geoffrey, on Spenser, Sidney, /Daniel,/ and Drayton. Drayton has commendéd Middleton, Chapman, Sir John Beaumont, and others: 2 A paper of verses, in which Spenser’s deep conceit is praised, has been attributed to Shakspeare, but erroneously; for it was written by Richard Barnefield. See Shakspeare’s Poems, vol, xx. , VOL. II. Q DP fo Lt fr 226 THE LIFE OF ‘Spenser, whose history, like that of many of our celebrated erica writers, is involved in a mist of confusion and error *, published at London, in 1595, or consented to the spiddicntinn of, a poem, called Colin Clout’s Come Home Again. The subject of this piece is his own return to his humble mansion at Kil- colman, in the south of Ireland, after having visited London in company with Sir Walter Ralegh, to whom the poem is addressed; who, in April, 1589, having been “ chased from the English court” by Lord. Essex *, had retired to his estate in the county of Corke, from whence he made an excursion to Spen- ser’s castle, which was situated in the same county. This production, however, may have taken its rise from some visit. of Ralegh: to: Ireland, at a later period ; and even if it alluded to that of 1589, it was written some years afterwards. To the Dedicatory Epistle the printer has erroneously affixed a false date: “ From my house of Kilcolman the 27.0f De- cember *, 1591;” for the poem itself was composed un- 3 This was written several years before the late edition of Spenser's Works, by the Rev. Mr. Todd, had appeared. 4 Birch’s Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth, i. 53. 5 It is not easy to ascertain the precise time, in 1594, when this poem was written. That it was written after April, 1594, is certain, for the reason given in the next page of text.’ mi lines relative to the death of Lord Derby,— ‘* But since I said he is, he quite is gone,” &e. would lead us to suppose it written recently after that event.: ~Yet the verses, in which his widow is said.to be freed from the yoke of Cupid, since which she:dreads to engage in a second. marriage, seems to imply that some months had elapsed since she lost her husband. Daniel’s Cleopatra, a tragedy, was published. in ‘the December of that year®. This error of the date,* 7/ WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 227 questionably after the sega of 1594, and perhaps in ,, 7 ,.. Lge 3 which, so far as Shakspeare has any connexion with © ieee. this piece, is a material consideration, is ascertained by the verses that it contains, addressed to Alice, Countess of Derby, under the name of Amaryllis, to whom, by the title of Lady Strange, The Tears of the Muses had been dedicated. She had now’ be- ‘come a widow by the death of her husband, Ferdi- nand, the fifth Earl of Derby, who enjoyed that title little more than six months, dying April 16, 1594 °. ‘To this event the poet has particularly alluded. The error of the date of this poem is also ascertained by ‘Spenser’ s Daphnaida, published, i in 1596, the Epistle, oy z.4—: ay hea a) 3 4 hast 1594; but I doubt whether it had reached Spenser’s hands, when he composed his eulogy on that poet. If he had known that Daniel had already attempted ‘“‘tragick plaints and passionate mischance,” he scarcely would have contented himself with say- ing that this poet was likely to excel in some performance of that kind. Unluckily there is no entry of the poem in question in the Stationers’ register, which might throw some light on this inquiry. I am, therefore, only able to state the doubts on each side. 6 The allusion to Daniel’s Sonnets, which did not appear till Vagitoe al 1592, furnishes another proof of this errour, and the allusion to Raty hi wen) rs Ralegh’s disgrace a fourth. ne Rt 7 As it has become a fashion for hypercriticks, when they quote the works of others, to re-write them, to guard against any such overweening and crotchet correction, I think it proper to say, that this word is here used deliberately, and that I think now more elegant than then in this place. 8 The writer of the Life of Spenser, prefixed to Church's edition, places the death of this nobleman erroneously in 1595, and appears to have led Mr. Warton into the same errour. See his Milton, p. 111, second edition. Q 2 228 THE LIFE OF Dedicatorie of which is dated “ London, the first of Wesf.. tsi: he ecwdast @ htflatng enn «> Janmarie, 1591;”/1. e. 1591-2; |for this poet could not whe 4-~, £= have affixed his name to a dedication at Kilcolman aN in Ireland, on Dec. 27, 1591, and_ five days after- - --<°. wards write another dedication in London. - eed ibe In this pleasing pastoral, Spenser, under the name = avo = “OF Colin, after having given an account of his visit to peers —— =< the court of Elizabeth, and drawn a striking contrast between the peaceful, well-ordered, and happy land of England, and the then wild and barbarous country to which his hard lot had led him, breaks out into a pa- negyrick on his Sovereign, by whom, as he here re- . lates, he had been highly favoured ; her Majesty, her- % self a great poetess (if there be truth in song), having allowed him to recite to her some of his verses.—* If she be so great a poetess (replies Alexis, one of his companions), what need has she of so simple a versifier as you? Perhaps, however (adds he), the poets of the time are either too lazy to write, or such worth- less rhymers, as not to be entitled to descant on so lofty a theme, and hence she condescended to hear ; Colin’s minstrilsey.” In reply to this observation, Spenser takes occasion to enumerate and commend many of the flourishing metricians of the time, some of whom are expressly mentioned, while the greater part are concealed under fictitious names and the dark veil of description. «* Ah, nay, said Colin, neither so, nor so, “ For better shepheards live not under skie, . * Nor better hable, when they list, to blow : | ‘* Their pipes aloud, her name to glorifie— , «« There is good Harpalus, now waxen aged, ** In faithful service of faire Cynthia ;— ae Fo. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 229 « And there is Corydon, though meanly waged, “ Yet hablest wit of most I know this day.— ‘* And there is sad Alcyon, bent to mourne, * Though fit to frame an everlasting dittie, “«* Whose gentle spright for Daphne’s death doth tourn ‘* Sweet layes of love to endlesse plaints of pittie 9. “ Ah pensive boy, pursue that brave conceipt * in rad sweet eglantine * of Meriflure 3 ; 9 We have here another instance of Spenser copying himself. In his eleventh Eclogue we find : ‘* Sing now, ye shepheard’s daughters, sing no mo ** The song that Colin made you in her praise, ** But into weeping turn your wanton layes.” 1 Of this uncommon formula we have an example in Holy Writ, 1 Kings, xviii. 7: ‘* And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his faee, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah?” 2 In an arbour of eglantine or sweet-briar.. Arbours formed of this sweet-seented shrub were then common. See Lilly’s Euphues and his England, signat. H 4, (b.) 4to. 1580: ‘ Fidus, calling these gentlemen up, brought them into his garden, wher under a sweet arbour of eglantine, the birds re- cording their sweet notes, he also strained his olde pipe,” &c. Again, in A briefe and pleasant Discourse of Duties in Ma~- riage, a oo Flower of Friendshippe, by Edmond Tylney, 8vo. 1568: ‘‘—at whose returne we went into the garden,'a place satis delectable, wherein was a passing faire arbour, at the entrance whereof, on eche side, sprong up two pleasaunt trees, whose greene leaves much delighted our eyes, and were sup~ ported with statelye pillers, curiously painted with divers de~ vises. All the whole arbour above over our heades, and on eche side, was powdred with sundrie flowers, and wreathed above with the sweete bryer or eglantine, between the braunches whereof the chereful sunne layde in his beames here and there; so that the heate did not molest us, neyther did the sunne want, to cheere us. What shall I say? it might be called a terrestriall paradise.” Spenser’s own authority, however, will most decisively prove s - 230. ' THE LIFE OF “ Lift up thy notes unto their wonted height, “ That may thy Muse and mates to mirth allure.— that by the words, “ In thy sweet eglantine,” such an arbour was intended to be described. See the Faery Queen, b. xi. c. 5, st. 29: «* And over him, art, stryving to compare * With nature, did an arbour greene dispred, «* Framed of wanton yvie, flouring fayre, ** Through which the fragrant eg/antine did spred ee “* His prickling armes, entrayld with roses red, ~A:“ *.. «& Which daintie odours round about them threw ; “ And all within with flowres was garnished, “« That, when mild Zephyrus amongst them blew, “* Did breathe out beauteous smels, and painted colors shew.” This description, we see, was not drawn from the stores of Spenser's imagination, as has been supposed : he pee: a an elegant arbour of his own time. 3 Mr. Gorge had estates in Devonshire, Cornwall, and Mia: dlesex : but Meriflure, which does not occur as the designation of any land in the inquisition taken after his death, is not the name of any place in those counties, or in any other county. in Bees a, _England, and was unquestionably a fictitious denomination in- ea, “t “yented for the occasion. We have seen Spenser so often in- i ae «4-4 dulging himself in fanciful denominations, that this combination Sane 7 of will not seem more strange than many others which have been bare. ead ere noticed. Meriflure, 1 conceive, was formed from the French meng 1679 words rime (meri), and fleur ( flure), both anagrammatized ; and ~~~“ thus considered, the poet’s exhortation to his friend, “ pursue that brave conceipt, ** In thy sweet eglantine of Meriflure,” means nothing more than—‘ Complete that fine poetick work which you have begun, in thy arbour, embellished not only with eglantine or sweet-briar (the usual ornament of bowers, see p. 229, n. 2), but also with the choicest flowers of verse, or, in other words, consecrated to poesy :’ for Spenser, following his master, Ariosto, generally, if not always, uses 7ime as synonymous to | verse. So, in his Eclogue for October : ** Thou know’st not, Percie, how the rime should rage ;” | and in that for November: WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 231 « There eke is Palin, worthie of great praise, «« Albe he envie at my rustick quill ;— “ Up, griezlie ghostes, and up, my rufull rime /” Again, in The Tears of the Muses: ‘* Then fittest are those ragged rimes for me.” In French, rime had the same meaning: and in that language he found fleur d’age, signifying, as in the equivalent expression in our own, the flower or prime of a man’s age ; fleur de farine, — the finest meal; and fleur d'huyle, the first and richest drop- pings of the olive or grape before they are pressed. So, in Eng- lish, in his own time (1568), a popular book was published by { Edmond Tilney, afterwards Master of the Revels, under the title of the Flower of Friendship; and about the same time ap- peared The Flower of the Ten Commandements. | While Spenser was a student at Cambridge, Gascoigne published a col- lection of his poems, under the title of ‘* A hundreth sundry Flowers,” &c.. He might also in the formation of this word have had in view the well-known collection of Greek Epigrams, en- titled AN@OAOTTA, and the Latin Flores Poetarum; in imitation of which works, a collection of miscellaneous poetry by different authors appeared a few years after Colin Clout, under the title of ‘‘ Belvidere, or the Garden of the Muses,” in the preface to which the’ editor says, “ that every man may be fully satisfied, I have set down both how, whence and where these flowers had their first springing, till they were drawn together into. the Muses’ garden.” The flowers here spoken of were the flowers of verse, and therefore, by an easy fiction, these poetick effusions. may have been supposed to have been poured forth in arbours. of a similar construction to that which is here called Meriflure. , In another poem he makes mention of the bowers devoted to the Muses, such as that which he has here appropriated to his friend : «¢ —. arbours sweet, in which the shepheard swaines ** Were wont so oft their pastorals to sing.” Lydgate has “‘ the flower of knighthood,” and ‘ the flower of worthinesse ;” and Spenser himself, “‘ the flower of chivalrie,” and j a 32 2 232 THE LIFE OF « And there is,pleasing Alcon, could he raise” ** His tunes from layes 4 to matter of more skill,’ “the flowers of courtesie ;” and in this very poem he calls Fer- dinando Earl of Derby, under the name of Amyntas, “the flower of shepheards.” In his Teares of the Muses, we find a similar JSormula still more resembling the latent meaning couched under the invented word before us: ** But I, that in true tragedies am skil'd, “ The flowre of wit, finde nought to busie me !”” The combination of ideas, therefore, which gave rise to the word Meriflure, we see, was perfectly congenial to his general train of thought and phraseology elsewhere. With respect to the former part of this fictitious Riibabaeies meri, or rime anagrammatized, it may be observed, that Fontenelle, in like rhanner, with the variation of only one letter, about a cen- tury afterwards published a satirical history of Rome and Geneve, under the anagram of Mero and Enegu. The anagram of Rome, a word little different from that under our consideration, was, I believe, not unknown to Spenser: Cur varios tum diu remoratur Roma clientes ? Forté, quod inverso nomine Roma mora est. I may add that the known adumbration of Bishop Elmor (or Aylmer) under the name of Morel, gives countenance to the metathesis now suggested, which in the word rime is effected the same process, namely, by making the first and second syllables ; ofeach word change places ; and a similar compounded name in _ an ancient romance, Blanchefleur, was doubtless familiar to Spen- ser’s ear. Nor was the foreign termination of the fictitious name which he has chosen to introduce here (perhaps chiefly for the sake of the corresponding rhyme), wholly unknown to his countrymen; for, for many centuries previous to the dissolution of religious houses in the time of Henry the Eighth, subsisted, in Cardiganshire, the Abbey of Stratflure, or Strutflure (strata florida); an abbey of Cestercian monks. See Dugdale’s Monasticon, iii. 893. 4 ** Layes” are songs. It is observable that the same kind of praise is given a few years afterwards ‘to Shakspeare, who un WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 233° «* And there is old Palemon, ‘free from spight, _ Whose carefull pipe may make the hearer rew; **'Yet he him selfe may rewed be, more right, * That sung so long, untill quite hoarse he grew.— ‘* And there is Alabaster throughly taught ‘Tn all this skill, though knowen yet to few; ** Yet were he known to Cynthia as he ought, ‘* His Eliseis would be redde anew. «¢ Who lives that can match that heroick song “* Which he hath of that mightie princesse made ? ** O dreaded dread 5, do not thy selfe that wrong ‘To let thy fame lie so in hidden shade ; ** But call it forth, O call him forth to thee, ** To end thy glorie, which he hath begun: “«¢ That when he finisht hath, as it should be, ** No braver poeme can be under sun: accountably is represented by his eulogist as a mere penner of love-verses, when he had produced at least fifteen of his incom- parable plays : ** Who loves Adonis’ love, or Lucrece’ rape, ‘* His sweeter verse contains heart-throbbing strife, ** Could but a graver subject him content, Without love's foolish lazy languishment.” Return from Parnassus, 4to. 1606 ; but written about the end of the year 1602. 5 Surely there is here some errour of the press, I cannot but think the poet wrote ‘‘ O dearest dread.” So, in the conclusion of his address to the same personage, prefixed to the Faery Queen; ** The which to heare vouchsafe, O dearest dread, awhile.” Thesame form of expression is found also in book ii, c. 2, st. 30; and book iv. c, 8, st.17. So also, in his Hymn of Beautie: ** And you faire Venus’ dearling, my dear dread.” Sir Henry Sidney begins one of his letters to Queen Elizabeth thus—“* Most feared and beloved,” which is precisely Spenser's ** dearest dread.” So also, Sir Richard Gresham’s Petition to King Henry VIII. (1535), Bib, Cotton. Cleop. E IV. fol. 122, “« My most dradd, beloved and natural] sov’aigne.” “ O dreaded dread,” has no meaning. e a> (608 ka ho eM AE FED » 234 C ies G aapincit, : ten Atos tate Jee Bon eee Soy Ch & GH feng’ THE LIFE OF “* Nor Po nor Tybur’s swans, so much renown’d, « « Nor all the brood of Greece so highly prais'd, ‘* Can match that Muse, when it with bayes is crown’d ° « And to the pitch of her perfection rais’d.— « And there is a new shepheard late up sprong, “That which doth all afore him far surpasse; Appearing well in that well-tuned song, «* Which late he sung unto a scornfull lasse: Yet doth his trembling muse but lowly flie, «* As daring not too rashly mount on hight, *« And doth her tender plumes as yet but trie, * In love’s soft laies and looser thoughts’ delight. “Then rouze thy feathers quickly, Daniell, “* And to what course thou please, thy selfe advance ; ‘* But most me seemes, thy accent will excell & “ In tragick plaints and passionate mischance.— _ And there that shepheard of the Ocean is, “« That spends his wit in love’s consuming smatt : Full sweetly temperd is that muse of his, «« That can empierce a princes mightie hart, *‘ There also is, ah no, he is not now, «* But since I said—he is, he quite is gone, *«* Amyntas quite is gone and lies full low, ** Having his Amaryllis left to mone: “* Helpe, O ye shepheards, helpe ye all in this, ‘* Helpe Amaryllis this her losse to mourne : “* Her losse is yours, your losse Amyntas is ; «¢ Amyntas, floure of shepheards pride forlorne. He, whilst he lived, was the noblest swaine «¢ That ever piped in an oaten quill ; Both did he other which could pipe, maintaine, * “< And eke could pipe him selfe with passing skill— «* And there, though last, not least, is Aetion, « ([Massenger] | imparted mine opinion of every one. Yf it fall out that I preferre them who are by blood, kindred, alliance, or in other respectes, nearest my selfe, yet I assure your I? that my comendation proceeds of a sufficientie in them, not of partial _ affection in me...... Since the death of M' Amias, her Ma* Sollicitor at the Counsaill in the Marches, no man is appointed to that service. There is in that court M' Abraham Ffraunce, a pleader at the barre. He was bred by my brother Sir Phillip Sidney long in Cambridge; continued afterwards in Graies Inne, untill he was called to the barre. 1 conceave him in eche respect a man suffi- cient-for that service. . Yf it will therefore please your 1? at my hartie request to comend him to her Ma‘, I shall thinke my selfe pleasured therein.” MS. Harl. 6995, article 35. This office, which doubtless Fraunce obtained on suche a recommendation, ; had been held by Thomas Phaer, Esq. the well-known translator of Virgil, who died in 1563. _ 4 See Peck’s Desid. Curios. vol.i. p. 52, 4to. How small a ¥ provision ten pounds a year (which may be estimated as equal to forty pounds a year now) was then considered, may appear from a passage in Churchyard’s Dedication to King James, prefixed to his Blessed Balme, 4to. 1604, in which he speaks of the pension granted to him by Queen Elizabeth, which was, we have seen, 271. 7s. 6d. per ann. (equal perhaps to 100/. a year now) as a very poor ‘stipend. ‘‘ The good queen gave me (says he) a poore_ pension for this service, and so calling to mind in four princes’ times I have given a great push for preferment, yet I was never VOL. It. R bap Ry 8 Az se or ¢ hag ie (Aataee l~ OC ELA Va eae lt Mee 77 77 4 FS a eK ZH fr 7 242 THE LIFE OF bridge, he presented his early patron (in 1581) with a small discourse on logick, which he afterwards en- larged : and, he tells us, he “ read the perfect copy” (in publick, I suppose), “ three times over, at St. John’s, and three times at Gray’s Inn.” . It was, originally, he informs us, “ A Discourse on the Use of Logick *, and a contracted Comparison between this of Ramus, and that of Aristotle; ” but when he changed his situation, and, from a Cambridge student, became a lawyer, he altered the title of his book, and called it the Lawyer’s Logick. “ Yet,” says he, * because many love logike, that never learne lawe,*I have re- teyned those ould examples out of the new Rhee advanced; I bethought me of thn fifth king, since the other four “ left me only to a poor pension.” he, fhe _ age ae $ It should seem from the following manuscript note by Oldys t wyatt lao: in his copy of Langbaine's Account of the Dramatick Poets, that 3 E. Da eee a Latin treatise on logick by Fraunce is yet in existence : ; gives % Coo *The thin MS. in folio, an original, written and. adorned by Ke Bee £— * A. Fraunce and dedicated to his Mecenas, Sir P, Sidney, in two - ‘= parts; the one containing his Discourse upon logick, in Latin | aaa a prose, about twenty-two pages ; the other a collection of heroick / symbols (in forty leaves) of princes and other illustrious persons \ of Italy, France, and Spain, then of the greatest fame in Europe ; frst having their emblems all curiously drawn with his own Pen, and \ Latin verses written under them, with explanations in prose. “Bound in a white vellum cover adorned with gold, containing a landscape on one side of Aineas’s voyage in Virgil, lib, 4, tollite me, Teucri, for the motto, and on the other side, eight Latin verses upon Vive, Vale. In Dr. Rawlinson’s possession, 30th of April, 1750.” As Dr. Rawlinson bequeathed his MSS. to the Bodleian Library, this might have been expected to be found among them; but the Rev. Mr, Price, after a careful search, could not discover it in that very valuable repository. It. is, therefore, probably, in some private hands. : wt WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 243 heard’s Kalendar [Spenser’s celebrated work], which I first gathered, and thereunto added those also out of our law-books, which I lately collected ®.” Neither his English hexameters, nor this odd and motley mixture of law, logick, and poetry, will, I fear, much raise Abraham Fraunce in the opinion of a reader of the present day. But he must be estimated by the notions which prevailed in his own time, and by the judgment of his contemporaries; among whom the praise of Spenser cannot but cast some degree of splendour around his name. The absurd kind of metre in which several of his English compositions are written, he appears to have adopted, on the au- thority of his patron, Sir Philip Sidney, for whom he had so great a veneration, that, in his treatise enti- tled (perhaps with allusion to Sidney’s celebrated work), «The Arcadian Rhetoricke’,” published in 1588, he has made him his great English exemplar, onalmost. every topick, both in prose and verse ; and here, also, we find The Faery Queen quoted, 6 “ The Lawyers Logike, exemplifying the precepts of logike by the practise of the common lawe,” 4to. 1588, dedicated to Henry Earl of Pembroke, in fourteen syllable verse. 7 The full title of this very scarce book is—‘‘ The Arcadian Bhetorike, or the precepts of rhetorike made plaine by examples, Greeke, Latin, Englishe, Italian, French, Spanish, out of Homers Ilias and Odissea ; Virgil's Aiglogs, Georgikes, and Eneis ; Sir Philip Sidnie’s Arcadia, Songs and Sonets; Torquato Tassoes Geoffredo, Aminta, Torrismondo; Salust his Judith and both his Semiaines; Boscan and Garcilassoes Sonnets and Aiglogs.” It is dedicated “* to the right excellent and most honourable ladie, the ladie Marie Countess of Pembroke,” in six Macaronick verses. ‘The 24th chapter of the first book of this tract is “ of Para- nomasia.” R 2 244 THE LIFE OF though neither that poem, nor the Arcadia, was then’ published ; a circumstance which ascertains that Spenser lived on terms of intimacy with Fraunce, and gratified him with the perusal of a portion of his great poem, while it yet remained in manuscript. Thus we see these poets were connected and en- deared to each other, by various ties, and by con- genial studies. Spenser, who, in compliment to Sidney, had himself made some English verses “halt. ill on Roman feet,” was not only attached to Fraunce, in consequence of his connexion with that extraordi- nary and accomplished man by whom he was bred, but must also have been highly gratified by the flat- tering circumstance of his having exemplified most of his logical precepts, in a book of near three hundred quarto pages, by quotations from The Shepheard’s Calendar. . Another work of Fraunce’s yet remains to be men- tioned, which was also given to the publick in 1588, in quarto, and is entitled « Abrahami Fransi Insig-- nium, Armorum, Emblematum, Hieroglyphicorum et Symbolorum, que ab Italis Jmpresse nominantur, Explicatio. Qua Symbolice Philosophie postrema Pars est.” In the first part of this learned work, which is dedicated, in a Latin quatrain, to Robert Sidney, the brother of Sir Philip, he has introduced a [ very elegant translation, in Latin hexameters, of | Homer’s beautiful description of the shield of Achilles, . in the eighteenth book of the Iliad. From this, and his other works, he appears to have been a very excel- lent and general scholar, having made himself master of the Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and French WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 245 languages 5 ; and, therefore, well merited the high praise here bestowed, by Spenser, on his talents and erudition, in the couplet in which he is shadowed: _* And there is Corydon, though meanly waged, Yafarl we of nel Zn 2. * Yet ablest wit of most I know this day.” ti ci who is next mentioned, is ascertained by another of Spenser’s poems to have been Arthur rorge, or Gorges *, “a lover of learning and virtue,” for whom he has himself told'us he had particular good will'.”’ This gentleman had married Douglas Howard, the daughter and heir of Henry Howard, afterwards Viscount Bindon; on the death of which lady i in 1590, Spenser wrote a poem, in January, 1591-2, entitled Daphnaida, and addressed to He- lena, Marchioness of Northampton, then the wife of Sir ‘Thomas Gorges, a kinsman of Arthur. In that poem, as in the verse before us, the lady of Mr. Gorges is lamented under the name of Daphne. The designation (Aleyon) here given to her disconsolate husband, was evidently formed by rejecting the final letter in Alcyone, and thus converting a female name 2 into that of a man’: and Spenser may be presumed to have adopted it with a reference either to Aleyone ~ the wife of Meleager, who died of sorrow for the loss of her husband; or of Alcyone the wife of Ceyx, king. of Thrace ;. who, according to the fable, being overcome with immoderate grief for his death, was, in compassion to her sufferings, converted by the » 8 The ofiginal and true name is Gorge. Gorges was merely a corruption, arising from the common English habit of annexing __ the letter S at the end of surnames. - + Dedication to Daphnaida, 4to. 1596. i po Mow ps, YeFin (once 246 THE LIFE OF gods into the bird called a king’s-fisher®. What «the brave conceit” was, which Mr. Gorges had begun in his happier days, and which he is here ex- horted to resume in the sweet scented arbour of Me- riflure *, it is now, I fear, too late to inquire. Of 2 The story of Alcyone, the wife of Ceyx, had been familiarized to the English reader ; for in 1569 was published “ The tragicall and lamentable hystorie of two faithfull mates, Ceyx kynge of Trachyne and Alcyone his wife &c. drawne into English meeter. By William Hubbard.” It is also found in Golding’s translation of the eleventh book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. ‘3 In 1588, when England was threatened with an invasion by Spain, Arthur Gorges, together with Ralegh, Sir Charles Blount, Edward Vere Earl of Oxford, and others, served as volunteers on board the English fleet (Camden, Eliz. ii. 576) ; and he afterwards accompanied his kinsman, Sir Walter Ralegh, in Essex’s great expedition against the islands Azores, where he was wounded. His wife, Douglas Howard, who was daughter to Henry Howard, Esq. afterwards Viscount Bindon, was baptized January 29, 1571-2 (Lysons’s Environs of London, iii. 499), and died June 13, 1590 [Esc. Amb. Gorges, 42 Eliz. n, 139], pro- bably not very long after her marriage, leaving one daughter, Ambrosia, who is also celebrated by Spenser (Daphnaida, signat. I.), and who died 10th of October, 1600 [Esc. ut supra]. Mr. Gorges must have married his second wife in or before Sep- tember, 1597; for his son William was baptized at Chelsea, May 30, 1599 (Lysons, ii. 122) ; and he had, by the same lady, an elder son, Arthur, who succeeded to his estate on his death (Esc. 2 Car. p. 3, n. 169). He had four other sons; Tymo- leon, baptized in the same parish, October 1, 1600; Egremon, Carew, and Henry (Esc. ut supra). He represented the county of Dorset, in the parliament that met in November, 1592, and was knighted, by Queen Elizabeth, in 1597. In right of his first wife, Mr. Gorges acquired an estate in Dorsetshire, which, on the death of his daughter Ambrosia, devolved on her maternal uncle, Thomas Viscount Bindon (Esc. 42 Eliz. n. 139). In right WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 247 his lighter poetical effusions, I believe few have beer transmitted to posterity; though while he was yet living, we are told by one of his sons, in the middle of his second lady, he became possessed of the manor house of Chelsea, which had belonged to Sir Thomas More. In the Epistle Dedicatory to Lucy Countess of Bedford, pre- fixed to his translation of Lucan, sexto, 1614, his son Carew, who was then a school-boy, speaks thus of his father’s works: “ I remember this sentence in my Pueriles, Voluntas, ubi desunt vires, est laudanda ; where power is wanting, the good wyll is to be accepted: which, I'presume, will be my warrant in presenting your ladyship with this poem, which by chance I did see in my father’s study, amongst many others of his manuscripts: and because it lay idly there, I desired him to give it to me.” With this request, he tells us, his father complied. It is strange that in this translation the author should have employed the verse of eight syllables, a measure generally appropriated to the lighter kinds of poetry, and extremely unsuitable to the original. His rela- tionship and intimacy with Ralegh procured a copy of commenda- tory verses prefixed to the translation of Lucan, and signed \ W. R., which have escaped the notice of his biographers. Put- tenham, in his Arte of Poesie, 4to. 1589, p. 190, has quoted two lines from a poem, “ by Maister Gorge,” which do not do him much credit. The lines, however, may serve to ascertain the author of the piece, if it be yet in being, and published anony- mously. I have never met with any other poetical production of Arthur Gorges, either in print or manuscript, except those here mentioned. In 1611, he published “A transcript and explanation of his Majesty’s Letters Patent for creating an Office called Publick Registers of general Commerce.” In 1619, he gave the world a translation of Bacon’s Sapientia Veterum, and in the same year a ' translation of Bacon’s Essays ; both into French. He died at fd Chelsea, September 28, 1625 (Ese. ut supra), and was buried { there, on the 10th of October (Lysons, ii. 122). His eldest son, \ Sir Arthur Gorges, was also a poet. See the Collection of Verses on the Death of Lord Hastings, 8vo. 1650. 248 is THE LIFE OF ~ of the reign of James the First, that many of. his productions were then preserved in manuscript ;- and in 1614, his translation. of Lucan was: published, which probably was begun many years before, and was, I suspect, “ the brave conceit” alluded to by Spenser. His grief for the death of Daphne, how- ‘ever deep at the time, does not appear to have lasted many years after these verses were written ; for in or before the year 1597, he married a second wife, Eli- zabeth, a daughter of Henry Clinton, Earl of Lin- coln, by whom.he had afterwards several children. “‘ There eke is Palin, worthie of great praise, ** Albe he envie at my rustick quill.” Palin is doubtless the abbreviation of Palinode 4, which Spenser has used as the name of a. shepherd in his fifth Eclogue; and, I conceive, was here in- tended to represent George Peele, a distinguished poet of that time, who was nearly of Spenser’s age, and had commenced a poetical writer about, the same time with him *. He is thus denominated on: the same ' principle which appears to have guided the author in the choice of several of the adumbrations found in these verses, in consequence of Peele’s having pub- 4 Verses, by Peele, are prefixed: to Watson’s Sonnets; -pub- lished in 1581. i 5 The title of Peele’s pastoral, which is: extremely scarce, is «© An Eclogue Gratulatorie, entituled to the right. honorable and renowmed Shepheard of Albion's’ Arcadia, Robert Earle of Essex and Ewe for his welcome into. England from Portugall,” 4to. 1589. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 249 lished; in 1589, a high eulogy on Lord Essex, a no- bleman:for ;whom Spenser had the greatest respect. _-In this piece the interlocutors are Piersand_ Palinode’®. Of Peele’s various productions. in the course of the pre- ceding fifteen years, which are alluded to as: worthy of great praise,” it is not necessary to say any thing in this place, as some aecount will be given of them hereafter... At this distance of time it. is. not easy to. say.,t0 what, part of Peele’s conduct Spenser alludes, in, the qualification of his encomium on this poet: but, I imagine, he was displeased at his having been: per- ; sonally introduced on the scene, under his assumed name of Colin, in a dramatick pastoral entitled The i Arraignment of Paris, written by Peele, and repre- sented before Queen Elizabeth in or before 1584. As Spenser’s unfortunate passion for the lady whom he has concealed under the name. of Rosalind,. was, after the publication of his eclogues, well known, the application of this character to the mew poet, as he was then called, must have been immediately made by the spectators, and he had some reason to be of- fended at being exhibited on the scene, as a hapless ; swain, actually dying for love; in addition to which serio-comick representation, his fellow-shepherds, Hob- binol, Diggon, and Thenot, bring his corpse on the stage, and while they are proceeding to his interment, sing a funeral dirge over it. “ The pangs of despised ' © Palin is used as the abbreviation of Palinode, by Peele, in < his Eclogue Gratulatoriey &c. 4to. 1589 : ' -“ Twit me with boldnes, Palin,.as thou wilt,” &c. _ In like manner, Spenser uses Hobbin for Hobbinol. 4 Fats fan st henry KE Z hated hy Mead + ~ wud ee he tat Alans ye even? T ges eas Ae te we Key. 6 HK. Lar-Jy, pet in A <7 Jw Kee a ae on howz 246 A fa-< ts f~ Shinnnms fC rx Opal 250 | THE LIFE OF love,” however they may affect the bosom of pining youth, exciting but little sympathy in the mass of mankind, this exhibition had certainly a tendency to place him in a ludicrous light, and is perhaps al- luded to under the words, ‘* Albe he envie at my rustick quill.” He may, however, also have had in view Peele’s not very successful imitation of his rustick pastorals, in the piece above mentioned, a performance of which per- haps this poet had boasted as equal or superior to the admired prototype on which it was formed. Under the name of Alcon, who is exhorted to at- tempt something of a higher strain than love-verses, I believe was shadowed Thomas Lodge, then a student in physick, and an admired poet; a man whose learning and profession Spenser must have respected, Alcon, like Corydon, is one of Virgil’s shepherds ; but Spenser, while he employed this pastoral name, thus familiarized to every classical reader, appears. to have had particularly in his contemplation a very po- pular play, entitled The Looking-glasse for London and England, and written by Lodge in conjunction with Robert Greene, then deceased. In this drama, which had been frequently performed in 1591, and the following year’, one of the characters is named Alcon *. The moral and religious turn of this Bee 7 This appears from the MS. register of Philip Henslowe. See the History of the English Stage, vol. iii. 8 The practice of thus denominating authors by names taken from their works, was not uncommon in that age. Thus Henry WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 251 probably, particularly recommended it to Spenser, and induced him to take Lodge’s poetical name from thence rather than from any of his other productions. Lodge had also written a great number of lays or short amatory poems, some of which are found dis- in his various novels *, and some published un- mixed with prose ; and the idivice hee given to him to attempt “ some matter of more skill,” appears to have had due weight; for in the middle of the year 1595, he gave the publick a small volume of moral satires and epistles®. Previously to the appearance of Chettle, in.a miscellaneous piece, consisting of prose and verse, entitled England's Mourning Garment, &c. 4to. 1603, shadows Marlowe the poet under the name of Museus; because he had translated the poem of Hero and Leander, attributed to Museus : 7 and Robert Greene, under the name of Musidore, doubtless from < his having been the author of Mucedorus, a play, which has been absurdly attributed to Shakspeare. ! This religious play represents the abominations and reforma- tion of the Ninevites; and the prophet Hosea, and Jonah, are two of the Dramatis Persone ; the latter of whom is cast out of the whale’s belly on the stage. - * Scillea’s Metamorphosis, 4to. 1589; Euphues Golden ie, 4to. 1590; Phillis honoured with pastoral sonnets, elegies, and amorous delights, the Life and Death of William Longbeard, 4to. 1593, &c. In the middle of the year 1594, Lodge pub- lished a piece of “more skill,” entitled The Wounds of Civil Warre, or the true Historie of Marius and Sylla, a tragedy; but I dowbt whether it had reached Spenser’s hands, when these "verses were written. 3 This very rare piece is entitled A Fig for Momus, containing pleasant Varietie, included in Satyres, Eclogues, and Epistles, by T. L. of Lincolnes Inne, Gent. It was entered in the Sta- tioners’ register, April 2, 1595. Mr. Warton, in the unpub- lished fragment of the fourth volume of his History of English - Poetry, p. 81, seems to doubt whether Lodge ever published any 2s ha Oe ohn Zics lids, LAL en ert fae a ed Sn BD Jmse Loa ftom 252 THE LIFE OF Colin Clout, he had propitiated Spenser by a paper of verses, prefixed to a collection of sonnets) and elegies, published in 1593, which is. now so ex- tremely rare, that I shall subjoin the Induction to it (as it is called) in a note, on account of the high and very elegant. eulogy on Spenser that it contains, which well entitled Lodge to this great, poet’s notice *. . Palemon is the poet next. introduced: . bth a “And there is old Palemon, free'from spight, “Whose careful pipe may make the hearer rew ; “* Yet he himself, may rewed be more right, «© Who sung so long untill quite hoarse he grew.” From these verses it appears that the person here al- luded to was somewhat advanced in years, though not yet, like Harpalus, “ waxen aged; ”—that he had long been a votary of the. Muses;—and ‘that his writings were distinguished for their moral tendency. These considerations induce me to believe that Ar- thur Golding was the poet in this place in Spenser’s thoughts, a very voluminous writer, who was at this time about sixty years. old, and. had -been a « maker” so early in the reign of Elizabeth as 1565, when he published a poetical version of the first four satires, The above-mentioned miscellany, it appears, had , not fallen into his hands. 4 There is a copy of this poem in the library of Emmanuel College, in Cambridge; and another, which had belonged to the late Dr. Farmer, is now in the valuable collection of Richard Heber, Esq. of Brazen-nose College, Oxford, to whom I am indebted for the following specimen of it : ** Phillis, honoured with Pastorall Sonnets, Elegies, and Amorous Delights. Whereunto is annexed the tragicall Com- playnt of Elstred,” 4to, 1593. I have never seen or heard of more WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 253 books of Ovid’s Metamorphosis, in the then popular measure—fourteen syllable verse. In 1567 he gave than two copies of this collection of poems. The Induction is as follows : THE INDUCTION. * I that, obscur'd, have fled the sceane of fame *, “ Intitling my conceits to nought but care, “ T that have liv’d a Phoenix in Jove’s flame, “ And felt that death I never would declare, “ Now mount the theater of this our age, “To plead my faith and Cupid's cursed rage “ Oh you high sp'rited paragons of witte + “ That flye to fame beyond our earthly pitch, “* Whose sence is sound, whose words are feat and fitte, «* Able to make the coyest eare to itch, “ Shroud with your mighty wings that mount so well, “ These little Joves new crept from out the shell. « And thou, the true. Octavia t of our time, “ Under whose worth beauty was never matched, - “The genius of my Muse and ragged rime, _ “ Smile on these little loves but lately hatched, _ * Who from the wrastling waves have made retreate, “To pleade for life before thy judgement seate. “ And tho’ the fore-bred brothers § they have had, “Who in their swan-like songs Amintas wept, Ye fe aF fm * The author had, in the preceding year, gone on a voyage “— ef with the celebrated navigator Cavendish. ‘big se fo at Spenser/s Daniel, &e. SS — , $~ Mary Countess of Pembroke (as I conceive), a patroness of poets, ‘and sister of Sir Philip Sidney; as Octavia" was the Geta... <+« sister of Augustus, and patroness of Virgil. a me 2 '§ Doubtless Thomas Watson and Abraham Fraunce. The hme Liner: ke Ee" - ees LD) aMaseees former, i in 1585, had sung the Complaints or Lamentations of ~~“ “> ~~ °. Amyntas: for the Death of Phillis ;-and hence Lodge calls Wat-<<.», 2..2@4~ fia Deak 254 THE LIFE OF the publick a complete translation of the fifteen books of that work; to which he prefixed a poetical. epistle “ For all their sweet-thought sighes had fortune bad, «* And twice obscur’d in Cinthia's circle slept, “ Yet these, I hope, under your kind aspéct, “ Most worthy’ lady, shall escape neglect. “ And if these infants of mine artlesse braine « (Not by theyr worth, but by thy worthinesse) ‘* A meane good liking of the learned gaine, ‘* My Muse enfranchis'd from forgetfulnesse “ Shall hatch such breede in honour of thy name... ** As moderne poets shall admire the same. «* As moderne poets shall admire the same ; «« | meane not you, you never-matched men “* Who brought the chaos of our tongue in frame ‘* Through these Herculean labours of your pen : *¢ | meane the meane, I meane no men divine, «* But such whose feathers are but waxt like mine. ‘* Go weeping truce-men in your sighing weedes, * Under a great Mecenas I have past [plas’t] you; *« If so you come where learned Colin * feedes ‘ His lovely flocke, packe thence, and quickly haste you: “ You are but mistes before so bright a sunne, “« Who hath the palme for deepe invention wonne. Kisse Delia’s hand, for her sweet prophet’s t sake, “¢ Whose not affected, but well couched, teares “ Have power, have worth, a marble mind to shake “* Whose fame no iron age or time out-weares ; * Then lay you down in Phillis’ lap, and sleepe,. “ Untill she weeping read, and reading weepe. son's verses—former loves ; the collection of poems to which. this is the introduction, being also in honour of Phillis.. Abraham Fraunce, in 1587, had published a poetical translation of Watson’s poem, under the title of The Lamentation of Amyntas for the Death of Phillis; of which the only copy that I have seen is in WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 255 of about six hundred lines, dedicated to the Earl of Leicester, wherein the moral of all the stories is phi- losophically expounded. ‘The religious cast of some of his poetical pieces and of very many of his prose works, I conceive, gave rise to the epithet here em-— ployed,—* Whose careful pipe may make the hearer : rew ;” in which line Spenser perhaps had particularly the Bodleian Library. Watson was dead before 1592. His very rare poem, in Latin hexameters, entitled Amyntas Thome Wat- | soni Londinensis, I. V. Studiosi, consists of eleven parts, each entitled Querela (Prima, Secunda. &c.), and the last ends with the ~ _death of Amyntas. } Spenser also has eulogized these fore-bred brothers in his Faery Queene, b. iii. c. 6, st. 45: «* ——. Sad Amaranthus made a flower but late, * Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore ce ‘* Me seemes I see Amintas’ wretched fate, fl nage Cin 6 “ To whom sweet poets’ verse hath given endless date.” %“52°-°2. 77 In a note on this passage, in the last edition, the learned<— <4 ~~ font / editor concurs with Mr, Upton in supposing Sir Philip Sidney ed ~~ ath | be the person meant under the name of Amintas ; but, unquestion- me “ew fafa rte, ably, that was not the case : and Mr, Church was equally mis taken in supposing that by Amyntas was here meant Renn, OOS Watson, the author of the poem already mentioned ; for though 2 é 2, Lt re Spenser frequently shadowed some of the contemporary poets 7 heraici under the titles of their productions, or the names mentioned in 7, .. .. 4 them, that manifestly was not his meaning here ; the Amintas in— “.z--, -~~< these lines being certainly the poetical and imaginary person who ee a a, is supposed to have died for the love of Phillis; that Amintas, to, eee oe. whom “the verse” of those sweet poets [Watson and Fraunce ji. Koa (for the word is not the genitive case singular, but plural), h had“ Aicwicge » 7am given never-ending celebrity. The last line,—“* To whom,” &c. eae stage a compared with Lodge's verses in honour of the same persons, and ‘with their respective poetical productions in 1585 and 1587 proves via that this is the true interpretation of this con- * Soave + Daniel. 256 THE LIFE OF in his thoughts, Golding’s translation of Beza’s Mys- tery, or, as he terms it, “ tragedie of Abraham’s Sacri- fice,” originally published in 1550, and exhibited by Golding in English verse in 1577. Spenser might also have had in his thoughts, “ the Psalmes of David and others, with Beza’s Commentary ;” published by. Golding in 1571, if that work were in verse, which I . am unable to ascertain, never having seen it. Between the years 1562 and 1595, he gave his country an English translation of Ovid’s Metamor-. phosis, Cesar’s Commentaries, Justin, Seneca de Beneficiis, Julius Solinus, and Pomponius: Mela; and published about twelve pieces, chiefly translations from the French, and most of them of a religious complexion. From the general cast of thinking in many of this poet’s numerous pieces, he seems to have been a rigid Calvinist ; a circumstance which may have recom- mended him to Leicester and Lord Burghley, in whose family he appears at one time to have lived. He was of a gentleman’s family, and born in London, about the year 1535, as I conjecture ; for he became a fellow commoner of Jesus College in Cambridge, in or before 1552. I know not the exact time of. his death, but I suspect that it happened some time between 1596 and 1606. It must be recollected, that all the poets here alluded to, are spoken of as then living, except Amyntas, whom, though dead, and, consequently incapable of singing the praises of Elizabeth, the poet has introduced by a happy artifice of language, from his affectionate attachment to the nobleman shadowed under that appellation. In ran ee WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 257 forming a conjecture, Diicetate concerning each of the individuals alluded to, it is, in the first places necessary to show that he was then living. That Arthur Golding was alive when this poem was pub- lished, is ascertained by his dedication of the “ Poli- ticke, Morall, and Martiall Discourses of Jaques Hurault,” to William Lord Cobham, which is dated Jan. 27, 1595-6. Being now a versifier of above | thirty years standing; and having, it would seem, obtained but little emolument from his labours; he is, with sufficient propriety, described as having sung so long as to have become hoarse*; and as an object 'of 4 Yet he himself may rewed be more right, « That sung so long untill quite hoarse he grew.” Spenser himself may, perhaps, supply. the best comment on these lines. See his tenth Eclogue: _ © Cuddy. Pierce, I have piped earst so long with paine ' “That all mine oaten reedes bene rent and wore ; And my poore Muse hath spent her spared store, * Yet little good hath got and much less gaine.” Cuddy, or Cuthbert, was meant to designate a poet of that name, and a friend of Spenser's. See Three proper, &c. Letters, 4to. 1580, p. 40. Indeed, from a sonnet of Bishop Hall, yet preserved i in manuscript, it should seem that all the interlocutors, introduced by Spenser in ‘his Shepheard’s Calendar, were not persons, but his own poetical contemporaries : ** Not all the shepheards in his Calendar, * Though /earned shepheards they, and seen in song—.” _ The same observation has been made by the Rev. Mr. Todd, in his late edition of Spenser, who also coincides with me in sup- posing Corydon to have meant Abraham Fraunce. But the present and preceding section were written some years before Mr. Todd’s edition of Spenser appeared, and read by my friend Mr. Bindley. * VOL, II. 8 258 THE LIFE OF uJ compassion in consequence of being but ill provided for in his old age, notwithstanding his unwearied and pious endeavours to benefit mankind by his moral and religious productions. He does not appear to have entered into controversy with any of his contempo- raries; and the general object of the greater part of his writings being the promotion of virtue and piety, he may be presumed to have well deserved the pro- mise here given by our moral poet, that of being “free from spight;” in opposition to Palin, whose malevolence had recently been noticed. Like Abraham Fraunce, he was endeared to Spenser (whose friendly attachments appear to have had considerable weight in several of these eulogies), by his:connexion with Sir Philip Sidney; by whom Golding was so , much respected, that Sidney having begun a trans- / lation of Philip Mornay’s work, “ concerning the \ trewnesse of the Christian religion,” which he: did not live to complete, he desired that it should be nished by Golding, who, in conformity to his pa- tron’s wishes, published that piece in or before 1592. .All the shadowy and allusive denominations hi. therto examined, have been found to be significant and appropriate ; either taken from some peculiar cir- cumstances in the history of the writer alluded to, or from the poetical compositions of the persons whom they were intended to designate. Of the former kind is the name of Alcyon; of the latter, are the names of Harpalus, Corydon, Palin, and Alcon. In like manner, Golding was denominated Palemon, with a particular reference to his poetical version of the WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 259 fourth book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis, which he had translated and published about thirty years before, and in which the story of Melicerta, the son of Athamas and Ino, occurs; who, we are there told, after his untimely death, by his mother throwing herself and. him into the ocean, became a sea-god under the name of Palemon. This fable, which Gold- ing has translated with great spirit and vigour, Spenser has again alluded to, in the eleventh canto of the fourth book of his Faery Queen: — « _ © Phorcys, the father of that fatall brood, “< By whom these old herdes wonne such fame, * And Glaucus that wise soothsayes understood ; ** And tragicke Inoes sonne, the which became _“ A god of seas, through his mad mother’s hans; ft Now hight Palemon, and is saylei’s friend 4,’ The late Mr. Warton, in his excellent History of English Poetry, has cited with just praise a large portion of Golding’s translation of this part of the Metamorphosis, as a striking specimen of the abi- lities of Golding as a translator, whom in this respect he greatly prefers to Phaer and ‘Twyne, the poetical translators of Virgil. Doubtless the English version of the story of Palemon, made a similar impression on Spenser and.his contemporaries; and hence we may reasonably presume he was induced to conceal the translator of Ovid under this adumbration °, _4 See also Faery Queen, book v. c. 8, st. 47. 5 My friend Mr. Todd, in his valuable edition of Spenser, has also entered.into an examination of Colin — Come Home 8 2 260 THE LIFE OF. In the midst of these fanciful adumbrations, we are surprised with the undisguised name of [ William] Alabaster °, a very distinguished scholar, then. about Again, with a view to ascertain, as far as conjecture can assist us, who the'persons were who were understood by the poet ‘under the. feigned names which he has introduced. In several instances he coincides with Mr. Malone, but in others they differ. Palin he / supposes to have been Thomas Chaloner; Alcon, Thomas ; Watson; Old Palemon, Thomas Churchyard; and Harpalus, (manele Googe. With regard to Palemon, I am inclined to think that Mr. Todd was in the right. If indeed it could be proved that Churchyard was the author of that ballad which is » preserved along with Surrey’s poems, ‘ Phillida was a fair maid,” there could be little doubt that he was designated by Harpalus. But I know not upon what authority a composition of so much merit has been ascribed tohim ; it is certainly very different from his usual strain. I should think that he was commemorated under the name of Palemon, because he seems bipoinyd to have alluded toa line in that part of the poem: “ That sung so long untill quite hoarse he grew.” In Churchyard’s Cherishing, 1596, he describes the Court as being 4 ‘« The platform where all poets thrive, ay ** Save one whose voice is hoarse they say.” - But the main object of our present inquiry, to which the other questions which these lines have suggested are comparatively unimportant, is, whether Shakspeare is pointed out under the Pine 2. lyfe... ame of Aetion. Mr. Todd applies it to Drayton, But there is: tT Ln tee? nothing heroical in that poet's name ; nor are ‘ high thoughts". \f2< ”. PA—— the distinguishing excellence of his poetry; while, on the other eae “<= hand, Mr. Malone has, I think, sufficiently established the pe ener fondness of our ancestors for such a play of words as Shake-spear eo would furnish. But the reader has the evidence already before him, and I shall not detain him longer by any observations of my own. Boswett. § William Alabaster was born in Suffolk, about the year 1567.. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 261 ‘twenty-seven years of age; whose Roxana, a Latin tragedy, had been acted at Trinity College, in Cam- bridge, a few years before, with great applause, and was surreptitiously and imperfectly printed about forty years afterwards (1632); which drew from the author a genuine edition in the same year: but the unfinished performance here so highly eulogized, his Eliseis, a Latin poem of considerable length, in honour of Queen Elizabeth, with all. its attributed merit, and notwithstanding the subject was once so popular, has never been submitted to the press. It is, however, yet extant in manuscript. Of his English poetry, I have been able to recover but two short specimens, preserved in the Bodleian Li- brary, in a manuscript of Archbishop Sancroft’s, which He was educated at Trinity College, in Cambridge, where he took the Gegree of Bachelor of Arts in 1587, and that of Master of Arts in 1591; and in 1592 he was incorporated into the University of Oxford. ‘‘ He was,” says Wood, Ath. Oxon. vol. i. Fast. 144, ‘‘ the rarest poet and Grecian that any one age or nation produced.” About two years after this poem was written, he accompanied Lord Essex, as one of his chaplains, in the ex- pedition against Cadiz. After his return from that’ expedition, he changed his religion for that of Rome, and published, in his justification, his Seven Motives, to which two answers appeared. < Afterwards, being. disgusted with his new friends, he returned to the church’, of England, became a Prebendary of St. Paul's, Rector of Thorfield, in Hertfordshire, and in 1614, Doctor of Divinity. _He, died in April, 1640. His works,’ beside those already’. -mentioned, .are,| Apparatus. in Revelationem «Jesu Christi, 4to..1607.; Spiraculum Tubarum, n. d. Ecce Sponsus Venit, 4to. 1633; Lexicon Pentaglotton, fol. 1637. His Roxana, he tells us himself, was, the work of only a fortnight. Of this distinguished: scholar and poet there is an admirable print, by Payne, which was well —" a few years ago. 262 THE LIFE OF have never been printed, and which, therefore, I shall give below’, In naming Alabaster thus directly, 7 * A New Year's Gift to my Saviour. * Ho! God behere. Is Christ, my Lord, at leisure ?- * Blessed S'. Peter, to my King present “This Alabaster box which I have sent; “ And if he ask how it may do him pleasure, © Tell him I hear that he hath endless treasure “* But hath not vessels half sufficient, “« And in this box are many moe content, ‘* Wherein of grace he may bestow large measure: ** Within my spirit his knowledge he may place, * Light in my mind, within my will his grace: * * * % * “ Merit in memory, love in my hart : “ This if he doe, I hope by seeing it “* Ten thousand may themselves likewise impart.” The transcriber of this sonnet has written, in the third line, “An Alablaster box ;” a corruption so common that Sir Robert egeee Cecil, in one of his letters, thus writes the word. See Win- 16 wood's Memor. ii, 147. “* Upon the Ensigns of our Crucified Saviour. “ O sweet and bitter monument of pain ! * (Bitter to Christ, who all the pain endured, ** But sweet to me whose life his death secured,) ‘* How shall I full-express such loss, such gain, ‘* My tongue shall be my pen; mine eyes shall rain “« Tears for the ink ; the Cross where I was cured ** Shall be my book ; where having all abjured, * And calling heaven to record, in that place [plain] “¢ Thus will I plainly write—zo sin like mine. ** When I have done, dothou, Jesu divine, “« Take up the last sponge of thy passion * And blot that forth. Then be thy Spirit the quill, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 263 Gpenser’s object, doubtless, was to recommend. his friend to the Queen’s favour, and to procure him promotion in the church, which he afterwards ob- tained. , In like manner, the poet next mentioned is not concealed under the cloud of description, or the mys- terious perplexity of a fictitious name; but we are plainly told, that [Samuel] Daniel, a new poet *, _ “ Thy blood the ink, and with compassion “ Write thus upon my soul—thy Jesu still.” The piety of these sonnets is more obvious than the poetry ; yet Donne, and those in that age who admired Donne, doubtless thought them excellent. I have preserved them as the only English specimens of Alabaster’s writing that I have been able to discover. « In the first of these sonnets, it is manifest, from its structure, that a line has been omitted, by the negligence of the transcriber, which rhymed with the word 7; and in the eighth line of the second, the word place was evidently written carelessly, instead of plain, or some other word of a similar termination. In the corresponding sonnet, the first, fourth, fifth, and pahth lines thyme to each other. In the former sonnet, the allusion to the name of the writer is an additional confirmation of what has Li said on the propensity of that age to “a dalliance with names.” 8 Samuel Daniel was born in Somersetshire, in 1562, and educated at Magialen-College, in Oxford, where he studied about five years, In 1585, he first became known to the public by translating a tract of Paulus Jovius, on Jmpresses.. But he did not commence poet till 1592, when his nonnett, which are | here referred to, and his Complaint of Re Rosamond,” were pub- a. mea on lished in quarto. When the present eulogy was written, he was ~~~ alae api Chips about thirty-two years old. He died in 1619. fi-Behn2 — fla How very highly Daniel was estimated in his own time, and al ae | surely considerably above his deserts (though he was not wholly 7~94 <—~ # devoid of merit), may be learned from the high eulogies which “ *7-~*~ <«*~ has observed, has an epigram highly in her praise, book iii. ep. 47. “ya «<< She died Jan. 26, 1635-6. Her sister Elisabeth, whom Spenser pete 2 ee distinguished by the name of Phillis, was the second daughter of Sir John Spenser, and the wife of Sir George Carey, eldest son of Henry Lord Hunsdon. Spenser's Charillis, was Anne, the fifth daughter of the same person, who had first married William Stanley, Lord Monteagle, and secondly, Henry, Lord Compton, and was at this time the second wife of Robert Sackville, eldest _. son of Thomas, Lord Buckhurst. In the group of court . ladies afterwards introduced in this poem, they are thus described : “* Ne less praiseworthy are the sisters three, “ The honour of the noble family, “* Of which I meanest boast my selfe to be, ** And most that unto them I am so nigh; © Phillis, Charillis, and sweet Amarillis : ** Phillis the fair, is eldest of the three; * The next to her is beautiful Charillis ; ‘* But the youngest is the highest in degree.” ' After having expatiated in the’ praise of Phyllis and Charillis, with whom we are less concerned, the poet adds— . ‘* But Amaryllis, whether fortunate, ** Or else unfortunate, may I aread, ‘* That freed is from Cupid's yoke by fate, ** Since which she doth new bonds adventure dread. “‘ Shepherd, whatever thou hast heard to be ** In this or that prays’d diversely apart, “In her thou mayst them all assembled see, ** And seald up in the treasure of her heart.” WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 267 _ doubtedly addressed to the same nobleman, who is represented as the second mystical argument of Spen+ 4. 1.4 “2-77 jy WEEE we Re awte 7 See the History of the English Stage, in vol. iii, After thea whan death of Ferdinand, Earl of Derby, in 1594, the troop of come- <747—~ "~~." dians that had been patronized by him, became the servants of ~~ ~~4-~ the Lord Admiral, Charles, Earl of Nottingham. o. ewe 3 ze pee 8 This poem is preserved in The Antiquarian Repertory, vol. iii. oi xh) ye a p. 133. It was printed from a manuscript volume belonging to’, ~~", Cee hug) Sir John Hawkins, which perished in the fire that consumed ie wearers ae house in Queen Square, in the year 1788. The heroine of this ZS. sig a ee poem is Phillis, but her lover's name is not mentioned. Some“ ~ L Fat aces of his poetry is preserved in a collection entitled “ Belvidere, or the Garden of the Muses,” as the editor informs us in his pre- face; but the verses in that work being printed without appro- . priation to their author, we know not which are Lord Derby's. 9 See the Dedication of The Tears of the Muses, quoted ante, p. 265, n. 2. ' It is highly probable, that in the selection of some of the poets 272 THE LIFE OF | poetry has much more vigour and elegance than that. of Lord Derby, would, perhaps, have been here sub- stituted in his room. But the kindness and_grati- tude of our’ poet could find no defect in the poetical effusions of Stanley, Ralegh, Sidney, or his sister, Mary, Countess of Pembroke. In all other respects, however, Lord Derby strictly merited the high eu- logy with which he. has been honoured. Some of his letters have come down to us, which are written with perspicuity and spirit; and perhaps some more both of his poetry and prose may yet be extant in maniscript, or. miscellaneous printed collections, er-- roneously attributed to others. But his career. of lite- here enumerated and eulogized, Spenser was governed in some degree by personal kindness. The principal poets whom he has omitted, comprising them under the general words—* All these, - and many others moe, remaine,” &c. were, The Earl of Oxford, Lord Buckhurst, Sir Edward Dyer, Sir John Harrington, William Warner, Henry Constable, Sir John Davys, Michael Drayton, . Matthew Roydon, Joshua Sylvester, and George Chapman.— ( Watson, Turberville, Marlowe, and Greene, were at this time dead, and therefore could not, according to his scheme, be introduced, _ 2 See Lodge’s Illustrations of British History, iii. $7. The disagreement between Lord Essex and Lord Derby, which gave - rise to the Letters printed by Mr. Lodge, is referred to by Sir John Harrington, Nuge Antique, vol.i. p. 114, edit. 1804. _ Other letters written by this gentleman are preserved in Peck’s Desid. Curios. vol. i. p. 115, 141. ~ Ferdinand, Earl of Derby, was educated at College, in Cam- bridge, and was created Master of Arts at Oxford in Sept. 1589, together with Sir George Carew, and Sir John Spenser of Althorp. Wood's Ath. Oxon. i. Fast. 138. ‘ Chapman, in an Epistle to his friend Matthew Roydon, pre- fixed to his poem entitled The Shadow of Night, published in 1594, thus highly commends this nobleman : WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 273 raty atid honourable’ exertions lasted not’ long): ‘for a short: while before these verses were written, this athiable and much respected nobleman died: at the age of thirty-seven, in, extreme agony, having. been poisoned,, as there are the strongest ertronds for be- lieving, by one of his own servants °,,./.... But where, it may be asked, among, all sheen dint tinguished votaries of the Muses, is Shakspeare found ?—He closes the poetical band, obscurely, yet unquestionably shadowed in these lines : - And thes, though last, not least, is Aetion,— ATE / peonme “A gentler shepheatd may no where be found ; er. a 4 an —_- hf Es f- in “ Whose Muse, full of high thoughts’ invention 4, ** Doth, like himself, heroically sound.” NL eth bf. ————— ee oH as ibaicivad: this spleen, when I remember, my ae Mat. how 677-5“) “2-7 joyfully oftentimes you reported unto me, that most ingenious G Darbie, deepe-searching Northumberland (Henry, the ninth Earl] £7200. x and skill-imbracing heire of Hunsdon [George, afterwards the ware f second Lord Hunsdon] had most profitably entertained learning in themselves, to the vital warmth of freezing science, and to the admirable’ luster of their true nobilitie.” “3 Camden; Hist. Eliz. vol. iii. p» 685, edit. Hearne; and Collins's Peerage, under the title of Detby. Sir John Harrington also alludes to “‘ the hastened fate "of Ferdinand Earl of Derby, whonr he styles ‘‘ one of England’s greatest peers.” LEpig. book iii. ep. 47. His portrait is yet preserved’at the ancient seat of this noble family in Lancashire. 4 We find a similar.eulogy in Speriser's verses addressed to. his ’ admired friend Ralégh; at the end of his third book of his ~ Queene; 4to. 1590: “To thee’ that art the summers nightingale “ Thy soveraigne goddesses most deare delight, “Why do:I send this rustick madrigale “That may thy. turiefull! eare unseason quite ? ** Then only fit this argument, to write, ° * In whose high thoughts Pleasure hath built her boure.” VOL, II. T 274 THE LIFE OF “None of the poetical denominations in this list, we have already seen, were adopted capriciously, or are without meaning. In forming the name by ese ye Birent which our great poet is here designated, as in some =o % &-*~ others introduced in his Faery Queen*, and else- / 25 where, the author is indebted to the Greek language, in the study of which he took great delight °, the . word perhaps signifying only what in the preceding part of the line had been ‘said in plainer terms’; . -or he may have formed this denomination with a re- ference to the cause or origin of our poet’s surname, to which in the following lines he more openly al- = Judes*. It may be conjectured that before this poem Yacintiry +2 on oe more of his historical plays,“ probably. King | oo Aaa aie Richard the Second and Third. Spenser, therefore, beat Mormas 6 ‘ Z ide ey CF Laren ett gegen Devinn” LB £ te fae on Oh Ck wens Ete sak. Zyr-* POO 7 See, = Ct oL/ wn Sot hgh) 5 Thus we have Acrates, Panope, Melissa, Philotime, Timias, Archimago, Eudoxus, and others of a similar formation. In like manner, Sir Philip Sidney, in consequence of his passion for Stella, was denominated Astrophi/, which, from some fancy, Spenser always wrote Astrophel or Astrofell, but. which, con- formably to the etymology, ought certainly to be written Astrophil, as Matthew Roydon has written it in his Elegy on Sidney. See Appendix. he Coys tt St i scaialation of Kxiochels Dialogues, ‘attributed to Plato, by : Spenser, was, I believe, published in 1592. re ee 7 From a priv. and H=SQN or HTLQN or HTTON, infe- rior. Perhaps indeed he might have meant that our poet was | inferior to none. So, in his Faery Queen, b. iii. c. iii. st.(54; 53. << in that royal hous, 1. «< From whence, to none inferior, ye came.” 8 From airioy, causa : so we have in Latin, AEtiologia, derived in 4, 4s feo,’ Part from the same Greek root? My former conjecture, however, ta cons Jy. 4/** appears to me the more probable of the two. ; pom Fh porte fim fore ~ fut ’ae “ ga e 7 C4 finhutio y (se.s93 f eS ; bzFew .f f rae Yi if A eT Th Can re tes Liywgh be Bee ZS Lae Ky Anh ote aa faut. / : ASG ape 6 he AEN fe. 0. 105) boflr-d fh. bn betta WILEZAM SHAKSPEARE. - 275 while he distinguished him by that charaeteristick epi- thet which several of his contemporaries have applied to, him,—* A gentler shepherd may no where be found,” and alluded to the brandished spear from which his name, so congenial with heroick song, was originally derived °, may be supposed to have had in contemplation these imperial tragedies, then per- haps performing with applause at the Curtain Theatre, as well as his Venus and Adonis, and the newly published poem of the Rape of Lucrece, which had appeared in the middle of the year 1594, and may, _ 9 Fuller, as well as Spenser, alludes to the heroick sound of our poet’s name. “ In Shakespeare,” says he (Worthies, Warw. p- 126), ‘ three eminent poets may seem in some sort to be compounded. 1. Martial; in the warlike sound of his surname, whence some may conjecture him of a military extraction, hasti- ° vibrans, or Shake-speare.” Ben Jonson, in his posthumous verses on our author, has a similar allusion to Shakspeare’s name : se Look how the father’s face * Lives in his issue; even so the grace “* Of Shakspeare’s mind and manners brightly shines «* In his well-torned and true filed lines ; “In each of which he seems to shake a lance, ** As brandish’d at the eyes of ignorance.” See als6Bancroft’ ‘s Epigrams, 4to. 1639, signat. D 2, where our poet is ‘thus addressed : ** Thou hast so used thy pen,/or shook thy speare,/ “ That poets startle, not thy wit come near.” In a description of two knights tilting, in Spenser's Faery Queen, b. iii. c. i. st. 7, we find the component ae of our poets name thus heroically introduced : ** Great shame and sorrow of that fall he tooke, ** For never yet, sith warlike armes he bore - - And shivering speare in bloody field first shook, “ He found him selfe dishonored so sore.” T 2 y a8 I 7G 276 .THE LIFE OF © with perfect propriety, be referred to under the deno- mination of heroick verse. In Richard the Second, - the ‘challenge of Bolingbroke and the Duke of Nor- folk in‘the first act, and the contention in the fourth act between the various noble disputants assembled in the lists at Coventry, being conducted with all the forms and. pomp of chivalry, furnished, doubtless, a very splendid spectacle; and indeed the whole drama, as well “as that of Richard the Third, doth, like its author, “ heroically sound.” Let it not, however, be supposed, that Shakspeare was lightly estimated by Spenser, because his name is last introduced in this list of poetical worthies; for, not to insist on the law of heraldry, by which, in all processions, the last place is considered the most ho- nourable, and always assigned to the person of the greatest dignity, we may observe that Nashe, in an eulogy on his friend George Peele, whom he pre- ferred to all the dramatic writers of the period when it was written (1589), introduces his admired and favourite poet precisely in the same manner, though certainly he intended to represent him as far sur-: passing all his contemporaries: “ And for the last, a Ac! though not the least of them all’, I dare commend f xare. p? | ae « See also Nashe’s Have With You to Saffron Walden, 4to: 1596, Signat. R. “* Doctors Dove and Clarencius I turne loose to bee their owne arbitrators and advocates,....as also in like sort, Master Spencer, whom I do not thrust into the lowest place, because I make the lowest valuation of, ‘but as we use to sett the summ’ tot’ underneath or at the bottom, he being the semm'’ tot! of whatsoever can be said of. sharpe invention and schollership.” “Though last, not least,” seems to have been a common formula in that age ; and is always applied to a person very highly valued by the speaker. ‘* Next like an ale-house ruffen, with WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE., Qi7 him [Peele] unto all that know him, as the chief supporter of pleasaunce, now living, the Atlas of his dagger he slew the infortunate good King Henry the Sixt in the Tower of London. Then heaping murder upon murder, .he caused George Duke of Clarence, his natural brother, to be drowned in a butte of malmsey; and ast, though not the least, to rowle up a number of noble subjectes, ends with the death of Edward the Fift, and Richard Duke of Yorke,” &c. Again, in the Remembraunce of the woorthie and well imployed Life of the Right Honourable Sir Nicholas Bacon, &c. by the same author, 4to. [1578]: «* The last, but not of worldly evils the least, « When we have fed of vaine delights our fill, ** Death comes in fine—.” So, in Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy : “ The third and ast, not least in our account,” Again, in his Cornelia, 1594: __. “ And ast, not least, bereft of my best father.” Again, in Sylvester's Dubartas, 4to. 1605, p. 185: ** Thou Jast, not least, brave eagle, no contempt _ * Made me so long thy storie hence exempt.” Again, in the old anonymeus play, entitled The History of King Leir, 4to. 1605 : «to thee last of all, “* Not greeted last, ‘cause thy desert is small.” Again, in A Woman Will Have her Will, a comedy by William o. Houghton, acted in 1598; ~~ 7 East, yet as great in love, as to the first, *¢ If you remember,” &c. So, also, our author in his King Lear, 4to. 1608 ; * —— But now, our joy, “ Although the last, not least in our dear love.” Again, in his Julius Cesar: Though Jast, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius.”" - Again, in Pattenham’s Arte of Poesie, 1589: “ But Jest in recitall and first in degree, the Queen our sovereign ladie, whose learned, delicate, noble muse, easilie surmounteth all the rest that have written before her time or since, for sense;~sweetnesse, 278 THE LIFE OF poetry, and primus verborum artifex ; whose first increase [production], The Arraignment of Paris, might plead to your opinions his pregnant dexteritie of wit, and manifold variety of invention, wherein, me judice, he goeth a step beyond all. that write.” Such having been the usage and phraseology of the time, no inference can be drawn to the disadvantage of Shakspeare, from the last place being allotted to him in this poetical catalogue ; which Spenser may. have been induced to assign him from. his having been the last of the whole band, whose muse had so- _ licited the publick favour. Churchyard and Gold- ing preceded him many years. Gorges, Peele, Lodge, Alabaster, Ralegh, and Lord’ Derby, had .written between 1580 and 1590, and Daniel in 1592. . Shakspeare’s two poems did not appear till after- - wards, the one in 1593, the other in 1594; and the historical tragedies already mentioned, it is highly probable, were then also first produced, In_ like ° manner, our poet’s Cordelia, though, as the youngest ' daughter, last interrogated concerning her filial af- and subtilltie, be it in ode, elegie, epigram, or any other kind of poeme, heroick or lyricke, wherein it shall please Her Majestie to employ her penne, even by so much oddes as her owne excel- lent estate and degree exceedeth all the rest of her most humble - vassals.” —[Here we find that Spenser’s Eulogy on Her Majesty's poetry, extravagant as it is, was only the ¢ common ee of that time.] Thus also Webster (though the last, ‘not the least apposite authority) in the preface to his White Devil, 1612: “—and genk Goo ézc¢.\ lastly, without wrong last to be named, the right happy and copious industrie of Master Shake-speare,” &c. > Epistle prefixed to Greene's Arcadia, 4to. 1589, WILLIAM -‘SHAKSPEARE. 279 fection, was unquestionably her fond father’s “ joy,” . and more beloved by him than either of her sisters, : - who, solely on account of their seniority, had been. wae addressed. _ For. this long, but, I trust not wholly uninterest- ing, disquisition, no apology is necessary. Every. poetical reader, I. am confident, will be gratified by an endeavour to “pluck out the heart of this “mystery,” to penetrate the thick “veil of words,” under which, for more than two centuries, the cha- _raeters and productions of so many ingenious men have been concealed; and will feel no less satisfac- tio than I have done, on discovering, that, though . 3 Shakspeare was not the comick writer eulogized by. the author of The ‘Tears of the Muses, at a time wheri his name was scarcely known in the world, he iy yet, afterwards, was duly appreciated by his illus- trious and amiable contemporary ; who, in talents iS 5a ree ‘yirtues, more nearly resembled Shakspeare tl than did 4-<- « oe o - any writer of that age; and who, we find, at a very’, ee é early period of our great poet’s dramatick life, had = - tye a hal wa just sense of his transcendent merits. s Spgs oom wf SECTION XIV. Se ee Before we proceed to consider Shakspeare in hiss~~~ 7 ipanseg sal ‘tigher ‘character of a poet, let us advert to thoseZ. Ce seanty portions of information which have come down “X- oo tous respecting his merits as an actor, a very infe-.: ap — rior capacity certainly, but naturally connected with “2 (“FZ his dramatick career. Upon this point I have again> Se to quote thé authority of Mr. Aubrey, whose words -“ are these: ' « Being inclined naturally (says Mr. Aubrey) to 1 f 280 THE LIFE OF poetry and acting, he came to London, I guesse about eighteen, and was an actor at one of the’playhouses, “and did act exceedingly well. Now Ben Jonson lever was a good actor, but an excellent instructor.” The first observation that I. shall make on ‘this account is, that the latter part of it, which informs us that Ben Jonson was a bad actor, is incontestably con- firmed by one of the comedies of Decker; and there- fore, though there were no other evidence, it might be plausibly inferred that Mr. Aubrey’s information con- cerning our poet’s powers on the stage was not less accurate. But in this instance I am not under the necessity of resting on such an inference; for I am able to produce the testimony of a contemporary in support of Shakspeare’s histrionick merit. In the preface to a pamphlet entitled Kinde-Hartes Dreame, published in December 1592, which I have elsewhere had occasion to quote for another purpose, the author, Henry ~Chettle, who was himself a dra- matick writer, and well acquainted with the principal poets and players of the time, thus speaks of ‘Shake speare? «“ The other®, whom at that time I did not so much spare, as since I wish I had, for that as I have moderated the hate of living writers, and might have ‘used my own discretion, (especially in such a case, the author [Robert Greene] being dead,) I am as sorry as if the original fault had been my fault; because my selfe have seen his demeanour no less civil than he EXCELLENT in the qualitie he professes, be- sides, divers of worship have reported his upright- 3 That. by the words “ The other,” was meant Shakspeare, will be shewn in the Essay on the Order of his plays. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 281 ness of dealing, which argues his honestie, and his facetious grace in writing, that approves his art.” _ ” 'To those who are not conversant with the language of our old writers, it may be proper to observe, that the words, “ the quality he professes,” particularly denote his profession as an actor. ‘The latter part of the paragraph indeed, in which he is praised as a good man and an elegant writer, shews this: how- ever, the following passage in Stephen Gosson’s Schoole of Abuse, 1579, in which the very same words oceur, will put this matter beyond a doubt. Over- lashing in apparell (says Gosson) is so common a fault, that the verye hyerlings of some of our plaiers, which stand at the reversion of vis. by the weeke, jet under gentlemen’ s noses in sutes of silke, exercising themselves in prating on the stage, and common scoffing when they come abrode; where they looke askance at every man of whom the sonday be- fore they begged an almes. I speak not this as though every one that professeth the qualitie, so abused him selfe; for it is wel knowen, that some of them are sober, discreet, properly learned, honest householders, and citizens well thought on amonge their neighbours at home, though the pride of their shadowes (I meane those hange-byes whome they succour with stipend) cause them to bee somewhat talked of abrode *.” Thus early was Shakspeare celebrated as an actor, and thus unfounded was the information which Mr. 4 {In the margin this cautious puritan adds—‘ Some players — modest, if Ibe not deceived.” 282 THE LIFE OF Rowe obtained on this subject. Wright, a more di- ligent inquirer, and who had better opportunities of gaining theatrical intelligence, had said about ten years before, that he had “heard our author was a better poet than an actor;” but this description, though probably true, may still leave him a consider- able portion of merit in the latter capacity: for if the various powers and peculiar excellencies of all the actors from his time to the present, were united in one man, it may well be doubted, whether they would con- stitute a performer whose merit should entitle him to “ bench by the side” of Shakspeare as a poet. A passage indeed in Lodge’s Incarnate Devills of the Age, 1596, has been pointed out, as levelled at. our poet’s performance of the Ghost in Hamlet. But this in my apprehension is a mistake. The ridicule in- tended to be conveyed by the passage in question was, I have no doubt, aimed at the actor who performed the part of the Ghost in some miserable play which was produced before Shakspeare commenced either actor or writer. That such a play once existed, I shall afterwards shew to be highly probable ; and the tradition transmitted by Betterton, that our poet’s performance of the Ghost in his own Hamlet was his chef-d ewvre, adds support to my opinion.| — _ That Shakspeare had a perfect knowledge of his art, is proved by the instructions which are given to the player in Hamlet, and by other passages in his works; which, in addition to what I have: already stated, incline me to think that the traditional ac- count transmitted by Mr. Rowe, relative to his powers on the stage, has been too hastily credited. In the WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 283 _ eelebrated scene between Hamlet and his mother, she thus addresses him : Save P ««— Alas, how is't with you? *« That you do bend your eye on vacancy, «* And with the incorporal air do hold discourse ? _ “Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep ; “« And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, *© Your bedded hair, like life in excrements, ** Starts up, and stands on end.—Whereon do you look ? ** Ham. On him! onhim! look you, how pale he glares ! “ His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones, «© Would make them capable. Do not look upon me, «* Lest with this piteous action, you convert ** My stern effects : then what I have to do © Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.” Can it be imagined that he would have attributed these lines to Hamlet, unless he was confident that action of the Ghost, which he has so forcibly de- scribed ? or that the preceding lines spoken by the Queen, and the description of a tragedian in King Richard III. could have come from the pen of an or- dinary actor ? ** Rich. Come, cousin, can’st thou quake and change thy colour ? in his own part he could give efficacy to that piteous _ Murther thy breath in middle of a word ? _ * And then again begin, and stop again, * As if thou wert distraught, and mad with terror 2 “ Buck. Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian; “« Speak, and look big, and pry on every side, “ Tremble and start at wagging of a straw, * Intending deep suspicion: ghastly looks « Are at my service, like enforced smiles ; ~ “ And both are ready in their offices, “-At any time, to grace my stratagems.” 284 THE LIFE OF I donot, however, believe, that our poet played | parts of the first rate, though he probably ‘distin- guished himself by whatever he performed. If the names of the actors prefixed to Every Man in his Humour were arranged in the same order as the.per- sons of the; drama, he must have represented Old Knowell; and if we may give credit to ‘an anecdote related in a former page, he was the Adam in his own As You Like It. Perhaps he excelled in representing old men. The following contemptible lines written by a contemporary, about the year 1611, might lead us to suppose that he also acted Duncan in. Macbeth, and the parts of King Henry the Fourth, and King Henry the Sixth : «* To our English Terence, Mr. William Shakespeare. t Ze *¢ Some say, good Will, which I in sport do sing, ** Hadst thou not play’d some kingly parts in apa “Thou hadst been a companion for a king, “« And been a king among the meaner sort. “* Some others raile, but raile as they think fit, “Thou hast no railing but a raigning wit : “And honesty thou sow’st, which they do-reape, ** So to increase their stock, which they do keepe.” The Scourge of Folly, by John Davies, of Here~ ford, no date. Another traditionary anecdote, relating to our au- thor’s dramatic performances, is thus recorded in the MSS. of Mr. Oldys. * One of Shakspeare’s younger brothers, who lived to a good old age, even some years, as I com- pute, after the restoration of King Charles II. would in his younger days come to London to visit his brother Will, as he called him, and be a spectator of 3 Me. fe SE PPG, was 7 ww en Ca kG ka. —y MZ ny Se tee LL. anne LY. gee Zed Wh eeassietk a fun te) 5 eaters a i aan AGE: nal, LEK ame. f WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 285: him as an actor in some of his own plays. This custom, as his brother’s fame enlarged, and his dra~ matick entertainments grew the greatest support of our principal, if not of all our theatres, he continued, it seems, so long after his brother’s death, as even to the latter end of his own life. The curiosity at this time of the most noted actors [exciting them] to learn something from him of his brother, &. they justly held him in the highest veneration. And it may be well believed, as there was besides a kinsman and descendant of the family, who was then a celebrated actor among them, [Charles Hart °. See Shakspeare’s Will} this opportunity made them greedily inqui- sitive into every little circumstance,. more especially in his dramatick character, which his brother could relate of him. But he, it seems, was:so stricken in years, and possibly his memory so weakened with infirmities, (which might make him the easier pass for a man of weak intellects), that he could give them but little light into their enquiries; and all that could be recollected from: him of his: brother Will. in that station was, the faint, general, and almost lost ideas he had of having once seen him acta part in — one of his own comedies, wherein being to personate a . 5 —Charles Hart.] Mr. Charles Hart.the player was born, I belieye, about the year 1630, and died in or about 1682. If he was a grandson of Shakspeare’s sister, he was probably the son of Michael Hart, her. youngest son, of whose marriageor death there is no account in the parish register of Stratford, and therefore I suspect he settled in London. (Charles Hart died in August, 1683, and was buried at Stan- - more.the 20th of that month. Lysons's Environs of London, | vol. fii, p. 400. Reep.] fu ofr / / Re ii md 286 THE LIFE OF decrepit old man, he wore a long beard, and appeared so weak and drooping and unable to walk, that he was forced to be supported and carried by another person to a table, at which he was seated among some company, who were eating, and one of them sung a song.” See the character of Adam, in As You Like It, Act II. Se. ult. Mr. Oldys seems to have studied the art of mar- ring a plain tale in the telling of it;” for he has in this story introduced circumstances which tend to diminish, instead of adding to, its credibility. Male dum recitas, incipit esse tuus. From Shakspeare’s not taking notice of any of his brothers or sisters in his will, except Joan Hart, I think it highly probable that they were all dead in 1616, except her, at least all those of the whole blood; though in. the register there is no entry of the burial of his brother Gilbert, antecedent to the death of Shakspeare, or at any subsequent period; but we know that he survived his brother Edmund. The truth is, that this account of our poet’s having performed the part of an old man in one of his own comedies, came originally from Mr. Thomas Jones, of Tarbick, in Worcestershire, who has been already mentioned (see p. 138), and who related it from the information, not of one of Shakspeare’s brothers, but of a relation of our poet, who lived to a good old age, and who had seen him act in his youth. Mr. Jones’s informer might have been Mr. Richard Quiney, who lived in London, and died at Stratford in 1656, at the age of 69; or Mr. Thomas Quiney, our poet's son-in-law, who lived, I believe, till 1663, 7 RS WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 287 and was twenty-seven years old when his father-ine~ whe Khe law died’ or some one of the family of Hathaway. 