agone. The other is a man no whitt lesse deserving favor, and my especiall friende, till of late an actor of good account in the cumpanie, now a sharer in the same, and writer of some of our best English playes, which as your Lordship knoweth were most singularly liked of Quene Elizabeth, when the cumpanie was called vppon to performe before her Matie at Court at Christmas and Shrovetide. His most gracious Matie King James alsoe, since his coming to the crowne, hath extended his royall favour to the companie in divers waies and at sundrie tymes. This other hath to name William Shakespeare, and they are both of one countie, and indeede almost of one towne : both are right famous in their qualityes though it longeth not to your Lo. gravitie and wisedome to resort unto the places where they are wont to delight the publique eare. Their trust and sute nowe is not to bee molested in their waye of life whereby they maintaine them selves and their wives and families (being both maried and of good reputation) as well as the widowes and orphanes of some of their dead fellows.

"Your Lo. most bounden at com.

"H. S.

"Copia vera."

You will not fail to observe that Lord Southampton (if, as there is little question in my mind, the letters H. S. are to be taken as his initials), speaking of the performances of Burbage, makes use of a celebrated expression from Hamlet (Act iii., sc. 2), where the prince is giving directions to the players--"Suit the action to the word, and the word to the action "-which contains in one short sentence the whole art and mystery of dramatic personation. It was applicable to Burbage upon all accounts, but especially as the first representative of Hamlet: that he was so, we know, not only from the positive assertion of the epitaph upon Burbage ("History of Dramatic Poetry," i., 430), but from the author of Ratsey's Ghost, a tract I have already quoted:- Get thee to London (said Ratsey to the country actor), for, if one man were dead, they will have much need of such as thou art: there would be none in my opinion fitter than thyself to play his parts. My conceit is such of thee, that I durst all the money in my purse on thy head to play Hamlet with him for a wager.' "# This was written about 1606,

* It is doubtful, from the epitaph on Burbage, inserted in the "History of Dramatic Poetry," i., 430, whether the words "cruel Moor" apply to Othello, or Aaron in Titus Andronicus; but the following eulogy upon Burbage, at the end of a ballad founded upon Shakspeare's play, and entitled The Tragedie of Othello the Moore, settles the point, and is otherwise very interesting in reference to the obligations of Shakspeare to Burbage. It is con

and Hamlet was produced about 1603. Lord Southampton a little overshot the mark when he said, in 1608, that the Blackfriars playhouse had been built fifty years: certain "rooms" in the precinct were first converted into a theatre in 1576, so that it had not been built more than two-and-thirty years.

With respect to Shakspeare, the preceding letter presents several points worthy of note, which cannot fail to have struck you. One is that upon which I have remarked before, viz. that Lord Southampton calls our great Poet his "especial friend;" for any nobleman might well be vain of familiarity with such a man, and ought to consider it a privilege to be able to lay him under an obligation.

Next he says that Shakspeare had been "till of late an actor of good account in the company," which may serve to settle the question what was his rank among his fellows in that capacity: had Shakspeare deserved any thing like the praise merited by Burbage, Lord Southampton would have chosen other terms by which to characterize his performances; and we may reckon it a fortunate circumstance that his moderate success as an actor perhaps led him to apply himself with more assiduity to dramatic composition. The celebrity of Burbage is recorded, but the fame of Shakspeare is imperishable. The language of Lord Southampton certainly decides that our great Poet had recently quitted the stage, and we may conclude, therefore, contrary to the received opinion, that he

tained in a MS. volume of ballads, and productions of a similar nature, collected, as prehend, in the time of the Protectorate.

"Dicke Burbidge, that most famous man,

That Actor without peare,

With this same part his course began,

And kept it many a yeare.

Shakespeare was fortunate, I trow,

That such an actor had:

If we had but his equall now

For one I should be glad."

This, I apprehend, was written by Thomas Jordan, himself an actor, who, no doubt, had often seen Burbage. If the line, "With this same part his course began," is to be taken literally, Othello was a much earlier play than Malone supposed it when he fixed it in 1604. I wish I could insert the whole of the ballad, as well as some others connected with Shakspeare's productions-one of them on the same story as The Tempest, and perhaps preceding it in point of date; but it would lead me too far from my present purpose, and I shall reserve them.

remained a performer for some time after his name appeared in the list at the end of Ben Jonson's Sejanus, as acted in 1603.

I pass over, as unimportant, with our present convictions, Lord Southampton's then valuable testimony to the excellence of some of Shakspeare's productions, and to the satisfaction Queen Elizabeth had derived from the representation of them; but his letter establishes that the Burbages were originally from Warwickshire, if not from Stratford upon Avon, although, if Richard Burbage were born in Holywell street, Shoreditch, as has been conjectured, it could hardly be said that he and Shakspeare were "almost of one town." A John Burbage, perhaps the father of James, and the grandfather of Richard, was bailiff of Stratford upon Avon in 1555. No registration of the birth of Richard Burbage is to be found in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch; but Malone and Chalmers (Shakspeare, by Boswell, iii., 183 and 467) concluded, nevertheless, that he was born in Holywell street, about the year 1570. This may be the fact, but there is nothing to show that James Burbage came to London before 1570, nor that his son Richard was not born in Warwickshire. I should infer, from the expression of Lord Southampton, that Richard Burbage was born in Warwickshire, near Stratford upon Avon: if not, how could they both be" of one county?" This circumstance, supposing Thomas Greene, another member of the company, and an author,* had not been Shakspeare's countryman, or had never existed, would be sufficient to explain why he joined the Lord Chamberlain's (afterwards the King's) Servants when he first visited London in 1586 or 1587.

All this you will allow to be matter of great interest to every lover of Shakspeare. When first I obtained permission to look through the Bridgewater MSS. in detail, I conjectured that it would be nearly impossible to turn over so many state-papers, and such a bulk of correspondence, private and official, without meeting with something illustrative of the subject to which I have devoted so many years; but I certainly never anticipated being so fortunate as to obtain particulars so new, curious, and important, regarding

* His popularity as an author seems to have been nearly on a par with his celebrity as

an actor.

a Poet who, above all others, ancient or modern, native or foreign, has been the object of admiration. When I took up the copy of Lord Southampton's letter, and glanced over it hastily, I could scarcely believe my eyes, to see such names as Shakspeare and Burbage in connection in a manuscript of the time. There was a remarkable coincidence also in the discovery, for it happened on the anniversary of Shakspeare's birth, and death. I will not attempt to describe my joy and surprise, and I can only liken it to the unexpected gratification I experienced two or three years ago, when I turned out, from some ancient depositories of the Duke of Devonshire, the original designs of Inigo Jones, not only for the scenery, but for the dresses and characters of the different masks by Ben Jonson, Campion, Townshend, &c., presented at court in the reigns of our first James and Charles. The sketches were sometimes accompanied by explanations in the hand-writing of the great artist, a few of which incidentally illustrate Shakspeare, who, however, was never employed for any of these royal entertainments: annexed to one of the drawings was the following written description, from whence we learn how the actor of the part of Falstaff was usually habited in the time of Shakspeare.

"Like a Sr. Jon Falsstaff: in a roabe of russet, quite low, with a great belley, like a swolen man, long moustacheos, the sheows [shoes] shorte, and out of them great toes like naked feete: buskins to sheaw a great swolen leg. A cupp coming fourth like a beake-a great head and balde, and a little cap alla Venetiane, greay-a rodd and a scroule of parchment."

The character here described was that of the representative of Good-fellowship, and it was probably not meant that it should bear more than a general resemblance to Falstaff: we may conclude, besides his corpulency, that he wore russet, moustaches, buskins, and that his large bald head was sometimes covered with a small grey Venetian cap. In the plate before Kirkman's Drolls, 1672, he is represented with a large cup in his hand.

But I am not yet come to an end of my recent acquisitions respecting Shakspeare, from the unexplored archives at Bridgewater House. In an original entry book of patents, and warrants for patents, kept by William Tuthill, "the riding clerk," containing lists of all that had passed the great seal while it was in the hands

of Lord Ellesmere in 1609, I read the following item; which, taken by itself, does not appear of much importance :

"A Warrant for Robert Daborne and others, the Queene's Servants, to bring up and practise Children in Plaies by the name of the Children of the Queen's Revells, for the pleasure of her Majestie, 4o. Janij Anno Septimo Jacobi."

I remembered that Philip Rosseter, the lutanist, had obtained a patent of the very same date, and for the very same purpose (vide "History of Dramatic Poetry," i, 372), and it struck me as extraordinary that there should be two concurrent grants. I knew also, whatever might be Daborne's circumstances in 1609, that he was in great want in 1613 or 1614, when he was imploring Henslowe not to forsake him "in his extremity" (Mal: Shakspeare, by Boswell, iii., 336), so that he could not then have been in possession of funds to enable him to enter into such a speculation. I subsequently found, however, that he had, or was to have had, partners in the undertaking, one of them being William Shakspeare, another Nathaniel Field, the celebrated actor and dramatist, and a third Edward Kirkham, whose name had been in a previous warrant for the instruction of the Children of the Queen's Revels, a copy of which is inserted in the "History of Dramatic Poetry," i., 353.

It has hitherto been thought, by every body acquainted with the subject, that Shakspeare confined his efforts, both as author and actor, to the two theatres occupied by the King's Servants, the Blackfriars and the Globe. I still believe that such was the fact, for reasons I shall assign presently, notwithstanding the evidence to the contrary, afforded by the following document, which came earliest to my hands. It purports to be a draft either for a patent or a privy seal, and runs thus:——

"Right trusty and welbeloved &c. James &c. To all Mayors, Sherriffs, Justices of the peace &c. Whereas the Queene our dearest wife hath for her pleasure and recreation appointed her Servaunts Robert Daiborne &c. to provide and bring upp a convenient nomber of Children who shall be called the children of her Maiesties Revells, knowe ye that we haue appointed and authorized and by these presents doe appoint and authorize the said Robert Daiborne, William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Field and Edward Kirkham from time to time to provide and bring upp a convenient nomber of Children, and them to instruct and exercise in the quality of playing Tragedies, Comedies &c. by the name of the Children of the Revells to the Queene, within the VOL. I.

I