As nearly as can be made out, in the year 15S0, Shakespeare, then 22, left the neighborhood of Stratford, and betook himself to London. A local tradition assigns as his reason for doing so a mishap which befell him, and a little imprudence consequent on it. The future poet. it is said, while out on a nocturnal poaching expedition in the deer-park of a neighboring magnate, sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, was caught by the keepers, kept for the night a prisoner, and arraigned before sir Thomas—a justice of peace—in the morning. What passed is not recorded; but—as the old rumor goes— whatever it was, it excited the ire of Shakespeare, wino avenged himself, as a bard natu rally might, by circulating "a bitter ballad" in which the good knight was satirized. A further prosecution was for this irreverence directed against him, to escape which it was that he is said to have fled to Loudon. No anecdote concerning Shakespeare has been more widely accepted than this, or. on the whole, seems better to deserve accept ance. An obvious allusion to the Lucies of Charlecote in the Merry Wires of Windsor, which identifies their coat of arms with that of justice Shallow, would of itself afford strong confirmation of it. Further, Oldys, an antiquary who died in 1761, and had busied himself much about materials for a life of Shakespeare, certifies the story on something like fail' evidence, and gives tire first verse of the obnoxious pasquinade, as remembered in the district. It is more coarse and scurrilous than witty; but inasmuch as it would be easy to adduce passages from the admitted writings of Shakespeare in which the coarseness to at least an equal extent preponderates over the wit, this will scarcely of itself amount to proof that he could not possibly have been its perpetrator. The indisposition which more lately has been shown to attach any credit to the tale, seems to rest entirely on a foolish horror of admitting anything as possible in the con duct of the poet which might any way seem to conflict with the reverence now univer accorded to his genius.
Pig certain details have come down to us as to Shakespeare's earlier relations with the London theater. According to one tradition, he was content at first to turn a penny by holding horses at the door. According to another—which seems in a natural sequence with the foregoing—we find hint admitted inside on his promotion, though as yet only in the humble capacity of prompter's attendant. What is certain in the matter is this, that if at any time he was thus meanly occupied, it could have been only for a brief period, as very speedily we have note of him as a man of some importance, at once dramatist, actor, and shareholder in the Elackfriars theater. As an actor—though we find one contemporary allusion to him as "excellent in the quality he professes "—he seems at no time to have shone especially, being rzuher respectable than eminent. As dramatist, his magnificent powers were at once recognized, and in no long tune had won for hint the very foremost rank among the writers for the stage of his time. The extra ordinary rapidity of his rise is shown in this indubitable reference to him iu Spenser's Tears of the ..liuses, published as early as 1591, only some five years after Shakespeare's arrival iu London: And he, the man whom Nature's self had made To mock herself, and truth to imitate, With kindly counter under mimic shade, Our pleasant 1% ah, is dead of late, .
The reference here has indeed been surmised to point at sir Philip Sidney, by Spenser elsewhere alluded to under the figure of Willy a shepherd; but the surmise is, on various grounds inadmissible. The first two lines have the closest critical pertinence to the character of Shakespeare's genius; us applied to that of Sidney, they are, by compari son, vague and unmeaning. Further, the " mimic shade " in the third line, together
with the whole context of the passage, makes it certain a dramatic writer is alluded to; and this Sidney was not. Moreover, the stanza which follows, wherein of "that same gentle spirit" it is said that he Doth rather choose to sit in idle cell, • Than so himself to mockery to sell, must needs, he held to indicate it man at the time living; and Sidney had died in 1536. The " Ah, is dead of late I" which, literally taken, would suit Sidney, and not Shakes peare, mu-t., in the light of the succeeding couplet, be interpreted as referring to some temporary remission on the part of the latter of his wonted dramatic productiveness; and this, if not otherwise to be accounted for, we might explain by supposing him at this time engaged on his two elaborate poems, Venus and The of Lucrece, published nat long afterward. The year after (1592). we find a contemporary and brother dramatist, Henry Chettle, making the animate to Shakespeare for an offense given, in terms most respectfully appreciatory of his excellences at once as amen and an author; and in 1598. Francis Meres, in his Wit's writes of him as admittedly the " most excellent among the English for both kinds of tragedy and comedy." We have ample evidence besides of the unrivaled acceptance his works obtained front all classes; not only we e they in the wider sense popular, but they brought him special marks of favor mil approval from queen Elizabeth and her snccessoCJames—who is said. to have honored the poet with an " amicable letter." from his own hanil—and pro cured him the patronage and friendship of some of the most accomplished men of rank of the time, more notaLly, Henry Wriothesky. earl of Southampton, to whom lie dedi cated his Venus ant Adonis, and Pape of Luerece ; and William Herbert. earl of Pembroke, commonly held to be the "Mr. W. H." to whom, as their "only begetter," his Sonnets are addressed.
Shakespeare was plainly—as men of consummate genius mostly are—a man of shrewd solid business ability; and throughout, his material prosperity kept pace with the growth of his poetical reputation. He became early, as we saw, it considerable shareholder in the Mier:friars theater. In the Globe, subsequently erected, he was also a part pro prietor. To both 113 contributed dramas, and from his gains in the triple capacity of actor, author, and sharer of the gsnerill profits, he rapidly amassed a fortune. His local attachments were strong. and it seems to have become, as' his wrath increased, one main object of lies ambition to settle himself as a substantial country gentleman in his native district, to which annually he made a visit. We find him, with this view, from tint- to time making purchases there of house and landed property. By and by, his visits to Stratford became more and more frequent; and it. is positively certain that previous to tie.i year 1618,..he had ceased to reside in London, and finally established himself at Strut ford. Of his last. years there spent. further than that they lapsed peace fully iu honor. and the exercise of a liberal and kindly hospitality, nearly nothing is known. There is evidence of his having more or less occupied himself in agricultural pursuits, aml good reason to believe that, though withdrawn from caller active concern ment with time -stage, lie still continued to write for it. His death took place on his 53d birthday, the 21d of April, 1616. In the diary of a Mr. Ward, the vicar of Stratford, writ ing aped 1630, the cause of it is thus given: " Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben .lonson had a merry meeting, and. it seems. drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever then contracted:" hut that of this drinking the poet's death was a consequence is at best a doubtful inference.