77=~7 re Mr. Thomas Hathaway, I believe Shakspeare’s bro- 7 a ie oo ther-in-law, died at Stratford in 1654-5, at th aS ee ae of 88 85. ler Rm Bariny “There was a Thomas Jones, an inhabitant of 4 wen, ye a fa Z y Stratford, who between the years 1581 and 1590 had 7: a i fo oh. four sons, Henry, James, Edmund, and Isaac: some ry ZZ i one of these, it is probable, settled at Tarbick, and “% 7~- <<'- was the father of Thomas Jones, the relater of hiss, a 2 rae anecdote, who was born about the year 1613. Ags Aa Laps If any of Shakspeare’s brothers lived till after the < age for Restoration, and visited the players, why were we “*~ ~7" ‘~~ not informed to what player he related it, and from what player Mr. Oldys had his account? The fact, I believe, is, he had it not from a player, but from the above-mentioned Mr. Jones, who likewise com- municated the stanza of the ballad on Sir Thomas Lucy, which has been printed in a former page. 288 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. SECTION XV. _—_] AN ATTEMPT. TO ASCERTAIN THE ORDER IN WHICH THE PLAYS OF SHAKSPEARE. WERE WRITTEN*. — -—— Primusque per avia campi Usque procul (necdum totas lux moverat umbras), Nescio quid visu dubium, incertumque moveri, Corporaque ire videt. Srarius. Trattando i’ombre come cosa salda. Dante. ee = Every circumstance that relates to those persons whose writings we admire, awakens and interests our curiosity. ‘The time and place of their birth, their education and gradual attainments, the dates of their productions and the reception they severally met with, their habits of life, their private friendships, and even their external form, are all points, which, how little 6 The first edition of this Essay was published in January, 1778. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 289 soever they may have been adverted to by their con- temporaries, strongly engage the attention of pos- terity. Not satisfied with receiving the aggregated wisdom of ages as a free gift, we visit the mansions where our instructors are said to have resided, we contemplate with pleasure the trees under whose shade they once reposed, and wish to see and to converse with those sages, whose labours have added strength to virtue, and efficacy to truth. Shakspeare, above all writers, since the days of Homer, has excited this curiosity in the highest degree; as perhaps no poet of any nation was ever more idolized by his countrymen. An ardent desire to understand and explain his works, is, to the honour of the present age, so much increased within the last forty years, that more has been done-towards their elucidation, during that period’, than in a century before. All the ancient copies of his plays, hitherto discovered, have been collated with the most scru- pulous accuracy. ‘The meanest books have been care- fully examined, only because they were of the age in which he lived, and might happily throw a light on some forgotten custom, or obsolete phraseology : and, this object being still kept in view, the toil of wading through all such reading as was never read has been cheerfully endured, because no labour was thought too great, that might enable us to add one new laurel to the father of our drama. Almost every circum- stance that tradition or history has preserved relative 7 Within the period here mentioned, the commentaries of Warburton, Edwards, Heath, Johnson, Tyrwhitt, Farmer, and Steevens, have been published. VOL. II. U 290 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. to him or his works, has been investigated, and laid before the publick ; and the avidity with which all communications of this kind have been received, suffi- ciently proves that the time expended in the pursuit has not been wholly misemployed. However, after the most diligent inquiries, very few particulars have been recovered, respecting his private life or literary history: and while it has been the endeavour of all his editors and commentators to illustrate his obscurities, aud to regulate and correct his text, no attempt has been made to trace the pro- gress and order of his plays. Yet surely it is no in- curious speculation to mark the gradations ° by which 6 It is not pretended that a regular scale of gradual improve- ment is here presented to the publick ; or that, if even Shak- speare himself had left us a chronological list of his dramas, it would exhibit such a scale. All that is meant.is, that, as his knowledge increased, and as he became more conversant with the stage and with life, his performances in general were written more happily and with greater art; or (to use the words of Dr. Johnson) ‘‘ that however favoured by nature, he could-only im- part what he had learned, and as he must increase his ideas, like other mortals, ‘by gradual acquisition, he, like them, grew wiser, as he grew older, could display life better as: he knew it more, and instruct with more efficacy, as he was himself more amply in- structed.” Of this opinion also was Mr. Pope. “ It must be observed (says he), that when his performances had merited the protection of his prince, and when the encouragement of the court had succeeded to that of the town, the works of his riper years are manifestly raised above those of the former.—And I make no doubt that this observation would be found true in every instance, were but editions extant from which we might learn the exact time when every piece was composed, and whether writ for the town or the court."—From the following lines it appears, that Dryden also thought that our author's most mneeto gays were his earliest dramatick compositions : _ CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 291 he rose from mediocrity to the summit of excellence ; from artless and sometimes uninteresting dialogues, to those unparalleled compositions, which have ren- dered him the delight and wonder of successive ages. The materials for ascertaining the order in which his plays were written, are indeed so few, that, it is to be feared, nothing very decisive can be produced ‘* Your Ben and Fletcher in their first young flight, *« Did no Volpone, no Arbaces write : “ But hopp’d about, and short excursions made -“ From bough to bough, as if they were afraid ; ~ * And each were guilty of some Slighted Maid. **Shakspeare’s own muse his Pericles first bore ; ‘* The Prince of Tyre was elder than the Moor : *©°Tis miracle to see a first good play ; * All hawthorns do not bloom on Christmas-day. ** A slender poet must have time to grow, ' * And spread and burnish, as his brothers do : ** Who still looks lean, sure with some p— is curst, ‘* But no man can be Falstaff fat at first.” Prologue to the tragedy of Circe. The plays which Shakspeare produced before the year 1600, are known, and are seventeen or eighteen in number. The rest of his dramas, we may conclude, were composed between that year and the time of his retiring to the country. It is incumbent on those, who differ in opinion from the great authorities above- mentioned,—who think with Rowe, that “‘we are not to look for his beginnings in his least perfect works,” it is incumbent, I say, on those persons, to enumerate in the former class, that is, among the plays produced before 1600, compositions of equal merit with Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, The Tempest, and Twelfth-Night, which we have reason to believe were all written in the latter period; and among his late performances, that is, among thé plays that are supposed to have appeared after the year 1600, to point out pieces, as hasty and indigested, as Love's Labour's Lost, The Comedy of Errors, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which, we know, were among his earlier works. u_2 292 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. on this subject. In the following attempt to trace the progress of his dramatick art, probability alone is pre- tended to. The silence and inaccuracy of those per- sons, who, after his death, had the revisal of his papers, will perhaps for ever prevent our attaining to any thing like proof on this head. Little then remains, but to collect into one view, from his several dramas, and from the ancient tracts in which they are mentioned, or alluded to, all the circumstances that can throw any light on this new and curious in- quiry. From those circumstances, and from the entries in the books of the Stationers’ Company, ex- tracted and published by Mr. Steevens (to whom every admirer of Shakspeare has the highest obliga- tions), it is probable that our author’s plays were written nearly in the following succession ; which, though it cannot at this day be ascertained to be their true order, may yet be considered as approaching nearer to it, than any which has been observed in the various editions of his works. Of the twenty-one plays which were not printed in our author’s life-time’, the majority were, I be- 7 They are King Henry VI. Part I, The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. (as he wrote them) The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, King John, All's Well that Ends Well, As You Like It, King Henry VIII. Measure for Measure, The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, Macbeth, Julius Cesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, Othello, The Tempest, and. Twelfth-Night. None of these, except Othello, were printed in quarto, but appeared first in the folio edition published by Heminge and Condell, in 1623. Of these plays, seven, viz. The First Part of King Henry VI. (allowing that play to be Shak- a CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 293 lieve, late compositions *. The following arrange- ment is in some measure formed on this notion. ‘Two reasons may be assigned, why Shakspeare’s late per- formances were not published till after his death. 1. If we suppose him to have written for the stage during a period of twenty years, those pieces which were produced in the latter part of that period were less likely to pass through the press in his life-time, as the curiosity of the publick had not been so long engaged by them, as by his early compositions. 2. From the time that Shakspeare had the superin- tendance of a playhouse, that is, from the year 1603 °, speare’s), The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. King John, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, were certainly early compositions, and are an exception to the general truth of this observation, One other, viz. All's Well that Ends Well, though supposed to have been an early production, was, it must be acknowledged, not published in Shakspeare’s life-time; but for the date of this play we rely only on conjecture. 8 This supposition is strongly confirmed by Meres’s list of our author's plays, in 1598. From that list, and from other cireum- stances, we learn, that of the fourteen plays which were printed in Shakspeare’s life-time, thirteen were written before the end of the year 1600. The fourteen plays published in our author's life-time, are—A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Richard II. King Richard Il]. The First Part of King Henry IV. The Second Part of King Henry IV. The Merchant of Venice, King Henry V. Much Ado about Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Troilus and Cressida, ‘and King Lear. 9 None of the plays which in the ensuing list are supposed to have been written subsequently to this year, were printed till after the author's death, except King Lear, the publication of which was probably hastened by that of the old play with the 294: LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. when he and several others obtained a licence from _ King James to exhibit comedies, tragedies, histories, &c. at the Globe Theatre, and elsewhere, it became strongly his interest to preserve those pieces unpub- lished, which were composed between that year and the time of his retiring to the country ; manuscript plays being then the great support of every theatre. Nor were the plays which he wrote after he became a manager, so likely to get abroad, being confined to his own theatre, as his former productions, which perhaps had been acted on different stages, and of consequence afforded the players at the several houses where they were exhibited, an easy opportunity of making out copies from the separate parts transcribed for their use, and of selling such copies to printers; by which means there is reason to believe that some of them were submitted to the press, without the consent of the author. ~ The following is the order in which I suppose the Dian A. B lays of Shakspeare to have been written, including, <5 eclnn2—- for the sake of the discussion connected with it, the first part of Henry the VI. which I believe to be the composition of another writer. same title, in 1605.—The copy of Troilus and Cressida, which seems to have been composed the year before King James granted a licence to the company at the Globe Theatre, appears to have been obtained by some uncommon artifice. ‘‘ Thank fortune (says the editor) for the scape it hath made amongst you; since, by the grand possessors’ wills, I believe, you should have pray'd for them [r. it] rather than been pray’d.”—By the grand possessors, Shakspeare and the other managers of the Globe Theatre, were certainly intended, _ F fer lawtmres Lit Cong.t Gomer An f 41 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. — 296 1. First Part of King Henry VI. ........ 1589 ts F We 2. Second Part of King Henry VI. ....... 1591 3. Third Part of King Henry VI. ....... 1591 4. Two Gentlemen of Verona........ ae ees 5. Comedy of Errors ....... ete speisio ea « 1592 6. King Richard the Second ........... - 1593 7. King Richard the Third. ............ 1593 _ 8. Love’s Labour’s Lost .......... spk A 1594 "9. Merchant of Venice ............ .--. 1594 10. Midsummer-Night’s Dream .......... 1594 11. Taming of the Shrew*........... Ye 159621, Chon 12. Romeo and Juliet..... Sekdchem beettihes auch aaa 1596 13. First Part of King Henry IV......... 1597 Mis eke. 9? 14. Second Part of King Henry IV. ...... 15 pogo” Meera ye ONL LARC TL. < o.0.5's ies claw roves oan +. 1599 MI, EXOT YG Vo oo a. 0:9. 0 0'o visit tieceeah gic 1599 17. Much Ado About Nothing. .......... 1600 RIM ss 0 og o's'e t's 0s 20K AALS Kad ti "=e z ae 3./ i ad << “a4 om “ter f 2 p3/A Ane 298 LIFE OF -SHAKSPEARE., 1590. If I were to indulge a conjecture, I should name the year 1591, as the era when our author com- menced a writer for the stage; at which time he was somewhat more than twenty-seven years old. The reasons that induce me to fix on that period are these. In Webbe’s Discourse of English Poetry, published in 1586, we meet with the names of most of the celebrated poets of that time; particularly those of George Whetstone? and Anthony Munday’, who 2 The author of Promos and Cassandra, a play which furnished Shakspeare with the fable of Measure for Measure. 3 This poet is mentioned by Meres, in his Wit's Treasury, 1598, as an eminent comick writer, and the dest plotter of his time. He’ seems to have been introduced under the name of Don Antonio Balladino, in a comedy that has been attributed to Ben Jonson, called The Case is Altered, and from the following passages in that piece appears to have been city-poet ; whose business it was to compose an annual panegyrick on the Lord Mayor, and. to write verses for the pageants; an office which has been discon- tinued since the death of Elkanah Settle in 1722: ** Onion. Shall I request your name? ** Ant. My name is Antonio Balladino. “ Oni, Balladino! You are not pageant-poet to the city of Milan, sir, are you ? “ Ant. I supply the place, sir, when a worse cannot be had, sir.—Did you see the last pageant I set forth ?” Afterwards Antonio, speaking of the plays he had written, says: “* Let me have good ground,—no matter for the pen; the plot shall carry it. ‘* Oni. Indeed that's right ; you are in print already for Tue BEST PLOTTER. “* Ant. Ay, I might as well have been put in for a dumb-shew too.” It is evident, that this poet is here intended to be ridiculed by Ben Jonson : but he might, notwithstanding, have been deservedly CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 299 were dramatick writers; but we find no trace of our author, or of any of his works. ‘Three years after- wards, Puttenham printed his Art of English Poesy ; and in that work also we look in vain for the name of Shakspeare*. Sir John Harrington, in his Apologie for Poetrie, prefixed to the Translation of Ariosto (which was entered in the Stationers’ books Feb. 26, 1590-1, in which year it was published), takes occasion to speak of the theatre, and mentions some of the celebrated dramas of that time; but says not a word of Shakspeare, or of his plays. If any of his dra- matick compositions had then appeared, is it imagi- nable, that Harrington should have mentioned the : Cambridge Pedantius, and The Play of the Cards, which last, he tells us, was a Londen [i. e. an English] 2. -+.7.7¢~- comedy, and have passed by, unnoticed, the new pro- digy of the dramatick world ? Sir Philip Sidney, in his Defence of Poesie, speaks at some length of the low state of dramatick lite- eminent, That malignity which endeavoured to tear a wreath from the brow of Shakspeare, would certainly not spare inferior writers. # The thirty-first chapter of the first book of Puttenham’s Art of English Poesy is thus entitled: ‘‘ Who in any age have bene the most commended writers in our English Poesie, and the author's censure given upon them.” After having enumerated several authors who were then ce- lebrated for various kinds of composition, he gives this succinct account of those who had written for the stage: ** Of the latter sort I thinke thus;—that for tragedie, the Lord Buckhurst and Maister Edward Ferrys, for such doings as I have sene of theirs, do deserve the hyest price; the Earl of Oxford and Maister Edwardes of her Majestie’s Chappell, for comedie and enterlude.” pa ez: rN 300 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. rature at the time he composed this treatise ; but has not the slightest allusion to Shakspeare, whose plays, had they then appeared, would doubtless have rescued the English stage from the contempt which is thrown upon it by this accomplished writer, and to which it was justly exposed by the wretched compositions of those who preceded our poet. The Defence of Poesie was not published till 1595; but must have been written some years before; as it is referred to by Sir John Harrington, in 1591, in the essay already mentioned. Sir Philip allows no merit to any of our plays, excepting Gorboduck alone: “ Our Tragedies and Comedies, not without cause cried out against, obseruing rules neither of honest ciuilitie, nor skilfull Poetrie. Excepting Gorboduck (againe I say of those that I haue seene) which notwithstanding, as it is full of stately speeches, and well sounding phrases, climing to the height of Seneca his stile, and as full of notable moralitie, which it doth most delightfully teach, and so obtaine the verie end of Poesie: Yet in truth, it is verie defectious in the circumstances, which grieues me, because it might not remaine as an exact modell of all Tragedies. For it is faultie both in place and time, the two necessarie companions of all corporall actions. For where the Stage should alway represent but one place; and the vttermost time pre-supposed in it, should be both by Aristotles precept, and common reason, but one day; there is both many dayes and many places, inartificially imagined. But if it be so in Gorboducke, how much more in all the rest?” After ridiculing the extrava- CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 301 gance of the English dramatists, in their total neglect of the unities of time and place, the neces- sity of which Sidney, as a scholar, strenuously main- tains, he proceeds to declaim against their mongrell Tragicomedie, and the low buffoonery in which they indulged: “But I speake to this purpose, _ that all the end of the comicall part, be not vpon such scornful matters as stir laughter only, but mixe with it that delightfull teaching, which is the end of Poesie. And the great fault euen in that point of laughter, and forbidden plainly by Aristotle, is, that they stir laughter in sinfull things, vvhich are rather execrable then ridiculous: or in miseralbe, «£4. which are rather to be pittied then scorned. For what is it to make folkes gape at a wretched begger, and a beggerly Clowne: or against law of hospitalitie, toiest at strangers, because they speak not English so well as we do? What do we learn, since, it is certain, ‘ Nil habet infcelix paupertas durius in se, Quam quod ridiculos homines facit.’- But rather a -busie louing Courtier, and a heartlesse threatning Thraso; a selfe-wise seeming schoolemaster; a wrie transformed Trauailer: these if we saw walke in stage names, which we play naturally, therein were delightfull laughter, and teaching delightfulnesse, as in the other the Tragedies of Buchanan do iustly bring forth a diuine admiration. But I haue lauished out too many words of this play-matter; I do it, because ‘as they are excelling parts of Poesie, so is there none so much vsed in England, and none can be more pittifully abused ; which like an onmannerly 302 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. daughter, shewing a bad education, causeth her mother Poesies honesty to be called in question.” It is impossible to believe that our great poet erate be included in this censure. But whatever grounds we may have for thinking that none of his plays had appeared before 1591, it is certain that Shakspeare had commenced a writer for the stage, and had even excited the jealousy of his contemporaries, before September, 1592. This is now decisively proved by a passage extracted by Mr. Tyrwhitt from Robert Greene’s Groatsworth of Witte bought with a Million of Repentance, in which there is an evident allusion to our author's name, as well as to a line in The Second Part of King Henry VI. This tract was published at the dying request of Robert Greene, a very voluminous writer of that time. The conclusion of it, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has Lo 4ff-u,~ Observed, is “ an address to his brother poets to | rma dissuade them from writing for the stage, on account of the ill treatment which they were used to receive from the players.” It begins thus: “ To those gen- tlemen his quondam acquaintance that spend their wits in making playes, R. G. wisheth a better exercise, and wisdome to prevent his extremities.” His first address is undoubtedly to Christopher Mar- lowe, the most popular and admired dramatick poet “of that age, previous to the appearance of Shakspeare, “ Wonder not,” (says Greene,) “ for with thee will I first begin, thou famous gracer of tragedians, that Greene (who hath said with thee, like the foole in | aii CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 303 his heart, there is no God), should now give glory unto his greatness ; for penetrating is his power, his. hand is heavy upon me; &. Why should thy ex- cellent wit, his gift, be so blinded, that thou should z give no glory to the giver ?—The brother [f. bréa-7 “7/0/* 7 ther] of this diabolical atheism is dead; and in his 2... < * life had never the felicitie he aimed at: but as he beganne in craft, lived in feare, and ended in de- spair. And wilt thou, my friend, be his disciple? —Looke unto me, by him persuaded to that libertie, and thou shalt find it an infernal bondage.” Greene’s next address appears to be made to aoe Ban hm Thomas Lodge. “ With thee I joyne young Juve-* fis, we = ie nall, that byting satirist, that lastly with mee toge/./<—~ 5 ig? Fe ther writ a comedie. Sweet boy, might I advise epee: wh Yr~ he C thee, be advised, and get not many enemies by =~ A eel bitter words: inveigh against vaine men, for thou <= = te Bat4 & hu canst do it, no man better, no man so well: thou“; gba hast libertie to reprove all, and name none. Stops 7 a shallow water still running, it will rage; tread on até 777 rae ee worme, and it will turn; then blame not schollers, Rac ge) EF who are vexed with sharp and bitter lines, if they 2-2 7, (376; reproove too much libertie of reproof.” George Peele, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has remarked, is next addressed. “And thou no lesse deserving than Zu. Zac the other two, in some things rarer, in nothing in- per ewe a ferior, driven, as my ymy selfe, to extreame shifts, a little 27. “4277 x have I to say to thee: and were it not an idolatrous 2° >2- ae oath, I would sweare by sweet S. George, thou art unworthy better hap, sith thou dependest on so meane a stay. Base-minded men all three of you, if by my 304 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. misery you be not warned: for unto none of you, like ncenay C@, me, sought those burs to cleave; those puppets, I 22 2F zeae, that speake from our mouths; those anticks 225" garnisht in our colours. Is it not strange that I, to whom they all have bin beholding, is it not like that you, to whom they all have been beholding, shall < c-e tu.1s,. (Were yee in that case that I am now) be be both of thent in? Alen. at once forsaken? Yes, trust them not, for there is an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, that b fhm Of 299 with his ¢ygres heart wrapt in a players hide, sup- Lage poses hee is as well able to bombaste out a blanke verse z as the best of you; and being an absolute Johannes Sac-totum, i is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene, / in a countrey. O that I might intreat your rare “Anz? 20°. wittes to be employed in more profitable courses; and let these apes imitate your past excellence, and never more acquaynte them with your admired inventions.” This tract appears to have been written by Greene — not long before his death; for near the conclusion he says, “ Albeit weakness will scarce suffer me to apes write, yet to my fellow-scollers about this city will (ia+p—~--<] direct these few insuing lines.” He died, accord- Vo Cacwnene vA EL ping to Dr. Gabriel Harvey's account, on the third of mene a7. “<<. September, 1592 °. © eentw Le mei <%= Ihave already quoted a very scarce pamphlet en- titled Kind Hart’s Dreame, written by Henry Chettle,. from the preface to which it appears that he was the editor of Green’s Groatsworth of Wit, and that it was published between September and December, 1592.°. 5 Additions by Oldys to Winstanley’s Lives of the Poets, MS. ® Probably in October, for on the Stationers’ books I find The ail Daf Meorn eel CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 305 Our poet, we find, was not without reason displeased ‘at the preceding allusion to him. As what Chettle says of him, corresponds with the character which all -his contemporaries have given him, and the piece is extremely rare, I shall extract from the address to the Gentlemen Readers, what relates to the subject be- fore us : ' “ About three months since died M. Robert Greene, leaving many papers in sundry booksellers’ hands, among others, his Groatsworth of Wit, in which a letter written to divers play-makers is offen- 2x. . sively by one or two of them taken ; and because on the dead they cannot be revenged, they wilfully forge in their conceites a living author: and after tossing it to and fro, no remedy but it must light on me. How I have, all the time of my conversing in printing, hindered the bitter inveighing against schollers, it hath been very well known; and how in that I dealt, I can sufficiently prove. With neither of them that take offence was I acquainted, and with one of them [Marlowe] I care not if I never be. ‘The other [Shakspear], whom at that time I did not so much ‘spare, as since I wish I had, for that as I have mo- -derated the hate of living writers, and might have used my own discretion, (especially in such a case, the author being dead,) that I did not, I am as sorry as if the original fault had been my fault; because my _ selfe have seen his demeanour no less civil than he ; Repentaunce of Robert Greene, Master of Arts, entered by John r Danter, Oct. 6, 1592. The full title of Greene’s pamphlet is, “Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit bought with a Million of Re- -pentance.” ’ VOL, II. 24 x o Lay fur Kars 306 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. Gece ewcellent in the qualitie he professes: Besides, di- Fo Sie as OOPS. of worship have reported his uprightness of — ener #=, dealing, which argues his honestie, and his facetious £5 > grace in writing, that approves his art.~ For the aS gp “== first, whose learning I reverence, and at the perusing of Greene’s booke, strooke out what then in conscience I thought he in some displeasure writ; or had it been true, yet to publish it was intollerable; him I would wish to use me no worse than I deserve. I had onely in the copy this share: it was il written, as sometime Greene’s hand was none of the best ; licensed it must bee, ere it could be printed, which could never bee if it cuold not be read. To be brief, I writ it over, and — as near as I could followed the copy; onely in that letter I put something out, but in the whole book not a word in: for I protest it was all Greenes, not mine, % nor Master Nashes, as some“unjustly have affirmed.’ aces =. Neither was he the writer of an Epistle to The ’ Second Part of Gerileon ; though by the workman’s ~ error T. N. were set to the end: that I confess to be mine, and repent it not. i “ Thus, Gentlemen, having noted the private ‘causes that made me nominate myself in print, being as well to purge Master Nashe of what he did not, as to justifie what I did, and withall to confirm what M. Greene did, I beseech you to accept the publick cause, which is both the desire of your delight and common benefit; for though the toye bee shadowed under the title of Kind Harts Dreame, it discovers the false hearts of divers that wake to commit mis- chief,” &c. That I am right in supposing the two who took ~ CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 307 offence at Greene’s pamphlet were Marlowe and Shakspeare, whose names I have inserted in a pre- -eeding paragraph in crotchets, appears from the pas- sage itself already quoted; for there was nothing in _ . Greene’s exhortation to Lodge and Peele, the other _ two persons addressed, by which either of them could possibly be offended. Dr. Farmer is of opinion that the second person addressed by Greene is not Lodge, but Nashe, who is often called Juvenal by the writers of that time; but that he was not meant, is decisively proved by the extract’ from Chettle’s pamphlet; for he never would have la- boured to vindicate Nashe from being the writer of the Groatsworth of Wit, if any part of it had been professedly addressed to him’.” Besides, Lodge had <~~—~ <<; written a play in conjunction with Greene, called A 477422 Looking-Glass for London and England, and w. F- pa ee author of some satirical pieces; but we do not know~ emo. fs that Nashe and Greene had ever written in con-~ «<7 = Fncioncs ase fe Hy neem Henry Chettle was himself a dramatick wr writer, and appears to have become acquainted with Shak- speare, or at least seen him, between Sept. 1592, and the following December. Shakspeare was at this time twenty-eight years old; and then we find from the testimony of this writer his demeanour was no less civil than he excellent in the qualitie he pro- fessed. From the subsequent paragraph—« Divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing, 7 ‘Nashe himself also takes some pains in an Epistle poiit-7 eaten to Pierce Pennilesse, &c. to vindicate himself from being the au- Se eee ; thor of Greene's Groatsworth of Wit. TE oe Res p.% 2 é Pes See Aun 308 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. which argues his honestie, and his facetious grace in “writing, that approves his art,—” it may be reasonably presumed, that he had exhibited more than one co- medy on the stage before the end of the year 1592; perhaps Love’s Labour’s Lost in a less perfect state than it now appears in, and A Midsummer-Night’s Dream. In what time soever he became acquainted with the theatre, we may presume that he had not com- posed his first piece long before it was acted; for being early incumbered with a young family, and not ‘in very affluent circumstances, it is improbable that he should have suffered it to lie in his closet, without endeavouring to derive some profit from it; and in the miserable state of the drama in those days the meanest of his genuine plays must have been a va- luable acquisition, and would hardly have been re- fused by any of our ancient theatres. In a Dissertation on the Three Parts of King Henry VI. which I have subjoined to those plays, I have mentioned that I do not believe The First Part of King Henry VI. to have been the composition of Shakspeare; or that at most he wrote but one or two scenes in it. It is unnecessary here to repeat the circumstances on which that opinion is founded. Not being Shakspeare’s play (as I conceive), at whatever time it might have been first exhibited, it does not interfere with the supposition already stated, that he had not produced any dramatick piece before 1590. The First Part of King Henry VI. which, I ima- gine, was formerly known by the name of The His- torical Play of King Henry VI. had, I suspect, been —— CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: 309 a very popular piece for some years before 1592, and perhaps was first exhibited in 1588 orin 1589. Nashe, in a tract entitled Pierce Pennilesse his Supplication to the Devill, which was first published in 1592°, ex- pressly mentions one of the characters in it, John ‘Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, who dies in the fourth act of the piece, and who is not, I believe, introduced in any other play of that time. “ How” (says he) “ would it have joyed brave Talbot, the terror of the French®, to think that after he had lain two hun- dred years in his tomb, he should triumph again on the stage, and have his bones new embalmed with the tears of ten thousand spectators at least, (at several times,) who, in the tragedian that represents his per- son, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding?”” 2. a A+ In the Dissertation above referred to, I have en- odes ey Wc deavoured to prove that this play was written neither Cpthirk be by Shakspeare, nor by the author or authors of the7 SUF other two plays formed on a subsequent period of the —~- reign of Henry the Sixth. By whom it was written, it is now, I fear, impossible to ascertain. It was not entered on the Stationers’ books, nor printed, till the — year 1623, when it was registered with Shakspeare’s 8 Pierce Pennilesse his Supplication, &c. was first published in that year, being entered for the first time on the Stationers’ books by Richard Jones, Aug. 1592. There was a second edition in the same year, priated by Abell Jeffes for John Busbie. 9 Thus Talbot is described in The First Part of K. Henry VI, Act L.Se. Il: “* Here, said they, is the terror of the French.” Again, in Act V. Sc. I: se ' « Ts Talbot slain, the Frenchman’s only scourge, “‘ Your kingdom's terror?” 310 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. undisputed plays by the editors of the first folio, and improperly entitled The Third Part of King Henry VI. In one sense it might be called so, for two plays on the subject of that reign had been printed before. But considering the history of that king, and the period of time which the piece comprehends, it ought ' to have been called, What in fact it is, The viens Part ts , cof King Henry VI." E* oS At this distance of time it is impossible to ascer- -¢ -- « e+ tain on what principle it was that our author’s friends, “7 ~*~ Heminge and Condell, admitted The First Part of King Henry VI. into their volume: but I suspect ee oar ae a <>they gave it a place asa necessary introduction’ to the %_. =s.xa two other parts, and because Shakspeare had made = it ap some slight alterations, and written a few lines in it. a oar “.. Titus Andronicus, as well as The First Part of . King Henry VI. may be referred to the year 1589, or to an earlier period; but not being in the present edition admitted into the regular series ‘of our author’s dramas, I have not given it.a place in the preceding table of his plays. In a note prefixed to that play, which may be found in vol. xxi. p. 258, et seq. I have’ declared my opinion that Andronicus was not written by Shakspeare, or that at most.a very few lines in it were written by him; and have stated the reasons on which that opinion is founded. _From Ben Jonson’s Induction to Bartholomew Fair, 1614, we learn that this piece had been exhibited on the stage twenty- five or thirty years before, that is, at the lowest com~ putation, in 1589; or, taking a middle period (which is perhaps more just), in 1587. “ A booke entitled a Noble Roman History of Titus Andronicus,” a Seeenetiieh -: Gnd ate | tdi Sena 7 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 311 (without any author’s name) was entered at. Sta- tioners’ Hall by John Danter, Feb. 6, 1593-4. This was undoubtedly the play, as it was printed in that _ year according to Langbaine, who alone appears to have seen the first edition, and acted by the servants of the Earls of Pembroke, Derby, and Sussex. Of this play there was a second edition in quarto in 1600, and a third in 1611, in the title-page of which neither the name of Shakspeare (though he was in the zenith of his reputation), nor of any author, is found, and therefore we may presume that the title- page of the first edition also (like the entry on the Stationers’ books) was anonymous. Marlowe’s King Edward II. and some other old plays were performed by the servants of the Earl of Pembroke, by whom- not one of Shakspeare’s undisputed cramsn was ex- hibited. Q, 3. Beslan and Third Parts of K. Henry VI. 1591. In a Dissertation annexed to these plays, I have endeavoured to prove that they were not written originally by Shakspeare, but formed by him on two preceding dramas, one of which is entitled The First Part of the Contention of the Two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, &e. and the other The true Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, &. My prin- - cipal object in that Dissertation was, to show from various circumstances that those two old plays which were printed in 1600, were written by some writer or writers who preceded Shakspeare, and moulded by 4 him, with many alterations and additions, into the“ shape in which they at present appear in his works 312 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. under the titles of The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI.; and if I have proved that point, I have obtained my end. I ventured, however, to go somewhat further, and to hazard a conjecture con- cerning the persons by whom they were composed : but this was not at all material to my principal ar- gument, which, whether my conjectures on that head were well or ill founded, will remain the same. The passage which has been already quoted from Greene’s pamphlet, led me to suspect that the old plays were the production of either him or Peele, or both of them. I too hastily supposed that the words which have been printed in a former page,—* Yes, trust them not; for there is an upstart crow beau- tified with our feathers,” &c. as they immediately followed a paragraph addressed to George Peele, were addressed to him particularly ; and consequently that the word our meant Peele and Greene, the writer of the pamphlet: but these words manifestly relate equally to the ¢hree persons previously addressed, and allude to the theatrical compositions of Marlowe, Lodge, Peele, and Greene ; whether we consider the writer to lament in general that players avail them- selves of the labours of authors, and derive more pro- fit from them than the authors themselves, or sup- pose him to allude to some particular dramatick per- formances, which had been originally composed by himself or one of his friends, and thrown into a new form by some other dramatist, who was also a player. The two old plays therefore on which the Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. were formed, may have been written by any one or more of the authors | CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 313° above enumerated. Towards the end of the Essay I have produced a passage from the old King John, 1591, from which it appeared to me probable that the two elder dramas, which comprehend the greater part of the reign of King Henry VI. were written by the author of King John, whoever he was ; and some cir- cumstances which have lately struck me, confirm an opinion which I formerly hazarded, that preg 0 Marlowe was the author of that play. A passage in his historical drama of King Edward II. which Dr. Farmer has pointed out to me since the Dissertation was printed, also inclines me to believe, with him, that Marlowe was the author of one, if not both, of the old dramas on which Shakspeare formed the two plays which in the first folio edition of his works are distinguished by the titles of The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. Two lines in The Third Part of King Henry VI. have been produced as a decisive and incontrovertible proof that these pieces were originally and entirely written by Shakspeare. “ Who” (says Mr. Capell,) “sees not the future monster, and acknowledges at the same time the pen that drew it, in these two lines only spoken over a king who lies stabb’d before him, [i. e. before Richard Duke of Gloster, ]— “ What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster “« Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted.” let him never pretend to discernment hereafter, in any case of this nature.” The two lines above quoted are found in The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, &c. on which, according to my hypothesis, Shakspeare’s Third 314 _.. LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, Part of King Henry VI. was formed. If therefore, these lines decisively mark the hand of Shakspeare, the old as well as the: mew play must have been written by him, and the fabrick which I have built with some labour falls at once to the ground. — But let not the reader be alarmed ; for if it suffers from no’ other battery but this, it may last till the « crack of doom.” ‘Marlowe, as Dr. Farmer observes to me, has the very same phraseology in King Edward II.: ve _‘* ——~ scorning that the lowly earth ** Should drink his blood, mounts up to the air.” and in the same play I have lately noticed another line in which we find the very epithet here applied to the pious Lancastrian king : “Frown'st thou thereat, aspiring Lancaster?” So much for Mr, Capell’s irrefragable proof. _ It is not the proper business of the present’ Essay to enter further into this subject. I merely seize this oppor- , tunity of saying, that the preceding passages now in- ( cline me to think Marlowe the author of The True \ Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, &c. and per- haps of the other old drama also, entitled The First Part of the Contention of the Two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster. Of these plays, the first, as I have mentioned in my Dissertation on the Three Parts, was printed in 1593, and. the second in 1594. They were both printed together, anonymously, by Thomas Millington, in quarto, in the year 1600. A very ingenious friend has suggested to me, that it is not probable that Shakspeare would have ven- CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 315 tured to use the ground-work of another dramatist, and form a new play upon it, in the life-time of the author or authors. I know not how much weight this argument is entitled to. We are certain that Shak- speare did transcribe a whole scene almost verbatim from The old Taming of a Shrew; and incorporate it > 7 .¢... into his. own: play on the same subject; and we dé jz“ f not know that the author of the original play was then dead. Supposing, however, this argument to -~¢--.s. have some weight, it does not tend in the slightest degree to overturn my hypothesis that The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. were formed on the two preceding dramas, of which I have already given the titles ; but merely to show, that I am either mistaken in supposing that they were new-modelled and re-written in 1591, or in my conjecture concern- ing the authors of the elder pieces on which those of Shakspeare were formed. Greene died in Septem- ber, 1592, and Marlowe aout, May, 1593. By as- — signing our poet’s part in these performances to the end of the year 1593 or the beginning of 1594, this objection is done away, whether we suppose Greene to have been the author of one of the elder plays, and Marlowe of the other, or that celebrated writer the author of them both. - Dr. Farmer is of opinion, that Ben Jonson’ par- ticularly alludes in the following verses to our poet’s having followed the steps of Marlowe in the plays ¢_, 7... now under our consideration, and greatly surpassed ay mage” 7 ae his original : = See ‘“‘ For, if I thought my judgment were of years, rairap 4-<- “* T should commit thee surely with thy peers ; ped, ys 25a 316 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, “< And tell how much thou did’st our Lily outshine, ~ “ Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line.” From the epithet sporting, which is applied to Kyd, and which is certainly in some measure a quibble on his name, it is manifest that he must have fae produced some comick piece upon the scene, as well eerie as the two tragedies of his composition which are as 2---now extant, Cornelia, and The Spanish Tragedy. “9 27—-Wyes latter is printed, like many plays of that time, anonymously. Dr. Farmer, with great probability — suggests to me, that Kyd might have been the author of The old Taming of a Shrew printed in 1594, on which Shakspeare formed a play with nearly the same title’. The praise which Ben Jonson gives to Shakspeare, that he “ outshines Marlowe and Kyd,” on this hypothesis, will appear to stand on one and the same foundation ; namely on his eclipsing those ancient dramatists by new-modelling their plays, and producing pieces much superior to theirs, on stories which they had already formed into dramas, that, till Shakspeare appeared, satisfied the publick, and were classed among the happiest efforts of dramatick art*. 1 Kyd was also, I suspect, the author of the old plays of Ham- f |: sea fhe af Ge let, and of King Leir. See the article on Hamlet. | | PE cfr 2 Atthe close of the Dissertation on the three parts of Henry VI. “44 - “ | have informed the reader that Mr. Malone had altered his _ opinion with regard to the original writers of the second and third of these plays, but have not incorporated in that Essay the supposed correction which he has here made. That Marlowe may have had some share in these compositions, I am not dis- posed to deny; but I cannot persuade myself that they entirely proceeded from his pen. Some passages are possessed of so much merit, that they can scarcely be ascribed to any one except the CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 317 4, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1591. This comedy was. not entered on the books of the Stationers’ Company till 1623, at which time it was most distinguished of Shakspeare’s predecessors ; but the tameness of the general style is very different from the peculiar characte- tistics of that poet’s ‘‘ mighty line,” which ‘are great energy both of thought and: language, degenerating too frequently into tu- mour and extravagance. The versification appears to me to_be also of a different colour. Marlowe, as I have endeavoured to show in the Essay on Shakspeare’s Metre, although he was not altogether free from the monotonous pomp of numbers which. is found in all his contemporaries, had less of it than any writer of that time, and has introduced a variety of pauses into English | blank verse, which, however it may fall short of the endlessly | diversified melody of Shakspeare, yet places him, in this respéct, _ much above the models which were before him. Dr. Farmer's | interpretation of the passage in Ben Jonson’s commendatory | \ Termes: seems very hastily formed. Shakspeare might well-be said to have outshined Marlowe, Kyd, and Lilly, without its being sup- posed that he had new-modelled their plays. From Lilly he appears to have taken nothing ; and Kyd is conjectured to have been a writer of comedy upon very slight foundation. Jonson is in the habit of turning the author of Jeronimo into ridicule, and, I believe, upon this occasion, meant merely a quibble upon the name of a writer whom he never could mention without some ludicrous recollection. That Marlowe, Peele, and Greene, may all of them have had a share in these dramas, is consonant to the frequent practice of that age, of which ample proofs may be found in the extracts from Henslowe’s MSS. vol. iii. I should not omit to mention here, that I find some slight me- moranda by Mr. Malone, in which he seems to ascribe these _ \ Plays to so late a period as 1600:~ I have stated at the end of his¢__<__ conanet Dissertation, why I think his conjectures unfounded. I shal~--—~~*-<¢— eo *only add here, that if Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing arez--p-- 4 ~ -2 fon ee~coe me: correctly..placed in 1600, it can scarcely be supposed that any(7%5 >>> 77°? other dramas could be/produced/in the same year by Shakspeare.“-— Fes anna gr - Phone Bees Onc E729 we. — Boswg1t. (2.2. (42.2% 318 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. first printed; but is mentioned by Meres in 1598, and bears strong internal marks of an early compo- sition. The comick parts of it are of the same colour with the comick parts of Love’s Labour’s Lost, the Comedy of Errors, and A Midsummer-Night’s Dream ; and the serious scenes are eminently distin- guished by that elegant and pastoral simplicity which might be expected from the early effusions of such a mind as Shakspeare’s, when employed in describing the effects of love. In this piece also, as in: The Comedy of Errors and Love's Labour's Lost, some alternate verses are found. Sir William Blackstone concurs with me in opinion on this subject; observing, that “ one of the great faults of The Two Gentlemen of Verona is: the hastening too abruptly and without preparation: to the denouément, which shows that it was one of Shakspeare’s very early performances.” The following lines in Act I. Se. III. had Soementy induced me to ascribe this play to the year 1595 : He wonder'd, that your lordship ‘* Would suffer him to spend his youth at home, ** While other men, of slender reputation, ‘* Put forth their sons to seek preferment out : £* Some to the wars, to try their fortunes there, “* Some, to discover islands far away.” Shakspeare, as has been often observed, gives to almost every country the manners of his own: and though the speaker is here a Veronese, the poet, when he wrote the last two lines, was thinking of England ; where voyages for the purpose of discover- ing islands far away were at this time much prose-' CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 319 cuted. In 1595, Sir Walter Raleigh undertook a voyage to the island of Trinidado, from which he made an expedition up the river Oronoque, to dis- cover Guiana. Sir Humphry Gilbert had gone on a similar voyage of discovery the preceding year. The particular situation of England in 1595 I had supposed might have suggested the line above quoted : “ Some to the wars,” &c. In that year it was generally believed that the Spaniards meditated a second invasion of England with a much more powerful and better appointed Armada than that which had been defeated in 1588. Soldiers were levied with great diligence, and placed on the sea- coasts, and two great fleets were equipped ; one to encounter the enemy in the British seas; the other to sail to the West-Indies, under the command of Hawkins and Drake, to attack the Spaniards in their own territories. About the same time also Elizabeth sent a considerable body of troops to the assistance of King Henry IV. of France, who had entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with the English Queen, and had newly declared war against Spain. ‘Our author, therefore, we see, had abundant reason for both the lines before us : ** Some to the wars, to try their fortunes there, * Some to discover islands far away.” Among the marks “of love, Speed in ‘this play ‘(Act II. Sc. I.) enumerates the walking alone, »* like ‘one that had the pestilence.” In the year 1593 f there had been a great plague, which carried off near { eleven thousand persons in London. Shakspeare was red ( 320 ‘LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. undoubtedly there at that time, and his own recol- lection might, I thought, have furnished him with this image. But since my former edition, I have been convinced that these circumstances by no means establish the date I had assigned to this play. _When Lord Essex went in 1591 with 4000 men to assist — Henry IV. of France, we learn from Sir Robert Carey’s Memoirs, p. 59, that he was attended by many volunteers; and several voyages of discovery were undertaken about that very time by Raleigh, Cavendish, and others. There was a considerable plague in London in 1583. Valentinus, putting himself at the head of a band of outlaws in this piece, has been supposed to be copied from Sydney’s Arcadia, where Pylades heads the Helots. The first edition of the Arcadia was in 1590. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona there are two allusions to the story of Hero and Leander, which I suspect Shakspeare had read recently before he composed this play. Marlowe’s poem on that sub- ject was entered at Stationers’ Hall, Sept. 18, 1593, and I believe was published in that or the following year, though I have met with no copy earlier than - that printed in quarto in 1598. Though that should — have been the first edition, Shakspeare might yet have read this poem before the author’s death in 1593: for Marlowe’s fame was deservedly so high, that a piece left by him for publication was probably handed about in manuscript among his theatrical acquaintances antecedently to its being issued from the press. _. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 321 In the following lines of this play, “* Why, Phaeton, (for thou art Merops’ son, ) “* Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car, “ And with thy daring folly burn the world?” the poet, as Mr. Steevens has observed, might have been furnished with his mythology by the old play of King John, in two parts, 4to. 1591: ‘* —- as sometimes Phaeton, ‘* Mistrusting silly Merops for his sire.” _. Mr. Boaden justly observes to me that this comedy in various places contains the germ of other plays which Shakspeare afterwards wrote ; and this cireum- “stance adds considerable support to the notion that this was one of his earliest productions. 5. Comedy of Errors, 1592. The only note of time that occurs in this play is ptee Bh ee found in the following passage : EEE pea h « Ant. S. In what part of her body stands— | France ? * Drom. S. In her, forehead, arm’d and reverted, making war against; the hair?) I have no doubt that an equivoque was here intended, and that, beside the obvious sense, an allu- sion was intended to King Henry IV. the heir of France’, concerning whose succession to the throne there was a civil war in that country, from August 7 The words heir and hair were, I make no doubt, pro- nounced alike in Shakspeare's time, and hence they are fre- quently confounded in the old copies of his plays. ~ VOL. II. Y 322 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE., 1589, when his father was assassinated, for sevéral years. Henry, after struggling long against the power and force of the League, extricated. himself from all his difficulties by embracing the Roman Catholick religion at St. Denis, on Sunday the 25th of July, 1593, and was crowned King of France in Feb. 1594; I therefore imagine this play was written before that period. In 1591 Lord Essex was sent with 4000 troops to the French King’s ' assistance, and his brother Walter was killed before | Rouen in Normandy. From that. time till Henry was peaceably settled on the throne, many bodies of troops were sent by Queen Elizabeth to his aid: so that his situation must then have been a matter of notoriety, and a subject of conversation in England, This play was neither entered on the Stationers’ books, nor printed till 1623, but is mentioned by Meres in 1598, and exhibits internal proofs of having been one of Shakspeare’s earliest productions, I — formerly supposed that it could not have been written till 1596; because the translation of the Menechmi of Plautus, from which the plot appears to have been taken, was not published till 1595. But on a more attentive examination of that translation, I find that Shakspeare might have seen it before publication ; for from the printer’s advertisement to the reader, it appears that, for some time before, it had been handed about in MS. among the translator’s friends. The piece was entered at Stationers’ Hall, June 10, ‘ot. >2 -y1594; and as the author had translated/all7the comedies of Plautus, it may be presumed that the whole work had been the employment of some years: CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 323 and this might have been one of the earliest trans x| lated. Shakspeare must also have read some other - account of the same story not yet discovered; for how otherwise could he have got the names of Erra- ez tHE . ticus and Surreptus, which do not occur in the trans- lation of Plautus? There the brothers are called Menechmus Sosicles, and Menechmus the traveller. The alternate rhymes that are found in this play, as well as in A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Romeo and Juliet, are a further proof that these pieces were among our author's earliest productions, We are told by himself that Venus and Adonis was the first heir of his invention.” The Rape-of Lu- crece probably followed soon afterwards, When he “~~~ <44 turned his thoughts to the stage, the measure which*2272 & he had used in those poems, naturally presented ~~~ © itself to him in his first dramatick essays: I mean in those plays which were written originally by himself. In those which were grounded, like the Henries, on the preceding productions of other men, he na- turally followed the example before him, and con- sequently in those pieces no alternate rhymes are found. The doggrel measure, which, if I recollect right, (3 employed in none of our author’s plays except The .\ Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, and Love’s Labour’s Lost, also adds support to the dates He assigned to these plays: for these long doggrel verses, as I have observed in a note at the end of the piece now under our consideration, are written in that kind of metre which was usually attributed by the dra- PCS = OFT ree Ae ai eRe "Eee os ecOgc CPR eS KK or Loar a 324 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. matick poets before his time to some of their inferior characters.. He was imperceptibly infected with the prevailing mode, in these his early compositions; but soon learned to “ deviate boldly from the common track,” left by preceding writers. _ A play with the same title as that before us, was exhibited at Gray’s Inn in December, 1594; but I know not whether it was Shakspeare’s play, or a trans- - lation from Plautus. “ After such sports (says the writer of Gesta Grayorum, 1688,) a Comedy of Errors, like to Plautus his Menechmus, was played by the players: so that night was begun and continued. to the end in nothing but confusion and errors. _Where- upon it was ever afterwards called the Night of Errors.”. The Registers of Gray’s Inn have been examined for the purpose of ascertaining whether the play above mentioned was our author’s; but. they afford no information on the subject. ; 4 From its having been represented, by the players, o~“%-¢, — not by the gentlemen of the inn, I think it probable be that it was Shakspeare’s piece. The name of Dowsabel, which is mentioned in this play, occurs likewise in an Eclogue entitled The Shepherd’s Garland, by Michael Drayton, printed in Ato. in 1593. 6. King Richard I. 1593. King Richard II. was entered on the Stationers’ books, August 29, 1597, and printed in that year. . There had been a former play on this subject, which appears to have been called King Henry IV. in which Richard was deposed, and killed on the CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. — 325 stage. This piece, as Dr. Farmer and Mr. Tyr- whitt have observed, was performed on a publick theatre, at the request of Sir Gilly Merick, andZ: % (hae some other followers of Lord Essex, the afternoon's an before his insurrection : “ so earnest was he,” (Merick) 2 Og: ue ripe says the printed account of his arraignment, “ to“ <7“ satisfy his eyes with a sight of that tragedy which thought soone after his lord should bring from the to the state.” “ The players told him the play . -2~»--— was old, and they should have loss by playing it, because few would come toit ; but no play else would serve: and Sir Gilly Merick gave forty shillings to Philips the player to play this, besides whatsoever he gee could get ?.” fo are mes 7 It may seem strange that this old play should have“<2 gee 5 3 VE ~ been represented after Shakspeare’s drama on the “<<. prac hp same subject had been printed: the reason undoubt-” edly was, that in the old play the deposing King Richard II. made a part of the exhibition: but in the first edition of our author’s play, one hundred and fifty-four lines, deseribing a kind of trial of the king, and his actual deposition in parliament, were omitted: nor was it probably represented on the stage. Merick, Cuffe, and the rest of Essex’s train, naturally preferred the play in which his deposition was represented, their plot not aiming at the life of the queen. It is, I know, commonly thought, that the parliament-scene (as it is called), which was first _. printed in the quarto of 1608, was an addition made by Shakspeare to his play after its first repre- 2 Bacon’s Works, vol. iv. 412. State Trials, vol, viii. p. 60. 326 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. sentation: but it seems to me more probable that. it was written with the rest, and suppressed in the printed copy of 1597, from the fear of offending Elizabeth ; against whom the Pope had published a bull in the preceding year, exhorting her subjects to take up arms against her. In 1599 Hayward pub- lished his History of the First Year of Henry IV. which in fact is nothing more than an history of the deposing Richard II. The displeasure which that book excited at court, sufficiently accounts for the omitted lines not being inserted in the copy of this play which was published in 1602. Hayward was heavily censured in the Star-chamber, and committed to prison. At a subsequent period (1608), when King James was quietly and firmly settled on the throne, and the fear of internal commotion, or foreign invasion, no longer subsisted, neither the author, the managers of the theatre, nor the bookseller, could entertain any apprehension of giving offence to the sovereign: the rejected scene was restored without scruple, and from some playhouse copy probably found its way to the press. 7. King Richard IIT. 1593. ~ Entered at the Stationers’ Hall, Oct. 20, 1597. rem in that year. 8. Love’s Labour's Lost, 1594. Shakspeare’s natural disposition leading him, as Dr. Johnson has observed, to comedy, it is highly probable that his first original dramatick production was of the comick kind: and of his comedies Loye’s Labour’s Lost appears to me to bear strong marks of CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 327 having been one of his earliest essays. « The frequent rhymes with which it abounds®, of which, in his eatly performances, he seems to have been extremely fond, its imperfect versification, its artless and desul- tory dialogue, and the irregularity of the composition, may be:all urged in support of this conjecture. . \Love’s Labour’s Lost was not entered at Stationers’ Hall till the 22d of January, 1606-7, but is: men- 3 As this circumstance is more than once mentioned, in the course of these observations, it may not. be improper to add a few words on the subject of our author's metre. -A mixture of rhymes with blank verse, in the same play, and sometimes in the same scene, is found in almost all his pieces, and is not peculiar to Shakspeare, being also found in the works of Jonson, and almost all our ‘ancient dramatick writers. It is not, therefore; merely the use of rhymes, mingled with blank verse, but their frequency, that. is here urged, as a circumstance which seems to charac- terize and distinguish our poet's earliest performances. In the whole number of pieces which were written antecedent to the year 1600, and which, for the sake of perspicuity, have been called his early compositions, more rhyming couplets are found, than in all the plays composed subsequently to that year, which have been named his late productions. . Whether in process of time Shakspeare grew weary of the bondage of rhyme, or whether he became convinced of its impropriety in a dramatick dialogue, his neglect of rhyming (for he never wholly disused it) seems to have been gradual. . As, therefore, most of his early productions are characterized by the multitude of similar terminations which they exhibit, whenever of two early pieces it is doubtful which preceded the other, I am disposed to believe (other proofs being wanting) that play in which the greater number of rhymes is found, to have been first composed, . The plays founded on the story of King Henry VI. do not indeed abound in rhymes; but this probably arose from their ‘nie originally constructed by preceding writers, i lettin 7 po" 9 oy oad 328 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. | tioned by Francis Meres*, in his Wit’s Treasury, being the Second Part of Wit’s Commonwealth *, in 1598, and was printed in that year. In the title- page of this edition (the oldest hitherto discovered), this piece is said to have been presented before her highness [Queen Elizabeth] the last Christmas [1597], and to be newly corrected and augmented : from which it should seem, either that there had been a former impression, or that the play had been origin- ally represented in a less perfect state, than that in which it appears at present. I think it probable, that our author's first draft of this play was written in or before 1594; and that some. additions were made to it between that year and 1597, when it was exhibited before the Queen. One of those additions may have been the passage which seems to allude to The Metamorphosis of Ajax, by Sir John Harrington, printed in 1596; “ Your 4 This writer, to whose list of our author's plays we are so . much indebted, appears, from the following passage of the work here mentioned, to have been personally acquainted with Shak- speare : ** As the soul of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweet soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakspeare. Witness his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends,” &c. Wit’s Treasury, p- 282. There is no edition of Shakspeare’s Sonnets, now extant, of so early a date as 1598, when Meres's book was printed ; so ... that we may conclude, he was one of those friends to whom yet TE net: were privately recited, before their publication. s This book was probably published in the latter end of the year 1598 ; for it was not entered at Stationers’ Hall till September in that year, _ CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 329 lion—will be given to 4-jar°.” This, however, is not certain; for the conceit of Ajar and a-jakes may not have originated with Harrington, and may hereafter be found in some more ancient tract. In this comedy Don Armado says,—* The jirst and second cause will not serve my turn: the passado he respects not, the duello he regards not : his dis- gtace is to be called boy; but his glory is to subdue man.” Shakspeare seems here to have had in his thoughts Saviolo’s treatise Of Honour and Honour- able Quarrels, published in 1595’. This passage also may have been an addition. Bankes’s horse, which is mentioned in the play before us, had been exhibited in London in or before 1589, as appears from a story recorded in Tarleton’s Jests *. 6 See vol. iv. p. 443, n. 4. 7 See a note on As You Like It, vol. vi. p. 503, n. 9. 8 «* There was one Bankes in the time of Tarlton, who served the Earl of Essex, and had a horse of strange qualities; and being at the Cross Keyes in Gracious-streete, getting money with him, as he was mightily resorted to, Tarlton then (with his fellowes) playing at the Bell [f. Bull] by, came into the Cross keyes, amongst many people to see fashions: which Bankes per- ceiving, to make the people laugh, saies, ‘Signior,’ to his horse, * go fetch me the veriest foole in the company.’ The jade comes immediately, and with his mouth drawes Tarlton forth. Tarlton, with merry.words, said nothing but ‘God a-mercy, horse.’ In the end Tarlton seeing the people laugh so, was angry inwardly, and said, ‘Sir, had I power of your horse, as you have, I would do more than that.’ ‘ Whate’er it be,’ said Bankes, to please him, ‘I will charge him to doit.’ ‘Then,’ saies Tarlton, ‘charge him to bring me the veryest whore-master.in the company.’ ‘ He shall,’ saies Bankes. ‘Signior,’ says he, ‘ bring Master Tarlton the veryest Pate x kt fife © 330 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE., In this comedy there is more attempt at delinea- tion of character than in either The Comedy of Errors or A Midsummer-Night’s Dream ; a cireum- stance which once inclined me to think that it was written subsequently to both those plays. Biron and Katharine, as Mr. Steevens, I think, has observed, are faint prototypes of Benedick and Beatrice. The doggrel verses in this piece, like those in The Comedy of Errors, are longer and more hobbling than those which have been nen from The Taming of the Shrew : ‘* You two are bookmen ; can you tell by your wit ** What was a month old at Cain’s birth, that’s not five weeks old as yet ?"— ‘* O' my truth most sweet jests ! most incony vulgar wit, ‘* When it comes so smoothly off, so obscenely as it were, so fit,” &e. This play is mentioned in a mean poem entitled Alba, the Months Minde of, a Melancholy Lover, by RT. Gentleman, printed 1598 : * Love's Labour Lost I once did see, a play «* Y-cleped so, so called to my paine, ** Which I to heare to my small joy did stay, ‘* Giving attendance to my froward dame: ‘* My misgiving mind presaging to me ill, “* Yet was I drawne to see it ’gainst my will. * * * * whore-master in the company.’ The horse leads his master to him, Then, ‘God a-mercy, horse, indeed,’ saies Tarleton. The people had much ado to keep peace: but Bankes and Tarleton had like to have squared, and the horse by, to give aime. But ever after it was a by word thorow London, ‘ God-a-mercy, horse!’ and is to _ aut this day.” . Tarleton’s Jests, 4to. 1611,—Tarleton died in 1589. “i 7 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 331 ». |. Each actor plaid in cunning wise his part, — _ ~ »» » “ But chiefly those entrapt in Cupid's snare ; - ~ __ Yet all was fained, "twas not from the hart, '" « They seeme to grieve, but yet they felt no care: «Twas I that griefe indeed did bearein brest, * The others did but makea shew in jest.” “Mr. Gildon, in his observations on Love’s Labour’s Lost, says, he “cannot see why the author gave it this name.”—The following lines exhibit the train of thoughts which probably suggested to Shakspeare this title, as well as that which anciently was affixed to another of his comedies,—Love’s Labour Won: '. * To be in love, where scorn is bought with groans, “Coy looks with heart-sore sighs; one fading moment's mirth ** With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights: * If haply won, perhaps a hapless gain ; * If lost, why then a grievous labour won,” : Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1.Sc. I. 9. The Merchant of Venice, 1594. Entered at the Stationers’ Hall, July 22, 1598; and mentioned by Meres in that year. Published in 1600. Among the extracts from Henslowe’s MSS. we find the Venesyan Comedy, acted in 1594. ‘This wasé oe re probably The Merchant of Venice. In Act III.” Se. II. Portia exclaims— + He may win, «« And what is musick then? ther musick is «* Even as the flourish when true subjects bow ** To a newcrowned monarch.” Shakspeare is fond of alluding to events occurring at the time when he wrote, and the coronation of 332 - LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, Henry the Fourth of France, who was crowned at Chartres in the midst of his true subjects in 1594, (Rheims, where that. ceremony ought to have taken place, being possessed by the rebels,) seems to have excited great interest in England. The following is an extract from a pamphlet published on that subject, entitled «« The Order of Ceremonies. observed in the Anointing. and Coronation of the Most Christian French King of Navarre, Henry the IIII. of that Name, celebrated in our Lady Church in the Cittie of Chartres, uppon Sonday the 27 of February, 1594. Faithfully translated out of the French Coppie, printed at Roan by Commaundment of the said Lord. By E. A. London, Imprinted by John Windet,. and are to be sold by John Flasket, at the great north doore of Paules.” After describing various parts of this ceremonial, the writer proceeds thus, C 3. verso: « Then the said Archbishop holding the King by the hand, caused him to sit down, saying, In hoc regni solio, confirmet te, &c. “ This prayer ended, and the king being set. in: his throne, the said Archbishop took off his mitre, and after great reverence and honour done by him to his Majesty, he kissed him, and then sayd, ' Vivat Rex in eternum, &c. “ After him all the other peeres kissed him, the ; peeres ecclesiasticall first beginning, saying thus, Vivat Rex in eternum, &c. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 333, «“ Then the people gave a great shout, crying God save the King, and immediately the harquebuzes shot off, and after them the great ordinance, and the trumpets, cornets, hautbois, drommes, and other instruments sounded ; and the said Lord Archbishop | begun, Te Deum laudamus, &c. being accompanied with the organs and other musicke. * During all this joy and acclamation the herauldes eryed ‘a largesse ;” whereuppon were cast foorth a great number of peeces of gold and silver, some money current, others coyned purposely and marked with the kings picture. * a * Here we are to note, that so often as the king returned ever so little to the body of the church, the people being in infinite number, cryed God save the king; and the church rung with theyr cries, and with harquebuze shot.” — After describing some other ceremonies, the author then adds: “Then the king thus arayed in his garments royall, accompanyed with the aforesayd pecres, in like ceremony and order as he came to church, re- turned to his pallace. “ The people with great acclamation and signes of joy, cryed God save the King; the cannons and small shotte played their parts, the trumpettes, drommes, and other instruments, sounded and played.” 10. 4 Midsummer-Night’s Dream, 1594. The poetry of this piece, glowing with all the .. fort fap? 334 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. warmth of a youthful and lively imagination, the many scenes which it contains of almost continual rhyme®, the poverty of the fable, and want of dis- crimination among the higher personages, dispose me to believe that it was one of our minis earliest attempts in comedy ’. 9 See p. 327, n. 3. * Dryden was of opinion that Pericles, Prince of Tyre, was our author's first dramatic composition : ‘* Shakspeare’s own muse his Pericles first bore, “ The Prince of Tyre was elder than The Moor.” Prologue to the. Tragedy of Circe, by Charles D? Avenant, 1677, Mr. Rowe in his Life of Shakspeare (first edition) says, ‘‘ There is good reason to believe that the greatest part of Pericles was not written by him, though it is owned some part of it certainly was, particularly the last Act,” .1 have not been able to learn on what authority the latter assertion was grounded, Rowe in his second edition omitted the passage. pie to feud Pericles was not entered on the Stationers’ books till May 2, eS 608, nor printed till 1609; but the following lines in a metrical pamphlet, entitled Pimlyco, or Runne Red-cap, 1609, ascertain it to have been written and exhibited on the stage, prior to that ear: , ** Amazde I stood to see a crowd * Of civil throats stretch’d out so lowd: “* (As at anew play,) all the roomes ‘* Did swarm with gentiles, mix’d with groomes ; “So that I truly thought all these ‘* Came to see Shore or Pericles.” The play of Jane Shore is mentioned (together with another very ancient piece not now extant)' in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, 1613: ‘‘ I was ne'er at one of these plays before; but I should have seen Jane Shore, and my husband hath promised me any time this twelvemonth to carry me to The Bold Beauchamps.” The date of The Bold Beauchamps is in some measure ascertained by a passage in D’Avenant’s Playhouse to be let : CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 335 _ It seems to have been written, while the ridiculous competitions prevalent among the histrionick tribe were strongly impressed by novelty on his mind. He would naturally copy those manners first, with which he was first acquainted. The ambition of a theatrical candidate for applause he has happily ridiculed in Bottom the weaver. But among the more dignified persons of the drama we look in vain for any traits of character. ‘The manners of Hippolita, the Amazon, are undistinguished from those of other females. Theseus, the associate of Hercules, is not * engaged in any adventure worthy of his rank or reputation, nor is he in reality an agent throughout the play. Like King Henry VIII. he goes out a Maying. He meets the lovers in perplexity, and makes no effort to promote their happiness; but when supernatural accidents have reconciled them, he joins their company, and concludes his day’s entertainment by uttering some miserable puns at an interlude represented by a troop of clowns. Over the fairy part of the drama he cannot be supposed to «___—. There is an old tradition, ¢ . * That in the times of mighty Tamburlaine, TE th. fy ** Of conjuring Faustus, and The ee cat a Bold, a tz Zh , ** You poets used to have the second day.” » Tamburlain and Faustus were exhibited in or before 1590. The Lamentable End of Shore’s Wife also made a part of the ragph pote, old anonymous play: of King Richard III. which was entered in oat a the Stationers’ books, June 19, 1594. Both the dramas in which -.~%. er ie r “Y fbCa - Jane Shore was introduced were probably on the stage soon afte 1590; and from the manner in which Pericles is mentioned in the verses above quoted, we may presume, that drama was equally ancient and equally well known. 336 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. - have any influence. This part of the fable, indeed (at least as much of it as relates to the quarrels of Oberon and Titania), was not of our author's invention ?.—Through the whole picce, the more exalted characters are subservient to the interests of those beneath them. We laugh with Bottom and his fellows; but is a single passion agitated by the faint and childish solicitudes of Hermia and Deme- trius, of Helena and Lysander, those shadows of each other ?—That a drama, of which the principal per- sonages are thus insignificant, and the fable thus meagre and uninteresting, was one of our author's earliest: compositions, does not, therefore, seem a very improbable ‘conjecture; nor are the beauties with which it is embellished, inconsistent with this sup- 2 The learned editor of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, printed in 1775, observes in his introductory discourse (vol. iv. p. 161), that Pluto and Proserpina in the Marchant’s Tale, appear to have been “ the true progenitors of Shakspeare’s Oberon and Titania.” In a tract already quoted, Greene's Groatsworth of Witte, 1592, a player is introduced, who boasts of having performed the part of the King of Fairies with applause. Greene himself wrote a play, entitled The Scottishe Historie of James the Fourthe, slaine at Floddon, intermixed with a pleasant Comedie presented by Oberon King of Fayeries; which was entered at Stationers’ * Hall in 1594, and printed in 1598. Shakspeare, however, does not appear to have been indebted to this piece. The plan of it is shortly this. Bohan, a Scot, in consequence of being dis- gusted with the world, having retired to a tomb where he has SA dite jn Sed his dwelling, is met by Aster Oberon, king of the fairies, pate we Motte who entertains him with an antick or dance by his subjects. ab £ (er PE “These two personages, after some conversation, determine. to ae fawelay listen to a tragedy, which is acted before them, and to which they make a kind of chorus, by moralizing at the end of each Act. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 33T position ; for the genius of Shakspeare, even in’ its minority, could embroider the coarsest materials with the brightest and most lasting colours. Oberon and Titania had been introduced in a dramatick entertainment exhibited before Queen Elizabeth in 1591, when she was at Elvetham in Hampshire ; as appears from A Description of the Queene’s Entertainment in Progress at Lord Hart- ford’s, &c. printed in 4to. in 1591. Her majesty, after having been pestered a whole afternoon with speeches in verse from the three Graces, Sylvanus, Wood | Nymphs, &c. is at length addressed by the Fairy Queen, who presents her majesty with a chaplet, ** Given me by Auberon [Oberon] the fairie king.” A Midsummer-Night’s Dream was not entered at Stationers’ Hall till Oct. 8, 1600, in which year it was printed ; but is mentioned by Meres in 1598. From the comedy of Doctor Dodipoll, Mr. Stee- vens has quoted a line, which the author seems to have borrowed from Shakspeare : ««*Twas I that led you through the painted meads, « Where the light fairies danc’d upon the flowers, “ Hanging in every leaf an orient pearl.” So, in A Midsummer-Night’s Dream : “ And hang a pearl in ev'ry cowslip's ear.” Again: ** And that same dew, which sometimes on the buds ** Was wont to swell, like round and orient pearls, *« Stood now within the pretty flouret’s eyes, * Like tears,” &c. There is no earlier edition of the NOATTPO play VOL, II. Z Ath 338 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. in which the foregoing lines are found, than that in 1600: but Doctor Dodipowle is mentioned by Nashe, in his preface to Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is up, printed in 1596. . The passage in the fifth Act, which has been thought to allude to the death of Spenser °, is: not inconsistent with the early appearance of this comedy, for it might have been inserted between the time of that poet’s death, and the year 1600, when the play was published. And indeed, if the allusion was in- - tended, which I do not believe, the passage must have “been added in that interval; for A Midsummer- Night’s Dream was certainly written before 1598, and Spenser, we are told by Sir James Ware (whose testimony with respect to this controverted point must have great weight), did not die till 1599: “ others, (he adds,) have it wrongly, 1598°” So Ss The thrice three muses, mourning for the death “ Of learning, Jate deceas'd in beggary.” 6 Preface to Spenser's View of the State of Ireland. Dublin, fol. 1633. This treatise was written, according to Sir James Ware, in 1596. The testimony of that historian, relative to the time of Spenser's death, is confirmed by a fact related by Ben Jonson to Mr. Drummond of Hawthornden, and recorded by that writer. When Spenser and his wife were forced in great distress to fly from their house, which was burnt in the Irish Rebellion, the Earl of Essex sent him twenty pieces; but he refused them ; telling the person that brought them, he was sure he had no time to spendthem. He died soon afterwards, according to Ben Jon- son's account, in King Street. Lord Essex was not in Ireland | ap Se 2 in 1598, and was there from April to September in the following Zhe Bex 2 year, pee Line eZ, Peictestate) Ee eee, Cee ee It should also be remembered that verses by Spenser are pre- fixed to Lewknor’s Commonwealth and Government of Venice, published in 1599. Poa SRY Petpet cf AOS Ze gues Jt gem. Sila a Dares atm) - fief CT Raye CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 339 careful a searcher into antiquity, who lived so near the time, is not likely to have been mistaken in a fact concerning which he appears to have made par- ticular enquiries. ; The passage in question, however, in my appre- hension, has been misunderstood. It relates, I con- ceive, not to the death of Spenser, but to the nine Muses lamenting the decay of learning, in that author’s poem entitled The Tears of the Muses, That this celebrated poet was alive in Sept. 1598, is proved ..2 ~~7/7” by the following paper, addressed by Queen Elizabeth to the “777° Lords Justices of Ireland, which is preserved in the Museum, ” Pers inks a MSS. Harl. 286, and has not, I believe, been noticed by any of. Yew ike mie a his biographers : “s Sino “Last of Sept. 1598. A- +25 7 “To the Lords Justices of Ireland. —- Ake: food “ Though we doubt not but you will without any motion *~* ~“*"“7 from us have good regard for the appointing of meete and ser- © viceable persons to be Sheriffs in the several counties, which is a matter of great importance, especially at this time, when all parts of the realme are tinged with the infection of rebellion, yet wee thinke it not amisse sometime to recommend unto you such men as wee should [wish] to have for that office. Among whom we may justly reckon Edm, Spenser, a gentleman dwelling in the e county of of Corke, who is so well known unto you all for “his $ good and commendable parts, (being a man endowed with good knowledge in learning, and not unskilful or without ex- perience in the service of the warres,) as we need not use many words in his behalf. And therefore as we are of opinion that you will favour him for himselfe and of your own accord, so we do pray you that this letter may increase his credit so far forth with you as that he may not fayle to be appointed Sheriffe of the county of Corke, unlesse there be to you knowne some important cause to the contrary. We are persuaded he will so behave himselfe in this parti- cular as you shall have just cause to allowe of our recommenda- ay, tion, and his good service. And so,” &c. Z 2 340 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. as nf. -e« Which was published in 1591: and hence probably , ote Bt a3 “~~ the words, “ late deceas'd in beggary.”™ This allu: a eae aes “a> Sion, if I am right in my conjecture, may serve to feces < —oconfirm the early date assigned to A Midsummer- Gee Ke. arte Dream. — nl ewe pn Ss ty ae Beye Ti The Taming of the Shrew, ~ 1596. a Been nt on and The Winter’s Tale are the only | as okewae om < pieces which I have found reason, since the first ui® Z. -«-edition of this Essay appeared, to attribute to an era o~--9 «- <—— widely different from that in which I had originally . placed them’. I had supposed the piece now under consideration to have been written in the year 1606. On a more attentive perusal of it, and more expe- rience in our author’s style and manner, I am per- ;suaded that it was one of his very early productions, and near in point of time to the Comedy of Errors, / Love's Labour’s Lost, and The Two Gentlemen of “Verona. In the old comedies, antecedent to the time of 0 our author’s writing for the stage, (if indeed they deserve that name,) a kind of doggrel measure is often found, which, as I have already observed, Shakspeare adopted in some of those pieces which were undoubtedly among his early compositions; I mean his Errors, and Love’s Labour’s Lost. This kind of metre being found also in the play before us, adds support to the pin f 3rd: 7 A minute change has been made in the arrangement of five othet plays; A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour's Lost, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Cymbeline; but the variation is not more than a period of two or three years. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 341. supposition that it was one of his early productions. The last four lines of this comedy furnish an example. of eE measure I allude to: ** "Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white, “« And being a winner, God give you good night. ** Now go thy ways, thou hast tam'd a curst shrew, «Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam’d so.” Another proof of The Taming of the Shrew being an early production arises from the frequent play of words which we find in it, and which Shakspeare has condemned in a subsequent comedy. Some of the incidents in this comedy are taken from the Supposes of Gascoigne, an author of consi- derable popularity, when Shakspeare first began to write for the stage. The old piece entitled The Taming of a Shrew, on which our author’s play is founded, was entered on the Stationers’ books by Peter Short, May 2, 1594, and probably soon afterwards printed. As it bore nearly the same title with Shakspeare’s play (which was not printed till 1623), the hope of getting a sale Z.. ..4Z— for it. under the shelter of a celebrated name, was “~~ 7° 7 probably the inducement to issue it out at that time: 4-4, 7" 5% and its entry at Stationers’ Hall, and publication in < TE a 1594°, (for from the passage quoted below it must ~ have been published °,) gives weight to the suppo- 8 It was published in 1596, and copies of the edition are in the libraries of the Dukes of Bridgwater and Roxburgh. Reep. 9 From a passage in a tract written by Sir John Harrington, entitled The Metamorphosis of Ajax, 1596, this old play appears Z.