had become bail for him, and it is to be hoped he got his money.

We have seen that in May, 1602, Shakespeare purchased of the Combes a hundred and seven acres of arable land in Old Stratford. In the Spring of 1611 a fine was levied on this property, and it thereby appears that twenty acres of pasture had been added to the original purchase. At what time the addition was made, is nowhere stated. The fine states the purchase money as £100, which Halliwell thinks to be a mere legal fiction.

About this time, the Stratford people seem to have been a good deal interested in "a bill in Parliament for the better repair of the highways, and amending divers defects in the statutes already made": funds were "collected towards the charge of prosecuting the bill"; and "Mr. William Shakespeare" is one of the names found in a list of donations for that purpose, dated "Wednesday the 11th of September, 1611."

The probability is that after this time Shakespeare saw but little of the metropolis. Rowe tells us, in a passage quoted a few pages back, that "the latter part of his life was spent in ease, retirement, and the conversation of his friends." Still he was, like other men, not without his vexations. The exact date does not appear, but about the end of 1612 he was involved in a chancery suit respecting the tithes he had bought in 1605. The plaintiffs in the case are described as "Richard Lane, of Alveston, Esquire, Thomas Greene, of Stratford-upon-Avon, Esquire, and William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, gentleman." It seems that there was a reserved rent on the lease of the tithes, and that, some of the lessees refusing to pay their shares of this rent, a greater proportion than was right fell upon Lane, Greene, and Shakespeare; who thereupon filed a bill before Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, that the other lessees might be compelled

to due payment. The issue of the suit is not known; but the draft of the bill is valuable as showing the Poet's exact income from the tithes : it was £60 a-year.

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The last pecuniary transaction of his that has come to light was the purchase of a house with a small piece of ground attached to it, in the neighbourhood of the Blackfriars theatre. The indenture of conveyance, preserved in the archives of the London corporation, describes the property as abutting upon a street leading down to Puddlewharf on the east part, right against the King's Majesty's Wardrobe," and the vendor as "Henry Walker, citizen and minstrel, of London." It is dated March 10th, 1613, and bears the Poet's signature, which shows that he was in London at the time. The purchase-money was £140, of which £80 were paid down, and the premises mortgaged for the remainder, the mortgage to run till the 29th of September following. Why the purchase was made, does not appear; but, as John Heminge, William Johnson, and John Jackson were parties to the transaction, Mr. Collier conjectures that the Poet advanced the £80 to them, expecting they would refund it before the expiration of the mortgage; but, as they did not do so, he paid the other £60, and the property remained his.

On the 29th of June, the same year, the Globe theatre was burnt down, and certain contemporary notices of the event ascertain that King Henry VIII. was in performance. at the time. As the conflagration was very rapid, giving the people barely time to save themselves, it is likely that many of the Poet's manuscripts perished, and perhaps some, of which no copies were left. The theatre was soon rebuilt, and, as Stowe informs us, "at the great charge of King James, and many noblemen and others." The Poet is not traced as having any thing to do with the rebuilding of the establishment; but, if he suffered no loss himself, we

may be sure that he took a lively interest in the losses of his fellows, and was forward to lend them a helping hand.

The Summer following, he had a narrow escape from a similar calamity at home. On the 9th of July, 1614, Stratford was devastated by fire, to such an extent that the people made an appeal to the nation for relief. At the instance of various gentlemen of the neighbourhood, the King issued at brief in May, 1615, authorizing collections to be made in the churches for the rebuilding of the town, and alleging that fifty-four dwelling-houses had been destroyed, besides. much other property, amounting in all to upwards of £8,000. The result of the appeal is not known; nor is it known what influence the Poet may have used towards procuring the royal brief.

The Fall of 1614 finds Shakespeare in London using his influence effectually in the cause of his fellow-citizens. It seems that several persons had set on foot a project for inclosing certain commons near Stratford, which the public were interested to keep open. The Poet had private reasons, also, for bestirring himself in the matter, as the projected inclosure was likely to affect his interest in the lease of the tithes. A legal instrument, dated October 28, 1614, is extant, whereby William Replingham binds himself to indemnify William Shakespeare and Thomas Greene for any loss which they, in the judgment of certain referees, may sustain in respect of the yearly value of the tithes they jointly or severally hold, "by reason of any inclosure or decay of tillage there meant or intended."

A few days after, Greene is found in London moving in the business as clerk of the Stratford corporation. In some notes of his made at the time, we have the following, dated November 17, 1614: "My cousin Shakespeare coming yesterday to town, I went to see him, how he did. He told me that they assured him they meant to inclose no further than

to Gospel-bush, and so up straight (leaving out part of the dingles to the field) to the gate in Clopton hedge, and take in Salisbury's piece; and that they mean in April to survey the land, and then to give satisfaction, and not before; and he and Mr. Hall say they think there will be nothing done at all."

Greene returned to Stratford soon after, and his notes, which he continued to make, inform us that the corporation had a meeting on the 23d of December, and sent letters to Shakespeare and Mainwaring: "Letters written, one to Mr. Mainwaring, another to Mr. Shakespeare, with almost all the company's hands to either. I also writ myself to my cousin Shakespeare the copies of all our acts, and then also a note of the inconveniences that would happen by the inclosure." The letters to Shakespeare are lost in that to Mainwaring, which is preserved, the corporation urged in strong terms the damage Stratford would suffer by the projected inclosure, and also the heavy loss the people had lately sustained by fire. Mr. Arthur Mainwaring was a person in the domestic service of Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, which explains why he was written to in the matter. It is pretty clear from these slight notices, that the corporation. left the care of their interests very much to Shakespeare, who had approved himself a good hand at bringing things to pass in actual life, as well as in ideal. The result was, an order from Court not only forbidding the inclosure to proceed, but peremptorily commanding that some steps already taken should be forthwith retraced.

This Thomas Greene was an attorney of Stratford. The origin and degree of his relationship to the Poet are not known. The parish register of Stratford records the burial. of "Thomas Greene, alias Shakespeare," on the 6th of March, 1590. Probably enough, the attorney of 1614 may have been his son; and the relationship between the two

families may furnish the true key to that remarkable acquaintance which the Poet shows with the mysteries of the law.

Such details of business may not seem very appropriate in a Life of the greatest of poets; but we have clear evidence that Shakespeare took a lively interest in them, and was a good hand at managing them. He had learned by experience, no doubt, that "money is a good soldier, and will on"; and that, "if money go before, all ways do lie open." And the thing carries this benefit, if no other, that it tells us a man may be something of a poet, without being either above or below the common affairs of life.

When, or to whom, the Poet parted with his theatrical interests, we have no knowledge: that he did part with them, may be probably, though not necessarily, concluded from his not mentioning them in his will; and, from the large productiveness of such investments at that time, he would have no difficulty in finding a purchaser. A pretty careful investigation of the matter has brought good judges to the conclusion, that in 1608 his income could not have been less than £400 a-year. This, for all practical purposes, would be equivalent to some $12,000 in our time. The Rev. John Ward, who became vicar of Stratford in 1662, left a Diary, in which we have the following: "I have heard that Mr. Shakespeare was a natural wit, without any art at all. He frequented the plays all his younger time, but in his elder days lived at Stratford, and supplied the stage with two plays every year; and for that had an allowance so large, that he spent at the rate of £1,000 a year, as I have heard. -Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and, it seems, drank too hard; for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted. - Remember to peruse Shakespeare's plays, and be versed in them, that I may not. be ignorant in that matter."