Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

this period is afforded too by a letter dated January 24th, 1597-8, from Abraham Sturley, Stratford, to, it is supposed, Richard Quiney, in the course of which the former writes:—

"It semeth bi him that our countriman, Mr. Shakspere, is willinge to disburse some mon upon some od yarde land or other att Shottri or neare about us; he thinketh it a veri fitt pattern to move him to deale in the matter of our tithes."

The year 1598, it is believed, witnessed the first acquaintance between Shakespeare and Be Jonson, an acquaintance honourable to both, and which there can be no doubt speedily ripene into hearty friendship. According to Rowe, Shakespeare's "acquaintance with Ben Johnson began with a remarkable piece of humanity and good nature: Mr. Johnson, who was at tha time altogether unknown to the world, had offer'd one of his plays to the players, in order t have it acted, and the persons into whose hands it was put, after having turn'd it carelessly and superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an ill-natur'd answer, that i would be of no service to their company, when Shakespear luckily cast his eye upon it, and found something so well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Johnson and his writings to the public." We have only Rowe's authority for this anecdote, but there seems no reason for doubting that some such passage did occur. 65 There is another agreeable tradition respecting the acquaintance of these famous "Worthies" preserved by Fuller, who, speaking of Shakespeare, says, "Many were the wit-combates betwixt him and Ben Jonson, which two I behold like a Spanish great gallion and an English man-of-war ;-Master Jonson (like the former) was built far higher in learning, solid but slow in his performances; Shake-speare with the English man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention."66

We now come to perhaps the most remarkable literary notice of Shakespeare by a contemporary extant. In 1598, Francis Meres published a work entitled Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury, being the Second Part of Wits Commonwealth, in which occurs the following passage respecting our poet and his compositions :

"As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweete-wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous and hony-tongued Shakespeare; witnes his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends, &c.

"As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for comedy and tragedy among the Latines, so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage; for comedy, witnes his Gentlemen of Verona, his Errors, his Love Labors Lost, his Love Labours Wonne, his Midsummers Night Dreame, and his Merchant of Venice; for tragedy, his Richard the 2., Richard the 3., Henry the 4., King John, Titus Andronicus, and his Romeo and Juliet.

"As Epius Stolo said that the Muses would speake with Plautus tongue, if they would speak Latin, so I say that the Muses would speak with Shakespeares fine filed phrase, if they would speake English."67

65 Gifford rejects it disdainfully, in the belief that Jonson's Every Man in His Humour is the piece recorded in Henslowe's Diary, the comedie of Umers as acted by the Lord Admiral's men in May, 1597, but Jonson distinctly states, in the edition of his works, 1616, that Every Man in his Humour was first acted by the Lord Chamberlain's servants in 1598. It is noticeable that in a list of the "principal comedians" subjoined to this piece, Shakespeare's name stands first; unfortunately this list does not specify the character played by each actor, but our poet is supposed to have acted Old Knowell.

66 Worthies, p. 126, A a a. ed. fol. Some of these "witcombats" have been handed down to us, but they are not of a quality to verify their alleged parentage. For example:"Shakespeare was god-father to one of Ben Johnsons

children, and after the christning, being in a deepe study, Johnson came to cheere him up, and askt him why he was so melancholy. No, faith, Ben, sayes he, not I; but I have beene considering a great while what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my god-child, and I have resolv'd at last. I prythe what? says he. Ifaith, Ben, Ile e'en give him a dowzen good Lattin spoones, and thou shalt translate them." From Merry Passages and Jeasts, Ms. Harl. 6395.

67 Of the poems and plays enumerated by Meres, a small portion only, it is supposed, were in print when he wrote in 1598. Those known to have been published at that date are, the Venus and Adonis and Lucrece, Richard II., and Richard III., Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, and the First Part of Henry IV.

This extract is of striking importance in determining the chronology of Shakespeare's dramas, and it is of equal interest in a biographical sense. It shows to what a height of reputation he had risen at the early age of thirty-four, an age when many writers have hardly begun to put

forth their full powers.

