CHAPTER X

The pride of Nature, and the shame of Schools,Born to Create, and not to Learn from Rules.

Voltaire's attacks brought rejoinders from Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu in 1769 and from Dr. Johnson in the preface to his edition, 1765. In fact, admiration for Shakespeare was a powerful factor in forcing the rejection of rules and standards of French criticism. Johnson's Preface finds fault with Shakespeare's neglect of poetic justice and dwells at length on the faults in plots and diction, but Johnson defends the violation of the unities, and his praise is a discriminating summary of the merits that the eighteenth century had found in Shakespeare. It is praise that is likely to endure.

Within another generation, however, reverence for Shakespeare had increased to an intensity that made Johnson's admiration seem feeble and niggardly. This transformation was due to many causes, but in the main it was a part of the vast changes in European literature known as the Romantic movement. This resulted in a rejection of the rules and models of neo-classicism, a new interest in the literature and manners of the Middle Ages, a conception of poetry as the expression of individuality, attention to the individual man in all orders of society, a fresh concern for external nature, an emphasis on the emotions rather than mere reason, a desire for wonder and mystery, and an exaltation of natural instincts and intuitions as opposed to general truths or social conventions. In each of these particulars, Shakespeare seemed the complete fulfilment of the new tendencies—which indeed his growing influence had undoubtedly encouraged. More than Spenser orAppreciative CriticismMilton or the old ballads, he was the inspiration and guide for new endeavors in literature. It seemed to the new age of critics and poets that they had rediscovered him, and they hastened to raise him from neglect to the throne of omniscience. He was no longer a wayward genius, he was the model from whom art and wisdom were to be learned.

This new criticism was esthetic and appreciative. It did not try to balance Shakespeare's merits and faults, or to test him by codes of arts or morals. It recognized him as supreme, and its discipleship was devoted to reverent interpretation and enthusiastic admiration. Believing in the importance of the poetic imagination in the affairs of men, it found in him a gospel and an example for its creed. Its delightful task was to find new beauties and to search out the hiding-places that revealed the god of its idolatry. If the genius of the master-poet was the source of art and wisdom, the personality of the critic gained a new refulgence through its service of reflecting the rays of glory. The interest in the study of individual characters had resulted, even in Johnson's day, in some notable interpretive essays, as Maurice Morgann's on Falstaff (1777). In the next generation, Coleridge, Lamb, and Hazlitt in England, and Schlegel and Goethe in Germany, brought the keenest intelligence and most sympathetic taste to a criticism that aspired to reveal the full range and height of Shakespeare's creative faculty.

The results of this criticism may be more specifically summarized. (1) It viewed the individual characters of the plays as if they were real persons, analyzing their motives and elaborating or repainting their portraits, as in the analyses of Hamlet by Goethe and Coleridge, or in the brilliant sketches of Hazlitt. The few hundred lines spoken by a leading character have thus been expanded by the impressions made on successive critics into volumes of biography. (2) Shakespeare's works were studied as a whole in an effort to study the development of his art and mind. Schlegel and Coleridge gave a unity to the phenomena of the thirty-seven plays that had not been recognized hitherto; but they and their followers naturally tended to make of their author a sort of nineteenth-century romanticist. (3) Exalting the services of poetry and the creative imagination, they viewed Shakespeare's exhibition of human nature and his incidental wisdom as profound, consistent, and immensely valuable for the human race. Hence they were ever seeking in his work for a philosophy, a synthetic ethics, and making the widest applications of his words to conduct. Believing that he could do no wrong, they inevitably came to attribute to him ideas and morals that were of their own creation.

The defects of this criticism are most apparent in critics like Ulrici and Gervinus who carry its methods to extremes. Personal, fanciful, unhistorical, idolatrous, it is yet a tremendous tribute and an amazingThe Nineteenth Centuryrecord of the sway that Shakespeare has exerted on the human mind. The writings of no other man have been studied so intimately by so many sympathetic readers, or have excited such different impressions. Throughout the nineteenth century this appreciative criticism has continued, and Shakespeare has been interpreted through the personality of many critics, German and American, as well as British, more recently through the delicate sensibility of Professor Dowden, and the penetrating reflection of Professor A. C. Bradley.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Shakespearean criticism has become too varied for a brief survey. Textual and esthetic criticism both continue. The biography has been established on a sound basis of fact by Halliwell-Phillipps and Sidney Lee; and still new facts reward patient investigators of the legal and court documents, almost the only records preserved that can possibly bear on Shakespeare's life. Special studies of all sorts have been numerous, as to his reading, religion, folk-lore, and so on. More significant in its effect on our general view have been the efforts of historical criticism. As our knowledge of Elizabethan literature, drama, theater, have increased, it has been possible to see Shakespeare in relation to his time and environment. The study of Shakespeare as a sixteenth-century dramatist aims not merely at a better appreciation of his work, but also to explain his development and to account for some of the qualities of his achievement. Its attitude is thatof the scientific historian examining the records of any great human activity, and trying to understand its causes, results, and meaning. Somewhat allied to this has been technical dramatic criticism, which is uniting knowledge of the Elizabethan theater with interest in drama as a peculiar form, and thereby studying Shakespeare as a dramatist rather than as a poet or philosopher. In fact, Shakespeare is no longer merely man, poet, dramatist, philosopher, or genius. Jonson's tribute, Dryden's summary, Johnson's judicial essay, or Coleridge's admiring studies, all seem hopelessly inadequate to express the range of his dominion. He has become the source of the most various and extensive interests, a continent that ever expands its fields for exploration, an epoch that ever extends the years of its duration, a race that never dies, though its progeny ever multiplies.

