Appendix A Biographical Documents and Authorities I. REPOSITORIES OF DOCUMENTS |
L. refers to Lambert's Shakespeare Documents and H.-P. to Halliwell-Phillipps's Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare. 7th ed. 1 The Parish Registers of Stratford-on-Avon are the authority for the baptisms of John Shakespeare's seven children (L. 1-7); for the burials of Anne and Edmund (L. 10); for the baptisms of William Shakespeare's daughter Susanna (L. 13) and the twins, Hamnet and Judith (L. 14); for the burials of Hamnet (L. 28), of the poet's father, John (L. 75), of his mother, Mary (L. 110), of the poet himself (L. 146), and of his widow (L. 159). These Registers have been edited for the Parish Registers Society, by R. Savage, 1898-9. 2 The Corporation Records of Stratford-on-Avon contain the Quiney-Sturley correspondence (L. 39, 43, 44; H.-P. II. 57-60); a return of the quantities of corn and malt held by the inhabitants of the ward in which New Place was situated, "Wm. Shackespere" being down for ten quarters (L. 53); a Bill of Complaint presented by R. Lane, T. Green, and William Shakespeare respecting the tithes of Stratford-upon-Avon (L. 125); the answer of William Combe to the foregoing Bill (L. 126). 3 The Public Record Office in London preserves the following: record of the purchase by John Shakespeare of two houses on Henley Street, Stratford-on-Avon (L. 8); record of a mortgage on an estate at "Awston Cawntlett" given to Edmund Lambert by John and Mary Shakespeare (L. 9); Bill of Complaint brought by John Shakespeare against John, son of Edmund Lambert, respecting an estate at Wilmecote, near Stratford (L. 15); Ms. accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber, "To Willm. Kempe, Willm. Shakespeare & Richarde Burbage, servaunts to the Lord Chamberleyne, upon the Councelles warrant dated at Whitehall xvto Marcij 1594 for twoe severall Comedies or enterludes shewed by them before her Majestic in Christmas tyme laste paste, viz: upon St. Stephens daye and Innocentes daye xiij.li. vj.s. viijd., and by waye of her Majesties rewarde vj.li. xiii.s. iiijd. in all xx.li." (L. 25); record of the purchase of New Place by Shakespeare (L. 32); papers in a Chancery suit relating to the estate at Wilmecote mortgaged to Edmund Lambert, and consisting of a Bill of Complaint by John and Mary Shakespeare against John Lambert for his refusal to accept £40 and reconvey the property to the complainants, John Lambert's answer, and the replication of John and Mary Shakespeare to the answer (L. 35); a subsidy roll showing William Shakespeare as a defaulter in respect of a tax of five shillings, October, 1596, and of thirteen shillings and four pence, October, 1598, based on an assessment made about 1598 or 1594, when the poet was living in St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, and paid after he had moved to Southwark (AthenÆum, March 16, 1906, and L. 42); Royal Warrant for a Patent and the Patent Biographical Documentsitself (May 19, 1603) licensing the company of actors, "Laurence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemmings, Henrie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowly and the rest of their associates" as the King's Servants (L. 87, 88); the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, containing entries showing performances at Court of "The Moor of Venis," "The Merry Wives of Winsor," "Mesur for Mesur" by "Shaxberd," "the plaie of Errors" by "Shaxberd," "Loves Labours lost," "Henry the fift," and "the Martchant of Venis" by "Shaxberd" (twice, being "againe commanded by the Kings Matie"), all in 1604 (O.S.), of "the Tempest" and "ye winters nightes Tayle" in 1611, all by the King's men, and of the performance before the Court at Wilton, Dec. 2, 1603 (L. 96, 133, Notes in the History of the Revels Office under the Tudors, ed. by E. K. Chambers, and Supposed Shakespeare Forgeries, by Ernest Law); record of the purchase in 1610 of an estate in Old Stratford and Stratford-on-Avon by Shakespeare from William and John Combe (L. 127); three documents in a Chancery suit relating to the ownership of property in Blackfriars, April 26, May 15, May 22, 1615 (C. W. Wallace in Englische Studien, April, 1906, and Preface to New Edition of Lee's Life, xxii ff.); the grant for cloaks for the King's entry into London, March 15, 1604 (Ld. Chamberlain's Papers, No. 600); the documents in the law suit among the heirs of Richard Burbage (1635), relating to the ownership of the Globe and the Blackfriars theaters, and giving much information on the value of theatrical shares, actors' salaries, etc. (H.-P. i. 312-319); and the documents in the lawsuit of Bellots vs. Mountjoy (1612), including Shakespeare's deposition (New Shakespeare Discoveries, C. W. Wallace, Harper's Magazine, March, 1910). 