should, however, be noted that, so far as the stage was concerned, there was no employment in town for Shakespeare during 1586, when the theatres were closed owing to the prevalence of the plague. The traditional accounts of his first connection with the theatres are evidently fairly authentic:-In "Aubrey's Lives of Eminent Men" (c. 1680) it is stated that "this Wm. being inclined naturally to poetry and acting, came to London I guesse about 18, and was an actor at one of the play-houses and did act exceedingly well." The old parish clerk of Stratford narrated in 1693, being about eighty years old at the time, that "this Shakespeare was formerly in this town apprentice to a butcher, but that he ran from his master to London, and there was received into the play-house as a serviture, and by this means had an opportunity to be what he afterwards proved." Rowe's account (1709) is even more likely : 66 He was received into the company then in being, at first, in a very mean rank; but his admirable wit, and the natural turn of it to the stage, soon distinguished him, if not as an extraordinary actor, yet as an excellent writer." In 1753 the compiler of the "Lives of the Poets" states that Shakespeare's "first expedient was to wait at the door of the play-house, and hold the horses of those that had no servants, that they might be ready again after the performance." Rowe does not mention this tradition, though he is said to have received it from Betterton, who heard it from D'Avenant. Dr. Johnson elaborated the story, adding, we know not on what authority, that “he became so conspicuous for his care and readiness that in a short time every man as he alighted called for Will Shakespeare, and scarcely any other waiter was trusted with a horse while Will Shakespeare could be had. This was the first dawn of better fortune. Shakespeare, finding more horses put into his hand than he could hold, hired boys to wait under his inspection, who, when Will Shakespeare was summoned, were immediately to present themselves: 'I am Shakespeare's boy, sir.' In time Shakespeare found higher employment; but as long as the practice of riding to the play-house continued, the waiters that held the horses retained the appellation of Shakespeare's boys." According to another tradition, recorded by Malone (1780), "his first office in the theatre was that of prompter's attendant." It is assumed that soon after his arrival in London Shakespeare became connected with one of the two London theatres, viz. "The Theatre," in Shoreditch, built by James Burbage, father of the great actor Richard Burbage, in 1576; or "The Curtain," in Moorfields-the second play-house, built about the same time (the name survives in Curtain Road, Shoreditch: both play-houses were built on sites outside the civic jurisdiction, the City Fathers having no sympathy with stage-plays. In all probability the former was the scene of Shakespeare's earliest activity, in whatever capacity it may have been. Shakespeare may have belonged, from the first, to Lord Leicester's Company, of which we know he soon became an important member, and with which, under various patrons, his dramatic career was to be associated. It is noteworthy that in 1587 the Earl of Leicester's men visited Stratford-on-Avon. In this same year, 1587, when the Admiral's men re-opened after the plague Marlowe's Tamberlaine was among the plays produced by them. 1588. In September of this year the Earl of Leicester died, and his company of actors found a new patron in Ferdinando, Lord Strange, who became Earl of Derby on September 25, 1592. 1589. On August 23, Greene's novel "Menaphon" was entered on the Stationers' Registers, and was soon issued, with a preface by the satirist Tom Nash, containing a reference to "a sort of shifting companions that run through every art and thrive by none to leave the trade of Noverint (i.e. scrivener) whereto they were born, 66 and busy themselves with the endeavours of art that could scarcely latinize their neck-verse, if they should have need: yet English Seneca, read by candle light, yields many good sentences, Blood in a Beggar, and so forth; if you intreat him fair in a frostie morning, he will afford you whole Hamlets, I should say handfulls of tragical speeches, &c." This is the best evidence we have for the existence of a lost play on Hamlet" at this early date: its author was almost certainly Thomas Kyd (born 1558, died 1594), famous as the author of "The Spanish Tragedy." In Menaphon Greene indulges in his sarcastic references to Marlowe, which are also found in his Perimedes the Blacksmith (1588). Peele, on the other hand, was held up, in Nash's Preface, as primus verborum artifex. It is clear that at this time Greene