that during the first of these periods, he had been excused paying a weekly contribution of 4d., and that during the latter he was under the necessity of resigning his office as alderman, not being able to defray the expense of attendance at the common halls; facts, which while they ascertain his impoverished state, at the same time prove his utter inability to assist his son, now burdened with a family, and anxiously looking round for the means of its support.

For the adoption of the year 1586 or 1587, as the era of our author's emigration to town, several powerful, and almost convincing, arguments may be given, and these it will be necessary here to

state.

It is well ascertained that Shakspeare married in the year 1582, and Mr. Rowe has affirmed that "in this kind of settlement he continued for some time, till an extravagance (the deer-stealing frolic) that he was guilty of, forced him both out of his country, and that way of living which he had taken up." Now that this settlement for some time was the period which elapsed between the

years 1582 and 1586, will almost certainly appear, when we recollect the domestic events which occurred during its progress; that, according to tradition, he had embraced his father's business, on entering into the marriage-state; and that the family of the poet in short was increased in this interval, by the birth of three children, baptized at Stratford; Susanna, May 26th, 1583, and Hamnet and Judith, Feb. 2d, 1584-5.

That the removal was not likely to have taken place later than 1587, will be generally admitted, when we advert to the commencement of his literary labours. The issue of research has rendered it highly probable that our bard was a corrector and improver of old plays for the stage in 1589; it has discovered from evidence amounting almost to certainty, that he was a writer for the theatre on a plan of greater originality in 1591, and that, even so early as 1592, he was noticed as a dramatic poet of some celebrity. Now, if we compare

1

* Reed's Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 61.

these facts, which will be noticed more fully hereafter, with the poet's own assertion, that the Venus and Adonis was "the first heir of his invention," it will go far to prove, that this poem, which is not a short one, and is elaborated with great care, must have been composed between his departure from Stratford, and his commencement as a writer for the stage, (that is between the years 1586 and 1589;) for while there is no ground to surmise that it was written on the banks of the Avon, there is sufficient evidence to assert that it was finished, though not published before he was known to fame.

It is impossible to contemplate the flight of Shakspeare from his family and native town, without pausing to reflect upon the consequences which followed that event; consequences most singularly propitious, not only to the intellectual character of his country in particular, but to the excitation and progress of genius throughout the world. Had not poverty and prosecution united in driving Shakspeare from his humble occupation in Warwickshire, how many matchless lessons of wisdom and morality, how many unparalleled displays of wit and imagination, of pathos and sublimity, had been buried in oblivion; pictures of emotion, of character, of passion, more profound than mere philosophy had ever conceived, more impressive than poetry had ever yet embodied; strains which shall now sound through distant posterity with increasing energy and interest, and which shall powerfully and beneficially continue to influence and to mould both national and individual feeling.

Vide Dedication of the Poem to the Earl of Southampton.

SHAKSPEARE AND HIS TIMES.

PART II.

SHAKSPEARE IN LONDON.

CHAPTER I.

SHAKSPEARE'S ARRIVAL IN LONDON ABOUT THE YEAR 1586, WHEN TWENTY-TWO YEARS OF AGE LEAVES HIS FAMILY AT STRATFORD, VISITING THEM OCCASIONALLY INTRODUCTION TO THE STAGE HIS MERITS AS AN ACTOR.

HIS

No era in the annals of Literary History ever perhaps occurred of greater importance, than that which witnessed the entrance of Shakspeare into the metropolis of his native country; a position which will readily be granted, if we consider the total revolution which this event produced in the Literature of the Stage, and the vast influence which, through the medium of the most popular branch of our poetry, it has subsequently exerted on the minds, manners, and taste of our countrymen. Friendless, persecuted, poor, about the early age of twenty-two, was the greatest poet which the world has ever seen, compelled to desert his home, his wife, his children, to seek employment from the hands of strangers. Rich, however, in talent, beyond all the sons of men, blessed with a cheerful disposition, an active mind, and a heart conscious of integrity, soon did the clouds which overspread his youth break away, and unveil a character which has ever since been the delight, the pride, the boast of England.