4 The Shakespeare's Birthplace Museum in Stratford-on-Avon contains several documents of importance: record of the conveyance in 1602 of an estate in Old Stratford from William and John Combe to William Shakespeare (L. 79, H.-P. II, 17-19); extract from the Court Rolls of the Manor of Rowington, transferring from Walter Getley to William Shakespeare certain premises in Chapel Lane, Stratford-on-Avon (L. 81); the conveyance to Shakespeare from Ralph Hubande of the residue of a lease of a moiety of the tithes of Stratford-on-Avon, Old Stratford, Welcombe, and Bishopton (L. 99); the diary of one Thomas Greene, containing a reference to the dispute as to the inclosing of common lands (reproduced in facsimile in C. M. Ingleby's Shakespeare and the Enclosure of Common Fields at Welcombe, 1885). 5 The British Museum possesses the Ms. diary of John Manningham of the Middle Temple, which, under the date of Feb. 2, 1601, records a performance of Twelfth Night, and the anecdote recorded above, p. 44 (L. 77; Ms. Harl. 5353, ed. Camden Soc., p. 39); also the Mortgage Deed from Shakespeare to Henry Walker on the property in Blackfriars conveyed to Shakespeare and others on the day previous, March 10, 1612/13. 6 The Bodleian Library at Oxford has the Ms. diary of Dr. Simon Forman describing performances of Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, and Macbeth in 1610 and 1611 (L. 128; Ms. Ashmol. 208, fol. 201b); and the Accounts of Lord Stanhope of Harrington, Treasurer of the Chamber to James I, containing the following entry: "1613, May 20. Item paid to John Biographical DocumentsHeminges uppon the cowncells warrant dated att Whitehall xxo die Maii 1613 for presentinge before the Princes highnes the La: Elizabeth and the Prince Pallatyne Elector fowerteene severall playes viz ... Much adoe abowte nothinge ... The Tempest ... The Winters Tale, Sr John Falstafe, The Moore of Venice ... CÆsars Tragedye ... All wch Playes weare played within the tyme of this Accompte, viz pd the some of iiij. (xx.) xiij.li. vj.s. viij.d. "Item paid to the said John Heminges uppon the lyke warrant dated att Whitehall xxo die Maij 1613 for presenting sixe severall playes viz. one playe called ... And one other called Benidicte and Betteris all played within the tyme of this Accompte viz pd ffortie powndes And by waye of his Matis rewarde twentie powndes In all ... lx li." (L. 138; Ms. Rawl. A. 239). 7 The Episcopal Register of the Diocese of Worcester contains the bond given by Sandells and others for the marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway (L. 12). 8 The Library of the Guildhall in London has the indenture prepared for the purchaser in the sale of the house in Blackfriars on March 10, 1613, by Henry Walker to William Shakespeare and others (L. 136). The indenture held by the seller is in the library of Mr. Marsden J. Perry, Providence, R. I. 9 The Principal Probate Registry, Somerset House, London, contains Shakespeare's Will, which runs as follows: [10]Vicesimo quinto die [Januarii] Martii, anno regni domini nostri Jacobi, nunc regis AngliÆ, &c., decimo quarto, et ScotiÆ xlixo, annoque Domini 1616. —T. Wmi. Shackspeare In the name of God, Amen! I William Shackspeare, of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of Warr., gent., in perfect health and memorie, God be praysed, doe make and ordayne this my last will and testament in manner and forme followeing, that ys to saye, ffirst, I comend my soule into the handes of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merittes, of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlastinge, and my bodye to the earth whereof yt ys made. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my [sonne and][11] daughter Judyth one hundred and fyftie poundes of lawfull English money, to be paied unto her in the manner and forme foloweng, that ys to saye, one hundred poundes in discharge of her marriage porcion within one yeare after my deceas, with consideracion after the rate of twoe shillinges in the pound for soe long tyme as the same shalbe unpaied unto her after my deceas, and the fyftie poundes residwe thereof upon her surrendring of, or gyving of such sufficient securitie as the overseers of this my will shall like of, to surrender or graunte all her estate and right that shall discend or come unto her after my deceas, or that shee nowe hath, of, in, or to, one copiehold tenemente, with thappurtenaunces, lyeing and being in Stratford upon Avon aforesaied in the saied countye of Warr., being parcell or holden of the mannour of Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall and her heires for ever. Item, I Shakespeare's Willgyveand bequeath unto my saied daughter Judith