< 42. fot. to have been printed before that time, probably in the year 1594, Z~> 7 ne ; when it was entered at Stationers’ Hall; though no edition of so oe wae ee. aecs Sa a 342 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. sition that Shakspeare’s play was written and first acted in that year. There being no edition of the genuine play in print, the bookseller hoped that the old piece with a similar title might pass on the com- mon reader for Shakspeare’s performance. This ap- pears to have been a frequent practice of the book- sellers in those days; for Rowley’s play of King Henry VIII. I am persuaded, was published in 1605, and 1613, with the same view; as were King Leir and his Three Daughters in 1605, and Lord Ster- line’s Julius Cesar in 1607. In the year 1607 it is highly probable that this comedy of our author’s was revived, for in that year Nicholas Ling republished The old Taming of a Shrew, with the same intent, as it should seem, with which that piece had originally been issued out by another bookseller in 1594. In the entry made by Ling in the Stationers’ books, January 22, 1606-7, he joined with this old drama two of Shakspeare’s genuine plays, Romeo and Juliet, and Love’s La- bour’s Lost, neither of which he ever published, nor does his name appear in the title page of any one of our author’s performances; so that those two plays could only have been set down by him, along with the other, with some fraudulent pears he In the same year also (Nov. 17); f dur author's ge- ces nuine play“was entered at Stationers’ Hall, by J. Lain Ss b early a date has hitherto"been discovered. “ Read” (says Sir Gace <. 414 John) “the booke of Taming a Shrew, which hath made a Kee fo Bie © nom fect, th le a shrew in ec, /+- «-—« number of us so perfect, that now every one can rule a shrew in 4~ ce. -/ our country, save he that hath her.” CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 343 Smethwyck! (one of the proprietors of the second folio); which circumstance gives additional weight to the supposition that the play was revived in that year. Smethwyck had probably procured a copy of it, and had then thoughts of printing it, though for some reason, now undiscoverable, it was not printed «:.. by him till 1631, eight years after it had appeared in 7“: bg eae the edition by the players in folio. a fy Fe hthe It should be observed that there is a slight varia” “= tion between the titles of the anonymous play and Shakspeare’s piece; both of which, in consequence of the inaccuracy of Mr. Pope, and his being very superficially acquainted with the phraseology and manner of our early writers, were for a long time _ unjustly attributed to our poet. The old drama was called The Taming of a Shrew; Shakspeare’s comedy, . The Taming of ¢he Shrew. It must not be concealed, "however, that The Taming of the Shrew is not enumerated among our author’s plays by Meres in 1598; a circumstance which yet is not sufficient to prove that it was not then written: for neither are The,Second and Third, Parts of King Henry VI. mentioned by him ; though those plays had undoubtedly appeared before that 2. £1, year. P79 U.. b | Oe AR ee _ I formerly imagined that a line® in this comedy 75 “~°2 77 SL. hf i) aaa ' For this bookseller Romeo and Juliet was printed in 4to. i. 1609, and an. edition of Hamlet without date; the latter eS Se printed either in that year or 1607. — eae , 2 « This is the way to kill a wife with kindness.” Taming Meena? Lb o) the Shrew, Act IV. Sc. 1. Heywood’s play is mentioned in The: silt Sane Black Booke, 4to. 1604. I am not possessed of the first edition Go emantr: 344 ‘LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. be ca. ~ alluded to an old play written by Thomas Heywood, aun wot ipo ee tt entitled A Woman Kill’d with Kindness, of which aor 77 the second edition was printed in 1607, and the Beep first probably not before the year 1600; but the ~ / other proofs which I have already stated with respect to the date of the play before us, have convinced me that I was mistaken, 12. Romeo and Juliet, 1596. It has been already observed, that our author in his early plays appears to have been much addicted to rhyming; a practice from which he gradually departed, though he never wholly deserted it. In this piece more rhymes, I believe, are found, than in any other of his plays, Love’s Labour's Lost and A Midsummer-Night’s Dream only exeepted. This circumstance, the story on which it is founded, so likely to captivate a young poet, the imperfect form in which it originally appeared, and its very early publication *, all incline me to believe that this was one of Shakspeare’s first tragedies, In a former edition of this Essay, I placed the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in 1595, not adverting toa particular circumstance, which ascertains with great precision that it must have been produced be- tween the 23d of July, 1596, / ‘and the 17th of April, 1597 ; and from that, and other circumstances which I shall presently state, and from the entry in the of it, nor is it in any of the great collections of old plays that I have seen. ptf C40 (ee) w% 3 There is no edition of any of our author's genuine plays ex~ tant, prior to ie when Romeo and Juliet was published, Cw an OC ae ve eae e 7 J 4 Pf eee pe ©), af On fF GOV inn Lun iif bs. BO 4 ) y 3 A eas A. wee ifaw Loinacb age, CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 345 Stationers’ Registers, printed in a subsequent page * (whether that entry relates to a ballad on the same subject, or to the play itself; the former of which, I believe to be the case); it is extremely probable that this tragedy was first acted at the Curtain Theatre in the autumn of 1596; and that it was published early in the following year. It is observable, that in the title-page of the ori- ginal quarto copy of 1597, it is said that it had been “often (with great applause) plaid publiquely by the right honourable Lord Hunsdon his servants.” I formerly had not been aware that two noblemen of this family in our author’s time, Henry Lord Hunsdon, the father, and George Lord Hunsdon, his son, both filled the office of Lord Chamberlain of the Household to Queen Elizabeth, though not successively. Henry, the father, after holding this station for eleven years, died on the 22d of July, « bx 1596. The company of comedians who were his” lordship’s servants, among whom Shakspeare, Bur- SS 0S” Sefog asia “rads bage, Heminge, Condell »,and others, were enrolled, Sigs during that period, or a considerable part of it, were distinguished by the appellation of “ the Lord Chan- berlain’s men.” Having, however, been appended to him, not as Lord Chamberlain, but as a peer of the realm, on the death of their patron, they naturally fell under the protection of his son and successor in (7.4.2 the title, and for some time continued to play under “7 “~ 4“ August 5, 1596, a new ballad of Romeo and Juliet,” licensed to Edward White. Was 2 o Pa Lig Lee Crerdi tos mm fox A ew ee pat Pre > are 8 ay J. he 346 - LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. Pembroke, or any other nobleman, who had not enjoyed any official situation in the court of Elizabeth. In. August, 1596, the vacant office of Chamberlain was given to William Brooke, the fourth Lord Cobham (of that family), which station he held till he died, on Saturday, the 5th of March, 1596-7°; a period of about seven months; and about six weeks afterwards, George Lord Hunsdon was appointed Lord Chamberlain in his room. During the interval between the 22d of July, 1596, and the following April, Shakspeare’s company could only be denomi- nated the servants of Lord Hunsdon, as they are properly styled in the original title-page of this play; nor did they recover their more honourable desig- nation, till, on the 17th of April, 1597, the nobleman by whom they were licensed, was advanced to the office which Lord Cobham had held. Hence in the autumn of that year °, our poet’s King Richard the Second, and King Richard the Third, which I be- lieve were originally acted whilst he and his fellows were under the patronage of Henry the father, and were then exhibiting under that of his son, were, after he had been invested with the same office, pro- perly set forth, “as acted by the right honourable the Lord Chamberlain his servants :” and the very tragedy now under our consideration, when revised and enlarged, was printed in 1599, as acted, not by the Lord Hunsdon’s servants (as in the former 5 In the Shrewsbury Papeérs, iii. 67, his death is placed oh February 24, 1597-8 ; but this is a mistake. ® Andrew Wise paid for a licence to print King Richard II. August 29, 1597; and King Richard III. on October 20, 1597. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 347 edition), but by those of the Lord Chamberlain. These circumstances appear to me to ascertain the date of Romeo and Juliet beyond a doubt. The words “ publiquely acted,” which are found in the title-page of the original edition, show, that this tragedy was performed at a publick, in contra- distinction to a private theatre; and a passage in Marston’s Satires, which I have already had occa- sion to notice, informs us, that it was played at ~<.- | the Curtain Theatre, then occupied by the Lord | Chamberlain’s servants, and the fortunate spot | where our author’s early dramatick productions were \ first exhibited. In Marston’s tenth Satire, in which the author portrays the various humours of the time, after a description of Curio, “ a capering youth,” who thinks of nothing but dancing, Luscus, a constant haunter of playhouses, is thus introduced : “ Luscus, what's plaid to-day? i’ faith now I know; ~ “ | see thy lips a broach, from whence doth flow ** Naught but pure Juliet and Romeo. ** Say, who acts best ? Drusus, or Roscio ?— An Af vvG> «* Now I have him, that ne’er of ought did speake 2. “«* But when of playes or players he did treate ; “ Hath made a common place booke out of plaies, “« And speakes in print, at least what ere he sayes, *« Is warranted by Curtain plaudities, ‘« If ere you heard him courting Lesbia’s eyes.” In the third Act the-first and second cause are mentioned: that passage, therefore, was probably written after the publication of Saviolo’s Book on Honour and Honourable Quarrels ; which appeared in 1594, fof Phan 7 Camm Line Awe bee CH lo. Ltn , , en a Sh —. hw forme LE fee galt doar ee Ficf VE, | Ameen, Mh sf mo, tbat, eneaill an oti Ye: Clot, be 348 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. From several passages in the fifth Act of this tragedy it is manifest, I think, that Shakspeare had recently read, and remembered, some of the lines in Daniel’s Complaint of Rosamond, which, I believe, was printed in 1592°: the earliest edition, however, that I have seen of that piece is dated in 1594: “ And nought-respecting death, the last of paines, ** Plac'd his pale colours, (the ensign of his might,) “« Upon his new-got spoil,” &c. Complaint of Rosamond. «« ___- beauty’s ensign yet. « Ts crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks, “* And death’s pale flag,” &c. Romeo and Juliet. “ Decayed roses of discolour'd cheeks fi ** Do yet retain some notes of former grace, Z “« And ugly death sits faire within her face.” Complaint of Rosamond. ‘* Death that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath, ‘* Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.” Romeo and Juliet. “ Ah now methinks I see death dallying seeks ‘* To entertaine itselfe in love's sweet place.” Complaint of Rosamond. « —— Shall I believe ‘** That unsubstantial death is amorous ?”- Romeo and Juliet. If the following passage in an old comedy already mentioned, entitled Doctor Dodipoll, which had appeared before 1596, be considered as an imitation, > “ A booke called Delia, containynge diverse sonates, with the Complainte of Rosamonde,” was entered at Stationers’ Hall by “ 4 Simon Waterson, in Feb. 1591-2, and the latter piece is com- tla | mended by Nashe in a tract entitled Pierce Pennilesse his Sup- plication to the Divell, published in 1592. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 349 it may add some weight to the supposition that Romeo and Juliet had been exhibited before that year : “ The glorious parts of fair Lucilia, “Take them and join them inthe heavenly spheres, “ And fix them there as an eternal light, “ For lovers to adore and wonder at.” Dr. Dodipoll. ** Take him and cut him out in little stars, «« And he will make the face of heaven so fine, «* That all the world shall be in love with night, «* And pay no worship to the garish sun.” Romeo and Juliet. In the fifth Act of this tragedy mention is made of the practice of sealing up the doors of those houses in which “ the infectious pestilence did reign.” Shakspeare probably had himself. seen this practised in the plague which raged in London in 1593. From a speech of the Nurse in this play, which contains these words—* It is now since the earth- quake eleven years,” &c. Mr. Tyrwhitt conjectured, that Romeo and Juliet, or at least part of it, was written in 1591; the novels from which Shakspeare may be supposed to have drawn his story, not men- tioning any such circumstance; while on the other hand, there actually was an earthquake in England on the 6th of April, 1580, which he might here have had in view °.—It formerly seemed improbable to me 2:2“ that Shakspeare, when he was writing this tragedy, “: should have adverted, with such precision, to the date of an earthquake which had been felt in his youth. The passage quoted struck me, as only dis- playing one of those characteristical traits, which 3 See Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. III. 350 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. distinguish old people of the lower class ; who delight in enumerating a multitude of minute circumstances that have no relation to the business immediately under their consideration *, and are particularly fond of computing time from extraordinary events, such as battles, comets, plagues, and earthquakes. This feature of their character our author has in various places strongly marked. Thus (to mention one of many instances), the Grave-digger in Hamlet says that he came to his employment, “of all the days i’ the year, that day that the last king o’ercame For- tinbras,—that very day that young Hamlet was born.”—A more attentive perusal, however, of our poet’s works, and his frequent allusions to the man- ners and usages of England, and to the events of his own time, which he has described as taking place wherever his scene happens to lie, have shown me that Mr. Tyrwhitt’s conjecture is not so improbable as I once supposed it. Shakspeare might have laid the foundation of this play in 1591, and finished it at a subsequent period. The passage alluded to is in the first Act. If the earthquake which happened in England in 1580, was in his thoughts, when he composed the first part of this play, and induced him to state the earthquake at Verona as happening on the day on which Juliet was weaned, and eleven years before the 4 Thus Mrs. Quickly, in King Henry IV. reminds Falstaff, that he “ swore on a parcel-gilt goblet, to marry her, sitting in her dolphin chamber, at a round table, by a sea-coal fire, on Wednes- day in Whitsun-week, when the prince broke his head for liken- ing his father to a singing man of Windsor.” CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 351 commencement of the piece, it has led him into a contradiction ; for, according to the Nurse’s account, Juliet was within a fortnight and odd days of com- pleting her fourteenth year; and yet, according to the computation made, she could not well be much more than twelve years old. Whether indeed the English earthquake was, or was not, in his thoughts, the nurse’s account is inconsistent and contradictory. Perhaps Shakspeare was more careful to mark the — garrulity, than the precision of the old woman :—or perhaps, he meant this very incorrectness as a trait of her character :—or, without having recourse to either of these suppositions, shall we say, that our author was here, as in some other places, hasty and inatten- tive? It is certain that there is nothing in which he is less accurate, than the computation of time. Of his negligence in this respect, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, and Othello, furnish remark- able instances °. 13. King John, 1596. This historical play was founded on a former drama, entitled The Troublesome Raigne of John King of England, with the Discoverie of King Richard Cordelion’s base Son, vulgarly named the Bastard Faweonbridge: also the Death of King John at Swinstead Abbey. As it was (sundry times) pub- likely acted by the Queenes Majesties Players in the honourable Cittie of London. This piece, which is s See Measure for Measure, Act I. Sc. III. and IV.—As You Like It, Act IV. Sc. I. and I[L—Othello, Act III. Sc. Tfl.: “I slept the next night well,” &c. 7 352 - LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. in two parts, and was printed at London for Sampson Clarke, 1591, has no author’s name in the title-page. On its republication in 1611, the bookseller for whom it was printed, inserted the letters Sh. in the title- page ; and in order to conceal his fraud, omitted the words—publikely—in the honourable Cittie of. London, which he was aware would proclaim this %, #.., Play not to be Shakspeare’s King J ohn’; the com- fe-y~'- “= pany to which he belonged, having no publick theatre “S02 jn London: that in Blackfriars being a private play- “+1 & £4 house, and the Globe, which was a publick theatre, oe being situated in Southwark. He also, probably iis ~C* with the same view, omitted the following lines ad- dressed to the Gentlemen Readers, which are pre- fixed to the first edition of the old play: “ You that with friendly grace of smoothed brow “« Have entertain’d the Scythian Tamburlaine, ie “ And given applause unto an infidel ;~ a pee “* Vouchsafe to welcome, with like curtesie, Jum me Soy? ‘* A warlike Christian, and your countryman. | eae IER * For Christ’s true faith indur'd he many a storme, a Oy > “ And set himselfe against the man of Rome, iheaeameipanate. “ Until base treason by a damned wight [fo ree” ** Did all his former triumphs put to flight. Y Geeta hated ** Accept of it, sweete gentles, in so agen * And thinke it was fears for lag cisport" ae ’'%ey Shakspeare’s play being then probably often acted, Z-*> Z<: and the other wholly laid aside, the word lately was S224 substituted for the word publickly:—as they were avy & «sundry times /ately acted,” &c. Tea 4 >. Thomas Dewe, for whom a third edition of this -_ old play was printed in 1622, was more daring. The two parts were then published, “as they were CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. then dead nineteen years. sundry times lately acted;” and the name of. Wil- liam Shakspeare inserted at length. “ By the Queen’s Majesties players” was wisely omitted, as not being very consistent with the word /ately, Elizabeth being King John is the only one of our poet’s uncon- tested plays that is not entered in the books of the Stationers’ Company. It was not printed till 1623, but is mentioned by Meres in 1598, unless he mis- took the old play in two parts, printed in 1591, for the composition of Shakspeare. It is observable, that our author’s son, Hamnet, died in August, 1596. That a man of such sensi- | bility, and of so amiable a disposition, should have lost his only son, who had attained the age of twelve years, without being greatly affected by it, will not be easily credited. The pathetick lamentations which he has written for Lady Constance on the death of Arthur, may perhaps add some probability to the supposition that this tragedy was written at or soon after that period. In the first scene of the second Act the following lines are spoken by Chatillon, the French ambassador, on his return from England to King Philip : * And all the unsettled humours of the land— “ Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries, “* With ladies’ faces and fierce dragons’ spleens,— - *¢ Have sold their fortunes at their native homes, ‘« Bearing their birth-rights proudly on their backs, *© To make a hazard of new fortunes here. “ In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits «« Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er, VOL. II. QA Lois 354 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. «« Did never float upon the swelling tide, ‘© To do offence and scathe to Christendom.” Dr. Johnson has justly observed, in a note on this play, that many passages in our poet’s works evi- dently show that “he often took advantage of the facts then recent, and the passions then in motion.” Perhaps the description contained in the last six lines was immediately suggested to Shakspeate by the grand fleet which was sent against Spain in 1596. It consisted of eighteen of the largest of the Queen’s -ships, three of the Lord Admiral’s, and above one hundred and twenty merchant-ships and victuallers, under the command of the earls of Nottingham and Essex. The regular land-forces on board amounted to ten thousand; and there was also a large body of voluntaries (as they were then called), under the command of Sir Edward Winkfield. Many of the nobility went on this expedition, which was destined against Cadiz. The fleet sailed from Plymouth on the third of June, 1596; before the end of that month the great Spanish armada was destroyed, and the town of Cadiz was sacked and burned. Here Lord Essex found 1200 pieces of ordnance, and an immense quantity of treasure, stores, ammunition, &c. valued at twenty million of ducats. The vie- torious commanders of this successful expedition returned to Plymouth, August 8, 1596, four days before the death of our poet’s son. Many of our old historians speak of the splendour and magnificence displayed by the noble and gallant adventurers who served in this expedition; and Ben Jonson has par- CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 355 ticularly alluded to it in his Silent Woman, written a few years afterwards *. To this I suspéct two linés already quoted particularly refer : : * Have sold their fortunes at their native homes, “ Bearing their birth-rights proudly on their backs.” Dr, Johnson conceived that the following lines in this play— ** And meritorious shall that hand be call'd, «* Canonized, and worshipp’d as a saint, ** That takes away by any secret course “ Thy hateful life—.” might either refer to the bull published against Queen Elizabeth, or to the canonization of Garnet, Faux, and their accomplices, who, in a Spanish book which he had seen, are registered as saints. If the latter allusion had been intended, then this play, or at least this part of it, must have been written after 1605. But the passage in question is founded on 4 similar one in the old play, printed in 1591, and therefore no allusion to the gunpowder-plot could have been intended. A line of The Spanish Tragedy is quoted in King John. That ‘tragedy, I believe, had appeared i or before 1590, In the first Act of King John, an ancient tiak@ay, entitled Solyman and Perseda, is alluded to. ‘The earliest edition of that play, now extant, is that of 1599, but it was written, and: probably acted, many s “ Thad as fair a gold jerkin on that day as any Was worn in the Island Voyage, or Cadiz, none dispraised.” Silent Woman, 1609, 2aQ 356 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. years before; for it was entered on the Stationers’ | books, by Edward Whyte, Nov. 20, 1592.. Marston’s Insatiate Countess, which, according to Langbaine, was printed in 1603, contains a passage, which, if it should be considered as an imitation of a similar one in King John, will ascertain this histo- rical drama to have been written at least before that year : ** Then how much more in me, whose youthful veins, ** Like a proud river, overflow their bounds.” So, in King John: ‘* Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum, * Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds?” Marston has in many other places imitated Shak- speare. ; A speech spoken by the Bastard in the second Act of this tragedy ° seems to have been formed on one in an old play entitled The famous History of Captain Thomas Stukely. Captain Stukely was killed in 1578. The drama of which he is the subject, was not printed till 1605, but it is in the black letter, and, I believe, had been exhibited at least fifteen years before. Of the only other note of time which I have ob- served in this tragedy, beside those already men- tioned, I am unable to make any use. “ When I was in France,” says young Arthur, ** Young gentlemen would be as sad as night, ** Only for wantonness.” © See vol. xv, p. 251. —— CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 357 I have not been able to ascertain when the fashion of being sad and gentlemanlike commenced among our gayer neighbours on the continent. A similar fashion prevailed in England, and is often alluded to by our poet, and his contemporaries. Perhaps he has in this instance attributed to the French a species of affectation then only found in England. It is noticed by Lyly in 1592, and Ben Jonson in 1598. 13. First Part of King Henry IV. 1597. Entered, Feb. 25, 1597. [1597-8.] Written therefore probably in 1597. Printed in 1598. 14. Second Part of King Henry IV. 1598. - "The Second Part of King Henry IV. was entered in the Stationers’ books, August 23, 1600, and was printed in that year. It was written, I believe, in 1598. From the epilogue it appears to have been eomposed before King Henry V. which itself must have been written in or before 1599. Meres in his Wit’s Treasury, which was published 4. 4. of ash in September, 1598, has given a list of our author's plays, and among them is King Henry IV.; but as he does not describe it as a play in two ouin I doubt whether this second part had been exhibited, though it might have been then written. If it was not in his contemplation, it may be presumed to have appeared in the latter part of the year 1598. His words are these: “ As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for comedy and tragedy, 2 among the Latines, so > Shakspeare, among the English, is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage: for CL. ax WwW VAY 358, LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. comedy, witness his Gentlemen of Verona, his Ertors, his Love’s Labour’s Lost, his Love's Labour’s Wonne, his Midsummer-Night’s Dream, and his Merchant of Venice; for tragedy ®, his Richard I. Richard III. Henry IV. King John, Titus Andronicus, and his Romeoand Juliet *.” ‘The following allusion to one of the characters in this play, which is found in Every Man out of his Humour, Act V. Sc. II. first acted in 1599, is an additional authority for supposing The Second Part of King Henry IV. ta have been written in 1598 : “ Savi. What’s he, gentle Mons. Brisk ? Not that gentleman ? _ | © Fast. No, lady; this is a Sicilia to Justice Shallow.” That this play was not written before the year 1596, is ascertained by the following allusions. In the last Act, Clarence, speaking of his father, says, “ The incessant care and labour of his mind Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in, * So thin, that life looks through, and will break out.” These lines appear to have been formed on the following in Daniel’s Civil Warres, 1595, b. iii. st. 116: ‘¢ Wearing the wall so thin, that now the mind ** Might well look thorough, and his frailty find.” 8 The circumstance of Hotspur's death in this play, and its being an historical drama, I suppose, induced Meres to denomi- nate The First Part of King Henry IV. a a tragedy, 9 Wit's Treasury, p. 282. y oe, fey “-- fie os, eee Yo ws foros =- Gane Fe SAG oe ee ee ee fae (< - ~ Bigs ‘aameshe? Ll. Fong? a IRS o~ le Srume Se Power Lon Kn SO oe fl 109-C97 + a CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. _ 359 _ Daniel’s Poem, though not published till 1595, was entered on the Stationers’ books, in October, 1594. _ The distich, with which Pistol consoles himself, Si fortuna me tormenta, &e. had, I believe, ap- peared in an old collection of tales, and apophthegms, entitled Wits, Fits, and Fancies, which was entered at Stationers’ Hall in 1595, and probably printed in that year.. Sir Richard Hawkins, as Dr. Farmer has observed, * in his voyage to the South Sea in 1593, throws out the same jingling distich on the loss of his pinnace.” But no account of that voyage was pub- ( lished before 1598. In the last Act of this play the young king thus addresses his brothers : ** Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear. ** This is the English, not the Turkish court ; ** Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds, « But Harry Harry.” | It is highly probable, as is observed in a note on that passage, that Shakspeare had here in contem- plation the cruelty practised by the Turkish emperor, Mahomet, who after the death of his father, Amu- _ rath the Third,/in Feb/1596 ‘, invited his unsus- we ha S94 3 pecting brothers to a feast, and caused them all to be strangled. 15. King Henry F- 1599. Mr. Pope thought that this historical drama was ' The affairs of this court had previously attracted the publick attention ; for in 1594 was published at London, A Letter sent by Amurath the great Turke to-Christendom. 360 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. -one of our author's latest compositions ; but he was evidently mistaken. King Henry V. was entered on the Stationers’ books, Aug. 14, 1600, and printed in the same year. It was written after the Second -Part of King Henry IV. being promised in the epi- logue of that play ; and while the Earl of Essex was in Ireland*. Lord Essex went to Ireland April 15, 1599, and returned to London on the 28th of Sep- tember in the same year. So that this play (unless the passage relative to him was inserted after the piece was finished) must have been composed between April and September, 1599. Supposing that pas- sage a subsequent insertion, the play was probably not written Jong before; for it is not mentioned “4 a pvbyfe 4 Meres i in 1598," Le =~ - &* The prologue to Ben Jonson’s Every Man in his ing os >, Humour * seems clearly to allude to this play; and, A~ EE ie if it had been written at the same time with the | eoiipagery yi piece itself, might induce us, notwithstanding the silence of Meres, to place King Henry V. a year or two earlier; for Every Man in his Humour is said to have been acted in 1598. But the prologue which now appears before it, was not written till after 1601, em when the play was printed without the prologue, A gst r, which first appeared in the folio edition of Jonson’s Pe 3¢ ~~ Works, published in 1616°, It is certain, that, not ‘3 ‘See the Chorus to the fifth Act of King Henry V. 4 ** He rather prays, you will be pleased to see ** One such, to day, as other plays should be ; ** Where neither Chorus wafts you o'er the seas,” &c. Prologue to Every Manin his Humour. Fol. 1616. 5 I had formerly supposed that Every Man in his Humour was Jonson's first dramatick performance; but the discovery of Hen~ CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. , 361 long after the year 1600, a coolness ® arose between Shakspeare and him, which, however he may talk of “ slowe’s MSS. renders this very doubtful. That register contains acurious account of payments made to Jonson, at various times, for his labours in writing for the theatre. See vol. iii. p. 333. 6 See an old comedy called The Return from Parnassus : {This piece was not published till 1606 ; but appears to have been written in 1602,—certainly was produced before the death 4-7 |... of Queen. Elizabeth, which happened on the 24th of March, ~ earmaeds Gy ter 1602-3.] ‘* Why here's our fellow Shakspeare puts them all“ ” as oe down ; ay and Ben Jonson too. O, that Ben Jonson is a pes- tilent fellow; he brought up Horace giving the poets a pill, but our fellow Shakspeare hath given him a purge that made him bewray his credit.” The play of Jonson's in which he gave the poets a pill, is the Poetaster, acted in 1601. In that piece some passages of King Henry V. are ridiculed, In what manner Shakspeare put him down, or made him bewray his credit, does not appear. His retaliation, we may be well assured, contained no gross or illi- beral abuse ; and, perhaps, did not go beyond a ballad or an epigram, which may have perished with things of greater con- sequence. He has, however, marked his disregard for the calum- niator of his fame, by not leaving him any memorial by his Will. —lIn an apologetical dialogue which Jonson annexed to the Poet- aster, he says, he had been provoked for three years (i. e. from 1598 to 1601) on every stage by slanderers ; as for the players, + gine es he says, lag an «¢ _. It is true, I tax'd them, ; poet «« And yet but some, and those so sparingly, “ As all the rest might have sat still unquestion’d :— «¢ ___. What they have’ done against me “Tam not mov'd with. If it gave them meat, * Or got them cloaths, ‘tis well; that was their end, «« Only, amongst them, | am sorry for «« Some better natures, by the rest drawn in «To run in that vile line.’’ By the words “ Some better natures,” there can, I think, be little doubt that Shakspeare was alluded to. 362 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. his almost idolatrous affection, produced on his part, from that time to the death of our author, and for many years afterwards, much clumsy sarcasm, and many malevolent reflections ’. ? In his Silent Woman, 1609, Act V. Sc. II. Jonson perhaps pointed at Shakspeare, as one whom he viewed with scornful, yet with jealous, eyes : ** So they may censure poets and authors, and compare them ; Daniel with Spenser, Jonson with t'other youth, and so forth.” Decker, however, might have been meant. Again, in the same play : Bikes 0 outa ** You two shall be the chorus behind the arras, and whip out ha. 26% © <-~ between the acts, and speak.” | opera In the Induction to Bartholomew Fair, which was acted in 1614, two years before the death of our author, three of his plays, and in the piece itself two others, are attempted to ¥e ridiculed. In The Devil's an Ass, acted in 1616, all his historical plays are obliquely censured : “ Meer-er, By my faith you are cunning in the chronicles. ** Fitz-dot. No, I confess, I ha’t from the play-books, and think they are more authentick." They are again attacked in the Induction to Bartholomew Fair: : ** An some writer that I know, had but the penning o' this ye. Gas «—~ — matter, he would ha’ made you such a jig-a-jog 7 the booths, you etone<-e ~ — should ha’ thought an earthquake had been in the fair. But these master-poets, they will ha’ their own absurd courses, they will be informed of nothing.” The following passage in Cynthia's Revels, 1601, was, I think, likewise pointed against Shakspeare > - ** Besides, they would wish our poets would leave to be pro- moters of other men’s jests, and to way-lay all the stale apothegms or old books they can hear of in print or otherwise, to farce their scenes witha] :—Again, that feeding their friends with nothing ae a of their own, but what they have ¢wice or thrice cooked, they nee my 7» should not wantonly give out how soon they had dress’d it, nor CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 363 On this play, Mr. Pope has the eaaiany pea Act I. Se. L.: “ This first scene was added since the edition of 1608, which is much short of the present editions, how many coaches came to carry away the broken meat, besides hobby-horses and foot-cloth nags,” Jonson's plots were all his own invention ; our author's chiefly taken from preceding plays or novels. The former employed a year or two in composing a play; the latter probably produced two every year, while he remained in the theatre. _. The Induction to The Staple of News, which appeared in 1625, not very long after the publication of our author's plays in folio, contains a sneer at a passage in Julius Cesar: “ Know, Cesar doth not wrong; nor without cause “ Will he be satisfied.” which for the purpose of ridicule is quoted unfaithfully; and in the same play may be found an effort, as impotent as that of Voltaire *, to raise a laugh at Hamlet's exclamation when he kills Polonius. Some other passages which are found in Jonson’s works, might be mentioned in support of this observation, but being quoted hereafter for other purposes, they are here omitted. Notwithstanding these proofs, Jonson’s malevolence to Shak- speare, and jealousy of his superior reputation, have been doubted by Mr. Pope and others: and much stress has been laid on a passage in his Discoveries, and on the commendatory verses pre- fixed to the first edition of our author’s plays in folio.—The reader, after haying perused the following character of Jonson, drawn by Mr. Drummond of Hawthornden, a contemporary, and an intimate acquaintance of his, will not, perhaps, readily believe Z-. peer a these posthumous encomiums “to have been sincere. ‘ Ben Jon- ~neet ie Den son,” says that writer, “‘ was a great lover and praiser of him- a Fs Tees” self; a contemner and scorner of others; given rather to lose a pa * «Ah! ma mere, s’écrie-t-il, il y a un gros rat derriére la tapisserie ;—il tire son épée, court au rat, et tue le bon homme Polonius.” Muvres de Voltaire, t. xv. p. 473, 4to. 364 _ LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. wherein the speeches are generally enlarged, and raised ; several whole scenes besides, and the choruses also, were since added by Shakspeare.” ‘Dr. Warburton also positively asserts, that this first scene was written after the accession. of King friend than a jest; jealous of every word and action of those about him, especially after drink, which is one of the elements in Je Ay. foe foe Which he lived; a dissembler of the parts which reign in him; a orale Leek. bragger of some good that he wanted; thinketh nothing well done, but what either he himself or some of his friends have said or done ; he is passionately kind and angry ; careless either to gain or keep ; vindictive, but if he be well answered, [angry] at him- self; interprets best sayings and deeds often to the worst *. He was for any religion, as being versed in both; oppressed with fancy, which over-mastered his reason, a general disease in many poets. His inventions are smooth and easy, but above all, he excelleth in translation.” Drummond’s Works, fol. 1711; p. 226. In the year 1619 Jonson went to Scotland, to visit Mr. Drum- mond, who has left a curious account of a conversation that passed between them, relative to the principal poets Fe those times. [I have already stated that, in superintending Mr. Malone’s work in its passage through the press, I did not feel justified in with- drawing any of his opinions, however erroneous I might think them, unless where I was authorized, either by his papers, or by something which I might have collected from him in conversation. I have, therefore, suffered this note to remain as it was originally written; although, at the same time, I do not hesitate to express my conviction that the charge against Jonson, which it contains, has been satisfactorily answered by Mr. Gifford. With this avowal, to prevent my being misunderstood, I quit a most ty Be: <<. unpleasing topick. Boswett.] REG ow ci lp ae . . . . . pis fer wong % His misquoting a line of Julius Cesar, so as to render it ne a ee na-% acek +> Monsense, at a time when the play was in print, is a strong illus- A et tration of this part of his character, The plea of an unfaithful ew. Sage Bey ones 4 memory ¢ cannot be urged in his defence, for he tells us in his wing) 7 Ze me ‘Discoveries, that till he was past forty, he could repeat every thing PI Ape 2. Ss vv that he had written. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 365 James I.; and the subsequent editors agree, that several additions were made by the author to King Henry V. after it was originally composed. But there is, I believe, no good ground for these asser- tions. It is true, that no perfect edition of this play was published before that in folio, in 1623; but it does not follow from thence, that the scenes which then first appeared in print, and all the choruses, were added by Shakspeare, as Mr. Pope supposes, after 1608. We know, indeed, the contrary to be true ; for the Chorus to the fifth Act must have been written in 1599. : The fair inference to be drawn from the imperfect and mutilated copies of this play, published in 1600, 1602, and 1608, is, not that the whole play, as we now have it, did not then exist, but that those copies were surreptitious; and that the editor in 1600, not being able to publish the whole, paaeen what he could. I have not, indeed, met with any evidence (except_ in three plays) that the several scenes which are found jn the folio of 1623, and are not in the preceding quartos, were added by the second labour of the author.—The last chorus of King Henry V. already mentioned, affords a striking proof that this was not always the case. The two copies of The Second Part of King Henry IV. printed in the same year (1600), furnish another. In one of these, the whole / first scene of Act III. is wanting; not because it was | then unwritten (for it is found in the other copy pub- - lished in that year), but because the editor was not possessed of it. That what have been called addi- 366 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. tions by the author, were not really such, may be also collected from another circumstance; that in some of the quartos where these supposed additions are wanting, references and replies are found to the passages omitted °. I do not, however, mean to say, that Shakspeate never made any alterations in his plays. We have reason to believe that Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, were revised and augmented by the author; and a second revisal, or temporary topicks, might have suggested, in a course of years, some additions and alterations in some other of his pieces. But with respect to the entire scenes that are wanting in some of the early editions (par- ticularly those of King Henry V, King Richard II. and The Second Part of King Henry IV.), I sup- pose the omissions to have arisen from the imper- fection of the copies; and instead of saying that “ the first scene of King Henry V. was added by the author after the publication of the quarto in 1600,” all that we can pronounce with certainty is, that this seeiie is not found in the quarto of 1600. 16. 4s You Like It, 1599. This comedy was not printed till 1623, and the “8 Of this seé a remarkable instance ii King Henty IV. Part II. Act I. Sc. I. where Morton in a long speech having in- formed Northumberland that the Archbishop of York had joined the rebel party, the Earl replies, —“ I knew of this before.” The quarto contains the reply, but not a single line of the narrative to which it relates. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 367 caveat or memorandum ® in the second volume of the books of the Stationers’ Company, relative to the three plays of As You Like It, Henry V. and Much Ado About Nothing, has no date except Aug. 4. ‘But immediately above that caveat thete is an entry, dated May 27, 1600,—and the entry immediately Sollowing it, is dated Jan. 23, 1603. We may there- fore presume that this caveat was entered between those two periods ; more especially, as the dates scat- tered over the pages where this entry is found, are, except in one instance, in a regular series from 1596 to 1615. This will appear more clearly by exhibiting the entry exactly as it stands in the book : 27 May, 1600. To Mr. Roberts.] Allarum to London. 4 Aug. As You Like It, a book. Henry the Fift, a book. Every Man in his Humour, a book. Comedy of Much Ado about Nothing. 23 Jan. 1603. To Thomas ae a ‘ aa Willian Sapir. This to be their copy, &e. It is extremely probable that this 4th of August was of the year 1600; which standing a little higher on the paper, the Clerk of the Stationers’ Company - might have thought unnecessary to be repeated. All the plays which were entered with As You Like It, to be staied. 9 See Mr. Steevens’s extracts from the books of the Stationers’ Company, in a subsequent part of this volume. 7 368 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. and are here said to be staied, were printed. in the year 1600 or 1601. The stay or injunction against the printing appears to have been very speedily taken off; for in ten days afterwards, on the 14th of August, 1600, King Henry V. was entered, and published in the same year. So, Much Ado about Nothing was entered August 23, 1600, and printed also in that year: and Every Man in his Humour was published i in 1601. Shakspeare, it is said, played the part of dean in As You Like It. As he was not eminent on the stage, it is probable that he ceased to act some years before he retired to the country. His appearance, however, in this comedy, is not inconsistent with the date here assigned ; for we know that he performed. a part in Jonson’s Sejanus in 1603. A passage in this comedy furnishes an additional proof of its not having been written before the year # 1596, nor after the year 1603. “I will. weep for ~~ nothing,” says Rosalind, “ like Diana in the foun- tain.” Stowe, in his Survey of London, 1598, in- forms us, that in the year 1598, at the east side of the Cross in Cheapside was set up “a curious wrought tabernacle of gray marble, and in the same an ala- baster image of Diana, and water conveyed from the Thames, prilling from her naked breast.” To this ~ the passage above cited certainly alludes. In his second edition of the same work, printed in 1603, he informs the reader, that the water flowed in this manner for a time, but that the statue was then decayed. It was, we see, in order in 1598, and con- tinued so without doubt for a year afterwards, that a Te m— STEP che, nae es Lesw te eee a} % i hae A OG ke Fon fe a Ae Fo fon G a Boer Cae «ep ae Fg tie. <= E- ST hat aM Cee ne Oe PR Sy (uggs FP 0 Cn / a ae a= aa Bp kh Beth. Shin Lore Ci. ace. Melee eee 4 ) ey DO Seep te Je ree! Ka? « CL aa KFA CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 369 is, till 1599, when As You Like It appears to have been written. In this comedy a line of Marlowe’s Hero and Leander is quoted. That poem was published in 1598, and probably before. — = 3- 17. Much Ado About Nothing, 1600. fh Satler = 4g! Much Ado About Nothing was written, we wi HE “2 ® LE < 5 = @ a common practice now a-days, among a sort of shift- lea Paro -. ing companions, that runne through every art, , and ena ns > thrive by none, to leave the trade of Noverint °, Sn & SS a “sgn Son fl siaheg Cefeny Ka S TK 4 fn By low Mh fan ome © pes ohne aed eee See vol. iii. p. 453. a Le ; LS ALES 8 ~~ The country lawyers too jog down apace, | 5 ara arene al “ Each with his noverint universi face.” eae oe Lp Arai Ravenscroft's Prologue prefixed to Titus Andronicus. Wk. LA. fLn-<€ om ele. a “ Our ancient deeds were written in Latin, and frequently began ae ‘<~+'with the words, Noverint Universi. The form is still retained. - oe. “ae & Ae Know all men, &e. i Or fia ¢ha ys Lee 4 (Mani fawn / P Pi [ae ee Pe cd fc hm Plrvied f2 Ley hogs fem Granha The gees Kha AZ, or gears ee ec SSI fen LS "ek te sh f- ae feet” s ia ie Lt Ty y a ape Zé DP nar PATE Oe AE alge gan ee Baca. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 871 4 nec 2 Jae We whereto they were born, and busie themselves with the endevors of art, that could scarcely latinize their neck-verse if they should have neede; yet English Seneca, read by candle-light, yeelds many good sen- tences, as Bloud is a beggar, and so forth: and, if. for you ‘intreat him faire in a frosty morning, he will affoord you whole Hamlets, I should say, Handfuls* of ‘tragical speeches. But O grief! Tempus edaxr rerum ;—what is it that will last always? - The séa exhaled by drops will in continuance be drie; and Seneca, let bloud line by line, and page by page, Ze a Angle at length must needes die to our stage.” ~ saiyt ‘Not having seen the first edition of this tract till yaa, wit few years ago, I formerly doubted whether the fore-“““"** “~~ going passage referred to the tragedy of Hamlet ; but the .word Hamlets being printed in the original copy in a different character from the rest, I have no longer any doubt upon the subject. It is manifest from this passage that some play on the story of Hamlet had been exhibited before the year 1589 ; but I am inclined’ to think’ thit it was not Shakspeare’s drama, but an elder performance, on which, with the aid of the old prose History of _ ‘Hamlet; his tragedy was formed? ‘The great number“—< emai 4a. of "piéées which we know he formed on the perform- ~ or CIE aE “hs antes’ of preceding writers®, renders it highly pro- ._- — AEH =| eee # on bable that some others also ‘of his dramas were con- 2 4-2 naaee structed on plays that are now lost. Perhaps the 2% “>7V20 a oe ln tar Gu Aen. a aicass “aaiy tala 6 See the Dissertation on the Three Parts of King Henry VI. 2 Zz Lb vol. xvii. aod 2S 2B 2 se he @ 372 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. ° Agden? dae. OYiginal Hamlet was written by Thomas Kyd’: who was the author of one play (and probably of more) to which no name is affixed’. The only tragedy to - which Kyd’s name is affixed (Cornelia), is a pro- fessed translation from the French of Garnier, who, as well as his translator, imitated Seneca. In Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy, as in Shakspeare’s Hamlet, there is, if I may say so, a play represented within a play : if the old play of Hamlet should ever be reco- vered, a similar interlude, I make no doubt, would be found there; and somewhat of the same contrivance’ may be traced in The old Taming of a Shrew, a comedy which perhaps had the same author as the other ancient pieces now enumerated. Nashe seems to point at some dramatick writer of that time, who had originally been a scrivener or attorney : « A clerk foredoom’d his father’s soul to cross, ‘* Who penn'd a stanza when he should engross ; "2 fu who, instead of transcribing deeds and pleadings, chose to imitate Seneca’s plays, of which a translation had been published many years before. Our author, . however freely he may have borrowed from Plutarch and Holinshed, does not appear to be at all indebted to Seneca; and therefore I do not believe that he was» the person in Nashe’s contemplation. The tragedy of Hamlet was not registered in the books of the Stationers’ Company till the 26th of 7 The Spanish Tragedy. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 373 July, 1602. I believe it was then published, though ~ .. the earliest copy now extant is dated in 1604.. In i the title-page of that copy, the play is said to be * newly imprinted, and enlarged to almost as much again as it was, according to the true and perfect copy ;” from which words it is manifest that a former less perfect copy had been issued from the press. In,a tract entitled Wits Miserie or the World’s Madnesse, discovering the incarnate Devils of the Age, by Thomas Lodge, which was published in quarto in 1596, one of the devils (as Dr. Farmer hasy (2. 4 observed) is said to be “a foule lubber, and looks as pale as the vizard of the ghost, who eried so miser-* — <<<. ably at the theatre, Hamlet, revenge.” If the alluz 2 . 4. sion was to our author’s tragedy, this passage will ~~’ ascertain its appearance in or before 1596 ; but Lodge must have had the elder play in his contemplation.. 19. Merry Wives of Windsor, 1601. The following line in the earliest edition of this comedy, * Sail like my pinnace to those golden shores,” shows that it was written after Sir Walter Raleigh’s return from Guiana in 1596. The first sketch of The Merry Wives of Windsor was printed in 1602. It was entered in the books of the Stationers’ Company on the 18th of January, 1601-2, and was therefore probably written in 1601, after the two parts of King Henry IV. being, it is said, composed at the desire of Queen Elizabeth, in 374 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. order to exhibit Falstaff in love, when all the plea- santry which he could afford in any other situation was exhausted. But it may not be thought so clear, that it was written after King Henry V... Nym andBar- dolph are both hanged in King Henry V. yet appear in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Falstaff is dis- graced in The Second Part of King Henry IV. and dies in King Henry V.; but in The Merry Wives of Windsor, he talks as if he were yet in favour at court; “If it should come to the ear of the court how I have .been transformed,” &c.: and Mr. Page discountenances Fenton’s addresses to his daughter because he kept company with the wild Prince and with Pointz. 'These circumstances seem to favour the supposition that this play was written between the First and Second Parts of King Henry IV. But that it was not written then, may be collected from the tradition above mentioned. The truth, I believe, is, that though it ought to be read (as Dr. Johnson has observed) between The Second Part of King Henry IV. and King Henry V. it was written after King Henry V. and after Shakspeare had killed Falstaff. In obedience to the royal commands, having revived him, he found it necessary at the same time to revive all those persons with whom he was wont to be exhibited ; Nym, Pistol, Bardolph, and the Page: and disposed of them as he found it convenient, without a strict regard to their situations, or catas- trophes in former plays. * “ Well, an the fine wits of the Court heare this theyle so whip me,” &c, 4to. 1602. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. . 375 » There is reason to believe that’ The Merry Wives of Windsor was revised and enlarged by the author, after its first production. The old edition in 1602, like that of Romeo and Juliet,“is apparently a poige draught, and not a mutilated or imperfect copy *. The precise time when the alterations and additions were made, has not been ascertained : however, some passages in the enlarged copy may assist us in our conjectures on the subject. Falstaff’s address to Justice Shallow in the first scene shows that the alterations were made after King James came to the throne: “ Now, Master Shallow, you'll complain of me to the king.” In the first copy the words are, “ to the council.” — When Mrs. Page observes to Mrs. Ford, that “these knights will hack,” which words are not in the original copy, Shakspeare, it has been thought, meant to convey a covert sneer at King James’s pro- digality in bestowing knighthood in the beginning of his reign. Between the king’s arrival at Berwick and 2 Mr. Boaden dissents from this opinion ; and contends that the chasms which sometimes occur in the story of this drama as it appears in the early quarto, point out that copy as one which was imperfectly taken down during the representation. As an. in- stance of this he points out a passage in Act I, Sc. IV. where Dr. Caius says “‘ Sir Hugh send a you?” and upon that, determines to send him a challenge; in the folio, Mrs. Quickly had before told’ him that Simple had come with a message from Parson Hugh ; but this piece of information being omitted in the first edition, the doctor’s anger against the parson is rendered unintelligible. Yet this may have proceeded from the carelessness of the author himself ; Jet the reader judge. Boswett. ot fent# 376 ~—«sOLIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. the 2d of May, 1603, he made 237 knights; and in the following July near four hundred. “ The best courtier of them all,” says Mrs. Quickly, “when the court lay at Windsor, could never have brought her to such a canary. Yet there have been knights, and lords, and gentlemen, with their coaches, I warrant you, coach after coach,” &c. The court went to Windsor in the beginning of July, 1603, and soon afterwards the feast of Saint George was celebrated there with great solemnity. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Lenox, our poet’s great patron the Earl of Southampton, the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of Marre, were installed knights of the garter ; and the chief ladies of England did homage to the queen. The king and queen afterwards usually resided in the summer at Greenwich. The allusion to the insignia of the order of the garter in the fifth Act of this comedy, if written recently after so splendid a solemnity, would have a peculiar grace; yet the order having been originally instituted at Windsor by King Edward III. the place in which the scene lay, might, it must be owned, have suggested an allusion to it, without any particular or temporary object.— It is observable that Mrs. Quickly says, there had been knights, lords, and gentlemen, with their coaches, coach after coach, &c. Coaches, as appears from Howes’s Continuation of Stowe’s Chronicle, did not come into general use, till the year 1605. It may therefore be presumed, that this play was not enlarged very long before that year. f | CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 377 - There is yet another note of time to be considered. In the first scene of the enlarged copy of The Merry — Wives of Windsor, Slender asks Mr. Page, “ How does your fallow greyhound, sir? I hear he was outrun on Cotsale.” He means the Cotswold hills in Glouces- tershire. In the beginning of the reign of James the First, the Cotswold games were instituted by one Dover. They consisted, as Mr. Warton has observed of “ wrestling, leaping, pitching the. bar, handling the pike, dancing of women, various kinds of hunt- ing, and particularly coursing the hare with grey- hounds.” Mr. Warton is of opinion, that two or three years must have elapsed before these games could have been effectually established, and therefore supposes that our author’s additions to this comedy were made about the year 1607. Dr. Farmer doubts whether Capt. Dover was the founder of these games. “ Though the Captain,” he observes, “ be celebrated in the Annalia Dubrensia as the founder of them, he might be the reviver only, or some way contribute to make them more famous; for in the second part of King Henry IV. Justice Shallow reckons among the swinge-bucklers, “ Will Squeele, a Cotsole man.” In confirmation of Dr. Farmer’s opinion, Mr. Steevens remarks, that in Randolph’s poems, 1638, is found “ An eclogue on the noble _ assemblies revived on Cotswold hills by Mr. Robert \ \ Dover.” If the Cotswold games were celebrated before the death of Queen Elizabeth, the passage above cited certainly proves nothing. Let us then endeavour to a 378 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, ascertain that fact. Dover himself tells us in the Annalia Dubrensia that he was the founder of these games : on {et Iwas bold for better recreation “ae ‘To invent these Sports, to counter-check that fashion :" pe from Ben Jonson’s verses in the same collection we ‘learn that they were exhibited in the time’ of James I. and revived in’ 1636. Nothing more then follows from’ Randolph’s verses, compared with Jonson’s, than'that the games had been discontinued after’ their first institution by Dover (probably soon. after *the*death of King James), and were revived by°their founder at a subsequent period. Cotswold, long before the death of Elizabeth, might have been famous for'swinge bucklers, or in other words* for strong ‘men, skilled in fighting with’ sword and buckler, ‘wrestling, and other athletick exercises: butthete is no ground for supposing that coursing with ‘greyhounds, in order to obtain 'the prize of @ silver'‘collar, was customary there, till Dover insti- tuted those prizes after the accession of James to" bai throne. That they were instituted about the year 1603, when’ King James acceded to the English throne, may be collected from the account given of them by Wood, in his Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 812: [ “The said games were begun, and continued “ata certain time ofthe year, for 40 years, by one Robert Dover, an attorney of Burton on the heath in War- ~ wickshire ; who did, with leave from King James I. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 379 select. a place on -Cotswold-hills.in Glocestershire, whereon:: those games.should be acted. Dover was constantly there in person, well mounted and:accou- tred, and was the chief director and manager of those games, even till the rascally rebellion was begun by the Presbyterians, which gave a stop to their proceedings, and od all that was ee and ingenious elsewhere.” This comedy was, not fainted4 in its present state till 1623, when it was published with the rest of our author’s plays in folio. The republication: of the imperfect copy in 1619 has been mentioned asa circumstance from which we may infer that Shak- speare’s improved play was not written, or at least not. acted, till some years after 1607. I confess, I do not perceive, on what ground this inference’ is , made. . Arthur Johnson, the bookseller for whom ‘the imperfect. copy of this: play was published im 1602, when the whole.edition was sold off,. reprinted) it in 1619, knowing that the enlarged copy remained in MS. in. the -hands of the proprietors of the» Globe theatre, and that such of the publick as wished to read, the play.in any form, must read the imperfect play,. of which he had secured. the:property*by enter- ing it..at. Stationers’ Hall. In the same’ manner Thomas Pavier in 1619 reprinted the first and second parts.of The Whole Contention of the Two Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, though he could not but know .that the Second and Third Parts of ‘King Henry VI. which were formed on those pieces, and were much more valuable than them, had been fre- 380 _ LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, quently acted, antecedent to his republication, and that the original plays had long been withdrawn from the scene. Not being able to procure the improved and. perfect copies, a am; bookseller would publish what he could. 20. Troilus and Cressida, 1602. Troilus and Cressida was entered at Stationers’ Hall, Feb. 7, 1602-3, under the title of The booke of Troilus and Cressida, by J, Roberts, the printer of Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and A Mid- summer-Night’s Dream. It was therefore, probably, written in 1602. It was printed in 1609, with the title of The History of Troylus and Cressida, with a preface by the editor, who speaks of it as if it had not been then acted, But it is entered in 1602-3, “ as acted by my Lord Chamberlen’s men.” The players at the Globe theatre, to which Shak- speare belonged, were called the Lord Chamberlen’s seroants, till the year 1603. In that year they obtained a licence for their exhibitions from King James; and from that time they bore the more honourable appellation of his majesty’s servants: There can, therefore, be little doubt, that. the Troilus and Cressida which is here entered, as acted at Shakspeare’s theatre, was his play, and was, if not represented, intended to have been represented there. Perhaps the two discordant accounts, relative to this piece, may be thus reconciled. It might have been performed in 1602 at court, by the lord: cham- CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 381 berlain’s servants (as many plays at that time were), and yet not have been exhibited on the publick stage till some years afterwards. The editor in 1609 only says, “ it had never been staled with the stage, never - clapper-claw’d with the palms of the vulgar.” As a further proof of the early appearance of Troilus and Cressida, it may be observed, that an incident in it seems to be burlesqued in a comedy entitled Histriomastix, which, though not printed till 1610, must have been written before the death of Queen Elizabeth, who, in the last Act of the piece, is shadowed under the character of Astrea, and is spoken of as then living. In our author’s play, when Troilus and Cressida part, he gives her his sleeve, and she, in return, pie sents him with her glove. To this circumstance these lines in Histriomastix seem to refer. They are spoken by Troilus and Cressida, who are introduced in an interlude: “« Troi. Come, Cressida, my cresset light, «Thy face doth shine both day and night. * Behold, behold, thy garter blue “ Thy knight his valiant elbow weares, “That, when he shakes his furious speare, _ “« The foe in shivering fearful sort ** May lay him down in death to snort. ** Cress. O knight, with valour in thy face, “* Here take my skreene, weare it for grace ; ‘* Within thy helmet put the same, “ Therewith to make thy enemies lame.” In Much Ado About Nothing, Troilus is mentioned as “ the first employer of pandars.” Shakspeare, 382 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. therefore, probably had read Chaucer’s poem before the year 1600, when that play was printotn ) spicapnigarngreanatie thatiycrotic eve cena dlit a Thersites’ Dod i is as good as Ajax’, *« When neither are alive.” This seems to import a precedent es of Ajax and Thersites, and in this light may be re- garded as a’ presumptive proof’ that Troilus’ onl Cressida was written’ before Cymbeline: «Dryden supposed Troilus and Cressida to’ ioe been-one of Shakspeare’s earliest performances °; but has not mentioned on what principles ‘he founded his judgment. Pope, on the other hand, thought it one of his last; grounding’ ‘his’ opinion ‘not only on the preface by the editor in’ 1609, but on “ the / great number of observations both moral ‘and poli- tical with which this piece is crouded, more than \any other of our author’s.”\ For my own part, were it not for the entry in the Stationers’ books, I should have been led, both by the colour of the writing, and by the above-mentioned preface, to class it (though not one of our author’s happiest effusions) in 1608, rather than in that year in which it is here placed. Yet, after all, I may still be mistaken. It appears 3 «The tragedy which I have undertaken ‘to correct, was in all probability one of his first endeavours on the stage.—Shak- speare (as I hinted) in the apprenticeship of his writing modelled it [the story of Lollius] into that play which is now called by the name of Troilus and Cressida."—Dryden's Pref. to Troilus and Cressida. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 383 from Henslowe’s MSS. vol. iii. p. 331, that a play upon the subject of Troilus and Cressida had been written by Dekker and Chettle in 1599; and this elder drama may have been the object of satire in Histriomastix. 24, Measure for Measure, 1603. This play was not registered at Stationers’ Hall, nor printed, till 1623. But from two passages in it, which seem intended as a courtly apology for the stately and -ungracious demeanour of King James I. on his entry into England, it appears probable that it was written not long after his accession to the throne : ‘I'll privily away. I love the people, ** But do not like to stage me to their eyes. “ Though it do well, Ido not relish well “* Their loud applause, and aves vehement ; “* Nor do! think the man of safe discretion * That does affect it.” Measure for Measure, Act I. Se, I. Again, Act II. Se. IV. « —. So “The general, subject to a well-wish'd king, ** Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness “* Croud to his presence, where their untaught love $ Must needs appear offence +.” King James was' so much offended by the untaught, and, we may add, undeserved, gratulations of his subjects, on his entry into England, that he issued a proclamation, forbidding the people to resort to him. 4 See Mr. Tyrwhitt’s note. 384 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. - —* Afterwards,” says the historian of his reign, “in his publick appearances, especially in his sports, the accesses of the people made him so impatient, that he often dispersed them with sathiiataas that we may not say with curses °.” It is observable throughout our authala plays that he does not scruple to introduce English signs, habits, customs, names, &c. though the scene of his drama lies in a foreign country; and that he has frequent allusions to the circumstances of the day, though the events which form the subject of his piece are supposed to have happened a thousand. years before. ‘Thus, in Coriolanus, Hob and Dick are plebeians ; and the Romans toss their caps in the air, with the same expressions of festivity which our poet’s contemporaries displayed in Stratford or London. In Twelfth-Night we hear of the bed of Ware, and the bells of Saint Bennet; and in The Taming of the Shrew the Pegasus, a sign of a pub- lick house in Cheapside in the time of Queen Eliza- beth, is hung up in a town in Italy. In Hamlet the Prince of Denmark and Guildenstern hold a long con- versation concerning the children of the Chapel and St. Pauls. The opening of the present play, viewed in this light, furnishes an additional argument in support of the date which I have assigned to it. When King James came to the throne of England, March 24, 1602-3, he found the kingdom engaged in a war with Spain, which had lasted near twenty years. “ Heaven grant us his peace /” says a gen- 5 Wilson’s History of King James, ad ann. 1603. tra CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 385 tleman to Lucio, Act I. Sc. II.; and afterwards the bawd laments, that “ what with the war, what with — the sweat, she was custom-shrunk.” Supposing these two passages to relate to our author’s own time, they almost decisively prove Measure for Measure to have been written in 1603; when the war was not yet ended, as the latter words seem to imply, and when there was some prospect of peace, as the former seem to intimate. Our British Solomon very soon after his accession to the throne manifested his pacifick dispo- sition, though the peace with Spain was not pro- claimed till the 19th of August, 1604. By the sweat, considering who the speaker is, it is probable that the disorder most fatal to those of her profession was intended. However, the plague was sometimes so called; and perhaps the dreadful pestilence of 1603 was meant; which carried off in the month of July in that year 857 persons, and in the whole year 30,578 persons: that is, one fifth part of the people in the metropolis; the total number of the inhabitants of London being at that time about one hundred and fifty thousand. If such was the allusion, it likewise confirms the date attri- buted to this play. Some part of this last argument in confirmation of the date which I had assigned. some years ago to the comedy before us, I owe to Mr. Capell; and while I acknowledge the obligation, it is but just to add, that it is the only one that I met with, which in the small- est degree could throw any light on the present in- quiry into the dates of our author's plays, “In the dry desert of ¢en thousand lines ; ” VOL. II. 2c 386 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. after wading through two ponderous volumes in quarto, written in a style manifestly formed on that of the Clown in the comedy under our consideration, whose narratives, we are told, were calculated to last out a night in Russia, when nights are at the longest. ; In the year 1604, says Wilson the historian, “the sword and buckler trade being out of date, diverse sects of vitious persons, under the title of roaring boys, bravadoes, roysters, &c. commit many insolencies ; the streets swarm night and day with quarrels: private duels are fomented, especially be- tween the English and Scotch: and great feuds be- tween protestants and papists.” A proclamation was published to restrain these enormities ; which proving ineffectual, the legislature interposed, and the act com- monly called the statute of stabbing, 1 Jac. I. ¢. 8. was made, This statute, as Sir Michael Foster observes, was principally intended to put a stop to the outrages above enumerated, “ committed by persons of inflam- mable spirits and deep resentment, who, wearing short daggers under their cloaths, were too well prepared to do quick and effectual execution upon provocations extremely slight.”. King James’s first parliament met on the 19th of March, 1603-4, and sat till the 7th of July following. From the time of James’s accession to the throne great animosity subsisted be- tween the English and Scotch; and many of the outrageous acts which gave rise to the statute of stabbing, had been committed in the preceding: year, about the end of which year I suppose Measure for Measure to have been written. The enumeration CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 387 made by the Clown, in the fourth Act, of the persons who were confined with him in the prison, is an addi- tional confirmation of the date assigned to it. Of ten prisoners whom he names, four are stabbers, or duellists: “ Master Starvelacky, the rapier and dagger man, young Drop-heir that killed lusty Pud- ding, Master Forth-right, the tilter, and wild Half- can that stabbed Pots.” That Measure for Measure was written before 1607, may be fairly concluded from the following passage in a poem published in that year, which we have good ground to believe was copied from a similar thought in this play, as the author, at the end of his piece, professes a personal regard for Shakspeare, and highly praises his Venus and Adonis’, «© So play the foolish throngs with one that stooons ; “ Come all to he/p him, andso stop the air ** By which he should revive.” Measure for Measure, Act Il. Se. IV. ** And like as when some sudden extasie ** Seizeth the nature of a sicklie man; «* When he’s discern’d to swoone, straite by and by “ Folke to his helpe confusedly have ran ; « And seeking with their art to fetch hin backe, “ So many throng, that he the ayre doth lacke.” Myrrha, the Mother of Adonis, or Luste’s Prodigies, by William Barksted, a poem, 1607. ® See the verses alluded to, in a note on the extracts from the Stationers’ Registers. This writer does riot seem to have been very scrupulous about adopting either the thoughts or expressions _ of his contemporaries ; for in his poem are found two lines taken verbatim from Marston's Insatiate Countess, printed four years _ before Myrrha, the Mother of Adonis, &.; >| 2c 2 388 ‘LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. 22. King Henry VIII. 1603. This play was probably written, as Dr. Johnson and Mr. Steevens observe, partly before the death’ of Queen Elizabeth, which happened on the 24th of March, 1602-3. The elogium on King James, which is blended with: the panegyrick on Elizabeth, ‘in the last scene, was evidently a subsequent insertion, after the accession of the Scottish monarch to the throne: for Shakspeare was too well acquainted with courts, to compliment, in the life-time of Queen Elizabeth, her presumptive successor, of whom history informs us she was not a little jealous. That the prediction concerning King James was added after the death of the Queen, is still more clearly evinced, as Dr. Johnson has remarked, by the aukward manner in which it is connected with the foregoing and subsequent lines. The following lines in that prediction may serve to ascertain the time when the compliment was intro- duced : , «* Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, ‘* His honour and the greatness of his name ** Shall be, and make new nations.” Though Me was discovered in 1584, the -~ “‘ Night, like a masque, was enter’d heaven's great hall, ‘* With thousand torches ushering the way.” It appears from Ben Jonson’s Silent Woman, that W. Barksted was an actor, and was employed in the theatre where our author's plays were represented. He might therefore have performed a part in Measure for Measure, or have seen the copy before it was printed. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 389. first colony sent out went there in 1606. In_that. year the king granted two letters patent for planting that country, one to the city of London, the other to the cities of Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth. The colony sent from London, settled in Virginia; that from the other cities, in New England ; the capital of which was built in the following year, and called James town. In 1606 also a scheme was adopted for , the plantation of Ulster in Ireland*. I suspect, therefore, that the panegyrick on the king was intro- duced either in that year, or in 1612, when a lottery was granted expressly for the establishment of English Colonies in Virginia. It may be objected, that if this play was written after the accession of King James, the author could not introduce a panegyrick on him, without making Queen Elizabeth the_ yehicle of it, she being the object immediately presented to the audience in the last Act of King Henry VIII.: and that, therefore, the praises so profusely lavished on her, do not prove this play to have been written in her life-time; on the contrary, that the concluding lines of her cha- racter seem to imply that she was dead, when it was composed. ‘The objection certainly has weight; but, I apprehend, the following observations afford a suffi- cient answer to it. 1. It is more likely that Shakspeare should have written a play, the chief subject of which is, the disgrace of Queen Catharine, the aggrandizement of Anne Boleyn, and the birth of her daughter, in the 2 Bacon's Works, vol. iv. p. 440. 390 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. life-time of that daughter, than after her death: at a time when the subject must have been highly pleasing at court, rather than at a period when it must have been less interesting. Queen Catharine, it is true, is represented as an amiable character, but still she is eclipsed; and the greater her merit, the higher was the compliment to the mother of Elizabeth, to whose superior beauty she was obliged to give way. 2. If King Henry VIII. had been written in the time of King James I. the author, instead of expa- tiating so largely in the last scene, in praise of the Queen, which he could not think would be accept- able to her successor, who hated her memory’, would probably have made him the principal figure in the prophecy, and thrown her into the back-ground as much as possible. 8. Were James I. Shakspeare’s chief object in the original construction of the last Act of this play, he would probably have given a very short character of Elizabeth, and have dwelt on that of James, with whose praise he would have concluded, in order to make the stronger impression on the audience, in- stead: of returning again to Queen Elizabeth, in a very aukward and abrupt manner, after her character seemed to be quite finished: an aukwardness that can only be accounted for, by supposing the panegy- rick on King James an after-production *. 3 King James on his accession to the throne studiously marked his disregard for Elizabeth by the favour which he showed to Lord Southampton, and to every other person who had been dis- graced by her. Of this Shakspeare could not be ignorant. 4 After having enumerated some of the blessings which were CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 391 4. If the Queen had been dead when our author began to write this play, he would have been ac- quainted with the particular circumstances attending her death, the situation of the kingdom at that time, — and of foreign states, &c. and as Archbishop Cranmer is supposed to have had the gift of prophecy, Shak- speare, probably, would have made him mention some of those circumstances. Whereas the prediction, as it stands at present, is quite general, and such as might, without any hazard of error, have. been pro- nounced in the life-time of her Majesty; for the to ensue from the birth of Elizabeth, and celebrated her majesty's various virtues, the poet thus proceeds : ** Cran. In her days every man shall eat in safety “ Under his own vine, what he plants, and sing “ The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours. «* God shall be truly known; and those about her “ From her shall read the perfect ways of honour, * And by those claim their greatness, not by blood. : « (Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when «« The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, «* Her ashes new-create another heir, ae a «* As great in admiration as herself ; “* So shall she leave her blessedness to one, &c, s He shall flourish, “« And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches ‘* To all the plains about him :—our children’s children ‘* Shall see this, and bless heaven. « King. Thou speakest wonders. ] “* Cran. She shall be, to the happiness of England, «« An aged princess ; many days shall see her, ‘* And yet no day without a deed to crown it. «* Would I had known no more! but she must die, ‘‘ She must, the saints must have her ; yet a virgin,” &c. The lines between crotchets are those supposed to have been inserted by the author after the accession of King James. 392 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. principal facts that it foretells, are, that she should die aged, and a virgin. Of the former, supposing this pre- diction to have been written in 1602, the author was sufficiently secure; for she was then near seventy years-old. The latter may perhaps be thought too: delicate a subject, to have been mentioned while she was yet living. But we may presume, it was’ far from being an ungrateful topick ; for very early after her accession to the throne, she appears to have been proud of her maiden character; declaring that she was wedded to her people, and that she desired no other inscription on her tomb, than—*« Here lyeth Elizabeth, who reigned and died a virgin®.” Be- sides, if Shakspeare knew, as probably most people at that time did, that she became very solicitous about the reputation of virginity, when her title to it was at least equivocal, this would be an additional in- ducement to him to compliment her on that head. 5. Granting that the latter part of the panegyrick on Elizabeth implies that she was dead when it was composed, it would not prove that this play was written in the time of King James; for ¢hese latter lines in praise of the Queen,. as well as the whole of the compliment. to the King, might have been added after his accession to the throne, in order to bring the speaker back to the object immediately before him, the infant Elizabeth. And this Mr. Theobald conjectured to have been the case. I do not, how- ever, see any necessity for this supposition ; as there is nothing, in my apprehension, contained in any of 5 Camden, 27, Melvil,; 49. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 393 the lines in praise of the Queen, inconsistent with the notion of the whole of the panegyrick on her having been composed in her life-time. In further confirmation of what has been here advanced to show that this play was partly written while Queen Elizabeth was yet alive, it may be observed (to use the words of an anonymous writer °), that “ Shakspeare has cast the disagreeable parts of her father’s character as much into shade as_possi- ble ; that he has represented him as greatly displeased with the grievances of his subjects, and ordering them to be relieved ; tender and obliging [in the early part of the play] to his queen, grateful to the cardinal, and in the case of Cranmer, capable of distinguishing and rewarding true merit.”—‘ He has exerted (adds the same author) an equal degree of complaisance, by the amiable lights in which he has shown the mother of Elizabeth. Anne Bullen is represented as affected with the most tender concern for the sufferings of her mistress, queen Catharine ; receiving the honour the ~ king confers on her, by making her marchioness of Pembroke, with a graceful humility; and more anxious to conceal her advancement from the queen, lest it should aggravate her sorrows, than solicitous to penetrate into the meaning of so extraordinary a favour, or of indulging herself in the flattering 39, Ae prospect of future royalty.” ~ It is unnecessary to quote particular passages in-<~ “* ee a support of these assertions; but the following lines,» ~/-- which are spoken of Anne Boleyn by the Lord Cham-“ ~*<~*’ /, berlain, appear to me so'evidently calculated for the © The author of Shakspeare Illustrated. [Mrs. Lennox.] 394 _ LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. ear of Elizabeth (to whom such incense was by no means displeasing), that I cannot forbear to transcribe them : ** She is a gallant creature, and complete ** In mind and feature. I petsuade me, from her * Will fall some blessing to this land, which shall “« In it be memoriz'd.” Again : sb I have perus’d her well ; «« Beauty and honour are in her so mingled, “ That they have caught the king: and who knows yet, ** But from this lady may proceed a gem, “ To lighten all this isle.” Our author had produced so many plays in the Henry VIII. was written before 1603. It might perhaps with equal propriety be ascribed to 1602, and it is not easy to determine in which of those years it was composed ; but it is extremely probable that it 3 eo was written in one of them. It was not printed till Es * of the Seationsieg Company, and published, in the ——~~"___- year 1599, perhaps suggested this subject. to Stade. speare. He had also certainly read Churchyard’s Legend of Cardinal Wolsey, printed in The Mirrour for Magistrates, 1587. “ Have we some strange Indian with the great tool come to court, the women so besiege us,” says the Porter in the last Act of this play. This note CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 395 of time may perhaps hereafter serve to ascertain the 4A. , date of this piece, though I cannot avail myself of it, not having been able to discover to what circum- r stance/Shakspeare /here alludes. ay SR: fy | Rowley’s King Henry VIII. was published in 1605, probably with a view that it also might be confounded with Shakspeare’s drama; and both it and Lord Cromwell were re-printed with the same fraudulent intention in 1613, in which year our author’s play was revived with great splendour. The Globe play-house, we are told by the conti- nuator of Stowe’s Chronicle, was burnt down, on St. Peter’s day, in the year 1613, while the play of King Henry VIII. was exhibiting. Sir Henry Wotton (as Mr. Tyrwhitt has observed) says, in one of his letters, that this accident happened during the exhibition of a new play, called All is True; which, however, appears both from Sir Henry’s minute description of the piece, and from the account given by Stowe’s continuator, to have been our author’s play of King Henry VIII. If indeed Sir H. Wotton was accurate in calling it a mew play, all the foregoing reasoning on this subject would be at once overthrown: and this piece, instead of being ascribed to 1603, should have been placed ten years later. But I strongly suspect that the only novelty attending this play, in the year 1613, was its title, decorations, and perhaps the prologue and if epilogue. The Elector Palatine was in London in «..- “ _ that year; and it appears from the MS. register of’ oe \ Lord Harrington, treasurer of the chambers to King <-> James I. that many of our author’s plays were then a 396° LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. exhibited for the entertainment of him and the prin-. cess Elizabeth. By the same register we learn, that the titles of many of them were changed ’ in that year. Princes are fond of opportunities to. display. their magnificence before strangers of distinction ; and James, who on his arrival here must have been dazzled by a splendour foreign to the poverty of his native kingdom, might have been peculiarly ambi- tious to exhibit before his son-in-law the mimick pomp of an English coronation *. King Henry VIII. there- fore, after having lain by for some years unacted, on account of the costliness of the exhibition, might have been revived in 1613, under the title of All is True, with new decorations, and a new prologue and epi- logue. Mr. Tyrwhitt observes, that the prologue has. two or three direct references to this title; a cireum- stance which authorizes us to conclude, almost with certainty, that it was an occasional production, written some. years after the composition of the play. King Henry VIII. not being then printed, the fallacy of calling it a new play on its revival was not easily detected. 7 Thus, Henry IV. Part I. was. called Hotspur; Henry IV. Part II. or The Merry Wives of Windsor, was exhibited under the name of Sir John Falstaff ; Much Ado about Nothing was new- named Benedick and Beatrix; and Julius Cesar seems to have been represented under the title of Cesar’s Tragedy. 8 The Prince Palatine was not present at the representation of King Henry VIII. on the 30th of June O, S. when the Globe playhouse was burnt down, having left England some time before. But the play might have been revived for his entertainmentin the beginning of the year 1613; and might have been occasionally. _ Tepresented afterwards. