stimulus to credulity in that direction was unnecessary. It is a singular circumstance that, in Davenant's time, Banquo and his Ghost were performed by different actors, a practice not impossibly derived from that of former times.

A performance of the comedy of The Winter's Tale, the name of which is probably owing to its having been originally produced in the winter season, was witnessed by Dr. Forman at the Globe Theater on May 15, 1611. It was also the play chosen for representation before the Court on November 15 in the same year. Although it is extremely unlikely that Camillo's speech respecting "anointed Kings" influenced the selection of the comedy, there can hardly be a doubt that a sentiment so appropriate to the anniversary celebrated on that day was favorably received by a Whitehall audience. The Winter's Tale was also performed in the year 1613 before Prince Charles, the Lady Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine, some time before the close of the month of April, at which period the two last of the above-named personages left England for the Continent.

Among the performances of other dramas witnessed by Dr. Forman was one of the tragedy of Cymbeline, and although he does not record either the date or the locality, there can be little hesitation in referring the incident to the spring of the year 1611; at all events, to a period not later than the following September, when that marvelously eccentric astrologer died suddenly in a boat while passing over the Thames from Southwark to Puddle Dock. It may be suspected that the poet was in London at the time of that occurrence, for in a subscription list originated at Stratford-on-Avon on the eleventh of that month, his name is the only one found on the margin, as if it were a later

insertion in a folio page of donors "towardes the charge of prosecutyng the bill in Parliament for the better repayre of the highe waies." The moneys were raised in anticipation of a Parliament which was then expected to be summoned, but which did not meet until long afterwards. The list includes the names of all the leading inhabitants of the town, so that it is impossible to say whether the poet took a special interest in the proposed design, or if he allowed his name to appear merely out of consideration for its pro

moters.

The comedy of The Tempest, having most likely been produced at one of the Shakespearean theaters in 1611, was represented before King James and the Court at Whitehall on the evening of November 1 in that year, the incidental music having been composed by Robert Johnson, one of the Royal "musicians for the lutes." The record of the performance includes the earliest notice of that drama which has yet been discovered. It was also acted with success at the Blackfriars Theater, and it was one of the plays selected early in the year 1613 for the entertainment of Prince Charles, the Lady Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine.

The four years and a half that intervened between the performance of The Tempest in 1611 and the author's death, could not have been one of his periods of great literary activity. So many of his plays are known to have been in existence at the former date, it follows that there are only six which could by any possibility have been written after that time, and it is not likely that the whole of those belong to so late an era. These facts lead irresistibly to the conclusion that the poet abandoned literary occupation a considerable period before his decease, and, in

all probability, when he disposed of his theatrical property. So long as he continued to be a shareholder in the Globe Theater, it was incumbent upon him to supply the company with two plays annually. It may therefore, be reasonably inferred that he parted with his shares within two or three years after the performance above alluded to, the drama of King Henry the Eighth being, most likely, his concluding work.

The

Among the six plays above mentioned is the amusing comedy of The Taming of the Shrew. Most of the incidents of that drama, as well as those of its exquisite induction, are taken from an old farce which was written at some time before May, 1594, and published in that year under the nearly identical title of The Taming of a Shrew. This latter work had then been acted by the Earl of Pembroke's servants, and was probably well known to Shakespeare when he was connected with that company, or shortly afterwards, for it was one of the plays represented at the Newington Butts Theater by the Lord Admiral's and the Lord Chamberlain's men in the June of the same year. period at which he wrote the new comedy is at present matter solely of conjecture; but its local allusions, might induce an opinion that it was composed with a view to a contemplated representation before a provincial audience. That delicious episode, the induction, presents us with a fragment of the rural life with which Shakespeare himself must have been familiar in his native county. With such animated power is it written that we almost appear to personally witness the affray between Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, and Christopher Sly, to see the nobleman on his return from the chase discovering the insensible drunkard, and to hear the strolling actors make

the offer of professional services that was requited by the cordial welcome to the buttery. Wincot is a secluded hamlet near Stratford-on-Avon, and there is an old tradition that the ale-house frequented by Sly was often resorted to by Shakespeare for the sake of diverting himself with a fool who belonged to a neighboring mill. Stephen Sly, one of the tinker's friends or relatives, was a known character at Stratford-on-Avon, and is several times mentioned in the records of that town. This fact, taken in conjunction with the references to Wilmecote and Barton-on-theHeath, definitely proves that the scene of the induction was intended to be in the neighborhood of Stratford-onAvon, the water-mill tradition leading to the belief that Little Wilmecote, the part of the hamlet nearest to the poet's native town, is the Wincot alluded to in the comedy. If—but the virtuous character of that interesting particle must not be overlooked-the local imagery extends to the nobleman, the play itself must be supposed to be represented at Clopton House, the only large private residence near the scene of Sly's intemperance; but if so, not until 1605, in the May of which year Sir George became Baron Carew of Clopton.

It was the general opinion in the convivial days of Shakespeare "that a quart of ale is a dish for a king.” So impressed were nearly all classes of society by its attractions, it was imbibed wherever it was to be found, and there was no possible idea of degradation attached to the poet's occasional visits to the house of entertainment at Wincot. If, indeed, he had been observed in that village and to pass Mrs. Hacket's door without taking a sip of ale with the vigorous landlady, he might perhaps no longer have been enrolled among the members of good-fellowship. Such a

notion, at all events, is at variance with the proclivities recorded in the famous crab-tree anecdote, one which is of sufficient antiquity to deserve a notice among the more trivial records of Shakespearean biography. It would appear from this tradition that the poet, one summer's morning, set out from his native town for a walk over Bardon Hill to the village of Bidford, six miles distant, a place said to have been then noted for its revelry. When he had nearly reached his destination, he happened to meet with a shepherd, and jocosely enquired of him if the Bidford Drinkers were at home. The rustic, perfectly equal to the occasion, replied that the Drinkers were absent, but that he would easily find the Sippers, and that the latter might perhaps be sufficiently jolly to meet his expectations. The anticipations of the shepherd were fully realized, and Shakespeare, in bending his way homeward late in the evening, found an acceptable interval of rest under the branches of a crab-tree which was situated about a mile from Bidford. There is no great wonder and no special offense to record, when it is added that he was overtaken by drowsiness, and that he did not renew the course of his journey until early in the following morning. The whole story, indeed, when viewed strictly with reference to the habits and opinions of those days, presents no features that suggest disgrace to the principal actor, or imposition on the part of the narrator. With our ancestors the ludicrous aspect of intoxication completely neutralized, or rather, to speak more correctly, excluded the thought of attendant discredit. The affair would have been merely regarded in the light of an unusually good joke, and that there is, at least, some foundation for the tale may be gathered from the fact that, as early