It is in the nineteenth century that Shakespeare's dominance becomes international. Four of his plays were acted at Dresden and elsewhere early in the seventeenth century, but there seems to have been no literary acquaintance with the plays in Germany until about the middle of the eighteenth century, when two poor translations ofJulius CæsarandRomeo and Julietappeared, and J. C. Gottsched severely criticized Shakespeare's art. In 1759, in a journal, "Litteraturbriefe," Lessing began a warm defense of Shakespeare and declared his superiority to Racine and Corneille. HisHamburgische Dramaturgie(1767) went far in directing the change of taste from French classicismIn Germanyand in establishing Shakespeare in German thought as the greatest of poets, whether ancient or modern. A prose translation was begun by Wieland in 1762 and completed by Eschenburg in 1789. What is perhaps the best translation of Shakespeare into any foreign tongue was begun in 1797 by A. W. von Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck, two leaders of German romanticism, and finally completed in 1853. Schlegel's lectures onShakespeare and the Dramawere delivered in Vienna in 1808, and present both the romanticist's idolizing of Shakespeare and a new kind of esthetic criticism destined to exercise great influence on Coleridge and the English critics. Meanwhile Goethe was adaptingRomeo and Julietfor the Weimar theater (1801) and Schiller was arrangingMacbethfor presentation at Stuttgart (1801). Goethe indeed was, throughout his life, an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare, and his works are full of discriminating criticism, of which perhaps the most famous passage is the analysis of Hamlet inWilhelm Meister. Since Lessing and Herder, German poetry and drama have felt Shakespeare's influence, and in both textual and esthetic criticism, Germany has rivaled England and the United States. Delius and Schmidt, whoseShakespeare-Lexicon(1874) is one of the great monuments of Shakespeare scholarship, are perhaps first among textual students; since 1865 the German Shakespeare Society has published yearly contributions of all kinds to Shakespeare criticism, and especially an excellent bibliography. On thestage Shakespeare has been constantly acted since the beginning of the century, and has engaged the services of some of the greatest actors, as Schroeder, the two Devrients, and Barnay. At present a large number of his plays are performed annually, in the smaller as well as the larger cities, and more frequently than in Britain or America. Twenty-six of the plays were acted in 1911,Othelloleading with 158 performances. For the years 1909, 1910, 1911,Hamlet,Othello,The Merchant of Venicehave been the favorites, withThe Taming of the ShrewandA Midsummer-Night's Dreamthe most popular of the comedies. For over a century Shakespeare has profoundly influenced German life and letters. Rarely, if ever, has a great people been so powerfully affected by a writer in a foreign tongue.

In France, during the eighteenth century, Shakespeare's reputation was both aided and hindered by Voltaire. Though there are a few earlier notices of the English dramatist, Voltaire, after his visit to England, 1720-1729, was virtually the first to win attention for Shakespeare. He admired Shakespeare, acknowledged his influence, but deplored his deficiencies in taste and art, "le Corneille de Londres, grand fou d'ailleurs, mais il a des morceaux admirables." Voltaire's criticism provoked replies in England and a defense from Diderot, who shared with Lessing the effort to emancipate the drama from some of its neo-classical restriction. Translations of twelve plays by La Place (1745-1748) and all of the plays by Le TourneurIn France(1776-1782) gave an opportunity for greater acquaintance with his work. A version ofHamletby Ducis was acted at Paris in 1769. But even at the end of the century, French literary opinion, though partly won by Le Tourneur's praise of Shakespeare, still sympathized with Voltaire, now engaged in an attack on Englishmen and their favorite. His last opinion (1778) declares, "Shakespeare est un sauvage avec des étincelles de génie qui brillent dans une nuit horrible."

The nineteenth century saw a reaction from this criticism, indicated by the praise of Madame de Staël (De la Litterature, 1804), by Guizot's essay accompanying a revision of Le Tourneur's translation (1821), and later in the appreciation of Mézières'sShakespeare ses Œuvres et ses Critiques(1860), in several translations, and in Victor Hugo's eulogy (1869). The best of the translations is by the poet's son, François Victor Hugo in prose (1859-1866). On the Paris stage, the leading English actors have appeared from time to time, and French versions ofHamlet,Macbeth, andOthellohave made a permanent place. M. Jusserand is the chief authority for the history of Shakespeare in France and an ambassador of peace between the conflicting literary tastes of the two nations.

In Italy, Holland, Russia, Poland, and Hungary, during the nineteenth century, many of the plays have been regularly acted, and from Italy have come great actors and actresses, as Ristori, Salvini, and Rossi.Complete translations have been published in these countries and in Bohemian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Spanish; and separate plays have been translated and acted in many other languages including those of India, Japan, and China.

In music and painting Shakespeare's influence has also been international. Books have been devoted to the history of Shakespeare's music, and such surveys include nearly every English composer of note, and also Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Ambroise Thomas, Saint Saëns, Rossini, and Verdi. In painting as well, the persons and scenes of the play have excited the efforts of English, German, and American artists.

In America, as has already been indicated, the interest in Shakespeare is hardly separable from that in Great Britain. Editors, critics, scholars, have been numerous and their contributions important, and the plays have been acted constantly and widely through the country. Probably there is no part of the world to-day where the study of Shakespeare is so active and where the interest in his work is so widespread. In one respect, at least, the United States in recent years has carried this study and interest beyond England, in the fields of education. As the study of the mother tongue has become the basis of American education, so Shakespeare has come to play a more and more important part in the training of youth. The universities offer training in the various departments of ShakespeareanIn the United Statesscholarship, every college offers courses on his plays, a number of them are prescribed for reading and study in the high schools; a few of them are read and extracts memorized in the primary schools. The child begins his education with Ariel and the fairies, and until his schooling is completed is kept in almost daily intercourse with the poetry and persons of the dramas. Homer was not better known in Athens. In a democracy still young and widely separated from older nations and cultures, Shakespeare has become one of the links that bind the American public not only to the common inheritances of the English-speaking races, but to the traditional culture of Europe.

Known in the literature and theater of every civilized nation, the subject of a vast and increasing amount of discussion and criticism, the source of a scholarship rivaling that devoted to the writers of antiquity, the familiar theme for music and painting, the household possession of Great Britain, Germany, and America, influencing thought and conduct as few books have ever influenced them, and now an important element in the education of a great democracy,—the plays of Shakespeare occupy a position whence imagination "can not pierce a wink beyond, but doubt discovery there." His reputation and influence must change greatly in the years to come; but this at least is secure—three hundred years of an ever increasing sway over the human mind.

The purpose of this volume has been to summarize what we know about Shakespeare. The documentary records and early traditions of his life have been supplemented by information in regard to the times and places in which he lived, the literature which he read, and the theaters for which he worked. The evolution of the drama that grew up in those theaters has been reviewed, and its manifest connections with Shakespeare's own development have been indicated. That development has been traced by means of a careful determination of the chronology of the plays; and the recognition of this growth of his powers has been shown to be a necessary basis for a just estimate of their achievement.