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 397 -Dr. Johnson long since suspected, from the ‘con- temptuous manner in which “ the noise of targets, and the fellow in a long motley coat,” or in’ other words, most of our author’s plays are spoken. of, in this prologue, that it was not the composition of Shakspeare, but written after his departure from the stage; on some accidental revival of King Henry VIII. by Ben Jonson, whose style, it seemed to him to resemble ®. Dr. Farmer is of the same opinion, and 9 In support of this conjecture it may be observed, that Ben Jonson has in many places endeavoured to ridicule our author for representing battles on the stage. So, in his prologue to Every Man ‘in his Humour : « __. Yet ours, for want, hath not so lov'd the stage, “As he dare serve the ill customs of the age ; ‘* Or purchase your delight at such a rate, “As, for it, he himself must justly hate ; ‘© To make, &c. s or with three rusty swords, «And help of some few foot-and-half-foot words, « Fight over York and Lancaster's long jars, ' « And in the tyring house bring wounds to scars.” Again, in his Silent Woman, Act IV. Sc. IV. : “ Nay, I would sit out a play, that were nothing but fights at sea, drum, trumpet, and target.” We are told in the memoirs of Ben Jonson's life, that he went to France in the year 1613. But at the time of the revival of King Henry VIII. he either had not left England, or was then returned ; for he was a spectator of the fire which happened at ¢ thé Globe theatre during the representation of that piece. [See:~- the next note.] ‘It may, perhaps, seem extraordinary, that he ‘should have presumed to prefix this covert censure of Shakspeare to one of his own plays. But he appears to have eagerly embraced every opportunity of depreciating him. This occasional prologue (who- ever was the writer of it) confirms the tradition handed down by 398 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. thinks he sees something of Jonson’s hand here and there in the dialogue also. After our author’s retire- ment to the country, Jonson was perhaps employed to give a novelty to the piece by a new title and _ logue, and to furnish _ managers of the Globe with ~ Rowe, that our author retired from the stage some years before his death. Had he been at that time joined with Heminge and Burbage in the management of the Globe theatre, he scarcely would have suffered the lines above alluded to, to have been spoken. In Lord Harrington's account of the money disbursed for the plays that were exhibited by his majesty's servants in the year 1613, before the Elector Palatine, all the payments are said. to have been made to ‘* John Heminge, for himself and the rest of his fellows ;” from which we may conclude: that he was prin- cipal manager. A correspondent, however, of Sir Thomas Puck~- ering’s (as I learn from Mr. Tyrwhitt) in a MS, letter, preserved in the Museum, and dated in the’ — 1613, calls the company at the Globe, “‘ Bourbage’s company.”—Shakspeare’s name stands before either of these, in the licence granted by King James: and _ had he not left London before that time, the players. at. the Globe / ' theatre, I imagine, would rather have been entitled, his company. —The burlesque parody on the account of Falstaff’s death, which is contained in Fletcher's comedy of ‘Fhe Captain, acted in 1613, and the ridicule of Hamlet's celebrated soliloquy, and of Ophelia’s death, in his Scornful Lady, which: was’ represented about the same time, confirm the tradition that our author had then retired from the stage, careless of the fate of his writings, inattentive to the illiberal attacks of his contemporaries, and negligent alike of present, and, posthumous fame. Since: the above: note was written, I have seen the mortgage which is printed in a subsequent page, and’ was executed by Shakspeare, in March, 1612-13. _From this deed we find that he was in Londomin that year; he might, however, have parted with, his:property in the theatre: before. [In the notes to the Epilogue to. Henry VIII. I have endeayoured to show that im those lines: no. satire was directed against Shak- speare. Bosweu.] CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 399 a description of the coronation ceremony, and of those other decorations, with which, from his connection with Inigo Jones, and his attendance at court, he was peculiarly conversant. { The piece appears to have been revived with degree of splendour ; for Sir Henry Wotton gives a very pompous account of the representation. The unlucky aecident that happened to the house during the exhibition, was occasioned by discharging some small pieces, called chambers, on King Henry’s arrival at Cardinal Wolsey’s gate at Whitehall, one of which, being injudiciously managed, set fire to the thatched roof of the theatre’. ! The Globe theatre (as I learn from the MSS. of Mr. Oldys) was thatched with reeds, and had an open area in its center. This area we may suppose to have been filled by the lowest part of the audience, whom Shakspeare calls the groundlings.—Cham- bers are not, like other guns, pointed horizontally, but are dis- charged as they stand erect on their breeches. The accident may, therefore, be easily accounted for. If these pieces were let off behind the scenes, the paper or wadding with which their charges were confined, would reach the thatch on the inside : or if fixed without the walls, it might have been earried by the wind to the top of the roof. This accident is alluded to, in the following lines of Ben Jon- son's Execration upon Vulcan, from which it appears, that he was at the Globe playhouse when it was burnt ; acireumstance which — in some measure strengthens the conjecture that he was employed on the revival of King Henry VIII. for this was not the theatre at which his pieces were usually represented : « Well fare the wise men yet on the Bank-side, «« My friends, the watermen ! they could provide «* Against thy fury, when, to serve their needs, “They made a Vulcan of a sheaf of reeds ; “* Whom they durst handle in their holy-day coats, « And safely trust to dress, not burn, their boats. 400 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. ‘The play, thus revived and new-named, was pro- bably called in the bills of that time, a new play; which might have led Sir Henry Wotton, to describe it as such. And thus his account may be reconciled with that of the other contemporary writers, as well as with those arguments which have been here urged in support of the early date of King Henry VIII. Every thing has been fully stated on each side of the question. The reader must judge. Mr. Roderick, in his notes on our author (appended to Mr. Edwards’s Canons of Criticism), takes notice - of some peculiarities in the metre of the play before us, viz. “ that there are many more verses in it than in any other, which end with a redundant syllable,” —“ very near two. to one,”—and that the “ cesure or pauses of the verse are full as remarkable.” |The « But O those reeds ! thy mere disdain of them ‘* Made thee beget that cruel stratagem, «* (Which some are pleas’d to style but thy mad prank), «« Against the Globe, the glory of the Bank : “* Which, though it were the fort of the whole parish, ‘¢ Flank’d with a ditch, and fore’d out of a marish, __*¢ I saw, with two poor chambers taken in, ‘* And raz'd; ere thought could urge this might have been. ‘* See the world’s ruins! nothing but the piles ‘© Left, and wit since to cover it with tiles. ‘* The breth’ren, they straight nois’d it out for news, «Twas. verily some relick of the stews, ‘* And this a sparkle of that fire let loose, “ That was lock’d up in the Winchestrian goose, “ Bred on the Bank in time of popery, “¢ When Venus there maintain’d her mystery. ‘* But others fell, with that conceit, by the ears, ‘And cried it was a threat’ning to the bears, ** And that accursed ground, the Paris-garden,” &c. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 401 redundancy, &c. observed by this critick, Mr. Steevens © thinks “was rather the effect of chance, than of design in the author; and might have arisen either from the negligence of Shakspeare, who ‘in this play has borrowed whole scenes and speeches from Holin- shed, whose words he was probably in too much haste to compress into versification strictly regular and harmonious; or from the interpolations of Ben Jon- son, whose hand Dr. Farmer thinks he occasionally perceives in the dialogue.” Whether Mr. Roderick’s position be well founded, is hardly worth a contest ; but the peculiarities which he’has ‘animadverted on (if such there be), add pros bability to the conjecture that this piece underwent some alterations, after it had passed out of the hands of Shakspeare’. 23. Othello, 1604. Dr. Warburton thinks that there is in this tragedy a satirical allusion to the institution of the order of Baronets, which dignity was created by King James I. in the year 1611; “ = The hearts of old gave harids, ** But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.” Othello, Act Ill. Se. IV. « Amongst their other prerogatives of honour,” (says that’ commentator,) they [the new-created ba- ronets] had an addition to their. paternal arms, of an hand gules in an escutcheon argent. And we are * Mr. Malone formerly ascribed this play to the year 1601. I know not upon what grounds he altered his opinion. I have inadvertently preserved the old date in the Preliminary Remarks to Henry VII. which I request the reader will correct as an vit. erratum. Bosweut. VOL. Il. 2D ie Yer Jha 2 a pe | 7 By A RR vy 402 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. not to doubt that this was the new heraldry alluded to by our author; by which he insinuates, ‘ that some then created had hands indeed, but not hearts ; that is, money to pay for the creation, but no virtue to purchase the honour,’ ” - Such is the observation of this critick. But by what chymistry can the sense whieh he has affixed to this passage, be extracted from it? Or is it pro- bable, that Shakspeare, who has more than once condescended to be the encomiast of the unworthy founder of the order of Baronets, who had been per- — sonally honoured by a letter from his majesty, and substantially benefitted by the royal licence granted to him and his fellow-comedians, should have been so impolitick, as to satirize the king, or to depreciate his hew-created dignity ? These lmes appear to me to afford an obvious meaning, without supposing them to contain such a multitude of allusions : ‘ Of old,’ (says Othello,) ¢ in matrimonial alliances, the heart dictated the union of hands; but our mo- dern junctions are those of hands, not of hearts.’ On every marriage the arms of the wife are united to those of the husband. This circumstance, I be- lieve, it was, that suggested heraldry, in this place, to our author. I know not whether a heart was ever ased as an armorial ensign, nor is it, I conceive, necessary. to inquire. It was the office of the herald “to join, or, to speak ———: to quarter the arms of the new-married pair?. Hence, with his usual 2 ¢ | may quarter, coz,” says Slender, in The Merry Wives of Windsor. “ You may (replies Justice Shallow), by marrying,” CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 403 licence, Shakspeare uses heraldry for junction, or union in general. Thus, in his Rape of Luerece, the same term is employed to denote the union of colours which constitutes a beautiful complexion : “* This heraldry in Lucrece’ face was seen, « Argued by beauty’s red, and virtue’s white.” This passage not affording us any assistance, we are next to consider one in The Alchemist, by Ben Jonson, which, if it alluded to an incident in / A Othello (as Mr. Steevens seems to think it does); would ascertain this play to have appeared before 1610, in which year The Alchemist was first acted : “ Lovewit., Didst thou hear a-cry, say’st thou? « Neighb. Yes, sir, like unto a man that had been strangled an hour, and could not speak.” But I doubt whether Othello was eves in J Leaves | contemplation. Old Ben generally spoke out; and if he had intended to sneer at the manner of Desde- mona’s death, I think, he would have taken care that his meaning should not be missed, and would have written—* like unto a woman,” &e. This tragedy was not entered on the books of the Stationers’ Company till Oct. 6, 1621, nor printed till the following year; but it was acted at court early in the year 1613 °. Emilia and Lodovico, two of the characters in this play, are likewise two of the persons represented in May-Day, a comedy by Chapman, first printed in 1611. A passage in the Essays of Sir Wm. Cornwallis 3 MS. Vertue. 2pdQ2 “47 3_-& 404 . LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. ' the younger, 1601, may have suggested to Shak- speare the mention of the new heraldry, upon which Dr. Warburton has put what I think a most erroneous interpretation: “ We of these later times full of a nice curiositie mislike all the performances of our forefathers ; we say they were honest plaine men, but they want the capering wits of this ripe age. .. . They had wont to give their hands and their hearts together, but we think it a finer grace to looke asquint, our hand looking one way and our heart another.” If the simile of the Pontick Sea in Act IIE. Se. HI. is an allusion to Pliny, translated by Philemon Holland in 1601, this will assist us further in ascertaining the date of this play. We know‘ it was acted in 1604, and I have therefore placed it in that year- 24. King Lear, 1605. ; The tragedy of King Lear was entered on the books of the Stationers’ Company, Nov. 26, 1607, and is there mentioned to have been played the pre- _ eeding Christmas” before his majesty at Whitehall. fa taads wele% But this, I conjecture, was not its first exhibition. It seems extremely probable that its first appearance was in March or April, 1605; in which year the old play of King Leir, that had been entered at Sta- tioners’ Hall in 1594, was printed by Simon Stafford, for John Wright, who, we may presume, finding by. t.e~ syne’ Shakspeare’s play successful; hoped to palm” the Wn place hor | omer 7h cote 4 Mr. Malone never’ expresses himself at random. © I therefore lament deeply that I have not been able to discover upon what evidence he knew this important arid decisive fact. Boswett. - CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, — 405 spurious one on the publick for his *. |The old King Leir was entered on the Stationers s) books, May 8, 1605, as it we was Jately a ¢ Harsnett’s Declaration of me Impostors, from which Shakspeare borrowed some fantastick names of spirits, mentioned in this play, was printed in 1603. Our author’s King Lear was not published till 1608. [ This play is ascertained’ to have been written - et after the month of October, 1604, by a minute“* Zong, Aiferlatons change which Shakspeare made in a traditional line, put into the mouth of Edgar: “« His words was still,—Fye, foh, fum, ‘I smell the blood of a British man.” The old metrical saying, which is found in one of Nashe’s pamphlets, printed in 1596, and in other books, was, « ——— Fy, fa, fur, * I smell the blood of an Englishman.” Though a complete union of England and Seot- land, which was projected in the first parliament that met after James’s accession to the English throne, 5 Shakspeare has copied one of the passages in this old 5 This he might have done, though we should suppose it not to <. bn ham getftee P have been published till after his King Lear was written and 2 ~~ = fn web De acted; for the old’ play had been in possession of the stage for 5 Soe oe, ties many years. before 1605; and without doubt he had often seen it exhibited ; nor could he have found any difficulty in procuring a manuscript copy of it, when he sat down to write his own tragedy on the same subject, I suspect, however, the old play had been published in 1594, 406 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. was not carried into effect till a century afterwards, the two kingdoms were united in name, and he was proclaimed king of Great Britain, October 24, 1604. 25. All’s Well That Ends Weill, 1606. — The beautiful speech of the sick King in this play has much the air of that moral and judicious reflection that accompanies an advanced period of life, and bears no resemblance to Shakspeare’s manner in his earlier plays: ««——~ Let me not live ** After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff ‘* Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses “ All but new things disdain: whose judgments are “* Mere fathers of their garments; whose constancies “* Expire before their fashions.” Another circumstance which induces me to. believe that this isa later play, than I had formerly supposed, is the satirical mention made of the puritans, who were the objects of King James’s aversion. Sir John Harrington says, in the Nuge Antiquie, he was by when his majesty disputed with Dr. Reynolds at Hampton; “but he rather used upbraidinges than arguments, and told the petitioners, i. e. the puritans, that. they wanted to strip Christe again, and. bid them awaie with their snivellinge: and moreover he wished those who would take awaie the surplice might want linen to their own breech.” In Act I. Se. III, the Clown says, “ Though honesty be no puritan, yet it will dono hurt: it will wear the sur- plice of humility over the black gown of a big heart.” CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 407 26. Macbeth, 1606. Since this essay was originally written, I have observed some notes of time in the tragedy of Macbeth, that appear to me strongly to confirm the date which I have assigned to it. They occur in the Porter’s speech after the murder of Duncan. The speaker, whom Shakspeare, for the sake of in- dulging a vein of humour and honest satire, has here represented as the Porter of Hell®, on hearing a vio- lent knocking at the palace gate, exclaims, “ Who’s there, in the name of Belzebub ?—Here’s a farmer, that hang’d himself on the expectation of plenty. Come in time: have napkins enough about you: here you'll sweat.” The price of corn was then, as it is now, the great criterion of plenty or scarcity. That in the summer and autumn of the year 1606, there was a prospect of plenty of corn, appears from the audit-book of the college of Eton; for the price of wheat in the market of Windsor in that year, was lower than it was for thirteen years afterwards, being thirty-three shillings the quarter’, In the preceding year (1605) it was 6 In Othello, written a few years before this tragedy, the Moor, distracted with jealousy, assigns the same office to Emilia : - you, mistress, ** That have the office opposite to St. Peter, “ And keep the gate of hell—.” 7 The Audit-book of the College of Eton is a decisive autho- rity with respect to the price of wheat in aay year, compared with any other year, precedent or subsequent. But it must not be inferred, from the price above given, that this was the current or medium price of wheat iu that year; for it is the rule, at Eton, j \ 408. LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, two shillings a quarter dearer: and in the subse~ quent year (1607), three shillings a quarter dearer. In the year 1608, wheat was sold at Windsor mar- ket for fifty-six shillings and eight pence a quarter ; to set down the highest price of the best wheat and malt, in the- market at Windsor, at two periods of the year, which is ascer-. tained in the most unexceptionable manner: and the rents, for: the current year, are regulated by this means; the tenants of the College having it in their option either to pay their rents in wheat and malt in kind, or in money, at the said market prices. But as these are the prices of the best wheat and malt, and the bushel at Windsor contains nine gallons, in order to find out the -true state of the middle price of wheat or malt throughout the kingdom, in any given year (as the author of the valuable tracts, on the corn laws, 8vo. 1765, has observed), one ninth must be subducted for the difference of the Windsor bushel above the statute measure; and then one ninth more from the remainder, for the reasons which he assigns : and if this process be observed, it will be found that the middle price of wheat in England, in 1606, was one pound six shillings, and of malt, about fifteen shillings. In those counties where there was a great abundance , of grain, as Hampshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk, it was probably still lower ; for Sir Charles Cornwallis, who went to Spain as Ambassador, in May 1605, in or about September in that year, wrote a letter to Lord Southampton, proposing to that nobleman to. send from England 2000 quarters of wheat, and 1500 quarters of barley, to Valadolid, where there was then a great dearth ; and that the profit resulting from this speculation, which, he says, would be at least 500/. should be divided between them. This scheme, he adds, may be advantageously adopted, not only then, but for some years to come. By the statute, 1 James I. c. 25, corn was not allowed to be exported, except when the price of wheat did not exceed twenty-six shillings and eight pence the quarter, and that of barley-and malt did not exceed that /of fourteen shillings. By a letter in Winwood's. Memorials, we find that a quantity of corn had been exported in the early \part of the year 1616, from Lynn in Norfolk. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 409 and in 1609, for fifty shillings. In 1606 barley and malt were cheaper than the {preceding year, and con- siderably cheaper than in the two years subsequent. The following words assigned to the Porter afford a still stronger confirmation of the date of this tragedy: ‘ Knock, knock: Who's there, i’ the other Devil’s name? ’Faith, here’s an eguivocator, that could swear in-beth the scales, against either scale ; who committed treason enough for God’s sake ; yet could not eguivocate to heaven.—O come in, equi- wocator.” _ Dr. Warburton long since observed that by “ an equivocator ” was here meant “ a Jesuit ;” an order (he adds) “ so troublesome to the state in Queen Elizabeth and King James the First’s time; the inventors of the execrable doctrine of eqguivocation.” If the allusion were only thus general, this passage would avail us little in settling the time when Mac- beth was written; but it was unquestionably much more particular and personal: and, without doubt, had a direct reference to the doctrine of eguivocation avowed and maintained by Henry Garnet, superior of the order of the Jesuits in England, on his trial for the Gunpowder Treason, on the 28th of March, 1606, and to his detestable perjury on that occasion, or, as our author describes it, “to his swearing in both the scales against either scale,” that is, flatly and directly contradicting himself on his oath. . This trial, at which King James himself was present incognito, from the flagitiousness of the crime, and the celebrity and ability of Garnet, doubt- less attracted very general notice; and the allusion 410 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. to his gross equivocation and perjury thus recent, and probably the common topick of discourse, must have been instantly understood, and loudly applauded. « A true and perfect Relation of the whole Proceed- ings” against him and his confederates, which was published by authority in 1606, gave to the pro- ceedings still greater notoriety. In a letter written by Mr. John Chamberlain to Mr. Winwood, April 5, 1606, after mentioning that Garnet was arraigned at Guildhall the 28th of last month for high treason, and stating some of the evidence, he adds, “ But how far these men are to be believed on their protestations and oaths, my Lord Salisbury [one of the commissioners on Garnet’s trial] made known by two notable instances ; having first shewed that by reason of their impudent slan- ders and reports we are driven to another course than they do [pursue] in other countrys by way of torture: for if they dye in prison, they give out that we have starved or tortured them to death; if they kill them- selves, we make them away : so that we are feign to flatter and pamper them, and get out matters by fair means as we can. So that by the cunning of his keeper, Garnet being brought into a fool’s para- dise, had diverse conferences with Hall, his fellow priest, in the Tower, which were overheard by spialls set on purpose. With which being charged, he stiffly denyed it; but being still urged, and some light given him that they had notice of it, he per- sisted still, with protestation upon his soul and sal- vation, that there had passed no such interlocution: till at last, being confronted with Hall, he was driven CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 411 to confess. And being now asked in this audience, how he could solve this lewd perjurie, he answered, “ that, so long as he thought they had no proof, he was not bound to accuse himself; but when he saw they had proof, he stood not long in it. And then fell into a large discourse defending equivocation, with many weak and frivolous distinctions. * The other example was of Francis Tresham ; who in his confession having accused Garnet, and — now drawing to his end in the Tower, his wife was permitted to have access to him; by whose means, (as is thought), not four hours before his death, he wrote a letter to my lord of Salisbury, contradicting whatsoever he had said of Garnet ; protesting before God, to whom he was now going, and upon his soul and salvation, that he had accused him falsely, and that he had not seen him these sixteen years last past. Whereas it was manifestly proved, both by Garnet himself, Mrs. Vaux, and others, that he had been with him in three several places this last year; and once not many days before the blow should have been given. And [Garnet] being now asked what he knew of this man, he smilingly answered, that he thought he meant to equivocate °.” A few extracts from Garnet’s Trial, printed by authority, will still more clearly show, that the perjury and equivocation of the Jesuit were here particularly alluded to by Shakspeare. In stating the case, Sir Edward Coke, the Attorney-General, observed, that “Catesby, fearing 8 Winwood's Memorials, ii, 205. 412 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. that any of those whom. he had or should take into confederacy, being touched in conscience with the horrour of so damnable a. fact, might give it over, and endanger the discovery of the plot, seeks. to Garnet (as being the superior of the Jesuits, and: therefore of high estimation and authority amongst: all those of the Romish religion) to have his judg- ment and resolution in conscience concerning the lawfulness of the fact, that thereby he might be able to give satisfaction to any who should, |in that behalf, make doubt or scruple to go forward. in that treason. And therefore Catesby, coming, to Garnet, pro- poundeth to him the case, and asketh, whether < for. the good and promotion of the catholick cause against, hereticks,’ [or, as the poet terms it, ‘ for God’s sake,’] ‘the necessity of time and occasion so requiring, it. be: lawful or not, amongst many nocents to destroy. and take away some izmocents also;’ to this question. . Garnet advisedly and resolvedly answered, that if the advantage were greater to the Catholick part, by taking away some innocents, together with, many nocents, then doubtless it should be lawful to kill and destroy them all,” Again: * Then were the two witnesses called for ; both of them persons of good estimation, that over-heard the interlecution between Garnet and, Hall the Jesuit; viz. Mr. Fauset,.a man learned | and) a justice of peace, and Mr. Lockerson: but Mr. Fauset, being not present, was sent for to appear ; and, in the mean while, Mr. Lockerson, who being deposed before Garnet, delivered, upon his. oath, that they heard ia a CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 413 Garnet say to Hall, « They will charge me with my prayer for the good success of the great action, in the beginning of the Parliament, and with the verses which I added to the end of my prayer: — ** Gentem auferte perfidam ** Credentium de finibus, “ Ut Christi laudes debitas _ “ Persolvamus alacriter.” “« It is true, indeed (said Garnet), that I prayed for the good success of that great action; but I will tell them that I meant it in respect of some sharper laws, which I feared they would then make against Catho- licks ; and that answer will serve well enough?” ’ ~ Again: “Garnet having protested, upon his trial, that * When Father Greenwell made him acquainted with the whole plot, and all the particulars of it, he was very much distempered, and could never sleep quietly afterwards, but sometimes prayed to God that it should not take effect ; the Earl of Salisbury replied, that ‘he should do well to speak clearly of his devotion in that point; for otherwise he must put him to remember that he had confessed to the Lords that he had offered sacrifice to God for stay of that plot, unless it were for the good of the Catho- lick cause ; and in no other fashion (said his lord- ship) was this state beholding to you for your masses and oblations.’” In stating one of the points alluded to by Cham- berlain in his Letter to Secretary Winwood, Lord Salisbury reminded Garnet, “ after the interlocution between him and Hall, when he was called before all 414 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. the lords, and was asked, tot what he said, but whether Hall and he had conference together (de- siring him not to equivocate), how stiffly he denied it upon his soul, retracting it with so many detest- able execrations as the Earl said, it wounded their hearts to hear him; and yet as soon as Hall had confessed it, he grew ashamed, cried the lords mercy, and said he had offended, if eguivocation did not help him.” ; Here certainly we have abundant proofs of “an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, and yet could not eguivocate to heaven.” If these observations should be acknowledged to be just, and yet it should be maintained that in strict reasoning they only prove that the tragedy of ~ Macbeth was written subsequently to the trial of Garnet, it may be remarked, that allusions and references of this kind are generally made while the facts are yet recent in the minds of the writer and the audience, and before their impression has been weakened by subsequent events. When, therefore, we advert to the other circumstances which haye in- duced me to refer this tragedy to the year 1606, this allusion, aided and supported as it is by their concurring circumstances, appears to me to furnish a strong confirmation of the date which has been assigned to it. The third circumstance mentioned by the Porter is that of “ an English tailor stealing out of a French hose;” the humour of which, as Dr, Warburton has rightly remarked, consists in this, that the French hose 3 “ CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 415 being [then] very short and strait, a tailor must be master of his trade who could steal any thing from them.” From a passage in our author’s Henry V. and from other proofs, we know, that about the year 1597 the French hose were very large and lusty; but, doubtless, between that year and 1600 they had adopted the fashion here alluded to; and we know, as I have elsewhere observed, that French fashions were very quickly adopted in England. Some ‘are (says a writer in 1604) so inconstant in their attire, that the variety of their garments pregnantly proveth the fickleness of their heade..... And ‘surely the Frenchmen and Englishmen, of all ~ nations are (not without good cause) noted and con- U demned of this lightness; the one for invention, the other for imitating. In other thinges we thinke them our inferiours, and here we make them our maisters: and some I have heard very con- temptuously say, that searcely a new forme of breeches appeared in the French Kings kitchen, but presently they were translated into the Court of England®.” From the following passage in The Black Year, by Anthony Nixon, 4to. 1606, it may be presumed that this new mode of dress had been then adopted in England : “ Gentlemen this year shall be much wronged by their taylors, for their consciences are now much larger then ever they were; for where [whereas] _ 9 The Passions of the Minde in Generalle, by Thomas Wright, 4to, 1604. 416 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. they were wont to steale but half a yeard of brood cloth in making up a payre of breeches, now they do largely nicke their customers in the lace too; and take more than enough, for the new fashions sake, besides their old ones.” The words printed in italics, I am aware, may relate only to the lace; but I rather think that the meaning is, that whereas, formerly,’ tailors used to steal half a yard of cloth in making'a pair of breeches, but now they cheat in the lace also ; and steal more than enough of the cloth for the sake of making the breeches close and tight, agreeably to the new fashion. In a preceding passage, the writer repeats Wright’s words already quoted, without: =n acknowledgement, “ This year many,” &e. Guthrie asserts in his History of Scotland, that King James, “to prove how thoroughly he was emancipated from, the tutelage of his clergy, desired Queen Elizabeth in the year 1599 to send him a company of English comedians. She complied, and James gave them a licence to act in his capital‘and in his court. I have great reason to think (adds the historian), that the immortal Shakspeare was of the number?. But his drama, which finds access at this day to the most insensible hearts, had no charms in the eyes of the presbyterian clergy.’ They threatened excommunication to all who attended the playhouse. Many forebore to attend the theatrical exhibitions. 2 If the writer had any ground for this assertion, why was it not stated? It is extremely improbable that Shakspeare should vie 4. Z.~ have left London at this period. In 1599 his King Henry V. was ASS. f tte produced, and without doubt acted with great applause. _ CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 417 James considered the insolent interposition of the clergy as.a fresh attack upon his prerogative, and ordered those who had been most active, to retract their menaces, which they unwillingly did; and we are told that the playhouse was then greatly crouded.” A more correct statement of this anecdote of theatrical history will be found in the History of the Stage, vol. iii.; but it is certain, that James, after his accession to the English throne, was a great encourager of theatrical exhibitions. From 1604 to 1608 he devoted himself entirely to hunting, masques, | plays, tiltings, &. In 1605 he visited Oxford. From a book entitled Rex Platonicus, cited by Dr. Farmer, we learn, that on entering the city the king was ad- dressed by three students of St. John’s College, who ‘alternately accosted his majesty, reciting some Latin | verses, founded on the prediction of the weird sisters — relative to Banquo and Macbeth *. Dr. Farmer is of opinion, that this performance preceded Shakspeare’s play; a supposition which is strengthened by the silence of the author of Rex Platonicus, who, if Macbeth had then appeared on the stage, would probably have mentioned some- thing of it. It should be likewise remembered, that there subsisted at that time, a spirit of opposition and rivalship between the regular players and the academicks of the two universities; the latter of whom. frequently acted plays both in Latin and English, and seem to have piqued themselves on the + See vol. xi. p. 281. VOL, II. 25 418 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. superiority of their exhibitions to those of the esta- blished theatres®. Wishing probably to manifest this superiority to the royal pedant, it is not likely that they would choose for a collegiate interlude (if this little performance deserves that name), a subject which had already appeared on the publick stage, with all the embellishments that the —— hand of Shakspeare could bestow. In the following July (1606) the King of Den- mark came to England on a visit to his sister, Queen Anne, and on the third of August was installed a knight of the garter. “There is nothing to be heard at court,” (says Drummond of Hawthornden in a letter dated that day), “ but sounding of trumpets, hautboys, musick, revellings, and comedies.” Perhaps during this visit Macbeth was first exhibited. This tragedy contains an allusion to the union of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, under one sovereign, and also to the cure of the king’s evil by the royal touch * A ritual for the healing of that distemper was established early $ Ab ejusdem collegii alumnis (qui et cothurno tragico et socco comico principes semper habebantur) Vertumnus, comeedia faceta, ad principes exhilarandos exhibetur. Rex a p- 78. Arcadiam restauratam Isiacorum Arcadum lectissimi ceci- nerunt, unoque opere, principum omniumque spectantium animos immensa et ultra fidem affecerunt voluptate; simulque patrios ludiones, etsi exercitatissimos, quantum intersit inter scenam mer- cenariam et eruditam docuerunt. Ib. p. 228. See also, The Return from Parnassus (Act IV. Sc. III.), which was acted publickly at St. John’s College in Cambridge.” + Mis -é—“ 6 Macheth, Act IV.-Se. I. IL. Ae Coe cal CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 419 in this reign; but in what year that pretended power was assumed by King James I. is uncertain. Macbeth was not entered on the Stationers’ books, nor printed, till 1623. In the tragedy of Cesar and Pompey, or Cesar’s Revenge, are these lines : “* Why, think you, lords, that ‘tis ambition’s spur “* That pricketh Cesar to these high attempts ?."” If the author of that play, which was published in 1607, should be thought to have had Macbeth’s soliloquy in view (which is not unlikely), this cireum- stance may add some degree of. probability to the supposition that this tragedy had sreeens) befate that year: oe Ihave no spur, ‘“« To prick the sides of my intent, but only " ** Vaulting ambition, which o "erleaps itself, itself, OE sock. «* And falls ‘at the other-——.,” At the time when Macbeth is supposed to have been written, the subject, it is probable, was con- sidered as a topick the most likely to conciliate the favour of the court. In the additions to Warner's Albion’s England, which were first printed in 1606, the story of “ The Three Fairies or Weird Elves,” as he calls them, is shortly told, and King James’s descent from Banquo carefully deduced. Ben Jonson, afew years afterwards, paid his court to his majesty by his Masque of Queens’, presented at Whitehall, Feb. 12, 1609; in which he has given 7 Mr. Upton was of opinion that this masque preceded Mac- _ beth. But the only ground which he states for this conjecture, is, ‘‘ that Jonson's pride would not suffer him to borrow from Shakspeare, though he stole from the ancients.” 2Ee ea 420 _ LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. a minute detail of all the magick rites that are recorded by King James in his book of Demonologie, or by any other author ancient or modern. In the former editions of this Essay, the play entitled The Witch, and written by Thomas Middle- ton, has been represented as preceding Macbeth. That piece had long been unnoticed in manuscript, till it was discovered, in the year 1779, by the late Mr. Steevens, in the collection of the late Thomas Pearson, Esq. On the first discovery, both he and I were exceedingly struck by the songs introduced in this piece; of which it was obvious, at the first view, that D’Avenant had availed himself in the altera- tions and additions made to this play after the Restoration. Mr. Steevens, having perused the manuscript before it fell into my hands, wrote the note inserted below *, to which I gave the place that 8 In a former note on this tragedy, I have said that the original edition contains only the two first words of the song in the fourth Act, beginning—“ Black spirits,” &c.; but have lately discovered the entire stanza in an unpublished dramatick piece, viz. ‘* A Tragi-Coomodie called Taz Wircu: long since acted by his Ma.‘** Servants at the Black Friers; written by Tho. Middleton.” The song isthere called—‘* A charme-song, about a vessel.” The other song, omitted in the fifth Scene of the third Act of Macbeth, together with the imperfect couplet there, may likewise be found, as follows, in Middleton's performance.—The Hecate of Shakspeare says : ** Tam for the air,” &c. The Hecate of Middleton (who like the former is summoned away by aerial spirits) has the same declaration in almost the same words : ** T.am for aloft,’’ &c. * Song.) Come away, come away: i $0 DRO Uae ‘“* Heccat, Heccat, come away" CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 421 it here holds in this Essay, and which, from respect to him, I yet suffer it to retain; but I am now ** Hec. I come, I come, I come, “* With all the speed I may, ‘* With all the speed I may. “*« Wher's Stadlin ? “* Heere.] in the aire. “* Wher'’s Puckle ? “* Heere.] in the aire. “* And Hoppo too, and Hellwaine too, ** We lack but you, we lack but you: i the aire. “ Come away, make up the count. “« Hec. I will but ‘noynt, and then I mount. There’s one comes downe to fetch his “ A spirit likea dues, cat descends. ) A kisse, a coll, a sip of blood : Pee And why thou staist so long ‘ «© T muse, I muse, ** Since the air’s so sweet and good. *¢ Hec, Oh, art thou come? ** What newes, what newes ? «< All goes still to our delight, ** Either come, or els ator ** Refuse, refuse. “ Hee. Now I am furnish’d for the flight. ” Fire.) Hark, hark, the catt sings a brave treble in her owne [language. “ Hec, going up.] Now I goe, now I flie, ** Malkin, my sweete spirit, and L ‘* Oh what a daintie pleasure tis, ** To ride in the aire, ** When the moone shines faire, ** And sing, and daunce, and toy and kiss ! “ Over woods, high rocks and mountains, ** Over seas, our mistris’ fountains, “* Over steepe towres and turrets, “* We fly by night ’mongst troopes of spiritts. ** No ring of bells to our eares sounds, ** No howles of woolves, no yelpes of hounds ; ~~ 422. LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. clearly of opinion that I too hastily acquiesced in his notion concerning the priority of that play) to “* No, not the noyse of waters’-breache, “* Or cannons’ throat, our height can reache. ‘No ring of bells, &c.] above. ‘* Fire.] Well, mother, I thank your kindness: you must be gombolling i’ th’ aire, and leave me to walk here, like a foole and amortall. Exit. Finis Actus Tercit.” This Fire-stone, who occasionally interposes in the course of the dialogue, is called, in the List of Persons Representa “The Clowne and Heceat’s son.” Again, the Heccate of Shakspeare says to her sisters : “ Tll charm the air to give a sound, ‘* While you perform your antique round, &e. “ (Musick. The Witches dance and vanish.” The Hecate of Middleton says on a similar occasion : “Come, my sweete sisters, let the aire strike our tune, ‘* Whilst we shew reverence to yond peeping moone. “* [Here they dance, and exeunt.” In this play, the motives which incline the Witches to mis- chief, their manners; the contents of their cauldron, &c. seem to have more than accidental resemblance to the same particulars in Macbeth. The hags of Middleton, like the weird sisters of Shakspeare, destroy cattle because they have been refused provi- sions at farm-houses. The owl and the cat (Gray Malkin) give them notice when it is time to proceed on their several expedi- tions. Thus Shakspeare’s Witch : «* Harper cries ;—’tis time, ‘tis time.” Thus too the Hecate of Middleton : “ Hec.] Heard you the owle yet ? “* Stad.] Briefely in the copps. “* Hec.] *Tis high time for us then.” The Hecate of Shakspeare, addressing her sisters, observes, that Macbeth is but “a wayward son, who loves for his own ends, not for them.” The Heeate of Middleton has the same observation, when the youth who has been consulting her, retires : “ T know he loves me not, nor there’s no hope on’t.” Instead of the “‘ grease that’s sweaten from the murderer's gibbet,” and the “ finger of birth-strangled babe,” the Witches ~, ie CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 423 Macbeth, and that the Witch was not written till some years afterwards, probably not till about the year of Middleton employ “ the gristle of a man that hangs after sunset,” (i.e, of a murderer, for all other criminals were anciently cut down before evening), and the “ fat of an unbaptized child.” They likewise boast of the power to raise tempests that shal] blow down trees, overthrow buildings, and occasion shipwreck ; and, more particularly, that they can ‘ make miles of woods walk.” Here too the Grecian Hecate is degraded into a presiding witch, and exercised in superstitions peculiar to our own country. So much for the scenes of enchantment ; but even other parts of Middleton’s play coincide more than once with that of Shak- speare. Lady Macbeth says, in Art IL: ** — the surfeited grooms “Do mock their charge with snores, I have drugg'd their possets.” So too, Francisca, in the piece of Middleton : * they’re now all at rest, ‘* And Gaspar there and all :—List !—fast asleepe ; «He cryes it hither.—I must disease you strait, sir : “ For the maide-servants, and the girles o’ th’ house, “* T spic'd them lately with a drowsie posset, “* They will not hearin haste.” And Francisca, like Lady Macbeth, is watching late at night to encourage the perpetration of a murder. The expression which Shakspeare has put into the mouth of Macbeth, when he is sufficiently recollected to perceive that the dagger and the blood on it, were the creation of his own fancy,— ‘* There’s no such thing,”—is likewise appropriated to Francisca, when she undeceives her brother, whose imagination had been equally abused. From the instances already produced, perhaps the reader would allow, that if Middleton’s piece preceded Shakspeare's, the ori- ginality of the magick introduced by the latter, might be fairly questioned ; for our author (who as actor, and manager, had access to unpublished dramatick performances) has so often con- descended to receive hints from his contemporaries, that our sus- picion of his having been a copyist in the present instance, might not be without foundation. Nay, perhaps, a time may arrive, in % 424 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. 1613.. The grounds of this opinion I shall now lay before the reader. which it will become evident from books and manuscripts yet un- discovered and unexamined, that Shakspeare never attempted a play on any argument, till the effect of the same story, or at least the ruling incidents in it, had been already tried on the stage, and familiarized to his audience. Let it be remembered, in sup- port of this conjecture, that dramatick pieces on the following subjects,—viz. King John, King Richard II. and Ill. King Henry IV. and V. King Henry VIII. King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of a Shrew, and The Comedy of Errors,—had appeared before those of Shakspeare, and that he has taken somewhat from all of them that we have hitherto seen. I must observe at the same time, that Middleton, in his other dramas, is found to have borrowed little from the sentiments, and nothing from the fables of his predecessors. He is known to have written in concert with Jonson, Fletcher, Massinger, and Rowley ; but ap- pears to have been unacquainted, or at least unconnected, with Shakspeare. It is true that the date of The Witch cannot be ascertained. The author, however, in his dedication (‘‘ to the truelie-worthie and generously-affected Thomas Holmes, Esquire,”) observes, Wn that he “‘ recovered this ignorant ill-fated labour of his (from the -“F a. *.c5 playhouse, I suppose), not without much difficultie. Witches “f ”, (continues he) are, ipso facto, by the law condemn’d, and that FOr Wig onely, I thincke, hath made her lie so long in an imprison’d ob- ai < Aa So ca It is probable, therefore, from these words, as well as from the title-page, that the play was written long* before the dedication, which seems to have been added soon after the year ees Y * That dramatick pieces were sometimes written long before they were printed, may be proved from the example of Marlowe's Rich Jewof Malta, which was entered on the books of the Sta- tioners’ Company in the year 1594, but was not published till: 1633, as we learn from the preface to it written by Heywood, It appears likewise from the same registers, that several plays were __ Jwritten, that were never published at all. Sreevens, a zA CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 425 . Thinking it proper, on the present occasion, to read this piece over a second time with the greatest 1603, when the act of King James against witches passed into a law. If it be objected, that The Witch appears from this title- page to have been acted only by his majesty’s servants, let it be remembered that these were the very players who had been be- fore in the service of the Queen; but Middleton, dedicating his work in the time of James, speaks of them only as dependants on the reigning prince. Here too it may be remarked, that the first dramatick piece in which Middleton is known to have had a hand, viz. The Old Law, was acted in 1599; so that The Witch might have been com- posed, if not performed at an earlier period * than the accession of James to the crown; for the belief of witchcraft was suffi- ciently popular in the preceding reigns. The piece in question might likewise have been neglected through the caprice of players, or retarded till it could be known that James would permit such representations; (for on his arrival here, both authors and actors who should have ventured to bring the mid- night mirth and jollity of witches on the stage, would probably have been indicted as favourers of magick and enchantment :) or, it might have shrunk into obscurity after the appearance of ~ Macbeth; orperhaps was. forbidden by the command of the king. The witches of Shakspeare (exclusive of the flattering circum- stance to which their prophecy alludes) are solemn in their operations, and therefore behaved in conformity to his majesty’s own opinions. On the contrary, the hags of Middleton are ludi- crous in their conduct, and lessen, by ridiculous combinations of images, the solemnity of that magick in which our scepter'd perse- cutor of old women most reverently and potently believed. The conclusion to Middleton's dedication, has likewise a degree of singularity that deserves notice,—‘‘ For your sake alone, she * The spelling in the MS. is sometimes more antiquated than any to he met with in the printed copies of Shakspeare, as the following instances may prove :—-Byn for been—sollempnely for solemnly—dampnation. for damnation—quight for quite—grizzle for gristle—doa for doc—olyff for olive, &c. STEEVENS. 4 Pre. an Pee, roe 4 of ew A ee oe ofa the OS A a ae ee foes es Mi cas SE r 426 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, attention, I discovered that it contained the follow- ing notes of time, which, though perhaps no one of them furnishes a decisive proof of what I have stated, yet, when combined together, afford, in my opinion, a sufficient ground for attributing this play to the period I have mentioned. hath thus conjur'd herself abroad; and bears no other charmes about her, but what may tend to your recreation; nor no other spell, but to possess you with a beleif, that as she, so he, that Jirst taught her to. enchant, will alwaies be,” &c.—‘' He that taught her to enchant,” would have sufficiently expressed the obvious meaning of the writer, without aid from the word first, which seems to imply a covert censure on some person who had engaged his Hecate in a secondary course of witchcraft. The reader must have inferred from the specimen of incantation already given, that this MS. play (which was purchased by Major Pearson out of the collection of Benjamin Griffin, the player, and is in all probability the presentation copy) had indubitably passed through the hands of Sir William D'Avenant ; for almost all the additions which he pretends to have made to the scenes of witch- craft in Macbeth (together with the names of the supplemental agents) are adopted from Middleton. It was not the interest, therefore, of Sir William, that this piece should ever appear in ‘ print: but time that makes more important discoveries, has like- ~ wise brought his petty plagiarism to light *. I should remark, that Sir W. D. has corrupted several words as well as proper names in the songs, &c. but it were needless to particularize his mistakes, as this entire tragi-comedy will here- after be published for the satisfaction of the curious and intelli- gent readers of Shakspeare. STEEvens. * Sir William D'Avenant might likewise have formed his play of Albovine King of Lombardy on some of the tragick scenes in this unpublished piece by Middleton. Yet the chief circumstances on which they are both founded, occur in the fourth volume of. the Histoires Tragiques, &c. par Francois de Belle-forest, 1580, p. 297, and at the beginning of Machiavel’s Florentine History. STEEVENS. —s vl CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 427 The first passage that deserves our notice is the following, in the first scene. The speaker is Florida, a courtesan : “ Flo. I find thee still so comfortable, ‘* Beshrew my hart, if I knew how to misse thee: _ “ They talk of gentlemen, perfumers, and such things : “* Give me the kindness of the Master’s man, “In my distresse, say I.” I am aware that perfumed gloves and jerkins were much in fashion, even in the time of Queen. Eliza- beth ; and continued to be so in the time of James the First ; but I very much doubt whether there was any established trade of this kind, so as to give a specifick and distinct denomination to the vender of perfumery, early in the reign of James, though about the middle of his reign, such perfumers may have been common enough. In 1603, Don Juan de Taxis, the Spanish Ambassador, brought in his train to London a perfumer®, which he scarcely would have done, had such a trade been established in London. The second passage that I shall take notice of is also in the same scene : «< Al. Amsterdam swallow thee for a puritan, ** And Geneva cast thee up again, like she, *« That sunk at Charing-cross, and rose again * At Queenhith.” After the conference at Hampton Court, in 1604, the dramatick writers much more frequently intro- duced strokes at the Puritans than they did before ; and particularly about 1607 and 1608, and for some years afterwards. This speech, therefore, seems rather to point to the period to which I attribute the Witch, 9 Illustrations of British Hist. iii. 176. 428 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. than to the reign of. ee or the first year of King James. ~ In the same scene, the same speaker rs I will not to the witches ; *¢ They say they have charmes and tricks to make a wench SSE ainotnig toed sis se eeibe lead a man herself .. ** To a country house, some mile out of the town, * Like a fierdrake.” The Sart house here alluded to was at Brent- ford ; and in the plays written in 1607, and for some years afterwards, there are frequent allusions to the practice of carrying women of the town thither. I have not observed such allusions in the plays of an earlier period. In the second scene of the same act, Hecate speaking of Stradling says, «« She ‘* Flyes over houses and takes Anno Domini ** Out ofa rich mans chimney, a sweet place for't, ** He w* be hangd ere he w* set his own years there ‘* (His rotten diseas’d yeares) ; they must be chamberd ‘In a five pound picture, a green silk curtaine ‘* Drawne before the eyes of’t.—Or dost thou envy,” &c. In the time of Elizabeth doubtless instances enough may be found of the dates of houses being placed on some part of the building: but as it is well known that a great accession of wealth was poured into England after the peace with Spain, it may be presumed that this circumstance gave rise to many new buildings in every county of England, as we a CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 429 have decisive proofs it did to an immense addition to - London between the King’s accession and the middle of his reign. The numerous buildings that were erected in various parts of the country towards the middle of his reign, with their anno domini duly affixed, were then more likely to attract the poet’s observation; and consequently this circumstance also leads to a later date than has been assigned to this piece. With respect to the five pound picture I have reason to believe that this was the ordinary price of a portrait about the year 1612 or 1613; but whether it was not also the price about the accession of James, I have no means of determining. If it was, it supplies no aid to my hypothesis. In October, 1612, Robert Peake, picture maker, who was after- wards knighted, received on the Council’s warrant twenty pounds for painting three several pictures, at the command and for the use of the Duke of York, afterwards Charles I. We may presume that this was a liberal payment, and that five pounds was then the price paid by persons in a less elevated station than the king’s son.* Cornelius Jansen’s price at that time for a head, or, as the painters call it, a three quarters cloth, was five broad pieces. Mr. Walpole has stated that Jansen came into England about the © year 1618; but this is a mistake; for I have a por- trait painted by him, dated 1611, which had be- longed for more than a century to a family that lived at Chelsea. « MS. Stanhope in Bib. Bodl. 430 _ LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. In the last scene of the fourth act we find these lines : ; . “ Run; knock up Aberzanes suddenly ; “ Say, I desire his company this morning ** To yonder horse race.” It is extremely difficult to ascertain the precise period when horse-races were generally and publickly established, with known and fixed prizes for the victor. It has already been observed, that probably from a very early period private horse-races, or matches for wagers, were common; and we know from Camden, that in 1594, or before, publick annual races were established in Yorkshire, in which a small gold bell was allotted to the winning horse. But I doubt much whether this practice prevailed in any other county, or at least in any county in the neighbourhood of London, before the middle of King James’s time. Markham, who in 1606 republished his treatise on horsemanship, which had appeared in 1599, has in each edition a chapter on the running horse ; but he speaks only of private matches; and I cannot find any allusion in either edition to a publick or established horse-race, or to what was afterwards called a bell course, from the small bell which has been already mentioned as the usual prize of the victor in the infancy of this amusement. That no such publick establishment existed any where but in the North, may be inferred also (as has been already observed) from the silence of a writer in 1609. But in 1612 certainly there appears to have been publick horse-races at Croydon, in Surrey, near enough to London to attract the CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 431 notice of the writers of the day; and accordingly Dekker, in 1613, gave to one of his numerous pam- phlets the title of A Wonderful Strange Horse Race. Having found no notice of any publick horse-race that was likely to attract the notice of a London dramatick poet before that at Croydon in 1612, I incline therefore to think that the allusion in Mid- dleton’s play to this amusement was made about that time; being more likely to have been suggested by a well known and established practice, the theme of general conversation, than by either the. private matches of individuals, or the more publick exhi- bitions in the remote county of York, which, however celebrated or well attended in that district, probably were wholly unknown to the greater part of the inha- bitants of London. If it shall hereafter be discovered that public races were established at Croydon soon after the accession of King James to the English throne, or on Enfield Chase (both which places have been already mentioned as being early celebrated for this kind of sport), the passage which we have here considered, can have no weight in the decision of this question. The next passage which demands our notice is one that appears to me to point toa later period than has hitherto been assigned to this play. In Act II. Se. I. Francisca, alluding to her being with child, says, ‘* My brother sure would kill me if he knew, ** And powder up my friend and all his kindred “* For an East Indian voyage.” 432 « | LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. It is certain that some voyages of discovery had been made to the East Indies, and that some little trade was carried on from England thither, in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and accordingly, Shakspeare, in or about the year 1601, makes Falstaff say, while he is exulting in the pros- pects of his success with the merry wives of Wind- sor, “I will be ’cheater to them both, and they shall be an Exchequer to me; they shall be my East and West Indies, and I will trade to them both.” It has already been mentioned that Queen Eliza- beth’s charter was granted to the East India Com- pany on the last day of December, 1601. Between that time and the year 1605 there were but three adventures to the East Indies; one consisting of four ships, which sailed in 1602; in 1604 three ships were fitted out, and in 1605 three more: in 1607 two ships sailed; and in 1609, one: but all these were foreign built, and purchased abroad, by the company. Atlength, in 1610, having previously received from King James an enlarge- ment of their charter, they built a large ship of 1200 tons, which was named the Trade’s Increase, by King James, who dined on board the new-built vessel when she was named. ‘The commander of this ship ' was Sir Henry Middleton, perhaps a relation of the poet; and he sailed in spring 1611; but he never returned. Now in the infant state of that trade ' between the years 1601 and 1605, during which period so very few ships went from England to the East Indies, it appears to me extremely unlikely that the writer of the Witch should have been attentive to 7 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 433 the circumstance of these vessels being furnished with the due store of powdered or salted provisions for their voyage; though afterwards the notorious fact of a great ship being for the first time built at home for this trade, and of its being honoured by the king’s dining on board her the day she was named, would naturally attract his attention, more especially as the person who had the command of this, vessel, was his namesake, if not his relation. This obser- vation, therefore, stands nearly on the same ground with that just now made. It is not asserted that the poet could not possibly have had any experience of an East India ship being furnished with salted pro- visions for her voyage, between the year 1601 and 1605 ; but that at a more advanced period, and par- ticularly in 1612 or 1613, after the publick notice had recently been attracted by the ceremonial which las been mentioned, such a circumstance was more likely to present itself to his mind. But there are other , arguments, drawn from a re-perusal of this play, which have added to my conviction that this play was not _ produced till several years after our author’s tragedy, _ probably not before 1613. The paragraph most material for our consideration is that which Middleton himself has prefixed to his play: “ The tragi-coomodie called the Witch, long since acted by his Ma‘. Servants at the Blackfriers.” On the words long since, Mr. Steevens much re- lied; but if we turn to the preface to the second edition of this author’s comedy, called A Mad World my Masters, by the bookseller who published it, we shall see how short a portion of time was understood VOL. II. 2F 434 ‘LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. in those days by the term long since; for in this preface, published in 1640, he tells us that the author was long since dead: now he was certainly living in 1627; and therefore supposing even that he died in that year, it appears that a period of thirteen years was considered sufficient to justify such an expression as Middleton has used concerning his tragi-comedy. If his play was performed in 1613 or 1614, and this recovered copy addressed to Mr. Holmes in 1626 or 1627, this interval, we see, would warrant such a description as he has given of this ‘piece, which is very material in our present inquiry; for Middleton wrote the Widow with Fletcher and _ Massinger doubtless after 1613 ; hence, and from the vogue of Fletcher, he might catch his manner. The metre of the Witch strongly resembles that of Fletcher. He adds, that it was played by his Ma- jesty’s servants at the Blackfriars. There is good reason to believe that the house in Blackfriars did not become the established theatre of the king’s servants till the year 1613; when the Globe being burnt down, they were obliged to find another playhouse. - From that period to the suppression of the theatres in 1641, this theatre was their great place of scenical representation ; for though about the year 1620, or soon afterwards, the Globe appears to have been o a; ie tepaired; very few plays only were occasionally acted; _S~ 22 and. it at length became devoted to prize fighting, aa and other low exhibitions. On the contrary, before A by.é (the fire (from 1603 to 1613), we have not a single ~ #~—<«"-~ "play extant which is said to have been performed by \the king’s servants at Blackfriars. In the patent in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 435 1603, and the paper signed by Mr. Tylney in 1604, no mention is made of this theatre: and King Lear is expressly mentioned as being acted by the King’s Company at the Globe, their usual theatre. Possibly it may be said that this very word imports that some- times they exhibited elsewhere even during the period I have mentioned. Perhaps they might, but I believe very rarely: and if ever in this period they acted at the Blackfriars, they must have hired the house for the night; for during this while this house appears to have been possessed by the Children of the Revels and the Children of the Chapel; for in this period we find no less than twenty-five new plays ; Yepresented there by these children; so that during this period it appears to have been the established theatre of the Children of the Revels and of the King’s Chapel, and not of his Majesty’s own servants. Some obscurity has been thrown on this subject by the title pages of different editions of our old plays. Thus, for example, Beaumont and Fletcher’s King and No King, which was one of their early plays, was originally represented at the Globe, and is so de- scribed in the first edition in 1619. But in a sub- sequent edition at a later period, the editor in 1625, knowing how often it had been acted at Blackfriars, (where probably it was revived in 1619, when the play was first published), substitutes these words: * Acted at the B. F. by his Maj. Servants ;” and the Dramatic Dictionaries tell us, in consequence, that this play was acted at these two theatres, and so un- doubtedly it was, but not at the same period. This 2F 2 436 _LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. observation I shall presently apply to some of a , eee s plays. - Middleton has left us eighteen plays of his own \ cortiposition: He appears to have begun to write for the stage soon after the year 1600; and between that year and 1608, he produced seven plays, Blurt Master Constable, The Phoenix, Michaelmas Term, A. Trick to Catch the Old One, A Mad World my Masters, The Family of Love, and Your Five Gallants. -—— Now every one of these, his early plays, were per- formed by children ; the first four by the Children of Pauls, at their own usual place of exhibition; the other two by the Children of the Revels at Blackfriars ; where, as I have already mentioned, they usually per- formed from the accession of King James to the year 1613. After that year, two of those plays, A Mad World my Masters,and A Trick to Catch the Old One, were revived by the King’s Servants at Blackfriars ; and in consequence, in the editions of these plays, the one in 1616, the other in 1640, they are truly said to have been performed at Blackfriars, and no other theatre is mentioned, that being then the favourite and fashionable house ; and the others quite passed away and forgotten. The same things as I have mentioned above, happened with respect to Kimg and ' No King and several other plays. To pursue Middleton further, on examining the title-pages and history of his other plays produced after 1608 (though we have less concern with them, because if the Witch preceded Macbeth, it must have been produced before 1606), we shall find that he CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 437 had very little connection with the Blackfriars Com- pany. His Chaste Maid of Cheapside was performed at the Swan in Southwark, by Prince Charles’s Ser- vants between 1613 and 1620; his Roaring Girl (written in conjunction with Dekker), at the Fortune, by Alleyn’s Company in or before 1611; his Change- ling, at Salisbury Court, in or before 1623 ; his Fair Quarrel, in or before 1622, at the Fortune; his Spa- nish Gipsey, between 1617 and 1623, at the Phenix, in Drury Lane. I have now accounted for thirteen of his plays out of eighteen, none of which were produced originally by the King’s Servants. Of the other five, the Mayor of Queenborough should seem to have been originally acted in 1602, by Alleyn’s Company. The Game at Chess was acted at the Globe by the King’s Servants in 1625; and the other four, Any Thing for a Quiet Life, No Wit Like a Woman’s, More Dissemblers beside Women, and Women beware Women, being published long after his death, it is reasonable to suppose were acted at a late period, I mean between 1613 and 1625, rather at some other theatre than the Blackfriars; though, if it should turn out that they were every one performed there, it would not at all affect the present argument *. From all these premises, I think it reasonable to conclude, as Middleton’s early plays were performed by the Children of the Chapel or the Children of Pauls, 2 N. Field’s Amends for Ladies is said to have been acted by the Prince’s servants, and Lady Elizabeth at Blackfriars. It ap- pears before 1682. (See Preface to two other plays.) So it appears that these companies hired that house. Thus this shows it could not be then in possession of the King’s Servants. 438 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. and, as we are told by the author himself, that his piece was performed by the King’s Servants at the Blackfriars, that play must have been produced after 1613, when they first became possessed of that theatre; and if so, it can have no claim to contest precedence with Macbeth, which unquestionably was acted in 1606. Other pieces of equal curiosity with this play, may, perhaps, be hereafter discovered; for the names of several ancient plays are preserved, which are not known to have been ever printed. Thus we hear of & fs +6”. Valentine and Orson, plaied by her Majesties players, —The tragedy of Ninus and Semiramis,—Titirus and Galathea,—Godfrey of Bulloigne,—The Cradle of Securitie.—Hit the Naile o’ the Head,—Sir Thomas More, (Harl. MS. 7,368,)—The Isle of Dogs, by Thomas Nashe,—The comedy of Fidele and Fortunatus,—The famous tragedy of The De- struction of Jerusalem, by Dr. Legge,—The Freeman’s Honour, by William Smith,—Mahomet.and Irene, the Faire Greek,—The Play of the Cards,—Cardenio, —The Knaves,—The Knot of Fools;—Raymond Duke of Lyons,—The Nobleman, by Cyril Tourneur, —(the last five, acted in the year ‘1613,] The Ho- noured Loves,—The Parliament of Love,—and Non- ( such, a comedy; all by William Rowley :—The Pilgrimage to Parnassus, by the author of The Return from Parnassus:—Believe as you List, by , Massinger :—The Pirate, by Davenport:—Rosania or ' Love’s Victory, a comedy by Shirley (some of _ whose plays were extant in MS. in Langbaine’s time): —The Twins, a tragedy, acted in 1613 :—Tancredo, oo CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 439 a tragedy, by Sir Henry Wotton :—Demetrius and Marsina, or the imperial Impostor and unhappy Heroine, a tragedy,—The Tyrant, a tragedy,—The Queen of Corsica,—The Bugbears,—The Second Maid’s Tragedy,—Timon, a comedy :—Catiline’s Conspiracy, a tragedy,—and Captain Mario, a comedy, both by Stephen Gosson:—The True Historie of George Scanderbeg, as played by the right hon. the Earl of Oxenforde’s servants,—Jane Shore,— The Bold Beauchamps,—The Second Part of Sir John Oldcastle-—The General,—The Toy,—The Tell-Tale*®, a comedy,—The Woman’s Plot,—The Woman’s too hard for Him, [both acted at court in 1621,|—The Love-sick Maid, [acted at court in 1629,|—Fulgius and Luerelle,—The Fool Trans- formed, a comedy,—The History of Lewis the Eleventh, King of France, a tragi-comedy,—The Chaste Woman against her Will, a comedy,—The ‘Tooth-Drawer, a comedy,—Honour in the End, a comedy,—The History of Don Quixote, or the Knight of the ill-favoured Countenance, a comedy,— The Fair Spanish Captive, a tragi-comedy,—The Tragedy of Heildebrand,—Love yields to Honour,— The Noble Friend, &e. &. Soon after the Resto- ration, one Kirkman, a bookseller, printed many dra- matick pieces that had remained unpublished for more than sixty years: and in an advertisement 3 The persons represented in this play (which is in my posses- sion) are—Duke; Fidelio; Aspero; Hortensio; Borgias; Pi- centio; Count Gismond; Fernese; Bentivoglio; Cosmo; Julio; Captain; Lieutenant; Ancient; two Doctors; an Ambassador ; Victoria; Eleanor; Isabel; Lesbia.—Scene, Florence. ( 440 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. subjoined to “ A true, perfect, and exact catalogue of all the comedies, tragedies, &c. that were ever yet printed and published, till this present year, 1671,” he says, that although there were, at that time, but eight hundred and six plays in print, yet many more had been written and acted, and that “ he himself had some quantity in manuscript.”—The resemblance between Macbeth and this newly discovered piece by Middleton, naturally suggests a wish, that if any of the unpublished plays, above enumerated, be yet in being, (beside The Second Maid’s Tragedy, The Tell-Tale, Timon, and Sir Thomas More, which are well known to be extant), their possessors would. con- descend to examine them with attention ; as hence, perhaps, new lights might be thrown on others of our author’s plays. It has been already suggested, that it is probable our author, about the time of his composing Cymbe- line and Macbeth, devoted some part of his leisure to the reading of the lives of Cesar and Antony in North’s translation of Plutarch. . In the play before us there are two passages which countenance that conjecture. “ Under him,” says Macbeth, ‘* My genius is rebuk’d, as, it is said, “* Mark Antony's was by Cesar.” The allusion here is toa passage in the Life of Antony ; ; where Shakspeare also found an account of “the insane root that takes the reason prisoner,” which he has introduced in Macbeth. A passage in the 8th book of Daniel’s Civil Wars seems to have been formed on one in this tragedy *. 4 See vol. xi. p. 68, n. 9. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 441 The seventh and eighth books of Daniel’s poem were first printed in 1609. 27. Twelfth Night, 1607. It has’ been generally believed, that Shakspeare retired from the theatre, and ceased to write, about three years before he died. Mr. Tyrwhitt was dis- posed to call in question the latter supposition, and conjectured that Twelfth-Night was written in 1614: grounding his opinion on an allusion®, which he ~ thought it contained, to those parliamentary under- Journals of the House of Commons for that year®; who were stigmatized with the invidious name, on account of their having undertaken to manage the elections of knights and burgesses in such a manner as to secure a majority in parliament for the court. If this allusion was intended, Twelfth-Night must have been our author’s last production; and, we may presume, was written after he had re- tired to Stratford. It is observable that Mr. Ashley, a member of the House of Commons, in one of the debates on this subject, says, “ that the rumour con- cerning these undertakers had spread into the country.” I formerly acquiesced in this opinion, and attri- buted Twelfth-Night to the year 1614; but I am now inclined to believe that it was produced at an earlier period, probably in 1607, and that the word under- 5 ** Nay, if you be an undertaker, I am for you.” See Twelfth- Night, Act IV. Sc. III. and the note there. 6 Comm, Journ. vol. i. p. 456, 457, 470. aww tivt GOR a $i. MPa hd _-_ ee (ee Fann * 7 o~ 6042-%~ 1F and coed e- SSE . takers of whom frequent mention is made in thee < top L9gk> go Pp af 6 >» 442 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, taker was used in a more general sense, without the particular allusion which Mr. Tyrwhitt thought was intended. {I should not ascribe this admirable comedy to an earlier date; for it bears evident marks of having been a late production, as most of the cha- racters that it contains are finished to a higher de- gree of dramatick perfection, than is discoverable in some of our author’s earlier comick performances ’. In the third Act of this comedy, Decker’s West- ward Hoe seems to be alluded to. Westward Hoe was printed in 1607, and from the prologue to East- ward Hoe appears to have been acted in 1604, or before. Maria, in Twelfth-Night, speaking of Malvolio, says, “ he does smile his face into more lines than the new map with the augmentation of the Indies.” I have not been able to learn the date of the map here alluded to; but, as it is spoken of as a recent publication, it may, when discovered, serve to ascer- tain the date of this play moré exactly. The comedy of What You Will (the second title of the play now before us), which was entered at Sta- tioners’ Hall, Aug. 9, 1607, was certainly Marston’s play, as it was printed in that year for T. Thorpe, by whom the above mentioned entry was made; and it appears to have been the general practice of the booksellers at that time, recently before publication, to enter those plays of which they had procured copies. Twelfth-Night was not registered on the Sta- tioners’ books, nor printed, till 1623. 7 The comedies particularly alluded to, are, A Midsummer- Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 443 It has been thought, that Ben Jonson intended to ridicule the conduct of this play, in his Every Man out of his Humour, at the end of Act III. Se. VI. where he makes Mitis say,—“ That the argument of his comedy might have been of some other nature, as of a duke to be in love with a countess, and that countess to be in love with the duke’s son, and the son in love with the lady’s waiting-maid: some such cross wooing, with a clown to their serving-man, better than be thus near and familiarly allied to the time *.” I do not, however, believe, that Jonson had hase Twelfth-Night in contemplation. If an allusion to this comedy were intended, it would ascertain it to have been written before 1599, when Every Man out of his Humour was first acted. But Meres does not mention Twelfth-Night in 1598, nor is there any Jew fied: +¢ 4 reason to believe that it then existed. “Mrs. Mall’s picture,” which is mentioned in this play, probably means the picture of Moll Cutpurse, who was born in 1585. In a pleasant conceited comedie How to Choose a Good Wife from a Bad, 1602, this passage occurs : * Ful. Wheres your husband ? “ Mrs. Ar. Not within. ** Anselm. Who? M. Arthur? him I saw even now At Mistress Maries, the brave curtezans.” Though this is a description, not of Moll Cut-purse, but of a courtesan, afterwards introduced in the play, yet doubtless the name of Mrs. Mary was here adopted from the celebrity of her namesake. 8 See the first note on Twelfth-Night, Act I. Sc. L 444 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. The Sophy of Persia is twice mentioned in Twelfth Night. 1. “I will not give my part of this sport for a pension of thousands to be paid by the Sophy.” 2. « He pays you as sure as your feet hit the ground you step on. They say he has been fencer to the Sophy.” When Shakspeare wrote the first of these passages, 2 he was perhaps thinking of Sir Robert Shirley, ee eee . « who,” says Stowe’s Continuator, “ after having Curkewn é LH Loins ~,, served the Sophy of Persia for ten years as general ZAAD wns Hpk artillerie, and married the Lady Teresa, whose pf’ h-+-kessister was one of the queens of Persia, arrived in ae Reena England as ambassador from the Sophy in 1612. i 2G After staying one year he and his wife returned to saz “%~ Persia (Jan. 1612-13), leaving a son, to whom the queen was godmother, and Prince Henry godfather.” Camden’s account agrees with this, for according to him Sir Robert Shirley came to England on his embassy, June 26, 1612: but both the accounts are erroneous ; for Sir Robert Shirley certainly arrived in London as ambassador from the Sophy in 1611, as appears from a letter written by him to Henry Prince | of Wales, dated Nov. 4, 1611, requesting the \ prince to be god-father to his son’. Sir Robert, and his Persian lady, at this time made much noise; and Shakspeare, as I formerly thought, here alluded to the magnificence which he displayed during his stay in England, out of the funds allotted to him by the emperor of Persia. He remained in England about eighteen months. But nothing is proved by these circumstances; for the history of Shirley was well x 1 MSS. Harl. 7008. ii CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 445 known in England in 1607, and a play expressly written on the subject, called The Travells of Three English Brothers, appeared in that year. 27. Julius Cesar, 1607. A tragedy on the subject, and with the title, of Julius Cesar, written by Mr. William Alexander, who was afterwards Earl of Sterline, was printed in the year 1607. This, I imagine, was prior to our author’s performance, which was not entered at Sta- tioners’ Hall, nor printed, till 1623. Shakspeare, we know, formed at least twelve plays on fables that had been unsuccessfully managed by other poets? ; but no contemporary writer was daring enough to enter the lists with him, in his life-time, or to model into a drama a subject which had already employed his pen: and it is not likely that Lord Sterline, who was then avery young man, and had scarcely unlearned the Scottish idiom, should have been more hardy than any other poet of that age. I am aware, it may be objected, that this writer might have formed a drama on this story, not knowing that Shakspeare had previously composed the tragedy of Julius Cesar; and that, therefore, the publication of Mr. Alexander’s play in 1607, is no proof that our author’s performance did not then exist.—In answer to this objection, it may, perhaps, be sufficient to observe, that Mr. Alexander had, before that year, very wisely left the bleak fields of 2 See anote on Julius Cesar, Act I, Sc. I. in which they are enumerated. 446 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. Menstrie in Clackmananshire, for a warmer and moré courtly residence in London, having been appointed gentleman of the privy chamber to Prince Henry: in which situation his literary curiosity must have been gratified by the earliest notice of the age of his brother dramatists. Lord Sterline’s Julius Cesar, though not adel till 1607, might have been written a year or two before ; and perhaps its publication in that year was in consequence of our author’s play on the same sub- ject being then first exhibited. The same obser- vation may be made with respect to an anonymous performance, called The Tragedy of Cesar and Pompey, or Cesar’s Revenge *, of which an edition (I believe the second) was likewise printed in 1607. The subject o f that piece is the defeat of Pompey at Pharsalia, the death of Julius, and the final over- throw of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. The attention of the town being, perhaps, drawn to the history of the hook-nosed fellow of Rome, by the exhibition of Shakspeare’s Julius Caesar, the booksellers, who printed these two plays, might have flattered themselves with the hope of an expeditious sale for them at that time, especially, as Shakspeare’s play was not then published. It does not appear that Lord Sterline’s Julius Cesar was ever acted: neither it nor his other plays 3 There is an edition without date, which probably was the first. This play, as appears by the title-page, was privately acted by the students of Trinity College in Oxford. In the running title it is called The Tragedy of Julius Cesar ; perhaps the bet- ter to impose it on the publick for the performance of Shakspeare. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 447 being at all calculated for dramatick exhibition. On the other hand, Shakspeare’s Julius Cesar was a very popular piece ; as. we learn from Digges, a contem- porary writer, who, in his commendatory verses pre- fixed to our author’s works, has alluded to it as one of his most celebrated performances *. We have certain proof that Antony and Cleopatra was composed before the middle of the year 1608. An attentive review of that play and Julius Cesar, will, I think, lead us to conclude that this latter was first written ®. Not to insist on the chronology 4 « Nor fire nor cank’ring age, as Naso said © Of his, thy wit-fraught book shall once invade : “ Nor shall I e’er believe or think thee dead, «(Though miss'd) untill our bankrout stage be sped ‘ (Impossible !) with some new strain t'outdo, ** Passions of Juliet and her Romeo ; “* Or till Il hear a scene more nobly take “ Than when thy half-sword parlying Romans spake.” Verses by L. Digges, prefixed to the first edition of our author's plays, in 1623. 5 The following passages in Antony and Cleopatra, (and others of the same kind may perhaps be found,) seem to me to discover such a knowledge of the appropriated characters of the persons exhibited in Julius Cesar, and of the events there dilated and enlarged upon, as Shakspeare would necessarily have acquired from having previously written a play on that subject: «* Pompey.—I do not know ‘** Wherefore my father should revengers want, “ Having a son and friends, since Julius Cesar, “« Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted, “‘ There saw you labouring forhim. What was't, “« That mov'd pale Cassius to conspire ?_ And what “* Made thee, all-honour'd, honest, Roman Brutus, “ With the arm’d rest, courtiers o beauteous freedom, 448 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. of the story, which would naturally suggest. this subject to our author before the other, in Julius Cesar Shakspeare does not seem to have been tho- roughly possessed of Antony’s character. He has indeed marked one or two of the striking features of it, but Antony is not fully delineated till he appears in that play which takes its name from him and Cleopatra. The rough sketch would mitt ad cede the finished picture. Shakspeare’s making the Capitol the scene) me Cesar’s. murder, contrary to the truth of history, is easily accounted for, in Hamlet, where it afforded an opportunity for introducing a quibble ; but it is not easy to conjecture why in Julius.Cesar he should have departed from Plutarch, where it is expressly said that Julius was killed in Pompey’s portico, whose statue was placed in the centre. I suspect he was led into this deviation from history by some former play on the subject, the frequent repetition of which before his own play was written, probably induced him to insert these lines in his tragedy : - “To drench the capitol, but that they would — ‘** Have one man but a man ?” ’ So, in another place : ** When Antony found Julius Cesar dead, “* Hecry’d almost to roaring; and he wept, “© When at Philippi he found Brutus slain.” Again : “* Ant. He at Philippi kept ‘¢ His sword ev'n like a dancer, while I struck “ The lean and wrinkled Cassius ; and ’twas I ** That the mad Brutus ended.” CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. | 449 ‘* __. How many ages hence ** Shall this our lofty scene be acted o'er, “In states unborn, and accents yet unknown! - * How many times,” &c. , «The accents yet unknown ” could not allude to Dr. Eedes’s Latin play exhibited in 1582, and therefore may be fairly urged as a presumptive proof that there had been some English play on this sub- ject previous to that of Shakspeare. Hence I sup- pose it was, that in his earlier performance he makes Polonius say that in his youth he had enacted the part of the Roman Dictator, and had been killed by Brutus in Cth apitol ; a scenick exhibition which was then probably familiar to the greater part of the audience. From a passage in the comedy of Every Woman in her Humour, which was printed in 1609, we learn, that there was an ancient droll or puppet-shew on the subject of Julius Cesar. “I have seen (says one of the personages in that comedy), the City of Nineveh and Julius Cesar acted by mammets.” I formerly supposed that this droll was formed on the play before us: but have lately observed’ that it is men- tioned with other “ motions,” (Jonas, Ninevie, and the Destruction of Jerusalem), in Marston’s Dutch Courtesan, printed in 1605, and was probably of a much older date. In the prologue to The False One, by Beaumont and Fletcher, this play is alluded to®; but in what year that tragedy was written, is unknown. 