sequence of the compliment to the Stuart family in the tragedy of Macbeth.01 Shakespeare's place of abode in London, before 1596, has not been traced; but in that year he seems to have lived in Southwark, near the Bear-Garden, and probably, did not change his residence till he finally quitted the metropolis.62 Besides the patronage of the munificent Southampton, that of the Earls of Pembroke and Montthough now lost, remained long in the hands of Sir William D'Avenant, as a credible person, now living, can testify." Advertisement to Lintot's ed. of Shakespeare's Poems. Oldys, in a MS. note on his copy of Fuller's Worthies, says, that "the story came from the Duke of Buckingham, [Sheffield] who had it from Sir William D'Avenant." The late Mr. Boswell (Shakespeare, ii. 481.) possessed, a vol. of MS. poems in a hand-writing of about the time of the restoration, in which were these lines: SHAKESPEARE UPON THE KING, Crownes have their compasse, length of days their date, Triumphes their tombs, felicity her fate; Of more then earth cann earth make none partaker, 61 6% And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass, That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry : Horrible sight! Now I see 'tis true; For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me, Act iv. sc. 1. 62 46 From a paper now before me, which formerly belonged to Edward Alleyn, the player, our poet [Shakespeare] appears to have lived in Southwark, near the Bear-garden, in 1596. Another curious document in my possession. affords the strongest presumptive evidence that he continued to reside in Southwark to the year 1608 nor is there gomery 63 appears to have been extended to Shakespeare. Of his intimacies with those in his own rank of life, we know but little. His fellow-players, Heminges, Burbage, Condell, and Phillips, possessed a portion of his esteem. With Beaumont and Fletcher 65 he was on very friendly terms. That a sincere regard subsisted between him and Ben Jonson, will never again be doubted, after the masterly Memoir of the latter from Mr. Gifford's trenchant pen.66 It is in any ground for supposing that he ceased to reside there, till he quitted the stage entirely; for he did not purchase the tenement in the Blackfriars, till March 10, 1612-13 (about which time he probably retired to Stratford ;) and soon after he got possession of it, he appears to have made a lease of it for a term of years to one John Robinson, who is mentioned in his Will three years afterwards as the tenant in possession." Malone's Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Papers, &c. p. 215 In his Life of Shakespeare, which Malone did not live to complete, no mention is made of these valuable docu ments. 6 See the Players' Dedication of the first folio, 1623; but what degree of patronage these two noblemen showed to Shakespeare we are ignorant. * See the Wills of Shakespeare and Phillips. 65 The title-page of the first edition of Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen attributes the play partly to Shakespeare; I do not think our poet had any share in its composition: but I must add, that Mr. C. Lamb (a great authority in such matters) inclines to a different opinion. 6 It is but fair to mention that Octavius Gilchrist's Examination of the Charges maintained by Messrs. Malone, Chalmers, and others, of Ben Jonson's enmity, &c. towards Shakespeare, was published a few years before Mr. Gifford's ed. of Jonson's Works. deed surprising, that the foul calumny of Jonson's enmity towards Shakespeare should not have met with an earlier refutation, especially as Ben's writings exhibit the most unequivocal testimonies of his affection and admiration for our poet. A warmer or more beautiful eulogy than his verses To the Memory of MY BELOVED, the author, Mr. William Shakespeare, was never dictated by friendship; and one of the latest of his many labours, contains these words concerning him, "I loved the man, and do honour his memory on this side idolatry, as much as any."67 The commencement of their acquaintance, according to Rowe, was this: "Mr. Jonson, who was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of his plays to the players, in order to have 67 The entire passage concerning Shakespeare in the Discoveries, is too interesting to be omitted. "I remember, the players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespeare, that in his writing (whatsoever he penned) he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been, Would he had blotted a thousand. Which they thought a malevolent speech. I had not told posterity this, but for their ignorance, who chose that circumstance to commend their friend by, wherein he most faulted; and to justify mine own candour: for I loved the man, and do honour his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any. He was (indeed) honest, and of an open and free nature; had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and gentle expressions; wherein he flowed with that facility, that sometimes it was necessary he should be stopped : Sufflaminandus erat, as Augustus said of Haterius. His wit was in his own power, would the rule of it had been so too. Many times he fell into those things could not escape laugh it acted and the persons into whose hands it was put, after having turned it carelessly and superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an ill-natured answer, that it would be of no service to their company; when Shakespeare luckily cast his eye upon it, and found something so well in it, as to engage him first to read it through; and afterwards to recommend Mr. Jonson and his writings to the public."68 Shakespeare's commentators have chosen to suppose that the piece here alluded to was Every Man in his Humour, but it can be proved, that when that drama was produced, Jonson was as well known to the world as Shakespeare, and that was performed at a theatre with which the latter had no connexion. Mr. Gifford, therefore, it ter: as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, 'Cæsar, thou dost me wrong.' did never wrong, but with just cause,' and such like; which He replied, Cæsar were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised than to be parWorks, ed. Gifford, ix. 175. Tyrwhitt supposes, that the passage in Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar, doned." Discoveries act iii. sc. 1. Know, Cæsar doth not wrong; nor without cause Will he be satisfied," stood originally, Know, Cæsar doth not wrong, but with just cause, and that it was afterwards altered, in consequence of Jonson's criticisms at one of the earliest representations of the play. 68 Life of Shakespeare. 7 treats the story as 66 an arrant fable." I am willing, however, to believe, that the friendship of these great men originated in an act of kindness on the part of Shakespeare, and that, though the above anecdote may be in some respects erroneous, it is yet an adumbration of the truth. If this were the place for such discussions, I could show from authentic documents, that a certain ludicrous tale concerning Jonson, which Mr. Gifford rejected with scorn, is fully entitled to belief. Private dwellings in those days did not present the accommodations and comforts which they now afford; and conviviality was confined almost entirely to taverns and ordinaries. At the Mermaid in Friday Street, Sir Walter Raleigh had instituted a club, which included among its members, Shakespeare, Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Donne, and others eminent for genius and learning. There, probably, it was, that Shakespeare and Jonson delighted their associates with those brilliant and good-humoured repartees, of which no memorial now remains, except in Fuller's honest page. "Many," says that worthy man, were the wit-combates betwixt him and Ben Jonson, which two I behold like a Spanish great Gallion, and an English Manof-War; Master Jonson (like the former) was built far higher in learning, solid but slow in his performances; Shakespeare with the English man of war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about and take advantage |