If, now, in conclusion, we attempt to define our general impression of the man and his work, this must inevitably take into account considerations of environment and development. The man belonged to his era, his city, and his profession. The documents make it plain that he did not live apart, but in close contact with the affairs of his day and generation. The plays make it clear that few men ever became soThe Sonnetsintimately familiar with the manners, morals, and ideas of their own time. There is no doubt that he drank deeply of the experience that Elizabethan London offered him. Still more, the plays make it clear that his life was one of constant and extraordinary intellectual and spiritual growth. Though, from the objective nature of the dramas, it is impossible to translate them into terms of personal experience or into exact stages of mental growth, yet it is none the less evident that the progress from the author ofLove's Labour's Lostto the author ofThe Tempest, from the creator of Richard III and Valentine to the creator of Iago and Antony, was marked, not only by a widening experience, but also by a development of personal character.

To understand a man's surroundings does not, however, reveal the man; and to measure the growth of genius does not interpret its quality. Lovers of the plays are likely always to query: What manner of man was this? Taken out of his London, at any time in his career, how would he seem if we could know him as a man? Of what nature is this companion and friend whose presence we have felt through all his verses and in all of his characters? The few clues offered by records or tradition, and the difficulties in separating the creator from the thousand men and women of his creation, have driven many to seek answers to these questions in the sonnets. There he speaks in the first person, and there are revealed not merely some dubious hints of actual incidents, butthe surer indications of emotional conflicts that went to the heart of the man's nature. At their worst, the sonnets may have been only literary exercises on conventional themes, but at their best they are surely both superb poetry and the result of genuine emotion. Can we doubt that the poet knew the pitfalls that beset the course of human passion or that he had faith in the triumphant beauty of love and friendship? Yet the most splendid of these lyrical declarations of faith add little to what we knew of the creator of the lovers and friends of the dramas. The trivialities and the sublimities, the sin and the idealism of the sonnets coalesce with the emotional effects of the comedies and tragedies. In forming our impression of the man, whatever we may derive from the sonnets does not contradict and does not largely affect the impressions made by the poetry and humanity of the plays. For the conception which each one forms of Shakespeare the man must be derived in the main from the impressions of personality implied by the plays. Such a conception is bound to be individual and without validity that can rest on proofs, but in the main it has not varied greatly from individual to individual or from generation to generation. From Jonson and Dryden to Goethe and Tennyson, there has been no great difference in the essentials of this estimate of the man.

If the plays do not throw a clear light on matters of conduct and exercise of the will, they certainly tellPersonality of Shakespeareof no lack of self-control and no weakness or feverishness of action. The traditions of conviviality and the records of a life of constant industry that secured wealth and social position are both in accord with the impressions derived from the plays of an eagerness for experience controlled by a self-mastery and a serenity of purpose. If one were to search for a modern writer most like Shakespeare, one would select Scott, rather than Shelley, or Byron, or Wordsworth. As to the intellectual quality of the author of the plays, it is clear that he was not a Galileo or a Bacon. If we judge intellectual power by its creation of system or synthesis, we shall probably estimate Shakespeare less highly than if we remember that intellect of the highest order is often displayed by maintaining openness and largeness of view in face of the solicitations of theory or prejudice. No one can read the plays in connection with the literature of the time, or of any time, without marveling at their freedom from vulgarity, pettiness, or narrowness of mental attitude. If they do not afford evidences of a profound culture in philosophy, letters, or science, they offer no trace of intellectual blindness or conceit, and they leave no doubt that their author had thought greatly and freely. Even more certain is their assurance of the range and intensity of his emotional life. In these respects again, no one can compare his work with that of other writers without feeling the effect of his personality. Fletcher, perhaps next to him among the Elizabethans in aversatile expression of a wide range of emotions, gives no sign of the sincere, profound, and searching interest in humankind which we are sure was Shakespeare's. Bacon, surpassing him perhaps in intellectual curiosity and thoroughness, manifestly gives no evidence in his writings of the warmth of sympathy, the quickness of emotional response, the fire of passion which we find in the author of Shakespeare's plays. It is difficult to disbelieve that their imaginative participation in the height and breadth of human feeling was the creation of a man who united intellectual greatness with an emotional susceptibility of extraordinary range and delicacy, and with a sympathy, genial, wide, tolerant, but also heartfelt, deep, and passionate. Such is the ineffaceable impression of the man which has been shared by many generations of readers, and which found expression two hundred and fifty years ago in Dryden's carefully considered estimate, "The man who of all Moderns, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul."

What of the plays themselves? Is there any fixed and universal estimate of their quality and significance as literature? In this volume we have been concerned in reviewing our knowledge about them rather than in their interpretation or evaluation. We have noted the sources from which their plots were drawn, the conditions under which they were produced in the playhouses, the influences at work in the contemporary drama which determined in some measure their subjectsQualities of the Playsand treatment. Starting with the probable dates of their composition, we have traced them from the theater to the printer, through the hands of many editors, and through the long history of their effects on theatergoers and readers. In their history they have played a part in the changes of taste and opinion of three centuries, and if they have grown greatly in men's estimation, this has not been without much variability of appreciation and uncertainty as to their value. What, then, are the qualities of the plays that raised them at once above the measure of contemporary influence and rivalry? Are these the qualities that have continued to win the most general appreciation? Despite all the stress we are to-day taught to place on change, growth, evolution, are there qualities in these plays which insure them a continued preëminence in literature?

Differences of opinion testify, indeed, to the comprehensive appeal of the plays to different minds, nations, or epochs, but they have not greatly affected the essential elements in men's admiration. If some critic brings into new prominence a quality that has partly escaped attention, his discovery is not likely to affect the more permanent elements of their reputation. If for a time attention is turned to the plays as plays rather than as poems and to the merits of Shakespeare as a dramatist, this criticism does not lead to any lasting disregard of their poetic quality or to the permanent acceptance of skill in dramatic structureas a chief element in their literary preëminence. Nor is such an element discoverable in their philosophical synthesis or their incidental wisdom, although some of the most brilliant criticism has exalted that wisdom or sought to formulate and expound their view of life. Concerning the essential elements of their greatness no real difference of opinion has arisen from the time they were written down to the present day. They were lifted at once above the level of contemporary endeavor, and they have continued to grow in reputation chiefly because of their poetry and their characterization.

Concerning the nature and quality of these there is little difference of opinion, though critics may vary in estimating their beauty or value. One may prefer the verse of Homer or of Milton, but he will not deny the traits that distinguish Shakespeare's. Another may prefer the well-ordered study of human motives in Sophocles, or the realistic analysis of a modern realist like Turgenieff, but he will recognize the qualities in Shakespeare's characterization that are the basis of general admiration. Still another may condemn that admiration, but he will not differ from us as to the chief sources of its existence.

These two sources are hardly to be separated, for the persons are revealed through the beauty of the verse, and the poetry is ever adapted to the speakers. In the early plays the poet's fancy often refuses to be bound by the requirements of his characters and escapes in lyric or descriptive excursions; but as his art becomesPoetry of the Playsmore masterly, the poetry adapts itself with increasing devotion to the dramatic task, discarding the limitations of the verse form and even at times sacrificing clarity and harmony of expression in its effort to make a few lines significant of the thought and emotion of some individual. An enormous vocabulary is treated with daring freedom; words are coined, changed, or restamped in order to let nothing of significance escape. The effect is not primarily that of finished workmanship or elaborate harmony, though these may be found in many passages and notably in the greatest of the sonnets. Broken rather than completed images, richness of suggestion rather than unity of impressiveness, surprise and novelty in words rather than their delicate adjustment, make up an effect of bewildering enchantment rather than of perfected form. This is true even in an early play likeRomeo and Juliet, where the verse becomes undramatic in order to make the most of every opportunity for fancy or melody, and it is true also inOthello, where poetry and characterization are wedded with consummate art. The reader's pleasure is not in finding each idea finally developed or each motive given full elaboration. It is rather in the flow of words which endow each person and moment with their wealth of color and suggestion, and somehow carry on to the reader both their impression of life and the transforming power of their dignity and splendor.

In a last analysis the quality of the poetry is lessdependent on the music of line or passage than on the imagery of the words themselves. It seems as if the imagination had hurried on Ariel's wing around the universe in order to freight each phrase with a fresh trope and an unexpected meaning. Sometimes, to be sure, there results an excess or mixture of figures; but restrained to character and situation, bound by the measure of the pentameter, the carnival of words becomes a gorgeous yet ordered pageant, the very spectacle of beauty.

Let us take but one passage, not from the great crises of passion, nor from those unsurpassable revelations of the tortured spirit, but from the opening of a play where the purpose is chiefly expository, and where indeed the language is not free from that mixture of figures which some condemn. The wonderful first scene ofAntony and Cleopatra, which within the compass of its sixty-two lines presents the two protagonists and their background of empire and war, opens thus in the speech of a subordinate.

Nay, but this dotage of our general'sO'erflows the measure. Those his goodly eyes,That o'er the files and musters of the warHave glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turnThe office and devotion of their viewUpon a tawny front; his captain's heart,Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burstThe buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,And is become the bellows and the fanTo cool a gipsy's lust.

CharacterizationA few lines further on Antony speaks thus, as he embraces Cleopatra.

Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide archOf the rang'd Empire fall! Here is my space.Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alikeFeeds beast as man; the nobleness of lifeIs to do thus, when such a mutual pairAnd such a twain can do't, in which I bind,On pain of punishment, the world to witWe stand up peerless.

No other man ever wrote verse like this; and it is hard to believe that words will ever again respond to such a magician.

This poetry is the fitting accompaniment of a characterization, the range and vitality of which, the world to wit, stand up peerless. While these are in general qualities of the Elizabethan drama, it is noteworthy that almost from the beginning Shakespeare outstripped his rivals. Launce, Richard III, Shylock, Juliet, were enough to establish a supremacy. The years that followed with their maturing thought and experience gave an amazing development to what was manifestly the native bent of his genius. Whatever else one may find in the plays, indeed whatever one finds there of wisdom or beauty, truth or art, it cannot be separated from their revelation of human nature.

It is this primarily that makes the dramas great and lasting. The histories, with all their pomp and movement and patriotism, reveal kings and lords andpeasants as alike the subjects of changing fortune, alike human beings for our pity, admiration, or laughter. The comedies with their fancy and sentiment and fun, and their perennial sunshine on the self-deceived and selfish, are ruled by the most charming and refined of womankind. The tragedies with their presentation of the waste and suffering of life, though here depravity may seem to fill the scene and innocence share in the punishment and ruin, yet redeem us from the terror of their devastation by their assurances of both the majesty and the loveliness of men and women.

Shakespeare's methods in characterization have seemed to some haphazard and bewildering. He does not fit his men and women into an analysis of the constitution of society or into an obvious view of man's relations in the universe. Nor does he use his characters to illustrate fixed conceptions or processes of cause and effect. He usually started with an old story, with certain types of character, and he was not forgetful of theatrical necessities or dramatic construction. But as he went on he brought all his astounding interest in human nature to focus on the old plot and the stock type. Hamlet, the hesitating avenger, becomes the sentimentalist, the idealist, the thinker at war with himself, the embodiment of that conflict between circumstance and a nature unfitted to its task, which in some measure we have all encountered in life. An arrogant and doting old man, by the force of creative imagination, transcends the nursery tale from which he came, andHuman Naturecarries to us all the implications of suffering and love that surround the aging of parents and the growth of children. Cleopatra is a wanton, but no analysis can explain the subtleties with which the idealism and animalism, the sacrifice and frivolity—and how much else—of human passion are bound together in the few hundred lines which she speaks. It is impossible to affirm that each of the great characters is thoroughly consistent or offers a strictly accurate motivation. Rather, they are magnificent portraits—like the Mona Lisa—crowded with a penetrating but question-provoking psychology. Into such parts and situations as the drama could afford are impressed every possible revelation of our motives; but his model was always reality and he never yielded truth to whim or prepossession.

Human nature, at its best or worst, droll or tragic, is thus given magnitude and potency. This idealization, rendered still more effective by the verse, persuades us as we read that here are our own attributes and conflicts exalted, now into serene beauty, again into torment and horror, and again into the Olympic warfare of unknown supermen. No doubt there is confusion because of the complexity of motives depicted and the multiplicity of impressions created, but there is also a final message of the greatness and comprehensiveness of human souls. In this world of sin and weakness and death, it is human beings, however mocked or maltreated by circumstance or by themselves,that are still triumphant and interesting. Out of his strifes and failures, the individual man yet emerges, the object of our contemplation and the assurance of our faith.

In periods or persons when interest in the individual gives way to thought about class or system or some form of organization, it is likely that admiration for Shakespeare's plays will suffer a decline. In periods or persons when the individual assumes a larger place in thought and his power to affect and dominate the world is emphasized, the plays are likely to acquire a new regard. As long, however, as the study of human nature is a chief occupation of mankind and as long as we believe that a great purpose of imaginative literature is to enlarge our knowledge and sympathy for our fellows, so long, we may be sure, these dramas will not lose their preëminence in literature.