6 « New titles warrant not a play for new, “ The subject being old; and ‘tis as true, VOL. II. 2G ti mgt 450 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, If the date of The Maid’s Tragedy by the same authors, were ascertained, it might throw some light on the present inquiry; the quarrelling scene between Melantius and his friend, being manifestly copied from a similar scene in Julius Cesar. It has already been observed that Philaster was the first play which brought Beaumont and Fletcher into reputation, and that it probably was represented in 1608 or 1609. We may therefore presume that the Maid’s Tragedy did not appear before that year; for we cannot sup- pose it to have been one of the unsuccessful pieces which preceded Philaster. ‘That the Maid’s Tragedy was written before 1611, is ascertained by a MS. play, now extant, entitled The Second Maid’s Tragedy, which was licensed by Sir George Buck, on the 31st of October, 1611. I believe it never was printed 7. If, therefore, we fix the date of the original Maid’s Tragedy in 1610, it agrees sufficiently well with that here assigned to Julius, Cesar. It appears by the papers of the late Mr. George “Fresh and neat matter may with ease be fram’d * Out of their stories that have oft been nam'd ‘* With glory on the stage. What borrows he “* From him that wrought old Priam’s tragedy, ‘** That writes his love for Hecuba.? Sure.to tell * Of Czxsar’s amorous heats? and how he fell “ In the Capitol, can never be the same ‘* To the judicious,” Prologue to The False One. 7 This tragedy (as [learn from a-MS. of Mr. Oldys) was for- merly in the possession of John Warburton, Esq. Somerset He- rald, and since in the library of the Marquis of Lansdown. It had no author's name to it, when it was licensed, but was after- wards ascribed to George Chapman, whose name is: erased by another hand, and that of Shakspeare inserted. 3 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 451 Vertue, that a play called Cesar’s Tragedy was acted at court before the 10th of April, in the year 1613. This was probably Shakspeare’s Julius Cesar, it being much the fashion at that time to alter the titles of his plays. 29. Antony and Cleopatra, 1608, Antony and Cleopatra was entered on the Sta- tioners’ books, May 2, 1608; but was not printed till 1623. In Ben Jonson’s Silent Woman, Act IV. Se. IV. 1609, this play seems to be alluded to: «“ Morose. Nay, I would sit out a play that were nothing but fights at sea, drum, trumpet, and target.” 30. Cymbeline, 1609. Cymbeline was not entered in the Stationers’ books, nor printed, till 1623. It stands the last play in the earliest folio edition; but nothing can be collected from thence, for the folio editors manifestly paid no attention to chronological arrangement. Nor was this negligence peculiar to them: for in the folio % u. wk collection of D’Avenant’s works printed after his <747~> 4 death, Albovine King of the Lombards, one of his tae ame a earliest plays, which had been published in quarto, in 1629, is placed at the end of the volume. I have found in Cymbeline little internal evidence by which its date may be ascertained. Such evi- dence, however, as it furnishes, induces me to ascribe it to 16092 after Shakspeare had composed King .~ 7 amt Lear, and Macbeth. The character of Edgar inky” pipes King Lear is undoubtedly formed on that of Leonatus, the legitimate son of the blind King of Paphlagonia, 2G2 452 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. in Sydney’s Arcadia. Shakspeare having occasion to ttirn to that book while he was writing King Lear, the name of Leonatts adhered to his memory, and he has made it the name of one of the characters in Cymbeline. The story of Lear lies near to that. of Cymbeline in Holinshed’s Chronicle; and some account of Duncan and Macbeth is given inciden- tally in a subsequent page, not very distant from that part of the volume which is allotted to the history of those British kings. In Holinshed’s Scottish Chro- nicle we find a story of one Hay, a husbandman, who, — with his two sons, placed himself athwart a lane, and by this means stayed his flying countrymen; which turned the battle against the Danes. This cireum- stance (which our poet has availed himself of in the fifth Act of the play before us), connected with what has been already mentioned relative to Sydney’s Arcadia, renders it probable that the three plays of King Lear, Cymbeline, and Macbeth, were written about the same period of time, and in the order in which I have placed them. The history of King Duff, Dunean, and Macbeth, which Shakspeare appears to have diligently read, extends from p. 150 of Holinshed’s Scottish Chronicle, to p. 176; and the story of Hay occurs in p. 154 of the same Chronicle. Mr. Steevens has observed, that there is a passage in Beaumont and Fleteher’s Philaster, which bears - a strong resemblance to a speech of. Iachimo in Cymbeline : ‘« T hear the tread of people: I am hurt ; * The gods take part against me; could this boor “ Have held me thus, else?” -Philaster, Act ¥V. Se. 1. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 453 I have bely'd a lady, . “« The princess of this country ; and the air of't ** Revengingly enfeebles me ; or could this carle, “A very drudge of nature's, have ‘abduedms” me : “ In my profession?” Cymbeline; Act IV. Se. HU. Philaster had appeared on the stage before 1611, being mentioned by John Davies of Hereford, in his Epigrams, which haye no date, but were published according to Oldys in or about that year’. Dryden mentions a tradition (which he might have received from Sir William D’Avenant), that Philaster was the first play by which Beaumont and Fletcher acquired reputation, and that they had written two or three less successful pieces, before Philaster ap- peared. From a prologue of D’Avenant’s their first production should seem to have been exhibited \ about the year 1605. Philaster,”therefore, it may be presumed, was represented in 1608 or 1609. 4 iad pe A One edition of the tract called Westward for Pe Ps Smelts, from which part of the fable of Cymbeline is “—~ #. «> borrowed, was published in 1603. In this play mention is made of Cwesar’s im. measureable ambition, and Cleopatra’s sailing on the Cydnus to meet Antony: from which, ‘and other circumstances, I think it probable that about this time Shakspeare perused the lives of Cesar, Brutus, and Mark Antony. The versification of this play bears, I think, a much greater resemblance to that of the Winter's Tale and the Tempest, than to any of our author’s earlier plays. 7 Additions to Langbaine's Account of Dramatick Poets, MS, 454 . LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE.. $1. Coriolanus, 1610. 32. Timon of Athens, 1610. These two plays were neither entered in the books of the Stationers’ Company, nor printed, till 1623. Shakspeare, in the course of somewhat more than - twenty years, having produced thirty-four or thirty- five dramas, we may presume that he was not idle any one year of that time. Most of his other plays have been attributed, on plausible grounds at least, to former years. As we have no proof to ascertain when the two plays under our consideration were written, it seems reasonable to ascribe them to that period. to which we are not led by any particular circumstance to attribute any other of his works; at which, it is supposed, he had not ceased to write; which yet, unless these pieces were then composed, must, for aught that now appears, have been unem- ployed. When once he had availed himself of North’s Plutarch, and had thrown any one of the lives into a dramatick form, he probably found it so easy as to induce him to proceed, till he had ex- hausted all the subjects which he imagined that book would afford, Hence the four plays of Julius Cesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon, and Coriolanus, are supposed to have been written in succession. At the time he was writing Cymbeline and Macbeth there is reason to believe he began to study Plutarch with a particular view to the use he might make of it on the stage®. The Lives of Cesar and Antony are nearly connected with each other, and furnished 5 See p. 434, and p. 447. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 455 him with the fables of two plays: and in the latter of these lives he found the subject of a third, Timon of Athens. — There is a MS. comedy now extant, on the sub- ject of Timon, which, from the hand-writing and the style, appears to be of the age of Shakspeare. In this piece a steward is introduced, under the name of Laches, who, like Flavius in that of our author, endeavours to restrain his master’s profusion, and faithfully attends him when he is forsaken by all his other followers.—Here too a mock-banquet is given by Timon to his false friends; but, instead of warm water, stones painted like artichokes are served up, which he throws at his guests. From a line in Shak- speare’s play, one might be tempted to think that something of this sort was introduced by him; though, through the omission of a marginal direction in the only ancient copy of this piece, it has not en customary to exhibit it: «2d Senator, Lord Timon’s mad. ** 3d Sen. I feel it on my bones, «* 4th Sen. One day he gives us diamonds, next day stones.” This comedy (which is evidently the production of a scholar, many lines of Greek being introduced into it,) appears to have been written after Ben Jonson’s Every Man out of his Humour (1599), to which it contains a reference; but I have not dis- covered the precise time when it was composed. If it were ascertained, it might. be some guide to us in fixing the date of our author’s Timon of Athens, M003. Pes 456 _ LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, which, on the grounds that have been already stated, I suppose to have been posterior to this anonymous play. ) The great plagues of 1593 and 1603 must age made such an impression upon Shakspeare, that,.no inference can be safely drawn from that dreadful malady, being more than once alluded to in Timon of Athens. However it is possible that the following Re were suggested by the more immediate re- ¢ collection of the plague which raged in 1609. “TI thank them,” says Timon, “ and would send. them back the plague, could I but catch it for them.” Again : « Beas a planetary plague, when Jove “ Will o'er some Tigh vic'd a.cty hang his poison “T' the sick air.’ - Cominius, in the panegyrick which he pronounces on Coriolanus, says, es In the brunt of seventeen battles since “ He lurch'd all swords of the garland.” In Ben Jonson’s Silent Woman, Act V. Se. last, we find (as Mr. Steevens has observed) the same phraseology: “ You have durch'd your friends of the better half of the garland.” I formerly thought this a sneer at Shakspeare; but have lately met with nearly the same phrase in a pamphlet written by Thomas Nashe, and suppose it to have been a common phrase of that time. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 457 This play is ascertained to have been written after the publication of Camden’s Remaines, in 1605, by 7... .. FLL: a speech of Menenius in the first Act, in which he 272.’ oo endeavours to convince the seditious populace’ of 4°74? 7 their unreasonableness by the well-known apologue of the members of the body rebelling against the belly. This tale Shakspeare certainly found in the Life of Coriolanus as translated by North, and in ge- neral he has followed it as it is there given : but the (a tale is also told of Adrian the Fourth by Cam- den in his Remaines, p. 199, under the head of Wise Speeches, with more particularity; and one or two of - the expressions, as well as the enumeration of the functions performed by each of the members of the body, appear to have been taken from that book. “ On a time,” says Menenius in Plutarch, “all the members of a man’s body dyd rebel against the bellie, complaining of it that it only remained in the midest of the bodie without doing any thing, neither dyd bear any labour to the maintenaunce of the rest ; ~ whereas all other partes and members dyd labour paynefully, and was veri careful to satisfy the appe- tites and desiers of the bodie. And so the bellie, all this notwithstanding, laughed at their follie, and sayde it is true, I first receyve all meates that norishe mans bodice; but afterwardes I send it againe to the norishment of other partes of the same. Even so (q' he) 0 you, my masters and citizens of Rome,” &c. In Camden the tale runs thus: “ All the members of the body conspired against the stomach, as against the swallowing gulfe of all their labours; for whereas the eies beheld, the eares heard, the. handes laboured, 458 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. the feete travelled, the tongue spake, and all partes performed their functions; onely the stomache lay ydle and consumed all. Hereuppon they joyntly agreed al to forbeare their labours, and to pine away their lazie and publike enemy. One day passed over, the second. followed very tedious, but the third day was so grievous to them all, that they called a com- mon counsel. The eyes waxed dimme, the feete could not support the body; the armes waxed lazie, the tongue faltered, and could not lay open the mat- ter. Therefore they all with one accord desired the advice of the heart. There Reason layd open be- fore them,” &c. sid So, Shakspeare : «* There was a time when all the body’s members ‘* Rebell’d against the belly ; thus accus’d it :— “ That only like a gulph it did remain ‘* In the midst of the body, idle and unactive, ‘* Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing * Like labour with the rest ; where the other instruments ** Did see and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel, ‘And mutually participate did minister : ‘* Unto the appetite and affection common “* Of the whole body. The belly answered— ** True it is, my incorporate friends, quoth he, “ That I receive the general food at first ;— ¢ But, if you do remember, «send it through the rivers of the blood, «* Even to the court, the heart, to the seat o° the brain.” The heart is called by one of the citizens, “ the counsellor-heart ;” and in making the counsellor- heart the seat of the brain or understanding, where Reason sits enthroned, Shakspeare has certainly cea. --.z) followed Camden. <7 oy: aeren CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 459 The late date which I have assigned to Coriolanus derives likewise some support from Volumnia’s ex- hortation to her son, whom she advises to address the Roman people— ‘ now humble as the ripest mulberry, ** Which cannot bear the handling.” In a preceding page I have observed that mul- berries were not much known in England before the year 1609. Some few mulberry-trees however had been brought from France and planted before that 4-<-<—— period, and Shakspeare, we find, had seen some of Veen the fruit in a state of maturity before he wrote Co- —— riolanus '. 33. The Winter’s Tale, 1611. In the first edition of this essay, I supposed The An. / Winter’s Tale to have -been an early production of our author, and written in 1594, an error into which I was led by an entry in the Stationers’ registers dated May 22, in that year, of a piece entitled A Winter- Night’s Pastime, which I imagined might have been this play under another name, the titles of our author’s plays having been sometimes changed ?. * I have some doubts concerning the concluding remark on the date of this play. The tree which is fit for breeding silk- worms, is the white mulberry, of which great numbers were imported into England in the year 1609: but perhaps we had the other species, which produces the best fruit, before that time. If that was the case, my hypothesis concerning the time when our poet planted the celebrated mulberry tree, may be contro- verted. Valeat quantum valere possit. * Thus, Hamlet was sometimes called Hamlet's Revenge, .. ,— LaF —_—, 460 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, - The opinion, however, which I gave’ on this subject, was by no means a decided one. I then mentioned that “ Mr. Walpole thought, that this play was intended by Shakspeare as an. indirect apology for Anne Bullen, in which light it might be considered as a Second Part to King Henry VIII.; and that my respect for that very judicious and in- genious writer, the silence of Meres, in whose cata- logue of our author’s dramas published in 1598 the play before us is not found, and the circumstance | of there not being a single rhyming couplet through- out this piece, except in the chorus, made me doubt whether it ought not rather to be ascribed to the year 1601 or 1602, than that in which I then placed it.”- The doubts which I then entertained, a more attentive examination of this play has confirmed; and I am now persuaded that it was not near so early a composition as the entry above mentioned led me to suppose. Mr. Walpole has observed *, that “ The Winter's Tale may be ranked among the historick plays of Shakspeare, though not one of his numerous criticks and commentators have discovered the. drift of it. It was certainly intended (in compliment to Queen Elizabeth) as an indirect apology for her mother, Anne Boleyn, ‘The address of the poet appears ne where to more advantage. ‘The subject was too deli- cate to be exhibited on the stage without a veil; and it was too recent, and touched the queen too nearly, sometimes The History of Hamlet; the Merchant of Venice was sometimes called The Jew of Venice, &c. 3 Historick Doubts. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 461 for the bard to have ventured so near an allusion ‘on any other ground than compliment. The unreason- able jealousy of Leontes, and his violent conduct in consequence, form a true portrait of Henry the Eighth, who generally made the law the engine of his boisterous passions. Not only the general plan of the story is most applicable, but several. passages are so marked, that they touch the real history nearer than the fable. Hermione on her trial “— for honour, '. €’Tis a derivative from me to mine, * And only that I stand for.’ : « This seems to be taken ftom the very letter of Anne Boleyn to the king before her execution,. when she pleads for the infant princess, his daughter. Mamillius, a young prince, an unnecessary character, dies in his infancy; but it confirms the allusion, as Queen Anne, before Elizabeth, had a still-born son. But the most striking passage, and which had no- thing to do in the tragedy, but as it pictured Eliza- beth, is, where Paulina, deseribing the new-born princess, and her likeness to her father, says, ‘ she has the very trick of his frown. There is another sentence indeed so applicable, both to Elizabeth and her father, that I should suspect the poet inserted it after her death. Paulina, speaking of the child, tells “y -> fey the king: Lfomme ‘ 'Tis yours ; wy thay « And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge, e ere eS * So like you, ‘tis the worse 4.” Ze Kane 6 (ae ae Berghe. This conjecture’ must, I think, be acknowledged --~3 Ps 4 See this hypothesis of Mr. Walpole controverted in the Pre- sabes : ae liminary Remarks to The Winter's Tale, vol. xiv. Boswett. = 5 = 462 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, to be extremely plausible. With respect, however, to the death of the young prince Mamillius, which. is supposed to allude to Queen Anne’s having had a still-born son, it is but fair to observe, that this circumstance was not an invention of our poet, being founded on a similar incident in Greene’s Dorastus and Fawnia, in which Garinter, the Mamil- lius of the Winter’s Tale, likewise dies in his infaney. Sir William Blackstone has pointed out a passage in the first Act of this play, which had escaped my observation, and which, as he justly observes, fur- nishes a proof that it was not written till after the death of Queen Elizabeth: CM fans mae ne «« If I could find example fee A aS ‘© Of thousands, that had struck anointed kings, BE rca he “ And flourish’d after, I'd not do it; but since ca Anco “ Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not-one, _ i rend «« Let villainy itself forswear it.” Whelan ely Sone Apotex. These lines could never have been intended for the mong re oe her life. To the son of Mary they could not but o7* "= have been agreeable. | Upon these grounds I attributed the appearance of The Winter’s Tale to the year 1604, in my former edition of Shakspeare, in 1790. But having, before that work had passed through the press, obtained a perusal of the office-book of Sir Henry Herbert, from which large extracts are given in the third volume; I was satisfied, from an entry in that register, that this play was of a still later date, and stated my change of opinion among the additions and emendations in the | second volume. The entry to which I allude is as follows, sce vol. iii. p. 229: “ For the kings players. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 463 An olde playe called Winters Tale, formerly allowed of by Sir George Bucke and likewyse by mee on Mr. Hemminges his worde that there was nothing pro- phane added or reformed, thogh the allowed booke was missing: and therefore I returned it without a | fee, this 19th of August, 1623.” Though Sir George Buck obtained, a reversionary grant of the office of Master of the Revels, in 1603, which title Camden has given him in the edition of his Britannia, printed in 1607, it appears, from various documents in the Pell’s-office, that he did not get complete possession of his place till August, 1610. I, therefore, suppose The Winter’s Tale to have been originally licensed by him in the latter part of that year or the begin- ning of the next. The allowed manuscript was pro- , bably destroyed by the fire which consumed thee baie Globe theatre, June 30, 1613. There is, says one of the characters in this a “but one Puritan among them, and he sings psalms to hornpipes.” ‘The precise manners of the puritans were during King James's reign” much ridi-~ fe fox bp culed by protestants; and the principal matters in -* dispute between them (whether the surplice should be used in the celebration of divine service, the cross in baptism, and the ring im marriage), were gravely discussed at Hampton Court before the king, who acted as moderator, in the beginning of the year 1604. The points discussed on that occasion were, without doubt, very popular topicks at that time; and every stroke at the puritans, for whom King James had a hearty detestation, must have been very agreeable to him as well as to the frequenters of the theatre, against which that sect inveighed in the 464. LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. bitterest terms. Shakspeare, from various passages. in his plays, seems entirely to have edincided) in, opinion with his majesty, on this subject. The Winter's Tale was not entered on the Sta- . tioners’ books, nor printed, till 1623. It was acted at L+%<,~ Court in 16134.” ot rs Gf. ths | Brey $4. The Tempest, 1612. -~ 45 2 4. The entry at Stationers’ Hall does not, contribute! to ascertain the time when this play was composed ; for it appears not on the Stationers’ books, nor was it printed, till 1623, when it was published with the’ rest of our author’s plays in folio: in which edition, having, I suppose by mere accident, obtained the first place, it has ever since preserved a station to which indubitably it is not entitled °. * As the circumstance from which this piece receives its name, is at an end in the very first scene, and as many other titles, equally proper, might have occurred. to Shakspeare, (such as The Inchanted Island,—The Banished Duke,—Ferdinand and Miranda, &e.) I formerly observed, that some particular and recent event had determined him to call it The Tempest. - ‘There is reason to believe that some of our author's” dramas obtained their names from the seasons at which they were produced. It is not very easy to account for the title of Twelfth Night, but by sup- posing it to have been first exhibited in the Christ- mas holydays®. Neither the title of A Midsummer 4 MS. of the Jate Mr. Malone. 5 See p. 451, article, Cymbeline. ° It was formerly an established custom: to have plays repre-" a CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 466 Night’s Dream, nor that of The Winter’s Tale, -de- notes the season of the action ;. the events which are the subject of the latter, occurring at. the time of sheep-shearing, and the dream, from which. the for- mer receives its name, happening on the night pre- ceding May-day.—These titles, therefore, were pro- bably suggested by the season at which the plays - were exhibited, to which they belong ; A Midsummer Night’s Dream having, we may presume, been first represented in June, and The Winter's Tale in December. Since this Essay was first. published, I ‘have collected information on this subject, which places it in my opinion beyond a doubt. that this play was founded on a recent event, and was produced in 1611’, Mr. Steevens, in his observations on this play, has quoted from the tragedy of Darius by the Earl of Sterline, first printed in 1603, some lines * so strongly sented at court in the Christmas holydays, and particularly on Twelfth Night. Two of Lyly’s comedies -(Alexander and Cam- paspe, 1584, and Mydas, 1592), are said in their title-pages, to have been “ played befoore the queenes majestie on Twelfe-day at night; and several of Ben Jonson's masques were presented ~ at Whitehall, on the same festival. Our author's Love's Labour's Lost was exhibited before Queen Elizabeth in the Christmas . holydays ; and his King Lear was acted before King James on St. Stephen's night : the night after Christmas-day. 7 See this topick fully discussed in the Dissertation at the end of vol. xv. 8 ‘Let greatness of her glassy scepters vaunt, ‘* Not scepters, no but reeds, soon bruis'd, soon broken, *¢ And let this worldly pomp our wits enchant, « All fades, and scarcely leaves behind a token. ** Those golden palaces, those gorgeous halls, _ With furniture superfluously fair, « VOL. II. 2H 466 LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE. resembling a celebrated passage in The Tempest, that ore author must, I apprehend, have been indebted ‘to the other; if so, Shakspeare must — a from Lord Sterline ®. Mr. Holt conjectured’, that the masque in this fifth Act of this comedy was intended by the poet as a compliment to the Earl of Essex, on his being united in wedlock, in 1611, to Lady Frances Howard, to whom he had been contracted some years before *. Even if this had been the case, the date which that eommentator has assigned to this play (1614,) is eertainly too late: for it appears from the MSS. of Mr. Vertue, that the Tempest was acted by John Heminge and the rest of the King’s Company, before prince Charles, the lady Elizabeth, and the prince Palatine elector, in the beginning of the year 1618. ‘* Those stately courts, those sky encountring walls, “ Evanish all like vapours in the air.’ , Darius, Act IH. edit. 1608. - ‘¢ —— These our actors, ; ** AsI foretold you, were all spirits, and «« Are melted into air, into thin air ; “« And, like the baseless fabrick of this. vision, «* The cloud-capt tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces, “ The solemn temples, the great globe itself, “ Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, «« And, like this. unsubstantial pageant faded, “* Leave not a rack behind.” Tempest, Act IV. Sc. k 9 See note on Julius. Cesar, Act I. Sc. I. * Observations on The Tempest, p. 67. Mr. Holt imagined, that Lord Essex was united to Lady Frances Howard in 1610 ; but he was mistaken: for their union did not take place till the next year. 2 Jan. 5, 1606-7. The Earl continued abroad four years’ from that time; so that he did not cohabit with his wife till 1611, CHRONOLOGICAL-ORDER.? 467° - The names of Trinculo and Antonio, two of the characters in this comedy, are likewise found in that: of Albumazar; which was printed in 1614, but is: supposed by Dryden to have appeared some emmcen Athyn before. Ben Jonson, in the Induction to his Besthulednovd! Fair, has endeavoured to depreciate this beautiful comedy by calling it a foolery [drollery].. Dryden, A. 4-2 however, informs us that it was a very popular play/~-2—~-- ~~ at Blackfriars, but unluckily has not said a word: relative to the time of its first representation there, though he might certainly have received information on that subject from Sir William D’Avenant. —_ If the dates here assigned to our author's. plays should not, in every instance, bring with them con- viction of their propriety, let it be remembered, that this is a subject on which conviction cannot at this day be obtained ; and that the observations now sub- mitted to the publick, do not pretend to any higher title than that of “ An Attempt to ascertain the Chronology of the Dramas of Shakspeare.” Should the errors and deficiencies of this essay invite others to deeper and more successful researches, the end proposed by it will be attained : and he who offers the present arrangement of Shakspeare’s dramas, will be happy to transfer the slender portion of credit that may result from the novelty of his undertaking, to some future claimant, who may be supplied with ampler materials and endued with a superior degree of ,antiquarian sagacity. _ 2H 2 468 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. - 'To some, he is not unapprized, this inquiry will appear a tedious and barren speculation. But there are many, it is hoped, who think nothing which relates to the brightest ornament of the English nation, wholly uninteresting ; who will be gratified by observing, how the genius of our great poet gra- dually expanded itself, till, like his own Ariel, i¢ flamed amazement in every quarter, blazing forth with a lustre that has not hitherto been equalled, and probably will never be surpassed *. 3 In the list of plays enumerated (p. 438), by Mr. Malone as unpublished, he might have excepted two more of them which (si remain in manuscript, viz. The Queen of Corsica and the Bugbears, both also in the collection of the Marquis of Lans- downe. The following is the list of plays formerly in the posses- sion. of Mr. Warburton, copied from his MS. in the collection of the same nobleman : “ The Honourable Loves, by Will. Rowley. == ‘ Henry the First, by Will. Shakespear and Robert Davenport. “ The Fair Favourite. ** Minerva’s Sacrifice. Phill. Massinger. = Duke Humphrey. Will. Shakespear. “* Citty Shuffler. “€ Sir John Suckling’s Workes, “* Nothing impossible to Love. T.P. Sir Rob. le Greece. “The Fore'd Lady. T. Phill. Massinger. “©The Governor. T. Sir Corn. Formido. * The Lovers of Loodgate. “«« The Flying Voice, by R. Wood. “The Mayden’s Holaday, by Christ. Marlowe. *‘The Puritan Maid, the Modest Wife, and the Wanton Widow, by Tho. Middleton. ** The London’Merchant, a Comedy, by Jo. Ford. «4. “ The King of Swedland *. * Query, if not Dekker’s King of Swethland, entered on the Stationers’ books, June 29, 1660. . iit LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 469 SECTION. XVI. [It is with deep regret, in which the reader, I have no doubt, will participate, that here that portion of “* Love hath found out his Eyes, by Tho. Jorden. ** Antonio and Vallia, by Phill. Massinger. _ “ The Duchess of Fernandina. T. Henry Glapthorne. "+. Jocondo and Astolso, by Tho. Decker. “St. George for England, by Will. Smithe. ‘* The Parliament of Love, by Wm. Rowley. “The Widow’s Prise.. C. Will. Sampson. “The Inconstant Lady. Wm. Wilson. “The Woman's Plott. Phill. Massinger. “* The Crafty Marshall, C. Shack. Marmion. “*An Interlude, by Ra. Wood. (worth nothing.) “‘ The Tyrant, a Tragedy, by Phill. Massinger.. . **The Nonesuch, aC. Wm. Rowley. “* The Royal Combate. C. By Jo. Forde. “ Philenzo and Hippolito. C.. Phill. Massinger. ‘* Beauty in a Trance, Mr. Jo. Forde. “The Judge. C. By Phill. Massinger. “* A good Beginning may have a good End, by Jo. Forde, «¢ Fast and welcome, by Phill. Massinger. ** Believe as you list. C. By Phill. Massinger. “ Hist. of Jobe, by Robt. Green. (7. uppon M" Bushell & my securytee, or M' Myttens with me. M' Rosswell is not come to London, as yeate, & I: have especiall cawse. Yo". shall frende me muche in: helpeing me out of all the debeits I owe in London I thanck god, and muche quiet to my mynde w.; wolde not be indebited. I am now towards the Cowrte in hope y' answer for the dispatche of my “. /...s.- fe Buysenes. Yo" shall nether loose creddytt nor 477 Se oe monney by me, the Lorde wyllinge; & nowe butt 27~—* ~ pswade yo" selfe soe as I hope & yo" shall nott need to feare but with all hartie thanckfullnes I wyll holde my tyme & content yo" frend, & yf we Bargaine farther, yo” shall be the paie m' yo" selfe. My tyme bidds me to hasten to an ende, & soe I comitt thys [to] yo"" care & hope of yo"' helpe. I feare I shall nott be backe this night from the Cowrte. haste. the , wt hare, Lorde be w" yo” & w'" us all. amen. from the Bell “~<#**-~*: in Carter Lane the 25 october 1598. Cpt se « Yo"'s in all kyndenes, « Ryc. QUYNEY. x * To my Loveing good frend & contryman Mt W™ Shackesp’e* thees.” Re Jhl— yo eres eo ndiet rs angi Paw Be. weg hs fe po (eo Lawes Catcades f Pig 3 hat 3 AIST x/ yv 486 THE LIFE OF In looking at this document, which, when folded up, is hardly two inches square, it is impossible not to express an unavailing regret that while this minute memorial of an obscure bailiff of Stratford has come down to us after the lapse of two centuries unin- jured by the accidents of time, we are not in possession of a single ma manuscript from the pen of his illustrious correspondnes, although they must have been un- questionably voluminous. Independently of his plays, aman of his kindness of heart and friendly dispo- sition, must have been perpetually engaged in ami- cable intercourse with his family, from whom he ap- pears to have been separated a great part of the year; and those many individuals attached to him in his native town, for which he always seems to have retained his fondness, and which at the close of his publick labours he gladly selected as the spot where he might close his days in the society of those who were dear to him. In the following year, we have another and gratifying instance of his prosperity, in a grant of arms made to his family, which I have already expressed my belief was obtained by his father _ in consequence of the poet’s celebrity. What share he held in the theatre at an early period, we have no means of ascertaining with accuracy ; but in 1603, on King James’s accession to the throne, a licence was granted to the Globe company, in which Shakspeare 5 Shackespe.] Mr. Malone has here furnished an authority _ against his own hypothesis, with regard to the ancient mode of | spelling the poet’s name; but I think erroneously. What he has \, made an e, in his transcript, appears to my eye, in the original, (as be only a slight flourish to the 4. Boswetr. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 487 is particularly mentioned as one of the partners. The pecuniary benefit which he derived from this situation, as well as a more particular mention of the purchases which he made at various times, will be subsequently noticed when an estimate is made of the property which he left behind him at his death. From the lamentable neglect of those whose proximity to the time in which he lived might have supplied them with ample contemporary information, little is knowns either of his habits or associates, during the time that he resided in London; but from all which we can generally collect, there can be no reason to question that the gentle Shakspeare enjoyed the society of all the most accomplished men that adorned the period in which he lived. ‘The patronage of Lord South- ampton, the favour of the court, his own splendid genius and amiable manners, must have made his. company sought after by all who were distinguished for their rank or their literature. [I have prefixed a bracket to the observations which follow, because I am by no means satisfied that what I am going to add would have met with the concur- rence of Mr. Malone, and I am anxious not to mis- lead the publick by seeming to impute to him sen- timents which it may be doubtful if he ever could have been persuaded to entertain; but I think we have every reason to suppose that one of those with whom he lived upon a footing of particular intimacy, was his great contemporary, Ben Jonson. Whether at any time there was even a temporary interruption of their cordiality is a question to which I have ad- verted elsewhere. One anecdote has been handed a fase 488 THE LIFE OF down by tradition, which, although certainly not true in all its parts, I should be unwilling to think altogether destitute of foundation. It has been stated that the acquaintance of these two great poets began with an act of kindness on the part of latinos on the perusal of a play by Jonson, who was then unknown, which had been super- ciliously rejected by the players; but that-Shak- speare having accidentally seen it, not only pointed out its merit, but took every opportunity of recom- mending Jonson’s writings to the publick. The play has been said to have been Every Man in his Hu- mour, which, till the publication of Henslowe’s MSS. by Mr. Malone, was supposed to have been Jonson’s earliest production. That he was not then unknown, and that the drama alluded to was not performed at Shakspeare’s theatre, is placed beyond a doubt by the MSS. above-mentioned. Mr. Malone and Mr. Gifford concur in disbelieving this story; yet it has more than once been observed by my late friend, that traditionary anecdotes, however erroneous, in » many respects, have not unfrequently some foun- dation in truth; and one would surely be gratified in believing that an incident which does honour to both those illustrious men was of this description. Jonson was certainly at an early period employed on the drama; but how unworthily was he often called upon to exert his talents! It is impossible to contemplate, without commiseration, this profound and judicious scholar with all his classical attainments fresh about — him, ambitious of teaching laws to the stage, which was then, generally speaking, in the lowest state of — ~ WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 489 degradation, not only compelled to unite himself with other writers altogether unworthy of such an association ; but driven to the necessity of earning thirty shillings by writing additions to the Spanish’ Tragedy, a performance which he never speaks of but with the utmost contempt. His Comedy of Humours, as it is called in the MS. was indeed per- formed, and, as it should seem, with success, having been acted eleven times; but is it too much to sup- pose that it may afterwards have been purchased by Shakspeare’s company at his instigation, and that the praises which he bestowed upon it, may have advanced the author’s reputation ? It is true that at the time when this admirable comedy was written, Jonson, as he terms it in his Dedication to the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court, had friendship with divers in those societies who were great names in learning, and of such men it will be readily believed that Every Man in his Hu- mour was not despised. But although he was very far from being unknown by men of learned and cul- tivated minds ; yet his play might have been “ ca- viare to the general,” before whom Locrine and old Jeronymo were exhibited with applause. Shak- speare, from his theatrical influence, might be more capable of promoting its success than the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court, nor is it any deduction from Jonson’s genius that the master spirit of the age was among the first who appreciated and pointed it out. I confess I do not feel confident on this sub- 3 ject; but after Mr. Gifford has successfully overthrown the long prevalent stories of the hostility which sub- Ae. vis ( 490 THE LIFE OF sisted between these two great men, I cannot but) regret if at the same time we are compelled to relin- quish an anecdote which exhibits them in friendly intercourse. ] . The exact period at which Shakspeare quitted the metropolis, and settled at his native place, has not been ascertained. Mr. Malone was at one time of opinion that this alteration in his mode of life took place soon after his dramatick labours closed, in 1611 or 1612; but a doubt was thrown upon this conjec- ture by the discovery of a mortgage which was executed by Shakspeare in March, 1612-13; and which will be found in the Appendix. He may, however, as has already been observed in a former page, have parted with his property in the theatre before; and it may be added, that this transaction may have taken place after he had ceased to be a settled resident in London. All the accounts which have been handed down to us, concur in stating that he spent some years in Stratford before his death; and as that event took place in April, 1616, we cannot with propriety fix upon a later date than what has been already mentioned for the period of his retire- ment. But as his family lived at Stratford, as it should seem, during the whole or the greater part of the time when his connection with the theatre required his attendance in the metropolis; we might readily infer from his character, that he would not totally absent himself from those who were dear to him; and accordingly we are told by Aubrey, that he used to visit his native country once a year. That accurate observation of nature and endless variety of character WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 491 which appears throughout his works, could not have been obtained but by a man who did not suffer a single circumstance of “ many-coloured life” to escape him; and it is probable that not a journey took place which did not supply him with fresh materials; and of this an instance has been recorded by Mr. Aubrey: «* The humour of the constable in A Midsommer- Night-Dreame (he tells us) he happened to take at Crendon in Bucks (I think it was Midsomer-night that he happened to be there); which is the road from London to Stratford ; and there was living that con- stable about 1642, when I came first to Oxon. Mr. Josias Howe ° is of the parish, and knew him.” It must be acknowledged that there is here a slight mistake, there being no such character as a constable in A Midsummer-Night’s Dream. The person in contemplation probably was Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing. But this mistake of a name does not, in my apprehension, detract in the smallest degree from the credit of the fact itself; namely, that our poet in his admirable character of a foolish con- stable had in view an individual who lived in Crendon or Grendon (for it is written both ways), a town in Buckinghamshire, about thirteen miles from Oxford. Leonard Digges,; who was Shakspeare’s contemporary, has fallen into a similar errour ; for in his eulogy on our poet, he has supposed the character Si a a oe fea Saw 4 J hom foarnng Aor Pha Bassani Cha fo 6 « Josias Howe, the son of Thomas Howe, priest, of Grendon-- <+~¢ ~* A in Bucks, was matriculated as a student of Trinity College, Ox- ford, April 13, 1632, aged nineteen. About the same time, scho- lar.” A. W.in MS. This shews he was born not in 1611, as Mr. Warton supposed, but in 1613. ae aay SO 492 THE LIFE OF of Malvolio, which is found in Twelfth Night, to be in Much Ado About Nothing. As some account of the person from whom Mr. Aubrey derived this anecdote, who was of the same college with him at Oxford, may tend to establish its credit, I shall transcribe from Mr. Warton’s preface to his Life of Sir Thomas Pope, such notices of Mr. Josias Howe, as he has been able to recover. « He was born at Crendon in Bucks [about the year 1611], and elected a scholar of Trinity College June 12, 1632; admitted a. fellow, being then bachelor of arts, May 26, 1637.. By Hearne he is called a great cavalier and loyalist, and a most inge- niougy man’. He appears to have been a general and accomplished. scholar, and in polite literature one of the omaments of the university—In 1644, he preached before king Charles the First, at Christ Church cathedral, Oxford. The sermon was printed, and in red letters, by his Majesty’s special command. —Soon after 1646, he was ejected from his fellowship by the presbyterians; and restored in 1660. He lived forty-two years, greatly respected, after his restitution, and arriving at the age of ninety, died fellow of the college where he constantly resided, August 28, 1701.” Mr. Thomas Howe, the father of this Mr. Josias Howe (as I learn from Wood), was minister of Grendon, and contemporary with A. Sihskepesee and from him his son perhaps derived some information concerning our poet, which he might have communicated to his fellow-collegian, Aubrey. The anecdote relative to the constable of - 7 Rob. Glouc, Gloss. p. 669. oe Mpeligter GF ote! res GG ate p-—+* WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 493 Grendon, however, does not stand on. this ground ; for we find that Mr. Josias Howe personally knew him, and that he was living in 1642. When our poet returned to his native place, we might have been led to hope that his townsmen, who doubtless participated in no common degree in the high admiration which his writings had excited, would have preserved some memorials of the domestic life and habits of one who had conferred so much honour on the spot of his birth. But although in this we are disappointed, his. contemporaries have borne witness in general terms to the brilliancy of his conversation and the suavity of his manners. “ He was,” says Aubrey, “a handsome well-shaped” man, verie good company, and of a very ready, and pleasant, and smooth witt.” I suppose none of my readers will find any difficulty in giving full credit to this part of the account. Mr. Aubrey, I believe, is the only writer who has parti- cularly mentioned the beauty of our poet’s person ; and there being no contradictory testimony on the subject, he may here be safely relied on. All his contemporaries who have spoken of him, concur in celebrating the gentleness of his manners, and the readiness of his wit. ‘“ As he was a happy imitator of nature (say his fellow comedians), so was he a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and hand went together ; and what he thought he uttered with that easiness, that we have scarce received from him - a blot in his papers.” “My gentle Shakspeare,” is the compellation used to him by Ben Jonson. “ He was indeed (says his old antagonist) honest, and of ~ Ke at Ke tang Fak shnde 7 ‘ Ge aga AGES final fe formet tp Py Ae eyes p fre | | Aa ath as 494 THE LIFE OF an open and free nature ; had an excellent fancy, brave notions, and gentle expressions; wherein he flowed with that facility, that sometimes it was necessary he should be stopped. Sufflaminandus erat, as Augustus said of Harterius.” So also in his verses on our poet : Look how the father’s face ** Lives in his issue, even so the race “ Of Shakspeare’s mind and manners brightly shines “In his well-torned and true-filed lines.” 6 ems And conformable to all these ancient testimonies is that of Mr. Rowe, who informs us, from the tradi- tional accounts received from his native town, that - our poet’s “ pleasurable wit and good-nature engaged him in the acquaintance and entitled him to the friendship of the gentlemen of his neighbourhood at Stratford.” A man, whose manners were thus engaging, whose wit was thus ready, and whose mind was stored with such a plenitude of ideas and such a copious assem- blage of images as his writings exhibit, could not but have been what he is represented by Mr. Aubrey, a delightful companion. But.none of those sallies which probably set the table in a roar have come down to us, and scarcely any thing is recorded of him, either grave or gay, except one anec- dote; the truth of which, to say the least of it, is very questionable. “ Among the gentlemen with whom he associated,” Mr. Rowe informs us, “ there is a story almost still remembered in that country, that he had a particular intimacy with Mr. Combe, an old gen- tleman noted thereabouts for his wealth and usury ; WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 496 it happened that in a pleasant conversation amongst their common friends, Mr. Combe told Shakspeare, in a laughing manner, that he fancied he intended to write his epitaph if he happened to outlive him; and since he could not know what might be said of him when he was dead, he desired it might be done immediately; upon which Shakspeare gave him these four verses : «« «Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd ' ; *« «?Tis a hundred to ten his soul is not sav'd: «* «Tf any man ask, Who lies in the tomb? “Oh! ho! quoth the devil, ’tis my John-a-Combe *.’ * Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav’d;] In ‘ The More the Merrier, containing three-score and odd heedless epigrams, shot (like the fooles bolts), among you, light where they will: ” By H. P. Gent. &c. 1608. I find the following couplet, which is almost the same as the two beginning lines of this Epitaph on John-a-Combe : Feneratoris Evrrarnium. * Ten in the hundred lies under this stone, « And a hundred to ten to the devil he’s gone.” STEEVENS. ‘Fs y) fe Pinan Gn Al p Mong Jl So, in Camden’s Remains, 1614: a. Se ‘* Here lyes ten in the hundred, let — 1040S ‘* In the ground fast ramm’d ; * *Tis an hundred to ten ** But his soule is damn’d.” Matong. 2 Oh! oh! quoth the devil, ‘tis my John-a-Combe.] The Rev. Francis Peck, in his Memoirs of the Life and Poetical Works of Mr. John Milton, 4to. 1740, p. 223, has introduced another epitaph imputed (on what authority is unknown) to Shak- speare. It is on Tom-a-Combe, alias Thin-beard, brother to this John, who is mentioned by Mr. Rowe: “ Thin in beard, and thick in purse ; ** Never man beloved worse ; ** He went to the grave with many a curse : ** The devil and he had both one nurse.” Stgevens. Lewy b+ &t7 - ‘ | ‘ 496 THE LIFE OF « But the sharpness of the satire is said to have stung the man so severely, that he never forgave it.” Many years ago Mr. Steevens expressed an opinion that this story was altogether unfounded®. — In I suspect these lines were sent to Mr. Peck by some person that meant to impose upon him. It appears from Mr. John Combe’s will, that his brother Thomas was’ dead in 1614. John devised the greater part of his real and personal estate to his | nephew Thomas Combe, with whom Shakspeare was certainly on good terms, having bequeathed him his sword. Since I wrote the above, I find from the register of Stratford, that Mr. Thomas Combe (the brother of John) was buried there, Jan. 22, 1608-9. Matone. 3 I take this opportunity to-avow my disbelief that Shakspeare was the author of Mr. Combe’s epitaph, or that it was written by any other person at the request of that gentleman. If Betterton the player did really visit Warwickshire for the sake of collecting anecdotes relative to our author, perhaps he was too easily satis- fied with such as fell in his way, without making any rigid search into their authenticity. It appears also from a following copy of this inscription, that it was not ascribed to Shakspeare so early as two years after his death. Mr, Reed of Staple-Inn obligingly pointed it out to me in the Remains, &c. of Richard Brathwaite, 1618; and as his edition of our epitaph varies in Some measure from the latter one published by Mr. Rowe; I shall not hesitate to transcribe it : ‘Upon one John Combe of Stratford upon Avon, a notable Usurer, fastened upon a Tombe that he had caused to be built in his Life-Time. “Ten in the hundred must lie in his grave, ‘* But a hundred to ten whether God will him haye; ‘* Who then must be interr'd in this tombe ? ** Oh (quoth the divill) my John a Combe.” Here it may be observed that, strictly speaking, this is no jocular epitaph, but a malevolent prediction; and Brathwaite’s copy is surely more to be depended on (being procured in or before the year 1618) than that delivered to Betterton or Rowe, WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 497 Aubrey’s anecdotes so often quoted, the story is told in a different manner. almost a century afterwards. It has been already remarked, that two of the lines said to have been produced on this occasion, were printed as an epigram in 1608, by H. P. Gent. and are likewise found in Camden’s Remains, 1614. I may add, that a usurer's i Ke fade solicitude to know what would be reported of him when he was “7 <2 * * dead, is not a very probable circumstance; neither was Shak- speare of a disposition to compose an invective, at once so bitter and uncharitable, during a pleasant conversation among the com- mon friends of himself and a gentleman, with whose family he lived in such friendship, that at’ his death he bequeathed his sword to Mr. Thomas Combe as a legacy. A miser’s monument indeed, constructed during his life-time, might be regarded as a challenge to satire; and we cannot wonder that anonymous lam- poons should have been affixed to the marble designed to convey the character of such a being to posterity.—I hope I may be excused for this attempt to vindicate Shakspeare from the imputa- tion of having poisoned the hour of confidence and festivity, by producing the severest of all censures on one of his company. I am unwilling, in short; to think he could so wantonly and so publickly have expressed his doubts concerning the salvation of one of his fellow-creatures. SreEvens, Since the above observations first appeared (in a note to the edition of our author's Poems which I published in 1780), I have obtained an additional proof of what has been advanced, in vin- dication of Shakspeare on this subject. It occurred to me that the will of John Combe might possibly throw some light on this matter, and an examination of it some years ago furnished me with such evidence as renders the story recorded in Brathwaite’s Remains very doubtful ; and still more strongly proves that, who- ever was the author of this epitaph, it is highly improbable that it should have been written by Shakspeare. The very first direction given by Mr. Combe in his will is, con- cerning a tomb to be erected to him after his death. ‘* My will is, that a convenient tomb of the value of threescore pounds shall by my executors hereafter named, out of my goods and chattels first raysed, within one year after my decease, be set over me.” VOL. II. 2K 9A han laut fete LO ~¥ eres. meh Fat 4 >. 498 THE LIFE OF “ Ben Jonson and he did gather humours of men So much for Brathwaite’s account of his having erected his own tomb in his life-time. That he had any quarrel with our author, or that Shakspeare had by any act stung him so severely that Mr. Combe never forgave him, appears equally void of foundation; for by his will he bequeaths “to Mr. William Shakspere Five Pounds.” It is probable that they lived in intimacy, and that Mr. Combe had made some purchase from our poet; for he devises to his brother George, ‘“‘ the close or grounds known by the name of Parson’s Close, alias, Shakspere’s Close.” It must be owned that Mr. Combe'’s will is dated Jan. 28, 1612-13, about eighteen months before his death; and therefore the evidence now produced is not absolutely decisive, as he might have erected a tomb, and a rupture might have happened between him and Shakspeare, after the making of this will : but it is very improbable that any such rupture should have taken place; for if the supposed cause of offence had happened subsequently to the execution of the instrument, it is to be presumed that he would have revoked the legacy to Shakspeare: and the same argument may be urged with respect to the direction concerning his tomb. Mr. Combe by his will bequeathed to Mr. Francis Collins the elder, of the borough of Warwick (who appears as a legatee and subscribing witness to Shakspeare’s will, and therefore may be presumed a common friend), ten pounds; to his godson John Collins (the son of Francis), ten pounds; to Mrs. Susanna Collins (probably godmother to our poet’s eldest daughter), six pounds, thirteen shillings, and four-pence ; to Mr. Henry Walker (father to Shakspeare’s godson), twenty shillings ; to the poor of Stratford, twenty pounds ; and to his servants, in various legacies, one hundred and ten pounds. He was buried at Stratford, J uly 12, 1614, and his will was proved, Nov. 10, 1615. Our author, at the time of making Azs will, had it not in his power to show any testimony of his regard for Mr. Combe, that gentleman being then dead; but that he continued a friendly correspondence with his family to the last, appears evidently (as Mr. Steevens has observed) from his leaving his sword to Mr. Thomas Combe, the nephew, residuary legatee, and one of the executors of John. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE., 499 wherever they came. One time as he was at the On the whole we may conclude, that the lines preserved by Rowe, and inserted with’some variation in Brathwaite’s Remains, which the latter has mentioned to, have been affixed to. Mr. Combe’s tomb in his life-time, were not written till after Shak- speare’s death ; for the executors, who did not prove the will till Nov. 1615, could not well have erected “a fair monument.” of considerable expence for those times, till the middle or perhaps the end of the year 1616, in the April of which year our poet died, » Between that time and the year 1618, when Brath- waite’s book appeared, some one of those persons (we may pre- sume) who had suffered by Mr. Combe's severity, gave vent to his feelings in the satirical composition preserved by Rowe; part of which, ‘we have seen, was borrowed from epitaphs that had already been printed.—That Mr. Combe was a money-lender, may be inferred from a clause in his will, in which he mentions his ‘* good and just debtors; ” to every one of whom he remits ** twenty shillings for every twenty pounds, and so after this rate for a greater or lesser debt,” on their paying in to his executors what they owe, Mr.'Combe married Mrs, Rose Clopton, the youngest daughter of William Clopton, of Clopton, Esq, [it was old John who married Rose Clopton], August 27,.1561; and therefore was probably, when he died, eighty years old. His property, from the description of it; appears to have been considerable. In justice to this gentleman it should be remembered, that in the language of Shakspeare’s age an usurer did not mean one who took exorbitant, but any, interest or usance for money ; which many then considered as criminal. The opprobrious term by which such a person was distinguished, ‘‘ Ten in the hun- dred,” proves this ; for ten per cent. was the ordinary interest of money. See Shakspeare’s will.—Sir Philip Sidney directs by his will, made in 1586, that Sir Francis Walsingham shall put four thousand pounds which the testator bequeathed to his daughter, “* to the best behoofe either by purchase of land or lease, or some other good and godly use, but in no case to let it out for any usury at all.”,..MaLone. In whatever form it may have been transmitted to us, I cannot 2K 2 500 THE LIFE OF taverne at Stratford, Mr. Combes‘, an old usurer, was allow myself to entertain a doubt that this legendary story was an idle traditionary fabrication from beginning to end.. Mr. Rowe's expressions are worthy of notice; he tells us it :is al- most still remembered at Stratford;—a very slender. foundation to rest upon. ‘These verses occur in a variety of different shapes in our old miscellanies, and some of the variations are pointed: out in a preceding page. I could easily add to the number if it were worth while, but it is to be remarked, that in none of them are § the lines attributed to Shakspeare. His property in them rests \ entirely upon the authority of Aubrey, and Rowe's tradition, ‘This epitaph occurs, as. Mr. Steevens has already observed, in Brath- waite’s Remains, and I have myself very little doubt that. Brath- waite was the author, and that the circumstance of building his tomb in his life-time was a mere fiction, to add poignancy to the satire. My friend, Mr. Haslewood, in his very curious republication of Barnabe Itinerarium, has given us an ample account of this vo- luminous writer's productions; of these, there is one entitled Spiritual Spicerie, containing sundry sweet Tractates of Devotion and Pietie. In one of these tractates, the author penitentially reviews the errors of his past life, and probably alludes to this very lampoon: “‘ I could jeere him to his face whom I needed most ; Ten at hundred I meane, and he would not stick to.pay mee in-mine own coyne; I might beg a courtesie at his hands, but to starve for't never prevaile, wherein [ found this instru- ment of usurie and the Devil to be of one societie,” &c/ As we find from this that he was in the habit of jeering a money- lender, and as these lines are printed in his name, it is, I think, much more probable, that they proceeded from an angry spend- thrift, than that Shakspeare should have composed them under any circumstances, upon one with whom he lived in habits of friendship. Another legendary story which does perhaps still less honour to our poet, I will give in the words of a native of Strat- ford, John Jordan, as he communicated it to Mr. Malone: “ Amongst the many juvenile levities of Shakspeare, I:cannot omit delineating some other traits of his character; tradition says that he loved hearty draughts of English beer or ale, and that there were then two companies of people who usually met at WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 501. to be buried >; he makes then this extemporary epitaph upon him : a village called Bidford, about seven miles below Stratford, upon the Banks of the Avon, who distinguished themselves by the uppellations of the topers and sippers, the former of whom were’ accounted the most eminent in the science of drinking the largest quantity of liquor without being intoxicated ; yet the latter were also very powerful, and looked on themselves superior | to most other companies of drinkers in this country. “« These sons of Bacchus challenged all the men in England to drink with them, to try the strength of their heads; the Stratford’ bard and his companions accepted it, and repaired to Bidford on a Whitsun Monday, to make a trial with the topers, but to their disappointment, they discovered that they were gone to Evesham Fair upon a like excursion; so the Stratfordians with Shakspeare were obliged to take up with the sippers, who they scoffed at as unworthy the contest ; but upon trial they found themselves very inferior to their opponents, and were at last obliged to own their superiority ; for the poet and his companions got so intoxicated, that they were obliged to decline any further trial; and leaving Bidford, they proceeded homeward ; but poor William when he came about half a mile from the village, unable to go on, laid himself down upon the verdant turf, beneath the umbrageous 2- 4 Abn boughs of a wide spreading crab tree, where he took his night's 7-7 fe repose, the lark’s early matins awaked him, and he was invite to return to Bidford by some of his convivial companions to renew the contest, but he refused ; says he, I have drank with ‘*** Piping Pebworth, Dancing Marston, ** «Haunted Hillborough, and Hungry Grafton, “© With Dadging Exhall, Papist Wixford, ** * Beggarly Broom, and Drunken Bidford.” ’ “«« These lines seem to intimate that the opponents consisted of a motley group selected from the above villages ; Pebworth is still celebrated for the skill of its inhabitants, in music and rural festivity ; and Long Marston or Marston Sicca (as it is commonly wrote), the inhabitants of which are noted for their activity in country dances; and Hillborough is a lonely hamlet said by 502 THE LIFE OF ** Ten in the hundred the devil allowes, «* But Combes will have twelve, he swears and he vowes: “If any one aske, who lies in this tomb, — ss “* Hoh! quoth the devill, ‘tis my John o’Combe.” In a former page I have proved, if I mistake not, from an examination of Mr. Combe’s will, and other . the tradition of the vicinage to have been haunted by spirits and fairies: Hungry Grafton, I suppose, received that appellation from the barrenness of its soil; but however that may be, the produce of its excellent stone quarries make sufficient amends for the sterility of the land. Dadging Exhall,—I must confess I am at a loss how to account for the appellation of Dadging ; but Papist Wixford, is a village belonging to the Throckmorton family, and the tenants are most of them of the Roman Catholick Religion. ’ Beggarly Broom must have been so called from the badness of the soil ; and Drunken Bidford still deseryes the name ; for though it is but a small village, there are five public houses in it, and the people love ale as well as they did in the days of Shakspeare. Of, this I am certain, from my own observations, having resided amongst them above half a year.” I cannot help thinking that this is a second instance in which poor Brathwaite may have been robbed of his property. This doggerel nonsense is very unlikely to have proceeded from Shak- speare, but would cut a very respectable figure in Drunken Bar- nabie’s Journal. It may at first. create surprise that such anec- dotes should have been at any time current in Stratford of one who is their greatest boast; but this mode of doing honour to a distinguished character may be paralleled elsewhere.. Those pranks which, under different names, such as Marcolphus and Ber- toldo, &c. have afforded amusement to the lower orders in almost every nation, are attributed in a popular Scotch chap-book to Buchanan. Many of his countrymen, who never heard of him as an historian, or a poet, are familiarly acquainted with George Buchanan, the, king’s jester. Boswektt. 4 This custom of adding an S to many names, both in speaking and writing, was very common in the lastage. Shakspeare’s fel- Jee far lone’ 1s: Conan a Ai inte, a py Al ; Co ane, Fe ae ee NS Kha o Kear a Fhe rea 1s Jn~ Zo 9" of Robin Goodfellow, alias Pucke, alias Hobgoblin °. Grgk- ta? 2% 7 4-~<~ Tt has been already mentioned p. 118, that Shak- speare’s wife brought him three children: Susanna, 6 See Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. iii. p. 202. iis Ay Bee Rue we Bind Sehepin Lirias Toe Be rs ane eae fee Fea WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE., 505 who was born in May, 1583; and that about eighteen: months afterwards, she was delivered of twins, a son and a daughter, who were baptized on February 2, 1584-5, by the names of Hamnet and: Judith. In the year 1596, he had the irreparable’ misfortune to lose his only son, who died at the early age of twelve. Susanna, the eldest daughter, was married June 5, 1607, to Dr. John Hall, a respectable phy- sician; the youngest to» Mr. Thomas Quiney, Fe- bruary 10, 1615-16. A more particular account of _ our poet’s family, will be found in the Stratford Re- gisters, which are given in the Appendix. We have now the melancholy task of recording the close of Shakspeare’s virtuous and brilliant career.. He died on-his birth-day, April 23, 1616, and had. exactly 42.04 /......2 fave Lop oberdecd & completed his. fifty-second year.» From Du Cange’s ~~ -? +> Perpetual Almanack, Gloss: in v. Annus (making Gores 230 70 vA allowance for the different style which then prevailed “; oa aes os in England from that on which Du Cange’s caleula-“7- wider: _ tion was formed), it appears that the 23d of April i in Yripeet raion 7 that year was a Tuesday. There. is an interesting “= eos * coincidence between the death of our great poet on/* pee his birthday, and that of one almost equally illus. “242°2~ trious in a sister art. Raffaelle also died on his’ Ke ec ore birth-day, at the still earlier age of thirty-seven. tye: ee ee Cr kaes borer Poneet—s, was not only in this circumstance that they bore age tg ware resemblance to each other; but as we learn froméa-~ Af omcnsetl nm, Sud Toa Vasari’s character of that great painter, in mildness “ or. ee Aas of manners and benevolence of disposition. eee rie No account has been transmitted to us of the malady which at so early a period. of life deprived England of its brightest ornament. The private wo AF. fang PON eee Dt a ete “Liter sae 2 me Tham 6G Camm Cue Poe Gene Ce oso Oi swag t Co, Lae ee ees ham Mhn tf? CIR few tin 7 Puen gn ee ed he 506 THE LIFE OF note-book of his son-in-law Dr. Hall’, containing a short: state of the cases of his patients, was a few years.ago put into my hands by my friend, the late Dr. Wright ; and as Dr. Hall married our poet’s daughter in the year 1607, and undoubtedly at- _ tended. Shakspeare ‘in ‘his last illness, being then forty years-old, I had ‘hopes this book might have enabled me’ to gratify the publick curiosity on this subject. But unluckily the earliest case ‘recorded by Hall, is dated in\1617. ‘He had probably filled some other book ‘with memorandums of his practice in preceding years ; which by some contingency may hereafter be found, and inform posterity of the particular circum- stances that attended the death of our great poet. Shakspeare was buried April 25, 1616, on the north Yon, thank si ot side of the chancel of the great church at Stratford. 3S. Om his grave-stone underneath is the following in- Saf” sexiption, expressed, as Mr. Steevéns observes, in an _*—~"?"“Gneouth mixture of small and capital letters : ** Good Frend for Iesus SAKE forbeare ‘«'To dice T-E Dust EncloAsed HERe Bley fa. * Blese be T-E Man { spares T-Es Stones cals ae “ And curst be He { moves my Bones®.” Sreevens. 7 Dr. Hall’s pocket-book after his death fell into the hands of a surgeon of Warwick, who published a translation of it, (with some additions of his own) under the title of Select Observations on the English Bodies of eminent Persons, in desperate Diseases, &c. The third edition was printed in 1683. 8 And curst be he that moves my bones.] It is uncertain whe- ther this epitaph was written by Shakspeare himself, or by one of his friends after his death. The imprecation contained in this last line, was perhaps suggested by an apprehension that ou¥ atithor's Er WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 507 A monument’was. afterwards erected to his mel32 2. 4. mory, at what time is not known, but certainly! 21/022" remains might.share the.same fate with those.of the.rest of ‘his * et countrymen, and be added to the immense pile of human, bones Soran deposited in the charnel house at. Stratford. This, however, is nena mere conjecture ; for similar execrations are found in many — ancient Latin epitaphs. Ar Iacanee Mr. Steevens has justly mentioned it as a singular circumstance,2~ 2 ~/ Kom that Shakspeare does not appear to have written any verses on his<> : contemporaries, either in praise of the living, or in honour of the~ 2h dead. I once imagined that he had mentioned Spenser with 7-4 kindness in one of his Sonnets; but have since discovered that the Sonnet to which I allude, was written by Richard Barnefield, If, however, the following epitaphs be genuine, (and indeed the latter is much in Shakspeare’s manner), he in two instances overcame that modest diffidence, which seems to have supposed the eulogium of his humble muse of no value. In a Manuscript volume of poems by William Herrick and others, in the hand-writing of the time of Charles I. which is among Rawlinson’s Collections in the Bodleian Library, is the following epitaph, ascribed to our poet : “* AN EPITAPH, ** When God was pleas’d, the world unwilling yet, “ Elias James to nature payd his debt, * And here reposeth: as he liv’d, he dyde ; ‘The saying in him strongly verefide,— “ Such life, such death: then, the known truth to tell, “ He liv'd a godly life, and dyde as well. . «WM. SHAKSPEARE,” There was formerly a family of the surname of James at Strat- ford. Anne, the wife of Richard James, was buried there on the same day with our poet's widow; and Margaret, the daughter of John James, died there in April, 1616. A monumental inscription ‘* of a better leer,” and said to be written by our author, is preserved in a collection of Epitaphs, at the end of the Visitation of Salop, taken by Sir William Dug- 508 THE LIFE OF before 1623, as it'is mentioned in the commendatory verses of Leonard Digges. He is represented under an arch, in a sitting posture, a cushion spread before him, with a pen in his right hand, and his left rested: on a'scroll of paper. The following Latin distich is’ engraved under the cushion : ALO Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem, 7 Terra tegit, populus meret, Olympus habet. In addition to this Latin inscription, the following lines are found on a tablet immediately underneath. the cushion on his monument : dale in the year 1664, now remaining in the College of Arms ~ © 35, fol. 20; a transcript of which Sir Isaac Heard, Garter Principal King at Arms, has obligingly transmitted to me. Among the ‘monuments in Tongue church, in the county of. Salop, is one erected in remembrance of Sir Thomas Stanley, Knight, who died, as l imagine, about the year 1600. In the Visitation-book it is thus described by Sir William Dugdale : “« On the north side of the chancell stands a very statelie tombe, . supported with Corinthian columnes. It hath two figures of men in armour, thereon lying, the one below the arches and columnes, and the other above them, and this epitaph upon it. “Thomas Stanley, Knight, second son of Edward Earle of Derby, Lord Stanley and Strange, descended from the famielie of the Stanleys, married Margaret Vernon, one of the daughters and co-heires of Sir George Vernon of Nether-Haddon, in the county of Derby, Knight, by whom he had issue two sons, Henry and Edward. Henry died an infant ; Edward survived, ‘to whom those lordships descended: and married the lady Lucie’ Percie, second daughter of the Earle of Northumberland :> by her he had issue seaven daughters. She.and her foure daughters, - Arabella, Marie, Alice, and Priscilla, are interred under a mo- nument in the church of Waltham in the county of Essex. Thomas, her son, died.in his infancy, and is buried in the parish _ - Saws | Peter we # «, Oe A ec mia . Bees see eI a ed oe inne ih isin s Ot fr APA pase or abi ham ai a 5 nel Cae Sn maton aid apis ids grater ai pas VAI POE Z oo ees tO en online pas ee 3 | . J* Litre “hakigkioey Lhe e Aw~wv* fraae Zeewe axé< 5 A ak 4 WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. ee ‘ / g ‘ee ee A af Kt Wl) ADlA oF VCOUM Wie Y/, “a Zi - Lf} fed. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 509 ** Stay, passenger, why dost thou go so fast, * Read, if thou canst, whom envious death hath plac'd ‘* Within this monument ; Shakspeare, with whom ** Quick nature dy’d; whose name doth deck the tomb “* Far more than cost ; since all that he hath writ _ “ Leaves living art but page to serve his wit. ** Obiit An°. Dni. 1619, zt. 53, die 23 Apri.” hehe (anne) atts LOT. ; fy sy les Mr. Granger observes, (Biog. Hist. vol. i. p. 259,) Gea ee that “ it has been said there never was an original #-2°=Z= portrait of Shakspeare, but that Sir Thomas Clarges <“ 27, after his death caused a portrait to be drawn for him 4” y foe / from a person who nearly resembled him.” This i es entnedian entertaining writer was a great collector of anec-“<~~ S ai Mee a - ro church of Winwich in the county of Lancaster. The other three, Petronilla, Frances, and Venesia, are yet living. “These following verses were made by Wirt1AM SHAKESPEARE, “the late famous tragedian : «* Written upon the east end of this tombe. «* Aske who lyes here, but do not weepe ; “He is not dead, he doth but sleepe. «This stony register is for his bones, “ His fame is more perpetual than these stones: ; ** And his own goodness, with himself being gone, ~ ** Shall live, when earthly monument is none.” “« Written upon the west end thereof. “* Not monumental stone preserves our fame, fools “‘ Nor skye-aspiring pyramids our name. fea A =a hes “« The memory of him for whom this stands, ape re “ Shall out-live marble, and defacers’ hands. a aay ame «* When all to time’s consumption shall be given, ae z st ‘* Stanley, for whom this stands, shall stand in heaven.” 2277 Bion The last line of this epitaph, though the worst, bears very #= trell resided part of the year at Lichfield, he thought=," ‘* ae Bo ppp he was assessed too highly; but being very properly ‘ Ma Gfanee won 28 compelled by the magistrates of Stratford to pay the 377.2. 24°02 oe cee whole of what was levied on him, on the principle. pr eee Pall aS Coane” that his house was occupied by his servants in his/,/* saad Sich Maa € Fart absence, he peevishly declared, that that house<~-<-~? “°2- should never be assessed again; and soon afterwards“ Spot oe Ps 72. pulled it down, sold the materials, and left the town. S Lie re Wishing, as it should seem, to be “damn’d to evers = ae. MBS lasting fame,” he had some time before cut. oun ~ "eae sas an Putte fnew! Shakspeare’s celebrated mulberry-tree, to save hime (2100402725 ears ent wept self the trouble of showing it to those whose ade<<; - a ee ede miration of our great poet led them to visit the poetick 7. KE efi din bait ($2, a eed AGO ae ‘yo ee ground on which it stood. “7 77 pga LATION LT ond ae f - nie ms That Shakspeare planted this tree, is as well4——. 23“) uthenticated as any thing of that nature can be. Sy. fa z. The Rev. Mr. Davenport informed. me, that Mr. ~~ pr Hugh Taylor (the father of his clerk,) who was then = oe + Luo [1790] eighty-five years old, and an alderman of =o Warwick, told him that he lived when a boy at“.~ ees y the next house to New-Place; that his family. had “-7~*** (aie Jp 5IeS Pic “pt inhabited the house for almost three hundred years 3 <2 2’ ~:735 that it was transmitted from father to son during the < yy ts ~s Sic atl aenae last and the present century; that this tree (of the “ : 2 fruit of which he had often eaten in his younger days, «“—~ at re we hal ae some of its branches hanging over his father’s gar-~ ween Gane, ae 3 ; $ A ae Ku lte (ji Vi SM fle wee Cee yy AK ar fe : wed Bow ws ent @ Fa et eS Pe RE a a a” SAP LB got OF 8 tte Mee eee i eae ge © wt? PEAS Chen of. Sb ibaa ay Jelen eft Chim hee * 4 . é S702 Aan nt en - 2 watann Soft > 2 - © 64 Lk Cy SSK fut nD Acer ayes Laer thin Rahn ner Me er ae OS PU is Speen > - © < Pa Met 2 a OS 524 THE LIFE OF den) was planted by Shakspeare; and that till this was planted, there was no mublberry-tree in that 760 neighbourhood. Mr, Taylor adds, that he was fre- s “AS quently when a boy at New-Place, and that. this. o & tradition was preserved in the Clopton family, as well “Zi— as in his own, There were scarce any trees of this species in Eng- land till the year 1609, when by order of King James many hundred thousand young mulberry- trees were imported from France, and sent into the different counties with a view to the feeding of silk. worms, and the encouragement of the silk manu- , facture. See Camdeni Annales ab anno 1603 ad | annum 1623, published by Smith, quarto, 1691, p. 7; \ and Howes’s Abridgment of Stowe’s Chronicle, edit. 1618, p. 503, where we have a more particular ac- count of this transaction than in the larger work. A very few mulberry-trees had been planted. before ; for we are told, that in the preceding year a gentle- man of Picardy, Monsieur Forest, “ kept greate store of English silkworms at Greenwich, the which the king with great pleasure came often to.see them worke ; and of their silke he caused a piece of taffeta to be made.” Shakspeare was perhaps the only inhabitant of Stratford, whose business called him annually to London; and probably on his return from thence in the spring of the year 1609, he planted this tree. As a similar enthusiasm to that which with such diligence has sought after Virgil’s tomb, may lead my countrymen to visit the spot where our great bard _ ital WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 525 spent several years of his life and died; every Englishman will, I am sure, concur with me in wishing that it may enjoy perpetual verdure and fertility. «« In this retreat our Shakspeare’s godlike mind “* With matchless skill survey'd all human kind. «« Here may each sweet that blest Arabia knows, “* Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose, «« To latest time, their balmy odours fling, « And Nature here display eternal spring!” we Beane, * a 5 sf 4 « i = ‘ ts aun > ' . Particulars relating to the Wool-Trade at Stratford. . Particulars relating to the Lucy Family. . Grant of Free Warren to William Compton. . Grant of Fulbroke to Francis Englefyld. CONTENTS TO APPENDIX. —>—- John Shakspeare’s Bill of Complaint against John “2, y'e~—Z.--> Lambert. ya a fetta ls John Lambert's Answer to John Shakspeare’s Bill of / Ai WA epee Complaint. ‘ae . John Shakspeare's Replication. . Robert Arden’s Will, and Inventory.—o@ © 4e> fe) 0m . Grant of Arms to John Shakspeare. . Grants to Robert Arden. . Genealogical Table of Robert Arden./ * dealt oo Can . List of Bailifis at Stratford. ee . Incorporation of Stratford. . Inventory of Property belonging to the Borough of Strat- ford. 16. Letters mingled with Latin. . Complete Copy of the Verses on Sir Thomas Lucy. 19. Letters relating to Stratford. . Anecdotes of Sir Walter Ralegh. wot, 18 2M 2 i SAE AS se os 3 " a 3 j . ~ 4 - . i« ” be _s aten. ishs? e APPENDIX. No. L. 24 Nov. 1597. Powley. To the right honable S* Thomas Egerton Knighte Lorde Keper of the greate seale of Englande. IN most humblewise complayninge sheweth unto your good Lordshipp your dailye orators, John Shakespere of Stratford upon Avon in the county of Warwicke and Mary his wief, That whereas your same orators were lawfully seized in theire demesne as of fee as in the ryghte of the saide Mary, of andin one messuage and one yarde lande with thappurtenaunes lyinge and beinge in Wyl- necote in the saide county, And they beinge thereof so “seised for and in consideracdn of the some of fowerty pounds to them by one Edmounde Lamberte of Barton on the Heath in the saide countie payde your sayde orators” were content that the saide Edmounde Lamberte should have and enjoye the same premisses untill such tyme as your sayde orators did repaye unto him the saide some of fowertie pounds; By reason whereof the saide Edmounde did enter into the premisses, and did enjoye the same for the space of three or fower yeares, and thissues and profytts thereof did receyve and take. After which your saide orators did tender unto the saide Edmounde the sayde sdme of fowertie pounds, and desired that they mighte have agayne the sayd premisses accordinge to theire agreement, which money he the sayde Edmounde then refused to receyve, sayinge that he would not receyve the same, nor suffer your sayd orators to have the saide premisses agayne, unlesse they woulde paye unto him certayne other money which they did owe unto him —_— er —_——. 532 APPENDIX. for other matters: All which not withstandinge now so “yt is and yt maye please your good Lo’? that shortelie after the tendringe of the sayde fowertie pounds to the saide Edmounde, and the desyre of your sayde orators to have theire lande agayne from him, he the saide Edmounde at yee 6) Barton aforesayde dyed; after whose deathe one John ~~" Lamberte as sonne and heire of the saide Edmounde entred into the same premisses, and occupied the same: after which entrie of the sayde John your sayde orators came to him and tendred the saide money unto him, and likewise requested him that he woulde suffer them to have and enjoye the sayde premisses accordinge to theire righte and tytle therein, and the promise of his saide father to your saide orators made, which he the saide John denyed in all things, and did withstande them for entringe into the premisses, and as yet doeth so continew still; And by reason that certaine deeds and other evydences con- cerninge the premisses and that of righte belonge to your saide orators are comme to the hands and possession of the sayde John, he wrongfully still keepeth and detayneth the possession of the saide premisses from your saide orators, and will in no wise permytt and suffer them to have and enjoye the sayde premisses accordinge to theire righte in and to the same. And he the saide John Lam- berte hathe of late made sondrie secreate estates of the premisses to dyvers persons to your saide orators. un- knowen, whereby your saide orators cannot tell againste whome to bringe their accdns at the comen lawe, for the recovery of the premisses. In tender consideracén whereof, and for so muche as your saide orators knowe not the certaine date nor contents of the saide wrytings, nor whether the same be contayned in bagge, boxe, or cheste, sealed, locked or noe, and therefore have no remedye to recover the same evydencs and wrytings by the due course of the cémen laws of this realme; and for that also by reasone of the saide secreate estates so made by the saide John Lamberte as afcarenity and want of APPENDIX. 533 your saide orators havinge of the evidencs and wrytings as aforesaide, your saide orators cannot tell what accons or agaynst whome or in what manner to bring theire accén for the recovery of the premisses at the comen lawe: And for that also the sayde John Lamberte ys of greate wealth and abilitie and well frended and alied_ amongest gentlemen and freeholders of the countrey i in the saide countie of Warwicke, where he dwelleth, and your saide orators are of small wealthe and verey fewe frends and alyance in the saide countie, may yt therefore please your good Lo??* to graunt unto your saide orators the Queenes Ma‘ most gracyous writte of Subpcena to be directed to the saide John Lamberte comandinge him thereby at a certaine daie and under a certaine payne therein to be lymytted personally to appeare before your good Lorr in her ma‘ highnes corte of Chauncerie, then and there to answer the premisses, and further to stande to and abyde suche order and direction therein as to your good Lo?? shall seeme best to stande with righte, equitie and good conscyence. And your sayde orators shall daylie praye to God for the prosperous healthe of your good Lor with increase of honor long to contynewe. J. Stone. No. II. Juratus coram me Thoma Legge, 24 November, 1597. The Answeare of John Lamberte defendte to the Byll of Compite of John Shakspeere and Mary his wief, Complts. The said defendte (savinge to lim selfe both nowe and at all tymes hereafter all advantage of excepcon to the uncertentie and insufficiencie of the said Complts byll, and also savinge to this defendte suche advantage as by the order of this honorable courte he shalbe adjudged to have for that the like byll in effecte conteyninge the selfe 534 APPENDIX. same matter hath byne heretofore exhibited imto this honorable courte againste this defendte, wherunto this — defendte hath made a full and direct answeare, wherin the said complte hath not proceeded to hearinge,) for a seconde full and directe answeare unto the said Complts byll, sayeth, That true yt is (as this defendte verylie thinkethe) that the said complts were or one of them — was lawfully seized in theire or one of theire demeasne — as ‘of fee of and in one messuage and one yearde and fower acres of lande with thappurtenaunes lyeinge and beinge i in Wylmecott in the parishe of Aston Cauntlowe in the countie of Warwicke, and that they or one of them soe beinge thereof seized, the said complte John Shakspeere” by indenture beringe date uppon or aboute ~ the fowertenth daie of November in the twenteth yeare 4.“ of the raigne of our sovereigne lady the Queenes Mat** 472. ann ar’ that now ys, for and in consideracon of the some of oo. Zo... fortie pounds of lawfull English monney unto the said complte paide by Edmunde Lamberte this defendts father in the said byll named, did give, graunte, bargaine, and sell the said messuage and one yearde and fower acres of lande with theappurtenauncs unto the said Edmunde Lamberte and his heires and assignes; to have and to holde the said messuage one yearde and fower acres of lande with thappurtenauncs unto the saide Edmunde Lamberte his heires and assignes for ever. In which indenture there is a condicdnall proviso conteyned that if the said complte did paye unto the said Edmunde Lamberte the siime of fortie pownds uppon the feast of S. Michell tharchangell which shoulde be in the yeare of our Lorde God one thousande fyve hundred and eightie 77¢ at the dwellinge house of the said Edmunde Lamberte in Barton on the heath in the said countie of Warwicke, ~that then the said graunte bargaine and sale and all the covenaunts, graunts and agreements therein conteyned shoulde cease and be voyde; As by the said Indenture wherunto this defendte for his better certentie doth raed ‘APPENDIX. 585 referre him selfe maye appeare. And afterwards the saide Complte John Shakspeere by his deede pole and liverie theruppon made did infeoffe the said Edmunde Lamberte of the said premisses, to have and to holde unto him the said Edmunde Lamberte and his heires for ever. After all which in the terme of Ester in the one ¢.c .4-< 4 and twenteth yeare of the Queenes Ma.'