In this summer Marston'sMalcontentwas obtained in some indirect manner from these Blackfriars children, perhaps from one of the children actors who "left playing" at the time of the new license, and was played at the Globe, with an Induction by Webster introducing Sinkler, Sly, Burbadge, Condell, and Lowin on the stage. This was a retaliation for the children having in like fashion previously appropriatedJeronymo(The Spanish Tragedy), which belonged to the Chamberlain's men. The curious thing about the transaction is that theMalcontentwas originally produced in 1601, containing satirical allusions toHamlet; and that in 1604 both plays, revised, were acted on the same stage, by the same actors.
On 2d NovemberSejanuswas entered on S. R.
On 18th December a letter from Chamberlain toWinwood contains the following notice. "The tragedy ofGowry, with all action and actors, hath been twice represented by the King's players, with exceeding concourse of all sorts of people: but whether the matter or manner be not well handled, or that it be thought unfit that princes should be played on the stage in their lifetime, I hear that some great councillors are much displeased with it, and so 'tis thought it shall be forbidden." Shakespeare's work during this year is shown by the transcript of the Revels Accounts obtained by Malone. The King's men acted at Whitehall on November 1The Moor of Venice; November 4,The Merry Wives of Windsor; December 28,Measure for Measure, andErrors; ["Between January 1 and January 5" in the forged copy of this entry still extant][9]Love's Labour's Lost; January 7,Henry V.; January 8,Every One out of his Humour; February 2,Every One in his Humour; February 10,The Merchant of Venice; February 11,The Spanish Maz; February 12,The Merchant of Veniceagain. I have given the full list as in the forged copy, but Malone is our safe guarantee for all the Shakespeare plays. It appears then that in this year Shakespeare must have writtenMeasure for MeasureandOthello, and, as we have already seen, produced a revision ofHamlet. How much of this work was performed in 1603 we cannot tell; but it is not likely thatOthellowas written till 1604. The only definite dates in this year relate to other matters.
In May Shakespeare entered an action at Stratford against one Philip Rogers for £1 15s. 10d., balance of account for malt.
In August the King had a special order issued that every member of the company should attend at Somerset House when the Spanish ambassador came to England (Halliwell,Outlines, p. 136). The Christmas Court performances have been noted above.
1605.
On 8th May, the old play onLeirwas entered on S. R.
On 4th May Phillips made his will, which was proved on the 13th. In it he leaves 30s. each to Shakespeare and Condell, and 20s. each to Fletcher, Armin, Cowley, Cook, and Tooley, all his fellows; to Beeston, "his servant," 30s.; to Gilburne, his "late apprentice," 40s. and clothes; to James Sandes, "his apprentice," 40s. and musical instruments; to Hemings, Burbadge, and Sly, overseers and executors, a bowl of silver of £5 apiece.
On 3d July a ballad on theYorkshire Tragedywas entered on S. R.; the play which has been erroneously attributed to Shakespeare was no doubt acted about the same time.
The London Prodigalwas published, but not entered on S. R., this same year, with the name of William Shakespeare on the title-page.
Jonson'sFoxwas acted by the King's men; the chief actors were the same as those ofSejanusin 1603, except Phillips, who died in May, and Shakespeare, a most noteworthy exception.
On 24th July, William Shakespeare,ofStratford-upon-Avon, bought of Ralph Huband an unexpired term of thirty-one years of a ninety-two years' lease of a moiety of the tithes of Stratford, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcombe for £440, subject to a rent payable to the corporation of £17, and £5 to John Barker. This, at the rate of interest then prevalent, was a dear purchase. In 1598 his "purchasing these tithes" had been mooted at Stratford.
As to Shakespeare's dramatic work during this year I have no doubt thatLearwas on the stage in May, when the old play was published. I cannot otherwise account for the description of the latter in S. R. as atragicalhistory. Until Shakespeare's play this story had always been treated as a comedy.
Macbethwas probably produced in the winter, or in the following year. When James I. was at Oxford in August, he had been addressed in Latin by the three witches in this story, at an entertainment given by the University. No doubt James would be pleased by their prophecies, and desirous that they should be promulgated in the vulgar tongue. No more likely date can be found for the holograph letter which he is said to have addressed to Shakespeare. It may possibly be that that letter was a command to write this play. But, putting conjecture aside, Oldys says that Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, told Lintot that he had a letter from the King to the dramatist.
On October 9, Shakespeare's company performed before the Mayor and Corporation of Oxford. It may have been on this occasion that Shakespeare made the acquaintance of the Davenants, and stopped for the first time at the Crown, the license for which inn had only been taken out by Davenant in the preceding year. Enough has been written by others as to the scandal about Mrs. Davenant, and the tradition that William Davenant the poet, the godson of Shakespeare, was really his son. No foundation beyond a Joe Miller joke has been discovered for this report.
