Testimony of the Sonnets as to the Authorship of the Shakespearean Plays and Poems

n of affection allows him to forget or conceal this purpose. When, as is indicated by Sonnets LXXVII. to XC., he feared that his friend was transferring his favor or patrona

d CXXVII. to CLII., chiding his friend for having accepted the love of his mistress, he crowns him with poetic garlands of compliment a

and complacent, nor quick and eager in forgiving; but that his character in tho

ions as to Shakespeare's poaching experiences, and his re

e near Stratford. For this he was prosecuted by that gentleman, as he thought, somewhat too severely; and, in order to revenge that ill-usage, he made a ballad upon him, and though this, probably the first essay of his poetry, be lost, yet it is said to have been so very bitter that it redoubled the prosecution against him to that degree that he was obliged to leave his business and family in Warwickshire and shelter himself in London." The independent testimony of Archdeacon Davies, w

akespeare stole the deer, not from Charlecote, but from Fulbroke Park, a few miles off, and Ireland supplied in his Views on the Warwickshire Avon, 1795, an engraving of an old farmhouse in the hamlet of Fulbroke, where he asserted that Shakespeare was temporarily imprisoned after his arrest. An adjoining hovel was l

an drama. Justice Shallow is beyond doubt a reminiscence of the owner of Charlecote.[26] According to Archdeacon Davies of Saperton, Shakespeare's "revenge was so great" that he caricatured Lucy as "Justice Clodpate," who was (Davies adds) represented on the stage as "a great man" and as bearing, in allusion to Lucy's name, "three louses rampant for his arms." Justice Shallow, Davies's "Justice Clodpate," came to birth in the Second Part

ay be questioned whether Shakespeare, on fleeing from L

ditions of Shakespeare's sharp en

re being merry at a tavern, Mr. Jons

Jonson, that

akespeare to make up,

e lived was

ing dead i

r vers

lies

as on

ttle hair o

e was B

al appearance, as any one may see

tage actors all

find spectators

tle or much of w

h actors and s

undred lies

to ten his so

sk, Who lies

he devil, 'tis

s in th

devil, 'tis my

e last six lines having died, Shakespea

e lived,

shall never

th memory, fo

or his issue;

of his til

im, in his

been composed of a br

rd, and thi

n belove

e grave with

d he had bot

id to have accoste

speare, tell m

between a youth

poet immediat

e, with thy fac

as between a scalded

ter a prolonged carouse, and asked to renew the

orth, Danci

orough, and H

g Exhall, P

om, and Drun

ing the removal of his bones, according to the custom of

for Jesus'

dust encl

man that spare

he that moves

to Shakespeare's propensity

ry owners on the lease's expiration, and of ￡5 to John Barker, the heir of a former proprietor. The investment brought Shakespeare, under the most favorable circumstances, no more than an annuity of ￡38; and the refusal of persons who claimed an interest in the other moiety to acknowledge the full extent of their liability to the Corporation led that body to demand from the poet payments justly due from o

g March malt to the value of ￡1 19s. 10d., and had on June 25th lent 2s. in cash. Rogers paid back 6s., and Shakespeare sought the balance of the account, ￡1 15s. 10d. During 1608 and 1609 he was at law with another fellow-townsman, John Addenbroke. On February 15, 1609, Shakespeare, who was apparently represent

wing statement as to his reputa

ions in many sportive adventures. The sole anecdote of Shakespeare that is positively known to have been recorded in his lifetime relates that Burbage, when playing Richard III., agreed with a lady in the audienc

rneys to and from Stratford. The story of Shakespeare's parental relation to D'Avenant was long current in Oxford, and was at times complacently accepted by the reputed son. Shakespeare is known to have been a welcome guest at John D'Avenant's house, and another son, Robert, boasted of the kindly notice which t

to us which presents any act or characteristic at all at variance with the indications of these quotations. And it is very remarkable how strong is the concurrence of indications, from the s

t proceedings, the imprecation above his grave, both indicate a man of strong will and not unaccustomed to mastery. We may reject one or another of the retorts or sallies in verse, but we must, I think, agree, that the fact that they are brought to us by recorded and very old traditions, indicates a character or repute in accordance with their implication; and especially must this be so, when we find that they agree with the indications of other evidence not in any degree in question. These various in

re concur in indicating a man who could not have written the Sonne

s early as 1597 or 1598, Shakespeare was above pecuniary want, and had begun to make

tno

Shakespeare

s and all the following

d a large part in the production of the Shakespearean plays. My insistence is only that

akespeare, pp. 186,

hakespeare,

hakespeare,

hakespeare,

ions of those lines are

hakespeare,