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"A parliemente member, a justice of peace,
"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."

These lines, it must be confessed, do no great honour to our poet; and probably were unjust; for although some of his admirers have recorded Sir Thomas as a "vain, weak, and vindictive magis"trate," he was certainly exerting no very violent act of oppression, in protecting his property against a man who was degrading the commonest rank of life, and had at this time bespoke no indulgence by superior talents. The ballad, however, must have made some noise at Sir Thomas's expence, as the author took care it should be affixed to his park-gates, and liberally circulated among his neighbours.

On his arrival in London, which was probably in 1586, when he was twenty-two years old, he is said to have made his first acquaintance in the play-house, to which idleness or taste may have directed him, and where his necessities, if tradition may be credited, obliged him to accept the

office of call-boy, or prompter's attendant. This is a menial whose employment it is to give the performers notice to be ready to enter, as often as the business of the play requires their appearance on the stage. Pope, however, relates a story, communicated to him by Rowe, but which Rowę did not think deserving of a place in the life he wrote, that must a little retard the advancement of our poet to the office just mentioned. According to this story, Shakspeare's first employment was to wait at the door of the play-house, and hold the horses of those who had no servants, that they might be ready after the performance. But I cannot," says his acute commentator, Mr. Steevens, "dismiss this anecdote without "observing that it seems to want every mark of "probability. Though Shakspeare quitted Strat"ford on account of a juvenile irregularity, we "have no reason to suppose that he had forfeited "the protection of his father who was engaged "in a lucrative business, or the love of his wife "who had already brought him two children, and "was herself the daughter of a substantial yeoman. It is unlikely, therefore, when he was

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beyond the reach of his prosecutor, that he "should conceal his plan of life, or place of re"sidence, from those who, if he found himself "distressed, could not fail to afford him such

"supplies as would have set him above the neແ cessity of holding horses for subsistence. Mr. "Malone has remarked in his "Attempt to ascer"tain the Order in which the Plays of Shakspeare

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were written, that he might have found an easy "introduction to the stage: for Thomas Green, "a celebrated comedian of that period, was his "townsman, and perhaps his relation. The ge"nius of our author prompted him to write poetry; his connexion with a player might have given his productions a dramatic turn or his own sagacity might have taught him that fame was not incompatible with profit, and that the "theatre was an avenue to both. That it was "once the general custom to ride on horseback "to the play, I am likewise yet to learn. The "most popular of the theatres were on the Bank"side; and we are told by the satirical pam

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phleteers of that time, that the usual mode of conveyance to these places of amusement was

by water, but not a single writer so much as "hints at the custom of riding to them, or at "the practice of having horses held during the "hours of exhibition. Some allusion to this

usage, (if it had existed) must, I think, have "been discovered in the course of our researches "after contemporary fashions. Let it be remem"bered too, that we receive this tale on no

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higher authority than that of Cibber's Lives of "the Poets, Vol. I. p. 130. Sir William Da"venant told it to Mr. Betterton, who commu"nicated it to Mr. Rowe, who, according to Dr. "Johnson, related it to Mr. Pope." Mr. Malone concurs in opinion that this story stands on a very slender foundation, while he differs from Mr. Steevens as to the fact of gentlemen going to the theatre on horseback. With respect likewise to Shakspeare's father being "engaged in a "lucrative business," we may remark, that this could not have been the case at the time our author came to London, if the preceding dates be correct. He is said to have arrived in London in 1586, the year in which his father resigned the office of alderman, unless, indeed, we are permitted to conjecture that his resignation was not the consequence of his necessities.

But in whatever situation he was first employed at the theatre, he appears to have soon discovered those talents which afterwards made him

"Th' applause! delight! the wonder of our stage!"

Some distinction he probably first acquired as an actor, although Mr. Rowe has not been able to discover any character in which he appeared to more advantage than that of the ghost in Hamlet. The instructions given to the player in that tra

gedy, and other passages of his works, show an intimate acquaintance with the skill of acting, and such as is scarcely surpassed in our own days. He appears to have studied nature in acting as much as in writing. But all this might have been mere theory. Mr. Malone is of opinion he was no great actor. The distinction however, which he might obtain as an actor could only be in his own plays, in which he would be assisted by the novel appearance of author and actor combined. Before his time, it does not appear that any actor could avail himself of the wretched pieces represented on the stage.

Mr. Rowe regrets that he cannot inform us which was the first play he wrote. More skilful research has since found that Romeo and Juliet, and Richard II. and III. were printed in 1597, when he was thirty-three years old; there is also some reason to think that he commenced a dramatic writer in 1592, and Mr. Malone even places his first play "First part of Henry VI." in 1589.* His plays, however, must have been not only popular, but approved by persons of the higher order, as we are certain that he enjoyed the gracious favour of Queen Elizabeth who was very fond of the stage: and the particular and affec

* See the Lists of Mr. Malone and Mr. George Chalmers at the end of this Life.

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