The next literary allusion to our author is poetic, and occurs in a collection of Epigrams, published by Weever in 1599:

"Ad Gulielmum Shakespeare.

Honie-tongd Shakespeare, when I saw thine issue,

I sware Apollo got them, and none other;
Their rosie-tainted features clothed in tissue,

Some heaven-born goddess said to be their mother.
Rose-cheeckt Adonis with his amber tresses,

Faire fire-hot Venus charming him to love her;
Chaste Lucretia, virgine-like her dresses,

Proud lust-stung Tarquine seeking still to prove her;
Romeo, Richard, more whose names I know not;
Their sugred tongues and power-attractive beauty
Say they are saints, although that saints they shew not,
For thousand vowes to them subjective dutie.
They burn in love, thy children, Shakespeare, let them,
Go, wo thy muse; more nymphish brood beget them."

Another memorial of this period, a letter addressed by Richard Quiney 68 to the poet himself, is considered of inestimable value, as being the only one now known to exist of all the communications he must have received :

"Loveinge Contreyman, I am bolde of yow, as of a ffrende, craveinge yowr helpe with xxxli uppon Mr. Bushells and my securytee, or Mr. Myttons with me. Mr. Rosswell is nott come to London as yeate, and I have especiall cawse. Yow shall ffrende me muche in helpeinge me out of all the debettes I owe in London, I thanck God, and muche quiete my mynde, which wolde nott be indebeted. I am nowe towardes the Cowrte, in hope of answer for the dispatche of my buysenes. Yow shall nether loose creddytt nor monney by me, the Lorde wyllinge; and nowe butt perswade yowrselfe soe, as I hope, and yow shall nott need to feare butt with all heartie thanckefullnes I wyll holde my tyme, and content yowr ffreende, and yf we bargaine farther, yow shalbe the paie-master yowrselfe. My tyme biddes me hasten to an ende, ande soe I committ thys [to] yowr care and hope of yowr helpe. I feare I shall nott be backe thys night ffrom the Cowrte. Haste. The Lorde be with yow and with us all, Amen! ffrom the Bell in Carter Lane, the 25 October, 1598.

Yowrs in all kyndenes,

Ryc. QUYNEY.

To my loveinge good ffrende and contreyman M. Wm. Shackespere deliver thees."

From a subsidy roll dated Oct. 1st, 1598, discovered in the Carlton Ride Record Office by the Rev. J. Hunter, Shakespeare, it appears, was then assessed at five pounds, and subjected to a rate of thirteen shillings and fourpence, in the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate : "Affid. William Shakespeare, vli.—xiijs. iiijd." 69

Richard Quiney was the father of the Thomas Quiney who subsequently married Shakespeare's youngest daughter. He was at London when the above letter was written, on business connected with the Stratford corporation, that borough having solicited Lord Treasurer Burghley for exemption from the subsidies imposed by the last Parlia

ment, on account of the distress and poverty occasioned in the town by two recent fires.

69 The memorandum affid. attached to the name is supposed to signify that he had made an affidavit of nonresidence, or some ground of exemption.

On the 8th of September, 1601, is recorded the burial of the poet's father.70 He wa born, according to Malone, in or before the year 1530, and had consequently outlived the allotte threescore and ten years.71

In May of the succeeding year, the poet increased his property by the purchase of a hundre and seven acres of arable land, for three hundred and twenty pounds;72 in September of th same year, he purchased a house or cottage in Dead Lane, opposite New Place, and also a messuag with barns, gardens, and orchards, of Hercules Underhill, for sixty pounds.

On the 29th of March, 1602-3, died Queen Elizabeth ;73 and Chettle in his Englande Mourning Garment, complains, that Shakespeare, whom she had "graced," had not bewailed he loss in elegiac strains ::

"Nor doth the silver-tongèd Melicert

Drop from his honied Muse one sable teare

To mourne her death that graced his desert,
And to his laies opend her royall eare.

