it is before limited to be, and to 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 lawfully issuing; and for default of such issue, to the right heirs of me the said William Shakespeare for ever. : Item, I give unto my wife my second-best bed, with the furniture. Item, I give and bequeath to my said daughter Judith, my broad silver-gilt bowl. All the rest of my goods, chattels, leases, plates, jewels, and household stuff whatsoever, after my debts and legacies are paid, and my funeral expenses 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 my daughter Susanna Hall, for the better enabling her to perform this my will, and towards the performance thereof, all that capital messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, in Stratford aforesaid, called The New Place, wherein I now dwell, and two messuages or tenements with the appurtenances, situate, lying, and being in Henley Street, within the borough of Stratford aforesaid; and all my barns, stables, orchards, gardens, lands, heredi. taments whatsoever, situate, lying, and being, or to be had, reserved, preserved, or taken within the towns, hamlets, villages, fields, and grounds of Stratford-upon-Avon, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcome, or in any of them, in the said county of Warwick; and also all that 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 my other lands, tenements, and hereditaments whatso-executors of this my last will and testament. ever; to have and to hold all 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 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 second son lawfully issuing; and for default of such heirs, to the third son of the body of the said Susanna lawfully issuing; and for default of such issue, the same 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 And I do entreat and appoint the said Thomas Russell, 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, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Witness to the publishing hereof. THE DEDICATION OF THE PLAYERS, PREFIXED TO THE FOLIO OF 1623. To the most noble and incomparable pair of brethren, William Earl of Pembroke, &c., Lord Chamberlain to the King's most excellent Majesty, and Philip Earl of Montgom ery, &c., Gentleman of his Majesty's bedchamber; both Knights of the most noble order of the Garter, and our singular good lords. RIGHT HONOURABLE, Whilst we study to be thankful in our particular for the many favours we have received from your L. L., we are fallen upon the ill fortune, to mingle two the most diverse things that can be, fear and rashness-rashness in the enterprise, and fear of the success. For when we value the places your H.H. sustain, we cannot but know their dignity greater than to descend to the reading of these trifles; and while we name them trifles, we have deprived ourselves of the defence of our dedication. But since your L. L. have been pleased to think these trifles something heretofore, and have prosecuted both them and their author living with so much favour, we hope that (they outliving him, and he not having the fate, common with some, to be executor to his own writings) you will use the like indulgence toward them you have done unto their parent. There is a great difference whether any book choose his patrons, or find them: this hath done both. For so much were your L.L. likings of the several parts when they were acted, as before they were published, the volume asked to be yours. We have but collected them, and done an office to the dead, to procure his orphans guardians; without ambition either of self-profit or fame; only to keep the memory of fault to approach their gods by what means they could: and the most, though meanest, of things are made more precious when they are dedicated to temples. In that name, therefore, we most humbly consecrate to your H.H. these remains of your servant Shakespeare, that what delight is in them may be ever your L. L., the reputation his, and the faults ours, if any be commit so worthy a friend and fellow alive as was our Shakespeare, by humble offer of his plays to your most noble patronage. Wherein, as we have justly observed no man to come near your L.L. but with a kind of religious address, it hath been the height of our care, who are the presenters, to make the present worthy of your H.H. by the perfection. But there we must also crave our abilities to be considered, my lords.ted by a pair so careful to shew their gratitude We cannot go beyond our own powers. Coun- both to the living and to the dead as is try hands reach forth milk, cream, fruits, or Your Lordships' most bounden, what they have; and many nations, we have heard, that had not gums and incense, obtained their requests with a leavened cake. It was no JOHN HEMINGE, THE PREFACE OF THE PLAYERS, PREFIXED TO THE FOLIO OF 1623. To the great variety of readers. FROM the most able to him that can but spell: there you are numbered. We had rather you were weighed especially when the fate of all books depends upon your capacities; and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well, it is now public; 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. Then how odd soever your brains be or your wisdoms, make your licence the same, spare not. Judge your six-pen'orth, your shillings-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 jack go. And though you be a magistrate of wit, and sit on the stage at Blackfriars or the Cockpit, to arraign plays daily, know, these plays have had their trial already, and stood out all appeals, and do now come forth quitted rather by a decree of court than any purchased letters of commendation. It had been a thing, we confess, worthy to have been wished, that the author himself had lived to have set forth and overseen his own writings. But, since it hath been ordained otherwise, and he by death departed from that right, we pray you do not envy his friends the office of their care and pain, to have collected and published them; and so to have published them as where (before) you were abused with divers stolen and surreptitious copies, maimed and deformed by the frauds and stealths 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; who, as he was a happy imitator of nature, was 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. But it is not our province, who only gather his works and give them you, to praise him. It is yours that read him : and there we hope, to your divers capacities, you will find enough both to draw and hold you; for his wit can no more lie hid than it could be lost. Read him, therefore; and again and again: and if then you do 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 be your guides: if you need them not, you can lead yourselves and others. And such readers we wish him. JOHN HEMINGE, Tit. And. 456 ...Ibid. 1 1 Ant. and Cleo. 604 Angelo, duke of Vienna's deputy.. Troil. and Cress. 412 B BAGOT, creature to King Richard II... PAGE K. Rich. II. 239 Balthazar, servant to Portia.... Mer. of Ven. 121 Biron, attending on King Bishop of Lincoln... .Othello 583 Tam. of Shrew 154 Love's Lab. Lost 90 C K. Rich. II. 239 CATHNESS, a Scottish nobleman......Macbeth 522 PAGE Caliban, servant to Prospero.......Tempest 1 Ant, and Cleo. 604 Cardinal Campeius.......... .K. Hen. VIII. 392 As You Like It 137 Ceres, a spirit... Ant. and Cleo. 604 Jul. Cæs. 506 PAGE Curtis, servant to Petruchio.. Tam. of Shrew 154 D DARDANIUS, servant to Brutus.....Jul. Cæs. 506 Decius Brutus, conspirator against Cæsar... Ant, and Cleo. 604 Troil, and Cress. 412 Ibid. 604 Donalbain, son to Duncan, king of Scot- Much Ado 74 46 Don Pedro, prince of Arragon...... 74 Com. of Err. 63 Much Ado 74 Claudius, servant to Brutus.. Mea. for Mea. 46 Cominius, a Roman general.. Cordelia, daughter to Lear.. K. Lear 561 Duke of Buckingham..........K. Hen. VIII. 392 K. Hen. V. 294 K. John 223 Cressida, daughter to Calchas.. |