fellow-actors, Heming and Condell, amassed equally large, if not larger, fortunes. Burbage died in 1619 worth 300l. in land, besides personal property; while a contemporary actor and theatrical proprietor, Edward Alleyn, purchased the manor of Dulwich for 10,000l. (in money of his own day), and devoted it, with much other property, to public uses, at the same time as he made ample provision for his family out of the residue of his estate. Gifts from patrons may have continued occasionally to augment Shakespeare's resources, but his wealth can be satisfactorily assigned to better attested agencies. There is no ground for treating it as of mysterious origin.

tion of the estate

at Strat

ford,

1601-10.

Between 1599 and 1611, while London remained Shakespeare's chief home, he built up at Stratford a large landed estate which his purchase of New Place had inaugurated. In 1601 his father died, being buried on September 8. He apparently left no will, and the poet, as the eldest son, inherited the houses in Henley Street, the only portion of the property of the elder Shakespeare or of his wife which had not been alienated to creditors. Shakespeare permitted his mother to reside in one of the Henley Street houses till her death (she was buried September 9, 1608), and he derived a modest rent from the other. On May 1, 1602, he Formapurchased for 320/. of the rich landowners William and John Combe of Stratford 107 acres of arable land near the town. The conveyance was delivered, in the poet's absence, to his brother Gilbert, 'to the use of the within named William Shakespeare.' A third purchase quickly followed. On September 28, 1602, at a court baron of the manor of Rowington, one Walter Getley transferred to the poet a cottage and garden which were situated at Chapel Lane, opposite the lower grounds of New Place. They were held practically in fee-simple at the annual rental of 2s. 6d. It appears from the roll that Shakespeare did not attend the manorial court held on the day fixed for the transfer of the property at Rowington, and it was consequently stipulated then that the estate should remain in the hands of the lady of the manor until he completed the purchase in person. At a later period he was admitted to the copyhold, and he settled the remainder on his two daughters in fee. In April 1610 he purchased from the Combes 20 acres of pasture land, to add to the 107 of arable land that he had acquired of the same owners in 1602.

The Stratford tithes.

Recovery of small debts.

As early as 1598 Abraham Sturley had suggested that Shakespeare should purchase the tithes of Stratford. Seven years later, on July 24, 1605, he bought for 440/. of Ralph Huband an unexpired term of thirty-one years of a ninetytwo years' lease of a moiety of the tithes of Stratford, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcombe. The moiety was

subject to a rent of 177. to the corporation, who were the reversionary owners on the lease's expiration, and of 57. to John Barker, the heir of a former proprietor. The investment brought Shakespeare, under the most favourable circumstances, no more than an annuity of 387., 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 others. After 1609 he joined with two interested persons, Richard Lane of Awston and Thomas Greene, the town clerk of Stratford, in a suit in Chancery to determine the exact responsibilities of all the titheowners, and in 1612 they presented a bill of complaint to Lord-chancellor Ellesmere, with what result is unknown. His acquisition of a part-ownership in the tithes was fruitful in legal embarrassments.

Shakespeare inherited his father's love of litigation, and stood rigorously by his rights in all his business relations. In March 160o he recovered in London a debt of 77. from one John Clayton. In July 1604, in the local court at Stratford, he sued one Philip Rogers, to whom he had supplied since the preceding March malt to the value of 1l. 195. 10d., and had on June 25 lent 25. 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. February 15, 1609, Shakespeare, who was apparently represented by his solicitor and kinsman, Thomas Greene, obtained judgment from a jury against Addenbroke for the payment of 67., and 17. 5s. costs, but Addenbroke left the town, and the triumph proved barren. Shakespeare avenged himself by proceeding against one Thomas Horneby, who had acted as the absconding debtor's bail.

On

XI

MATURITY OF GENIUS

1599.

WITH an inconsistency that is more apparent than real, Literary the astute business transactions of these years (1597-1611) work in synchronise with the production of Shakespeare's noblest literary work of his most sustained and serious efforts in comedy, tragedy, and romance. In 1599, after abandoning English history with 'Henry V,' he addressed himself to the composition of his three most perfect essays in comedy,'Much Ado about Nothing,' 'As You Like It,' and 'Twelfth Night.' Their good-humoured tone seems to reveal their author in his happiest frame of mind; in each the gaiety and tenderness of youthful womanhood are exhibited in fascinating union; while Shakespeare's lyric gift bred no sweeter melodies than the songs with which the three plays are interspersed. At the same time each comedy enshrines such penetrating reflections on mysterious problems of life as mark the stage of maturity in the growth of the author's intellect. The first two of the three plays were entered on the 'Stationers' Registers' before August 4, 1600, on which day a prohibition was set on their publication, as well as on the publication of 'Henry V' and of Ben Jonson's 'Every Man in his Humour.' This was one of the many efforts of the acting company to stop the publication of plays in the belief that the practice was injurious to their rights. The effort was only partially successful. 'Much Ado,' like 'Henry V,' was published before the close of the year, being licensed for publication to Andrew Wise and William Aspley on August 23, 1600, at the same time as the 'Second Part of Henry VI.' Neither ‘As You Like It' nor 'Twelfth Night,' however, was printed till it appeared in the Folio.