Shepheard, remember our Elizabeth,

And sing her Rape done by that Tarquin, Death."

King James's partiality for the drama was manifested long before he ascended the English throne. In 1589, there is said to have been an English company, called "Her Majestie Players," at the Scottish Court. Ten years later, he licensed a company of English comedian to act at Edinburgh; and on the 9th of October, 1601, we find, from the registers of the tow council of Aberdeen, that the English players received thirty-two marks as a gratuity; and on th 22d of the same month, that the freedom of the city was conferred upon "Laurence Fletche Comedian to his Majestie."

On the 17th of May, 1603, a few days only after he reached London, the following warrant under the Privy Seal was issued :—

"BY THE KING.

"Right trusty and welbeloved Counsellor, we greete you well, and will and commaund you that under our privie seale in your custody for the time being, you cause our letters to be derected to the keeper of our greate seale of England, commaunding him under our said greate seale he cause our letters to be made patent in forme following. James, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, Fraunce, and Irland, defender of the faith, &c. To all justices, maiors sheriffs, constables, headboroughes, and other, our officers and loving subjects greeting. Know ye, that we of our speciall grace, certaine knowledge and meere motion, have licenced and authorized, and by these presentes doe licence and authorize, these our servants, Laurenc Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemmings, Henri Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowlye, and the rest of their associats, freely

70 The entry in the Stratford register is as follows:"1601, Septemb. 8, Mr. Johanes Shakspeare."

71 "The latest notice of John Shakespeare hitherto met with occurs in a paper in the Council Chamber at Stratford, containing notes respecting an action of trespass brought by Edward Grevil against several burgesses of Stratford, in 1601. His name is in a list that appears amongst memoranda of the defendant's case, perhaps of the witnesses intended to be called,-'Mr. Ihon Sackesper." "-Halliwell's Life of Shakespeare, p. 73, fol.

72 The indenture is "Between William Combe, of Warrwicke, in the countie of Warrwick, esquier, and John Combe, of Olde Stretford, in the countie aforesaid, gentleman, on the one partie, and William Shakespere, of Stretford-uppon-Avon, in the countie aforesaide, gentleman, on thother partye," and is dated 1st of May. The dramatist being at this time absent from Stratford, the conveyance was executed by his brother Gilbert. In the fine levied

on this property in 1611, "twenty acres of pasture land are mentioned, in addition to the hundred and seven acre of arable land. See Appendix.

73 One of the latest visits she paid to any of her nobility we are told, was to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper o the Great Seal, at Harefield, at the beginning of August 1602, and on that occasion, according to an interlined me morandum first printed by Mr. Collier from the Egerton papers, Othello was acted for her entertainment:

"6 August, 1602. Rewardes to the vaulters, players and dauncers, (of this xli. to Burbidges players for Othello) lxiiijli. xviijs. xd."

It is proper to state, however, that there is ground fo believing this interlineation to be a modern fabrication See the Introduction to Othello, p. 645, Vol. III.

74 In the Chapter House.-The patent under the Grea Seal is dated May 19th.

to use and exercise the arte and faculty of playing comedies, tragedies, histories, enterludes, moralls, pastorals, stage-plaies, and such other like, as thei have already studied, or hereafter shall use or studie, as well for the recreation of our loving subjects, as for our solace and pleasure, when we shall thinke good to see them, during our pleasure; and the said comedies, trajedies, histories, enterludes, moralls, pastoralls, stage-plaies, and such like, to shew and exercise publiquely to their best commoditie, when the infection of the plague shall decrease, as well within theire now usuall howse called the Globe, within our county of Surrey, as also within anie towne halls, or mout halls, or other convenient places within the liberties and freedome of any other citie, universitie, towne, or borough whatsoever within our said realmes and dominions : willing and commaunding you, and every of you, as you tender our pleasure, not only to permit and suffer them heerin, without any your letts, hinderances, or molestations, during our said pleasure, but also to be ayding or assisting to them yf any wrong be to them offered; and to allowe them such former courtesies, as hathe bene given to men of their place and qualitie; and also what further favour you shall shew to these our servants for our sake, we shall take kindly at your hands. And these our letters shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge in this behalfe.