At Court, ten plays were acted in the Christmasseason by the King's men; among them the revivedMucedorus, which, as we have seen, was an apology for Jonson's satire inVolpone.
1606.
In this year, Shakespeare's portion ofTimon of Athens, and that part ofCymbelinewhich is founded on so-called British history, were probably written.
A play calledThe Puritan(Widow), evidently by Middleton, was acted by the Paul's boys this year, in which we find direct allusion toRichard III.andMacbeth, both of which were probably on the stage. The same scene contains a palpable parody of the action of the scene inPericlesin which Thaisa is recovered to life. That play must then have also been on the stage. It does not follow that it was the play as we have it. It may have been, and I believe was, Wilkins' play before Shakespeare's improvement had been introduced.
During July or August, the King's men had performed three plays before the King of Denmark and his Majesty—two at Greenwich, one at Hampton Court; and at Christmas they performed at Court nine plays: on December 26, 29; January 4, 6, 8; February 2, 5, 15, 27. That on 26th December wasLear, as we have it in the Quarto version. The Folio is that used on the stage of the same date.
1607.
Anthony and Cleopatramust have been acted about this time, as well as Cyril Tourneur'sRevenger's Tragedy.
On 25th June Susanna, Shakespeare's eldest daughter, married Dr. John Hall, an eminent physician at Stratford.
On 6th August Middleton'sPuritan Widowwas entered on S. R., and imprinted as by W.S.
Twine'sPattern of Painful Adventures, on which Wilkins' version ofPericleswas founded, was reprinted in this year.
On 22d October Drayton'sMerry Devil of Edmontonwas entered on S. R. The entry on 5th April under the same title, in which the authorship is ascribed to T[homas] B[rewer], refers to the prose story, not the play.
On 26th NovemberKing Learwas entered on S. R.
On December 31 Shakespeare's brother Edmund was buried at St. Saviour's, Southwark, aged twenty-eight, "a player," "with a forenoon knell of the great bell."
There were thirteen Court performances by the King's men: on December 26, 27, 28; January 2, 6 (two plays), 7, 9, 17 (two plays), 26; February 2, 6.
1608.
On February 21 Elizabeth Hall, Shakespeare's granddaughter, was baptized at Stratford.
The Yorkshire Tragedywas entered on S. R. May 20, as by William Shakespeare. The authorship of this play has not been yet ascertained.
On May 20Anthony and Cleopatra, andPericles(not as in the Quarto version with the three last acts by Shakespeare), were entered on S. R. Wilkins' prose version of the play was printed this same year. I take the order of events regarding this play to have been as follows. Wilkins wrote a play on Pericles in 1606, which was parodied in Middleton'sPuritanthat same year; in 1607 Twine'sPattern of Painful Adventureswas reprinted; in the same year Wilkins left the King's company and joined the Queen's; in May 1608 the play was entered for publication, but not published; it may have been "stayed" by the Chamberlain's company; in the same year Wilkins issued surreptitiously (it was not entered on S. R.) his "truehistory of the play as it was lately presented by the poet Gower." Such a proceeding as this, a printing of a prose narrative founded on an unprinted play and by the same author, is unparalleled in the history of Shakespearean drama. It mustbe remembered that Wilkins was not even connected with the King's company at the time. Meanwhile Shakespeare had rewritten Acts iii.-v. In this new shape the play was acted in 1608, and was, as we know from an allusion inPimlico, or Run Redcap(entered S. R. 15th April 1609), very popular. An edition of the play thus altered was issued in 1609, not by Blount, who made the entry in May 1608, but by Gosson, as the "late much-admired play ... with the true relation of the whole history ... as also theno lessstrange and worthy accidents in the birth and life of his daughter Marina," that is, of the part written by Shakespeare. This edition is very hurriedly and carelessly got up.
In August Shakespeare commenced an action against Addenbroke.
On September 9 Shakespeare's mother was buried at Stratford. Shakespeare's company had been shortly before travelling on the southern coast (Halliwell, who suppresses the exact date as usual). It is always dangerous to read personal feeling in a dramatist's work; but the coincidences in date of hisKing Johnand Hamnet's death, of hisCoriolanusand his mother's death, justify, I think, my opinion that his wife's grief is apotheosised in Constance, and his mother's character in Volumnia. This isconfirmed by the great change that takes place in his work at this time; his next four plays are devoted to subjects of family reunion after separation.
On 16th October he was godfather to William Walker at Stratford.
In this autumnCoriolanuswas probably produced.
The Court Christmas performances by the King's men were twelve, on unknown dates.
1609.
On January 28Troylus and Cressidawas entered on S. R., and published from a surreptitious copy, with a preface, stating that it had been "never staled with the stage." This preface was withdrawn before the close of the year, probably at the instance of the King's company. It has been, however, the cause of misleading many modern critics (myself included), as to the date of the production of the play. In the new issue the title states that it is printed "as it was acted by the King's Majesty's servants."
