ART. XVIII.-On the Recusancy of John Shakespeare, and on the enclosure of Welcombe Fields.

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In the "Life of William Shakespeare," preceding the edition of his works published by Whittaker and Co., some new and curious evidence is adduced (vol. i., p. 138) on the question of the religious faith of the father of our great dramatist: that evidence establishes that in 1592, contrary to the then existing laws against "jesuits, seminary priests, fugitives, and recusants," John Shakespeare abstained from attending Protestant divine worship. Age, sickness, and impotency of body," as well as the fear of arrest for debt, were held to be adequate excuses for non-attendance once a month, as enacted by the statute; and of course the question arises, as stated by Mr. Collier, whether John Shakespeare forebore to be present at Stratford church for any of these causes, or on account of his religious opinions, which may have been those of the Roman Catholic church. This is a point upon which different conclusions may be formed, although the probability certainly is, for reasons adduced in the work above referred to, that John Shakespeare adhered to the ancient doctrines prevailing in these kingdoms anterior to the Reformation, and did not therefore attend church.

My object in now reverting to the subject is, to call the attention of the members of the Shakespeare Society to a popular proof that many persons, about the period to which we are referring, conformed to the requirements of the law in this respect, although they adhered to the Roman Catholic tenets a fine of £20 was imposed upon such as without lawful excuse did not attend protestant worship at least once in every month, and the purpose of appointing royal commissioners in 1592 was to ascertain and report upon defaulters, in order that they might be legally proceeded against those who outwardly conformed were exempted from process; but it appears that the father of our great dramatist did not

condescend outwardly to conform, and it is very possible that he was furnished with a sufficient legal reason for non-attendance at church. The popular proof upon this subject, which I am about to produce, is contained in a satirical ballad, which adverts to many abuses of the period at which it was written, and among others to the manner in which notorious Papists externally obeyed the law, while they really retained their ancient opinions. It is entitled "Few words are Best ;" and every stanza of eight short lines concludes with the burden of "I know what I know:" the portion peculiarly applicable to the present question runs thus :—

"There be divers Papists,

That to save their fine,
Come to church once a month

To hear service divine:

The Pope gives them power,
As they say, to doe so;
They save money by't, too,

But I know what I know."

John Shakespeare "saved his fine," (for it is very clear that he did not pay it) in some other way. It would not be difficult to obtain proofs of a graver kind, that the practice of conformity prevailed to a considerable extent late in the reign of Elizabeth, but this piece of evidence is curious, because it shows that the custom was so ordinary that the writer of a song, to be chanted in the streets and sold for a penny to every passenger, made use of it as an attractive topic.

This ballad may be said to illustrate the life of Shakespeare in another particular, although it applies to a somewhat later date. In 1614 a project was on foot to enclose some common lands in the immediate neighbourhood of Stratford-upon-Avon, known by the name of Welcombe Fields; and it was opposed by the corporation, and in all probability by Shakespeare, who was in London in the autumn of the year. The ballad before

me may be adduced to establish how distasteful such schemes of enclosure, which were thought to be aimed at the rights of the poor, were at the time it was written, for the stanza immediately preceding the one already quoted is as follows:

"There be many rich men,

Both yeomen and gentry,
That for their owne private gaine
Hurt a whole country

By closing free commons;
Yet they'le make, as though
"Twere for the common good;

But I know what I know."

It is satisfactory to learn that the resistance of the corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon, with the aid of Shakespeare, was successful, and that the "common fields of Welcome" remained unenclosed. As to the date of the ballad called "Few words are Best," it may be mentioned that, although it is in black letter, and printed "for the Assigns of Thomas Symcocke" early in the reign of James I., there can be no doubt that it originally came from the press in the time of Queen Elizabeth: a gentleman with whom I am acquainted has a copy of it "printed for E. W.," i.e., Edward White, who was a bookseller of considerable note before 1590.

DRAMATICUS.

November 14th, 1844.

ART. XIX. On the supposed origin of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,

In the "Preliminary Remarks" to "Romeo and Juliet" in Malone's Shakspeare by Boswell, vol. vi., p. 4, we find the following paragraph, to which the name of Malone is appended

"In 1570 was entered on the Stationers' books by Henry Bynneman, the Pitifull Hystory of ij lovyng Italians, which I suspect was a prose narrative of the story on which our authors Romeo and Juliet is constructed.

Until very recently, this memorandum, derived from the Registers of the Stationers' Company, was all that was known of "The Pitiful History of two loving Italians ;" and every body has supposed that a prose relation of the incidents on which Romeo and Juliet was founded has been lost. Within the last few months, this has been shown to be a mistake, a copy of the work referred to having been accidentally discovered. It turns out to be a poem upon a totally different story, and it bears the following title, which I copy exactly because the small volume is absolutely unique :

"The pityfull Historie of two louing Italians, Gaulfrido and Barnardo le vayne: which ariued in the countrey of Grece in the time of the noble Emperoure Vaspasian. And Translated out of Italian into Englishe meeter by John Drout, of Thauis Inne, Gentleman. Anno. 1570. Imprinted at London by Henry Binneman, dwelling in Knightrider streete, at the signe of the Mermayde.”

As an early specimen of our popular poetry, although the tract does not relate to "Romeo and Juliet," it may not be uninteresting to give a quotation or two from it, especially as the unpoetical name of the author is unknown in our literary history. On the title-page, and at the end of the Dedication

"to the right worshipfull Sir Frauncis Jobson, Knight, Lieutenant of the Toure," he signs himself John Drout, but at the end of the piece we read

"Finis qd Iohn Grout, gent."

In some commendatory poems at the beginning (which precede even the Preface and Dedication, as if the author were anxious in the first instance to take possession of the good opinion of the reader) he is addressed as Drout, so that we need not feel any hesitation upon the point. As far, too, as regards the general merit of his work, it is not of much consequence whether the writer's name be Drout, or Grout, although there are some curious and observable points connected with it. The laudatory verses are by W. W., by R. W., by T. F., and by T. Smith; and the last writer thus refers to translations of his own, which have not reached our day.

In the Preface to the Reader," Drout speaks of some production by the celebrated Thomas Underdowne, which must also have miscarried on its road to posterity, none such being now known. The author enumerates many pairs of friends who had distinguished themselves in history by their fidelity, and who, he adds, are "worthy to be received into the troop, or to be committed amongst the crew which are already rehearsed of Maister Underdowne." As I have said, no existing work by Underdowne seems known, which contains a "rehearsal of any such " crew."

At about the period when "Gaulfrido and Barnardo" came from the press, novels translated from the Italian, whether in verse or prose, were extremely popular, and it seems doubtful whether Drout did not merely pretend that his poem was a