one hundred and fyftie poundes more, if shee or anie issue of her bodie be lyvinge att thend of three yeares next ensueing the daie of the date of this my will, during which tyme my executours are to paie her consideracion from my deceas according to the rate aforesaied; and if she dye within the saied tearme without issue of her bodye, then my will ys, and I doe gyve and bequeath one hundred poundes thereof to my neece Elizabeth Hall, and the fiftie poundes to be sett fourth by my executours during the lief of my sister Johane Harte, and the use and proffitt thereof cominge shalbe payed to my saied sister Jone, and after her deceas the saied l.li. shall remaine amongst the children of my saied sister, equallie to be divided amongst them; but if my saied daughter Judith be lyving att thend of the saied three yeares, or anie yssue of her bodye, then my will ys, and soe I devise and bequeath the saied hundred and fyftie poundes to be sett out by my executours and overseers for the best benefitt of her and her issue, and the stock not to be paied unto her soe long as she shalbe marryed and covert baron [by my executours and overseers]; but my will ys, that she shall have the consideracion yearelie paied unto her during her lief, and, after her deceas, the saied stock and consideracion to bee paied to her children, if she have anie, and if not, to her executours or assignes, she lyving the saied terme after my deceas. Provided that yf suche husbond as she shall att thend of the saied three years be marryed unto, or att anie after (sic), doe sufficientlie assure unto her and thissue of her bodie landes awnswereable to the porcion by this my will gyven unto her, and to be adjudged soe by my executours and overseers, then my will ys, that the said cl.li. shalbe paied to such husbond as shall make such assurance, to his owne use. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my saied sister Jone xx.li and all my wearing apparrell, to be paied and delivered within one yeare after my deceas; and I doe will and devise unto her the house with thappurtenaunces in Stratford, wherein she dwelleth, for her naturall lief, under the yearlie rent of xij.d. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto her three sonnes, William Harte, ... Hart, and Michaell Harte, fyve pounds a peece, to be paied within one yeare after my deceas [to be sett out for her within one yeare after my deceas by my executours, with thadvise and direccions of my overseers, for her best profitt, untill her mariage, and then the same with the increase thereof to be paied unto her]. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto [her] the saied Elizabeth Hall, all my plate, except my brod silver and gilt bole, that I now have att the date of this my will. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto the poore of Stratford aforesaied tenn poundes; to Mr. Thomas Combe my sword; to Thomas Russell esquier fyve poundes; and to Frauncis Collins, of the borough of Warr. in the countie of Warr. gentleman, thirteene poundes, sixe shillinges, and eight pence, to be paied within one yeare after my deceas. Item, I gyve and bequeath to [Mr. Richard Tyler thelder] Hamlett Sadler xxvj.s. viij.d. to buy him a ringe; to William Raynoldes gent., xxvj.s. viij.d. to buy him a ringe; to my godson William Walker xxs. in gold; to Anthonye Nashe gent., xxvj.s. viij.d.; and to Mr. John Nashe xxvj.s. viij.d. [in gold]; and to my fellowes John Hemynges, Richard Burbage, and Henry Cundell, xxvj.s. viij.d. a peece to buy them ringes. Item, I gyve, will, bequeath, and devise, unto my daughter Susanna Hall, for better enabling of her to performe this my will, and towards the performans thereof, all that capitall messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces, in Stratford aforesaid, called the New Place, wherein I nowe dwell, and two messuages or tenementes with thappurtenaunces, scituat, lyeing, and being in Henley Shakespeare's Willstreete, within the borough of Stratford aforesaied; and all my barnes, stables, orchardes, gardens, landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes, whatsoever, scituat, lyeing, and being, or to be had, receyved, perceyved, or taken, within the townes, hamletes, villages, fieldes, and groundes, of Stratford upon Avon, Oldstratford, Bushopton, and Welcombe, or in anie of them in the saied countie of Warr. And alsoe all that messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces, wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, scituat, lyeing and being, in the Blackfriers in London, nere the Wardrobe; and all my other landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes whatsoever, To have and to hold all and singuler the saied premisses, with theire