* raigne that tee nowe ys, the said compltes in due forme of lawe did G:C levye a fyne of the said messuage and yearde lande and ~~~ 4-* other the premisses before the Queenes Ma‘ Justics of “7°° "77 the comon plees at Westm* unto the saide Edmunde Lamberte and his heires sur conuzance de droyt as that which the said Edmunde had of the gifte of the said John Shakspeere; as by the said pole deede and the chirdégraphe of the said fine wherunto this defendte for his better certentie referreth him selfe yt doth and maye appeare. And this defendte further sayeth that the said complte did not tender or paye the said sime of fortie pownds unto the said Edmunde Lamberte this defendts father uppon the said feaste daye which was in the yeare of our Lord God one thowsande fyve hundred and eightie, according to the said provisoe in the said In- denture expressed: By reason whereof this defendts said father was lawfully and absolutely seized of the said premisses in his demeasne as of fee; and aboute clenees Vere last_paste thereof dyed seized. By and ~after whose decease the said messuage and premisses with thappurtenauncs descended and came as of righte the same oughte to descende and come unto this defendte as sonne and next heire of the said Edmunde. By vertue whereof this defendte was and yet is of the said messuage, yearde lande, and premisses, lawfully seized in his demeasne as of fee; which this defendte hopeth he oughte both by lawe and equitie to enjoye accordinge to his lawfull righte and tytle therin. And this defendte further sayeth that the said messuage yearde lande and other the said premisses or the moste parte thereof have, 536 APPENDIX. ever sythence the purches therof by this defendts father,’ byne in lease by the demise of the said complte. And the lease therof beinge nowe somewhat nere expyred, wherby a greater value is to be yearly raised therby, they the said complts doe nowe trouble and moleste this defeidte by unjuste sute in lawe, thinkinge therby (as yt shoulde seme) to wringe from kim this defendte some further recompence for 'the said premisses then they have alreddy received; Without that that yt was agreed that the said Edmunde Lamberte shoulde have and enjoye the said premisses in anie other manner & forme (to the knowledge of this defendte) then this defendte hath in his ‘said answeare heretofore expressed. And without that that anie deeds or evidencs concerninge the pre- misses, that of righte belonge to the said complts, are’ come to the hands and possession of this defendte ; as in the sayd byll is untruly supposed: And without that that anie other matter cause or thinge in the said complts byll conteyned materiall or effectual in the lawe to be answeared unto, towchinge or concerninge him this defendte, and herein before not answeared unto, con- fessed & avoyded traversed or denied, is true, to this defendts knowledge or remembrance, in suche manner & forme as in the said byll the same is sett downe and declared. All which matters this defendte is reddy to averre & prove as this honorable courte shall awarde. And prayeth to be dismissed ther hence with his rea- sonable coste and chargs in this wrongfull sute by him unjustly susteyned. OvERBURY. No. Il. Powle. ’ The Replicacén of John Shakespere and Mary his wief, Pient to the Answere of John Lamberte Defend. ) The said -complaynts for replicacon to the answere of the said deft saie that théire bill of complaynt ys certayne APPENDIX. . 537 and sufficient in the lawe to be answered: which said — bill and matters therein contayned these comp will avowe verifie and justifie to be true and sufficient in the lawe to be answered unto, in such sorte manner and forme as the same be sett forthe and declared in the said bill; And further they saie that thanswere of the said defendendte is untrue and insufficient in lawe to be re- plied unto, for many apparent causes in the same ap- pearange, thadvantage whereof these Comp." praie may be to theym nowe and at all times saved. Then and not ells for further replicacon to the said ‘answere they saie, that accordinge to the condicon or proviso mencoed in the said Indenture of bargaine and sale of the premisses ~mencoed in the said bill of complaynt, he this comp.'t John Shakspere did come to the dwelling house of the said Edmunde Lamberte in Barton uppon the Heath uppon the feast daie of St. Michaell tharcheangell which was in the yeare of our Lorde God one thousand fyve hundred and eightie', and then and there tendered to paie unto him the said Edmunde Lamberte the said fortie pounds, which he was to paie for the redempcon of the said premisses, which some the said Edmunde did refuse to receyve, sayinge that he owed him other money, and unles that he the said John would paie him altogether as well the said fortie pounds as the other money which he owed him over and above, he would not receyve the said fortie pounds, and immediatlie after he the said Edmunde dyed ®, and by reason thereof he the said def*. entered into the said premisses and wrongfullie kepeth and de- tayneth the said premisses from him the said comp" Without that, that any other matter or thinge materiall or effectuall for these comp" to replie unto and not herein sufficientlie confessed and avoyded denyed and traversed all which matters and things this complaynants are redie to avere and prove as this honorable co't will awarde. * Eight. in orig. 2 E. L. died in 1586, according to the account of his son John. 538 APPENDIX. And praie -as before in oe said bill they have praied. J. Srone. No. IV. “In the name of God, Amen, the xxiiij daye of “ht.>+--¢> November in the yeare of our lord God 1556, in the third 7 *— —— and the forthe yeare of the raygne of our soveraigne Lord and lady, Phylipe and Mary, kyng and quene, &c. I Robert Ardén of Wylmcote in the paryche of Aston Cauntlow, secke in bodye and good and perfitt of remem- berance, make this my last will and testament, in manner and forme folowynge. « Fyrst, | bequethe my solle to allmyghty God and to our blessed laydye se sent Marye, and to all the holye companye of heven, and my bedye to be beryde in the church yarde of Seynt Jhon the baptyst in Aston aforsayde. “ Also I geve and bequeth to my youngste dowghter Marye all my lande in Willmecote, cawlide Asbyes & the crop upon the ground sowne and tyllede as hit is. And vili. xiijs. ilijd. of money to be payde ovr ere my goodes be devydede. Also I gyve & bequethe to my daughter Ales the thyrde parte of all my goodes moveable & Le? wth h * “unmoveable in fylde and town, after my detts and leggeses otewse etn be performyde, besydes that goode she hath of her owne att this tyme. Also 1 gyve and bequethe to Agnes my wife vidi. xiijs. iiijd. upon this condysione, that [she] shall sofer my daughter Alice quyetlye to ynyoye halfe my copye hould in Wylmcote duryng the tyme of hir wyddowe- whodde: and if she will nott soffer my daughter Ales quyetlye to occupye halfe with her, then I will that my wyfe shall have but iijd. vis. viijd. & her ginture in gs cag Snytherfyelde. [ 26: « va kateb] A f— “= “Item, I will that the resdew of all my goodes move- ee a “277 able & unmov eable, my funeralles & my dettes dys- Se tt % chargyde I gyve and bequethe to my other children to be migoen +--~_£ equallye devydide amongeste them by the descrysyon of fatness f Fi Adam Palmer Hugh Porter of Snytterfyld & Jhon Sher- APPENDIX. 539 lett, whom I do orden & make my overseres of this my last will & testament, & they to have for ther peynes taking in this behalfe xxs. apese. Allso I ordin & con- stytute & make my full executores Ales & Marye my daughteres of this my last will & testament, and they to have no more for ther peynes takyng nar as afore geven them. Also 1 gyve & bequethe to every house that hath no teme in the parish of Aston to every howse iiijd. “ Thes beyng wyttnesses, “ Wylliam Bowton, Curatt. «“ Adam Palmer. « Jhon Sherlett “ Thomas Jhenkes “ William Pytt “ with other more « Probat fuit &c. Wigorn. &c. xviicd. die mensis Decembris anno dni 1556.” The Will of Agnes Arden, the widow of Robert Arden, was proved at Worcester, March 31, 1584. The precise date I am unable exactly to ascertain, as that part of the “paper which contained it has been worn away by time ; but it was made in the 21st year of Queen Elizabeth (1579); and it appears from the Register of Aston Cantlow, as I have already mentioned, that she was buried there Dec’. 29, 1580. From her will, I learn that she did suffer her daughter Alice quietly to enjoy the moiety of the copyhold mentioned by her husband, for she devises to J" Hill her part or moiety of the neat crop in the fields, paying the Lord’s rent. It appears that John_Hill and #. <¢ £274 John Fulwood had married two of the sisters of Ma EG TEs Shakspeare. To each of the children of John Hill and 47%. in oe John Fulwood she gives a sheep; to the poor of Aston Sz Cantlow ten shillings; to Avery Fulwood two sheep;, _.. cone hte to Richard Petifer one sheep ; to John Page and his wife 7 “~“7 ““*"* (who perhaps was also her daughter), vis. viiid.; to Joan Lambard, xiid.; to John Hill her best platter of the best sort and her best platter of the second sort; one porringer, 3 540 APPENDIX. one saucer, and one candlestick ; two pair of sheets, her second pot, and best pan; to her son-in-law, John Fulwood, all the rest of her household stuff; and one brown steer two years old ; to each of her brother Alexander Webbe’s children, twelve-pence. She makes John Fulwood and John Hill her executors and residuary legatees, in trust for their children; and Adam Palmer and George Gibbs overseers of her will, which is witnessed by Thomas Edkins, Richard Petifer, “ with others.” “The Inventorye of the goodes moveable & unmove- able of Robert Ardennes of Wylmcote late dessesid made the ix'® daye of Decemb’ in the thyrde & the fourthe yeare of the raygne of our soveraygne lord and ladye Phylipe & Marye king & quene, &c. 1556. “ Imprimis, in the halle ij table bordes, iij choyeres, ij formes, one cobbourde, . ij coshenes, iij benches & one lytle table with shelves, presede att vilis. “ Tb. ij peyntide clothes in the hall & v peynted clothes in the chamber, vij peire of shettes, ij cofferes one which presede at xviiijs. « Ib. v borde clothes, ij Toweles & one dyeper towell, presed att vis. viijd. “ Ib. one fether bedde, ij mattereses, vijj canvases, one coverlett, iij bosteres, one pilowe, iiij :peyntide clothes,’ one whyche presed att XXVjs. viijd. “Ib. in the kechen iiij panes, iiij potts, iij candell stykes, one bason, one chafyng dyche, ii cathernes — {caldrons], ij shelletts, one frying pane, a gredyerene & pott hangynges with hookes, presed att ljs. viijd. * Ib. one broche, a paire of cobbardes, one axe, a bill, iiij nagares [augres] ij hatchetts, an ades, a mattock, ayren crowe, one fat, iiij barrelles, iiij payles, a gyrne, a knedynge trogh, along seve, a hand saw, presed at xxs. ijd. “ Tb. viij oxen, ij bollokes, vij kyne, iiij weynyng caves, xxilijli. } “ Tb. iijj horses, iij colts presed att vijj/z. “ Tb. Ito [52] shepe presed att vij/t. APPENDIX. 541 % wg the whate in the barnes, & the barley, presed att xviijli, “ Tb. the heye & the pease, ottes & the strawe, presed att ijl, vis. viijd. “ Tb. ix swyne presed att xxvis. viijd. “Ib. the bees & powltrye presed att vs. “ Tb. carte & carte geres, & plogh & plogh geres with harrowes, presed att xii. _ “Ib, the wodd in the yarde, & the batten in the roffe, presed att, xxxs. ry Sum totalis, Leal xjs. xd, fg 77H (3/3 pt ary eT a No. V. “ To all & singuler noble & gentilmen of what estate or 1. 409. res: 4 degree bearing arms to whom these psents shall come Willm Dethick als Garter principal king of arms sendeth greetings. Know yee that whereas by the authoritie pri- vilege & custome pertaining to my said office of principal king of arms from the Quenes most exc. ma‘ and her highnes most noble & verteous progenitors I am to take general notice and to make publique demonstracon & testimonie of all causes of arms & matters of gentrie through out all her ma“* kingdomes and dominions, princi- paletes, isles, & provinces To thend that As some by there auncyent names families kindreds & descents have & enjoy sunderie enseignes & [cotes] of arms, so other for there valiant feats magnanimitie vertue degnites & desserts maye have such marks & tokens of honor & worthinesse, whereby there name & good fame shal be [known] & divulged and there children & posteritie in all vertue & service of there prynce & contrie [encouraged] Being therfore solicited & by credible report informed that John Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of , “fee “aptaepy parent and late Warwick, whose . antecessors were for there valeant & +... 7%?- I, faithfull services advaunced & rewarded of the most &. frecteloO$ oot 542 APPENDIX. prudent prince king Henry the Seventh of famous memorie, sithence whiche time they have continewed at those parts in good reputation & credit ; [and that the said John having maryed Mary, daughter and one of the heyres of Robert Arden of Wilmecote, in the same countie, gent-] In consideration whereof and for encouragement of his posteretie I have therefore assigned graunted and by these have confirmed this shield or cote of arms, viz Gould, on a bend sable & a Speare of the first, the point steeled, proper; and his. crest or cognizance, a faulcon, his wings displayd, argent standing on a wrethe of his coullors supporting a speare gould steele as aforesaid, sett uppon a helmet with man- tells & tassells as hath been accustomed & more playnly appereth depicted in this margent &c &c 3 “At the office of Arms London the xx daye of october’in the xxxix™ yeare of the raigne of our Sove- raigne Lady Elizabeth &c A° 1596.” “ The xxxix™ year,” &e. is a mistake ; it should be the xxxvili year: for the 20th of October, 1596, was in the 38th of Elizabeth. And so it stands in the other draft. In the copy numbered 24, in the passage with which we are principally concerned, an interlineation directs us instead of—* whose parents and late antecessors for their faithful and valiant services,” &c. to read—“ whose grandfather for his faithful and valiant services,” &c. The following grant made in 1599, is found in a book ’ marked R 21 (formerly G. 13) p. 347. “ To all and singuler noble and gentlemen of all estats and degrees, bearing arms, to whom these presents shall come, William Dethick, Garter, Principall King of Arms of England, fand William Camden, alias Clarencieuix, King of Arms for the south, east, and west parts of this realme,/sendethe greeting. Know ye, that in all nations and kingdoms the record and remembraunce of the valeant facts and vertuous dispositions of worthie men have been made knowne and divulged by certeyne shields 3 No mention of impaling these arms with those of Arden. e — (from theyre said mother by the auncyent custome and APPENDIX. 543 of arms and tokens of chevalrie; the grant and testimonie whereof apperteyneth unto us, by vertue of our offices from the Quenes most Exc. Majestie, and her Highenes most noble and victorious progenitors: wherefore being solicited, and by credible report informed, that John Shakspeare, now of Stratford upon Avon, in the counte of Warwick, gent. whose parent and great grandfather, late antecessor, for his faithefull and approved service to the late most prudent prince, king Henry VII. of famous memorie, was advaunced and rewarded with lands and tenements, geven to him in those parts of Warwickshere, where they have continwed by some descents in good reputacion and credit ; and for that the said John Shak- speare having maryed the daughter and one of the heyrs of Robert Arden of Wellingcote, in the said countie,fand also produced this his auncient cote of arms, heretofore - nbn taht tke assigned to him whilest he was her Majesties officer and Tog eT ey baylefe of that towne); In consideration of the premisses, and for the encouragement of his posteritte, unto whom OO we eww taor” ———— suche blazon of arms and achevements of inheritance%, 22.2% - lawes of arms, maye lawfully descend; We the said Garter and Clarencieux have assigned, graunted, and by these presents exemplefied unto the said John Shak- speare, and to his posteritie, that shield and cote of arms, viz. In a field of gould upon a bend sables a speare of the first, the poynt upward, hedded argent; and for his crest or cognisance, A falcon with his wyngs displayed, stand- ing on a wrethe of his coullers, supporting a speare armed hedded, or steeled sylver, fyxed uppon a helmet with mantel! and tassells, as more playnely maye appeare depected on this margent ; and we have likewise uppon on other escucheon impaled the same with the auncyent arms of the said Arden of Wellingcote ; signifieng therby, that it maye and sbalbe lawfull for the said John Shak- speare, gent. to beare and use the same shield of arms, Single or impaled, as aforsaid, dvring his naturall lyffe ; and that it shalbe lawfull for his children, yssue, and pos- Ke orm of hoe fare a thie OD A Cn Beme. Sw nce an 8. dn. 27 an | EY shes 2 re) Br gf tena ww Bank Set— ben |: POS AN awe e A awit Bae a 723: a APPENDIX. teryte, (lawfully begotten) to beare, use, and quarter, and show forth the same, with theyre dewe differences, in all lawfull warlyke facts and civile use or exercises, accord- ing to the lawes of arms, and custome that to gentlemen belongethe, without let or interuption of any person or persons, for use or bearing the same. In wyttnesse and testemonye whereof we have subscrebed our names, and fastened the seals of our offices, geven at the Office of Arms, London, the* day of in the xlii yere of the reigne of our most gratious Sovraigne lady Eliza- beth, by the grace of God, quene of Ingland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. 1599.” In this grant it appears that the words which I have had occasion so particularly to consider, stood originally « whose parent and antecessor,” for which were next sub- stituted “ whose parent and /ate antecessor ; ” and after- wards, “whose great grandfather” was adopted. Ac- cordingly, Mr. Anstis, when he copied this instrument for Mr. Pope, in 1523, thus exhibited it. But the former _—_ _4—~ draught (No. 24), we see, was right—* whose grand-~ father,” &c. The cause of this error has been pointed out already. See Section IL. p. 28. No. VI. SEcUNDA PARS patentium de anno regni Regis Henrici Septimi decimo septimo. Dex concesstong ARDERN, m, 30. R. omib3 ad quos &c. sattm Sciatis qd in consideraGoe boni & veri Svicij quod diléus Qviens nf Robtus Ardern — unus garcionii canie fire ante hec tempora nob impendit ac durante vita sua impendere intendit Dedim? & concessim? eidem Robto officiti custodis parvi parci nfi de Aldercar Hénd & gaudend dem officii déo Svienti nfo p se vel p ejus deputatt sufficienté durante beneptito nfo cum vadijs & 4 Between 17 Nov. 1599, and 25 March, 1599—1600, APPENDIX. 545 feodis eidem officio debitis 8& consuetis Hénd & annuatim peivioné in modo & forma ante hec tempora usitat ad inos ibidem usuales simul cum omimod pficuis cémodi- tatib; & advantagijs eidem officio quovismodo ptinefi seu spectai In cujus &c. T.R. apud Westm xxij die Februarij. P bie de privato sigillo & de dat &c. DE CONCESSIONE ARDERN, m, 35. R. omib; ad quos &c. sattm Sciatis qd nos de gira nia spali ac in consideraGée boni & veri Svicij quod diléus dviens n¥ Robtus Ardern unus garcionii canle nfe nob impendit ac durante vita sua impendere intendit Dedim? & concessim? eidem Robto officia ballivi dnij nfi de Codnore & custodis parci nti ibidem Hénd & occupand eadem officia p se vel p sufficientem deputatum suii sive sufficientes deputatos suos durante beneptito nfo cum vadijs feodis pficuis comoditatib; & advantagijs eisdem officijs debitis & consuetis Hénd & annuatim pcipiend in modo & forma ante hec tempora usitat In cujus &c. T.R. apud Westm ix die Septembi. P bie de privato sigillo & de dat &c, Prima pars patefi de anno regni Regis Henrici Septimi vicesimo tertio, m, 12. D’ custop’ comiss’ ARDERN. R. omib3 ad quos &c. salutem. Sciatis nos in considera- Ge Vi & fidelis Svicij qd diléus & fidelis Qviens n¥ Robtus Ardern pantea impendit & durante vita sua impendere intendit concessisse tradidisse & ad firmam dimisisse eidem Robto maffii de Yoxsall in cofi Staff cum ptin’ necnon cum omib3 alijs pficuis & comoditatib3 quibuscung, eidem mafiio ptifi sive spectafi unacum pficuis vi8 francipleg déi mailij vidett finib3. pquis ptitis & amciamentis (eozdem wardis maritagijs relevijs boscis advocaGdib3 ecctiag bonis & catallis felofi aut fugiti¥ & thesaur invent omino-exceptis ac nob & heredib3 nis reservat) Hénd tenend & occupand VOL. Il. 2N 546 APPENDIX. pdém mafia cum ptifi ut pmitti? exceptis Pexcept pfato | Robto heredib3 & assigii suis a festo Sci Michis Archi p% futu usq, finem & Paina viginti unius annoy extune px sequefi & pleriarie complend Reddendo inde annuatim tiob & hered nfis regib; Angt durante Pmino pdéo quadraginta duas libras put respon§ fuim? antea & quadraginta solidos ultta de inc¥o solvend ad ®minos ibidem usuales ad manus receptoris nfi ibidem p tempore existefi Proviso tamen qd déus Robtus & ple? sui de omimod repaddib; déi maflij cum ptifi exoflat sint & p nos vel ad custus nfos faciend tociens quociens opus sive necesse fuit durante Pmino Pdéo In cujus &c, T.R. apud Otford, xxiiij die Septemby. P bfe de privato sigillo & de dat &c. No. VIII. The following list of the Bailiffs of Stratford from the time their first charter was granted to the year 1615, is formed from the various ancient documents in the chamber of Stratford : 1553. Thomas Gilbert, the first 1566. William Tyler. Bailif. 1567. Ralph Cawdréy. 1554, William Whatley, elect- 1568. Soin Stakspenee seid ed in Sep" for the en- 1569. Robert Salisbury. suing year. * 1570 John Sadler. 1555, John Burbadge. je 1571. Adrian Quihey. 1556. Ralph Cawdrey, alias 1572. Roger Sadler. Coke. 1578, Lewis ap Williams. 1557. Francis Harbadge. 1574, Humphrey Plymley, 1558. Robert Perrot. 1575. Richard Hill. 1559. Adrian Quiney. < 1576. John Wheler. 1560, Roger Sadler. 1577. William Tyler. 1561. Lewis ap Williams. 1578. Thomas Barber. 1562. Humphrey Plymley. 1579. Nicholas Barnehurst. 1563. George Whatley. ~ 1580. Robert Salisbury. 1564. Richard Hill. 1581. Ralph ‘Cawdrey. 1565, John Wheler. 1582. Adrian Quiney. APPENDIX. se 1583. George Whateley. 1601. Richard - Quiney died. in 1584. Richard Hill. _ office, John Gibbes, ie hawt fhe had 1585. William Tyler, suffectus, oS ae 1586. Thomas Barber, 1602. Daniel Baker. ._ §=M fy. 1587, Robert Salisbury, 1603. Frances Smyth, senior, 1588. William Wilson. 1604, John Smyth. 1589. Thomas Rogers. 1605. William Wyett, 1590, William Parsons, 1606. John Gybbes. 1591. John Gibbes. 1607. Henry Walker. 1592. Richard Quiney. 1608. Francis Smyth, Jun’. 1593. Henry Wilson. 1609. Henry Wilson. 1594. Thomas Barber. 1610. William Walford. 1595. Thomas Rogers. 1611. William Parsons. 1596. Abraham Sturley. “++. 1612. John Sadler. 1597. John Gibbes. “ 1613. Daniel Baker, 1598. John Smythe. 1614, Francis Smyth, Sen’. 1599. John Sadler. 1615, Julius Shaw. 1600. Henry Wilson. pe No. 1X. “ Ultimo die february Anno regni regis Edw. sexti sep- timo pro Bullivo et Burgensibus burgi de Stratford super Avon, in com. Warr. « The kinges Maiesties pleasure is that the Borough of Stratforde vpon Avon in the County of Warr. shalbe Incorporated by the name of the Baylif and Burgesses of the Borough of Stratford vpon Avon. '* Also his highnes pleasure is that the Almes house in the said Borough shall Continue and be maynteyned for ever, and that there shalbe alwaye kepte there xxiiij poore men and women, and that the saide Baylife and Burgesses shall distribute and paye wekely to every of the said poore folke, iiijd. * Also that there shalbe one grammer Scole for ever to be kept in the said Borough for the good educacion and brynginge vp of the youth And that the Scolemaster of the said Scole shall haue for his Wages and Stipende xx/. by yeare, whiche Scolemaster shall from tyme to tyme be 2N 2 548 APPENDIX. Appointed and Assigned by the high Myghtie prynce; John Duke of Northumberland and his heyres and assignes, Lordes of the said Boroughe. “ Also’ that there shalbe kept wekelie in the said Borough one markett every Thursdaye through the yeare. And also two ffayres there yerelie, the one on the ffeast of the Exaltacion of the holy Crosse [Sep. 14] and the evyn and morrow of the same feast, And the other one [on] the ffeast of the Invention of the holy Crosse [May 3] and the morrowe of the same ffeaste, And that the said Bayliff and Burgesses shall have the profits and Revenues of the said markett and ffayres, Also that there shalbe kept every xv_ daies in the said Borough [before the Bailif for the time, being a court of record to hear and determine all personal actions of debt, accompt, trespass and defence, arising within the jurisdiction of the said borough] soe that the same excede not the some of one hundred shillings. And that the said Bayliffe and Burgesses shall take the profitts of the said Courtes. Also his highnes further pleasure is, that the said Baylif and Burgesses shall have a licence to purchase landes tenements and heredytaments to the Clere yerelie value of two hundred marks. “ Also because the parishe of Stratford vpon Avon is a grate parishe havinge the number of fifteen hundred people to receyve the Communion, and is in Circuyte xiiij Myles at the leaste, there shall be A Vicare endowed in the said Borough, whiche shall serve the cure in the parishe Churche there, and hee to haue for his wages xxi. yerelie to be paid by the handes of the said Baylyf and Burgesses; and that the same Vicare shalbe presented and appointed by the said Duke of Northumberland his grace, and his heyres and Assignes Lordes of the said Borough ; and that there shalbe one other preste or Chapplayne to be assistaunt to serve in the saide Churche who shall haue for his stipende yerelie xi. “And in Consideracion of all whiche premisses the Kinges Maiestie is pleased and Contented to give and graunte to the said Baylyf and Burgesses all the landes, APPENDIX. ‘549 ‘tenements, rentes, reversions, services, tithes, pencions, porcions, and hereditaments in the particlers hereunto annexed, to them and theire Successors for ever. There- fore make a graunt thereof to them Accordingly. « Ry. SaKEvVy.e.” The sentence within crotchets was omitted, by the negligence of the amanuensis, in the copy of this warrant preserved in the chamber of Stratford. I have therefore supplied it, from an inspection of the charter itself. It is observable that in the charter the jurisdiction is extended from five pounds to thirty pounds. No. X. «This Inventory made the XX VI Day of July in the Yere of the Reigne of Kynge Edwarde the IIII™ after the Conqueste the XV" Yere of divers Goodes and Juelles beynge in the Gildehalle of Stratforde uppon Avon delivered the seide Day and Yere in kapynge to John Hoggekyns and John Samwell then Proketours of the seide Gilde In the Tyme of Roger Pagette then Maister yf the seide Gilde. “Inthe furste. In the Pantery and Botery A Stondynge Cuppe of Selver with A Kevercle of Selver gylded by the Bordurs. Item A Grete Maser callud Pardon Maser A Boude with Selver and overgylte with IIII Oches in the Bothom gylded A Grete Owche in the Myddes graven with a Crucyfix our Lady and Seynt John Baptiste — Item anodur Maser broken at John Oxton Weddynge with a Bonde of Selver and overgylt with a Nowche in the Botom of our Lady Selver and overgylte with IIII Hedes of Selver and overgilte and IIIT Small thyn plats of Selver and overgylte in the same Maser. Itema nodur Maser with a Nowche in the Botom with a Beeste therein of Selver and_ overgilte and II Plates of Selver and overgilte and the Bonde of Selver and overgylte. Item a nodur Lasse Maser, with a brode Bonde of Selver and overgilte, and a Nowche in the Botom with a Rose of 550 APPENDIX. Selver and overgilte. Item II Dosen Spones of Selver with flatte gyldyn Knottes atthe Ende. Item III flatte Bason of Laten with II Lavers of Laten one withoute a Lydde. Item II Salte Salers. Item a Brason Morter with a pestolle of Bras. Item a Longe Cofur in the Countynghouse. Item too Laduls of Bras. Item II Skymers of Bras. Item a Flech Hooke. Item III Steyned Clothes for the Halle. Item a Grater for Brede. Item for the Halle a Borde Clothe conteynyng IX Elles and more. Item a nodur Clothe conteynynge VI Elles anda halfe. Item a nodur Borde Clothe conteynynge VIII Elles and a Quarter. Item a nodur Borde Clothe con- teynynge X Elles. Item a nodur Borde Clothe con- teynynge V Elles and a halfe. Item a Borde Clothe of Dyapre Werke conteynynge III] Elles and a halfe. Item a nodur playne olde Borde Cloth conteynynge HII Elles and halfe'a Quarter. Item a nodur Mete Clothe conteynynge VI Elles. Item anodur Borde Clothe con- teynynge VII Elles and III Quarters. Item ‘a nodur Borde Clothe conteynynge VIII Elles. Item III] Olde Towelles one of them conteynyge III Elles and TIT Quar- ters. Item A nodur conteynynge II Elles, Item a nodur conteynynge III Elles. Item a nodur ‘conteynynge IJ Elles and III Quarters. Item IIII. Item II Panttery Clothes newe bougt. Item IIII Grete Chargers. Item Xfi Dosen Platers and II Peces. Item XIX Dosen Potengers of Pewtur and VII Peces. Item X Dosen Saweers and VIII Peses of Pewter. {tem Il Cofurs with Evydences in the Botery. Item IT Awndyrons in the Countynghouse. Item a Grete Standarde Potte of Bras. in the Store House. Item IX odur Grete Potts of Bras in the seid House. Item III small brason potts. Item II1I Grete Pannys thre of ‘them conteynynge ‘Galnes anodur conteynynge Galnys. Item a panne broken. Item II Pannys one of them conteynynge III]. G. a nodur III. G.& di. Item II odur Lytell pannys on of them broken near the Bordur. Item anodur panne yeven by Alson Thorne conteynynge VII Gallnos in the Kychen. APPENDIX. 551 Item II Meles, a more and a lasse. Item II Tren, Plats. Item Il rounde Grete Broches. Item IIII Grete Square Broches. Item II odur Square Broches. Item II Peyre of Yron Rakkes. Item a Grete Brand Yron. Item II Trowes of Tree. Item a Peyre of Grete Cobertes yeven by Sir Nycolas Leke stondynge in the Kychyn. Item thre Theles. Item III Bordes in the Store House. Item a Spynnynge Whele for Flax, Item.a Brasen potte broken by the Egge by the queste of Alson Thome. Item VII Bordes in the Over Halle. Item III Farmes. Item IIII Tressulles. Item a potte yeyen by Mawde Furbour by John Gilberts Tyme conteynynge IJ1.G, Item I Sawyng Ax of John Lever, Bocher. Item II Clevers in the Countyng House of the seid John. “Item delyvered to the seide Procutors beynge in the Gilde Chapelle videlit Vestiments, Awter Olothes, Chaleys, with odur Goodes beynge in the seyde Chapelle. “Furste. A Peyre of Vestmentes of Blake Velvet newe bougte by Roger Pagette with all the Reparelle. Item a newe blac Coope bought by the seide Roger. Item a nodur Peyre of Blake Vestymentes with all the Reparelle yeven by Sir William Bischoppeston Knygte of Clothe of Golde. Item a nodur Peyre Vestimentes of blewe with all the Reparelle to them with Kateryn Wheles. Item a nodur Peyre rede Vestymentes with the Reparell to them with Lyons. Item a peyre of blac Damaske Vestimentys with all the Reparelle to them. Item a nodur Peyre of Vestiments of Grene Domasay with the Reparell at Seynte John Awter in the Chapelle. Item a nodur Peyre to the seide Awter of Grene and Ray with all the Reparelle to them. Item.a White Chasepull of Bordaly- saunder. dtem I] Chaleys one overgylte and the odur Gyldud in the Bordur and within. Item II Masse Bokes. Item jI1 Frontelles one of the Trinite and a nodur rede and blewe. Item a Frontell to Seynt Jouhn Awter with Roses and Letters of Golde. Item a nodur Frontell to the seid Awter.steyned with Seynte John Baptiste and the Ymage of our Lady. Item a nodur Frontell to the 562 APPENDIX, seide Awter steyned with the Trinite and Seynt John Baptiste. Item VII Awter Clothes to the Hye Awter. Item V Towelles to the seide Awter. Item a Frontell steyned with the Lyfe of Seynte Elyn. Item IIII Awter Clothes to Seynte John Awter. Item II Towelles to the seide Awter. Item V Corporoos with III Kevlyngs. Item V Cofurs. Item II Tynacles of Blewe with Lylyes and Potts with the Vestyments of the same Sute. Item V Baners and a Stremer, one of the Trinite. Item a blac Coope by Sir William Bysshoppeston Yfte. Item a Crosse of Selver and overgylte. Item a nodur Crosse of Coper and gyldud with a Foote therto. Item a nodur Crosse broken of Copur and overgylte. Item II Palles one of Selke of White and a nodur rede beton with Goolde. Item II blewe Clothes to kover the Awters withall. Item II Pelowes of Selke. Item a Grete Glas. Item II Paxes. Item II Grete Candelstykes of Laten. Item II smalle Candelstykes of Laten for the Awters. Item A Sorpleys. “Item delyvered to the Procutours all the Vestymentes Awter Clothes Chaleys with odur Goodes beynge in the Churche for our Lady Awter and Seynte John Awter. « Furste II Coopes of Rede and Grene with Lyons of Golde. Item a nodur Coope of rede Bawkyn with Byrdes of Golde. Item a nodur Coope of Grene Bawkyn with Swannys. Item a nodurCoope Grene and Blewe with Lylyes in Pottes. Itema Vestement with Lylyes in Pottes. Itema Vestemente of Blac Clothe of Gold. Item a Vestement of white Damaske. Item a Palle braunched with Roses and Flowers. Item a Awter Clothe of Dyapre Werke. Item II Towell of Dyapre Werke. Item Awter Clothe of playne Threde. Item II shorte Towelles of Samplyry Werke. Item an Olde Towell of Dyapre Werke. Item an Awter Clothe with a Frontell of Selke sowed to hit. Item a Clothe to honge afore our Lady in Lente. Item Ill Pelowes of Selke. Item a Chales gylded. Itema Masse Booke. [tema Brussh of Pekoks Fedurs. Item a Case of Selke browdered with Perles for a Corporos. Item @ APPENDIX. 653 Pax. Item II Standerdes of Laten. Item II smalle Candelstykes of Laten. Item an Olde Glas. Item a Cheseble of Grene with Serpentes Hedes. Item an Olde Towelle. Item a Cheseble of Grene and White Cadas with an Awbe and the Reparell to hit. Item an Awter Clothe of Dyapre Werke with a Frontell sowed thereto Item a Awter Clothe of white Threde. Item a Clothe of blewe Carde to cover the Awter. Itema Peyre of Cruetts of Pewter. Item II steyned Clothes to honge afore the _Awter one of our Lady with thre Maryes a nodur of the Coronacon of our Lady All thes Perteyneth to our Lady Awter. Item II Cofurs. Item to the Roode Awter a Peyre of Vestimentes of rede powdered Selke. Item a Peyre of Vestimentes of sangwen Cadas. Item an Awter Clothe with a Frontell sowed thereto, Item II odur Awter Clothes on of them of Dyapre Werke. Item a Clothe of Blewe Bokeram to cover the Awter. Item a Clothe steyned with the Trinite and a Crucifyx. Item a Pax. Item a lytell Frontell steyned. Item a Peyre of Cruetts. Itema Clothe of Herre nexthe Awter. Itema small Cofur. Item a Candlesteke of Laten. Item at Seyns John Awter II Peyre of Vestyments, on Peyre of rede Selke, a nodur of Grene Trede. Item a Palle with Bests and Branches. Item II Candelstykes of Laten. Item a Masse Booke with a Chaleys overgylte. Item an Awter Clothe with a Frontell sowed to hit. Item aTowell of Dyapre Werke. [tem a Towell of playn Clothe. Item a steyned Clothe of Seynte Gregory. Item a Clothe of Frene and Blewe for Lente to honge afore the Ymages. Item II odur Awter Clothes one of them with a Frontell beten with Goolde. Item a steyned Clothe hongyng afore the Awter with Seynte John Baptiste with odur. Item a Pax. Item a Corporos with a Case of Selke. “Ttem a Case of Twyggs to bere the Chaleys yn. Item II Cofurs. Item II Cruetts. Item II Cofurs in the Rode Lofte.” On the back of the inventory : 554 APPENDIX. “ Item IX Plates in the Kychyn. Item [III Potengers. Item IIIT Sawcers.” No. Xf. The Will of Ralph Shawe, a friend of Mr. John Shaks- peare, and the father of Julius Shawe, our poet’s friend, which was proved before the Rev. Mr. Bramhall, Oct. is, 1592, (the Vicar there having a peculiar jurisdiction, as the Warden of the College of Stratford had before its dis- solution), begins thus : “In the name of God, Amen, the xviiith daye of March in the yeare of our Lord God 1591,——I, Ral Shawe of Stratford upon Avon in the county of Warwick, Wool-driver, being weake in body,” &c. His stock of wool, as appears from his inventory, was twenty-one tods, which were estimated at 20/.—In a distringas issued by Mr. Thomas Greene, town-clerk of Stratford, to the serjeants at mace, to summon a jury for the approaching Quarter Sessions, 25 May, 1608, the name of George Shackleton, wool-driver, occurs. To drive feathers, is a term still in use. Several branches of the woollen manufacture appear to haye flourished at Stratford in the reign of Queen Elizabeth: Thus, [ find frequent mention of dyers, wool-winders (see Stat. 23 Henry VIII. c. 17), card- makers, broad-weavers, fullers, and shearmen or cloth- workers: but towards the end of her reign it seems to have somewhat declined ; for in A Supplication from the Bailif and Burgesses to "the Lord Treasurer Burghley, dated Nov. 9, 1590, and preserved in the Chamber of Stratford, is the following paragraph: “ And whereas the said towne is now fallen much into decay, for want of such trade as heretofore they had by clothinge and makinge of yarne, ymploying and mayn- tayninge a number of poore people by the same, which now live in great penury and miserie, by reason they are not set at worke as before they have ben.” ee APPENDIX. 555 That they had a hall for the sale of wool appears from the following order : “ Stratford.) Ad aulam ibm. tent. xv.° die Juli, a° regni Burgus. {di Elizabethe, &c. vicesimo primo [1579]: « At this hall it was agreed that Mr. Petoo’s should be aunswered in maner and forme followinge. ' “The West-hall to be proclaimed.” Registr. Burg. Stratf. A. I am not, however, sure, that these two paragraphs are connected with each other. Mr. Peto was a gentleman of a very ancient family who lived at Chesterton, a few miles from Warwick. What the subject of /his letter was, { have not been able to discover. ‘In February, 3'& 4 Ph. & Mar. [1556] an action on the case was brought by William Whatley, clothier, against Thomas Gilbert, dyer, relative to 442 yards of broad-cloth and thirty pounds of wool and yarn, which the latter undertook to dye for 10/. 13s, 4d. And a similar action was brought in July, 1589, by George Pyrrye against Frances Wheeler, dyer, relative to a charge made by the defendant for dying a certain quantity of woollen cloth, which the plaintiff alleged was exorbitant. In the inventory of William Holmes, weaver, ‘taken at Stratford the 22d of May, 1590, I find “ one piece of medley ;” in that of Michael Shackleton, weaver, 1595, “20 ells of Hurden cloth;” and in the inventory of Hugh Aynge, 1606, twelve pounds of woollen yarn. At a subsequent period, however, ina petition of the mercers and drapers of Stratford to Sir Edward Coke about the latter end of the year 1615, praying to be relieved from certain exactions made by Lodowick Duke of Lenox, or persons employed by him, under colour of a royal patent, ‘it is stated that ‘there were then “ no clothes or stuffs made at Stratford, but bought at London or elsewhere :” but as I find that several of the trades above-mentioned subsisted there at that ‘time, 1 suspect this statement not to be rigidly correct. The exactions _ of the Duke of Lenox ‘were made a subject of ‘parlia- 556 - APPENDIX. mentary complaint some years before. See “ A Record of some worthie Proceedings in the parliament holden in the yeare 1611 [1610, it should have been] 4to. 1641, p.35.” No. XII. Among Camden’s funeral certificates is the following: « The 7 of August, 1600. [After mentioning the lady whom he married,] “ Sir Thomas Lucy departed this transitory life the 7th of July, 1600, whose funerall was worshipfully solemnized accord- ing to his degree, at the parish of Charlecott, the 7th of August then next following; the preacher M' Hill, parson of Hampton. The standart borne by M' Edward New- port, gent.; the penner borne by M* William Walter ; the helm and crest by Thomas Lant, alias Windsor, for Chester herald; the sword and targe borne by Nicholas Paddie, alias Lancaster herald ; the cote of armes borne by William Camden Esq” alias Clarentcieux; the body borne by vi of his servants. The chief mourner Thomas Lucy Knight, sonne and heir to the defunct. The assis- taunts Sir Richard Fynes, M' Jerome Farmer, and M' Tymothie Lucy, Esquiers. In witness of the truth the executor hath hereunto subscribed his name the daye and yeare above-mentioned. Tuo. Lucy.” There is no will of Sir Thomas Lucy the elder in the Prerogative Office; but that he made one, appears from the concluding words of this certificate. It was probably proved at Stratford. Sir Thomas Lucy had a sister, Joan, married to George Verney, Esq. and a daughter, Anne, married to Sir Ed- ward Aston, of Tickshall, in the county of Stafford. Neither of these are mentioned by Dugdale in the pedi- gree of the Lucy family. His son, Sir Thomas, who, according to the inquisition above quoted, was born in 1557 or 1558, was knighted in 1592. His first wife, who is not noticed by Dugdale, was Dorothy, the daughter of Rowland Arnold of Glou- were APPENDIX. 557 cestershire, Esq. His second, Constantia, the daughter of Richard Kingsmill, surveyor of the Court of Wards, whom he appears to have married in 1594 [Esc.4 Jac. p- 2, n. 75]. From his will, which is in the Prerogative Office (Heyes, qu. 77), and was made shortly after his father’s death (Aug. 13, 1600), it is probable that he had travelled into foreign parts, for he bequeaths to his eldest son (beside “ all his household stuff at Sutton, the gilt bason and ewer graven which was his father’s together with two girdles engraved, livery pots, a nest of gilded boles with a cover, a gilded saulte and a dozen of gilded spoones”), all his “ French and Italian Books.” To each of his unmarried daughters he gives one hundred marks “ to be made eyther in a chayne, carkanett, or jewell, as they or their nearest friends shall think meete.” And he re- cites that he had made leases to certain good friends for the payment of his debts, and for the preferment of his natural daughters. He died July 16, 1605, and was. bu- ried at Charlecote (as appears from the registers), on the 20th of the same month. At his death, his eldest son, Sir Thomas Lucy (for he also was then a knight), was “ nine- teen years and fifty weeks old.” Esc. ut supra. No, XIII. Pat. 11 Hen. 8, p. 1,m.9. Pro Wilielmo Compton, milite. Rex omnibus ad quos, &c. salutem. Cum dilectus et fidelis serviens noster Willielmus Compton miles, quandam parcellam terre, bosci et pasture in Over- compton et Nethercompton, alias Compton Vyneyatys in comitatu Warr. ad presens fossis sepibus et palis inclusit, ea intencione ad inde parcum cum licencia nostra regia faciendum, Nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia et mero motu nostris concessimus ac per pre- sentes concedimus dicto Willielmo Compton quod idem Willielmus Compton gaudeat et teneat sibi et heredibus et assignatis suis predictam parcellam terre pasture et bosci sic ut premittitur inclusam, ut unum parcum, ac cum 558 APPENDIX. omnibus et singulis libertatibus et liberis consuetudinibus ad parcum et libertatem arci pertinentibus sive spec- tantibus. Et ulterius de uberiori gratia nostra speciali, ac ex certa svientia et mero motu nostris, concessimus et licentiam dedimus eidem Wilielmo Compton heredibus et assignatis suis pro nobis et heredibus nostris quan- tum in nobis est, quod ipse heredes et assignate sui et eorum quilibet predictam parcellam terre et bosci ad presens inclusam ac duo mille acre terre et bosci suoram cum pertinentibus in predicte ville de Overcompton et Nethercompton, alias Compton Vynegatys in pre- dicto comitatu Warr., simul cum predicta parcella ad presens inclusa, aut separatim per se imparcere includere et parcum aut parcos inde aut de qualibet inde parcella de tempore in tempus facere possit et valeat, possint et va- leant, et terras et boscos illos sic inclusos et parcum aut “parcos inde factos habere et tenere possit ac habeat et teneat, possint et habeant et teneant sibi heredibus et as- signatis suis in perpetuum, una cum omnibus libertatibus privilegiis et liberis consuetudinibus quibuscumque ad parcum et ad libertatem parci pertinentibus sive spectanti- bus. Absque perturbacione impeticione impedimento mo- lestatione seu gravamine nostri heredum vel successorum nostrorum seu aliquorum forestariorum aut Justiciariorum officiariorum, aut ministrorum nostrorum aut aliorum quorumcumque. Dumtamen terre et bosci predicti non sint infra metas sive bundas alicujus foreste sive chacee nostre; et hoc absque persecucione de breve de ad quod dampnum sive aliquo alio brevi inde fiendo. Et volumus et concedimus pro nobis heredibus et successoribus nostris dicto Willielmo Compton heredibus et assignatis suis, quod postquam idem Willielmus Compton heredis vel assignati sui predicte parcelle terre ad presens incluse ac de et in predictis duobus millibus acris terre et bosci et in qualibet inde parcella parcum inde aut de aliqua inde parcella fuit aut fieri fecerit quod ex tuncidem Willielmus heredis et assignati sui habeant teneant gaudeant et utentur infra parcum illum sive parcos illos sic inclusos i APPENDIX. 559 omnia et singula libertatis franchisias privilegia et liberas consuetudines ac omne id quod ad libertatem parci per- tineant spectant et incumbant. Volentes firmiterque man- dantes quod nullus in parco illo ad presens incluso nec in aliqua inde parcella terre et bosci predictorum postquam inclusum et factum fuerit sine licentia et voluntate dicti Willielmi Compton heredum aut assignatorum suorum in parco illo aut parcis illis aliquas feras fugat aut capiat vel aliquod ibidem capere aut facere presumat sive inter- mittat quod im erit contra libertatem aut privilegium parci aut contra formam aliquorum sive quorumcumque actuum sive ordinacionem de parcis et venatoribus in parcis concernentium editorum, et provicisorum sub pena forisfacture quadraginta librarum et sub pena imprisona- mente et punicionis in eisdem actibus et ordinacionibus et eorum quolibet specificata et contenta. Et ulterius da- mus et licentiam concedimus pro nobis heredibus et suc- cessoribus nostris eidem Wilielmo quod ipse heredes et assignati sui habeant et teneant sibi heredibus et assig- natis suis liberam Warrennam in omnibus predictis duobus millibus acris terre et in qualibet inde parcella nee non in omnibus dominicis terris suis in vellis predictis, cum om- nibus que ad liberam Warrennam pertinent absque in- peticione molestacione impedimento seu gravamine nostri heredum seu successorum nostrorum seu aliquorum offi- ciariorum vel ministrorum nostrorum heredum vel suc- cessorum nostrorum aut aliorum quorumcumque ; Ita quod nullus intret in Warrenam illam ad fugandum aut aliquod ibidem faciendum sine licentia ipsius Wilielmi heredum vel assignatorum suorum sub pena forisfacture decem librarum, Dum tamen terre ille non sint infra metas sive bundas alicujus foreste sive chacee sive Warrenne nostre. 12 April. No. XIV. Pat’ 4 & 5 Puit’ & Mar’, p. 8. m.21.—Dee. 22. Rex et Recuva omnibus ad quos &c. salutem Sciatis 560 APPENDIX. quod nos pro summa ducentarum quinquaginta . quatuor’ librarum et quindecim solidorum legalis monete Anglie ad receptam Scaccarij nostri ad manus dilecti servientis nostri Nicholai Brigham unius numeratorum ejusdem Scaccarij ad usum nostrum per predilectum et fidelem consiliarium nos- trum Franciscum Englefyld militem magistrum curie war- dorum et liberationum nostrorum premanibus bene et fideliter solutorum unde fatemur nos plenarie fore satisfactos et per= solutos Eundemque Franciscum Englefyld heredes execu- tores et administratores suos inde acquiet et exoneratos esse per presentes De gratia nostra specfali ac ex certa scientia et mero motu nostris Dedimus et concessimus ac per presentes pro nobis heredibus et successoribus nostrum prefate Regine' Damus et concedimus prefato Francisco Englefyld (inter alia) Totum illum parcum nfm vot Fulbroke Pke modo disparcatam ac libtatem pci nfi de Fulbroke Ac oites illas tras n¥as vocat seu cognit p nomen vel p ndia de Fulbroke Pke in Fulbroke cum ptifi in com nfo Warf quondam peella rag possessionii & hereditamento olim ducis Bedd & dudum Johiis nup ducis Northumbf de alta pdidée attinct & convict existefi aut cox al®ius Aceciam omes illas viginti & unam acras tre & prati firas unde una acra jacent infra bund déi dispcati parci & viginti acras inde adjacent extra & ppe bund ejusdem dispcati parci quond peeit Prag possessionti & hereditamentog déi quondam ducis Bedd & dudum pceit Prag possessiont & hereditamentoy di nup ducis Northumbi aut eos altius Aceciam omes illas. octoginta acras tre & pasture n¥as cum ptifi jacefi infra bund déi nup dispcati parci ac nup pceit tray possession & hereditamentog dei quondam ducis Bedd & dudum pdéi nup ducis Northumbf existefi aut eog al¥ius Necnon omes illas quadraginta* acras tre brue¥ & vast firas unde quadraginta acre includun? in duab3 clausu¥ tre eidem nup parco ad- jaceii & trescent & sexaginta acre inde adjacefi infra limites ejusdem nup parcj ac nup pcett Prag possessionu & here- Sic MS. > So in the Record-(should be ‘* Quadritigentas.”) APPENDIX. 561 ditamentos, déi quond ducis Bedd & dé nup ducié North- umb? existefi seu 809 altius Aceciam totam piscariam & libtatem piscand niam eidem parco ptinefi inaqua & rivulo de Avoii in déo com Warf accurrent p bund & limites dé nup parci quond peelt possession’ & revenfonii déi quondam ducis Bedd & dudum pcett possession & revenonii di nup ducis Northumb*Y existefi seu yt: altius Quiguidem parcus de Fulbroke modo dispcat ac ceba Prise i in eodem parco & ppe eundem parcum jaceii modo sunt in possessione déi Francisci Englefelde seu tenenciii vel assigit Suds. | ; No. XV. _ This letter was written, in the year 1598, to Mr. Cite, when he was in London, engaged. in the business of nd -borough of Stratford. It isas follows: ) © Quam possum brevissime ; sed quam amantissime, nec. possum literis exprimere neque mente concipere quidem. Multifarias tuas ante et post Nativitatem-epis- tolas accepi: etiam magistro Wendaio datas et: Westo ejus clerico Cantabrigie vidi, et magna voluptate animi perlegi ad Sessiones pacis. Sed quomodo ad te rescribe- rem propter itinerationis tue incertitudinem, facile con- jectarinon potui. Per quas ad nos proxime dedisti et Magistro Wendaio scripsisti, opinor te Londinum per- ventum se [esse] et illic te hiis meis obviam dare et de rebus omnibus iis, quantum memorize dabitur recordari, sic habeto. Tui tuaque omnes bene valent. Res tue domestice patris curi, conjugis industria, ancillarum labore, benedicente Domino, succedunt pene ad. votumi, Led. Ben.' [Leonard Bennet] mutuo dedit 50" libras stipu- latore Joh. Sadlero tantum. M* Th. Brbr [Barber] nec ego ullas. M* Ballivus, Aldermannus, et consociatio nostra omnis valet. Robertus Bedell deest; et org [George] Badger dissociatus (uti accepi) ad Came- rariorum computationem, agente me ipso Bedfordie et Cantabrigiz. Quibus locis quid a me actum sit, cum domum veneris ‘(si interim non illic) accipies. _ Canta- VOL. I. 20 562 APPENDIX. brigie dies solum datus est; Bedfordie partim ad manus venerunt, partim in expectatione pendent. Que in illis omitatibus vel expectationibus vel optionibus nostris responderunt, eorum omnium laudes magistro nostro Burgoimo debentur meritissime secundum Deum. Jam tuo peregrinationis socio me commendatum habe; cujus uxor, ac familia valetudine frnuntur desiderata, rebus aliquanto arctioribus et pressioribus. Utcumque bene sit yobis in negotiis vestris, valde imo pervalde desiderati estis. _Quare omni jam excusatione cessante, domum celeriter advolate. Johannis Rogerus promisit se omni rationi promptum et alacrem, sed nihil adhuc prestitum est. Cognatus dominus Combe vasa argentea et aureata pro vado tenet, ex suasione et deliberatione Danielis Baker quo cum etiam valde succensebat tua gratia, sed illius concitationis et iracundie illum peenituisse puto : sed quidem ignoro an in gratiam rediit adhuc. Sed ne verbum unum addam amplius. Sed incolumem te servet Deus omnipotens ut te sospitem mittet ad nos omni festi- nationi festinantius. Quia jam ad me venit soror ut litteras ad te exarem, suo nomine, illius igitur et nostri reliqua habebis vernaculo sermone; hee enim hebetiora. Stretfordize Januarii 18 vpe [vespere] dat."* 1597 [1597-8]. “ Tuus utcunque suus “« Abrah. Sturley. « Si otium dabitur, siste lites inter Magistrum Clofon etme, ac etiam inter Dominum Burtonum. Metuo non sine multo timore a mgra [magistra] warda. “ To his most hemes Brother, M' Richard ages: att London geve these.” Mr, Abraham Sturley was, in 1590, married to the daughter of Mr. Richard Hill; as appears from Mr. Hill’s will. Richard Quiney married Elizabeth Philips (Jan. 24, 1580-1); but she having died, he married Susanna, the sister of Abraham Sturley, as I learn from one of her letters to her husband, written by her brother Sturley, whose love of intermixing Latin in his letters APPENDIX. 563 was 80 great that he could not refrain from this practice, even while he was holding the pen for his sister; for he thus concludes the letter to which I allude : “ Your kind & loving wife bj u’ “ most loving broth’r hir secretary “ inhac litterd, hic vice tanti, “ Susa. Qui.” — The Mr. Comb mentioned in the foregoing Latin letter was, without doubt, Mr. John Combe. Mr. George Badger was a woollen-draper in Stratford. In a letter, dated at Stratford, Oct. 27, 1598, and directed thus: “ To his most loving brother M' Richard Quiney att the bell in Carter Lane give these with speed,” I find the following passages : “ M’ Baily 1s coming unto youe. he saith he will bring u[you] up the rest of the tax money. he will joyne with youif he can tarri; but if he hast dewne againe, and that ani liklihood of u' [your] proceeding mai appe [appere] it is ordered that I shall come unto youe with speede. for u" [your] ease and comfort. Quid mihi opta- tius, quid gratius mihi accidere potest in hoe communi bono tibi conjungi, cui sim conjunctissimus ? He charte nimis sunt curte hee nox non satis erit describendis hiis. nullus intervenerit nuntius, sine litteris nostris aliquid de hiis rebus pre se ferentibus. Brother Q. when u se it past padveniture in your judgment, stand upon hit how u shall be considered; although in mine opinien you need not: quoniam, uti spero, melior pars major. Nune de tuis sic habe. U' father, and w. ch. [wife and children} well, and houshold not want but of u; which is well for borne whilest u are so well employed. U* father hath serit u the particulars of so much as my sister will willingly passe: for W™ W. house, she hath destined hit for hir daughter Pli. [Plymley] which she will not alter as yet,” 202 564 APPENDIX. » In many other of his letters to Mr. Quiney, sentences of Latin are aroun: pobsirenpeil "eo: XVI. “ Patri suo amantissimo Mro,Richardo Quinye Richardus Quinye filius S. P; D. “ Ego omni officio ac , potius pietate erga te (mi pater) tibi gratias ago pro iis omnibus beneficiis qua in me contulisti; te etiam oro et) obsecro. ut provideres; fratri meo et mihi duos chartaceos libellos quibus maximecaremus hoe presenti tempore ;. si enim eos haberemus, plurimus profecto iis usus esset nobis : et praeterea ‘gratias tibago quia a teneris, quod aiunt, unguiculis, educasti mein sacre doctrine studiis usque ad hunc diem.) Absit etiam verbulis meis' vana adulationis suspicio, neque enim quenquam ex. meis amicis cariorem aut aman- tiorem mei te esse judico; et vehementer obsecro ut maneat' semper egregius iste amor tuus. sicut semper anteahac; et quanquam ego non possum remunerare tua beneficia, omnem tamen ab intimis meis precordiis tibi Seeiee salutem. Vale. Ps . & Filiolus tuus tibi obedientissimus, : « RicHaRDus QuinyE.”) | > Miers is no date to this letter; but it was. probably written either in the latter end of the year 1597 or im1598, in each of which years the elder Mr. Richard Quiney was in London, soliciting: a renewal and :enlargement of the charter, and: an exemption for the borough of Stratford from) a subsidy granted. by parliament. ‘The writer, Richard Quiney, ‘was his second son, and was baptized at Stratford, Oct. 8, 1587: he was, therefore, at the time of writing this letter, either ten or eleven years old: » Can there be a doubt that such a.youth as’ Shakspeare, who was bred in the same school, could have written sucha letter in 1575, when he was of the same age. APPENDIX. No/XVIL. (40 fr4i/ Complete Copy of the Verses on Sir Thomas Lucy. ‘A parliement member, a justice of peace, At home a poore scarecrowe, in London an asse, If Lucy is Lowsie as some volke misscall it Synge Lowsie Lucy whatever befall it. He thinks hymself greate, yet an asse in hys state We allowe bye his eares but with asses to mate ; ’ If Lucy is Lowsie as some volke misscall it, Synge Lowsie Lusy whatever befall it. He's a haughty proud insolent knighte of the shire __ At home nobodye loves, yet theres many hym feare. If Lucy is Lowsie as some volke misscall it ~ Synge Lowsie Lucy whatever befall it. To the sessions he went and dyd sorely complain His parke had been rob'd and his deer they were slain, This Lucy is Lowsie as some volke misscall it Synge Lowsie Lucy whatever befall it. He sayd twas a ryot his men had been beat, His venson was stole and clandestinely eat. “Soe Lucy is Lowsie as some volke misscall it Synge Lowsie Lucy whatever befall it. Soe haughty was he when the fact was confess'd He sayd ’twas a crime that could not bee redress’d, Soe Lucy is Lowsie as some volke misscall it Synge Lowsie Lucy whatever befall it. Though Lucies a dozen he paints in his coat His name it shall Lowsie for Lucy bee wrote For Lucy is Lowsie as some volke misscall it Synge Lowsie Lucy whatever befall it. _ If a iuvenile frolick he cannot forgive We'll synge Lowsie Lucy as long as-we live And Lucy the Lowsie a libel may call it We'll synge Lowsie Lucy whatever befall it. | fn fy “tf sate Pp ie a Aw “1604 we 4 pres oe fore o MA Shaw fu-AA ba Aw Et FE Soy hE AZ 4 Agee Zi» Kae 566 APPENDIX. No. XVII. Most lovinge and beloved in the L*, in plaine englishe we remembr u in the L‘ & o*. selves unto you. I would write nothinge unto u nowe—but come home. I praj G* send u comfortabli home. This is one speciall remem- brance, from ut fathrs motion. It seemeth bi him that o". countriman Mr. Shakspe is willing to disburse some monej upon some od yardeland or other att Shottrj or neare about us. he thinketh it a very fitt. patterne to move him to deale in the matter of o' Tithes. Bj the instructions u can geve him’ theareof, & bj the frendes he can make therefore, we thinke it a faire marke for him to shoote at, & not unpossible to hitt. It obteined would advance him in deede, & would do us much good. hoc movere & quantum jn te é pmoyere, ne negligas : hoc enim et sibi et nobis maximi erit momenti: hic labor, hoc opus esset eximie et glorie et laudis sibi. u shall understande, brother, that o'. neighbours are grone with the wantes they feele throughe the dearnes of corne, (w°. heare is bejonde all other countries that I can heare of deare & over deare), malecontent. They have assembled togeath’r in a great nomb’s, & travelled to S' Tho. Lucy on firiday last, to complaine of of malst’rs on Sunday to S' ffoulke Gre. (Grevill] & 8' Joh. Conway. I should haye said on Wensday to S' Ed, Grevll first theare is a metinge heare expected to-morrowe: the L* knoweth to what end it will sorte. Tho, West returning from the ij knights of the woodland +, came home so full, that he said to M'. Baily that night, he hoped w’hin a week to leade of thé in a halter, meaninge the malst’rs; & I hope, saith Tho. Granams, if G* send mj L* of Essex downe shortlj, to se thé hanged on gibbets at their owne doores. To this end I write this chieflj; That as u' occasion shall suffer u to staj theare, thearein gett by S* Ed + Sirill.Aiepviley and Sin-doha Gana: APPENDIX. 567 Grey. some meanes made tothe Knights of the pliam’t for an ease & discharge of such taxes & subsedies where w* of towne is like to be charged, & Lassure ul am in great feare & doubt bj no meanes hable to paje. S* Ed. Gre, is gonne to Brestowe, & from thence to: Lond. as.L heare, who verie well knoweth o' estates, & wilbe willinge to do us anj good. * af o* great bell is broken, & W™. Wiatt is mendinge the pavem’te of the bridge. mj sister is chearefwll & the L* hath bim mercifull & comfortable to.us &. hir in hir labours, & so ytu be well imploied, geveth u leave to: followe ut occasions for b weeke or fortnight longer. I would, u weare furnisht to paj W™ Pattrike for me xi. & bringe his qittance, for E thinke his specialtie is in Tho Knight hand, due at Candles daie. Yesterday I spake to, Mr. Sheldon at S* Tho. Lucies, for the staie: of Mr. Burtons: suite, & that the: cause might be. referred to. M‘ Walk’rs of Ellington: he answered me, yt M' Bur. was nowe:att Lond. & w" all his harte & good will the suite should be. staied, & the matter so referred. J have here inclosed_a breife of the reckoninge betwene him & me, as I would have it passe, & as in a’qitie it should passe, if he wilbe but as good as his: faith & Pmise. Good broth’r, speake to: M’ Goodale; that there be’ no more Pceadinge’ in tharches bj M’ Clopton, whom E am content & most willing to. compounde w'*all, & have bin, ever: since, the beginninge of the laste terme, and thearefore much iniured bj some bodie' y' I. have: bin put, to, an unnecessarie charge of xxs. & upwards, that terme;, wheareas I had satisfied, M‘ Clopton, as 1 was crediblj made. believe by some of his s’rvantes. I was allso, assured; of the staie of suite. bj, M’ Barnes in the harvest, & bj M' Pendleburj the latter end of the terme. mj: broth’r Woodward cometh up att the latter end of this week, who will speake to Mr. Clopton him selfe to that purpose. 568 APPENDIX. “ u understande bj mj le’r I sent bj o’ countrima. Bur'll, that masse’ Brentt dispatchd 50/. for u. Jh. Sdlr. [John Sadler] bounde alone as yeat. Because Mr. Brbr [Barber] might not have it for 12 moneths, he would none at all, wherebj I loste my expectation, & [am] leafte I assure u in the greatest neede of 30/. that possiblj maie be. In truth, brother, to u be it spoké & to none els; for want thereof knowe skarce w° waj to turne me. Det deus misericordie deus [Query, dons, i. e. per exiti; secundii bene placitum suum. u’ fath’r w', his blessinge & comendation: mj ‘sister w' her lovinge remembrance, comends her: in health booth, with all u’ childré & houshold. u' fath’r’ extraor- dinarj hartie, chearefull, & lustie, hath sent u this remem- brance inclosed. It maie be u knowe Hins [him] his execut’r & brother ; I meane of whom o* brot’ Whte borowed for me the 80. paihable at maj next. his name J have not att hand. he dwelleth in Watlinge Streate, if 40/. thereof might be p’cured for 6 monethes more, it would make me whole. I knowe it doeth u good to be doing good & y* u will do all the good u can. I would Hamlet* weare at home satisfied for iii paines také before his coming & so freed from further travell. Nune deus omnipot’ns opt. max. pater omnimode consolationis benedicat tibi in viis tuis, et secundet te in omb.tuis p Ihfi. crm. dom. erm. Da. ullus sit tuis ti. ABrau. Srru. [StuRLEY.] Stratfordia Januarii 24 [1597-8]. Comend me to Mr Tom. Bur’ll & praj him ffor me & my broth. Da. Bakr [Daniel Baker] to looke y*T. Tub maie be well hooped, that he leake not out lawe to o” hurte, for his cause: qod partem avidio nonnihil suspicor & timeo. 3 Hamnet or Hamlet Sadler, who was probably godfather to Shakspeare’s only son. He had accompanied Mr. Richard Quiney to London, on the business of the borough of Stratford, APPENDIX. , 569 Received of Mr. But: incite E bluigye gh. gd, ' Beanes 23q'. att 3s. 4d. the strike ......4.4.. 30:13 4 » Burley, 8q" & 4str. at 4s. y°str ............°18°12 0 Wheate 4q™, 4 str. att 6s. 8d. y° str..........12 00 ia s 56.54 Ihave paid & sowed theareof, 520. 11s. 8d. Mj lad. Gre. is ru [run] in arreages w'" mj sister for malt (as it seemeth), w° hendreth & troubleth hir not a littel. No. XIX. Nov. 4.1598, All health happines of suites and well- fare be multiplied unto u & u'. labours in G* o*, ffather by Cr. 0" : Ae Y' Ver of the 21 of octobr came to mj handes the laste of the same at night p Grenwai, w‘. imported a staj of suites bj St E*. G'. [Edward Grevill’s] advise, until &c'. & y' only u should follow on for tax & sub. Patly and allso u’. travell & hinderance of answere therein, bj u™ longe travell & thaffaires of the Courte: And that o' countrima M' W. Shak. [Shakspeare] would p’cure us monej, w°. I will like of, as I shall heare when, & wheare, & howe; and I praj let not go that occasion, if it maj sorte to anj indifferent condicions. Also y‘ if monej might be had for 30 or 40'. a lease, &c. might be p’rocured Oh howe can you make dowbt of monej, who will not beare xxx“ or xl*. towards such a match! The latter end of u' ’er w‘ concerned u' houshold affaires I dd [delivered] Pntly: nowe to u' other l’er of the 1°. of novmber received the 34 of the same. 4 The borough of Stratford at this time were soliciting the Lord Treasurer Burghley to be exempted from the subsidies im- " posed in the last Parliament, on the plea of poverty and distress occasioned by two recent fires. 570 APPENDIX. I would I weare with u; naj if you continue with hope of those suites u wrghte of, Lthinke I shall w* [without] concent; & I will most willingl) come unto u; as had u but advise & companj & more monej p’nte [present] much might be done to obtaine o* Cer [charter] enlarged, ij faires more, with tole of corne .bests and sheepe. and a matter of more valeu thé [than] all that; for (say u) all this is nothing y* is in hand, seeinge it will not.rise to 80'. & the charges wilbe greate. What this matter of more valeu meaneth I cannot undrstand; but me thinketh what- soever the good would be, u are afraid of want of monej. Good things in hand or neare. hand can not choose but be worth monei to bring to hand, and being assured, will if neede be, bringe monej in their mouthes ; there is no feare nor dowbte. If it be the rest of the tithes & the College houses and lands in o* towne u speake of, the one. half weare abundantly ritch for us; and the other halfe to increase S* E* [Grevill’s] rialties would both beare the charge & set him sure on: the w° I take to be your mean- inge bj the latter p’te of u' ’er, where u write fora copie of the p’ticulars (w*, allso u shall have accordingly) Oh howe I fear whe I se what S' E* can do, & howe neare it sitteth to his selfe;: leaste he shall thinke it to [too] good for us, & P’cure it for himselfe, as he s’ved us the last time, for it seemeth by u" owne words theare is some of hit [it] in u’ owne conceite, when u write if S' E* be as forward to do as to speake, it will be done : a dowbt I assure you not whout doubt to be made:—whearto allso u ad not- w'standing y* doubt, no want but monej. Somewhat must be to St E* & to each one y* dealeth somewhat & great reason. And me thinketh u need not be affraid to P’mise ; that as fitt for him, for all the [them] and for u® selfe. The thinge obtained 1 no dowbte will paj all. For p’sent ad- vice and encouragmte u have by this time M* Bailj ;, andor monej, when, you certifie what, u haye done, & what, uhayve spent, what u will do, & what u, wante, somewhatu knowe APPENDIX. . 671 we have in hand, & G4 will p’vide that w° shall be sufficient. Be of good courage. Make fast S* E*. bj all meanes, or els all our hope & u' travells be utterly disgraced Consider and advise if S' Ed. will be faste for us, so y' bj his good- will to us & his meanes for us these things be brought about. What weare it for the fee farme of his rialties, nowe not above xii or xiij'. he weare assured of the double, when these things come to hand, or more, as the good- nes of the things pr’cured p’veth. But whj do I travill in these things, whe [when] I knowe not, certainly what u intende, neither what u' meanes are, nor what are u’ diffi- culties p’ciselj & by name all w° must be knowe’ by name & speciallj w'* an estimate of the charge before anj thing can be added either for advise or supplie. I leave these matters therefore unto the allmighties mercifull disposition in u' hand untill a more neare possibilite or more leisure will encourage u or suffer u to write more plainly & p'ti- cularly, But w'hall the Chancell must not be forgotte’ w allso obtained would yeald somep’ett) gub of monej for u' p’sent busines as I thinke, The p’ticulars u write for shalle this morninge be dispatched & sent as soon as maj be.—All is well att home ; all your paiments made & dispatchd, mj sister saith if it, be so y* u can not be p’vided for M™ Pendllbur, [Pendlebury] she will, if you will, send you up x', towards that by the next after, or if u take it up paj it to who u appointe. W™ Wallford sendeth order and monej p W™ Court nowe cominge who hath some cause to feare, for he was newelj s’ved w™ p’ces [process] on Tusday last at Ale", [Aleeber] P Rog’r S[adler]. M' Parsons supposeth that Wenlock came the same day wt M‘ Bailj y‘u writt u’ Per. he saith he supposeth u maj use yt x!, for our br’winge matters. W™ Wiatt answered M' Ba [Bailif] and us all yt he would neither b’rwe him selfe, nor submit him selfe to the order; but (bj those very wordes) make against it w all the strength he could 572 APPENDIX. possibly make, yeat we do this day begin M" Bar[ber] and my selfe'a littel for assai. My bro. D. B. [Daniel Baker] att Shrewsburj or homeward from thence. But nowe the bell hath runge my time spent. The L* of all power, glorj, mere}, 2 grace and goodnes, make'his great power & mercie knowe towardes us in u’ weaknes Take heed of tabacco whereof we heare Pp W™ Perrj against ani longe iournei u maj undertake on foote of necessity, or wherein the exercise of u" bodj must be implored, drinke some good burned wine or aq’avita and ale strongly mingled wout bread for'a tloast] & above all keepe u. warme. Farewell mj dare heart, and the L* increase o" loves & comforts one to an other that once it maj be such as) be- comethe christianity purity & sincerity wout staine or blemishe.’ Fare you well, all u" & o” well. ffrom Strat- ford, Novem. 4 1598. u® in all love in the best bond AsRAH. STURLEY. © -M® Coombs whe Gil’ert Charnocke paid the there monej as he told me, said y‘ if anj but he had brought it she would not receve it, because she had not hir gowne ; & that she would arrest u for hit as soon as u come. home; & much twattle; but at the end so y* youe would pai 4". towards hit, whe would allow uw! xX & we shall heare at some leasure howe fruits are & hopps & sutch knakks. At this point came W™ Sheldon the silkma with a war- rant to serve W™ Walford againe upon a trespasse of 5002. To his most lovinge brother M' Richard Quiney, at the Bell in Carter Lane att London, give these. > No. XX. Sir Walter Ralegh, at the time Colin Clout was written, - i. 5 Probably Mrs. Mary Combe, the wife of Thomas Combe, John-Combe’s elder brother. “FEU . J5g% APPENDIX. 573 was forty years old. His acquaintance with Spenser, we may presume; commenced in Ireland, where he first distin- guished himself in military service, during the years 1580 and 1581 ; Spenser being, at that time, secretary to Arthur Lord Grey, who assumed the government of Ireland, as Lord Deputy, in September, 1580. At the assaulton the Golden Fort, near Dingle, in the county of Kerry, a few P hit @ putting. the garrison, to the py in cold blood, after they had surrendered at discretion, was assigned, to Ralegh and another, officer ; 3 Spenser, as he jhas hircclt told-us, was near the, scene of action,)in the train of the Lord Deputy ; for whose conduct, on, that occasion, he has. made an elaborate defence... In, 1582, Ralegh re- turned to England; and after the death, of Gerald, the sixteenth Earl of Desmond, and. the consequent confis- cation of his immense. estate, consisting of , near 600,000, acres, which, produced, a__ revenue ‘of , about 7000/., per. annum, Ralegh’s services were, ‘rewarded, in 1585, with a grant, of 12,000 acres of Jand, i in the counties of Waterford and Cork. “ He had these lands, P according to a manuscript in the Lambeth Library (No. 617), “by, expresse words of warranty.ina special letter from her Majestie at a. hundred, marks pann, rent,” Till the year 1590, however, neither he, nor any, other of the, undertakers, as they were called, paid any rent, From Michaelmas, 1591, to Michaelmas, 1594, he paid only fifty marks a-year; and from that time, for eyer, his rent,,was fixed at one hundred marks annually. In 1587, as appears from a letter written by himself to Sir Robert Cecil (Burghley Papers, p. 658), he built a - castle on this estate, and established on, it a, colony brought from England ; but before May, 1593, he had been “ driven to recall all his people.” And, about, the year 1600, he sold this estate to Richard Boyle, after- wards the great Earl of Corke, who, by means of its © woods, and the iron-works which he erected on it, made Ghat we £ lean 105 / ” haz et Fy ete? 5 Bes te) At SF 574 APPENDIX. a great accession to his fortune. In the sumier of 1589, as has been stated in the text, having been chased from the court, by Essex, he repaired to his estate in Ireland, and, doubtless, then spent some time with Spenser, at his Castle of Kilcolman, which was not far distant from Ralegh’s estate : and the poet appears to have afterwards accompanied his friend to England. have stated that Ralegh “ obtained, of the crown, a grant, in 1594, of some church lands ; a course of reward usual, with Queen Elizabeth, towatds’ such as had per- formed any considerable service to the state....Dr. John Caldwell, upon his election to the see of Salisbury, having consented to alienate the manor of Sherborne in Dorsetshire, Sir Walter requested and procured it from her Majesty.” This statement is wholly inconsistent with the history of his disgrace at court; for it cannot be sup+ ‘posed that the Queen would grant hin any favour at the very time he was forbid to appear in her presence. To avoid that inconsistency, therefore, it has been supposed that, in 1594, he was restored to her Majesty’s favour, which he had lost by seducing one of her maids of honour, Elizabeth, a daughter of Sir Nicholas Throck- morton. But the truth is, that Dr. Caldwell, after he was elected to the see of Salisbury, and before he was confirmed in the bishoprick, on the 18th of January, 1590-91, made a dease of the manor of Sherborne to the Queen, for ninety-nine years, at the annual rent of 2007. 16s. 1d. °; and, nine days afterwards, the Queen as- signed it over to Ralegh, for the remainder of her term. His disgrace took place near eighteen months afterwards, July 1592, when he was, for some time, committed to the custody of Sir George Carew, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance ; and on the 31st of July, he was commit- ® Claus. $4 Eliz. p. 18, Dr. Birch, in his Life of Ralegh, and others after him, — bis APPENDIX. 675 ted to the Tower, where he was confined for two months. See a letter, from Sir Edward Stafford, to Anthony Bacon, July 30, 1592, Birch’s Memoirs of Elizabeth, part i. p. 79. From other letters in the same collection, and from Camden, we learn, that he was not admitted into the Queen’s presence before the end of the year 1595; if even then. In the summer of 1596, he was so far for- given, as to be allowed a command in the expedition against Cadiz; but he was not allowed to resume the exer- cise of his office of Captain of the Guard till 1597. The disgrace, therefore, which Spenser so pathetically laments, continued for nearly five years. About two years after his restoration to the Queen’s favour, and while his rival, Essex, was absent from the court, September 11, 1599, he obtained, from her, a grant of the manor of Sherborne to him and his heirs for ever7?, of which he had before only'a lease. At what time his marriage with Elizabeth Throckmorton took place, has not been ascertained. It appears that she accompanied him to the Tower, in July, 1592; but a letter written by him to Cecil, and dated March 10, 1592 °, »about three months before he and that ~ haa tte L tone lady were confined “for Ralegh reckoned the year as we Preas age | now do), contains these remarkable words: “ I meane' i. ihe oo not to come away, as they say; I will, for feare of a mar-<“~“~ riage, and I ae. not what. If any auch thing weare, I 2 6 sie would have imparted it unto your sealf, before any mane 2 ra LF he living; and therefore I pray, believe it not ; and I be seech you to suppress what you can, any Bere malicious report; for I protest before God, there is none on the face of the yearth, that I would be fastned unto.” During the period above-mentioned, it was, that he poured forth those piteous complaints at being excluded from’ the presence of his “ love’s Queen, and the goddess of his life;” to which Spenser alludes in the following verses of the poem which has given rise to these observa- 7 Pat. 41 Eliz. p. 12. 8 Murden, p. 663. 4 y, a Dt Pe... Lot So £2 LtKK Liew f Seng Pay II fr ee? ew bit ft Lie errer— keh Fe, LH y t 4 47 ~ at EO Se cc. ten Shcdw, Sh 07% eee: 576 APPENDIX. ‘tions. -Thestylis having asked what was the subject on which the ia? of the ocean payee om replies, by gl LOOK is song was all a lamentable lay, Poe ¥ yal: _ “ Of great unkindness and of usage hard, % . lt “<« OF Cynthia, the ladie of the sea, . '“ Which from her presence faultlesse him debarr’ d. “« And ever and anon with singults rife, — ‘** He eryed out, to make his under song,’ rr + Ah my love's queene, ‘and goddesse of my life, =” ‘© Who shall me pitie, when sive dost me'wrong.” = : hi That the colouring of this picture. i is not phi Weer appears from Ralegh’s own words, and. also from avery curious letter written by Arthur. bait and, ie alluded end, Ina letter, written, by Ralegh to Cecil, in July: 1699, and, as it should seem, on the day when he was sent’ to the Tower, are the following passages: _ “ My heart was never broken till this day, that I deat the Queen goes away so farr of [on her progress], whom I have followed so, many years with so great dove and desire, in so. many journeys, and am now left behind: her in a dark prison all alone. When she was at hand, that I might hear of her once in two or three dayes, my sorrowes were the lesse; but even now my heart is cast into the depth of all misery. J that was wont to behold her riding like Alexander, hunting like Diana, walking \like Venus, the gentle wind blowing her hair about her pure cheeks, like a nymph ; sometimes sitting in the, shade, like a goddess ; sometimes singing like an angel; sometimes. playing (like Orpheus; behold the sorrow of this world, once [one], amiss hath bereaved me of all..... All those times past, the loves, the sythes, the sorrows, the desires, can. they not weigh down one frail misfortune! Cannot, one drop of gall be hidden in so great heaps of sweetness? I may then con- clude, spes et fortuna, valete.” APPENDIX. ; 577 Mr. Gorge’s letter to Sir Robert Cecil, on this subject, is so curious, and so well illustrates Spenser’s verses, that I shall give it entire. Dr. Birch says, “ it has no date of month or year, but the indorsement is 26th July.” The ea indorsement, however, in the copy in the Museum (MSS. Birch, 4106) is as follows: “ Mr. A. Gorge’s letter to my Mr. July 26, 1592;” which doubtless was written by Cecil’s secretary. This letter was written five days before that above quoted, while Ralegh was in the custody of Sir George Carew (afterwards Earl of Totness), then Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance: ¢ « 4. G0) © 4. os, fe * Honorable Sir, “IT cannot chuse but advertise you of a straunge tra- gedye, that this day had lyke to have fallen oute betweene the Captayne of the Guarde, and the Lyvetennant of the Ordenaunce, if I had not by greate chaunce cummen at » — fatesidl; the very instant to have turned it into a comedye. For uppon the report of her Majestyes being at Sir George Carey’s 9, Sir W. Rawly having gazed and syghed a long tyme att his study-wyndow, from whence he myght dis- atone oy cerne the barges and boates about the Black-fryars oo POT - stayers, soodaynly he brake owte into a greate distemper, “-~- ~ @<~ and sware, that hys enemyes had of purpose brought hyr AVE majestye thether, to breake his gaule in sounder with Tan- talus’ torments, that, when shee went away he myght see hys death before his eyes: with many such lyke .conceyts. And as a mann transported with passion, he sware to Sir George Carew, that he wolde disguyse hyme selfe, and gett into a payer of oares, to ease his mynde but with a syght of the Queene, or els he protested his harte wolde breake. But the trusty Jaylor wold non of that, for dis- pleasing ' the higher powers, as he sayde, which he more respected than the feeding of hys humor: and so flatly 9 The eldest son of Lord Hunsden. ' i. e. for fear of displeasing, &c VOL, II. 2P 578 APPENDIX. refused to permitt hym. But in conclusion, uppon the dispute, they fell flatt owte to colloryq outragious wordes, with streyning and struggling att the doores, that all lamenes was forgotten, and, in the fury of the ~conflyct, the jaylor he had hys newe perwygg torne of [off] his crowne; and yet heare the battle ended not, for at laste they had gotten owte theyr daggers: which when I sawe, I played the styckler betweene theme, and so * purchased such a rapp on the knockles, that I wysht both theyr pates broken: and so with much adoo they stayed theyre brawle, to see my bloodyed fyngers. Att. the fyrste, I was ready to breake with laughinge, to see theme too so scamble and brawle lyke mad menn, untyll I sawe the iron walkinge; and then I did my best to apease the fury. As yet I canot reconcyle them by any perswasions, for Sir. Walt. sweares, that, he shall hate hyme for so restrayning hyme from the syght, of his mistress, whylst he lyves; for that he knowes not (as he sayd) whether ever he shall see hyr agayne, when she is goane the Progress. And Sir Georg on hys syde, swares, that he had rather he should lose hys longinge, then that he wolde draw on hym hyr Majesties displeasure by such libertie. Thus they contynew in mallyce and snarlynge ; but Lam sure all the smarte lyghted on me. I cannot tell wheare [whether] I should more alowe [approve] of the passionate lover, or the trusty jaylor. But yf your selfe had seene it as I,dyd, yow wold haye byne as hartely merry and sorry as. ever yow weare in all your lyfe, for so short a tyme. I praye yow pardon my hasty wrytten narration, which I acquaynt yow with, hoping yow will be the peace-maker. But, good sir, let. no body knowe theareof, for I feare Sir W. Rawly wyll shortely growe to be Orlando Furioso, if the bryght Angelyca perseyer agaynst hyme a lyttle longer. “ Your Honors humbly to be commanded, _ “A. Gorces. “ London in haste, this Wensdaye.” , 64 2-9 ae srg+/ oh te ye, APPENDIX. 579 - From the following postscript, added on a slip of paper, and fastened by wax to the letter, it appears that the writer’s principal object was, that it should be shown to the Queen, in order to serve Ralegh, who was his kins- man: “Hf you let the Qs. Majestié know heareof, as you thinek good, so be it; but otherwyse, good Sir, keepe it secrett, for theyr credyttes, for they know not of my discourse, which I could wyshe her Majestie knewe.” It remains only to add a few words concerning Ralegh’s poetry: Puttenham, in 1589, says, “ for dittie and amorous ode I finde Sir bth sored Raleyghs vayne most loftie insolent and passionate ;” and in another place he classes him in “ the crewe of courtly makers, noblemen and gentlemen of her Majesties own servauntes, who have written’ excellently well, as it would appeare, if their doings could be found out and made publicke with the rest.” Of the doings of Raleghin this way, very few remain; but yet more than is generally known. It is ex- traordinary that his Cynthia, a poem written expressly in honour of Elizabeth, should not have been preserved. It is alluded to: by Spenser, in his’ letter expounding the schenie of the Faery Queen, and again more particularly mentioned in the conclusion of his verses addressed to Ralegh, at the end of the third book of that poem: Gabriel Harvey, in his MSS notes on Chaucer, already ’ quoted, denominates Ralegh’s Cynthia, “a fine and ~ sweet invention.” Puttenham, in p. 168, and elsewhere, has quoted lines from some of Ralegh’s' ditties. The little poem, entitled sometimes The Farewell, and some- times The Lie, beginning—* Go, soul, the body’s guest,” which! has: been attributed to Ralegh, I believe, first - appeared'in Davison’s Poetical Rhapsody, 1608 ; but it is not’ subscribed’ with even the initial letters’ of his names. It may, therefore, be doubted whether it’ be his. Who- soever was its author, it must have been written as early _ as 1595, for a manuscript: copy of it with that date is in Peg [ 580 APPENDIX. my possession. On the other hand, the poem sub- scribed W. R., and published by Davison, in the first edi- tion of the same miscellany, 1602, beginning with the words—“ Conceipt begotten by the eyes,” and the verses prefixed to the translation of Lucan, by his friend Sir Arthur Gorges, folio, 1614, and subscribed with the same initial letters, were doubtless written by Ralegh. Among the epitaphs on Sir Philip Sidney, collected by Spenser at the close of his Astrophel, that which com- mences “ To praise thy life or waile thy worthie death,” was certainly Sir Walter’s production, as appears from the notes subjoined to the 16th book of Harrington’s translation -of Ariosto: ‘‘ Our English Petrarche, Sir Philip Sidney, or, as Sir Walter Ralegh in his Epitaph worthely calleth him, ‘ the Scipio and the Petrarche of our time,” &c. See the last stanza of the epitaph in ques- tion. Indeed, the authors of all the anonymous epitaphs on Sidney, subjoined to Spenser’s Astrophel, may, in like manner, be ascertained. The first epitaph, by Clorinda, as Spenser himself intimates, was written by Mary Countess of Pembroke. The second, entitled The Mour- ning Muse of Thestylis, was written at Dublin, in 1587, by Spenser’s friend, Lodowick Bryskett, the initial letters '» of whose names are subscribed to the following Aglogue, _ with the same motto, which is prefixed to his Trea- : tise of Civil Life, 4to. 1606. See also an entry in the Stationers’ books, by John Wolfe, in 1587 : “ The Mourn- full Muses of Lod. Bryskett upon the Death of the most — ‘noble Sir Phillip Sidney, Knight.” The third anonymous epitaph, beginning—“ As then no wind at all there blew,” was the production of Mathews Roydon, a poet who was living in 1611 (see Davies’s Scourge of Folly, p. 201), and whose “ comick inventions” are highly praised by Nashe, in his epistle prefixed to Greene’s Menaphon, 4to. 1589, ad finem, where there is a reference to this elegy. The fourth, we have seen, is Sir Walter Ralegh’s; and the fifth, beginning, “ Silence augmenteth grief, writing en- APPENDIX. 581 creaseth rage,” may be safely attributed to Sir Edward Dyer. It had previously appeared in a miscellany enti- tled The Pheenix Nest, 4to. 1593, where it is said to be “ excellently written by a most worthy gentleman.” He was an intimate friend of Sidney; and these verses were evidently dictated by sincere grief and affection. The measure, too, is that which Dyer has employed in other compositions *, + As little of Dyer’s poetry is generally known, I have annexed the following not unfavourable specimen transcribed by Mr, Malone from Rawlinson’s MSS, in the Bodleian, compared with another copy in the Ashmolean Museum: : ’ “* He that his mirth hath lost whose comforte is dismayde, “ Whose hope is vayne, whose fayth is scornde, whose trust is all betrayde, “If he have held them deere, and cannot cease to moane, “ Come let him take his place by me, he shall not rue alone. “ Butt if the smallest sweete be mixte with all his soure “If in the daye, the month, the yeere he feele one lightninge howre. ‘* Then rest he by him selfe he is no mate for me “ Whose hope is falne, whose succour voyde whose hap his death must be ** Yet not the wished death which hath no playnt nor lack, ** Which makynge free the better part is only nature’s wracke. “Oh no; that were too good;' my death is of the mynde ** Which bringes allwayes the extremest paynes and leaves the worst behynde f. re ee ee ee *« The solytarye woodes my cytye shall become, «The darkest den shall be my lodge wherein I'll rest or run f. ** Of hebon blacke my boorde, the wormes my feast shall be, «* Wherwith my carcase shall be fedd untyll they feed on me. t MS. A. “ Which allwayes oases extremest paynes yet keepes the worst behynde. t MS. A. ** Wherein no light shall come.” 582 APPENDIX. * My wine of Niobe * my bed the craggy rocke, ‘*The serpents hiss.my harmonye, the skrychyng owlle my gocke. *t My exercise nought else but raging agonies, “ My bookes of spytefull fortunes spoylles and dreerye tragedyens * ** My walk the pathes of plaint, my prospect into hell, “Where wretched Sysiphe and his pheeres i in endless paynes do dwell. “* And thoughe Iseeme to use the poets’ fayned style, “To figure forth my wofull plight, my fall and my exile. “* Yet is my woe not faynde, wherein I sterye and pyne 3) “Who feeleth most, shall finde his least comparing his with mnyne. “« My Songe, if any aske—“‘ whose grievous case is such ?” “ Dyer then let his name be knowne; his folly showes to muche. “ Butt best 'twere thee to hide, and never come to lyght, “ For in the world can none but I thye accents sound aright.” Miserum est fuisse, E. Dier. Finis. * i, e. tears. - SHAKSPEARE’S COAT OF ARMS. _ a eee The following Instrument‘ is copied from the Original ~~ 4 ~“” in the College of Heralds: It is marked G 13, p. 349, “To all and singuler noble and gentlemen of all estats and degrees, bearing arms, to whom these presents shall come, Witham Dethick, Garter, Principall King of Arms of England, and William Camen, alias Clarencieulx, King of Arms for the south, east, and west parts of this realme, sendethe greeting. Know ye, that in all nations and kingdoms the record and remembraunce of the valeant facts and vertuous dispositions of worthie men haye been made knowne and divulged by ‘certeyne shields of arms and tokens of chevalrie; the grant and testimonie whereof apperteyneth unto us, by vertu of our offices from the Quenes most Exc. Majestie, and her Highenes most noble and victorious progenitors: wherefore being soli- cited, and by credible report informed, that John Shak- speare, now of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the counte of Warwick, gent. whose parent, great grandfather, and late antecessor, for his faithefull and approved service to the late most prudent prince, king Henry VII. of famous 1 In the Herald’s Office are the first draughts of Jolin Shak- Speare’s grant or confifmation of arms, by William Dethick, Garter, Principal King at Arms, 1596, See Vircent’s Press, vol. 157, No. 28, and 4. Stervens. In a Manuscript in the College of Heralds, marked W: 2. p: 276, is the following note: “ As for the speare in bend, itis a patible difference, and the person to whom it was granted hath borne magistracy; and was justice of peace at Stratford-upon- Avon. He married the daughter and heire of Arderne, and was able to’ maintain that estate.” Martone. S 5 584 SHAKSPEARE’S COAT OF ARMS. memorie, was advaunced and rewarded with lands and tenements, geven to him in those parts of Warwickshere, _ where they have continewed by some descents in good reputacion and credit; and for that the said John Shak- speare having maryed the daughter and one of the heyrs of Robert Arden of Wellingcote, in the said countie, and also produced this his auncient cote of arms, heretofore assigned to him whilest he was her Majesties officer and baylefe of that towne *: In consideration of the premisses, and for the encouragement of his posteritie, unto whom suche blazon of arms and achievements of inheritance — from theyre said mother, by the auncyent custome and lawes of arms, maye lawfully descend; We the said Garter and Clarencieulx have assigned, graunted, and by these presents exemplefied unto the said John Shakspeare, and to his posteritie, that shield and cote of arms, viz. In a field of gould upon a bend sables a speare of the _ first, the poynt upward, hedded argent ; and for his crest ’ or cognizance, A falcon with his wyngs displayed, stand- ing ona wrethe of his coullers, supporting a speare armed hedded, or steeled sylver, fyxed uppon a helmet with mantell 4£/. and tassels, as more playnely maye appeare depected on this margent: and we have likewise uppon on other escutcheon impaled the same with the auncyent arms of the said Arden? of Wellingcote; signifieng therby, that it maye and shalbe lawfull for the said John Shakspeare — 2 — his auncient cote of arms, heretofore assigned: to him whilest he was her Majesties officer and baylefe of that towne ;} This grant of arms was made by Robert Cook, Clarencieux, in 1569, but is not now extant in the Herald’s Office. Martone. 