wealth is marked by a continuation of his purchases. In 1602, he gave 3201. for 107 acres of land, which he connected with his former property in New Place. In 1605, he bought, for 440l., the lease of a moiety of the great and small tithes of Stratford *; and, in 1613, a house in Blackfriars for 1407. A singularity attendant upon this purchase is, that only 807. of the money were paid down, the remainder being left as a mortgage upon the premises. † The Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery vied with Lord Southampton in patronizing Shakspearet; and he was also distinguished by the notice of two successive sovereigns, in a manner not less flattering than unusual. The delicacy of even a "virgin queen" was not shocked by the grossness of that keen-witted voluptuary, Falstaff; and so thoroughly did Elizabeth relish the humour of the two parts of Henry the Fourth, that she commanded the appearance of Falstaff under the influence of love. To this incident in the poet's life the world is indebted for the Merry Wives of Windsor; aplay, it is said, written in the short space of a fort * Wheeler's Guide to Stratford. + Mortgage-deed executed by Shakspeare, and conveyance from Henry Walker. Dedication to the first folio. * night. The extension of the poet's fame was a necessary consequence of the public approbation of his sovereign, and this, in all probability, was the greatest benefit which resulted to him from her patronage. Of the "many gracious marks of her favour," which Rowe makes no doubt Elizabeth conferred on Shakspeare, no vestige remains in the shape of reward more substantial than praise, on which to found a belief that the case of our poet formed an exemption to the almost invariable parsimony which characterized Elizabeth's conduct to literary ment; though the dramatist was no niggard of *Rowe and Gildon. Elizabeth's treatment of Richard Robinson, the translator of the Gesta, who solicited a recompence for the Harmony of King David's Harp, which he dedicated to her by permission, may be quoted in illustration. "Your Majesty thanked me for my good-will; your Highness was glad you had a subject could do so well, and that I deserved commendations. But for any gratification for any such labour, your Majesty was not in mynde to bestow any such relief upon me, for your Highness had care of the chargeable voyage to come, of relieving your needy soldiers and requiting of their pains. Finally, your Highness set me not on work, and therefore you were not to pay me my wages. British Bibliographer, vol. i. p. iii. If the reader possesses any curiosity to see instances of the gross flattery used to Elizabeth, he may consult the same work and volume, p. 333. his flattery, the most grateful incense that could be offered at the shrine of her prodigious vanity. The drama found in James a sincere and useful patron. In 1599 he received some English comedians under his protection in Edinburgh, and scarcely was he seated on the English throne, when he effected a complete revolution in theatrical affairs. An act of parliament of the first year of his reign *, deprived the nobility of the power of licensing comedians, and their several meagre companies then became concentrated in three regular establishments, under the patronage of the royal family. Prince Henry was the patron of Lord Nottingham's company, which played at the Curtain; the servants of the Earl of Worcester, who occupied the Red Bull, were transferred to the Queen, and subsequently distinguished by the designation of Children of the Revels: the King appropriated to himself the company of the Lord Chamberlain. His Majesty's licence † to Laurence Fletcher, William Shakspeare, Richard Burbage, and others, constituting them his servants, confirmed them in the possession of their usual house, the Globe, and authorised their exhibition of every variety of dramatic entertain * Chap. VII. + Dated May 19, 1603. ment, in all suitable places throughout his dominions. The Globe, it appears from this document, was the general theatre of the Lord Chamberlain's company; but they had long enjoyed a sort of copartnership in the playhouse in Blackfriars, with "the Children," and subsequently became the purchasers of that house. At one or other of these theatres all Shakspeare's dramas were produced, the Globe being the summer, the Blackfriars the winter, theatre of the company to which he attached himself. Like the other servants of the household, the performers enrolled in the King's company were sworn into office, and each was allowed four yards of bastard scarlet cloth for a cloak, and a quarter of a yard of velvet for the cape, every second year. With occasional variation in the number of companies, with the rise of one establishment, and the decline of another, circumstances of little influence on the general complexion of theatrical affairs, the theatre continued pretty much on the footing on which it was placed by James, till it was buried by fanaticism amidst the ruins of monarchy and civil order. From gratitude for the honour conferred upon the company, or in compliance with the prevailing fashion of the time, Shakspeare paid his court in flattery to a monarch fully susceptible of its blandishments. Contrary to all historical authority, Banquo, the ancestor of James, is represented noble in mind, and guiltless of participation in the murder of his sovereign. The delicacy of the compliment, and the skill of its execution, well merited the reward it is said to have earned, -a letter from the monarch penned with his own hand. * The delight afforded by Shakspeare to both his sovereigns, was a fact familiar to his contemporaries. "Sweet swan of Avon, what a sight it were To see thee in our waters yet appear: And mark those flights upon the banks of Thames, Though Elizabeth and her successor were admirers of Shakspeare, and of theatrical amusements generally, neither of them apparently ever visited the public theatres, but gratified their tastes by directing the attendance of the comedians at court. These performances before royalty usually took place at night, an arrangement which did not interfere with the other engagements of the actors. The customary fee for an exhibition in London was 6l. 13s. 4d., and * Davenant possessed the letter, and related the circumstance to Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. Oldys. + Ben Jonson. |