We have assigned some strong reasons, at the close of the last chapter, for placing the epoch of Shakspeare's arrival in London, about 1586 or 1587; and we shall now bring forward some presumptive proofs that he not only left his wife and family at Stratford on his first visit to the capital, but that his native town continued to be their settled residence during his life.

Mr. Rowe has affirmed upon a tradition which we have no claim to dispute, that he "was obliged to leave his family for some time;" a fact in the highest degree probable from the causes which led to his removal; for it is not to be supposed, situated as he then was, that he would be willing to render his wife and children the companions and partakers of the disasters and disappointments which it was probable he had to encounter. Tradition further says, as preserved in the manuscripts of Aubrey, that "he was wont to go to his native country once a yeare *;" and Mr. Oldys, in his collections for a life of our author, repeats this report with an additional circumstance, remarking, "if tradition may be trusted, Shakspeare often baited at the Crown Inn or Tavern in Oxford, in his journey to and from London." It is true that these traditions, if insulated from other circumstances, might merely prove that he visited the place of his birth annually, without necessarily inferring that his family was also resident there; but if we consult the parish-register of Stratford, their testimony will indeed be strong, and powerfully confirm the deduction; for it appears on that record that, merely including his children, there is a succession of baptisms, marriages, and deaths in his family at Stratford, from the year 1583 to 1616. This evidence,

* Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 214.

+ Reed's Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 124. - Antony Wood, it appears, was the original author of this anecdote, for he tells us in his Athenæ, that John Davenant, who kept the Crown, was "an admirer and lover of plays and play-makers, especially Shakspeare, who frequented his house in his journies between Warwickshire and London." vol. ii. p. 292.

The Register informs us,

1st. That his daughter Susanna was baptized there on the 26th May 1583.

Ath. Oxon.

2d. That Hamnet and Judith, his twin-son and daughter, were baptized there the 2d of February 1584.

so satisfactory in itself, will be strengthened when we recollect that the poet in his mortgage, dated the 10th of March, 1612-13, is described as William Shakspeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, gentleman; and that by his contemporaries he was frequently stiled the Sweet Swan of Avon, designations which, when combined with the testimony already adduced, must be considered as implying the familyresidence of the poet. *

It was this concatenation of circumstances which induced Mr. Chalmers, than whom a more indefatigable enquirer with regard to our author has not existed, to conclude that Shakspeare had no "fixed residence in the metropolis," nor "ever considered London, as his home t;" but had "resolved that his wife and family should remain through life" at Stratford, "though he himself made frequent excursions to London, the scene of his profit, and the theatre of his fame;" adding, in a note, that the evidence from the parish-register of Stratford had compelled even scepticism to admit his position to be very probable. §

While discussing this subject in his first Apology, he has introduced a novel and most curious fact, for the purpose of guarding the reader against an apparently opposing, but too hasty inference. " If documents," he observes, "be produced to prove, that one Shakspeare, a player, resided in St. Saviour's parish, Southwark, at the end of the sixteenth, or the beginning of the seventeenth, century,

3d. That his son Hamnet was buried there, on the 11th of August 1596.

4th. That his daughter Susanna was there married to John Hall, on the 5th of June 1607.

5th. That his daughter Judith was there married to Thomas Queeny, on the 10th of February 16-Vide Chalmers's Apology, p. 247.

* Ben Jonson, in his Poem to the Memory of Shakspeare, calls him "Sweet Swan of Avon;" and Joseph Taylor, who represented the part of Hamlet in 1596, in the Dedication which he and his fellow-players wrote for Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, in 1647, speaks of "the flowing compositions of the then expired sweet swan of Avon, Shakspeare."

+ Chalmers's Apology, p. 247.

+ Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, p. 227.

Ibid. p. 227. note d.