L. refers to Lambert'sShakespeare Documentsand H.-P. to Halliwell-Phillipps'sOutlines of the Life of Shakespeare. 7th ed.

The Parish Registers of Stratford-on-Avonare the authority for the baptisms of John Shakespeare's seven children (L. 1-7); for the burials of Anne and Edmund (L. 10); for the baptisms of William Shakespeare's daughter Susanna (L. 13) and the twins, Hamnet and Judith (L. 14); for the burials of Hamnet (L. 28), of the poet's father, John (L. 75), of his mother, Mary (L. 110), of the poet himself (L. 146), and of his widow (L. 159). These Registers have been edited for the Parish Registers Society, by R. Savage, 1898-9.

The Corporation Records of Stratford-on-Avoncontain the Quiney-Sturley correspondence (L. 39, 43, 44; H.-P. II. 57-60); a return of the quantities of corn and malt held by the inhabitants of the ward in which New Place was situated, "Wm. Shackespere" being down for ten quarters (L. 53); a Bill of Complaint presented by R. Lane, T. Green, and William Shakespeare respecting the tithes of Stratford-upon-Avon(L. 125); the answer of William Combe to the foregoing Bill (L. 126).

The Public Record Office in Londonpreserves the following: record of the purchase by John Shakespeare of two houses on Henley Street, Stratford-on-Avon (L. 8); record of a mortgage on an estate at "Awston Cawntlett" given to Edmund Lambert by John and Mary Shakespeare (L. 9); Bill of Complaint brought by John Shakespeare against John, son of Edmund Lambert, respecting an estate at Wilmecote, near Stratford (L. 15); Ms. accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber, "To Willm. Kempe, Willm. Shakespeare & Richarde Burbage, servaunts to the Lord Chamberleyne, upon the Councelles warrant dated at Whitehall xvtoMarcij 1594 for twoe severall Comedies or enterludes shewed by them before her Majestic in Christmas tyme laste paste, viz: upon St. Stephens daye and Innocentes daye xiij.li. vj.s. viijd., and by waye of her Majesties rewarde vj.li. xiii.s. iiijd. in all xx.li." (L. 25); record of the purchase of New Place by Shakespeare (L. 32); papers in a Chancery suit relating to the estate at Wilmecote mortgaged to Edmund Lambert, and consisting of a Bill of Complaint by John and Mary Shakespeare against John Lambert for his refusal to accept £40 and reconvey the property to the complainants, John Lambert's answer, and the replication of John and Mary Shakespeare to the answer (L. 35); a subsidy roll showing William Shakespeare as a defaulter in respect of a tax of five shillings, October, 1596, and of thirteen shillings and four pence, October, 1598, based on an assessment made about 1598 or 1594, when the poet was living in St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, and paid after he had moved to Southwark (Athenæum, March 16, 1906, and L. 42); Royal Warrant for a Patent and the PatentBiographical Documentsitself (May 19, 1603) licensing the company of actors, "Laurence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemmings, Henrie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowly and the rest of their associates" as the King's Servants (L. 87, 88); the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, containing entries showing performances at Court of "The Moor of Venis," "The Merry Wives of Winsor," "Mesur for Mesur" by "Shaxberd," "the plaie of Errors" by "Shaxberd," "Loves Labours lost," "Henry the fift," and "the Martchant of Venis" by "Shaxberd" (twice, being "againe commanded by the Kings Matie"), all in 1604 (O.S.), of "the Tempest" and "yewinters nightes Tayle" in 1611, all by the King's men, and of the performance before the Court at Wilton, Dec. 2, 1603 (L. 96, 133,Notes in the History of the Revels Office under the Tudors, ed. by E. K. Chambers, andSupposed Shakespeare Forgeries, by Ernest Law); record of the purchase in 1610 of an estate in Old Stratford and Stratford-on-Avon by Shakespeare from William and John Combe (L. 127); three documents in a Chancery suit relating to the ownership of property in Blackfriars, April 26, May 15, May 22, 1615 (C. W. Wallace inEnglische Studien, April, 1906, and Preface to New Edition of Lee'sLife, xxii ff.); the grant for cloaks for the King's entry into London, March 15, 1604 (Ld. Chamberlain's Papers, No. 600); the documents in the law suit among the heirs of Richard Burbage (1635), relating to the ownership of the Globe and the Blackfriars theaters, and giving much information on the value of theatrical shares, actors' salaries, etc. (H.-P. i. 312-319); and the documents in the lawsuit of Bellotsvs.Mountjoy (1612), including Shakespeare's deposition (New Shakespeare Discoveries, C. W. Wallace,Harper's Magazine, March, 1910).

The Shakespeare's Birthplace Museum in Stratford-on-Avoncontains several documents of importance: record of the conveyance in 1602 of an estate in Old Stratford from William and John Combe to William Shakespeare (L. 79, H.-P. II, 17-19); extract from the Court Rolls of the Manor of Rowington, transferring from Walter Getley to William Shakespeare certain premises in Chapel Lane, Stratford-on-Avon (L. 81); the conveyance to Shakespeare from Ralph Hubande of the residue of a lease of a moiety of the tithes of Stratford-on-Avon, Old Stratford, Welcombe, and Bishopton (L. 99); the diary of one Thomas Greene, containing a reference to the dispute as to the inclosing of common lands (reproduced in facsimile in C. M. Ingleby'sShakespeare and the Enclosure of Common Fields at Welcombe, 1885).

The British Museumpossesses the Ms. diary of John Manningham of the Middle Temple, which, under the date of Feb. 2, 1601, records a performance ofTwelfth Night, and the anecdote recorded above, p. 44 (L. 77; Ms. Harl. 5353, ed. Camden Soc., p. 39); also the Mortgage Deed from Shakespeare to Henry Walker on the property in Blackfriars conveyed to Shakespeare and others on the day previous, March 10, 1612/13.

The Bodleian Library at Oxfordhas the Ms. diary of Dr. Simon Forman describing performances ofWinter's Tale, Cymbeline, andMacbethin 1610 and 1611 (L. 128; Ms. Ashmol. 208, fol. 201b); and the Accounts of Lord Stanhope of Harrington, Treasurer of the Chamber to James I, containing the following entry: "1613, May 20. Item paid to JohnBiographical DocumentsHeminges uppon the cowncells warrant dated att Whitehall xxodie Maii 1613 for presentinge before the Princes highnes the La: Elizabeth and the Prince Pallatyne Elector fowerteene severall playes viz ... Much adoe abowte nothinge ... The Tempest ... The Winters Tale, SrJohn Falstafe, The Moore of Venice ... Cæsars Tragedye ... All wchPlayes weare played within the tyme of this Accompte, viz pdthe some of iiij. (xx.) xiij.li. vj.s. viij.d.