"Given under our signet at our mannor of Greenewiche, the seavententh day of May in the first yeere of our raigne of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the six and thirtieth." Of the precise period when Shakespeare ceased to act we know no more than of the time when he began. His name last appears in a printed list of the characters attached to Jonson's "Sejanus," published in 1603, and it is thought that he relinquished a profession to which, if the lines in Sonnet CXI. 76 express his real sentiments, he was never partial, shortly after the King's Patent was issued.77

In 1604, we find the poet bringing an action in the Court of Record at Stratford against Phillip Rogers for the sum of £1 15s. 10d., the consideration being for "malt" sold and

75 Among the various contributions purporting to throw light on Shakespeare's career which we owe to Mr. Collier, are two that claim attention at this stage of the biogra phy. The first is a new reading of a letter still preserved at Dulwich College, from Mrs. Alleyn to her husband the actor, then absent on a professional expedition. The letter in question is dated October 20, 1603, and towards the end, where the paper is somewhat decayed, occurs a postscript, one paragraph of which reads thus:

"Aboute a weeke agoe there [cam]e a youthe who saide he was Mr. Frauncis Chalo[ner]s man ld have borrow[e]d x to

[blocks in formation]

and inquire after the fellow and said he had lent hym a horse. I feare me he gulled hym, thoughe he gulled not The youthe what was a prety youthe and hansom in appayrell, we know not, became of hym. Mr.Bromffeild commendes hym: hewas heare yesterdaye. Nicke and Jeames be well, and commend them, so dothe Mr. Cooke and his [weife.

In the kyndest sorte, and so once more in the hartiest manner farwelle."

In Mr. Collier's transcript of the letter, as published in his Memoirs of Edward Alleyn, 1841, and in his Life of Shakespeare, 1858, the above extract is exhibited as follows:

**Abonte a weeke a goe there came a youthe who said he was
Mr. Franneis Chaloner who would have borrowed x. li to
have bought things for and said he was known
unto you, and Mr. Shakespeare of the globe, who came

said he knewe hym not, only he herde of hym that he was
⚫ so he was glade we did not lend him
Richard Johnes [went] to seeke

a roge
the menney
and inquire after the fellow, and said he had lent hym a horse, I
feare me be gulled hym, thoughe he gulled not us. The youthe

was a prety youthe, and hansom in appayrell: we knowe not what became

of hym. Mr. Benfield commendes hym; he was heare yesterdaye. Nicko
and Jeames be well, and comend them: so dothe Mr. Cooke and his wiefe
in the kyndest sorte, and so once more in the hartiest manner
farwell."

By what oversight, or from what motive, certain words which by no possibility could ever have formed part of the original were interpolated, and others which are plainly visible were omitted, I will not attempt to conjecture, but as Mr. Collier has deduced from the assumed mention of Mr. Shakespeare of the globe that our poet was in London at the date when this letter was written, it is proper to show that the assumption is unfounded. The other document professes to be a letter, found in the Ellesmere collection, from Daniel the poet to Sir Thomas Egerton, thanking him for his advancement to the office of Master of the Queen's Revels, and which, if genuine, would be of singular interest in relation to the life of Shakespeare (See Appendix). But this letter, long suspected, is now proclaimed to be a forgery.

76" O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
That did not better for my life provide

Than public means which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand;
And almost thence my nature is subdu'd
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand."

[blocks in formation]

delivered at several times. The following year, he made the most considerable purchase he i known to have effected, in buying the tithes of Stratford, Old Stratford, Bishopton and Welcom Not long subsequently, we are told King James wrote to the poet with his own hand "an amicabl letter," 78 and, as Mr. Dyce remarks, "the tradition is, perhaps, indirectly supported by th following entries in the Accounts of the Revels, which prove how highly the dramas of Shake speare were relished at the court of James:

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »