this, we find Shakespeare's Name among the Actors in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, which first made its Appearance in the Year 1603. Nor, furely, could he then have any Thoughts of retiring, fince, that very Year, a Licence under the PrivySeal was granted by K. James I. to him and Fletcher, Burbage, Phillippes, Hemings, Condel, &c. authorizing them to exercife the Art of playing Comedies, Tragedies, &c. as well at their ufual House call'd the Globe on the other Side of the Water, as in any other Parts of the Kingdom, during his Majefty's Pleasure: (A Copy of which Licence is preferv'd in Rymer's Fœdera.) Again, 'tis certain, that Shakespeare did not exhibit his Macbeth, till after the Union was brought about, and till after K. James I. had begun to touch for the Evil: for 'tis plain, he has inferted Compliments, on both thofe Accounts, upon his Royal Master in that Tragedy. Nor, indeed, could the Number of the Dramatic Pieces, he produced, admit of his retiring near fo early as that Period. So that what Spenfer there fays, if it relate at all to Shakespeare, must hint at fome occafional Recefs he made for a time upon a Disgust taken: or the Willy, there mention'd, muft relate to fome other favourite Poet. I believe, we may fafely determine that he had not quitted in the Year 1610. For in his Tempeft, our Author makes mention of the Bermuda Islands, which were unknown to the English, till, in 1609, Sir John Sum mers mers made a Voyage to North-America, and difcover'd them: and afterwards invited fome of his Countrymen to settle a Plantation there. That he became the private Gentleman, at least three Years before his Decease, is pretty obvious from another Circumstance: I mean, from that remarkable and well-known Story, which Mr. Rowe has given us of our Author's Intimacy with Mr. John Combe, an old Gentleman noted thereabouts for his Wealth and Ufury and upon whom Shakespeare made the following facetious Epitaph. Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd, 'Tis a hundred to ten his Soul is not fav'd; Oh! ob! quoth the Devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe. This farcaftical Piece of Wit was, at the Gentleman's own Requeft, thrown out extemporally in his Company. And this Mr. John Combe I take to be the fame, who, by Dugdale in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, is said to have dy'd in the Year 1614, and for whom at the upper end of the Quire, of the Guild of the Holy Crofs at Stratford, a fair Monument is erected, having a Statue thereon cut in Alabaster, and in a Gown, with this Epitaph. "Here lyeth enterr'd the Body of "John Combe Efq; who dy'd the 10th of July, 1614, who bequeathed feveral Annual Charities "to the Parish of Stratford, and 100l. to be lent "to fifteen poor Tradefmen from three years to "three "three years, changing the Parties every third "Year, at the Rate of fifty Shillings per Annum, "the Increase to be diftributed to the Almes-poor "there." The Donation has all the Air of a rich and fagacious Ufurer. Shakespeare himself did not furvive Mr. Combe long, for he dy'd in the Year 1616, the 53d of his Age. He lies buried on the North Side of the Chancel in the great Church at Stratford; where a Monument, decent enough for the Time, is erected to him, and plac'd against the Wall. He is represented under an Arch in a fitting Posture, a Cushion spread before him, with a Pen in his Right Hand, and his Left refted on a Scrowl of Paper. The Latin. Diftich, which is placed under the Cushion, has been given us by Mr. Pope, or his Gra ver, in this Manner. INGENIO Pylium, Genio Socratem, Arte Maronem, Terra tegit, Populus mæret, Olympus habet. I confefs, I don't conceive the Difference betwixt Ingeniô and Geniô in the first Verse. They seem to me intirely fynonomous Terms; nor was the Pylian Sage Neftor celebrated for his Ingenuity, but for an Experience and Judgment owing to his long Age. Dugdale, in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, has copied this Diftich with a Distinction which Mr. Rowe has follow'd, and which certainly reftores us the true Meaning of the Epitaph, JUDICIO Pylium, Genio Socratem, &c. In 1614, the greater part of the Town of Stratford was confumed by Fire; but our Shakespeare's House, among fome others, efcap'd the Flames. This House was firft built by Sir Hugh Clopton, a younger Brother of an ancient Family in that Neighbourhood, who took their Name from the Manor of Clopton. Sir Hugh was Sheriff of London in the Reign of Richard III, and Lord Mayor in the Reign of King Henry VII. To this Gentleman the Town of Stratford is indebted for the fine Stone-bridge, confifting of fourteen Arches, which at an extraordinary Expence he built over the Avon, together with a Caufe-way running at the Weft-end thereof; as alfo for rebuilding the Chapel adjoining to his House, and the Cross-Ifle in the Church there. It is remarkable of him, that, tho' he liv'd and dy'd a Batchelor, among the other extenfive Charities which he left both to the City of London and Town of Stratford, he bequeath'd confiderable Legacies for the Marriage of poor Maidens of good Name and Fame both in London and at Stratford. Notwithstanding which large Donations in his Life, and Bequests at his Death, as he had purchased the Manor of Clopton, and all the Estate of the Family, fo he left the fame again to his Elder Brother's Son with a very great Addition: (a Proof, how well Beneficence and Oeconomy may walk hand in hand in wife Fami lies :) lies :) Good part of which Estate is yet in the Poffeffion of Edward Clopton, Efq; and Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt. lineally defcended from the Elder Brother of the firft Sir Hugh: Who particularly bequeathed to his Nephew, by his Will, his House, by the Name of his Great-House in Stratford. The Eftate had now been fold out of the Clopton Family for above a Century, at the Time when Shakespeare became the Purchaser: who, having repair'd and modell'd it to his own Mind, chang'd the Name to New-place; which the Manfionhoufe, fince erected upon the fame Spot, at this day retains. The House and Lands, which attended it, continued in Shakespeare's Defcendants to the Time of the Reftoration: when they were repurchased by the Clopton Family, and the Manfion now belongs to Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt. To the Favour of this worthy Gentleman I owe the Knowledge of one Particular, in Honour of our Poet's once Dwelling-house, of which, I prefume, Mr. Rowe never was appriz'd. When the Civil War raged in England, and K. Charles the First's Queen was driven by the Neceffity of Affairs to make a Recefs in Warwickshire, She kept her Court for three Weeks in New-place. We may reasonably fuppofe it then the best private House in the Town; and her Majesty preferr'd it to the College, which was in the Poffeffion of the Combe-Family, who did not fo ftrongly favour the King's Party. How |