On February 15, a verdict for £6 and £1, 4s. costs was given in favour of Shakespeare against John Addenbroke for debt, and execution issued. This suit began in August 1608; the precept fora jury is dated 21st December, when an adjournment of the trial probably took place. After the final judgment Addenbroke wasnon inventus, and on 7th June 1609, Shakespeare proceeded against his bail, one Horneby. All these proceedings were conducted not personally, but through his solicitor and cousin Thomas Greene.
On 20th May the Sonnets were entered on S. R., and published with dedication to Mr. W. H., who, in my opinion, was some one connected with Lord Southampton, who had obtained a copy from him or his, and possibly may have given Shakespeare the hint to write them in the first instance, at the time (1594) when his friends were anxious for him to marry. Such a person was Sir William Hervey, the third husband of Southampton's mother: she died in 1607, and I conjecture that the delay in publishing the Sonnets was due to the fact that she wished them to remain in MS. at any rate during her lifetime. The copy used may have been found among her papers.
On 20th May 1608 had been enteredPericles, andAntony and Cleopatra, which were not published by Blount, who made the entry.Pericles, however, was printed surreptitiously in 1609 for another firm as we have it in the Quarto. This play wasprobably then continued on the stage, as we find another edition required by 1611.
Cymbelinewas probably produced in the autumn. This year being a plague year there was little dramatic activity; even Jonson did not produce hisEpicenefor the King's men, but had it acted by the Chapel (or Revels) children. For the same reason there were no stage performances at Court at Christmas.
1610.
On 4th January a patent was granted to R. Daborne, P. Rossiter, J. Tarbook, R. Jones, and R. Browne, to set up a new Children's company in Whitefriars. Their success was no doubt the cause that determined the Burbadges to take the Blackfriars into their own hands.[10]Accordingly they arranged to purchase at Lady Day the remainder of Evans' lease of the Blackfriars (they had already taken the boys, "now growing up to be men," Underwood,[11]Ostler, &c., to "strengthen the King's service"), and to place men players—Hemings,Condell, Shakespeare, &c., therein. Before the end of the year we accordingly find the boys alluded to acting as members of the King's company in Jonson'sAlchemist. The chief players were Burbadge, Hemings, Lowin, Ostler, Condell, Underwood, Cooke, Tooley, Armin, and Egglestone. Of these Tooley and Cooke had been boy actors in the Chamberlain's company, Underwood and Ostler in the Revels children. Shakespeare's name does not occur; nor do I find any evidence except Mr. Halliwell's unsupported assertion (Outlines, p. 111), that he continued to act at this date. It is noticeable that there are ten actors mentioned; this is very unusual in these play lists, and suggests that the number of sharers may have been increased from eight to ten. There are certainly about this time allusions to ten shares scattered about in contemporary plays. If this be the case, Shakespeare would no longer be a shareholder: the whole question of his shares is involved in difficulty, and this conjecture is only thrown out to call attention to any allusions in writings of this date that may throw light on the matter.
The King's men performed fifteen plays at Court this Christmas.
In this year, in my opinion, Shakespeare having producedThe Winters TaleandThe Tempest, retiredfrom theatrical work. Malone's hypothesis that Sir W. Herbert's mention of Sir G. Buck's "allowing" the former play implies a date subsequent to August 1610, is worthless; Buck had the "allowing" of plays in his hands from 1607 onwards. There is direct evidence that the Blackfriars Theatre was occupied even after 1611 by other companies. Field'sAmends for Ladieswas acted there by the Prince's and the Lady Elizabeth's men; and Charles could not be called Prince till after the death of Henry, 6th November 1612. The production of Field's play was probably in the spring 1613. By careful comparison of the dry documents concerning shareholders in 1635, with those of the Blackfriars property in 1596, we ascertain that J. Burbadge bought that property 4th February 1596; that in November the establishment of a theatre there was petitioned against, but carried out soon after; that a lease of twenty-one years was granted to Evans, either at Christmas 1596 or Lady Day 1597, most probably the latter; that at the end of thirteen years the Burbadges bought the remaining eight years of the lease, probably at Lady Day 1610, and took possession of the building;—but that theyat the same timetook the boys into the King's company or set up Hemings, Shakespeare, &c., in the Blackfriars is mere rhetoricof Cuthbert's. Underwood and Ostler had both left the Revels children before the performance of Jonson'sEpicenein 1609, and Field did not join the King's men till 1618-19.
In June Shakespeare purchased twenty acres of pasture land from the Combes.
At Christmas the King's men performed fifteen plays at Court.
1611.
In this year unusual efforts seem to have been made by the King's company to secure authors of repute to write for their playhouse. Jonson'sCatilinewas acted by nearly the same cast asThe Alchemist, the only change being that Robinson appears in the list instead of Armin. The secondMaiden's Tragedywas produced in October, most likely written by Tourneur, having been preceded by the firstMaid's Tragedyby Beaumont and Fletcher, who also in this year brought out theirPhilasterandKing and no King: in all we have five new plays of the first rank, acted by a company that hitherto appears to have almost entirely depended on about two plays from Shakespeare, and occasionally a third by some other hand, as sufficient novelty to attract a year's full houses. It is thisquasimonopoly in writing for his companythat explains Shakespeare's accumulation of property; and it is to me incredible thatMacbeth,The Winter's Tale,Cymbeline, andThe Tempestshould all have been produced in this year. Yet this seems to be the belief of practical critics who believe only what can be supported by what they term "positive evidence," the evidence in this case being that Forman, the astrological charlatan, entered in his note-book that he had seen actedCymbeline,Macbeth, 20th April 1610 [1611];Richard II., 30th April 1611;Winter's Tale, May 15. This evidence has, however, value of another kind, for it shows that a large number of revivals took place in this year; indeed, coupling this with the fact that at this Christmas and the next the unprecedented number of fifty plays were performed by the King's men at Court, it is likely thatallShakespeare's plays were revived immediately after his retirement from the stage. We cannot trace fifty plays to the possession of his company at this date without including them.
On September 11 Shakespeare's name occurs in the margin of a folio page of donors (including all the principal inhabitants of Stratford) to a subscription list "towards the charge of prosecuting the bill in Parliament for the better repair of the highways." This appears to confirm the viewthat Shakespeare was at this time residing in Stratford.
On December 16 the play ofLord Cromwellwas entered on S. R., and published as by W. S.
The plays at Court were twenty-two: on October 31; November 1, 5; December 26; January 5, February 23, before the King; on November 9, 19; December 16, 31; January 7, 15; February 19, 20, 28; April 3, 16, before Prince Henry and Charles, Duke of York; on February 9, 20 (sic), before the Prince; on March 28, April 26, before the Lady Elizabeth.
1612.
On February 3 the burial of Gilbert Shakespeare "adolescens" was entered in the Stratford Register. I agree with Mr. French that this was most likely Shakespeare's brother.
In this year a suit was commenced "Lane Greene, and Shakespeare complts." on the ground that they had to pay too large a proportion of the reserved rent of the tithes purchased in 1605. It appears from the draft of the bill filed before Lord Ellesmere that Shakespeare's income from this source was £60.
The plays produced by the King's men wereThe Woman's Prize,Cardenno(i.e.,Cardenes, orLoves Pilgrimage), andThe Captain, by Fletcher and his coadjutors, and theDuchess of Malfiby Webster, who also publishedThe White Devil, with the remarkable allusion to the "right happy and copious industry" of Shakespeare, Dekker, and Heywood. Curiously enough, this is often referred to even now as a eulogy on Webster's part; it is really damning with faint praise the poet to whom he hoped to be the successor as provider of plays to the King's company.
The Passionate Pilgrimreached a third edition, and was reissued as "certain amorous Sonnets between Venus and Adonis," by W. Shakespeare; "whereunto is added two love epistles" between Paris and Helen. These were stolen from Heywood'sTroja Britannicaof 1609. In hisApology for Actors(1612), he complains of the injury done him, as it might lead to unjust suspicion of piracy on his part, and adds, "As I must acknowledge my lines not worthy his patronage under whom he hath published them, so the author I know much offended with M. Jaggard that altogether unknown to him presumed to make so bold with his name." In consequence, no doubt, of this remonstrance, Jaggard had to substitute a new title-page, from which Shakespeare's name was entirely omitted. He had allowed his name to be used in the titlesofThe London Prodigalin 1605, ofThe Yorkshire Tragedyin 1608, ofThe Passionate Pilgrimof 1609, and even ofSir John Oldcastlein 1600 without murmuring; but directly the interests of another demand justice at his hands he takes prompt action, and compels the piratical publisher to withdraw his name altogether.
The King's men at the Christmas festivities, &c., presented at Court fourteen plays before the King and fourteen before the Prince, the Lady Elizabeth, and the Prince Palatine. Among the plays so represented werePhilaster,The Knot of Fools,Much Ado about Nothing,The Maid's Tragedy,The Merry Devil of Edmonton,The Tempest,A King and no King,The Twins' Tragedy,The Winter's Tale,Sir John Falstaff(The Merry Wives of Windsor),The Moor of Venice,The Nobleman,Cesar's Tragedy,Love lies a bleeding(Philasterrepeated), before the Prince, Lady Elizabeth, and the Palatine;A Bad Beginning makes a Good Ending(?All's Well that Ends Well; but entered S. R. 1660 as Ford's, and destroyed in MS. by Warburton's servant; Ford's revision must, of course, have been later than 1623),The Captain,The Alchemist,Cardenno,The Hotspur(1 Henry IV.),Benedicte and Betteris(Much Ado about Nothing), before the King. See Stanhope's Accounts (Halliwell,Outlines, p. 597, thirdedition, andRevels Accounts, p. xxiii.) Of these twenty Shakespeare contributes nine, Fletcher (with Beaumont) six, Jonson one, Tourneur one, Drayton (?) one, and two have not been identified.