3 — and we have likewise—impaled the same with the aun- cyent arms of the said Arden—] It is said by Mr. Jacob, the modern editor of Arden of Feversham (first published in 1592 and republished in 1631 and 1770) that Shakspeare descended by the female line from the gentleman whose unfortunate end is the _ subject of this tragedy. But the assertion appears to want sup- | CONVEYANCE TO SHAKSPEARE, 585 gent. to beare and use the same shield of arms, single or impaled, as aforsaid, during his natural lyffe ; and that it shalbe lawfull for his children, yssue, and posteryte, (lawfully begotten,) to beare, use, and quarter, and show forth the same, with theyre dewe differences, in all law- full warlyke facts and civile use or exercises, according to the laws of arms, and custome that to gentlemen belongethe, without let or interruption of any person or persons, for use or bearing the same. In wyttnesse and testemonye whereof we have subscrebed our names, and fastened the seals of our offices, geven at the Office of Arms, London, the day of in the xlii yere of the reigne of our most gratious Sovraigne lady Elizabeth, by the grace of God, quene of Ingland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. 1599.” CONVEYANCE FROM WALKER TO SHAKSPEARE, March 10, 1612-13. This Indenture made the tenthe day of Marche, in the yeare of our Lord God according to the computacdn of the church of England one thousand six hundrede and twelve, and in the yeares of the reigne of our sovereigne Lord James by the grace of God king of England, Scotland ffraunce and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. that is to saie, of England, ffraunce and Ireland the tenth, and of Scotland the six and fortith: Betweene Henry port, the true name of the person who was murdered at Feversham being Ardern and not Arden. Ardern might be called Arden in the play for the sake of better sound, or might be corrupted in the Chronicle of Holinshed: yet it is unlikely that the true spelling should be overlooked among the Heralds, whose interest it is to recommend by ostentatious accuracy the trifles in which >, 7 9 ha fh they deal. Srzevens. fe fxm Bes Ardern was the original name, but in Shakspeare’s time it had “ * been softened to Arden. Matone, ant pf +9 586 peewee 6 os nr repens » Walkie Citas of Lodonk cai Minatrel of Londonvof thone partie, and William amen of Stratforde Upon Avon in the countie of Warwick gentleman, Wil- - liam Johnson citizein and Vintner of London, John Jack- son and John Hemyng of London gentlemen, on thother ptie: Witnesseth, that the said Henry Walker for and in consideracon of the some of one hundred and fortie pounds of lawful money of England to him in hand before thensealing hereof by the said William Shakespeare well and trulie paid, whereof and wherew™ hee the said Henry Walker doth acknowledge himselfe fully satisfied and contented, and thereof and of every part or parcell thereof doth cleerlie acquite and discharge the saide William Shakespeare, his heires, executors, admistrators, and assignes, and every of them, by these pnts hath. bar- gayned and soulde, and by theis pnts doth fullie cleerlie and absolutlie bargayne and sell vnto the said William Shakespeare, William Johnson, John Jackson, and John Hemyng, theire heires and assignes for ever, All that dwelling house or Tenement w" thappurtenanes situate and being w‘hin the Precinct Circuit and Compasse of the late black fryers London, sometymes in the tenure of James Gardyner Esqui™, and since that in the tenure of John ffortescue gent. and now or late being in the tenure or occupacdn of one William Ireland or of his assignee or assignes; abutting vpon a streete leading downe to Puddle Wharffe on the east part, right against > the kings Maiesties Wardrobe; part of w™ said Tenement is erected over a great gate leading to a Capitall Mesuage w" sometyme was in the tenure of William Blackwell Esqui® deceased, and since that in the tenure or oceu+ pacon of the right Honorable Henry now Earl of Not+ thumberland. And also all that plott of ground on the west side of the same Tenement w was lately inclosed w'" boords on two sides thereof by Ane Bacon, widowe, soe farre and in such sdrté as the same was iticloséd by the said Anne Bacon, and not otherwise; and being on fh formas i acted 6 fi ea eee WAS ; Bn so ee Fa h.i kan: deta KK eas a8 awh ee fiw Li p= tn — BP Latun ghee ee EE TE EB eC a ffir os , Ennhrn, Jr + X toate CONVEYANCE TO SHAKSPEARE. 587 the thirde side inclosed w an olde Brick wall; Which said plott of ground was sometyme parcell and taken out of a great voide peece of ground lately vsed for a garden ; and also the soyle whereyppon the said Tenement stand- eth, and also the said Brick wall and boords w doe inclose the said plott of ground: With free entrie, accesse, ingresse, egresse, and regresse, in by and through the said greate gate and yarde there vnto the vsual dore of the said Tenement; And also all and singuler cello's, sollers, romes, lights, easiaments, profitts, comodities, and hereditaments whatsoever, to the said dwelling house or Tenement belonging or in any wise app’teyning; And the reversion and reversions whatsoever of all and singuler the premisses, and of every parcell thereof; And also all rents, and yearlie profitts whatsoever reserved and from hensforth to growe due and paiable vpon whatsoever lease, dimise or graunt, leases dimises or graunts, made of the premisses or of any parcell thereof, And also all the state, right, title, interest, propertie, vse, possession, clayme, and demaunde-whatsoever w™ hee the said Henry Walker now hath, or of right may, might, should, or | ought to have, of in or to the premisses or any parcell : thereof; And also all and every the deeds, evidencs, | charters, escripts, miniments, & writings whatsoever w hee the said Henry Walker now hath, or any other person or persons to his vse have or hath, or which hee may lawfullie come by w‘hout suite in the lawe, which touch [ or concerne the premisses oulie, or onlie any part or parcell ; thereof, Together w" the true coppies of all such deeds, evidencs, and writings as concerne the premisses (amounge other things) to bee written and taken out at the onlie costs and charg* of the said William Shakespeare his heires or assignes. Which said dwelling house or Tene- ment, and other the premisses above by theis prnts men- coned to bee bargayned and soulde the saide Henry Walker late purchased and had to him his heires and assignes for ever of Mathie Bacon of Graies Inne in the pee foman’ Of 9 SE Sho “*, “fh whe After CH A~-4 Sex, aa Ts Ga Pee 588 CONVEYANCE TO SHAKSPEARE. Countie of Midd gentleman, by Indenture bearing date the fifteenth day of October in the yeare of our Lord god one thousand six hundred and fower, and in the yeares of the reigne of our said Sovereigne Lord king James of his realmes of England ffraunce and Ireland the second, and of Scotland the eight and thirtith: To have and to holde the said dwelling house or Tenement, shopps, cello's, sollers, plott of ground and all and singuler other the premisses above by theis pntes mencdned to bee bargayned and soulde and every part and parcell thereof w™ thappur- tenants, vnto the said William Shakespeare, William Johnson, John Jackson, and John Hemyng, their heires and assignes for ever: To thonlie & proper vse and behoofe of the said William Shakespeare, William Johnson, John Jackson, and John Hemyng, their heires and assignes for ever. And the said Henry Walker for himselfe, his heires, executo's, administrato's, and assignes, and for every of them, doth Covenant, promise and graunt to and w™ the said William Shakespeare his heires and assignes by theis pites in forme following, that is to saie, That hee the said Henry Walker his heires, executo's administrato's or assignes shall and will cleerlie acquite, exonerate, and discharge or otherwise from tyme to tyme and at all tymes hereafter well and sufficientlie save and keepe harmles the said William Shakespeare his heires and assignes and every of them of for and concernyng the bargayne and sale of the premisses, and the said bargayned premisses and every part and parcell thereof w thappurtenancs of and from all and almanner of former bargaynes, sales, guifts, graunts, leases, statuts, Recognizauncs, Joynters, dowers, intailes, lymittacdn and lymittacdns of vse and vses, extents and judgments, execucdns, Annuities, and of and from all and every other charg‘ titles and incum- brancs whatsoever, wittinglie and wilfullie had, made comitted, suffered, or donne by him the said Henrye Walker or any other under his authoritie or right, before thensealing and deliverye of theis pnts; Except the rents CONVEYANCE TO SHAKSPEARE. 589 and services to the Cheefe Lord or Lords of the fee or fees of the premisses from hensforth, for or in respecte of his or their seigniorie or seigniories onlie to be due and donne. And further the saide Henry Walker for himselfe his heires executo's and administrato’s and for every of them, doth covenant, promisse and graunt to and w" the said William Shakespeare, his heires and assignes, by theis pntes in forme following; that is to saie, That for and notw" standing any acte or thing donne by him the said Henry Walker to the Contrary, hee the said William Shakespeare his heires and assignes shall or lawfullie maye peaceablie & quietlie have, holde, occupie and enioye the said dwelling house or Tenement, Cello's Sollers and all and singuler other the premisses above by theis pntes menconed to bee bargayned and soulde and every part and parcell thereof w“ thappurtenances, and the rents yssues and profitts thereof and of every part and parcell thereof to his and their owne vse receave perceave take and enioye from hensforth forever wthout the lett troble eviccén or interrupc6n of the said Henry Walker his heires executo's or administrato's or any of them, or of or by any other person or persons w® have or may before the date hereof pretende to have any lawfull estate, righte, title, vse, or interest, in or to the premisses or any parcell thereof, by from or under him the said Henry Walker. And also that hee the said Henry Walker and his heires and all and every other person and persons and their heires which have or that shall lawfullie and rightfullie have or clayme to have any lawfull and rightfull estate, right, title, or interest, in or to the premisses or any parcell thereof, by from or vnder the said Henry Walker, shall and will from tyme to tyme & at all tymes fromhensforth for and during the space of three yeares now next ensuing at or vpon the reasonable request and costs and charg* in the lawe of the said William Shakespeare his heires and assignes doe make knowledge and suffer to bee donne made and know- ledge all and every such further lawfull and reasonable 590 CONVEYANCE TO SHAKSPEARE. acte and acts, thing and things, devise and devises in thé law whatsoever, for the conveying of the premises, bee it by deed or deeds inrolled or not inrolled, inrolment of theis pnts, fyne, feoffament, recoverye, release, confit- macon, or otherwise, w warrantie of the said Henry Walker and his heires against him the said Henry Walker and his heires onlie, or otherwise wthout warrantie, or by all any or as many ofthe wayes meanes and devises afore- said, as by the said William Shakespeare his heires or assignes or his or their Councell learned in the lawe shalbee reasonablie devised or advised, for the further, better, and more perfect assurance suertie suermaking and conveying of all and singuler the premisses and every parcell thereof w'" thappurtenancs vnto the said William Shakespeare his heires and assignes forever to th’use and in forme afore= said, And further that all and every fyne and fynies to’ be levyed, recoveryes to:be suffered, estats, and’ assuranes at any tyme or tymes hereafter to: bee had made executed or passed by or betweene the said parties of the premisses or of any parcell thereof, shalbee, and shalbee esteemed, adiudged, deemed, and taken to bee, to th’ onlie and ‘proper vse and behoofe of the said William Shakespeare, his heires, and assignes. forever; and to none other’ vse, intent or purpose. In witnesse whereof the said parties to theis Jndentures Jnterchaungablie have’ sett their seales. Yeoven the day and yeares first above written. William chabeean W™. Johnson. Jo: Jackson. Sealed and delivered by the said William Shakespeare, William Johnson, and John Jackson in the pnee of Will: Atkinson Ed: Ouery Robert Andrewes' Ser. Henry Lawrence servant to the'same Ser, —_—~ C~erens MORTGAGE MADE BY SHAKSPEARE, A. D. 1612-13. Tue following is a transcript of another deed executed by our author three years before his death. The original deed, which was found in the year 1768, among the title deeds of the Rev. Mr. Fetherstonhaugh, of Oxted, in the county of Surry, is now in the possession of Mrs. Garrick, by whom it was obligingly transmitted to me through the hands of the Hon, Mr. Horace Walpole. Much has lately been said in various publications relative to the proper mode of spelling Shakspeare’s name. It is hoped we shall hear no more idle babble upon this subject. He spelt his name himself as I have just now written it, with- out the middle e. Let this therefore for ever decide the question. ‘It should be remembered that to all ancient deeds were appended labels of parchment, which were inserted at the bottom of the deed; on the upper part of which labels thus rising above the rest of the parchment, the executing parties wrote their names. Shakspeare, not finding room for the whole of his name on the label, attempted to write the remaining letters at top, but having allowed himself only room enough to write the letter a, he gave the matter up. His hand-writing, of which a fac-simile is annexed, is much neater than many others, which I have seen, of that age. He neglected, however, to scrape the parchment, in consequence of which the letters appear imperfectly formed. He purchased the estate here mortgaged, from Henry Walker, for 140/. as appears from the enrolment of the deed of bargain and sale now in the Rolls-Chapel, dated the preceding day, March 10, 1612-13. [See the preced- ing article.]_ The deed here printed shows that he paid down eighty pounds of the purchase-money, and mort- 592 MORTGAGE MADE BY SHAKSPEARE. gaged the premises for the remainder. This deed and the purchase deed were probably both executed on the same day (March 10), like our modern conveyance of Lease and Release. MALONE. “This Indenture made the eleventh day of March, in the yeares of the reigne of our Sovereigne Lorde James, by the grace of God, king of England, Scotland, Fraunce, and Ireland, defender of the Faith, &c. that is to say, of England, Fraunce and Ireland the tenth, and of Scotland the six-and-fortieth ; Between William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Countie of Warwick, gentle- man, William Johnson, Citizen and Vintener of London, John Jackson, and John Hemyng of London, gentleman, of thone partie, and Henry Walker, Citizen and Min- strell of London, of thother partie ; Witnesseth, that the said William Shakespeare, William Johnson, John Jack- son, and John Hemyng, have demised, graunted, and to ferme letten, and by theis presents do demise, graunt, and to ferme lett unto the said Henry Walker, all that dwelling house or tenement, with thappurtenaunts, situate and being within the precinct, circuit and compasse of the late Black ffryers, London, sometymes in the tenure of James Gardyner, Esquire, and since that in the tenure of John Fortescue, gent, and now or late being in the tenure or occupation of one William Ireland, or of his assignee or assignees ; abutting upon a streete leading downe ‘to Puddle Wharfe, on the east part, right against the kings Majesties Wardrobe; part of which said tenement is erected over a greate gate leading to a capitall messuage, which sometyme was in the tenure of William Blackwell, Esquire, deceased, and since that in the tenure or occupa- tion of the right honourable Henry now Earle of Northum- berlande: And also all that plott of ground on the west side of the said tenement, which was lately inclosed with boords on two sides thereof, by Anne Baton, widow, so farre and in such sorte as the same was inclosed by the MORTGAGE MADE BY SHAKSPEARE. 593° said Anne Baton, and not otherwise ; and being on the third side inclosed with an old brick wall; which said plott of ground was’sometyme parcell and taken out of a great voyde peece of ground lately used for a garden ; and also the soyle whereupon the said tenement standeth; and also the said brick wall and boords which doe inclose the said plott of ground ; with free entrie, accesse, in- gresse, and regresse, in, by, and through, the said great gate and yarde there, unto the usual dore of the said tene- ment: And also all and singular cellors, sollers, romes, lights, easiaments, profitts, commodities, and appurte- naunts whatsoever to the said dwelling-house or tenement belonging or in any wise apperteyning: to have and to holde the said dwelling-house or tenement, cellers, sollers, romes, plott of ground, and all and singular other the premisses above by theis presents mentioned to bee demised, and every part and parcell thereof, with thap- purtenaunts, unto the said Henry Walker, his executors, administrators, and assignes, from the feast of thannun- ciacion of the blessed Virgin Marye next coming after the date hereof, unto thende and terme of One hundred yeares from thence next ensuing, and fullie to be compleat and ended, withoute impeachment of, or for, any manner of waste: yelding and paying therefore yearlie during the said terme unto the said William Shakespeare, William Johnson, John Jackson, and John Hemyng, their heires and assignes, a pepper corne at the feast of Easter yearly, yf the same be lawfullie demaunded, and noe more, provided alwayes, that if the said William Shake- speare, his heires, executors, administrators or assignes, or any of them, doe well and truelie paie or cause to be paid to the said Henry Walker, his executors, administra- tors or assigns, the sum of threescore pounds of lawfull money of England, in and upon the nyne and twentieth day of September next coming after the date hereof, at, or in, the nowe dwelling-house of the said Henry Walker, VOL. Il. 2a 594 MORTGAGE MADE BY SHAKSPEARE. : situate and being in the parish of Saint Martyn neer . Ludgate, of London, at one entier payment without delaie ; That then and from thenesforth this presente lease, demise and graunt, and all and every matter and thing herein conteyned (other then this. provisoe) shall cease, determine, and bee utterlie voyde, frustrate, and of none effect, as though the same had never beene had, ne made; theis presents or any thing therein conteyned to the con- trary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. And the said William Shakespeare for himselfe, his heires, executors, and administrators, and for every of them, doth cove- naunt, promisse and graunt to, and with, the said Henry Walker, his executors, administrators, and assignes, and everie of them, by theis presentes, that he the said William Shakespeare, his heires, executors, administrators or assignes, shall and will cleerlie acquite, exonerate and discharge, or from tyme to tyme, and at all tymes here- after, well and sufficientlie save and keepe harmless the said Henry Walker, his executors, administrators, and assignes, and every of them, and the said premisses by theis presents demised, and every parcell thereof, with thappurtenaunts, of and from all and al manner of former and other bargaynes, sales, guiftes, graunts, leases, join- tures, dowers, intailes, statuts, recognizaunces, judg- ments, executions ; and of, and from, all and every other charge, titles, troubles, and incumbrances whatsoever by the said William Shakespeare, William Johnson, John Jackson, and John Hemyng, or any of them, or by their or any of their meanes, had made, committed or done, before thensealing and delivery of theis presents, or here- after before the said nyne and twentieth day of September next comming after the date hereof, to bee had, made, committed or done, except the rents and servits to the cheef lord or lords of the fee or fees of the premisses, for, or in respect of, his or their segnorie or seignories onlie, to bee due and done. ETT SPR er eS aT a rare INDI fy 2) G be) WAL: , ; or Yf pave ae 7, 9 ia th “2a ae ha pasta eis PF, f? Vi $ ypobeiys q coanafayoyy” - SSS &724 909-7 220f OF TRUST BY JOHN HEMINGES, ~ 595 | “‘ In witnesse whereof the said parties to theis inden- . tures interchangeablie have sett their seales. Yeoven the day and years first above written, 1612 [1612-13,]. A * W" Suaxspe. W"Jounson. Jo. Jackson. - Ensealed and delivered by the said William Shakespeare, | William Johnson, and John \ _ Jackson ?, in the presence of “Witt. ATKINSON. Rosert ANpReEws, Ser.3 2 » “Ep. Oupry. Heyry /Lawrence, Ser- Y ae : He vant to the said Scr. Foe : DECLARATION OF TRUST BY JOHN HEMINGES | AND OTHERS, Feb. 10, 1617-18. ‘This indenture made the tenth day of ffebruary in the yeres of the reigne of our sovereigne Lord James, by e grace of God kinge of England Scotland ffraunce and eland, defender of the faith, Se. Thatis to say, of Eng- ad, ffraunce, and Ireland, the fifteenth, and of Scotland the one and fiftith; Between John Jackson and John 7 , mynge of London, gentlemen, and William Johnson, «ae Vintnier of London, of thone part, and John reene of Clements Inn in the County of Midd. gent, and atthew Morryes of Stretford vpon Avon in the County of Warwick gent. of thother part; Witnesseth, that the pif John Jackson, [ohn Hemynge, and William John- p, as well for and in performance. of the confidence and ist,in them reposed by William’ Shakespeare, deceased, e of Stretford aforesaid, gent., and to thend and intent at the lands tenem* and hereditam* hereafter in theis pits snecdned and expressed, may be conveyed and assured according to the true intent and meaning of the last will we. foo “2 John Heming did not sign, or seal. 3 i, e. Scrivener. 2e2 596 TRUST BY JOHN HEMINGES. and testamt of the said William Shakespeare, and for the some of ffyve shillings of lawfull money of England to them payd, for and on behalf of Susanna Hall, one of the daughters of the said William Shakspeare and now wife of Iohn Hall of Stretford aforesaid gent. before then- sealling and deliury of theis pnts, Have aliened bargained sold and confirmed, and by theis pits doe and every of them doth fully cleerely and absolutely alien bargaine sell and confirme vnto the said Iohn Greene and Matthew Morry, their heires and assignes for ever, All that dwell- ing house or tenem' with thapp’tufts scituat and being within the precinct, circuite, and compase of the late Black-frieres, London, sometymes in the tenure of James Gardyner Esquier, and since that in the tenure of Iohn ffortescue gent, and+ nowor late being in the tenure or occupacén of one William Ireland or of his Assignee or Assignes, abutting vpon a street leadinge downe to Puddle Wharfe, on the east part, right against the kings Ma* warderobe, part of which tenemt is erected over a great gate leading to a capitall messuage which sometymes was in the tenure of William Blackwell Esquier deceased, and since that in the tenure ‘or occupacon of the right Hono” Henry Earle of Northumberland, And also all that plot of ground on the west side of the said tenem‘, which was lately inclosed with boords on twoe sides thereof by Anne Bacon widdow, soe farr and in such sort as the same was inclosed by the said Anne Bacon, and not otherwise; and being on the third side inclosed with an ould Brick wall; Which said plot of ground was sometymes parcell and taken out of a great peece of voyd ground lately vsed for a garden; And also the soyle wherevpon the said tenem' standeth; And also the said 4 These words are merely copied from Walker's Conveyance to Shakspeare, in March, 1612-13. From a subsequent part of this deed it appears that John Robinson was now the tenant in pos- session, under a lease made to him by Shakspeare for a term of years. TRUST BY JOHN HEMINGES, 597 Brickwall and boords which doe inclose the said plot of ground ; with free entry, access, ingres, egres, and regres, in by and through the said great gate and yard there vnto the vsuall dore of the said tenem*t; And also all and sin- guler cellars sollars roomes lights, easem" profitts como- dyties and hereditam* whatsoeuer to the said dwelling house or tenem' belonging or in any wise apperteyning, And the revercén and revercons whatsoever of all and sin- guler the premisses and of every parcell thereof; And also all rents and yerely profitts whatsoever reserued and from henceforth to grow due and payable vpon whatsoeuer lease demisse or graunt, leases demises or graunts, made of the premisses or any parcel thereof; And also all thestate, right, title, interest, property, vse, clayme, and demaund whatsoever, which they the said John Jackson, John Hemynge, and William Johnson, now have or any of them hath or of right may, might, shoold, or ought to have in the premises: To haue and to. holde the said dwelling howse or tenem‘, lights, cellers, sollers, plot of ground, and all and singuler other the premisses aboue by theis pits mencdned to be bargained and sold, and every part and parcell thereof, with thapp'tits, vnto the said John Green and Mathew Morrys their heires and assignes foreuer; To the vse and behoofes hereafter in theis pnts declared menconed expressed and lymitted, and to none other vse, behoofe, intent, or purpose: That is to say, to the vse and behoofe of the aforesaid Susanna Hall for and during the terme of her natural life, and after her de- ceas to the vse and behoofe of the first sonne of her body lawfully yssueing, and of the heires males of the body of the said first sonne lawfully yssueing; And for the want of such heires to the vse and behoofe of the second sonne of the body of the said Susanna lawfully yssueing, and of the heires males of the body of the said second sonne lawfully yssueing; and for want of such heires to the vse of the third sonne of the body of the said Susanna lawfully yssueing and of the heires males of the body of the said third son lawfully yssueing; And for want of such 598 TRUST BY JOHN HEMINGES. heires to the vse and behoofe of the fowerth, fiveth, sixt, and seaventh sonnes of the body of the said Susanna lawfully yssueing, and of the severall heirs males of the severall bodyes of the said fowerth, fiveth, sixt, and seaventh sonnes, lawfully yssueing, in such manner as it is before lymitted to be and remeyne to the first, second, and third sonnes of the body of the said Susanna law- fully yssueing, and to their heires males as aforesaid ; And for default of such heires to the vse and behoofe of Elizabeth Hall daughter of the said Susanna Hall and of the heires males of her body lawfully yssueing ; and for de- fault of such heires to the vse and behoofe of Judyth Quiney - now wife of Thomas Quiney of Stretford aforesaid Vintner, one other of the daughters of the said William Shakespeare and of the heires males of the body of the said Judith lawfully yssueing ; And for default of such yssue to the vse and behoofe of the right heires of the said William Shake- speare forever. And the said John Jackson for himself, his heires, executors, admistrators and assignes, and for every of them, doth covenant, promise, and graunt, to and with the said John Green and Mathew Morrys and either of them, their or either of their heires and assignes, by these pnts, That he the said John Jackson, his heires, © executors, admistrs or assignes, shall and will from tyme to tyme and at all tymes hereafter within convenient tyme after every reasonable request to him or them made, well and sufficiently save and keepe harmeles the said bargained premisses and every part and parcell thereof, of and from all and all manner of former bargaines, sales, guifts, graunts, leases, statuts, recognizauncs, joynctures, dowers, intayles, vses, extents, iudgem* execudns, annewyties, and ofand from all other charges, titles, and incombraunes whatsoeuer, wittingly and willingly had, made, comitted, or done by him the said John Jackson alone, or joynctly with any other person or persons whatsoeuer ; Excepte the rente and servics to the Cheiffe Lord or Lords of the fee or fees of the premisses from henceforth to be due and of right accustomed to be done, And Except one lease and a cain heen babel TRUST BY JOHN HEMINGES. 599 demise of the premisses with thapp'tnnes heretofore made by the said William Shakespeare, together with them the said John Jackson, John Hemynge, and William Johnson, ‘vnto one John Robinson, now Tennant of the said pre- misses, for the terme of certen yeres yet to come and un- expired ; As by the same wherevnto relacén be had at large doth appeare. And the said John Hemynge for him self, his heires, executors, admistrators, and assignes, and for every of them, doth coveniit, promise, and graunt, to and with the said John Greene and Mathew Morrys, and either of them their and either of their heires and assignes, by theis préts, That he the said John Hemynge, his heires; executors, admistrators, or assignes, shall and will from tyme to tyme and at all tymes hereafter, within conve- nient tyme after every reasonable request, well and suffi- ciently save and keepe harmeles the said bargained pre- misses and every part and parcel thereof of and from all and all manner of former bargaines, sales, guifts, graunts, leases, statuts, recognizauncs, ioynctures, dowers, intayles, vses, extents, judgm“ execucéns, Annewyties, and of and from all other charges, titles, and incombraunces what- soever, wittingly and willingly had, made, comitted, or done by him the said John Hemynge alone, or ioynctly with any other person or persons whatsoeuer; Except the rentes and service to the Chieffe Lord or Lords of the fee or fees of the premisses from henceforth to be due and of right accustomed to be done, And except one lease and demise of the premisses with thapp'tnants heretofore made by the said William Shakspeare together with them the said John Jackson, John Hemyng and William John- son vnto one John Robinson, now Tennant of the said premisses, for the terme of certen yeres yet to come and vnexpired, As by the same wherevnto relac6n be had at large doth appeare. And the said William Johnson for him self, his heires, executors, admist** and assignes, and for every of them, doth covenant promise, and graunt, to and with the said John Green and Mathew Morryes, and either of them, their and either of their heires and 600 TRUST BY JOHN HEMINGES. assignes, by theis pits, That he the said William Johnson, his heires, executors, admistrs, or assignes, shall and will from tyme to tyme and at all tymes hereafter within con- venient tyme after every reasonable request,. well and sufficiently saue and keepe harmeles the said bargained premisses and every part and parcell thereof of and from all and all manner of former bargaines, sales, guifts, graunts, leases, statuts, recognizauncs, ioynctures, dowers, intayles, vses, extents, iudgements, execucdns, Annewy- ties, and of and from all other charges, titles, and incom- brauncs whatsoeuer, wittingly and willingly had made ©omitted or done by him the said William Johnson alone, orioyntly with any other person or persons whatsoeuer ; Except the rents and service to the Cheiff Lord or Lords of the fee or fees of the premisses from henceforth to be due and of right accustomed to be done, And except one lease and demise of the premisses with thapp'tnnes here- tofore made by the said William Shakespeare together with them the said John Jackson John Hemynge and William Johnson ynto one John Robinson, now Tennant of the said premisses, for the term of certen yeres yet to come and unexpired, As by the same wherevnto relation be had at large doth appeare. In witnes whereof the parties aforesaid to theis pnte Indentures have inter- changeably sett their hands and sealls. Yeoven the day and yeres first aboue written 1617. Jo: Jackson John Heminges Wm Johnson Sealed & delyvered by the within named John Jackson in the pice of Roc: Swale | John Prise Sealed & delyvered by the w’thinamed Willm Johnson in the p’sence of Nickolas Harysone John Prise Sealed and delyvered by the w’thinamed John Hemynges in the p’nce of Matt’ Benson John Prise Memorand. that the xi day of ffebruarye in the yeres within written John Robinson tenant of the p’mysses w’tihnmencded did geve and delyver vnto John Greene ~~ tis any re @isin “Tr SS Yinesrihie - Ta fee Vol 8 page Yr00w | parce’ 110 vt G4 fp tertbasd A igh elie AE Afb EnV Sra: Coby us fhink Hore ee eo abn, SHAKSPEARE’S WILL, 601 w'thin named to the vse of Susanna Hall w’thinnamed five pence of lawfull money of England in name of Attoriment in the p’sence of . Matt: Benson ; John Prise by me Richarde Tylor 7 SHAKSPEARE’S WILL, A Let. 3 400 4 — From the Original in the Office of the Prerogative Court % | ' of Canterbury. a Vicesimo quinto die Martii:, Anno Regni Domini nostri Jacobi nunc Regis Angliw, &c, decimo quarto, et Scotie quadragesimo nono. Anno Domini 1616. £5 In nmi a In the name of God, Amen. I William Shakspeare of Stratford-upon Avon, in the county of Warwick, gent. in perfect health and memory, (God be praised!) do 42 224. 9 make and ordain this my last will and testamentinmanner = = ~~~ and form following : that is to say: r . First, I commend my soul into the hands of God my 7 creator, hoping, and assuredly believing, through the | only merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be made par- : taker of life everlasting; and my body to the earth : whereof it is made. § Item, I give and bequeath unto my daughter Judith 3 one hundred and fifty pounds of lawful English money, | to be paid unto her in manner and form following; that is to say, one hundred pounds in discharge of her marriage portion within one year after my decease, with 4.....? though not executed till the following month; for February was . * Our poet's will appears to have been drawn up in February, first written, and afterwards struck out, and March written over it, 602 ‘SHAKSPEARE’S WILL. ee, consideration aftér the rate of two shillings in the pound wn 7 Ala for so long time as the same shall be unpaid unto her after my decease; and the fifty pounds residue thereof, upon her surrendering of, or giving of such sufficient security as the overseers of this my will shall like of, to surrender or grant, all her estate and right that shall de- scend or come unto her after my decease, or that she now hath, of, in, or to, one copyhold tenement, with the appurtenances, lying and being in Stratford-upon- Avon aforesaid, in the said county of Warwick, being parcel or holden of the manor of Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall, and her heirs for ever. Item, I give and bequeath unto my said daughter Judith one hundred and fifty pounds more, if she, or any issue of her body, be living at the end of three years next ensuing the day of the date of this my will, during which time my executors to pay her consideration from my decease according to the rate aforesaid; and if she die within the term without issue of her body, then my will is, and I do give and bequeath one hundred pounds thereof to my niece 3 Elizabeth Hall, and the fifty pounds to be set forth by my executors during the life of my sister Joan Hart, and the use and profit thereof coming, shall be paid to my said sister Joan,. and after her decease the said fifty pounds shall remain amongst the children of my said sister, equally to be divided amongst them; but if my said daughter Judith be living at the end of the said three years, or any issue of her body, then my will is, and so I devise and bequeath the said hundred and * This was found to be unnecessary, as it was ascertained that the copyhold descended to the eldest daughter by the custom of the manor. he des 3 —to my nizce—] Elizabeth Hall was our poet's grand- pete daughter. So, in Othello, Act I. Sc. I. Iago says to Brabantio, * You'll have your nephews neigh to you ;” meaning his grand- children. See the note there. SHAKSPEARE’S WILL. 603 fifty pounds to be set out by my executors and overseers for the best benefit of her and her issue, and the stock not to be paid unto her so long as she shall be married and covert baron; but my will is, that she shall have the consideration yearly paid unto her during her life, and after her decease the said stock and consideration to be paid to her children, if she have any, and if not, to her executors or assigns, she living the said term after my decease: provided that if such husband as she shall at the end of the said three years be married unto, or at any [time] after, do sufficiently assure unto her, and the issue of her body, lands answerable to the portion by this my will given unto her, and to be adjudged so by my execu- tors and overseers, then my will is, that the said hundred and fifty pounds shall be paid to such husband as shall make such assurance, to his own use. Item, I give and bequeath unto my said sister Joan twenty pounds, and all my wearing apparel, to be paid and delivered within one year after my decease; and I do will and devise unto her the house, with the appur- 7 tenances, in Stratford, wherein she dwelleth; for her=* y, natural life, under the yearly rent of twelve-pence. Item, I give and bequeath unto her three sons, Wile A> 2-45 liam Hart, Hart 4, and Michael Hart, five pounds’ apiece, to be paid within, one year after my decease. Item, I give and bequeath unto the said Elizabeth Hall all my plate, (except my broad silver and gilt bowl)s, that I now have at the date of this my will. 4 — Hart,] It is singular that neither Shakspeare nor any of his family should have recollected the Christian name of his ne- phew, who was born at Stratford but eleven years before the making of his will. His Christian name was Thomas ; and he was baptized in that town, July 24, 1605. He was at this time, therefore, between ten and eleven years old. 5 — except my broad silver and gilt sowr,] “This bowl, as we afterwards find, our poet bequeathed to his daughter Judith. Vag Ament % a pr yd ° Cotnn ane? wk oA inte fa BG f fe th the hy eA igh j 604 SHAKSPEARE’S WILL, Item, I give and bequeath unto the poor of Stratford aforesaid ten pounds; to Mr. Thomas Combe 5 my sword ; ‘to Thomas Russel, Esq. five pounds; and to Francis Collins® of the borough of Warwick, in the county of Warwick, gent. thirteen pounds six shillings and eight- pence, to be paid within one year after mydecease. Item, I give and bequeath to Hamlet [ Hamnet] Sadler? twenty-six shillings eight-pence, to buy him a ring; to Instead of bowl, Mr. Theobald, and all the subsequent editors, have here printed dozes. 5 —Mr. Thomas Combe,] This gentleman was baptized at Stratford, Feb. 9, 1588-9; he was therefore twenty-seven years old at the time of Shakspeare’s death. He died at Stratford in J uly, 1657, aged 68; and his elder brother William died at the same place, Jan. 30, 1666-7, aged 80. Mr. Thomas Combe, by his will made June 20, 1656, directed his executors to convert all his personal property into money, and to lay it out in the purchase of lands, to be settled on William Combe, the eldest son of John Combe of Allchurch, in the county of Worcester, Gent. and his heirs male ; remainder to his two brothers successively. Where therefore our poet's sword has wandered, I have not been able to. discover. I have taken the trouble to ascertain the ages of Shak- speare's friends and relations, and the time of their deaths, be- cause we are thus enabled to judge how far the traditions con« cerning him, which were communicated to Mr. Rowe in the be- ginning of this century, are worthy of credit. ® —to Francis Collins —]. This gentleman was, I believe, christened at Warwick. He died the year after our poet, and was buried at Stratford, Sep. 27, 1617, on which day he died. 7 — to Hamnet Sadler —] This gentleman was godfather to Shakspeare’s only son, who was called after him. Mr. Sadler, I believe, was born about the year 1550, and died at Stratford- upon-Avon, where he was buried, October 26, 1624. His wife. Judith Sadler, who was godmother to Shakspeare’s youngest, daughter, was buried there, March 23, 1613-14. Our poet pro- bably was godfather to their son William, who was baptized at Her Bizattord, Feb. 5, 1597-8. / SHAKSPEARE’S WILL. 605 William Reynolds, gent. twenty-six shillings eight-pence, to buy him a ring; to my godson, William Walker’, twenty shillings in gold; to Anthony Nash», gent. twenty-six shillings eight-pence; and to Mr. John Nash', twenty-six shillings eight-pence: and to my fellows, John Hemynge, Richard Burbage, and Henry Cundell?, twenty-six shillings eight-pence apiece, to buy them rings. Item, I give, will, bequeath, and devise, unto my daughter Susanna Hall, for better enabling of her to perform this my will, and towards the performance thereof, all that capital messuage or tenement, with the appur- tenances, in Stratford aforesaid, called The New Place, | ‘ wherein I now dwell, and two messuages or tenéments, Zon 44 ~—-/ “pf Tes i with the appurtenances, situate, lying, and being in Cet . Henley-street, within the borough of Stratford aforesaid ; “=. '- and all my barns, stables, orchards, gardens, lands, tene- =~ Via | : 8 —to my godson William Walker.] This godson of our } author was the son of Mr. Henry Walker, who was elected an Alderman of Stratford, January 3, 1605-6. William was bap- tized at Stratford, October 16, 1608. I mention this circum- stance, because it ascertains that our author was at his native : town in the autumn of that year. Mr. William Walker was buried at Stratford, March, 1679-80. i 9 — to Antony Nash,] He was father of Mr. Thomas Nash, | who married our poet's grand-daughter, Elizabeth Hall. He : lived, I believe, at Welcombe, where his estate lay; and was buried at Stratford, Nov. 18, 1622. | . 1 —to Mr. John Nash,] This gentleman died at Stratford, } and was buried there, Nov. 10, 1623. 2 — to my fellows, John Hemynge, Richard Burbage, and Henry Cundell.] These our poet’s fellows did not very long sur- vive him. Burbage died in March, 1619; Cundell in December, 1627; and Heminge in October, 1630. See their wills in the Account of our old Actors in the third volume. 606 SHAKSPEARE’S WILL. ments, and hereditaments whatsoever, situate, lying, and Bes cay being, or to be had, received, perceived 3, or taken, within Copia wa the towns, hamlets, villages, fields, and grounds of t——"7// "7 Stratford-upon-Avon, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and wc & ~ “-“Welcombe 4, or in any of them, in the said county of ZOE" Warwick’; and> ulsolahat messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, situate, lying, and being, in the Blackfriars in London near the Wardrobe ‘; and all other my lands, tenements, and hereditaments whatsoever; to have and to hold all 3 — received, perceived,] Instead of these words, we have hitherto had in all the printed copies of this will reserved, preserved. 4 — Old Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcombe,] The lands of Old Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcome, here devised, were in Shakspeare’s time a continuation of one large field, all in the pa- rish of Stratford. Bishopton is two miles from Stratford, and Welcombe one. For Bishopton, Mr. Theobald erroneously printed Bushazton, and the errour has been continued in all the subsequent editions. The word in Shakspeare’s original will is Bushopton, the vulgar pronunciation of Bishopton. I searched the Indexes in the Rolls chapel from the year 1589 to 1616, with the hope of finding an enrolment of the purchase ' deed of the estate here devised by our poet, and of ascertaining its extent and value; but it was not enrolled duting that period, nor could I find any inquisition taken after his death, by which its value might have been ascertained. I suppose it was conveyed by the former owner to Shakspeare, not by bargain and sale, but by a deed of feoffment, which it was not necessary to enroll. 5 — that messuage or tenement—in the Blackfriars in London near THE WaRDROBE;] This was the house which was mort- gaged to Henry Walker. By the Wardrobe is meant the King’s Great Wardrobe, a royal house, near Puddle Wharf, purchased by King Edward the Third from Sir John Beauchamp, who built it. King Richard: III. was lodged in this house in the'second year of his reign. . See Stowe’s K é y M 5 me y : . SA Lrews Zane e 60 tOe "SO Oke ae piss LTS 4 ~ 7 = ‘ oi i ae AE CHE A G20 Co . ; PP LAE | ye ge ee Fae he Cnr D Giy® «n° aes Shwe, 4 /46 ti f sot — SHAKSPEARE’S WILL. 607 and singular the said premises, with their appurtenances, unto the said Susanna Hall, for and during the term of her natural life; and after her decease to the first son of her body lawfully issuing, and to the heirs males of the body of the said first son lawfully issuing ; and for default of such issue, to the second son of her body lawfully issuing, and to the heirs males of the body of the said second son lawfully issuing ; and for default of such heirs, to the third son of the body of the said Susanna lawfully issuing, and to the heirs males of the body of the said third son lawfully issuing; and for default of such issue, the same so to be and remain to the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh -_ sons of her body, lawfully issuing one after another, and to the heirs males of the bodies of the said fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh sons lawfully issuing, in such manner as it is before limited to be and remain to the first, second, and third sons of her body, and to their heirs males ; and for default of such issue, the said premises to be and remain to my said niece Hall, and the heirs males of her body lawfully issuing; and for default of such issue, to my daughter Judith, and the heirs males of her body law- fully issuing ; and for default of such issue, to the right heirs of me the said William Shakspeare for ever. Item, I give unto my wife my second-best bed, with potty: ae the furniture °, one foie i ae Survey, p. 693, edit. 1618. After the fire of London this office was kept in the Savoy; but it is now abolished. 6 —my szconp-best bed, with the furniture.] Thus Shak- speare’s original will. Mr. Theobald and the other modern edi- tors have been more bountiful to Mrs. Shakspeare, having printed instead of these words, “— my brown best bed, with the fur- niture.” Matone. It appears, in the original will of Shakspeare (now in the Pre-7. 3 rogative-Office, Doctors’ Commons), that he had forgot his wife ; no Som fete woe the legacy to her being expressed by an interlineation, as well asi G oy ae those to Heminge, Burbage, and Condell. Tis ieee Ss binnt Kae Bete Yr x yee aah fee eng € 5 ' VS ere 1 al eee i ke OF ae oka Ax he.3. oa 608 . SHAKSPEARE’S: WILL. Item, I give and bequeath to my said daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bowl. All the rest of my goods, chattels, leases, plate, jewels, and household-stuff what-_ soever, after my debts and legacies paid, and my funeral expences discharged, I give, devise, and bequeath to my son-in-law, John Hall, gent. and my daughter Susanna his wife, whom I ordain and make executors of this my — last will and testament. And I do entreat and appoint the said Thomas Russel, esq. and Francis Collins, gent. to be overseers hereof. And do revoke all former wills, and publish this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand, the day — and year first above-written. By me® WiLi1AM SHAKSPEARE, Witness to the publishing hereof, Fra. Collyns 7, Julius Shaw , John Robinson 9, Hamnet Sadler ', Robert Whattcoat. Probatum fuit testamentum suprascriptum apud London, coram Magistro William Byrde, Legum Doctore, &c. vicesimo secundo die mensis Juni, Anno Domini 1616; juramento Johannis Hall unius ex. cui, &c. de bene, &c. jurat. reservata potestate, &c. Susanne Hall alt. ex. &c. eam cum venerit, &c. petitur. &c.* The will is written on three sheets of paper, the two last of which are undoubtedly subscribed with Shakspeare’s own hand. The first indeed has his name in the margin, but it differs some- what in spelling as well as manner, from the two signatures that follow. The reader will find a fac-simile of all the three, as well as those of the witnesses, on the opposite page. Srezvens. 6 By me William Shakspeare.] This was the mode of our poet’s time. Thus the Register of Stratford is signed at the bot- tom of each page, in the year 1616, “* Per me Richard Watts, SHAKSPEARE’S WILL. 609 Minister.” These concluding words have hitherto been inaccu- rately exhibited thus: “ — the day and year first above-written, by me William Shakspeare.” Neither the day, nor year, nor any | preceding part of this will, was written by our poet. ‘‘ By me,” | &c. only means— The above is the will of me William Shakspeare. | te — Fra. Collins.] See p. 604, n. 6. ir _ * — Julius Shaw—] was born in Sept. 1571. He married | bes Boyes, May 5, 1594; and died at Stratford, where he was buried, June 24, 1629. ® — John Robinson.] John, son of Thomas Robinson, was oni at Stratford, Nov. 30, 1589. I know not when he died. — Hamnet Sadler.] See p. 604, n. 7. ? The total omission of his wife's name by Shakspeare i in the first draft of his will, and the very moderate legacy he afterwards inserted, has created a suspicion that his affections were estranged from her either through jealousy or some other cause. But if we may suppose that some provision had been made for her during his life-time, the bequest of his second-best bed was probably con- sidered in those days neither as uncommon nor reproachful. Sir Thomas Lucy, the younger, by his will in 1600, of which I find an account among Mr. Malone's Adversaria, leaves to his second ‘son, Richard, his second-best horse, but no land, because his father- in-law had promised to provide for him. Shakspeare’s not re- collecting at first"to mention her name at all, will be no great Z 4. <2<. « subject of surprise, when we recollect the remarkable instances of F eae Oe ee forgetfulness which perpetually occur in documents of this na-_7~ ee ture. He had forgotten also, at first, his fellows, Heminge, Bur-“—~* “~*~ bage, and Condell, upon whom he certainly did not intend to fixa stigma. If he had taken offence at any part of his wife's conduct, I cannot believe that he would have taken this petty mode of ex- pressing it. Boswext. VOL, Il. 2k 7 7 7 4 ty (eee fi 4 aw Ltn { LA = AT dew f id : sy lb Ltn, : Po z. 4 Pr Vas I as “ / ¥ re has i gi 5 WE AOS, Se t peas Coe € vr Caen b ig 2 Ave * ; * ff i \ a ae “ Ae OV Rte AT. oe 4, ‘ Ci e—€ ~£ za STRATFORD REGISTER. Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, of the Shakspeare Family ; transcribed from the Register-Books of the Parish of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire +. “Z, tuoe ye jce “Sones, daughter to John Shakspere, was baptized ontm ts BA ae Sept. 15, 1558. eS Margaret, daughter of John Shakspere, was baptized Dec. 2, 1562. Margaret, daughter of John Shakspere, was buried April 30, 1563, £-. 3° As WILLIAM, son of John Shakspere, was baptized April i Wartmaeet 26, 1564°. | fs Tr Ty. ~ Johanna, daughter of Richard - Hathaway, otherwise An Coes ee rs ae: Gardiner, of Shottery’?, was baptized May 9, 1566. f 4 An inaccurate and very imperfect list of the baptisms, &c. of Bass Shakspeare’s family was transmitted by Mr. West some years ago 3 to Mr. Steevens. The list now printed I have extracted with f great care from the Registers of Stratford; and, I trust, it will be found correct. | [Those marked with an asterisk, according to Mr. Malone’s hypothesis, did not belong to the poet’s family. See p. 51.) 5 This lady’ Mr. West supposed to have married the ancestor of the Harts of Stratford; but he was certainly mistaken. She died probably in her infancy. The wife of Mr. Hart was un- doubtedly the second Jone, mentioned below. Her son Michae was born in the latter end of the year 1608, at which time she was above thirty-nine years old. The elder Jone would then have been near fifty. FT ETL he eine pen eee ia © He was born three days before, April 23, 1564. I have said | eas see aa this on the faith of Mr. Green, who, I find, made the extract from | ee ae =~ 4-122 the register which Mr. West gave Mr. Steevens; but quere, how He LRG did Mr, Green ascertain this fact? A 4 ti—--7% Doan m WopReee i irae 7 This Richard Hathaway of Shottery was probably the father wliose ed Begn wen lefty» Hl toy SO en 4 SOF mm on tae Be oy aN, CRM ba Bd Tame bow vO". Fhe fame te BG “so . = = y- Fe Lcd Tee oc 1 of nie & sont ~ ite - | Any ete Fhl, Sel Fics home EOL pre | Bey ce anges Rg hee. th 0. or. /. 7077. Beaten pene feo fay DK hes af a An ry, gee Phe or o _ STRATFORD REGISTER. 611 Gilbert, son of John Shakspere, was baptized Oct. 13, 1566. Jone*, daughter of John’Shakspere, was baptized April 15, Z ~.. 4. 4% 1569. 5G Be Le Anne, daughter of Mr. John Shakspere, was baptized ~~ cH i LO. >: Sept. 28, 1578. sees! 1577, 4 #77 Aislin tie Richard, son of Mr. John Shakspere, was baptized March 11, 1573 [1573-4]. Anne, daughter of Mr. John Shakspere, was buried April 4, 1579. Edmund, son of Mr. John Shakspere, was baptized May 3, « a. — 4 <-4* L., 1580. | Ig ganas Susanna, daughter of WittiaM SHaKsPeERe, was bap- 922% <4 teint’ tized May 26; 1583. Elizabeth, daughter of Anthony Shakspere, of Hampton 9, was baptized February 10, 1583 [1583-4]. to Anne Hathaway, our poet's wife. There is no entry of her baptism, the Register not commencing till 1558, two years after. g- £66, she was born. ‘Thomas, the son of this Richard Hathaway, was baptized at Stratford, April 12, 1569; John, another son, Feb. 3, 1574; and William, another son, Noy. 30, 1578. 8 It was common in the age of Queen Elizabeth to give the same christian name to two children successively. (Thus, Mr. Sadler, who was godfather to Shakspeare’s son, had two sons who were baptized by the name of John.) This was un- L donbtedly done in the present instance. The former Jone having probably died, (though I can find no entry of her burial in the Register, nor indeed of many of the other children of John Shaks- peare) the name of Jone, a very favourite one in those days, was - transferred to another new-born child. This latter Jone married f Mr. William Hart, a hatter in Stratford, some time, as I con- jecture, in the year 1599, when she was thirty years old; for her eldest son William was baptized there, August 28, 1600. There is no entry of her marriage in the Register. 9 There was also a Mr. Henry Shakspeare settled at Hampton- Lucy, as appears from the Register of that parish : 2R2 612 STRATFORD REGISTER. * John Shakspere° and Margery Roberts were married pecacee aes Nov. 25, 1584. ,/o@-~< Hamnet' and Judith, son and daughter of Wiuraaak fe fol ee x oy SHAKSPERE, were py or gps February. 2, 1584 foe oe [684-61 tevtenre CEs ates tee Lettice, daughter of Henry Saket iaclnistiak June 10, pai Fi yf pa: see James, son of Henry Shakspeare, was baptized, October 15, alas 3 nor p- 1586. ar Ay James, son of Henry Shakspeare, was buried September 25, 1589. There was a Thomas Shakspeare settled at Warwick; for in the Rolls Chapel I found the inrolment of a deed made in the 44th year of Queen Elizabeth, conveying ‘* to Thomas Shak- speare of Warwick, yeoman, Sachbroke, alias Bishop-Sachbroke, in Com. Warw.” Matone. t Mr. West, or Mr. Green (who made the extract for him), imagined that our poet’s only son was christened by the name of Samuel, but he was mistaken. Mr. Hamnet Sadler, who was related, if I mistake not, to the Shakspeare family, appears to ib. have been sponsor to his son; and his wife, Mrs, Judith Sadler, of - to have been godmother to Judith, the other twin-child. The name Hamznet is written very distinctly both in the entry of the baptism and burial of this child. Hamnet and Hamlet seem to have been considered as the same name, and to have been used indiscriminately both in speaking and writing. Thus, this Mr. Hamnet Sadler, who is a witness to Shakspeare’s Will, writes his christian name, Hamnet; but the scrivener who drew up the will, writes it Hamlet. There is the same variation in the Re- gister of Stratford, where the name is spelt in three or four diffe- _ rent ways. Thus among the baptisms we find in 1591, “* May 26, | John filius Hamletti Sadler ;” and in 1583, “ Sept. 13, Margaret, daughter to Hamlet Sadler.” But in 1588, Sept. 20, we find, «John, son to Hamnet Sadler; in 1596, April 4, we have eff con / “ Judith, filia Hamnet Sadler ;" in 1597-8, ** Feb: 3, Wilelmus, tf / filius Hambnet Sadler; and in 1599, * April 28, Francis, filius Hamnet Sadler.” This Mr. Sadler died in 1624, and the entry | of his burial, which was made by Mr. Simon Trappe, curate of the STRATFORD REGISTER - 613 * Margery, wife of John Shakspere, was buried: Oct. 29, 1587. * Thomas *, son of Richard Queeny, was baptized -aiah 26, 1588 [1588-9]. * Ursula’, daughter of John Shakspere, was. baptized March 11, 1588 [1588-9]. * Thomas Greene, alias Shakspere 4; was buried March 6, 1589 [1589-90]. parish, stands thus: * 1624, Oct, 26, Hamlet Sadler.” So also in that of his wife: ‘* 1623, March 23, Judith, uxor Hamlet Sadler.” The name of Hamlet occurs in several other entries in the Re- gister. Oct. 4, 1576, ‘ Hamlet, son to Humphry Holdar,” was. buried ; and Sept. 28, 1564, ‘‘ Catharina, uxor Hamoleti Hassal.” Mr. Hamlet Smith, formerly of the borough of Stratford, is one of the benefactors annually commemorated there. Our poet’s only son, Hamnet, or Hamlet, died in 1596, in the twelfth year of his age. 2 This gentleman married our poet's youngest daughter. He had three sisters, Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary, and five brothers ; Adrian, born in 1586, Richard, born in 1587, William, born in 1593, John in 1597, and George, baptized April 9, 1600. George, was curate of the parish of Stratford, and died of a consumption. He was buried there April 11, 1624. In Doctor Hall's pocket- book is the following entry relative to him: ‘¢ 38, Mr. Quiney, tussi gravi cum magna phlegmatis copia, et cibi vomitu, feb. lenta debilitatus,” &c. The case concludes thus: ‘* Annoseq. (no year is mentioned in the case, but the preceding case is dated 1624,) in hoc malum incidebat. Multa frustra tentata ;—placide cum Domino dormit. Fuit boni indolis, et pro juveni omnifariam doctus.” 3 This Ursula, and her brothers Humphrey and Philip, ap- pear to have been the children of John Shakspeare the shoemaker. 4 A great many names occur in this Register, with an alias, the meaning of which it is not very easy to ascertain. I should have supposed that the persons thus described were illegitimate ; but that inthe Register we frequently find the word bastard ex-~ pressly added to the names of the children baptized. bf. (O04 Lh rte. aay hheng- 614 STRATFORD REGISTER. * Humphrey, son of John Shakspere, was baptized May 24, 1590. * Philip, son of John Shakspere, sia bnghicnd Sept. 21, 1591. Thomas 5, son of Mr. Anthony Nash, was baptized June 20, 1593. Hamnet, son of Wittiam SuHaksPeare, was buried Aug. 11, 1596. William, son of William Hart, was baptized Aug. 28, 1600. *y. ae... .... Mr.John Shakspeare was buried Sept. 8, 1601. _ <-*: <—*~ “& Mr. Richard Quiney®, Bailiff of Stratford, was buried te foo. May 31, 1602. Mary, daughter of William Hart, was baptized June 5, 1603. Thomas, son of William Hart, hatter, was baptized July 24, 1605. The Rev. Mr. Davenport observes to me that there are two fa- milies at present in Stratford, (and probably several more) that are distinguished by an alias. ‘‘'The real name of one of these families is Roberts, but they generally go by the name of Burford. The ancestor of the family came originally from Burford in Ox- fordshire, and was frequently called from this circumstance by the name of Burford, This name has prevailed, and they are always now called by it; but they write their name, Roberts, alias Burford, and are so entered in the Register. “The real name of the other family is Smith, but they are more known by the name of Buck. The ancestor of this family, from some circumstance or other, obtained the nickname of Buck, and they now write themselves Smith, alias Buck. 5 This gentleman married our poet’s grand-daughter, Eliza- beth Hall. His father, Mr. Anthony Nash, lived at Welcombe, (where he had an estate), as appears by the following entry of the baptism of another of hissons: ‘‘ 1598, Oct. 15, John, son to Mr. Anthony Nash, of Welcombe.” 6 This was the father of Mr. Thomas Quiney, who married Shakspeare’s youngest daughter. pie Bp Snore, eee ote Gee a gf Fats & 380 F* 282s # Brficeclesbe tt ee ee Lud, aL ss Reels Sf bpd me Aan ca tu fnnt? v4 fe fe Ai lay ve Ae ie 5 fll ates Soy Ane pfs Mt. YF SAE hod Gasca Wah aS ann: oe Min~ fins y ¢ Les “ eo > on cap palelitn’ Ja hehe ot.s9 49 i ee anaes Hin ti Fane, Pasi caltee 5 aes ano filly Comcnn, Ahan Lreacesn Sha Be eben, SPP a eS, STRATFORD REGISTER: ri >< John Hall, quien and Susanna Shakspere, were mar- 4 ##— -< #«.— ried June 5, 1607. Mary, daughter of William. Hart, was buried Dec. 17, 1607. Elizabeth, daughter of John Hall, gentleman, was bap- ~<~- * st tized Feb. 21, 1607 (1607-8). 0 Ghani Mary Sh Shakepere, widow, was buried Sept. 9, 1608. Michael,”s bon of William Hart, was baptized Sept. 23, 1608. epee oe Lros ~ Gilbert Shakspeare, adolescens ’, was buried Feb. 3, 1611 (1611-12). Richard Shakspere, was buried February 4, 1612 (1612-13). Thomas Queeny and Judith” Shakspere were married ¢,..-4.. han 79 FS Feb. 10, 1615 [1615-16]. Die ie William Hart *, hatter, was buried April 17, 1616. WILLIAM SHAKSPERE®, gentleman, was beried | || ee 25, 1616". I Gh) Pomel Shakspere, son of Thomas Quiney, gentleman, was bap- [ tized Nov. 23, 1616. | Shakspere, son of Thomas Quiney, gentleman, was 8 buried May 8, 1617. Richard, son of Thomas Quiney, was baptized Feb. 9, 1617 [1617-18]. Thomas, son of Thomas Quiney, was baptized Aug. 29, 1619. 7 This was probably a son of Gilbert Shakspeare, our poet's brother. When the elder Gilbert died, the Register does not inform us; but he certainly died before his son. w 8 This William Hart was our poet’s brother-in-law. He died, fn fi rae it appears, a few days before Shakspeare. 9 Hedied, as appears from his monument, April 23d. 1 No one hath protracted the: Life of Shakspeare beyond 1616, except Mr. Hume, who is pleased to add a year to it, contrary to all manner of evidence. Farmer. 616 STRATFORD REGISTER. Anthony Nash, Esq. was buried Nov. 18,1622. - fo» ise v Mrs. Shakspere 4 was buried Aug. 8, 1623. as Mr. Thomas Nash was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Hall, April 22, 1626. Ai 2-6 <7 7 Thomas 5, son of Thomas Hart, was map April 13, 1634. Dr. John Hall* [* medicus pevtisimus *), was Ber Nov. 26, 1635. 3 Father of Mr. Thomas Nash, the husband of Elizabeth Hall. Faw (ohare J _name was Anne Hathaway, died, as appears "feden her tomb-stone eee a A at the age of 67, and consequently was near eight years older “= “than herhusband. The following is the inscription on her tomb- Pitas pote Stone in the Church of Stratford : «* Here lyeth interred the body of Anne, wife of William Shakespeare, who departed this life the 6th day of August 1623, being of the age of 67 years.” After this inscription followsix Latin verses not worth preserving. Lhave not been able to ascertain when or where they were mar- ried, but suspect the ceremony was performed at Billesley, in August 1582. The register of that parish is lost. S It appears from Lady Barnard’s will that this Thomas Hart was alive in 1669. The Register does not ascertain the time of his death, nor that of his father. 6 Susanna’s husband, Dr. John Hall, is interred in the chancel of the church of Stratford near his wife. The following is a transcript of his will, extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury : “The last Will and Testament nuncupative of John Hall of Stratford-upon-Avon in the county of Warwick, Gent. made and declared the five and twentieth of November, 1635. Imprimis, I give unto my wife my house in London. Item, I give unto my daughter Nash my house in Acton. Item, I give unto my daughter Nash my meadow. Item, I give my goods and money unto my wife and my daughter Nash, to be equally divided betwixt them. Item, concerning my study of books, I leave them, said he, to you, my son Nash, to dispose of them as you see good, As for my STRATFORD REGISTER, 617 George, son of Thomas Hart, was baptized Sept. 18, 1636. manuscripts, I would have given them to Mr. Boles, if he had been here; but forasmuch he is not here present, you may, son Nash, burn them, or do with them what you please. Witnesses hereunto, «* Thomas Nash, : ** Simon Trapp.” The testator not having appointed any executor, administration was granted to his widow, Nov. 23, 1636. Some at least of Dr. Hall’s manuscripts escaped the flames, one of them being yet extant. See p. 505. I could not, after a very careful search, find the will of Susanna Hall in the Prerogative-office, nor is it. preserved in the Archives of the diocese of Worcester, the Registrar of which diocese at my request very obligingly examined the indexes of all the wills proved in his office between the years 1649 and 1670; but i in vain. The town of Stratford-upon-Avon is in that diocese, The inscriptions on the tomb-stones of our poet's favourite daughter and her husband are as follows : “Here lyeth the body of John Hall, Gent. he marr, Susanna, q ye daughter and co-heire of Will. Shakspeare, Gent. he deceased : Noy, 25, A°. 1635, aged 60.” 7 « Hallius hic situs est, medica celeberrimus arte, ' ___., * Expectans regni gaudia leta Dei. + Dignus erat meritis qui Nestora vinceret annis ; fu f t08. « In terris omnes sed rapit @c equa dies. « Ne tumulo quid desit, adest fidissima conjux, “ Et vitee comitem nunc quoque mortis habet.” These verses should seem, from the last two lines, not to have been inscribed on Dr. Hall’s tomb-stone till 1649. Perhaps in- deed the last distich only was then added. ’ Here lyeth the body of Susanna, wife to John Hall, Gent. y* daughter of William Shakspeare, Gent. She deceased the ' 2” 11th of July, A°. 1649, aged 66.” A Shc itde aa frfen f Pt “« Witty above her sexe, but that’s not all, we tne 1 fata “ Wise to salvation was good Mistriss Hall. Thu 110 i Sho 618 STRATFORD REGISTER. Thomas, son of Thomas Quiney, was buried Jan. 28, 1638 [1638-9]. “ Something of Shakspeare was in that, but this “ Wholy of him’with whom she’s now in blisse. “ Then, passenger, hast ne’re a teare, **To weepe with her that wept with all: ‘* That wept, yet set her selfe to chere ** Them up with comforts cordiall. “ Her love shall live, her mercy spread, ** When thou hast ne’re a teare to shed.” The foregoing English verses, which are preserved by Dugdale, are not now remaining, half of the tomb-stone having been cut away, and another half stone joined to it; with the following inscription on it—‘‘ Here lyeth the body of Richard Watts of Ryhon-Clifford, in the parish of old Stratford, Gent. who de- parted this life the 23d of May, Anno Dom. 1707, and in the 46th year of his age.” This Mr. Watts, as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, was owner of, and lived at the estate of Ryhon-Clifford, which was once the property of Dr. Hall. Elizabeth, our poet’s grand-daughter, who appears to have been a favourite, Shakspeare having left her by his will a memorial of his affection, though she at that time was but eight years old, was born in February 1607-8, as appears by an entry in the Register of Stratford, which Mr, West omitted in the transcript with which he furnished Mr. Steevens. I learn from the same Register that she was married in 1626: ‘* Marriaces. April 22, 1626, Mr. Thomas Nash to Mistriss Elizabeth Hall.” It should be remem- bered that every unmarried lady was called Mistress till the time of George I. Hence our author's Mistresse Anne Page. Nor in speaking of an unmarried lady could her Christian name be omitted, as it often is at present; for then no distinction would have remained between her and her mother. Some married ladies indeed were distinguished from their daughters by the title of Madam, The following is the inscription on Mr, Nash’s tomb-stone in the chancel of the church of Stratford: ‘“* Here resteth y*body of Thomas Nashe, Esq. He mar. Eli- STRATFORD REGISTER. - 619 Richard, son of Thomas Quiney, was buried Feb. 26, 1638 [1638-9]. zabeth the daugh, and heire of John Hall, Gent. He died April 4th, A°. 1647, aged 53.” ‘ Fata manent omnes; hunc non virtute carentem, “ Ut neque divitiis, abstulit atra dies. ** Abstulit, at referet lux ultima. Siste, viator ; “« Si peritura paras, per male parta peris,” The letters printed in Italicks are now obliterated. By his last will, which is in the Prerogative-Office, dated Au- gust 26, 1642, he bequeathed to his well beloved wife, Elizabeth <><. Nash, and her assigns, for her life (in lieu of jointure and <2. “7 Yes thirds), one messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, / situate in the Chapel Street in Stratford, then in the tenure and occupation of Joan Norman, widow; one meadow, known by the name of the Square Meadow, with the appurtenances, in the parish of old Stratford, lying near unto the great stone-bridge of Stratford; one other meadow with the appurtenances, known by the name of the Wash Meadow; one little meadow with the appurtenances, adjvining to the said Wash Meadow; and also all London, his heirs and assigns (inter alia), the messuage or ah Ane pe tenement, then in his own occupation, called The New-Place, © ~~ —— situate in the Chapel Street, in Stratford; together with all and singular houses, outhouses, barns, stables, orchards, gardens, ease- ments, profits, or commodities, to the same belonging ; and also four-yard land of arable land, meadow, and pasture, with the appur- tenances, lying and being in the common fields of Old Stratford, with all the easements, profits, commons, commodities, and here- ditaments, of the same four-yard lands belonging ; then in the tenure, use, and occupation of him the said Thomas Nash; and one other messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, situate in the parish of » in London, and called or known by the name of The Wardrobe, and then in the tenure, use, and occupation of ——— Dickes. And from and after the death of his said wife, he bequeaths the meadows above named, and devised to her for life, to his said cousin Edward Nash, his heirs and assigns for ever. b bain 620 ; STRATFORD REGISTER. LO 2 hig hes 3: : 1 William Hart 7 was buried March 29, 1639. | Mary, daughter of Thomas Hart, was ‘baptized June 18, 1641. Joan Hart, widow, was buried Nov. 4, 1646. . Thomas Nash, Esq. was buried April 5, 1647: ho Zhe 4 Py £14) _ Mrs. Susanna Hall, widow, was buried i July 16, 1649. After various other bequests, he directs that one hundred pounds, at the least, be laid out in mourning gowns, cloaks, and apparel, to be distributed among his kindred and friends, in such mammer as his executrix shall think fit. He appoints his wife Elizabeth Nash his residuary legatee, and sole executrix, and ordains Edmund Rawlins, William Smith, and John Easton, overseers of his will, to which the witnesses are John Such, Michael Jonson, and Samuel Rawlins. ? : By a nuncupative codicil dated on the day of his death, April 4th, 1647, he bequeaths (énter alia) “ to his mother Mrs. Halk fifty pounds; to Elizabeth Hathaway fifty pounds ;-to Thomas’ Hathaway fifty pounds; to Judith Hathaway ten pounds; to his uncle Nash and his aunt, his cousin Sadler and his wife, his cousin Richard Quiney and his wife, his cousin Thomas Quiney and his wife, twenty shillings each, to buy them rings.” The meadows which by his will he had devised to his wife for life, he by this codicil devises to her, her heirs and assigns, for ever, to the end that they may not be severed from her own land; and he ‘‘ appoints and declares that the inheritance of his land given to his cousin Edward Nash should be by him settled, after his decease, upon his son Thomas Nash, and his heirs, and for want of such heirs then to remain and descend to his own ss heirs.” It is observable that in this will the testator makes no mention of any child, and there is no entry of any issue of his marriage in the Register of Stratford; Ihave no doubt, therefore, that he died without issue. It has been supposed that the family of Miller of Hide-Hall, in the county of Herts, were descended from Dr. Hall’s daughter Elizabeth ; and to prove this fact, the following pedigree was transmitted some years ago by Mr. Whalley to Mr. Steevens : STRATFORD REGISTER. 621 Mr. Richard Queeny °, gent. of London, was buried May 23, 1656. George Hart, son of Thomas Hart, was married by Francis Smyth, Justice of peace, to Hester Ludiate, daughter of Thomas Ludiate, Jan. 9, 1657 [1657-8]... Elizabeth, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Jan. 9, 1658 [1658-9]. Jane, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Dec. 21, 1661. Judith, wife of Thomas Quiney, gent. was buried Feb. 9, 1661 [1661-2). John Hall=—=Susanna, dough ter and co-heiress of Ty William Shakspeare. Elizabeth fai a tever Nash, Esq. at iy A daughter = bg Reginald Forster, of Warwickshire. Franklyn Miller—Jane Forster. of Hide-Hall, co. Hertford. Nicholas hen Tak venctarpestct Nicholas 1 Miller of Hide- Hall, the only surviving branch _ ‘of the family of Miller. But this pedigree is founded on a mistake, and there is un- doubtedly no lineal descendant of Shakspeare now living. The mistake was, the supposing that Sir Reginald Forster married a daughter of Mr. Thomas Nash and Elizabeth Hall, who had no issue, either by that gentleman or her second husband, Sir John Barnard. Sir Reginald Forster married the daughter of Edward Nash, Esq. of East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, cousin- german to Mr. Thomas Nash; and the pedigree ought to have been formed thus : 4 STRATFORD REGISTER. ” Saisie daughter of George Hart, was baptized March 18, 1663-4]. re ta poe Tho. Nesh=-Elizabeth eee John Barnard. ~ a Nosh =| oe Thomas Nash. wad Nash. Mary a ab nb Forster, Esq. rds Sir Regi- ae wid? Posts: Bart. | Reginald Forster. Mary Forster. Franklyn Miller—Jane Forster. of Hide-Hall, co. Hertford, Will. Norcliffe, Esq.—=Jane Miller. Nicholas nie Came Nicholas Franklyn Miller ss A —— Mundy, Esq. 7 —Miller. | Edward Miller Mu the present owner of mieten, That I am right in this statement, appears from the will of Edward Nash (see p, 619), and from the following jinscription on a monument in the church of Stratford, erected some time after the year 1733, by Jane Norcliffe, the wife of William Nor- cliffe, Esq. and only daughter of Franklyn Miller, by Jane Forster : * P.M.S, ** Beneath lye interred the body's of Sir Reginald Forster, Ba- ronet, and dame Mary his wife, daughter of Edward Nash of STRATFORD REGISTER. 623 ‘ Shakspeare, son of George Hart, was baptized Nov. 18, 1666. East Greenwich, in the county of Kent,” &c. For this inscrip- tion I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Davenport, Vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon. Reginald Forster, Esq. who lived at Greenwich, was created a Baronet, May 4, 1661. His son Reginald, who married Miss Nash, succeeded to the title on the death of his father, some time after the year 1679. Their only son, Reginald, was buried at Stratford, Aug. 10, 1685; and their daughter Jane, the wife of Francklyn Miller, Esq. was buried there in Feb. 1731-2. Mrs. Elizabeth Nash was married to her second husband, Sir 44. . han hor ( John Barnard, at Billesley, about three miles from Stratford- ers Hf 3, Query if The Winter's Tale.. Srzevens. —s Sas LF 4 This could not have been the work of Shakspeare, as the death of Jane:Shore makes no part of his drama. Srezvens. The play here entered, I believe to have been The true Tragedy’ of Richard the Third, which will be found appended to Shak- speare’s drama in this edition. Boswexx. 636 ENTRIES ON THE July 20; 1594. Tho. Creede.] The lamentable Tragedie of Lo- crine, the eldest Sonne of K. Brutus, discoursinge the Warres of the Britans, &e. CCFC SCE SESE HEHEHE EHOH HOES 310 b. 5 Vol. C. [Before the beginning of this volume are placed two leaves containing irregular entries, prohibi- tions, notes, &c. Among these are the fol- me 6 Aug. 4th. “av0o- 4 ay As You Like It, a book. eit Henry the Fift, a book 5. be be staied. Comedy of Much Ado about Nothing. The dates scattered over these pages are from | 1596 to 1615. Dec. 1, 1595. Cuthbert Burby.] A book entituled Edward the Third and the Black Prince, their Warres with Kinge John of Fraunce®. ........ 6 Aug.5, 1596. Edw. White.] A newe ballad of Romeo and NMHC T os vacate sce Cavened cna tees 12 b. Aug. 15, 1597. Rich, Jones.] Two ballads, beinge the ffirste and 5 Probably the play before that of Glebtiienres Aubalclenl Surely this must have been Shakspeare’s Henry V. whichy:a as well as Much Ado About. Nothing, was printed in'1600, when this entry appears to have been ‘made. See the Essay onthe chronological order of Shakspeare’s plays ; article, As You Like It,, Martone. 6 This is ascribed to Shakspeare by the comnlieis of ancient catalogues. STEEVENS. 7 Query, if Shakspeare’s» play, the first edition of which _ peared in 1597. SrEEveENs, : 5 ‘ STATIONERS’ REGISTERS. 637 second parts of the Widowe of Watling- streete §, steeeeeeseeeereeesereeeeee oe D, Aug. 29, 1597. : Andrew Wise.] The tragedye of Richard the Seconde aie.enh sae ebb shan ewawatees 20 Oct. 20, 1597. Andrew Wise.] The tragedie of Kinge Richard the Third, with the Death of the Duke OF Clarened ocscccscdecvedeseecutece: op Feb. 25, 1597, - Andrew Wise.] A booke entitled” the Historye >». “77 of Henry the Fourth, with his Battaile at Shrewsburye against Henry Hott- spurre of the Northe with the conceipted Mirth of Sir John Falstalffe .......... 31 July 22, 1598. James Robertes.] A booke of the Marchaunt of Venyce, or otherwise called the Jewe of Venyse. Provided that yt bee not prynted by the said James Roberts or anye other whatsoever, without lycence first had of the right honourable the Lord Cham- Derlen ..cccccvcescvecreccosccescecs OF De [r Aug. 4, [1600.7 ‘ 24 As You Like It, abook.. Henry the Ffift, a book. fh 030, Hosta Every Man in his Humour, a book. The elf? SirehE Comedie of Much Adoo about Nothinge, veh a book. ® Perhaps the songs on which the play with the same title was founded. It may, however, be the play itself. It was not un- | common to divide one dramatick piece, though designed for a : single exhibition, into two parts. See the King John before that of Shakspeare. Szzgvens. | | | * _ /ENTRIES ON THE. . | Aug. 11, 1600.,, Tho. Pavier-] First. Part. of the History; ‘of the Life of Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham. %: farmer frsnnn ke Item, The Second and last Parte of bo bovis, i 7 the History of Sir John Oldcastell Lord AE Wend AES,” ~ Cophain, ‘with hi Mattyrdom's.5.., 62 Gantry eer Cat) Aug. 14, 1600. Tho. Pavyer.] The Historye of Henrye the Vth, — with the battel of Agencourt, &c...... 63 Aug. 23, 1600. And. Wise, and Wm. Aspley.] Muche Adoe about INQEUINGS » 09 0 065.00 cas « om s6-0a bane Second Part of the History of King — Henry the Fourth, with the Humors of Sir John Fallstaff, written by Mr. “SHAR WAVEMIG s cccs cides ce cee cecce Tie Oct. 8, 1600. Tho. Fysher.] A booke called a Mydsomer Nyghte DITCOIOG, 55.5 6 009.994 60-00 cesne toners Me Oct. 28, 1600. Tho. Haies.J] The book of the Merchant of Venyce. eee ee ee eee ee ee ee ee 66 si s Jan. 18, 1601. John Busby.] An excellent suit pleasant con- ; ceited commedie of Sir John’ Faulstof and the Merry Wyves of Windesor.... 78 Arth. Johnson.) The preceding entered as as- ’ signed to him from John Busby. ...... ibid. April 19, 1602. Tho. Pavier.] By Assignment from Tho. Mil- lington, Salvo jure cujus cumg. The 1st and 2d pts of Henry the VI. ii books: Tho. Pavyer.] Titus and Andronicus.......... 80 b. Aas 309- STATIONERS’ REGISTERS. 639 July 26, 1602. Fhetaa. Lb, othe James Roberts.] A booke The Revenge o wtf te beat [ig Hamlett prince of Denmarke, as Tethe Be aes latelie acted by the Lord Chamberlayn ante oe Beco his servantes. Ode oe ehewecccccccsces OF DK fons 29 wan va “Aug. 11, 1602. Wm. Cotton.] A booke called the Lyfe and Deathe of the Lord Cromwell, as yt was lately acted by the Lord Chamberleyn his servants syeys « OOo giads ccccceeeeee OD, Ds Feb. 7, 1602, — Mr. Roberts.]_ The booke of Troilus and Cres- seda, as yt is acted by my Lo. Cham- ee berlen’s men. Pee e Poem eeer ares ereene 91 b. “4 June 27, 1603. Matt. Law.] Richard 3. pan kings Richard 2, . Henry 4. Ist Part. Feb, 12, 1604, Nath. Poties.) Yf he get good allowance for the Enterlude of K. Henry 8, before he begyn to print it; and then procure the warden’s hands to it for the entrance of yt, he is to have the same for his copy». 120 May 8, 1605. Simon Stafford.] A booke called the’ tragicall Historie of Kinge Leir and his three Daughters, &c. as yt was latelie acted. 123 John Wright.) By assignment from Simon Staf- ford and consent of Mr. Leake, the tra- 98 9 This was a play entitled, “ When you see me you know me, or the famous Chronicle Historie of King Henrie the Eight,” &c. by Samuel Rowley. Printed for N. Butter, 1605. Matone. 6 640/4/ | ENTRIES ON THE, gical History of King Leire, and his three Daughters, provided that Simon Stafford shall have the printing of this book f, See rem men reser erersesrereses ibid. °' ‘July 3, 1605. Tho. Pavyer.] A ballad of lamentable Murther done in Yorkshire, by a Gent. upon two of his owne Children, sore wounding his Wyfe and Nurse’. .....scecceceesess 126 ' Jan. 22, 1606. Mr. Ling.] Romeo and Juliett. / Love’s Labour Loste. Taminge of a Shrewe......e+sese0+ 147 Aug.'6, 1607. 94 fas] Geo. Elde.] A booke called the Corhedie of the Puritan Wydowe. eeeeeeeee eee ee eeee 157 b. Aug. 6, 1607. Tho. Thorp.] A comedie called What you Will? ibid. Oct. 22, 1607. Arth. Johnson.] The Merry Devil of Edmonton * 159 b. Nov. 19, 1607. om four John Smythick.]» A booke called Hontet(, © po ~The Taminge of a Shrewe. ' This is the King Lear before that of Shakspeare. Sreevens. 2 Query, if the play. Srzevens. 3 Perhaps this is Marston’s comedy of What You Will. I have a copy of it dated 1607. What. You Will, however, is the second title to Shakspeare’s Twelfth-Night. Srervens. . This was certainly Marston's play, for it was printed in 1607, by G. Eld, for T. Thorpe. Matone, 4 The Merry Devil of Edmonton is mentioned .in the Blacke Booke by T. M. 1604: ‘ Give him leave to see The Merry Divel of Edmunton, or A Woman Kill’d with Kindnesse.” | SrEEVENs.- Ko faarkamnk om BK EY buat ome SH of, 7. — Cne/f STATIONERS’ REGISTERS. phe i Romeo and Julett. : ‘Love’s Labour Lost. sicsi.eeessecces 161 Nov. 26, 1607. Nath. Butter and John Busby.] Mr. Willm. Shakespeare, his Hystorye of Kinge Lear, as yt was played before the King’s Majestie at Whitehall, upon St. Ste- phen’s night at Christmas last” by his x 26 Bee “lob. Majesties servants playing usually at the Globe on the Bank-side .......... 161 b. April 5, 1608. Joseph Hunt and Tho. Archer.] A book called ’ the Lyfe and Deathe of the Merry Devill of Edmonton, with the pleasant Pranks of Smugge the Smyth, Sir John, and mine Hoste of the George, about their stealing of Venison. By T. B.*.. 165 b. Aan 7 208 May 2, 1608. Mr. Pavyer.] A booke The Yorkshire Tragedy, written by Wylliam Shakespere ...... 167 May 20, 1608. (} 2? fe) Edw. Blount.) The book of Pericles Prynce of TYre...0,o0cicind akame deme te en's cle cep ieee Me A book called Anthony and Cleopatra’... ibid. 277 "he b Jan. 28, 1608. Richard Bonion and Hen. Whalleys.] A booke called the History of Troylus and Cres- BUNB . 2 ossicles IRE aoe SUS TEM X aneirteee 5 Bound up in a volume of plays attributed to Shakspeare, and once belonging to King Charles II. but now in Mr. Garrick’s ‘collection. The initial letters at the end of this entry, sufficiently free Shakspeare from the charge of having been its author. x STEEVENS. VOL. II: 2T 640 (¥ ’ ENTRIES ON THE May 20, 1609. Tho. ‘Thorpe. A booke called Shakespeare's BONNE ceevccccseccrgcrccsevccves 183 bz Oct. 16, 1609. Mr. Welby.] Edward the Third ,,............ 189 Dec. 16, 1611. Valin Brown.] A booke called the Lyfe and , Death of the Lo. Cromwell, by W. S... 214 b. : Nov. 29, 1614. John Beale.) A booke called the Hystory of George Lord Faulconbridge, bastard Sonne to Richard Cordelion* .....+.. 256 b. Feb. 16, 1616. Mr. Barrett.] Life and Death of Lord Cromwell 279 March 2, 1617. Mr. Snodham.] Edward the Third, the play.... 288 Sept. 17, 1618. John Wright.] The comedy called Mucedorus? 293 b, July 8, 1619. Lau. Hayes.] A play called the Merchant of VOMiIGs sO Nae ue ee eee es eee s mee tat ' Vol. D. Oct. 6, 1621. Tho. Walkely.} The tragedie of Othello the Moore of Vettige |... cugissececsspeep ame ® Query, if this was Shakspeare’s King John, or some old romance like that of Richard Coeur de Lion, Srgzvens. It was undoubtedly The Famous Historie of George Lord Fau- conbridge, a prose romance. I have an edition of it now before me printed for I, B, dated 1616, Matone, 7 Bound up in a in a volume of plays attributed to Shakspeare, and once belonging to King Charles the Second. See Mr. Garrick's collection, Srzevens. STATIONERS’ REGISTERS. 641 Noy, 8, 1623. ty Mr. Blounte and Isaak Jaggard.] Mr. William /¢e-p-7 24 Shakespeere’s Comedyes, Histories, and jy em Laan Keren Tragedyes, soe many of the said Copies -*7- qanig as are not fo { stuf a. are not. f rmerly entered to other pep ys Viz. eres The Tempest. ; | Gentlemen of Verona. Measure for Measure. Giiandyes The Comedy of Errors. * ) As You Like it. Alls Well that Ends Well. Twelfe Night. The Winter’s Tale. The Thirde* Parte of Henry the “x --«.-0 % Histories. { Sixt. font. Or Henry the Eight. — a ree *Coriolanus. Fan Oy poet Timon of Athens. Trigedics Julius Cesar. * ') Mackbeth. Anthonie and Cleopatra. Cymbeline...... oat ae wide Care 69 Dec. 14, 1624. . ; ‘Mr. Pavier.] Titus Andronnicus. Widdow of Watling Street .....,.... 93 Feb, 23, 1625. Mr, Stansby.] Edward the Third, the play .... 115 April 8, 1626. Mr. Parker-] Life and Death of Lord Cromwell 120 Aug, 4, 1626. Edw, Breyaters) Mr. Pavier’s right in Shake- Rob. Birde. J speare : plays, or any of them. TS 642 ‘ENTRIES ON THE The Historye of Hen. the fift, and the play of the same. Sir John Oldcastle, a play. Tytus Andronicus, and Hystorye of Hamblett .............. 127 Jan, 29, 1629, Mr. Meighen.] The Merry Wives of Winsor .. 193 Noy. 8, 1630. Ric. Cotes.] Henrye the Fift. Sir John Oldcastle. Tytus Andronicus. Yorke and Lancaster. Agincourt. Pericles. Hamblet. Yorkshire Tragedie ...........+ 208 The sixteen plays in p. 641, were assigned by Tho. Blount to Edward Allott, June 26, 1630.. 109. Edward Allott was one of the publishers of the second folio, 1632. It has hitherto been usual to represent the ancient quartos of our author as by far more incorrect than those of his contemporaries ; but, I fear that this representation has been continued by many of us, with a design to magnify our own services, rather than to exhibit a true state of the question. The reason why we have discovered a greater pro-_ portion of errors in the former than in the latter, is because we have sought after them with a greater degree of dili- gence ; for let it be remembered, that it was no more the practice of other writers than of Shakspeare, to correct the press for themselves. Ben Jonson only (who, being yersed in the learned languages, had been taught the GI) SAE AY BRI 7 fonrry betas aeg) he AML OA. fs: co stace, res J STATIONERS’ REGISTERS. 