of prosecutyng the bill in Parliament for the better repayre of the highe waies, and amendinge divers defectes in the statutes already made," dated Wednesday, Sept. 11th, 1611, the name of "Mr. William Shackspere" occurs. "This Ms.," observes Mr. Halliwell,26 "evidently relates to Stratford, but no sum is affixed to Shakespeare's name; and from its being placed in the margin, it would appear that he was not then in that town, and that the insertion was an afterthought."

The draft of a bill to be filed before Lord Ellesmere by "Richard Lane of Awston in the cownty of Warwicke esquire, Thomas Greene of Stratford uppon Avon in the said county of Warwicke esquire, and William Shackspeare of Stratford uppon Avon aforesaid in the said county of Warwicke gentleman,”without date, but apparently drawn up in 1612,exhibits Shakespeare as engaged in a law-suit arising out of his share in the tithes which he had bought in 1605.27 Certain of the lessees, it seems, having refused to contribute their proportions towards a reserved rent of 277. 13s. 4d., which they were bound to pay under peril of forfeiture,-"Richard Lane and William Shackspeare and some fewe others" had been

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wholly, and against all equity and good conscience, usually dryven to pay the same for preservacion of their estates;" and at last, finding the said lessees intractable, they submitted the case to the Court of Chancery. What was the issue of this suit is not known.—

26 Life of Shakespeare, p. 202, folio ed.

27 See p. 90.

The amount of Shakespeare's income from the tithes is thus specified in the draft: "Your oratour William Shackspeare hath an estate and interest of and in the moyty or one half of all tythes of corne and grayne aryseinge within the townes, villages, and ffieldes of Old Stratford, Byshopton and Welcombe, being of and in the said parishe of Stratford, and of and in the moity or half of all tythes of wool and lamb, and of all small and privy tythes, oblacions, and alterages arisynge or increasyng in or within the wholl parishe of Stratford uppon Avon aforesayd, for and duringe all the residue of the said terme, beinge of the yearely value of threescore powndes."

Richard Shakespeare, brother to the dramatist, was buried at Stratford, Feb. 4th, 1612-13. His history is a blank.

In the next month Shakespeare purchased a house with a piece of ground attached to it, not far from the Blackfriars Theatre, and "abutting upon a streete leading downe to Pudle Wharffe on the east part, right against the Kinges Majesties Wardrobe." The indenture of conveyance, dated the 10th of March, is "Betweene Henry Walker citizein and minstrell of London on thone partie, and William Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of Warwick gentleman, William Johnson citizein and vintener of London, John Jackson and John Hemmyng of London gentlemen, on thother partie," the consideration money being 1407.: but 80%. only having been then paid down, Shakespeare

on the day following mortgaged the premises to the vendor Henry Walker for the residue of the sum; and subsequently, when he had paid off the whole of the purchase-money, he leased them for a term of years to John Robinson, who is mentioned in his Will as the tenant in possession. The object of Shakespeare in this purchase may have been, as Mr. Collier conjectures, to accommodate in some way his friend and fellow actor John Heminge and the two other persons named with him in the deed.

It is probable that, after Shakespeare had bought New Place in 1597, his visits to Stratford became more frequent; and to the time when he finally took up his residence with his family at New Place it would seem that we may assign an earlier date than that of the conveyance just described, which he certainly executed in London, whither, when business called him, he still occasionally went.-We have seen that he first quitted Stratford, if not as a fugitive, at least as an adventurer with "the world all before him:" and we now behold him established there for the remainder of his life, with an income which enabled him to support the character of a gentleman, and (though only about one half of his immortal labours was as yet known to the public through the medium of the press) with a fame superior to that of any contemporary poet.-Ward, who was appointed to the vicarage of Stratford in 1662, had "heard" that Shakespeare "in his elder days lived at Stratford, and supplied the stage with

"28

two plays every year, and for itt had an allowance so large, that hee spent att the rate of 1,000l. a-year.' But, as Mr. Collier remarks, "it is utterly incredible that subsequent to his retirement [to Stratford] he 'supplied the stage with two plays every year:" .." 29 indeed, I suspect that before 1613 he had entirely abandoned dramatic composition. And of Shakespeare's wealth Ward had evidently received a very exaggerated account; for it represents him as living at the rate of about five thousand pounds per annum according to the present value of money.

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The latter part of his life," says Rowe, " was spent, as all men of good sense will wish theirs may be, in ease,

28 Diary (printed in 1839), p. 183.—In a tract, entitled Ratseis Ghost, or the Second Part of his Madde Prankes and Robberies, Printed by V. S., 4to, n. d., is a passage, the concluding portion of which seems plainly to allude to Shakespeare:-the hero of the tract, Gamaliel Ratsey, a highwayman, is addressing one of a set of strolling players, whom he had paid 40s. for acting before him, and had afterwards robbed of the money :— “And for you, sirrah (says he to the chiefest of them), thou hast a good presence upon a stage; methinks thou darkenest thy merit by playing in the country: get thee to London, for if one man [i. e. Burbadge] were dead, they will have much need of such as thou art. There would be none, in my opinion, fitter than thyself to play his parts; my conceit is such of thee, that I durst all the money in my purse on thy head to play Hamlet with him for a wager. There thou shalt learne to be frugal (for players were never so thrifty as they are now about London), and to feed upon all men; to let none feed upon thee; to make thy hand a stranger to thy pocket, thy heart slow to perform thy tongue's promise; and when thou feelest thy purse well lined, buy thee some place of lordship in the country, that, growing weary of playing, thy money may there bring thee to dignity and reputation: then thou needest care for no man; no, not for them that before made thee proud with speaking their words on the stage. Sir, I thank you (quoth the player) for this good council: I promise you I will make use of it; for I have heard, indeed, of some that have gone to London very meanly, and have come in time to be exceeding wealthy." Life of Shakespeare, p. 193, sec. ed.

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retirement, and the conversation of his friends. He had the good fortune to gather an estate equal to his occasion, and, in that, to his wish; and is said to have spent some years before his death at his native Stratford. His pleasurable wit and good nature engaged him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship, of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. Amongst them it is a story almost still remembered in that country, that he had a particular intimacy with Mr. Combe, an old gentleman noted thereabouts for his wealth and usury. It happened that in a pleasant conversation amongst their common friends, Mr. Combe told Shakespear 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, Shakespear gave him these four

verses:

Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd;

'Tis a hundred to ten, his soul is not sav'd:

If any man ask, Who lies in this tomb?

Oh, ho, quoth the devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe.'

But the sharpness of the satire is said to have stung the man so severely, that he never forgave it."30 Though

30 Life of Shakespeare.-A different version of the epitaph is given by Aubrey, who says that Shakespeare made it "at the tavern at Stratford" when Combe " was to be buryed." Mss. Mus. Ashmol. Oxon. Another occurs in Brathwaite's Remains, 1618. Indeed, the verses are found, with sundry variations, in our old miscellanies.-According to Ms. Lansd. 213, three officers, "a captaine, a lieutennant, and an ancient, all three of the military company in Norwich," while on a tour in 1634, saw at Stratford Shakespeare's monument, "and one of an old gentleman, a batchelor, Mr. Combe, upon whose name the sayd poet did merrily