1613.
On 4th February Richard Shakespeare, the poet's only surviving brother, was buried at Stratford.
On 10th March Shakespeare purchased in Blackfriars a house with yard and haberdasher's shop for £140, subject to a mortgage of £60. This property had greatly increased in value since 1604, when it was sold for £100, probably in consequence of the immediate vicinity of the theatre, which drew large custom for feathers and other articles of attire to Blackfriars. Shakespeare leased it to John Robinson, who had by this time seen the absurdity in a business point of view of his opposition to the establishment of the theatre in 1596. One of the trustees for the legal estate (the mortgage remaining unredeemed till 1613) was John Heming, unquestionably Shakespeare's friend the actor.
On 8th June the King's men played at Court before the Duke of Savoy's ambassadors.
On 29th June the Globe Theatre was burnt down, "while Burbadge's company were acting the play ofHenry VIII., and there shooting offcertain chambers by way of triumph" (T. Lorkin's letter). Sir H. Wotton says it was "a new play calledAll is True, representing some principal pieces of the reign of Henry VIII." It was of course Shakespeare's play in its original form. A Fool must have acted in it, for in the old ballad about this fire, "the reprobates prayed for the fool and Henry Condy" (Condell), who were apparently the last actors who escaped.
It has been conjectured that at this time Shakespeare retired from the stage, having sold his shares in the Globe and Blackfriars in order to purchase the house above mentioned. There is no particle of evidence that he had not saved the £80 then paid from his usual economies, or that if he had wished to sell his shares he could have done so. It is true that shares in the later Globe (rebuilt 1613-14) were so sold; but all the evidence as to the theatre in which Shakespeare was concerned points the other way. It appears from the 1635 documents that Hemings, Shakespeare, &c., had their shares without paying any consideration, and that all the shares held by Pope, Kempe, Bryan, Shakespeare, Sly, and Cowley had reverted by 1614 into the hands of the surviving shareholders, the Burbadges, Hemings, and Condell. If we examine the wills of these men, we find that Pope indeed, in1603, leaves all his estate or interest in the Globe, "which I have or ought to have," to Mary Clark and Thomas Bromley; but that Phillips in 1605, and Cooke in 1614, make no mention of any shares. It seems most likely that this will of Pope's raised the question as to whether these shares were held during office as actor or absolutely. There can be little doubt that the former was the case, as is only reasonable where the shares, as in the first Globe, were given "without consideration." Purchased shares, like those in the latter Globe, are in a different position. At any rate, the shares left to Bromley and Clark in fact reverted to the surviving shareholders. Sly's will in 1608, which is in similar terms to Pope's, leaves his shares to Robert Brown, who, like Clark and Bromley, disappears from all future history of these shares. Moreover, there is no mention of any shares belonging to Cowley, Beeston, or Kempe: yet there can be no doubt that Kempe was till 1599 a shareholder.
On 15th July, in the Ecclesiastical Court at Worcester, the case of Dr. John Hallv.John Lane, for slandering his wife, was heard, and the defendant excommunicated on the 27th.
There were sixteen plays performed at Court by the King's men this year, on November 4, 16; January 10; February 4, 8, 10, 18; and nine others.
1614.
Fletcher, Webster, and Beaumont had all left the King's men, and now, 31st October, Jonson leaves them too, and produces hisBartholomew Fairat the Hope, with abundant sneers at Shakespeare's plays, especially theTempestandWinter's Tale. He does not allude toHenry VIII.Fletcher was now, as well as Jonson, a writer for the Princess Elizabeth's players.
In July John Combe left Shakespeare £5 as a legacy.
In the autumn an attempt was made by W. Combe, the squire of Welcombe, to inclose a large portion of the neighbouring common fields; this attempt was opposed by the Corporation, but supported by Mr. Manwaring and Shakespeare. The latter clearly acted simply with a view to his own personal interest. His name as an ancient freeholder occurs in a list, 5th September, as having claim for compensation if the inclosure took place. On 18th October, Replingham, Combe's agent, covenanted to give him full compensation for injury by "any inclosure or decay of tillage:" on 16th November he went to London: on 17th November his "cousin," T. Greene, town clerk of Stratford and at the same time his own solicitor, called to see him: he saidthe inclosures were to be less than had been represented, that nothing would be done till April, and that he and Mr. Hall thought nothing would be done at all. On 23d December letters to Mr. Manwaring and Shakespeare were written, with "almost all the company's hands" to them, and a private letter in addition by Greene to "my cousin," with copies of all the acts of the Corporation, and notes of the inconveniences that would result from the inclosure. The inclosure was not made, and Shakespeare did not get his compensation.