643, value of accuracy), appears to have superintended the. publication of his own dramatick pieces; but were those of Lyly, Chapman, Marlow, or the Heywoods, to be revised with equal industry, an editor would meet with as frequent opportunity for the exertion of his critical abilities, as in these quartos which have been so repeatedly censured by those who never took the pains to collate them, or justify the many valuable readings they contain ; for when the character of them which we have handed down, was originally given, among typographical blun- ders, &c. were enumerated all terms and expressions which were not strictly grammatical, or not easily under- stood. As yet we had employed in our attempts at ex- planation only such materials as casual reading had sup- plied; but how much more is requisite for the complete explanation of an early writer, the last edition of the | Sanpenbary Tales of Chaucer may prove a sufficient ‘witness; a work which in respect of accuracy and learn- \ing is without a rival, at least in any commentary on an ‘English poet. The reader will forgive me if I desert my subject fora moment, while I express an ardent wish that the same editor may find leisure and inclination to afford us the means of reading the other works of the father of our poetry, with advantages which we cannot derive from the efforts of those who have less deeply and successfully penetrated into the recesses of ancient Italian, French, and English literature—An author has received the highest marks of distinction, when he has engaged the services of such a commentator. The reader may perhaps be desirous to know by whom these quartos of Shakspeare are supposed to have been sent into the world. To such a curiosity no very adequate gratification can be afforded; but yet it may be observed, that as these elder copies possess many advantages over those in the subsequent folio, we should decide perversely were we to pronounce them spurious. They were in all 644 ENTRIES ON THE probability issued out by some performer, who, derivitig no benéfit from thé theatre except his salary, was un- interested in that retention of copiés, which was the chief concern of our ancient managers. We tay supposé too that there was nothing criminal in his proceeding; a& somé of the persons whose names appear before these publications, ate known to have filled the highest offices in the company of Stationers with reputation, bequeath- ing legacies of considerable value to it at théir decease. Neither do I discover why the first manuscripts delivered by so careless a writer to the actors, should prove less "correct than those which he happened to leave behind him, unprepared for the press, in the possession of the same fraternity. On the contrary, after his plays had passed for twenty years through the hands of asuccession of ignorant transcribers, they were more likely to become maimed and corrupted, than when they were printed from papers less remote from the originals. It is true that Heminge and Condell have called these copies surrepti- tious, but this was probably said with a view to enhance the value of their own impression, as well as to revengé themselves as far as possible on those Who had in part anticipated the publication of works from which they ex- pected considerable gleanings of advantage, after their first harvest on the stage was over. I mean to except from this general character of the quartos, the author’s rough draughts of The Merry Wives of Windsor and ‘Romeo and Juliet; together with the play of King , ‘Henry V. and the two parts of King Henry VI.; for the latter carry all the marks of having been imperfectly taken down by the ear, without any assistance from the ori- ginals belonging to the playhouses in which they were first represented. ' A succeeding table of those ancient copies of the plays of Shakspeare which his commentators have really iiet with and consulted, if compared with the éarliest of these STATIONERS’ REGISTERS. 645 entries on the books already mentioned, may tempt the reader to suppose that some quartos have not yet been found, from which future assistance may be derived. But I fear that no such resources remain; as it seems to have been the practice of the numerous theatres in the time of Shakspeare, to cause some bookseller to make immediate entries of their new pieces, as a security against the en- croachments of their rivals, who always considered them- selves as justified in the exhibition of such dramas as had been enfranchised by the press. Imperfect copies, but for — these precautions, might have been more frequently ob- tained from the repetition of hungry actors invited for that purpose to a tavern; or something like a play might have been collected by attentive auditors, who made it their business to attend succeeding representations with a like design®. By these means, without any intent of hasty publication, one company of players was studious to prevent the trespasses of another®, Nor did their ; policy conclude here; for I have not unfrequently met | with registers of both tragedies and comedies, of which the titles were at some time to be declared. Thus, July 26, 1576, John Hunter enters “ A new and pleasant comedie or plaie, after the manner of Common Condy- cions;” and one Fielder, in Sept. 1581, prefers his right to four others, “‘ Whereof he will bring the titles.” The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jewe of Malta, by Christo- pher Marlow, is ascertained to be the property of Nich. Ling and Tho. Millington, in May, 1594, though it was not printed by Nich. Vavasour till 1633, as Tho. Heywood, who wrote the preface to it, informs us. In this manner the contending theatres were prepared to assert a priority 8 See the notes of Mr. Collins and Mr. Malone at the end of The Third Part of King Henry VI. 9 From the year 1570 to the year 1629, when the playhouse in White Friars was finished, it appears that no less than seven- teen theatres had been built. { 646 ENTRIES ON STATIONERS’ REGISTERS. of title to any copies of dramatick performances ; and thus were they assisted by our ancient stationers, who strengthened every claim of literary property, by entries secured in a manner which was then supposed to be obli- gatory and legal. I may add, that the difficulty of procuring licenses was | another reason why some theatrical publications were re- ee and others entirely suppressed. As we cannot now discover the motives which influenced the conduct of former Lord Chamberlains and Bishops, who stopped the sale of several works, which nevertheless have escaped into the world, and appear to be of the most innocent nature, we may be tempted to regard their severity as rather dictated by jealousy and caprice, than by judgment and impartiality. See a note on my Advertisement, vol. i, p- 177. * he publick is now in possession of as accurate an account of the dates, &c. of Shakspeare’s works as perhaps. will ever be compiled. .This was by far the most irksome part of my undertaking, though facilitated as much as possible by the kindness of Mr. Longman, of Pater-noster Row, who. readily farnished me with the three earliest volumes of the records of the Stationers’ Company, toge- ther with accommodations which rendered the perusal of them convenient to me, though troublesome to himself. STEEVENS. _—— - 7 : LIST OF THE EARLY EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE™. I. Richard II. si a 1, The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. As it, a, Zz ff, hath been publikely acted by the Right Honourable the ———~ Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. Printed by Valentine - Simmes, for Andrew Wise, 1597. Jones ats 2. The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, as it hath beene publikely acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants, by William Shake-speare, [the sante printer and publisher], 1598. 3. The Tragedie of King Richard the Second, with new Additions of the Parliament Sceane, and the de- posing of King Richard. As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges Servantes at the Globe. By William Shake- speare. Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law,"1608*, 24 zy he 4. Do. [Same Title.] Printed for Mathew Law, 1615. 2 * In the following list, of early quartos, I have omitted those which appeared subsequently to the folio 1623, as they are ad- mitted on all hands to be utterly worthless. The titles of the 44 HLA ia others I have given at full length where there was any disagree- + fea ment among them, as far as I was enabled by Mr. Malone’s 42, per aa) collection. Those to which I have not had access, I have copied 7 5 aa IE See from Mr. Steevens's list, and marked them with an asterisk, & Boswett. 2 This is the first edition in which the scene of Richard's depo- sition was printed, and is the one which was followed by the folio 1623. Mr. Kemble has a copy [now in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire], printed in 1608, in the title page of which no mention is made of that additional scene, though found there, and, except that variation in the title-page, is the very same as the one described above. The words were probably thought offen- sive by Mr. Tilney, the Master of the Revels, and ordered to be omitted.— Mr. Malone's MS. | Baw 648 EARLY EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE. i. Rickard 1H. 1, The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Con- taining his treacherous Plots against his brother Cla- rence: the pittieful Murther of his innocent Nephewes : his tyrannical Usurpation: with the whole Course of his detested Life, and most deserved Death. As it hath been lately acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Cham- berlaine his servants. Printed by Valentine Sims? for William Wise, 1597. * Sand (Bubex/ * 2. Do. William Shakspeare. Thomas Creede, for Wil- liam Wise, 1598. ~ * 3. Do. William Shakspeare. Thomas Creede, for Wil- liam Wise, 1602. ~ 4. Do. [the same title as edit. 1597, except that it describes this play, ‘‘ As it hath been lately acted by the Kings Majesties Servants. Newly augmented. By William Shake-speare”]. Printed by Thomas Creede, and are to be sold by Mathew Lawe, 1612 or 1613, for the last numeral is blurred in Mr. Malone’s copy. * 5. Do. William Shakspeare. Thomas Perfoote; sold by Mathew Lawe, 1622.. ' *6. Do. William Shakspeare. John Norton; sold by William Lawe, 1629. 7. Do. William Shakspeare. John Norton, 1629. Ill. Romeo and Juliet. iin 1, An excellent conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, As it hath been often (with great applause) plaid publiquely, by the Right Honourable the Lord of Hunsdon his Servants. Printed by John Danter, 1597. 2. The Most Excellent and lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet. Newly corrected, augmented, and amended. As it hath bene sundry times publiquely acted, by the Right Honourable the’ Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. Printed by Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, 1599. * 3. Do. for John Smithwicke, 1609. EARLY EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE. 649 * 4. Do. Wm. Shakspeate, no date, John Smithwicke. IV. Love’s Labours Lost. A Pleasant Conceited Comedie called, Love’s Labours Lost. As it was presented before her Highnes this last Christmas. Newly corrected and augmented by W. Shake- speare. Imprinted by W. W. for Cutberd Burby, 1598. V. Henry IV. Part I. 1. The History of Henrie the Fourth ; With the Battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King and Lord Henry Percy surnamed Henrie Hotspur of the North. With the humorous Conceits of Sir John Falstalfe. Printed — fp by P. S. for Andrew Wise, 1598. 2. [Same title as the preceding, except that these words, “ newly corrected by W. Shakespeare,” are added, and the name of Hotspur is spelt Henry Percie, surnamed Henry Hotspur, and Fa/staffe is put for Falsta/fe.] Printed by te. 8.8. for Andrew Wise, 1599. 3. Do. (Same title as 1599.] Printed by Valentine Simmes, for Mathew Law, 1604. * 4. Do, For Mathew Law, 1608. 5. The History of Henrie the Fourth, With the Battell at Shrewsburye betweene the Kinge and Lord Henrie Percy, surnamed Henrie Hotspur of the North. With the humorous Conceites of Sir John Falstaffe. Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, 1613. oe Ae — gee bey, Lie a nw = Cate a om facl et aire Sle flow 9 159 yom) ery LON £ lea Shewl N *6. Do. T. P. for Mathew Law, 1622. Biswas Lom yrs VI. Henry IV. Part I. 1. The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, continuing to his Death, and Coronation of Henry the Fift. With the Humors of Sir John Falstaffe, and swaggering Pistoll. As it hath been sundrie times publikely acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. 2 This is not ia Mr. Malone's collection, but the title is tran scribed from Mr. Capell’s list. Boswext. ose 650, EARLY EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE.. Written by William, Shakspeare. Printed by V. S. for Z, ¢ Andrew Wise and William Aspley, 1600. (hoe “tally ) a, 2. Do. 1600, do. wing 3. Do. 1600, do.? VII. Henry V. 1, The Chronicle History of Henry the Fift, with his Battell fought at Agin Court in Fraunce. Togither with Auntient Pistolle. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right Honorable the Lord Chamberlaine his Ser- vants. Printed by Thomas Creede for Tho. Millington, and John Busby, 1600. * 2, Do. Thomas Creede, for Thomas Pavier, 1602. 3. Do. [Same title as the first, except that it has ancient, not auntient Pistoll.] Printed for T. P. 1608. #¢<— 4 e VIII. Merchant of Venice. 1. They most) excellent Historie of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreme Crueltie of Shylocke the Jewe towards the sayd Merchant, in cutting a just Pound of his Flesh, and the obtayning of Portia by the Choyse of three/Chests/ As it hath beene divers times acted by the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. Written by William Shakespeare. Printed by J.R. for Thomas Heyes, 1600. ae 2. Do. [Same title as the preceding) except that it — en eet f- ‘omits to mention where it was performed, and has W. (enon 9 hot William Shakespeare.] Printed by J. Roberts. IX. Midsummer-Night’s Dream. 1. A Midsommer Nights Dreame. As it hath been 3 In Mr. Malone’s collection there are two copies of this first edition. In one of them he has the following note: “In this copy, signature E has only the ordinary quantity of leaves, namely four. The publisher, finding he had, omitted somewhat, cancelled the two latter, (viz. E 3, and E 4), reprinted them in a different manner, and added a fifth leaf in order to get in the omitted lines. This is the only difference between the two , copies.” The omission spoken of, is the whole of the first scene | of the third act. Boswext. — _Landure, 16044. ee Bie ie, EARLY EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE. 651 sundry times publickely acted, by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. Written by Wil- liam Shakspeare. Imprinted for Thomas Fisher, 1600. “4=+— ‘% 2. Do. [Same title as the preceding, except that it has publikely not publickely acted.] Printed by James Roberts, 1600. X. Much Ado About Nothing. Much Adoe about Nothing. As it hath been sundrie times publikely acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. Written by William Shakespeare. Printed by V. J. for Andrew Wise and “i! ~~: William Aspley, 1600. L Pe Sea XI. Merry Wives of Windsor. Fok bone Cir 1. A most plesaunt and excellent conceited comedie, ./ >. id, ore of Syr John Falstaffe and the Merrie Wives of Windsor. Entermixed with sundrie variable and pleasing Humors, of Syr Hugh the Welch Knight, Justice Shallow, and his wise Cousin M. Slender. With the swaggering vaine of auncient Pistoll and Corporall Nym. By William Shakespeare. As it hath bene divers times acted by the Right Honorable my Lord Chamberlaines Servants. Both before her Majestie and elsewhere. Printed by T. C. for Arthur Johnson, 1602, 2. A most pleasant and excellent conceited comedy, of Sir John Falstaffe, and the Merry Wives of Windsor. With the swaggering vaine of ancient Pistoll, and Cor- porall Nym. Written by W. Shakespeare: Printed for Arthur Johnson, 1619. XII. Hamlet. 1. The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Den- marke. By William Shakespeare. Newly imprinted and to the true and perfect coppie* Printed by J. R. for N.”. <. A: 4 This edition is not in Mr. Malone's collection, but I have copied his transcript of the title. Boswett, 652 EARLY EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE. * 2. Do. William Shakespeare, J. R,. for N. L. 1605. 8. The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke. Newly imprinted and enlarged, according to the true and '. © perfect copy lastly printed. Printed by W.T. for John . yn tae . Smithwicke, no date, (This edition of Hamlet was” Age - printed, I believe, in 1607, as was also, I imagine, the Fad eed 7 wndated edition of Romeo and Juliet, for these two plays eo (94 “ze. Were entered -on, the Stationers’ books by John Smith- “x ws tnt 2 yer wicke, Noy. 19, 1607, Matoner.] Arf. * 4, William Shakspeare, For John Smithwicke, 1609. ¢ XIII. Lear. Nitate 1, M. William Shake-speare his True Chronicle His- - tory of the Life and Death of King Lear, and his three Daughters. With the unfortunate Life of Edgar, Sonne and Heire to the Earle of Glocester, and his sullen and assumed Humour of Tom of Bedlam. As it was plaid ; before the King’s Majesty at White-Hall, uppon 8S. 4. “4-/“ Stephens Night; in Christmas Hollidaies. By his Ma- jesties Servants playing usually at the Globe on the Banck- side. Printed for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his shop in Paul’s Church-yard at the Signe of the Pide Bull neere St. Austins Gate, 1608. [Begins at Signature B.] 5 . 2. [Title and date the same as the preceding, excepting that it is only said to be printed for Nathaniel Butter without any mention of the place of sale, and begins at Signature A.] 3. [Title the same as the two former, except that like the first it begins at signature B: and like the second, has no reference to the place of sale. All the three con- tain different readings. Thus, the first reads, H 3, verso, “ my foote usurps my body;” the second H 2, “ my foote usurps my head;” and the third, H 3 verso, “ @ foole usurps my bed.” ; 5 In this.copy the poet’s name is spelt Shak-speare, without the _ middle e. This is the only instance I have met with. Boswstt. Ho fe 6k aw panache tt. CO- te frp ote ee Faget] (tks M CR LS Go tad ore Bangi et Ot kant at Mba. Org SLA pee gt ku ae ce ee ° 9 = a han TPR wat * EZ ede 7 Leg pe of 3-eae a A, aS € r IME 4 _ ofbr« Le aha, Sei Mn Se OH EARLY EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE. 653 XIV. Troilus and Cressida. 1, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. Excellently expressing the beginning of their Lives, with ~the conceited Wooing of Pandarus Prince of Lucia. Written by William Shakespeare. Imprinted by G. Eld, for R. Bonian and H. Walley, 1609. 2. [Same title as the former, but with this addition, “ As it was acted by the King’s Majesty’s Servants at the Globe,” and the word famous is omitted. In the former also there is a preface in which the play is said to have been never stal’d with the stage, which in this corrected copy is omitted. It has been supposed that Mr. Pope had an undated copy, but that is a mistake. Mr. Pope’s” copy is in the possession of Mr. Kemble [the Duke of Devonshire], and has the same date and the same book- sellers’ names. Ma.one.] XV. Othello. * 1, Othello, William Shakspeare. Thomas Walkely, no date °. : 2. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. As it hath beene diverse times acted at the Globe and at the Black-Friers, by his Majesties Servants. Written by William Shakespeere. Printed by N. O. for Thomas Walkley, 1622. —K— PLAYS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ALTERED BY SHAKSPEARE. I. Titus Andronicus, 1. “The most lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus. As it hath sundry times been playde by the Right Honourable the Earle of Pembrooke, the Earle of 6 Mr, Malone denied the existence of this edition, See Pre- liminary Remarks to Othello, vol. ix. p. 215. BoswEtL. bad 7599: 654 PLAYS ALTERED BY SHAKSPEARE. Darbie, the Earle of Sussex, and the Lorde Chamber- laine theyr Servants, At London, printed by J. R. for Edward White, and are to bee solde at his shoppe, at the little North doore of Poules, at the signe of the Gun, 1600.” Topp. See vol. xxi. p. 260. 2. The most lamentable tragedie of Titus Andronicus. As yt hath sundry times been plaide by the King’s Ma~- jesties Servants. Printed for Edward White, 1611. — Il. Pericles. 1. The late, and much admired play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole Historie, Adventures, and Fortunes, of the said Prince. As also, the no less strange and worthy Accidents, in the Birth and Life of his Daughter Marina. As it hath been divers and sundry times acted by his Majesties Servants at the Globe on the Banck-side. By William Shake- speare. Imprinted for Henry Gosson, 1609. 2. The late, and much admired Play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole History, Adventures, and Fortunes, of the saide Prince. Written by W. Shakespeare. Printed for T. P: 1619. wt: Ill. Henry VI. Part LI. / 1. The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the Death of the good Duke Humphrey, and the Banishment and Death of the Duke of Suffolke, and the Tragical End of the proud Cardinall of Winchester, with the notable Rebel- lion of Jack Cade; and the Duke of Yorkes first Claime unto the Crowne. Printed by Thomas Creede for Thomas Millington [date at the end of the play], 1594. 2. The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the Death of the good Duke Humphrey: And the Banishment and Death of the Duke of Suffolke, and the Tragicall End of PLAYS ALTERED BY SHAKSPEARE.. 655 the proud Cardinall of Winchester, with the notable Rebellion of Jack Cade; and the Duke of Yorkes first Clayme to the Crowne. "Printed by W. W. for Thomas Millington, 1600, Henry VI. Part III. 1. “ The true tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, and the Death of good King Henry the Sixt, with the whole Contention betweene the two Houses Lancaster and Yorke, as it was sundrie times acted by the Right Honourable the Earle of Pembrooke his Seruants. Printed at London by P.S. for Thomas Millington, and are tu be sold at his shoppe vnder St. Peters Church in Cornwal, 1595.” fo kodiy Shion: 8vo. (In Dr. Pegge’s sale, and bought by Mr. Chalmers for 51. 15s. 6d.°) 2. [Same title as the preceding.] Printed by W. W. 7z.. ~~ for Thomas Millington, 1600, yp has BR, she ‘ ~~ Sore ~ Henry VI. Part II. and III. yar ge. The Whole Contention between the two Famous Houses © _“¢“”"” Lancaster and Yorke. With the Tragicall Ends of the good Duke Humfrey, Richard Duke of Yorke and King Henrie the Sixt. Divided into two Parts: And newly ° This play, precisely the same with the 4to. of 1600, appears as it was first altered by Shakspeare from the original drama of Greene, Peele, and Marlowe; great part of which is here pre- served. He afterwards revised and improved it, as we have it in the folio. Rirson. Mr. Ritson was wrong in both of his positions, The play in both of the editions which he mentions, does not appear, as it was altered, but as the original before it was/Z. ~ i > a altered by Shakspeare: nor are they precisely the same; for I“ S73. gia learn from Mr. Malone’s collation that there are upwards of A= te une 1 ( Pat (0 thirty variations ; and in the elder copy, the metre is frequently oe Focory Waa confounded by the end of one line being printed at the beginning 42-2 7, of another. Boswetu. i age TE VOL. Il. 2U Bees 4 656 FOLIO EDITIONS be _ corrected and enlarged. Written by Walliom pia sw4 EME, 7.Gent, Printed for T. P.nodate®. 7 \46025 Pi ; nA aes © FOLIO EDITIONS. [Of all the remaining plays the most authentick edition is the folio 1623 ; yet that of 1632 is not without value; for though it bs in some places more incorrectly printed than the preceding one, it has likewise the advantage of various readings, which are not merely such as reiteration of copies will naturally produce. The curious examiner of Shakspeare’s text, who possesses the first of these, ought not to be unfurnished with the second. As to the third and fourth impressions (which include the seven re- jected plays) they are little better than waste paper, for they differ only from the preceding ones by a larger accu- mulation of errors. I had inadvertently given a similar character of the folio 1632; but take this opportunity of confessing a mistake into which I was led by too implicit a reliance on the assertions of others. STEEVENs. Enough has been already said on this question. Mr, Steevens, I believe, stood nearly alone in the high opinion he expressed of the second folio; but the reader may judge for himself from the perusal of the arguments which have been brought forward by the two criticks in their respective prefaces in 1790 and 1793. Mr. Malone was of opinion that probably Thomas Randolph was the person who superintended the publication of the second folio. Randolph [as he observes] was born in 1600, and consequently when he became a writer must have been some years removed from the date of many of Shakspeare’searlier plays. His Aristippus was printed for Robert Allot in “8 It was printed in 1619, as appears from an edition of Pericles, printed by Pavier in that year [vide supra], the first sheet of which begins with signature R ; the last sheet of this is Q. MAtons. bis A ( —_—_— OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 657 1630, who would probably select a poet as the editor of Shakspeare’s works. It has been absurdly argued (says Mr. Malone) “ that the language could not have undergone _ 80 great a change in nine years, that is from 1623 to 1632; but this is a mis-statement. The question is not when Shakspeare’s plays were printed, but when they were written. That alterations had taken place in the language is evident from the alterations which were made by D’Avenant in The Tempest and Macbeth from the sophis- tications that are to be met with in the latter editions of Spenser, from our author’s own poems, and from almost every work of that age which underwent several impres- sions.” BoswE.t.] I. Mr. William Shakspeare’s Comedies, Histories, and 4. 2 2. Tragedies, Published according to the trae original 4~<-~ Z4— Copies, 1623, Fol. Printed at the Charges of W. Jag- 7“(> gard, Ed. Blount, J. Smethweeke, and W. Aspley 9. The Dedication of the Players, prefixed to the first folio, 1623, To the most Noble and Incomparable Paire of Brethren, William Earle of Pembroke, &c. Lord Chamberlaine_ to the Kings most Excellent Majesty. and Philip Earle of Montgomery, &c. Gentleman of his Majes- ties Bed-chamber. Both Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and our singular good Lords, Right Honourable, Whilst we studie to be thankful in our particular, for the many favors we have received from your L. L. we are 9 It seems, from such a partnership, that no single publisher 4.» 4... was at that time willing to risk his money on a complete col- lection of our author's plays. Sreevens. It rather arose from several of these booksellers having a pro- perty in the quarto plays which were here reprinted. Matone. 2uU 2 eM Manca Mas yee map 0,4 om, Meme 4 J bat ef. <>. Fn te. ann 48 hL9 27s $7 Je 2% pf ft 2!) 658 FOLIO EDITIONS falne upon the ill fortune, to mingle two the most diversé things that can bee, feare, and rashnesse; rashnesse in Every possible adulteration has of late years been aR, in fitting up copies of this book for sale. When leaves have been wanting, they have been reprinted with battered types, and foisted into vacancies, without notice of such defects and the remedies applied to them. When the title has been lost, a spurious one has been fabri- eated, with a blank space left for the head of Shakspeare, after- wards added from the second, third, or fourth impression. To conceal these frauds, thick vermillion lines have been usually drawn over the edges of the engravings, which would otherwise have betrayed themselves when let into a supplemental page, however craftily it was lined at the back, and discoloured with tobacco-water till it had assumed the true jaune antique. Sometimes leaves have been inserted from the second folio, and, in a known instance, the entire play of Cymbeline; the genuine date at the end of it [1632] having been altered into 1623. Since it was thought advantageous to adopt such contrivances while the book was only valued at six or seven guineas, now it has reached its present enormous price, may not artifice be still more on the stretch to vamp up copies for the benefit of future cata- logues and auctions ?—Shakspeare might say of those who profit by him, what Antony has observed of Enobarbus— “ my fortunes have “* Corrupted honest men.” Mr. Garrick, about forty years ago, paid only 1/. 16s. to Mr. Payne at the Mews Gate for a fine copy of this folio—After the death of our Roscius, it should have accompanied his collection of old plays to the British Museum; but had been taken out of his library, and has not been heard of since. Here I might particularize above twenty other copies; but as their description would not always meet the wishes or interests of their owners, it may be as well omitted. Perhaps the original impression of the book did not amount to —... + more than 250; and we may suppose that different fires in Lon- nec ec. 7é, don had their share of them. Before the the year 1649 they ) were Binet Heian pean Angee argc, ot eee VOD - "Fhditrforwann Lt A | ttub fo 2 Ee. rh eer) yy Ae 28: fom Cote for tart A 2a, * (eed) te Li 2-7 ty Ch fe Eg ee Le Le Bnei Karns btm PHY 2 We > OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 659 the enterprize, and feare of the successe. For, when we valew the places your H. H. sustaine, we cannot but so scarce, that (as Mr. Malone has observed) King Charles I. was obliged to content himself with a folio of 1632, at present in my 42, cha, possession. ffs? ae Of all volumes, those of popular entertainment are soonest igrteieg injured. It would be difficult to name four folios that are oftener ~~" “> © . found in dirty and mutilated condition, than this first assemblage @ Ay f~ +* of Shakspeare’s plays—God’s Revenge against Marder—The Ze b the Gentleman's Recreation—and Johnson's Lives of the Highway=% “7 “% ed men. FT Zin Aunts * Though Shakspeare was not, like Fox the Martyrologist, deta Cape posited in churches, to be thumbed by the congregation, hey" en generally took post on onr hall tables; and that a multitude of £ ~ ~ f¢§ ta his pages have “‘ their effect of gravy,” may be imputed to the €<-——*+—~* 7 various eatables set out every morning on the same boards. It aancadnng should seem that most of his readers were so chary of their timea A that (like Pistol, who gnaws his leek and swears all the while) yo ie og 7 they fed and studied at the same instant. I have repeatedly met“2—~ ” wits: with thin flakes of piecrust between the leaves of our «capa These unctuous fragments, remaining long in close confinement,z- ~ =7 4 communicated their grease to several pages deep on each side PRE Pigg e 4 them. It is easy enough to conceive how such accidents might4 <<" 4% happen ;—how aunt Bridget’s mastication might be disordered at~-—<#< #..2= the sudden entry of the Ghost into the Queen's closet, and howa.-x pe the half-chewed morsel dropped out of the gaping Squire's mouth,~7*~*: when the visionary Banquo seated himself in the chair of Mac-97e—% nae) beth. Still, it is no small eulogium on Shakspeare, that his yer Bat gi claims were more forcible than those of hunger.—Most of the calag ae first folios now extant, are known to have belonged to ancient——— < tet Cnme tax 1g Lhw families resident in the country. POG | Since our breakfasts have become less gross, our favourite au-4~% am thors have escaped with fewer injuries; not that (as a very nice Sea f= friend of mine observes) those who read with a coffee-cup in their’ ““*? HED og Az hands, are to be numbered among the contributors to bibliothecal—« “<< «< purity. An I claim the merit of being the first commentator on Shakspeare~” ~ erp reputation his, and the faults ours, if any be committed, , ~ — by a payre so carefull to shew their gratitude both to the <7 625 aaa living, and the dead, as is oy kno a Your Lordshippes most bounden,’ prngreed ape Joun HemincE, aa ocak Henry Connpenn. 9 47702 4 edition published in 1623. ee a To the great variety of Readers, FA fae, OF From the most able, to him that can but spell: there - you are number’d. We had rather you were weigh’d. Especially, when the fate of all Bookes depends upon your capacities: and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well! it is now publique, and you wil 2 Country hands reach forth mixx, &c. and many nations—that had not gummes and 1ncensg, obtained their requests with a leavened Cake.] This seems to have been one of the com- , mon-places of dedication in Shakspeare’s age. We find it in Morley's Dedication of a Book of Songs to Sir Robert Cecil, 1595 : “‘ | have presumed”’ (says he) ‘‘to make offer of these sim- ple compositions of mine, imitating (right honourable) in this the customs of the old world, who wanting incense to offer up to their gods, made shift insteade thereof to honour them with milk.” The same thought (if I recollect right) is again employed by the players in their dedication of Fletcher's plays, folio, 1647. Matone. Ze e faypt 662 FOLIO EDITIONS ) stand for your priviledges wee know: to read, and cen- sure. Do so, but buy it first. That doth best commend a Booke, the Stationer saies. Then, how odde soever your braines be, or your wisedomes, make your licence the same, and spare not. Judge your sixe-pen’orth, your shil- lings worth, your five shillings worth at a time, or higher, so you rise to the just rates, and welcome. But, whatever you do, Buy. Censure will not drive a Trade, or make the Jacke go. And though you bea Magistrate of wit, and sit on the Stage at Black-Friers, or the Cock-pit, to arraigne Playes dailie, know, these Playes have had their triall alreadie, and stood out all Appeales; and do now come forth quitted rather by a Decree of Court, than any purchas’d Letters of commendation. It had bene a thing, we confesse, worthie to have bene wished, that the Author himselfe had lived to have set forth, and overseen his owne writings ; But since it hath bin ordain’d otherwise, and he by death departed from that right, we pray you, doe not envie his Friends, the office of their care and paine, to have collected and publish’d them ; and so to have publish’d them, as where (before) you were abus’d with divers stolne, and surreptitious copies, maimed and deformed b by the frauds and stealthes of injurious impostors, that expos’d them: even those are now offer’d to your view cur’d, and perfect of their limbes ; and all the rest, absolute in their numbers, as he conceived thé: Who, as he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and hand went together: and what he thought, he uttered with that easinesse, that wee have scarse received from him a blot inhis papers. But it is not our province, who onely gather his works, and give them you, to praise him, It is yours that reade him. And there we hope, to your divers capacities, you will finde enough, both to draw, and hold you: for his wit can no more lie hid, then it 3 — aS WHERE —] i. e. whereas. MALone. OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 663 could be lost. Reade him, therefore; and againe, and againe: And if then you doe not like him, surely you are in some manifest danger, not to understand him. And so we leave you to other of his Friends, whom if you need, can bee your guides: if you neede them not, you can leade yourselves, and others. And such readers we wish him. Joun HEMINGE, Henrie ConDELt. After the publication of my first edition of Shakspeare’s works, a notion struck me, that the preface prefixed by the players, in 1623, to their edition of his plays, had much of the manner of Ben Jonson; and an attentive compari- son of that preface with various passages in Jonson’s writings haying abundantly supported and confirmed my conjecture, I do not hesitate now to assert that the ° greater part of it was written by him. Hemings and Condell being themselves wholly unused to composition, and having been furnished by Jonson, whose reputation was then at the height, with a copy of verses in praise of Shakspeare, and with others on the engraved portrait pre- fixed to his plays, would naturally apply to him for assist- ance in that part of the work in which they were, for the first time, to address the publick in their own names, Whatever, therefore, occurred to them on this subject, they submitted, I imagine, to Jonson’s revision ; and, not approving of their performance, I conceive, he wrote the greater part of it anew: at least, I think I can show the whole of the first member of this address, comprising eighteen lines out of forty, to be entirely his; and though in the remainder he did not, I believe, proceed as in the former part, und liturd, yet his revising hand may be traced there also. This production has already been laid before the reader at length; I shall now decompose it, by sub- mitting each member of it separately to his view; and a minute comparison of the first half of this preface with 664 FOLIO EDITIONS various passages in Jonson’s works, will, I conceive, establish my hypothesis beyond a doubt. The only in- dulgence I claim is, that the reader will not too hastily pronounce this or the other passage to contain only a fanciful resemblance, nor form his judgment till he has examined the whole of this paper; remembering always that other writers beside Jonson have frequently repeated “ x ear 4 themselves. 724 (Mca 'reface to ir eed gga : Raition of Shakspeare. The Address subscribed with the names of Hemings and Condell, begins thus : 1.“ To the great variety of Readers. “From the most able, to him that can but spell—.” =_" there you are num- bered; we had rather you were weighed.” Corresponding Passages in Jonson's Works, 1. In like manner we find pre- fixed to Catiline, in 1611, two Ad- dresses + “To the Reader in ordinary— “To the Reader extraordinary—,” or in other words,— “To the great variety of Readers.” The reader extraordinary is, in the corresponding passage, “ the most able;” “the reader in ordi- nary,” he “ that can but spell.” So also, in the Preface to the New Inn, a comedy, by Ben Jon- son, acted in 1629, and printed in 1631: “To the Reader, “ If thou beest such [i. e. if thou can’st indeed read], I make thee my patron, and dedicate my work to thee. If not so much, would that I had been at the charge of thy better literature. Howsoever, if thou can’st but spell, and joinmy sense, there is more hope of thee, than a hundred fastidious imperti- nents.” 2. “ Suffrages in parliament are numbered, not weighed.” (Disco- veries, by Ben Jonson, written after 1630.) OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. _ 8. “ Especially when the fate of all books depends on your capa- cities and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well! it is now publique, and you will stand for your privileges, we know,—to read and censure. Do so; but buy it first: that doth best commend a book, the stationer says.” 665 Corresponding Passages in Jonson’s Works. Or, in other language, the ques- tion is carried by the tale or num- ber, not the weight or respecta- bility of the voters, 3. “ Well! my modesty shall sit down and let the world call it guilt or what it will,” &c,. (Letter from Ben Jonson to ‘oby Ma- - thews.) This is merely noticed for the purpose of marking Jonson’s ordi- nary phraseology. The parallelism is found in different parts of Jon- son’s works. Thus, in his 131st Epigram, 1616, we find : «“ When we do give, Alphonso, to the light “ Aworke of ours, we part with our own right ; « For then all mouthes will judge, “ and their own way; «¢ The learn’d have no more privi- lege than the lay: “ And though we could all men, all censures heare,” &c. And in his third Epigram, we have— “ To my Bookseller. “Thou that mak’st gain thy end, and wisely well « Call’st a book good or bad, as it doth sell ; “ Use mine so too.” It should be remembered that in the two passages here compared, stationer and bookseller have the same meaning; these two words being synonymous during Jonson’s life-time. 666 The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. 4. © Then, how odde soever {i,e. how unequal soever] your braines be or your wisdomes, make your license the same, and spare not.” [The word odd being here used in its original sense, as opposed to that which is even or equal, has not hitherto, I believe, been generally understood ; being now commonly used in the sense of singular, ex- traordinary, or whimsical. The context in the corresponding pas- sage decisively ascertains its mean- ing here.] 5, “ Judge your sixe-pen’orth, your shillings worth, your five shil- lings worth ata time, or higher, so you rise to the just rates and wel- come. But, whatsoever you do, buy. Censure will not drive a trade—.” [n the corresponding passagein Bartholomew Fair, the words, “ it shall be lawfull for any man to judge his sixe-pen’orth,” &c. are perfectly clear, each person being allowed to censure according to the price he had paid for his place in the playhouse, from sixpence to half a crown, which was then the highest rate. But as applied to the purchasers of the folio edition of our author's plays, they are FOLIO EDITIONS: Corresponding Passages'in Jonson’s Work. 4, So, in the Discoveries: “ Suffrages in parliament are numbered, not weighed ; nor can it be otherwise in those publique councels where nothing is so wn- equal as the equality; for there, how odde soever mens braines or wisdomes are, their a is always even and the same.” In the preface to Catiline, 1611, he again alludes to the general claim to judging and censuring, however unqualified the reader may be: “ Would I had deserved but half so well of it in translation, as that ought to deserve of you in judgment, if you have any. I know you will pretend, whosoever you are, to have that and more; but all pretensions are not just claims.” 5. So, in the Induction to Bar- tholomew Fair, acted in 1614: “Tt is further agreed that every person here have his free will of censure....It shall be lawful for any man to judge his sixe-pen’orth, his twelve pen’orth, so to his eigh- teen pence, two shillings, and half @ crowne, to the value of his place, provided alwaies his place get not above his wit....He shall put in for censures here, as they do for lots in the lottery: marry, if he drop but sive-pence at the doore, and will censure a crowne's worth, it is thought there is no conscience or justice in that.” Again, in The Magnetick Lady, acted in 1632: OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. liable to some objection; for no one could buy sixpen’orth, or five shillings worth of that book : he must purchase the whole vo- lume, which was probably seld for twenty shillings, or none. The same train of thought occurring to old Ben in both cases, he appears, therefore, to have introduced it here with somewhat less propriety. Having been in the habit of fre- quently using this language to the various spectators of a play, paying various prices for their amusement, he could not refrain from address- ing the readers of one.in the same way.—The passage, however, with some indulgence, may admitof this interpretation: ‘ If you do but rise to the just rates, that is, if you do but purchase the book, you may read it at your leisure, and pass your sentence on six-pen’orth of it at one time, a shilling’s. worth at another time, and: five. shillings’ worth at another; just as your fancy may direct, till you have perused the whole volume.’ 6. “ And though you be a Ma- gistrate of wit, and sit on the stage at Blackfriers or the Cockpit, to arraigne playes dailie, know, these playes have had their ¢rial/ alrea- die, and stood out all appeals.” 667 Corresponding Passages in Jonson's Works, ; “ Dam-play. Isee no reason, if I come here and pay my eighteen pence or two shillings for my seat, but I should take it out in censure on the stage. « Boy. Your two shillings worth is allowed you; but you will take your ten shillings worth, your twenty shillings worth, and more.” 6. So, in The Magnetick Lady: « —— if I can but hold them all together,..,. “JT shall have just reason to be- lieve “ My wit is magisterial.” Again, ibid. : “ And therefore, Mr. Damplay, unless like a solemn justice of wit, you will damn our play unheard and unexamined.” Of this notion Jonson was so 668 _ FOLIO EDITIONS The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. Corresponding Passages in Jonson’s Works, fond, that he has repeated it no less than six times. Thus, in the Induction to Bartholomew-Fair, 1614: “Tt is also agreed, that every man here exercise his own judg- ment, and not censure by contagion, or upon trust from another's voice or face that sits by him, be he never 80 first in the commission of wit ; as also that he be fixd and settled in his censure; that what he ap- proves or not approves to-day, he will do the same to-morrow, and if to-morrow, the next day (if need be), and not to be brought about by any that sit on the bench with him, though they indite and ar raigne plaies dailie.” Again, in the Induction to thé Staple of Newes, acted in 1625: “ But what will the noblemen thinke, or the grave wits, to see you seated on the bench, thus?” ~ [The bench is used metaphori- cally, and means here, and in the foregoing passage, the judicial bench of wit, as appears fromi several other places.] Again, ibid. : “.—. such as had a longing to see plays and sit upon them, as we do, and arraigne both them and . their poets.” Again, in the same play : “———he is the very justice o” peace o’ the play, and can commit whom he will and what he will, errour, absurdity, as the toy takes him.” Again, ibid.: OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 669 The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. 7. “ You will stand for your Corresponding Passages in Jonson's Works, Tt wasa plain piece of political incest, and worthy to be brought afore the high commission of wit.” See also Jonson’s Ode on his New Inn being damned, 8vo. 1631: «“ Come leave the loathed stage, « And the more loathsome age, « Where pride and impudence, in faction knit, “ Usurp the chair of wit ; “ Indicting and arraigning every day “ Something they call a play : “ Let their fastidious, vaine, “ Commission of the braine « Run on and rage, sweat, censure and condemn, “They were not made for thee, less then for them.” Again, in Jonson’s verses to Fletcher on his Faithful Shep- herdess : “The wise and many-headed bench that sits “ Upon the life and death of plays and wits, « Composed of gamester, captain, knight, knight’s man, “Lady, or pusil, that weares maske or fan, “ Velvet or tafata cap, rank’d in the dark, * With the shop’s foreman or some such brave sparke, “ That may judge for his sixpence, before “They saw it halfe,damn’d thy whole play and more.” 7. So, in The Magnetick Lady: 670 The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. privileges, we know, to read and censuré....These playes have had their triall alreadie and stood out all appeales; and do now come forth guitted rather by a decree of court then any purchased letters’ of recommeridation|” FOLIO EDITIONS Correepending a agen in Jonson's “ T care not for marking of the play..... Ill damn it, talk and ‘do that I come for. I will not have gentlemen lose their privilege, nor I my prerogative for ne’er an over- grown or superannuated poet of them all. I will censure and be witty,....and enjoy my magna charta of reprehension as my pre- decessors have done before me.” In the Dedication of The Silent Woman, folio, 1616, we find the following passage : “ This makes that I now num- ber you, not only in the name of favour, but the name of justice to what I write, and doe presently call you to the exercise of that noblest and manliest virtue; as courting rather to be freed in my fame by the authority of a judge, then the credit of an undertaker,” [As “ the authority of a judge” here stands in the place of a“ de- cree of court,” in the correspond- ing passage, so the words—* the credit of an undertaker,” repre- sent “any purchased letters of re~ commendation ;” an undertaker, in Jonson’s time, signifying ‘a friend who sides or joins with an- other in any cause; a maintainer or partisan.’] Quitted, not acquitted, was Jonson's phraseology. So, in The Alchemist, 1610: “ ——— Yet I put my life “ On you that are my country, and this pelfe “ Which Ihave got, if you do quit me, rests, “ To feast you often.” OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 671 The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. 8. “ But since it hath been or- dained otherwise, and he by death departed from that right—,.” 9. “—-we pray you do not envy his friends the office of their care and paine to have collected and published them ” (the writ- ings of Shakspeare). Corresponding Passages in Jonson's Works. 8. “It is further agreed that every person here has his or their free will of censure,....the author having now departed with his right—.” (Induction to Bartho- lomew Fair, 1614.) So also, in The Devil’s an Ass, 1616: « — that time is yours, “ My right I have departed with—” Agiuin, in the address to the ordi- nary Reader, prefixed to Catiline, 1611: “Tt is your own; I departed with my right when I let it first abroad.” So again, in his 131st Epigram : “ When we do give, Alphonso, to the light, “A work of ours, we part with our own right.” Though these passages relate to the departing with a right, ina loss by publication, and in the cor- responding passage, by death, yet the expression is nearly the same : and these passages, at least, show how often Jonson repeated the same thought. 9. In this phraseology there ap- pears somewhat of a Latin air: “ Do not envy his friends the office of publishing them,” or, “ do not envy his friends their care and pain in publishing,” would have been, I think, the language of men who merely wished to make themselves understood ; but “the office of their care” is scarcely intelligible, VOL, Il. x 672 The Players’ Preface to their Edition of Shakspeare. 10. “ — and so to have pub- lished them, as where [whereas], before, you were abased with diverse stolne and surreptitious copies, maimed and deformed by the stealth of injurious impostors, that exposed them; even those are now offered to your view, cured and perfect of their limbs, and all the rest absolute in their numbers, as he conceived them.” FOLIO EDITIONS Corresponding Passages in Jonson’s Works, unless office were used in the sense of duty, as certainly it was in this instance. So, in Catiline: . “TI must with offices and patience win him.” On so slight a circumstance little reliance could be placed, were it not corroborated by more decisive proofs. However, I may mention that in The Discoveries we find— « T have ever observed it to have been the office of a wise patriot among the greatest affairs of the state to take care of the common- wealth of learning.” 10. So, in Every Man in his Humour : ; « — and though that in him this kind of poem appeared absolute and fully perfected—.” Again, in the Address to the Reader, prefixed to Sejanus, 4to. 1605: “ Lastly I would inform you that this book in all numbers is not the same with that which was acted on the publick stage.” Again, in the Dedication of Jonson’s Epigrams to Lord Pem- broke, 1616: “ —or if all answere not in all numbers the pictures I have made of them, I hope it will be forgiven me,....that they are no ill pieces, though they be not like the per- sons.” Again, in the Epilogue to The New Inn, 1631 [he is speaking of his plays] : ’ OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 673 The to Editon of Balm an Corresponding ae in Jonson's «— But do him right ; “ He meant to please you, for he sent things fit « In all the numbers both of sense x and wit.” : Again, in his Underwoods : “Eupheme, or the fair fame left to posteritie of that truly noble lady, the lady Venetia Digby late wife of Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight, a gentleman absolute in all num- bers.” Again, in his Discoveries : “But his learned and able though unfortunate successor is he, who hath fill’d up all numbers, and performed that in our tongue which . may be compared or preferred either to insolent Greece or haughty Rome.” Again, in his 95th Epigram: | : “I should believe the soule of Tacitus “In thee, most worthie Savile, liv’d to us; “ So hast thou render’d him in all i : his bounds, “And all his numbers both of sense and sounds,” “ Absolute in their numbers” is, a pure Latinism,—omnibus nume- ris absolutus ; and the words sur- reptitious and exposed, in the sense of made publick, smell strongly of old Ben. Of the phrase, “ cured and per- fect in their limbs,” applied to poetical productions correctly pub- lished, some example may perhaps be hereafter found in Jonson’s 2x &% 674 layers’ Preface to. a : Panes ton of Shakopee Shakspeare 1. “ Read him therefore, and again and again; and if then you do not like him, surely you are in FOLIO EDITIONS Corresponding Passages in Jonson's , Works. . |. ~ works, though I have not met with it. 11. Jonson was fond of this contrast between reading and un- derstanding. ‘So, in his address to some manifest aaa ies saci the ordinary reader, prefixed to stand him,” Catiline, 1611: “ Though you commend the two first acts, with the people, because they are the worst, and dislike the oration of Cicero, in regard you read some passages of it at school, and understand them not yet *, I shall find the way to forgive you.” See also his first Epigram, 1616 : “ To the Reader. “« Pray thee, take care, that tak’st my book in hand, “ To read it well, that is, to under- stand.” From these numerous and marked coincidences, it is, 1 think, manifest, that every word of the first half of this address to the reader, which is signed with the names of John Hemings and Henry Condell, was written by Ben Jonson. They perhaps had thrown on paper, in the best manner they could, some introductory paragraphs, which Jonson, not approving, instead of mending them, cured by a total erasure. Though he was afterwards (as I conceive) more merci- ful, his hand may be clearly, though not uniformly, traced in the second part also; but the foundation of this latter part, I imagine, was laid by the players themselves, and the passage that relates to the writings and amiable man- 3 Copied by W. B. in verse, before The Bondman. = SS OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 675 ' ners of Shakspeare, was unquestionably written by them, (“ who, as he was a happie imitatorof Nature,” &c.) for it contains an observation to which Jonson particularly alludes in his Discoveries, and in which he differed from them. It is observable that although the rest of this Address is plentifully sprinkled with Latinisms, in this single passage, which I have no doubt was: their own composition, they say—“ and what he thought he uttered with that easiness, that we have scarce received from him a blot in his papers,” using the familiar English word (easiness) which would naturally occur to those unac- quainted with Latin; whereas Jonson, in his Discoveries, writing on the same topick, says—*“ wherein he flowed with that facility that sometime it was necessary he should be stopp’d.” II. D°. 1632. Fol. Tho. Cotes, for Rob. Allot. III. D°. 1664, Fol. for P. C+, caf Chetir.-@ IV. D°. 1685. Fol. for H. Herringham, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley. STEEVENs. MODERN EDITIONS. Octavo, Rowe’s, London, 1709, 7 vols. Duodecimo, Rowe’s, ditto, 1714, 9 ditto. Quarto, Pope’s, ditto, 1725, 6 ditto. Duodecimo, Pope’s, ditto, 1728, 10 ditto. Octavo, Theobald’s, ditto, 1733, 7 ditto. Duodecimo, Theobald’s, ditto, 1740, 8 ditto. 4 This edition of our author's plays is scarcer than even the « fe han ated folio 1628. Being published towards the end of 1664, most of “~*~ Bod the copies were destroyed in the fire of London, 1666. STEEVENS. 676 _ MODERN EDITIONS _ Quarto, Hanmer’s, Oxford, 1744, 6 ditto. oan * ~ Octavo, Warburton’s, London, 1747, 8 ditto. Ditto, Johnson’s, ditto, 1765, 8 ditto. Ditto, Steevens’s, ditto, 1766, 4 ditto. Crown 8yo. Capell’s, 1768, 10 ditto. Quarto, Hanmer’s, Oxford, 1771, 6 ditto. Octavo, Johnson and Steevens, London, 1773, 10 dito Ditto, second edition, ditto, 1778, 10 ditto. .. Ditto (published by Stockdale) 1784, 1 ditto. Ditto, Johnson and Steevens, 1785, third edithény revised and augmented by the editor of Dodsley’s Collection of old Plays (i. e. Mr. Reed), 10 ditto. » ‘--¢ = |, Duodecimo (published by Bell), London, 1788, 20-vols. __.+1v Octayo (published by Stockdale), 1790, 1 ditto. Crown 8vo. Malone’s, ditto, 1790, 10 ditto. Octavo, fourth edition, Johnson and Steevens, &c. ditto, 1793, 15 ditto. _ Octavo, fifth edition, Johnson and Stesvens, by Hebd, : 1803, 21 ditto. The dramatick Works of Shakspeare, in 6 vols, 8vo. with Notes by Joseph Rann, A. M. Vicar of St. Trinity, in Coventry.—Clarendon Press, Oxford. V Obs i eafece dt eins 1786 Vola rit % .. 1787 Vol, it. 4% 000% 1789 Vol ave irs ae vee L791 Volokatn exces) 1794 Val yyi.cuale op . The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare, corrected from the latest and best London Edition, with Notes, by Samuel Johnson, LL. D. To which are added, a Glossary, and Life of the Author. Imbellished with a striking like- ness from the collection of his Grace the Duke of Chandos. First American Edition. Philadelphia, printed and sold by Bioren and Madan, 1795. OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 677 The reader may not be displeased to know the exact sums paid to the different editors of Shakspeare. The following account is taken from the books of the late Mr. Tonson : ; bine XO Bir. ROW v5 0d o ssikedccdes eseu diate, nae ee Mr. Hughes 5... .scsecdsogescsteesse 90.1% Mr. Pope? . is ssieccovesccceercnmopns al? te Br, Fantom © sk... «s\ese's vabee kas otg thie OU ae Mr. Gay? ..carsatgoccsacanestvssees SOy ke Mir, Whatley * 1 15:04 cocee. aes secede U Mr. Theobald? \... .5:' nccslcs.40¥eeseiee se OOS LO Mr. Warburton . 050s ccccccccoecceess 000 0 Dr. Johnson * Mr. Capell.....ccseccsscescosvoeecne SOU O cooacocooof o Of these editions some have passed several times through the press ; but only such as vary from each other are here enumerated. To this list might be added, several spurious and muti- lated impressions; but as they appear to have been exe- cuted without the smallest degree of skill either in the manners or language of the time of Shakspeare, and as the 5 For correcting the press and making an index to Mr. Rowe's 12mo, edition. © For assistance to Mr. Pope in correcting the press. 7 For the same services. 8 For correcting the sheets of Mr. Pope’s 12mo. 9 Of Mr. Theobald’s edition no less than 12,860 have been printed. * From the late Mr. Tonson’s books it appears, that Dr. John- son received copies of his edition for his subscribers, the first cost of which was 375/. and afterwards 105/. in money. Total 480/. MALonE. { 678 MODERN EDITIONS names of their respective editors are prudently concealed, it were useless to commemorate the number of their’ volumes, or the distinct date of each publication. Some of our legitimate editions will afford a sufficient specimen of the fluctuation of price in books.—An ancient quarto was sold for sixpence; and the folios 1623 and 1632, when first printed, could not have been rated higher than at ten shillings each*—Very lately, seven pounds, five shillings ; and seventeen pounds, six shillings and six-pence, have been paid for a quarto; the first folio has been repeatedly sold for twenty-five pounds; and also for thirty-five pounds, fourteen shillings: but what price may be expected for it hereafter, is not very easy to be determined, the conscience of Mr. Fox, bookseller, in Holborn, having once permitted him to ask no less than two guineas for two leaves out of a mutilated copy of that impression, though he had several, almost equally de- fective, in his shop. The second folio is commonly rated at two or three guineas 3, At the late Mr. Jacob Tonson’s sale, in the year 1767, one hundred and forty copies of Mr. Pope’s edition of Shakspeare, in six volumes quarto (for which the sub- scribers paid six guineas), were disposed of among the booksellers at sixteen shillings per set. Seven hundred and fifty of this edition were printed. At the same sale, the remainder of Dr. Warburton’s 2 I have since discovered, from an ancient MS. note in a copy of the folio 1623, belonging to Messieurs White, booksellers in Fleet Street, that the original price of this volume was—one pound, STEEVENS. 3 And is not worth three shillings. See an account of it, in \ the Preface to the present edition [Mr. Malone’s, 1790]. Matong. See, howeyer, the Advertisement prefixed to this edition [1793]. STEEVENS. OF SHAKSPEARE’S PLAYS. 679 edition, in eight volumes octavo, printed in 1747 (of which the original price was two pounds eight shillings, and the number printed, one thousand), was sold off: viz. one hundred and seventy-eight copies, at eighteen shillings each, On the contrary, Sir Thomas Hanmer’s edition, printed at Oxford in 1744, which was first sold for three guineas, had arisen to nine or ten, before it was reprinted. It appears, however, from the foregoing catalogue (when all reiterations of legitimate editions are taken into the account, together with five spurious ones printed in Ireland, one in Scotland, one at Birmingham, and four in London, making in the whole thirty-seven impressions) that not less than 37,500 copies of our author’s works have been dispersed, exclusive of the quartos, single plays, and such as have been altered for the stage. Oif the latter, as exact a listas I have been able to form, with the assistance of Mr. Reed, of Staple-Inn (than whom no man is more conversant with English publications both ancient ‘ and modern, or more willing to assist the literary under- _ takings of others), will be found in the course of the \ following pages. STEEVENS. A LIST OF THE MOST AUTHENTICK ANCIENT EDITIONS OF SHAKSPEARE’S POEMS. 1}. Venus and Adonis, 4to. imprinted by Richard Field, 15934. 2. Venus and Adonis, 1596, small octavo, or rather “ decimo sexto, R. F. for John Harrison. Reprinted in 1600, 1602, 1617, 1620, 1630, &e. 3. Lucrece, quarto, 1594, Richard Field, for John Harri- son. Reprinted in small octavo, in 1596, 1598, 1600, 1607, 1616, 1624, 1632,&c. 4. The Passionate Pilgrim [being a collection of Poems by Shakspeare], small octavo, 1599, for W. Jaggard ; sold by William Leake. 5. The Passionate Pilgrime, or certain amorous Sonnets between Venus and Adonis, &c. The third edition, small octavo, 1612, W. Jaggard. I know not when the second edition was printed. 6. Shakspeare’s Sonnets, never before imprinted, quarto, 1609, G. Eld, for T. T. 4 In amanuscript diary that lately passed through the hands of Francis Douce, Esq. there is the following entry on the 12th of June, 1593: —~ ~~" For the Survay of Fraunce with the Venus and Adhonay pr. Shakspere ...........+. } mele f PLAYS ASCRIBED TO SHAKSPEARE. 681 An edition of Shakspeare’s Sonnets, differing in many particulars from the original, and intermixed with the poems contained in The Passionate Pilgrim, and with several poems written by Thomas Heywood, was printed in 1640, in small. balan by Thomas * Cotes, sold by John Benson. MODERN EDITIONS, Shakspeare’s Poems, small octavo, for Bernard Lintot, no date, but printed in 1710. The Sonnets in this edition were printed from the quarto of 1609; Venus and Adonis, and Lucrece, _ from very late editions, full of errors. =. The Poems of William Shakspeare, containing his. Venus and Adonis, Rape of Lucrece, Sonnets, Passionate Pilgrim, and A Lover’s Complaint, printed from the authentick copies, by Malone, in octavo, 1780. Ditto, Second Edition, with the author’s plays, crown octavo, 1790. Spurious editions of Shakspeare’s Poems have also been published by Gildon, Sewell, Evans, &c. Maton. PLAYS ASCRIBED TO SHAKSPEARE, cased by the Editors af the two later Folios, or by the Compilers of ancient Catalogues, 1, Arraignment of Paris, 15845, Henry Marsh. 2. Birth of Merlin, 1662. Tho. Johnson, for Francis Kirk- man and Henry Marsh. S It appears from an epistle prefixed to Greene's Arcadia, that The Arraignment of Paris was written by George Peele, the au- »~ thor of King David and fair Bethsabe, &c. —— 7 ae ge apr Der Jem ee ao Fa fam +f a ~—_— per es oA 4E7%. f Sh kfi mone Liat fannie. sss eae (0. 47 682 PLAYS ASCRIBED TO SHAKSPEARE. 3. Edward III.s 1596, for Cuthbert Burby. 2. 1599, Simon Stafford, for ditto. 4, Fair Em °, 1631, for John Wright. 5. Locrine, 1595, Thomas Creede. 6. London Prodigal, 1605. ™ 7. Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1608, Henry Ballard, for | ay ee Arthur Johnson. 2. 1617, G. Eld, for ditto. cys 3. 1626, A. M. for Francis Falkner. 4. 1631, T. P. for ditto. 5. 1655, for W. Gilbertson. 8. Mucedorus, 1598, for William Jones. 2. 1610, for ditto. 3. 1615, N. O. for ditto. 4. 1639, for John Wright. 5. no date, for Francis Coles. 6. 1668, E. O. for ditto. 9. Pericles, 1609, for Henry Gosson. 2. 1619, for T. P. 3. 1630, J. N. for R. B. 4. 1635, Thomas Cotes. 10. Puritan, 1600 7, and 1607, G. Eld, 2.72:¢ #-4+- * 11. Sir John Oldcastle, 1600, for T. P. i 12. Thomas Lord Cromwell, 16138, Tho. Snodham. 744 ¢-- 13. Two Noble Kinsmen, 1634, Tho. Cotes, for John Waterson. 14. Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608, R. B. for T. Pavier. Ditto, oa 1619, forT. P, Srexvens. 5 See the preceding extracts from the books at Stationers’ Hall. © Fair Em,] In Mr. Garrick’s Collection is a volume, for- merly belonging to King Charles II. which is lettered on the back, “‘ SHAKESPEARE, Vol. I.” This volume consists of Fair Em, The Merry Devil, &c. Mucedorus, &c. There is no other authority for ascribing Fair Em to our author. 7 Bs existence Jes this edition has has been en dogbted. Rzep. fo ae Ab relate , LA Sa ee tae 4 Af ES ee peers res Ta tee 0 9 EZ ee flvug rs: a7 <- fam ein & ta aa al wp flr fh (Obes A A LIST or PLAYS ALTERED FROM SHAKSPEARE. Invenies etiam disjecti membra poet. —> Tempest. The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island. A Comedy, acted in Dorset Garden. By Sir W. D’Avenant and Dryden, 4to. 1669. The Tempest, made into an Opera by Shadwell in 1673. See Downes’s Roscius Anglicanus, p. 34. The Tempest, an Opera taken from Shakspeare. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. By Mr. Garrick. 8vo. 1756. An alteration by J. P. Kemble. Acted at Drury Lane. 8vo. 1790. Two Gentlemen of Verona. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. A Comedy written by Shakspeare, with Alterations and Additions, as it is per- formed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. By Mr. Victor. . 8vo. 1763. Midsummer-Night’s Dream. The Humours of Bottom the Weaver, by Robert Cox. Ato. The Fairy Queen, an Opera, represented at the Queen’s Theatre by their Majesties Servants. 4to. 1692. Pyramus and Thisbe, a comick Masque, written by Richard Leveridge, performed at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. 8vo. 1716. Pyramus and Thisbe, a mock Opera, written by Shak- 684 --* PLAYS ALTERED speare. Set to musick by Mr. Lampe. Performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. 8vo. 1746. The Fairies, an Opera, taken from a Midsummer- Night’s Dream written by Shakspeare, as it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. By Mr. Garrick. » 8vo. 17558. A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, written by Shakspeare, with Alterations and Additions, and several new Songs. _ As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. | 8vo. 1763. : A Fairy Tale, in two Acts, taken from Shakspeare. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. 8yo. 1763. Merry Wives of Windsor. The Comical Gallant, or the Amours of Sir John Fal- staffe. A Comedy, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal in. Drury Lane, by his Majesties Servants. By Mr. Dennis. 4to. 1702. Twelfth-Night. In the preface to Love Betray’d, or the Agreeable Dis- appointment, a Comedy, by Charles Burnaby, 1703, that author appears to have taken part of the tale of this play, and about fifty lines from it. Much Ado About Nothing. The Law against Lovers. By Sir W. Davenant. Fol. 1673. 8 « Garrick has produced a detestable English Opera, which is crowded by all true lovers of their country. To mark the op- position to Italian Operas, it is sung by some cast singers, two Italians, and a French girl, and the Chapel boys; and to regale us with sense, it is Shakespeare's Mipsummer Nicut’s Dream, which is forty times more nonsensical than the worst translation of any Italian opera-books.” Letter from Lord Orford to Richard Bentley, Esq. Feb. 23,1755. See his Lordship’s works, vol: v. p. $12. pn~ Ho fortGek pet FROM SHAKSPEARE. 685 The Universal Passion. A Comedy, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, by his Majesties Servants. By James Miller. 8vo. 17379. Measure for Measure. The Law against Lovers, by Sir W. D’Avenant. Fol. 1673. Measure for Measure, or Beauty the best Advocate. As it is acted at the Theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Eields; written originally by Mr. Shakspeare, and now very much altered: with additions of several Entertainments of Musick. By Mr. Gildon. 4to. 1700. An alteration by J. P. Kemble, acted at Drury Lane, 8vo. 1789. Love’s Labour’s Lost. The Students, a Comedy, altered from Shakspeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, and adapted to the stage. 8vo. 1762. Merchant of Venice. The Jew of Venice, a Comedy. As it is acted at the Theatre in Little Lincoln’s Inn Fields, by his Majesty’s Servants. By George Granville, Esq. (after- wards Lord Lansdowne.) 4to. 1701. As You Like It. Love in a Forest, a Comedy. As it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, by his Majesties Servants. By C. Johnson. 8vo. 1723. The Modern Receipt, or a Cure for Love. A Comedy, altered from Shakspeare. The Dedication is signed J.C. 12mo. 1739. All’s Well that Ends Well. All’s Well that Ends Well, a Comedy. Altered by Mr. Pilon, and reduced to three Acts. Performed at the Haymarket Theatre, 1785. Not printed. ® This play is a pasticio formed from Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Love’s Labour’s Lost. Boswext. 686 - PLAYS ALTERED — All’s Well that-Ends Well, a ‘Comedy, beens aby J. P. Kemble, acted at Drury Tana 8v0. 29 Taming of the Kees Sawny the Scott, or the Taming of the Shrew, a Comedy, as it is now acted at the Theatre Royal, and never before printed. By John Lacy, 4to. 1698, The Cobler of Preston, a Farce, as it is acted at the new Theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. By Christopher Bulluck. 12mo. 1716. The Cobler of Preston, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, by his Majesty’s Servants. By Cc. Johnson. 8vo. 1716. A Cure for a Scold, a Ballad Opera, by James ‘Wors- dale. Taken from the Taming of the Shrew. 8vo. [1736.] . i Katharine and Petruchio. By Mr. Garrick. 8vo. 1756. Winter’s Tale. The Winter’s Tale, a Play, altered from Shakspeare. By Charles Marsh. 8vo. 1756. Florizel and Perdita.. By Mr. Garrick. 8vo, 1758, Sheepshearing, or Florizel and Perdita. By Macna-. mara Morgan, Dublin. 12mo. 1767. The Sheep-shearing, a dramatick Pastoral. In three Acts. Taken from Shakspeare. As it is performed at the Theatre Royal in the Haymarket. 8vo. 1777. An alteration by J. P, Kemble, acted at Drury Lane. 8vo. 1802. - Macbeth. Macbeth,’a Tragedy, with all the Alterations, Amend- ments, Additions, and new Songs; as it is now acted at the Duke’s Theatre. By Sir William D’Avenant. 4to. 1674, The Historical Tragedy of Macbeth (written originally by Shakspeare) newly adapted to the stage, with Altera- FROM SHAKSPEARE. 687 tions, as performed at the Theatre in Edinburgh. 8vo. 1753. By Me Lee. ; _ King John. } Papal Tyranny i in the Reign of King John, a Tragedy, as it is acted atthe Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, by his Majesty’s Servants. By Colley Cibber. 8vo. 1744, An alteration by J. P. Kemble, acted at Drury Lane. 8vo. 1801. King Richard II. The History of King Richard the Second. Acted at the Theatre Royal under the title of the Sicilian Usurper : with a prefatory Epistle in Vindication of the Author, occasioned by the prohibition of his Play on the Stage. By N. Tate. 4to. 1681. ' The Tragedy of King Richard II. altered from Shak speare. By Lewis Theobald. 8vo. 1720. King Richard II. a Tragedy, altered from Shakspeare, and the Style'imitated. By James Goodhall. Printed at Manchester. 8vo. 1772. King Henry IV. Part I. King Henry IV. with the Humours of Sir John Falstaff, a Tragi-comedy, as it is acted at the Theatre in Little Lincoln’s Inn Fields, by his Majesty’s Servants. Revived with Alterations. By Mr. Betterton. 4to. 1700. King Henry IV. Part II. The Sequel of Henry IV, with the Humours of Sir John Falstaff and Justice Shallow; as it is acted by his Majesty’s Company of Comedians at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. Altered from Shakspeare by the late Mr. Betterton. 8vo. No date. King Henry V. King Henry V. or the Conquest of France, a Tragedy, altered by J. P. Kemble, acted at Drury Lane. 8vo. VOL. I. 2yY 688 PLAYS ALTERED King Henry VI. Three Parts. Henry the Sixth, the First Part, with the Murder of Humphrey Duke of Glocester. As it was acted at the Duke’s Theatre. By John Crowne. 4to. 1681. : Henry the Sixth, the Second Part, or the Misery of Civil War. As it was acted at the Duke’s Theatre. i? John Crowne. 4to. 1681. Ps Humfrey Duke of Gloucester, a Tragedy, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, by his Majesty’s Servants, [A few speeches and lines only borrowed from Shakspeare.] By Ambrose Philips. 8vo. 1723. An Historical Tragedy of the Civil Wars in the Reign of King Henry VI. (being a sequel to the Tragedy of Humfrey Duke of Gloucester, and an Introduction to the Tragical History of King Richard III). Altered from Shakspeare in the year 1720. By Theo. Cibber. 8vo. No date. [1723.] The Roses; or King Henry the Sixth ; an Historical Tragedy. Represented at Reading School, Oct. 15, 16, and 17, 1795. Compiled principally from Shakspeare. 8vo. Elmsly, &c. This compilation is said tg have been the work of the Rev. Dr. Valpy. King Richard III. The Tragical History of King Richard III. Altered from Shakspeare. 4to. 1700. By Colley Cibber. Troilus and Cressida. Troilus and Cressida, or Truth found too late. A Tragedy, as it is acted at the Duke’s Theatre. By John Dryden. 4to. 1679. Coriolanus. The Ingratitude of a Commonwealth, or the Fall of Caius Martius Coriolanus. As it is acted at the Theatre Royal. By Nahum Tate. 4to. 1682. The Invader of his Country, or the Fatal Resentment. FROM SHAKSPEARE. 689 As it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, by his Majesty’s Servants. By John Dennis. 8vo. 1720. Coriolanus, or the Roman Matron, a Tragedy, taken from Shakspeare and Thomson. As it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden: to which is added the Order of the Ovation. By Thomas Sheridan. 8vo. 1755. - Coriolanus, a Tragedy, altered by J. P. Kemble, acted at Drury Lane. 8vo. 1801. Julius Cesar. The Tragedy of Julius Cesar, with the Death of Brutus and Cassius: written originally by Shakspeare, and since altered by Sir William D’Avenant and John Dryden, Poets Laureat; as it is now acted by his Majesty’s Com- pany of Comedians at the Theatre Royal. To which is prefixed the Life of Julius Cesar, abstracted from Plu- tarch and Suetonius. 12mo, 1719, The Tragedy of Julius Cesar, altered, with a Prologue and Chorus. 4to. 1722. The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus, with the Prologue and the two last Chorusses. 4to. 1722. Both by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. Antony and Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra, an Historical Play written by William Shakspeare, fitted for the Stage by abridging only ; and now acted at the Theatre Royalin Drury Lane, by his Majesty’s Servants. By Edward Capell, 12mo. 1758. King Lear, The History of King Lear, acted at the Duke’s Theatre. Revived with Alterations. By Nahum Tate. 4to. 1681. The History of King Lear, as it is performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. By George Colman. 8vo. 1768. Hamlet. Hamlet, altered by Mr. Garrick. Acted at Drury Lane, 1771. Not printed. 2y2 690 PLAYS ALTERED Cymbeline. The Injured Princess, or the Fatal Wager. As it was acted at the Theatre Royal, by his Majesty: Servants. By Tho. Durfey. 4to. 1682. Cymbeline, King of Great Britain, a Tragedy, written by Shakspeare, with some Alterations. By sane Marsh. 8vo. 1755. Cymbeline, a Tragedy, altered from Shaeapeaie. As itis performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. By W. Hawkins. 8vo. 1759. _ Cymbeline, altered by Mr. Garrick. Acted at Drury Lane, 1761. 12mo. 1762. Timon of Athens. The History of Timon of Athens, the Man-hater. As it is acted at the Duke’s Theatre ; made into a Play, by Thomas Shadwell. 4to. 1678. Timon of Athens. As it is” acted at the Theatre Royal on Richmond Green. Altered from Shakspeare and Shadwell. By James Love. 8vo. 1768. — Timon of Athens, altered from Shakspeare, a tragedy, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. By Mr. Cumberland. 8vo. 1771. Timon of Athens, altered from Shakspeare and Shad- well, by Mr. Hull, was acted at Covent Garden, 1786; Not printed. Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet, altered into a Tragi-comedy, by James Howard, Esq. See Downes, p. 22. - Caius Marius, by Tho. Otway. 4to. 1680. Romeo and Juliet, a Tragedy, revised and altered from Shakspeare. By Theo. Cibber. 8vo. No date. [1744.] Romeo and Juliet, altered by Mr. Garrick. 12mo. 1750. From the Preface to the Republication of Marsh’s FROM SHAKSPEARE. 691 Cymbeline in 1762, it appears that he had likewise made an alteration of Romeo and Juliet. Comedy of Errors. . An alteration of this play under the title of Every Body Mistaken, was acted at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 1716, but was never printed, The Comedy of Errors, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, 1779. Altered by Mr. Hull. The Twins, or Which is Which, in three Acts, altered by Mr. Woods, was acted at Edinburgh, and printed in a collection of farces at Edinburgh, 1786, vol. iv. Titus Andronicus. Titus Andronicus, or the Rape of Lavinia. Acted at the Theatre Royal. A Tragedy, altered from Mr. Shak- speare’s Works, By Edward Ravenscroft. 4to. 1687. Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Marina, a Play of three Acts, by George Lillo. 8vo. 1738, One of the alterations of Shakspeare is of so singular a nature, that the reader may probably be pleased in having an account of it, as I believe [See p. 689.] it has never ap- peared in print, I mean Mr, Garrick’s alteration of Hamlet in 1771. There cannot well be a greater proof of the pre- valence of French criticism at a former period, than that an actor who professed himself desirous to “ lose no drop of that immortal man,” could have thought that he was doing the publick a service in so grossly sophisticating one of his noblest plays. The copy which he made use of for his supposed corrections, was one which was printed in 4to. 1703, and probably exhibited Hamlet as it was acted by Betterton, and will furnish another instance of the liberties which were taken with Shakspeare at the beginning of the last century. The following jis the Advertisement to the Reader: ‘ This play being too long to be conveniently acted, such 692 PLAYS ALTERED places as might be least prejudicial to the plot or sense are left out upon the stage: but that we may no way wrong the incomparable author, are here inserted according to the original copy with this mark [“”].’ The reader would scarcely anticipate that the greater part of Hamlet’s address to his father’s ghost is marked for omission. It stands thus for representation. Horatio. Look, my Lord, where it comes. . Hamlet. Angels and ministers of grace, defend us, t. &,. Sons Rede Ge Le Hh pee eee sd * =* * what may this mean, . That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel, &c. But to return to Mr. Garrick. 1 shall not fatigue the reader with minute alterations, or such arrangements as were merely designed for convenience in acting, but shall produce one instance of a supposed improvement in Ham- let’s soliloquy at the end of Act [V.Sc. IV. His obser- vations on his own character, which are the best clue to his conduct, Now whether it be Bestial oblivion or some craven scruple, &c. are left out, and for the close of the speech, the fol- lowing rant is substituted : Awake, my soul, awake! Wake nature, manhood, vengeance, rouse at once ! My father’s spirit calls! the hour is come! From this time forth, my thoughts be bloody all, I'll fly my keepers—Sweep to my revenge. It is generally known that he expunged the scene of the grave-diggers ; but he did much more—he cut out the whole of the last Act. The voyage to. England, the de- struction of Rozencrantz and Guildernstern, the funeral of Ophelia, and-the conspiracy against: Hamlet by means of a fencing match, are all swept away. After the second scene of Ophelia’s madness, Laertes utters that speech re FROM SHAKSPEARE. 693 which Shakspeare has put into his mouth at her grave. «O treble woe,” &c. Hamlet enters, and the quarrel takes place as in the original, Act V. Sc. I. but somewhat short- ened, and then follows the conclusion of the play. The king interferes with this speech : King. We will not bear this insult to our presence. Hamlet, I did command you hence to England ; Affection hitherto has curb'd my power ; But you have trampled on allegiance, And now shall feel my wrath.—Guards. Hamlet. First feel mine. [Stabs him. Here thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, There’s for thy treachery, lust, and usurpation. [King falls and dies, Queen. Mercy! Mercy, Heaven! Save me from my son. [She runs out. Laertes, What, treason, ho! Thus then dol revenge My father, sister, and my king. (They fight : Hamlet is wounded by Laertes, and falls. Horatio. And I my prince, and friend. (Draws. Hamlet, Hold, good Horatio: ‘tis the hand of Heaven Administers by him, this precious balm For all my wounds. [Enter Messenger.| Speak! speak! what of my mother? Messenger. Struck with the horror of the scene, she fled ; But ere she reach’d her chamber-door, she fell ; Entrane’d and motionless ; unable to sustain the load Of agony and sorrow. Hamlet. O my Horatio, watch the wretched queen, If from this trance she wakes. O may she breath An hour of penitence, ere madness ends her. Exchange forgiveness with me, brave Laertes. O may thy father’s death come not on me, Or mine on thee. Laertes. Heay’n make thee free of it. Hamlet. 1 die, 1 die, Horatio.—Come thou near, ! ; L {To Laertes. Take this hand from me. Unite your virtues. [Joins Horatio’s hand to Laertes. 694 ACCOUNT OF AUBREY.. ' Tocalm this troubled land—I can no more, Nor have I more to ask—But mercy, Heav’n. [Dies. Horatio. Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet _ prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this Becomes the field—but here shows much amiss. - (Finis.] BosweE tt. - AUBREY®, * Mr. Aubrey was born in the year 1625, or 1626; and in 1642 was entered a gentleman commoner of Trinity col- lege in Oxford.. Four years afterwards he was admitted a member of the Inner Temple,.and in 1662 elected a member of the Royal Society. He died about the year 1700. Itis acknowledged, that his literary attainments were considerable ; that he was a man of good parts, of much learning and great application; a good Latin poet, an excellent naturalist, and, what is more material to our present object, a great lover of and indefatigable searcher into antiquities. That the greater part of his life was devoted to literary pursuits, is ascertained by the works which he has published, the correspondence which he held with many eminent men, and the collections which he left in manuscript, and which are now reposited in the Ashmolean Museum. Among these collections is a curious account of our English poets and many other writers. While Wood was preparing his Athene Oxoni- enses, this manuscript was lent to him, as appears from many queries in his handwriting in the margin; and his account of Milton, with whom Aubrey was intimately acquainted, is (as has been observed by Mr. Warton) literally transcribed from-thence. Wood afterwards quar- ‘his writer has been so often referred to in these pages, that it od have been an act of injustice not to have preserved Mr. Malone’s testimony in his favour. Boswext,] ACCOUNT OF AUBREY. 695 ‘relled with Mr. Aubrey, whom in the second volume of his Fasti, p. 262, he calls his friend, and on whom in his History of the University of Oxford he bestows the highest encomium*; and, after their quarrel, with his usual warmth, and in his loose diction, he represented Aubrey as “a pretender to antiquities, roving, magottie- headed, and little better than crased.” To Wood every lover of antiquity and literary history has very high obliga- tions; and in all matters of fact he may be safely relied on; but his opinion of men and things is of little value. Ac- cording to his representation, Dr. Ralph Bathurst, a man highly esteemed by all his contemporaries, was “ a most vile person,” and the celebrated John Locke, “ a prating, clamorous, turbulent fellow.” The virtuous and learned Dr. John Wallis, if we are to believe Wood, was a man who could “ at any time make black white, and white black, for his own ends, and who had a ready knack at sophistical evasion 3.” How little his judgment of his contemporaries is to be trusted, is also evinced by his ‘account of the ingenious Dr. South, whom, being offended by one of his witticisms, he has grossly reviled +. What- 2 «* Transmissum autem nobis est illud epitaphium a viro per- humano, Johanne Alberico, vulgo Aubrey, Armigero, hujus collegii olim generoso commensali, jam vero é Regio Societate Londini; viro inquam, tam bono, tam benigno, ut publico solum commodo, nec sibi omnino, natus esse videatur.” Hist. et Antiq. Univ. Oxon. |. ii. p. 297. 3 Letter from Wood to Aubrey, dated Jan. 16, 1689-90. MSS. Aubrey. No. 15, in Mus. Ashmol. Oxon.—Yet in the preface to his History of the University of Oxford, he describes Dr. ee. as a man—*“ eruditione pariter et humanitate prestans.” ** Wood’s account of South (says s Mr. Warton) is full of ma-~ licious reflections and abusive stories: the occasion of which was this. Wood, on a visit to Dr. South, was complaining of a very painful and dangerous suppression of urine; upon which South in his witty manner, told him, that, ‘if he could not make water he must make earth.’ Wood was so provoked at this unseason- ATE 696 ACCOUNT OF AUBREY. ever Wood in a peevish humour may have thought or said of Mr. Aubrey, by whose labours he highly profited, or however fantastical Aubrey may have been on the subject of chemistry and ghosts, his character for veracity has never been impeached ; and as a very diligent antiquarian, his testimony is worthy of attention. Mr. Toland, who was well acquainted with him, and certainly a better judge of men than Wood, gives this character of him: “ Though he was extremely superstitious, or seemed to be so, yet he was a very honest man, and most accurate in his account of matters of fact. Butthe facts he knew, not the reflee- tions he made, were what I wanteds.” I do not wish to maintain that all his accounts of our English writers are on these grounds to be implicitly adopted; but it seems’ - to me much more reasonable to question such parts of them as appear objectionable, than to reject them alto-_ gether, because he may sometimes have been mistaken. He was acquainted with many of the players, and lived in great intimacy with the poets and other celebrated writers of the last age; from whom undoubtedly many of his anecdotes were collected. Among his friends and acquaintances we find Hobbes, Milton, Dryden, Butler, Ray, Evelyn®, Ashmole, Sir William Dugdale, Dr. Bathurst, Bishop Skinner, Dr. Gale, Sir William D’Ave- nant, Mr. Hook, Sir William Petty, Sir John Denham, Sir Bennet Hoskyns, (son of John Hoskyns, who was able and unexpected jest, that he went home in a passion, and wrote South’s Life.” Life of Ralph Bathurst, p. 184. Compare Wood's Athen, Oxon. ii. 1041. 5 Specimen of a Critical History of the Celtick Religion, &e . 122. ; 6 «* With incredible satisfaction I have perused your Natural History of the county of Surrey, and greatly admire both your industry in undertaking so profitable a work, and your judgment in the several observations you have made.” Letter from John Evelyn, Esq. to Mr. Aubrey, prefixed to his Antiquities of Surrey. a ee ea ACCOUNT OF AUBREY. 697 well acquainted with the poets of Shakspeare’s time), Mr. Josiah Howe, Toland, and many more?. The anecdotes {concerning D’Avenant in Wood’s Athenz Oxonienses, ) which have been printed in a former page, were, like the copious and accurate account of Milton, transcribed liter- ally from Aubrey’s papers. A person who enjoyed the intimacy and esteem of so many distinguished persons, must certainly have borne a very different character from that which has been given of him by Wood, who was remarkable for the violence of his temper and his strong prejudices. 7 Hobbes, whose life Aubrey wrote, was born in 1588, Milton ; in 1608, Dryden in 1630, Ray in 1628, Evelyn jn 1621, Ash- 77. _ mole in 1616, Sir W. Dugdale in 1606, Dr.,Bathurst in 1620, .. ,o > i Bishop Skinner in 1591, Dr. Gale about 1630, Sir William = D’Avenant in 1606; Sir John Denham in 1615, Sir Bennet Hoskyns (the son of John Hoskyns, Ben Jonson's poetical father, who was born in 1566,) about 1600, and Mr. Jos. Howe in 1611. END OF VOL. II. C. Baldwin, Printer, * New Bridge-street, London. Bayerlsch- Bteatsd!blicthek MGnchen 7 a) — . fil pic, zy » ¥ ra Te + By: + 4 A ‘ ve. —* ia » a4 « os i saeat pea Coa ae PSR SP tage na. aieek ilioih ver PR eee fi uit r + ub ro ae i ii a = 4 % duty Ode =$} 3 ant 5316) Bia «ais Wages Bete ae MDZ PiatliseunysZentrun taatsBibliothe! Digitale Bibliothek ‘Shakespeare, William, / Malone, Edmond / Boswell, James, ‘The plays and poems of William Shakspeare With a new glossarial index Bd.: 2,- 697 S. : 1 Port. London 1821 Po.angl. 361 ai-2 urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10749443-3