"Item paid to the said John Heminges uppon the lyke warrant dated att Whitehall xxodie Maij 1613 for presenting sixe severall playes viz. one playe called ... And one other called Benidicte and Betteris all played within the tyme of this Accompte viz pdffortie powndes And by waye of his Matisrewarde twentie powndes In all ... lx li." (L. 138; Ms. Rawl. A. 239).

The Episcopal Register of the Diocese of Worcestercontains the bond given by Sandells and others for the marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway (L. 12).

The Library of the Guildhall in Londonhas the indenture prepared for the purchaser in the sale of the house in Blackfriars on March 10, 1613, by Henry Walker to William Shakespeare and others (L. 136). The indenture held by the seller is in the library of Mr. Marsden J. Perry, Providence, R. I.

The Principal Probate Registry, Somerset House, London, contains Shakespeare's Will, which runs as follows:

[10]Vicesimoquinto die [Januarii]Martii, anno regni domini nostri Jacobi, nunc regis Angliæ, &c., decimo quarto, et Scotiæ xlixo, annoque Domini 1616.—T. Wmi. ShackspeareIn the name of God, Amen! I William Shackspeare, of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of Warr., gent., in perfect health and memorie, God be praysed, doe make and ordayne this my last will and testament in manner and forme followeing, that ys to saye, ffirst, I comend my soule into the handes of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merittes, of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlastinge, and my bodye to the earth whereof yt ys made. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my [sonne and][11]daughter Judyth one hundred and fyftie poundes of lawfull English money, to be paied unto her in the manner and forme foloweng, that ys to saye, one hundred poundesin discharge of her marriage porcionwithin one yeare after my deceas, with consideracion after the rate of twoe shillinges in the pound for soe long tyme as the same shalbe unpaied unto her after my deceas, and the fyftie poundes residwe thereof upon her surrendringof, or gyving of such sufficient securitie as the overseers of this my will shall like of, to surrender or graunte all her estate and right that shall discend or come unto her after my deceas, orthat sheenowe hath, of, in, or to, one copiehold tenemente, with thappurtenaunces, lyeing and being in Stratford upon Avon aforesaied in the saied countye of Warr., being parcell or holden of the mannour of Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall and her heires for ever. Item, IShakespeare's Willgyveand bequeath unto my saied daughter Judith one hundred and fyftie poundes more, if shee or anie issue of her bodie be lyvinge att thend of three yeares next ensueing the daie of the date of this my will, during which tyme my executours are to paie her consideracion from my deceas according to the rate aforesaied; and if she dye within the saied tearme without issue of her bodye, then my will ys, and I doe gyve and bequeath one hundred poundes thereof to my neece Elizabeth Hall, and the fiftie poundes to be sett fourth by my executours during the lief of my sister Johane Harte, and the use and proffitt thereof cominge shalbe payed to my saied sister Jone, and after her deceas the saied l.li.shall remaine amongst the children of my saied sister, equallie to be divided amongst them; but if my saied daughter Judith be lyving att thend of the saied three yeares, or anie yssue of her bodye, then my will ys, and soe I devise and bequeath the saied hundred and fyftie poundes to be sett outby my executours and overseersfor the best benefitt of her and her issue, andthe stocknotto bepaied unto her soe long as she shalbe marryed and covert baron [by my executours and overseers]; but my will ys, that she shall have the consideracion yearelie paied unto her during her lief, and, after her deceas, the saied stock and consideracion to bee paied to her children, if she have anie, and if not, to her executours or assignes, she lyving the saied terme after my deceas. Provided that yf suche husbond as she shall att thend of the saied three years be marryed unto, or att anie after (sic), doe sufficientlie assure unto her and thissue of her bodie landes awnswereable to the porcion by this my will gyven unto her, and to be adjudged soe by my executours and overseers, then my will ys, that the said cl.li.shalbe paied to such husbond as shall make such assurance, to his owne use. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my saied sisterJone xx.liand all my wearing apparrell, to be paied and delivered within one yeare after my deceas; and I doe will and devise unto herthe housewith thappurtenaunces in Stratford, wherein she dwelleth, for her naturall lief, under the yearlie rent of xij.d.Item, I gyve and bequeath unto her three sonnes, William Harte, ... Hart, and Michaell Harte, fyve pounds a peece, to be paied within one yeare after my deceas [to be sett out for her within one yeare after my deceas by my executours, with thadvise and direccions of my overseers, for her best profitt, untill her mariage, and then the same with the increase thereof to be paied unto her]. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto [her]the saied Elizabeth Hall, all my plate,except my brod silver and gilt bole, that I now have att the date of this my will. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto the poore of Stratford aforesaied tenn poundes; to Mr. Thomas Combe my sword; to Thomas Russell esquier fyve poundes; and to Frauncis Collins, of the borough of Warr. in the countie of Warr. gentleman, thirteene poundes, sixe shillinges, and eight pence, to be paied within one yeare after my deceas. Item, I gyve and bequeath to [Mr. Richard Tyler thelder]Hamlett Sadlerxxvj.s.viij.d.to buy him a ringe; toWilliam Raynoldes gent., xxvj.s.viij.d.to buy him a ringe; to my godson William Walker xxs.in gold; to Anthonye Nashe gent., xxvj.s.viij.d.; and to Mr. John Nashe xxvj.s.viij.d.[in gold];and to my fellowes John Hemynges, Richard Burbage, and Henry Cundell, xxvj.s.viij.d.a peece to buy them ringes. Item, I gyve, will, bequeath, and devise, unto my daughter Susanna Hall,for better enabling of her to performe this my will, and towards the performans thereof, all that capitall messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces,in Stratford aforesaid, called the New Place, wherein I nowe dwell, and two messuages or tenementes with thappurtenaunces, scituat, lyeing, and being in HenleyShakespeare's Willstreete, within the borough of Stratford aforesaied; and all my barnes, stables, orchardes, gardens, landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes, whatsoever, scituat, lyeing, and being, or to be had, receyved, perceyved, or taken, within the townes, hamletes, villages, fieldes, and groundes, of Stratford upon Avon, Oldstratford, Bushopton, and Welcombe, or in anie of them in the saied countie of Warr. And alsoe all that messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces, wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, scituat, lyeing and being, in the Blackfriers in London, nere the Wardrobe; and all my other landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes whatsoever, To have and to hold all and singuler the saied premisses, with theire appurtenaunces, unto the saied Susanna Hall, for and during the terme of her naturall lief, and after her deceas, to the first sonne of her bodie lawfullie yssueing, and to the heires males of the bodie of the saied first sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to the second sonne of her bodie, lawfullie issueinge, and [of] to the heires males of the bodie of the saied second sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such heires, to the third sonne of the bodie of the saied Susanna lawfullie yssueing, and of the heires males of the bodie of the saied third sonne lawfullie yssueing; and for defalt of such issue, the same soe to be and remaine to the ffourth [sonne], ffyfth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes of her bodie lawfullie issueing, one after another, and to the heires males of the bodies of the saied fourth, fifth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes lawfullie yssueing, in such manner as yt ys before lymitted to be and remaine to the first, second, and third sonns of her bodie, and to theire heires males; and for defalt of such issue, the said premisses to be and remaine to my sayed neece Hall, and the heires males of her bodie lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to my daughter Judith, and the heires males ofher bodie lawfullie issueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to the right heires of me the saied William Shakspeare for ever.Item, I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture.Item, I gyve and bequeath to my saied daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bole. All the rest of my goodes, chattels, leases, plate, jewels, and household stuffe whatsoever, after my dettes and legasies paied, and my funerall expenses dischardged, I give, devise, and bequeath to my sonne in lawe, John Hall gent., and my daughter Susanna, his wief, whom I ordaine and make executours of this my last will and testament. And I doe intreat and appointthe saiedThomas Russell esquier and Frauncis Collins gent, to be overseers hereof, and doe revoke all former wills, and publishe this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my [seale]hand, the daie and yeare first abovewritten.By meWilliam Shakspeare.Witnes to the publyshing hereof,Fra: Collyns,[12]Julyus Shawe,John Robinson,Hamnet Sadler,Robert Whattcott.Probatum coram magistro Willielmo Byrde, legum doctore comiss. &c. xxijdo.die mensis Junii anno Domini 1616, juramento Johannis Hall, unius executorum, &c. cui &c. de bene &c. jurat. reservat. potestate &c. Susannæ Hall, alteri executorum &c. cum venerit petitur, &c. (Inv. ex.)