1616.
On 25th January the first draft of Shakespeare's will was drawn up. On 10th February his daughter Judith was married without a license to T. Quiney, vintner of Stratford; they were summoned in consequence to the Ecclesiastical Court of Worcester a few weeks after. On 25th March the will was executed, and on 25th April "Will. Shakspere, gent." was entered in the burial register at Stratford. He died just before completing his fifty-fourth year; but it is usually supposed on the 23d, his birthday.
FOOTNOTES:[4]A dor, dorne, or drone is the lazy male bee that makes no honey: hence Doron, the dorne (pronounce dor´un). There was a myth that dors or drones were produced by mules, hence Muli-dor (see Minshewdrone). But a drone is also the drone of a bagpipe, or the bagpipe itself, which was called chevrau (see Cotgrave,chevrau) or cheveril: andchevrauis Kyd. It is evident from Greene's tracts that Doron was meant for the writer ofThe Taming of a Shrew, and Mulidor for the same author—there cannot be a doubt of the identity of the characters. Nash's address identifiesThe Taming of a Shrewwriter with Kyd.[5]These dates are so given by Henslow: they should be June 5 and June 15.[6]Simpson. But rather in 1Tamburlanev. 2: "Hell and Elysium swarm with ghosts of men," and similarly a few lines before "where shaking ghosts," &c.[7]Henry V.was transferred to T. Pavier on 14th August.[8]Mr. Halliwell (Outlines, p. 128, 2d edition) says they performed four plays at Whitehall, but quotes no authority.[9]This performance was at Southampton's house before Queen Anne.[10]Mr. Halliwell (Outlines, p. 150) gives December 1609 as the date of this change. This is certainly not in accordance with other facts which I shall adduce in the following pages; he gives no authority for his statement.[11]Cuthbert Burbadge in 1635 adds Field by a slip of memory.
[4]A dor, dorne, or drone is the lazy male bee that makes no honey: hence Doron, the dorne (pronounce dor´un). There was a myth that dors or drones were produced by mules, hence Muli-dor (see Minshewdrone). But a drone is also the drone of a bagpipe, or the bagpipe itself, which was called chevrau (see Cotgrave,chevrau) or cheveril: andchevrauis Kyd. It is evident from Greene's tracts that Doron was meant for the writer ofThe Taming of a Shrew, and Mulidor for the same author—there cannot be a doubt of the identity of the characters. Nash's address identifiesThe Taming of a Shrewwriter with Kyd.
[4]A dor, dorne, or drone is the lazy male bee that makes no honey: hence Doron, the dorne (pronounce dor´un). There was a myth that dors or drones were produced by mules, hence Muli-dor (see Minshewdrone). But a drone is also the drone of a bagpipe, or the bagpipe itself, which was called chevrau (see Cotgrave,chevrau) or cheveril: andchevrauis Kyd. It is evident from Greene's tracts that Doron was meant for the writer ofThe Taming of a Shrew, and Mulidor for the same author—there cannot be a doubt of the identity of the characters. Nash's address identifiesThe Taming of a Shrewwriter with Kyd.
[5]These dates are so given by Henslow: they should be June 5 and June 15.
[5]These dates are so given by Henslow: they should be June 5 and June 15.
[6]Simpson. But rather in 1Tamburlanev. 2: "Hell and Elysium swarm with ghosts of men," and similarly a few lines before "where shaking ghosts," &c.
[6]Simpson. But rather in 1Tamburlanev. 2: "Hell and Elysium swarm with ghosts of men," and similarly a few lines before "where shaking ghosts," &c.
[7]Henry V.was transferred to T. Pavier on 14th August.
[7]Henry V.was transferred to T. Pavier on 14th August.
[8]Mr. Halliwell (Outlines, p. 128, 2d edition) says they performed four plays at Whitehall, but quotes no authority.
[8]Mr. Halliwell (Outlines, p. 128, 2d edition) says they performed four plays at Whitehall, but quotes no authority.
[9]This performance was at Southampton's house before Queen Anne.
[9]This performance was at Southampton's house before Queen Anne.
[10]Mr. Halliwell (Outlines, p. 150) gives December 1609 as the date of this change. This is certainly not in accordance with other facts which I shall adduce in the following pages; he gives no authority for his statement.
[10]Mr. Halliwell (Outlines, p. 150) gives December 1609 as the date of this change. This is certainly not in accordance with other facts which I shall adduce in the following pages; he gives no authority for his statement.