In 'Much Ado,' which appears to have been written in 'Much 1599, the brilliant and spirited comedy of Benedick and Ado Beatrice, and of the blundering watchmen Dogberry and Nothing.'

about

'As You Like It.'

Verges, is wholly original; but the sombre story of Hero and Claudio, about which the comic incident revolves, is traceable to an Italian source. Bandello had first narrated the sad experiences of the heroine, whom he christened Fenicia, in his 'Novelle' (No. xxii.); Bandello's version was translated in Belleforest's 'Histoires Tragiques,' and Ariosto grafted it on his 'Orlando Furioso' (canto v.). Ariosto's rendering of the story, in which the injured heroine is called Ginevra and her lover Ariodante, was dramatised in England long before Shakespeare designed his comedy. According to the accounts of the Court revels, 'A Historie of Ariodante and Ginevra was shown before her Majestie on Shrovetuesdaie at night' in 1583. In 1591 Ariosto's account was turned into English by Sir John Harington in his spirited translation of 'Orlando Furioso.' Either the dramatised 'Historie' (which has not survived in print or manuscript) or Harington's verse may be regarded as the immediate source of the serious plot of 'Much Ado.' Throughout the play Shakespeare blended with a convincing naturalness the serious aspects of humanity, which the Italian story suggested, and the ludicrous aspects, which he wholly illustrated by incident of his own invention. The popular comic actor William Kemp filled the rôle of Dogberry, and Cowley appeared as Verges. In both the Quarto in 1600 and the Folio of 1623 these actors' names are prefixed by a copyist's error to some of the speeches allotted to the two characters (act Iv., scene ii.).

'As You Like It,' which quickly followed, is a dramatic adaptation of Lodge's romance, Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacie' (1590), but Shakespeare added three new characters of first-rate interest - Jaques, the meditative cynic; Touchstone, the most carefully elaborated of all Shakespeare's fools; and the hoyden Audrey. Hints for the scene of Orlando's encounter with Charles the Wrestler, and for Touchstone's description of the diverse shapes of a lie, were clearly drawn from a book called 'Saviolo's Practise,' a manual of the art of self-defence, which appeared in 1595 from the pen of Vincentio Saviolo, an Italian fencing-master in the service of the Earl of Essex. None of Shakespeare's comedies breathes a more placid temper or approaches more nearly to a pastoral drama. Yet there is no lack of intellectual or poetic energy in the enunciation of the contemplative philosophy which is cultivated in the

Forest of Arden. In Rosalind, Celia, Phoebe, and Audrey four types of youthful womanhood are contrasted with the liveliest humour.

The date of 'Twelfth Night' is probably 1600, and its name, which has no reference to the story, doubtless commemorates the fact that it was designed for a Twelfth Night celebration. 'The new map with the augmentation of the Indies,' spoken of by Maria (III. ii. 86), was a respectful reference to the great map of the world or 'hydrographical description' which was first issued with Hakluyt's 'Voyages,' in 1599 or 1600, and first disclosed the full extent of recent explorations of the 'Indies' in the New World and the Old. Like the 'Comedy of Errors,' 'Twelfth Night' achieved the distinction, early in its career, of a presentation at an Inn of Court. It was produced at Middle Temple Hall on February 2, 1601-2, and Manningham, a barrister who was present, described the performance. Manningham wrote that the piece was 'much like the "Comedy of Errors" or "Menechmi" in Plautus, but most like and neere to that in Italian called "Inganni." Two sixteenth-century Italian plays entitled 'Gl' Inganni' ('The Cheats'), and a third called 'Gl' Ingannati' ('The Dupes '), bear resemblance to 'Twelfth Night.' It is just possible that Shakespeare had recourse to the last, which was based on Bandello's novel of Nicuola, and, being first published at Siena in 1538, became popular throughout Italy. But in all probability he drew the story solely from the 'Historie of Apolonius and Silla,' which was related in 'Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession' (1581). The author of that volume, Barnabe Riche, translated the tale either direct from Bandello's Italian novel or from the French rendering of Bandello's work in Belleforest's 'Histoires Tragiques.' Romantic pathos, as in 'Much Ado,' is the dominant note of the main plot of 'Twelfth Night,' but Shakespeare neutralises the tone of sadness by his mirthful portrayal of Malvolio, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Fabian, the clown Feste, and Maria, all of whom are his own creations. The ludicrous gravity of Malvolio proved exceptionally popular on the stage.

In 1601 Shakespeare made a new departure by drawing a plot from North's noble translation of 'Plutarch's Lives.' Plutarch is the king of biographers, and the deference which Shakespeare paid his work by adhering to the phraseology wherever it was practicable illustrates his literary discrimina