[10]Vicesimoquinto die [Januarii]Martii, anno regni domini nostri Jacobi, nunc regis Angliæ, &c., decimo quarto, et Scotiæ xlixo, annoque Domini 1616.

—T. Wmi. Shackspeare

In the name of God, Amen! I William Shackspeare, of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of Warr., gent., in perfect health and memorie, God be praysed, doe make and ordayne this my last will and testament in manner and forme followeing, that ys to saye, ffirst, I comend my soule into the handes of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merittes, of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlastinge, and my bodye to the earth whereof yt ys made. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my [sonne and][11]daughter Judyth one hundred and fyftie poundes of lawfull English money, to be paied unto her in the manner and forme foloweng, that ys to saye, one hundred poundesin discharge of her marriage porcionwithin one yeare after my deceas, with consideracion after the rate of twoe shillinges in the pound for soe long tyme as the same shalbe unpaied unto her after my deceas, and the fyftie poundes residwe thereof upon her surrendringof, or gyving of such sufficient securitie as the overseers of this my will shall like of, to surrender or graunte all her estate and right that shall discend or come unto her after my deceas, orthat sheenowe hath, of, in, or to, one copiehold tenemente, with thappurtenaunces, lyeing and being in Stratford upon Avon aforesaied in the saied countye of Warr., being parcell or holden of the mannour of Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall and her heires for ever. Item, IShakespeare's Willgyveand bequeath unto my saied daughter Judith one hundred and fyftie poundes more, if shee or anie issue of her bodie be lyvinge att thend of three yeares next ensueing the daie of the date of this my will, during which tyme my executours are to paie her consideracion from my deceas according to the rate aforesaied; and if she dye within the saied tearme without issue of her bodye, then my will ys, and I doe gyve and bequeath one hundred poundes thereof to my neece Elizabeth Hall, and the fiftie poundes to be sett fourth by my executours during the lief of my sister Johane Harte, and the use and proffitt thereof cominge shalbe payed to my saied sister Jone, and after her deceas the saied l.li.shall remaine amongst the children of my saied sister, equallie to be divided amongst them; but if my saied daughter Judith be lyving att thend of the saied three yeares, or anie yssue of her bodye, then my will ys, and soe I devise and bequeath the saied hundred and fyftie poundes to be sett outby my executours and overseersfor the best benefitt of her and her issue, andthe stocknotto bepaied unto her soe long as she shalbe marryed and covert baron [by my executours and overseers]; but my will ys, that she shall have the consideracion yearelie paied unto her during her lief, and, after her deceas, the saied stock and consideracion to bee paied to her children, if she have anie, and if not, to her executours or assignes, she lyving the saied terme after my deceas. Provided that yf suche husbond as she shall att thend of the saied three years be marryed unto, or att anie after (sic), doe sufficientlie assure unto her and thissue of her bodie landes awnswereable to the porcion by this my will gyven unto her, and to be adjudged soe by my executours and overseers, then my will ys, that the said cl.li.shalbe paied to such husbond as shall make such assurance, to his owne use. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my saied sisterJone xx.liand all my wearing apparrell, to be paied and delivered within one yeare after my deceas; and I doe will and devise unto herthe housewith thappurtenaunces in Stratford, wherein she dwelleth, for her naturall lief, under the yearlie rent of xij.d.Item, I gyve and bequeath unto her three sonnes, William Harte, ... Hart, and Michaell Harte, fyve pounds a peece, to be paied within one yeare after my deceas [to be sett out for her within one yeare after my deceas by my executours, with thadvise and direccions of my overseers, for her best profitt, untill her mariage, and then the same with the increase thereof to be paied unto her]. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto [her]the saied Elizabeth Hall, all my plate,except my brod silver and gilt bole, that I now have att the date of this my will. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto the poore of Stratford aforesaied tenn poundes; to Mr. Thomas Combe my sword; to Thomas Russell esquier fyve poundes; and to Frauncis Collins, of the borough of Warr. in the countie of Warr. gentleman, thirteene poundes, sixe shillinges, and eight pence, to be paied within one yeare after my deceas. Item, I gyve and bequeath to [Mr. Richard Tyler thelder]Hamlett Sadlerxxvj.s.viij.d.to buy him a ringe; toWilliam Raynoldes gent., xxvj.s.viij.d.to buy him a ringe; to my godson William Walker xxs.in gold; to Anthonye Nashe gent., xxvj.s.viij.d.; and to Mr. John Nashe xxvj.s.viij.d.[in gold];and to my fellowes John Hemynges, Richard Burbage, and Henry Cundell, xxvj.s.viij.d.a peece to buy them ringes. Item, I gyve, will, bequeath, and devise, unto my daughter Susanna Hall,for better enabling of her to performe this my will, and towards the performans thereof, all that capitall messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces,in Stratford aforesaid, called the New Place, wherein I nowe dwell, and two messuages or tenementes with thappurtenaunces, scituat, lyeing, and being in HenleyShakespeare's Willstreete, within the borough of Stratford aforesaied; and all my barnes, stables, orchardes, gardens, landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes, whatsoever, scituat, lyeing, and being, or to be had, receyved, perceyved, or taken, within the townes, hamletes, villages, fieldes, and groundes, of Stratford upon Avon, Oldstratford, Bushopton, and Welcombe, or in anie of them in the saied countie of Warr. And alsoe all that messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces, wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, scituat, lyeing and being, in the Blackfriers in London, nere the Wardrobe; and all my other landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes whatsoever, To have and to hold all and singuler the saied premisses, with theire appurtenaunces, unto the saied Susanna Hall, for and during the terme of her naturall lief, and after her deceas, to the first sonne of her bodie lawfullie yssueing, and to the heires males of the bodie of the saied first sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to the second sonne of her bodie, lawfullie issueinge, and [of] to the heires males of the bodie of the saied second sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such heires, to the third sonne of the bodie of the saied Susanna lawfullie yssueing, and of the heires males of the bodie of the saied third sonne lawfullie yssueing; and for defalt of such issue, the same soe to be and remaine to the ffourth [sonne], ffyfth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes of her bodie lawfullie issueing, one after another, and to the heires males of the bodies of the saied fourth, fifth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes lawfullie yssueing, in such manner as yt ys before lymitted to be and remaine to the first, second, and third sonns of her bodie, and to theire heires males; and for defalt of such issue, the said premisses to be and remaine to my sayed neece Hall, and the heires males of her bodie lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to my daughter Judith, and the heires males ofher bodie lawfullie issueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to the right heires of me the saied William Shakspeare for ever.Item, I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture.Item, I gyve and bequeath to my saied daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bole. All the rest of my goodes, chattels, leases, plate, jewels, and household stuffe whatsoever, after my dettes and legasies paied, and my funerall expenses dischardged, I give, devise, and bequeath to my sonne in lawe, John Hall gent., and my daughter Susanna, his wief, whom I ordaine and make executours of this my last will and testament. And I doe intreat and appointthe saiedThomas Russell esquier and Frauncis Collins gent, to be overseers hereof, and doe revoke all former wills, and publishe this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my [seale]hand, the daie and yeare first abovewritten.

