Chapter VII: Section III (3)

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 of _Henry VIII._, and there shooting off certain chambers by way of triumph" (T. Lorkin's letter). Sir H. Wotton says it was "a new play called _All 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, in 1603, 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 Hall _v._ 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 his _Bartholomew Fair_ at the Hope, with abundant sneers at Shakespeare's plays, especially the _Tempest_ and _Winter's Tale_. He does not allude to _Henry 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 said the 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 Minshew _drone_). But a drone is also the drone of a bagpipe, or the bagpipe itself, which was called chevrau (see Cotgrave, _chevrau_) or cheveril: and _chevrau_ is Kyd. It is evident from Greene's tracts that Doron was meant for the writer of _The Taming of a Shrew_, and Mulidor for the same author--there cannot be a doubt of the identity of the characters. Nash's address identifies _The Taming of a Shrew_ writer with Kyd.

[5] These dates are so given by Henslow: they should be June 5 and June 15.

[6] Simpson. But rather in 1 _Tamburlane_ v. 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.