appurtenaunces, unto the saied Susanna Hall, for and during the terme of her naturall lief, and after her deceas, to the first sonne of her bodie lawfullie yssueing, and to the heires males of the bodie of the saied first sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to the second sonne of her bodie, lawfullie issueinge, and [of] to the heires males of the bodie of the saied second sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such heires, to the third sonne of the bodie of the saied Susanna lawfullie yssueing, and of the heires males of the bodie of the saied third sonne lawfullie yssueing; and for defalt of such issue, the same soe to be and remaine to the ffourth [sonne], ffyfth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes of her bodie lawfullie issueing, one after another, and to the heires males of the bodies of the saied fourth, fifth, sixte, and seaventh sonnes lawfullie yssueing, in such manner as yt ys before lymitted to be and remaine to the first, second, and third sonns of her bodie, and to theire heires males; and for defalt of such issue, the said premisses to be and remaine to my sayed neece Hall, and the heires males of her bodie lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to my daughter Judith, and the heires males of her bodie lawfullie issueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to the right heires of me the saied William Shakspeare for ever. Item, I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture. Item, I gyve and bequeath to my saied daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bole. All the rest of my goodes, chattels, leases, plate, jewels, and household stuffe whatsoever, after my dettes and legasies paied, and my funerall expenses dischardged, I give, devise, and bequeath to my sonne in lawe, John Hall gent., and my daughter Susanna, his wief, whom I ordaine and make executours of this my last will and testament. And I doe intreat and appoint the saied Thomas Russell esquier and Frauncis Collins gent, to be overseers hereof, and doe revoke all former wills, and publishe this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my [seale] hand, the daie and yeare first abovewritten. By me William Shakspeare. Witnes to the publyshing hereof,
Fra: Collyns,[12]
Julyus Shawe,
John Robinson,
Hamnet Sadler,
Robert Whattcott.
Probatum coram magistro Willielmo Byrde, legum doctore comiss. &c. xxijdo. die mensis Junii anno Domini 1616, juramento Johannis Hall, unius executorum, &c. cui &c. de bene &c. jurat. reservat. potestate &c. SusannÆ Hall, alteri executorum &c. cum venerit petitur, &c. (Inv. ex.)
Biographical Documents 10 The Heralds' College has the two drafts of a grant of arms to John Shakespeare in 1596 (Ms. Vincent. Coll. Arm. 157, arts. 23, 24); and the confirmation of the grant in 1599 (L. 30, 55). For further details on the matter of the coat of arms, see Herald and Genealogist, i. 510, and for facsimiles, Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 2d ser. 1886, i. 109. On the criticism of the herald's complaisance in the matter of the Shakespeare and similar grants, see Preface to New Edition (1909) of Lee's Life, pp. xi-xv. 11 The Stationers' Register, accessible in the Transcript edited by E. Arber, 5 vols. 1875-94, contains the records of the entries of those of Shakespeare's works which were registered either with or without his name. The Shakespearean entries are gathered out of the great mass contained in these volumes by Lambert, Fleay, Stokes, H. P., Chronological Order of Shakespeare's Plays, 1878, Appendix V, and others. 12. Miscellaneous The literary allusions to Shakespeare in the sixteenth and earlier seventeenth centuries have been collected in Shakespeare's Century of Praise, revised and reËdited by J. Munro as The Shakespeare Allusion Books, London, 1909. Greene's attack in Greenes Groatsworth will be found in its context in his works, ed. A. B. Grosart, 1881-1886, and Chettle's Apology in his Kind Hartes Dreame, Percy Society, 1874. The Historical MSS. Commission's Report on the Historical MSS. of Belvoir Castle, IV. 494, contains the entry from the Belvoir Household Book as to Rutland's "impresa." See also Times, December 27, 1905, and Preface to New Edition of Lee's Life, pp. xvi-xxii. 13. Extracts from Meres's Palladis Tamia, 1598 As the Greeke tongue is made famous and eloquent by Homer, Hesiod, Euripedes, Æschilus, Sophocles, Pindarus, Phocylides and Aristophanes; and the Latine tongue by Virgill, Ovid, Horace, Silius Italicus, Lucanus, Lucretius, Ausonius and Claudianus: so the English tongue is mightily enriched, and gorgeouslie invested in rare ornaments and resplendent abiliments by sir Philip Sidney, Spencer, Daniel, Drayton, Warner, Shakespeare, Marlow and Chapman.
As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras: so the sweete wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous & hony-tongued Shakespeare, witnes his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends, &c. As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latines, so Shakespeare among ye English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage; for Comedy, witnes his G?tlem? of Verona, his Errors, his Love labors lost, his Love labours wonne, his Midsummers night dreame, & his Merchant of Venice: for Tragedy, his Richard the 2, Richard the 3, Henry the 4, King Iohn, Titus Andronicus, and his Romeo and Iuliet. As Epius Stolo said, that the Muses would speake with Plautus tongue, if they would speak Latin: so I say that the Muses would speak with Shakespeares fine filed phrase, if they would speake English. As Ovid saith of his worke: Extracts from MeresAnd as Horace saith of his; Exegi monumentum Ære perennius; Regalique; situ pyramidum altius; Quod non imber edax; Non Aquilo impotens possit diruere; aut innumerabilis annorum feries &c. fuga temporum: so say I severally of sir Philip Sidneys, Spencers, Daniels, Draytons, Shakespeares, and Warners workes; As Pindarus, Anacreon and Callimachus among the Greekes; and Horace and Catullus among the Latines are the best Lyrick Poets: so in this faculty the best among our Poets are Spencer (who excelleth in all kinds) Daniel, Drayton, Shakespeare, Bretton. As ... so these are our best for Tragedie, the Lorde Buckhurst, Doctor Leg of Cambridge, Doctor Edes of Oxforde, maister Edward Ferris, the Authour of the Mirrour for Magistrates, Marlow, Peele, Watson, Kid, Shakespeare, Drayton, Chapman, Decker, and Benjamin Johnson. ... so the best for Comedy amongst us bee, Edward Earle of Oxforde, Doctor Gager of Oxforde, Maister Rowley once a rare Scholler of learned Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, Maister Edwardes one of her Maiesties Chappell, eloquent and wittie John Lilly, Lodge, Gascoyne, Greene, Shakespeare, Thomas Nash, Thomas Heywood, Anthony Mundye our best plotter, Chapman, Porter, Wilson, Hathway, and Henry Chettle. ... so these are the most passionate among us to bewaile and bemoane the perplexities of Love, Henrie Howard Earle of Surrey, sir Thomas Wyat the elder, sir Francis Brian, sir Philip Sidney, sir Walter Rawley, sir Edward Dyer, Spencer, Daniel, Drayton, Shakespeare, Whetstone, Gascoyne, Samuell Page sometimes fellowe of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford, Churchyard, Bretton. 14. The Inscription on Shakespeare's Monument in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-on-Avon Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem
Terra tegit, populus mÆret, Olympus habet.
Stay, passenger, why goest thou by so fast?
Read, if thou canst, whom envious death hath plast
Within this monument: Shakespeare with whome
Quick nature dide; whose name doth deck ys tombe
Far more than cost; sith all yt he hath writt
Leaves living art but page to serve his witt.
Obiit ano. doi 1616.Ætatis 53.Die 23 Ap. 15. The Introductory Matter in the First Folio TO THE MOST NOBLE
and
INCOMPARABLE PAIRE OF BRETHREN.
WILLIAM
Earle of Pembroke, &c. Lord Chamberlaine to the
Kings most Excellent Maiesty.
and
PHILIP
Earle of Montgomery, &c. Gentleman of his Maiesties Bed-Chamber.
Both Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter,
and our singular good Lords. Right Honourable, Whilst we studie to be thankful in our particular, for the many fauors we haue receiued from your L. L. we are falne vpon the ill fortune, to mingle two the most diuerse things that can bee, feare, and rashnesse; rashnesse in the enterprize, and feare of the successe. For, when we valew the The First Folioplaces your H. H. sustaine, we cannot but know their dignity greater, then to descend to the reading of these trifles: and, while we name them trifles, we haue depriu'd our selues of the defence of our Dedication. But since your L. L. haue beene pleas'd to thinke these trifles some-thing, heeretofore; and haue prosequuted both them, and their Authour liuing, with so much fauour: we hope, that (they out-liuing him, and he not hauing the fate, common with some, to be exequutor to his owne writings) you will vse the like indulgence toward them, you haue done vnto their parent. There is a great difference, whether any Booke choose his Patrones, or finde them: This hath done both. For, so much were your L. L. likings of the seuerall parts, when they were acted, as before they were published, the Volume ask'd to be yours. We haue but collected them, and done an office to the dead, to procure his Orphanes, Guardians: without ambition either of selfe-profit, or fame: onely to keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend, & Fellow aliue, as was our Shakespeare, by humble offer of his playes, to your most noble patronage. Wherein, as we haue iustly obserued, no man to come neere your L. L. but with a kind of religious addresse; it hath bin the height of our care, who are the Presenters, to make the present worthy of your H. H. by the perfection. But, there we must also craue our abilities to be considerd, my Lords. We cannot go beyond our owne powers. Country hands reach foorth milke, creame, fruites, or what they haue: and many Nations (we haue heard) that had not gummes & incense, obtained their requests with a leauened Cake. It was no fault to approch their Gods, by what meanes they could: And the most, though meanest, of things are made more precious, when they are dedicated to Temples. In that name therefore, we most humbly consecrate to your H. H. these remaines of your seruant Shakespeare; that what delight is in them, may be euer your L. L. the reputation his, & the faults ours, if any be committed, by a payre so carefull to shew their gratitude both to the liuing, and the dead, as is Your Lordshippes most bounden,
Iohn Heminge.
Henry Condell. To the Great Variety of Readers.—From the most able to him that can but spell;—there you are number'd. We had rather you were weighd, especially when the fate of all bookes depends upon your capacities, and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well! It is now publique, and you will stand for your privileges wee know; to read and censure. Do so, but buy it first. That doth best commend a booke, the stationer saies. Then, how odde soever your braines be, or your wisedomes, make your licence the same and spare not. Judge your sixe-pen'orth, your shillings worth, your five shillings worth at a time, or higher, so you rise to the just rates, and welcome. But, whatever you do, buy. Censure will not drive a trade or make the jacke go. And though you be a magistrate of wit, and sit on the stage at Black-Friers or the Cock-pit to arraigne playes dailie, know, these playes have had their triall alreadie, and stood out all appeales, and do now come forth quitted rather by a Decree of Court than any purchas'd letters of commendation. It had bene a thing, we confesse, worthie to have bene wished, that the author himselfe had liv'd to have set forth and overseen his owne writings; but since it hath bin ordain'd otherwise, and he by death departed from that right, we pray you do not envie his friends the office of their care and paine to have collected and publish'd them; and so to have publish'd The First Foliothem, as where (before) you were abus'd with diverse stolne and surreptitious copies, maimed and deformed by the frauds and stealthes of injurious impostors that expos'd them; even those are now offer'd to your view cur'd and perfect of their limbes, and all the rest absolute in their numbers as he conceived them; who, as he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and hand went together; and what he thought, he uttered with that easinesse that wee have scarse received from him a blot in his papers. But it is not our province, who onely gather his works and give them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And there we hope, to your divers capacities, you will finde enough both to draw and hold you; for his wit can no more lie hid then it could be lost. Reade him, therefore; and againe and againe; and if then you doe not like him, surely you are in some manifest danger not to understand him. And so we leave you to other of his friends, whom, if you need, can bee your guides. If you neede them not, you can leade yourselves and others; and such readers we wish him.—Iohn Heminge.—Henrie Condell. TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOUED,
THE AVTHOR
MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
AND
what he hath left vs. To draw no enuy (Shakespeare) on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame:
While I confesse thy writings to be such,
As neither Man, nor Muse, can praise too much.
'Tis true, and all mens suffrage. But these wayes
Were not the paths I meant vnto thy praise:
For seeliest Ignorance on these may light,
Which, when it sounds at best, but eccho's right;
Or blinde Affection, which doth ne're aduance
The truth, but gropes, and vrgeth all by chance;
Or crafty Malice, might pretend this praise,
And thinke to ruine, where it seem'd to raise.
These are, as some infamous Baud, or Whore,
Should praise a Matron. What could hurt her more?
But thou art proofe against them, and indeed
Aboue th' ill fortune of them, or the need.
I, therefore will begin. Soule of the Age!
The applause! delight! the wonder of our Stage!
My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lye
A little further, to make thee a roome:
Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe,
And art aliue still, while thy Booke doth liue,
And we haue wits to read, and praise to giue.
That I not mixe thee so, my braine excuses;
I meane with great, but disproportion'd Muses:
For, if I thought my iudgement were of yeeres,
I should commit thee surely with thy peeres,
And tell, how farre thou didstst our Lily out-shine,
Or sporting Kid, or Marlowes mighty line.
And though thou hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke,
From thence to honour thee, I would not seeke
For names; but call forth thund'ring Æschilus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to vs,
Paccuuius, Accius, him of Cordoua dead,
To life againe, to heare thy Buskin tread,
Ben Jonson's Eulogy And shake a Stage: Or, when thy Sockes were on,
Leaue thee alone, for the comparison
Of all, that insolent Greece, or haughtie Rome
Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.
Triumph, my Britaine, thou hast one to showe,
To whom all Scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When like Apollo he came forth to warme
Our eares, or like a Mercury to charme!
Nature her selfe was proud of his designes,
And ioy'd to weare the dressing of his lines!
Which were so richly spun, and wouen so fit,
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other Wit.
The merry Greeke, tart Aristophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please;
But antiquated, and deserted lye
As they were not of Natures family.
Yet must I not giue Nature all: Thy Art,
My gentle Shakespeare, must enioy a part.
For though the Poets matter, Nature be,
His Art doth giue the fashion. And, that he,
Who casts to write a liuing line, must sweat,
(Such as thine are) and strike the second heat
Vpon the Muses anuile: turne the same,
(And himselfe with it) that he thinkes to frame;
Or for the lawrell, he may gaine a scorne,
For a good Poet's made, as well as borne.
And such wert thou. Looke how the fathers face
Liues in his issue, euen so, the race
Of Shakespeares minde, and manners brightly shines
In his well torned, and true-filed lines:
In each of which, he seemes to shake a Lance,
As brandish't at the eyes of Ignorance.
Sweet Swan of Auon! what a sight it were
To see thee in our waters yet appeare,
And make those flights vpon the bankes of Thames,
That so did take Eliza, and our Iames!
But stay, I see thee in the Hemisphere
Aduanc'd, and made a Constellation there!
Shine forth, thou Starre of Poets, and with rage,
Or influence, chide, or cheere the drooping Stage;
Which, since thy flight fro hence, hath mourn'd like night,
And despaires day, but for thy Volumes light.
Ben: Ionson. VPON THE LINES AND LIFE OF THE FAMOUS Scenicke Poet, Master William Shakespeare Those hands, which you so clapt, go now, and wring
You Britaines braue; for done are Shakespeares dayes:
His dayes are done, that made the dainty Playes,
Which made the Globe of heau'n and earth to ring.
Dry'de is that veine, dry'd is the Thespian Spring,
Turn'd all to teares, and Phoebus clouds his rayes:
That corp's, that coffin now besticke those bayes,
Which crown'd him Poet first, then Poets King.
If Tragedies might any Prologue haue,
All those he made, would scarse make one to this:
Where Fame, now that he gone is to the graue
(Deaths publique tyring-house) the Nuncius is.
For though his line of life went soone about,
The life yet of his lines shall neuer out.
Hvgh Holland. The First Folio TO THE MEMORIE of the deceased Authour Maister
W. SHAKESPEARE Shake-speare, at length thy pious fellowes giue
The world thy Workes: thy Workes, by which, out-liue
Thy Tombe, thy name must: when that stone is rent,
And Time dissolues thy Stratford Moniment,
Here we aliue shall view thee still. This Booke,
When Brasse and Marble fade, shall make thee looke
Fresh to all Ages: when Posteritie
Shall loath what's new, thinke all is prodegie
That is not Shake-speares eu'ry Line, each Verse
Here shall reuiue, redeeme thee from thy Herse.
Nor Fire, nor cankring Age, as Naso said,
Of his, thy wit-fraught Booke shall once inuade.
Nor shall I e're beleeue, or thinke thee dead
(Though mist) vntill our bankrout Stage be sped
(Jmpossible) with some new straine t'out-do
Passions of Iuliet, and her Romeo;
Or till J heare a Scene more nobly take,
Then when thy half-Sword parlying Romans spake.
Till these, till any of thy Volumes rest
Shall with more fire, more feeling be exprest,
Be sure, our Shake-speare, thou canst neuer dye,
But crown'd with Lawrell, liue eternally.
L. Digges. To the memorie of M. W. Shake-speare. Wee wondred (Shake-speare) that thou went'st so soone
From the Worlds-Stage, to the Graues-Tyring-roome.
Wee thought thee dead, but this thy printed worth,
Tels thy Spectators, that thou went'st but forth
To enter with applause. An Actors Art,
Can dye, and liue, to acte a second part.
That's but an Exit of Mortalitie;
This, a Re-entrance to a Plaudite.
I. M. The Workes of William Shakespeare, containing all his Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies; truely set forth according to their first Originall.—The names of the Principall Actors in all these playes.—William Shakespeare; Richard Burbadge; John Hemmings; Augustine Phillips; William Kempt; Thomas Poope; George Bryan; Henry Condell; William Slye; Richard Cowly; John Lowine; Samuell Crosse; Alexander Cooke; Samuel Gilburne; Robert Armin; William Ostler; Nathan Field; John Underwood; Nicholas Tooley; William Ecclestone; Joseph Taylor; Robert Benfeld; Robert Goughe; Richard Robinson; John Shancke; John Rice. A Catalogue of the severall Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies contained in this Volume.—Comedies. The Tempest, folio 1; The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 20; The Merry Wives of Windsor, 38; Measure for Measure, 61; The Comedy of Errours, 85; Much adoo about Nothing, 101; Loves Labour lost, 122; Midsommer Nights Dreame, 145; The Merchant of Venice, 163; As You Like it, 185; The Taming of the Shrew, 208; All is well that Ends well, 230; Twelfe-Night, or what you will, 255; The Winters Tale, 304.—Histories. The Life and Death of King John, fol. 1; The Life and Death of Richard the Second, 23; The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, 46; The Second Part of K. Henry the fourth, 74; The Life of King Henry the Fift, 69; The First part of King Henry the Sixt, 96; The Second part of King Hen. the Sixt, 120; The Third part of King Henry the Sixt, 147; The Life and Death of Richard the Third, 173; The Life of King Traditional MaterialHenry the Eight, 205.—Tragedies. The Tragedy of Coriolanus, fol. 1; Titus Andronicus, 31; Romeo and Juliet, 53; Timon of Athens, 80; The Life and death of Julius CÆsar, 109; The Tragedy of Macbeth, 131; The Tragedy of Hamlet, 152; King Lear, 283; Othello, the Moore of Venice, 310; Anthony and Cleopater, 346; Cymbeline King of Britaine, 369. II. SOURCES OF TRADITIONAL MATERIAL Fuller's Worthies of England. 1662. Aubrey's Lives of Eminent Men, 2 vols. Ed. A. Clark. Oxford, 1895. Diary of Rev. John Ward (1661-1663). Ed. C. A. Severn, 1839. Rev. William Fulman's and Rev. Richard Davies's Mss. Corpus Christi College, Oxford. John Dowdall's Travels in Warwickshire (1693). London, 1838. William Hall (1694), Letter in Bodleian Mss. London, 1884. William Oldys, Ms. Adversaria in British Museum, printed in Appendix to Yeowell's Memoir of Oldys, 1862. Archdeacon Plume's Ms. memoranda at Maldon, Essex. See Lee, Nineteenth Century, May, 1906, and Preface to New Edition (1909) of Life. For the anecdote of the Bidford Drinkers, see H.-P. and Greene's Legend of the Crab Tree, 1857. Antony Wood. AthenÆ Oxonienses, 1692.
|
  |