[11]Cuthbert Burbadge in 1635 adds Field by a slip of memory.
[11]Cuthbert Burbadge in 1635 adds Field by a slip of memory.
THE CHRONOLOGICAL SUCCESSION OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.
Itis of the greatest importance, in investigating the chronological succession of an author's works, that we should start from a definite and certain date. The neglect of this point, especially in so difficult an instance as the present, involves us too often in thorny discussions at the very onset. Such an epoch is presented us at once by the publication of Shakespeare's earliest poem. I begin therefore at this point.
Venus and Adoniswas entered on S. R. 18th April 1593 by Richard Field, printer, son of Henry Field, tanner, of Stratford-on-Avon, who parted with his copyright to Mr. Harrison, senior, 25th June 1594. There were editions in 1593, 1594 (R. Field); 1596 (R. Field for J. Harrison); 1599 and 1602,bis(W. Leake); 1617 (W. Barrett); and 1620 (J. Parker). Harrison had assigned his copyright to Leake 25th June 1596. It was transferredto W. Barrett 16th February 1616-17; and again to J. Parker 8th March 1620. This was "the first heir of my invention," which means—the first production in which I have had no co-labourer. Compare Ford's expression "the first-fruits of my leisure" applied to'Tis pity she's&c., although he had certainly at that time written plays in connection with Dekker and others.
Lucrece.Entered on 9th May 1594 in S. R. by Mr. Harrison, senior. Editions 1594 (R. Field for J. Harrison); 1598 (P. S. for J. Harrison); 1600 (J. H. for J. Harrison); 1607 (N. O. for J. Harrison); 1616 (T. G. for R. Jackson). This poem is a pendant to the former; the one exhibiting woman's chastity, the other her lust. Such opposition of subject in successive productions is very characteristic of Shakespeare.
A Lover's Complaint, published with theSonnets1609, written probably 1593-4, between theVenusandLucrece.
Sonnets, entered on S. R. 20th May 1609 for T. Thorpe. I have on pp.25,120already stated my opinion that these were written during 1594-8.
Titus Andronicuswas a new play in 1594, acted for the first time by Sussex' men at the Rose on 23d January.
Richard III.was no doubt acted this sameyear by the Chamberlain's men; just before the old play which had been acted by the Queen's players was published (S. R. 19th June 1594). ARichardis alluded to in John Weever'sEpigrams, published 1599, when the author was twenty-three, but written when he was not twenty; they must therefore date at latest in 1596 (not 1595 as usually stated). Weever mentionsVenus and Adonis,Lucrece,Romeo, andRichardas the issue of honey-tongued Shakespeare. We shall see thatRomeo, as referred to here, was acted in 1595-6, and I believe theRichardreferred to is theRichard II.of 1595.Edward III.I have shown in p. 118 to be an alteration of an old play of Marlowe's written in 1590, revived in 1594 about the autumn, afterLucrecewas published. It will be most convenient to defer the consideration of authorship of the preceding plays till I have to treat ofHenry VI.; the dates of editions of all the plays will be exhibited in tabular form further on, which will save much repetition and interruption of argument. We now come to an unquestionable date; and it is from this, the first recorded date in connection with an undoubted play, that I wish the reader to regard our investigation of play dates as beginning.
1594.
December 28. Shakespeare's only farcical comedy ofErrorswas acted at Gray's Inn at night: the same players had acted before the Queen at Greenwich on that day, very likely in the same comedy. In April 1595 the English agent in Edinburgh wrote to Burghley, how ill King James took it that the comedians in London should scorn the king and people of Scotland in their plays. The barrenness of Scotland is mentioned in iii. 2. Neither would James approve of a play in which witchcraft and exorcising is so constantly ridiculed. The opening scene is very like in method to that ofMidsummer-Night's Dream; and the reiterated allusions by either Dromio to being transformed to an ass (ii. 2. 201; iii. 1. 15; iv. 4. 28; iii. 2. 77) remind us so strongly of that play as almost to infer contemporaneity of production; especially as in iii. 1. 47 the same quibble, anassandace, occurs as inMidsummer-Night's Dream, v. 1. 317. Now in 1593, in hisPierce's Supererogation, and in 1592 in hisFour Letters, Gabriel Harvey had rung the changes onan assanda Nasheven to wearisomeness; just as Shakespeare in this play puns onan ellanda Nell(iii. 2. 112). This may seem very forced; but I must remind the reader, thatsandshwere not distinguished in pronunciation except by pedants at the end of the sixteenth century. It seems then most likely that in dwelling on this transformation, Shakespeare meant to recall to his audience the dyslogistic name inflicted on his old enemy Nash by Gabriel Harvey. All this points to a production of the play in 1594, by the Chamberlain's men; but there are also indications of its having been altered from an earlier version. In the stage directions there are traces of the name Juliana[12]for Luciana: in the text Dowsabel occurs instead of Nell, and in v. 1, the prefixFat.(Father) has been clearly replaced byMar.(Merchant) in a revision; note especially v. 1. 