By meWilliam Shakspeare.

Witnes to the publyshing hereof,Fra: Collyns,[12]Julyus Shawe,John Robinson,Hamnet Sadler,Robert Whattcott.

Probatum coram magistro Willielmo Byrde, legum doctore comiss. &c. xxijdo.die mensis Junii anno Domini 1616, juramento Johannis Hall, unius executorum, &c. cui &c. de bene &c. jurat. reservat. potestate &c. Susannæ Hall, alteri executorum &c. cum venerit petitur, &c. (Inv. ex.)

Biographical Documents

The Heralds' Collegehas the two drafts of a grant of arms to John Shakespeare in 1596 (Ms. Vincent. Coll. Arm. 157, arts. 23, 24); and the confirmation of the grant in 1599 (L. 30, 55). For further details on the matter of the coat of arms, seeHerald and Genealogist, i. 510, and for facsimiles,Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 2d ser. 1886, i. 109. On the criticism of the herald's complaisance in the matter of the Shakespeare and similar grants, see Preface to New Edition (1909) of Lee'sLife, pp. xi-xv.

The Stationers' Register, accessible in theTranscriptedited by E. Arber, 5 vols. 1875-94, contains the records of the entries of those of Shakespeare's works which were registered either with or without his name. The Shakespearean entries are gathered out of the great mass contained in these volumes by Lambert, Fleay, Stokes, H. P.,Chronological Order of Shakespeare's Plays, 1878, Appendix V, and others.

The literary allusions to Shakespeare in the sixteenth and earlier seventeenth centuries have been collected inShakespeare's Century of Praise, revised and reëdited by J. Munro asThe Shakespeare Allusion Books, London, 1909.

Greene's attack inGreenes Groatsworthwill be found in its context in his works, ed. A. B. Grosart, 1881-1886, and Chettle's Apology in hisKind Hartes Dreame, Percy Society, 1874.

The Historical MSS. Commission's Report on the Historical MSS. of Belvoir Castle, IV. 494, contains the entry from the Belvoir Household Book as to Rutland's "impresa." See alsoTimes, December 27, 1905, and Preface to New Edition of Lee'sLife, pp. xvi-xxii.

As the Greeke tongue is made famous and eloquent byHomer,Hesiod,Euripedes,Æschilus,Sophocles,Pindarus,PhocylidesandAristophanes; and the Latine tongue byVirgill,Ovid,Horace,Silius Italicus,Lucanus,Lucretius,AusoniusandClaudianus: so the English tongue is mightily enriched, and gorgeouslie invested in rare ornaments and resplendent abiliments by sirPhilip Sidney,Spencer,Daniel,Drayton,Warner,Shakespeare,MarlowandChapman.

As the soule ofEuphorbuswas thought to live inPythagoras: so the sweete wittie soule ofOvidlives in mellifluous & hony-tongued Shakespeare, witnes hisVenusandAdonis, hisLucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends, &c.

AsPlautusandSenecaare accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latines, soShakespeareamong yeEnglish is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage; for Comedy, witnes hisGẽtlemẽ of Verona, hisErrors, hisLove labors lost, hisLove labours wonne, hisMidsummers night dreame, & hisMerchant of Venice: for Tragedy, hisRichard the 2, Richard the 3, Henry the 4, King Iohn, Titus Andronicus,and hisRomeoandIuliet.

AsEpius Stolosaid, that the Muses would speake withPlautustongue, if they would speak Latin: so I say that the Muses would speak withShakespearesfine filed phrase, if they would speake English.

AsOvidsaith of his worke:

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