regarded Marlowe and Kyd as dangerous rivals; Shakespeare was not yet an object of fear. Greene was chief writer for the Queen's men, Marlowe and Kyd for Lord Pembroke's, Peele was joining Greene's company, leaving the Admiral's. 1591. In this year Florio, subsequently the translator of Montaigne's Essays, published Second Fruites-a book of Italian-English dialogues. A sonnet entitled Phaeton to his friend Florio may possibly have been written by Shakespeare; but there is no direct evidence. In this year the Queen's players made their last appearance at Court; Lord Strange's men made the first of their many appearances at Court. "The Troublesome Raigne of King John," the original of King John, was published this year; it was reissued in 1611 as written by "W. Sh.," and in 1622 as by "W. Shakespeare." 1592. On February 19, Lord Strange's men opened the Rose Theatre on Bankside, erected by Philip Henslowe, theatrical speculator. It would appear that they had generally acted at the Cross Keys, an inn-yard in Bishopsgate Street. They played at the Rose from February to June. At this time we find the great actor Edward Alleyn, Henslowe's son-in-law, at the head of Lord Strange's men, but he was really the Lord Admiral's man: there was evidently a short-lived combination of the two companies: but they soon dissolved partnership. On March 3, 1592, Henry VI. was acted at the Rose Theatre by Lord Strange's men: it was in all probability 1 Henry VI., and was soon after referred to by Nash in his Pierce Penniless (licensed August 8):-" How would it have joyed brave Talbot (the terror of the French) to think that after he had lain two hundred years in his tomb, he should triumph again on the stage, and have his bones new embalmed with the tears of ten thousand spectators at least (at several times), who in the tragedian that represents his person imagine they behold him fresh bleeding" (cp. iv. 6, 7). With a short break the theatres were closed on account of the plague until after Christmas 1593. The company meanwhile travelled, and we have notices of their visits to Bristol and Shrewsbury during that year: similar notices of travel are extant for subsequent years. 66 In this same year, 1592, on September 4, died Robert Greene; on the 20th of the month his Groatsworth of Wit was published, edited by Chettle. In this work there is an address to his " quondam acquaintance that spend their wits in making plays, R. G. wisheth a better exercise and wisdome to prevent his extremities." Marlowe, Nash, and Peele, are probably the scholar-playwrights warned by Greene no longer to trust the players. "Base-minded men all three of you, if by my misery ye be not warned: for unto none of you, like me, sought those burrs to cleave those puppets, I mean, that speak from our mouth, those antics garnished in our colours. Is it not strange that I, to whom they have all been beholding: is it not like that you, to whom they have all been beholding, shall (were ye in that case that I am now) be both at once of them forsaken? Yes, trust them not: for there is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapt in a player's hide supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank-verse as the best of you and being an absolute Johannes fac-totum, is in his own conceit the only shake-scene in a country. O that I might entreat your rare wits to be employed in more profitable courses: and let these apes imitate your past excellence, and never more acquaint them with your admired inventions. Yet, whilst you may, seek you better masters! for it is a pity men of such rare wits should be subject to such rude grooms." The original of the travestied line is to be found in 3 Henry VI., "O tiger's heart wrapt in a woman's hide (cp. Preface), and there can be no doubt that here we have the first direct evidence of Shakespeare's growing pre-eminence as an actor and as a playwright. more In the month of .December, following the publication of Greene's Groatsworth of Wit we have even important evidence of Shakespeare's recognised preeminence as a man of character. In his "Kind Hartes Dreame" Chettle, the publisher of the attack, penned the following apology:-"I am as sorry as if the original fault had been my fault, because myself have seen his (i.e. Shakespeare's) demeanour no less civil than he excellent in the quality he professes, besides divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty, and his facetious grace in writing that approves his art.' Shakespeare probably referred to Greene's death soon afterwards : “The thrice-three Muses, mourning for the death 1593. In this year was published "Venus & Adonis," dedicated by the poet to Henry Wriothesley, Midsummer Night's Dream (cp. Preface). |