195, where both prefixes have by a common printer's error been inserted at once. The older form, again, had Antipholus Sereptus for A. of Syracuse, and Erotes or Erratis for A. of Ephesus; and it had twenty-five years of separation between the parents for thirty-three in the later version. This last difference occurs in i. 1, which is throughout written in a more mechanical and antique style of metre than the rest of the play; and indeed seems to be one of the earliest specimens left us of Shakespeare's attempts to bombast out a blank verse. There isalso the name Menaphon (v. 1. 368), which is likely to have been adopted from Greene'sMenaphon(1589), who again took it from Marlowe'sTamberlaine(1587-8). The Adam "that goes in the calf-skin," surely alludes to the Adam in theLooking-glass for London(1590), whose "calf-skin jests" were even after seven years an object of ridicule to the playwrights. For all these reasons I believe that a version of this play was acted c. 1590, perhaps in the winter of that year. It does not follow that that version was entirely by Shakespeare, as the present play is; he may have replaced a coadjutor's work of 1590 by his own of 1594. The plot, with its time-unity, is not likely to be of his arranging. As to the pun on the war made by France against her heir (iii. 2. 126), which is usually relied on for the date of production, it merely gives as limits August 1589, when the war of succession began, and 27th February 1594, when Henri IV. was crowned. It does, however, enable us to say positively that the first performance of the play was before the formation of the Chamberlain's company, who only revived it, no doubt in an amended shape, on 28th December 1594, most likely for the sake of the Court performance. The original plot was probably suggested by Plautus'MenæchmiandAmphitryo; and perhaps more directly by theHistory of Errorperformed by the Chapel children in 1576, which, by the bye, has nothing to do with theFerrarof the Earl of Sussex' men in 1582. But we cannot assume in these early plays that Shakespeare was the plotter. It is certain, however, that he did afterwards adopt the likeness of twins inTwelfth Nightas a means of introducing "errors" on the stage.
1595.
January 26 was the date of the marriage of William Stanley, Earl of Derby, at Greenwich. Such events were usually celebrated with the accompaniment of plays or interludes, masques written specially for the occasion not having yet become fashionable. The company of players employed at these nuptials would certainly be the Chamberlain's, who had, so lately as the year before, been in the employ of the Earl's brother Ferdinand. No play known to us is so fit for the purpose asMidsummer-Night's Dream, which in its present form is certainly of this date. About the same time Edward Russel, Earl of Bedford, married Lucy Harrington. Both marriages may have been enlivened by this performance. This is rendered more probable by the identity of the Oberon story with that of Drayton'sNymphidia, whose specialpatroness at this time was the newly married Countess of Bedford. That poem contains an allusion to Don Quixote, which could not well have been written till 1612, and certainly not till 1605; but Drayton is known to have constantly altered his poems by way of addition and omission, and no date of original production can in his case be fixed by allusions of this kind. The date of the play here given is again confirmed by the description of the weather in ii. 2. In 1594, and in that year only, is there on record such an inversion of the seasons as is there spoken of. Chute'sCephalus and Procriswas entered on S. R., 28th September 1593; Marlowe'sHero and Leander, 22d October 1593; Marlowe and Nash'sDidowas printed in 1594. All these stories are alluded to in the play. The date of the Court performance must be in the winter of 1594-5. But the traces of the play having been altered from a version for the stage are numerous. There is a double ending. Robin's final speech is palpably a stage epilogue, while what precedes from "Enter Puck" to "break of day—Exeunt" is very appropriate for a marriage entertainment, but scarcely suited to the stage. In Acts iv. and v., again, we find in the speech-prefixesDuke,Duchess,ClownforTheseus,Hippolita,Bottom: such variations are nearly always marks of alteration,the unnamed characters being anterior in date. In the prose scenes speeches are several times assigned to wrong speakers, another common mark of alteration. In the Fairies the character of Moth (Mote) has been excised in the text, though he still remains among thedramatis personæ. It is not, I think, possible to say which parts of the play were added for the Court performance; but a careful examination has convinced me that whereverRobinoccurs in the stage-directions or speech-prefixes scarcely any, if any, alteration has been made;Puck, on the contrary, indicates change. The date of the stage play may, I think, be put in the winter of 1592; and if so it was acted, not at the Rose, but where Lord Strange's company were travelling. For the allusion in v. 1. 52, "The thrice three Muses mourning for the death of Learning, late deceased in beggary," to Spenser'sTears of the Muses(1591), or Greene's death, 3d September 1592, could not, in either interpretation, be much later than the autumn of 1592; and the lines in ii. 1. 156—