are perhaps too much undervalued, the drama found a kind and liberal patron. But a few days after his arrival in London, in 1603, he granted to "Lawrence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, and others," the license subjoined in the note.62 Our poet and his associates were then at the head of the Lord Chamberlain's company, performing at the Globe in summer, and at the Blackfriars in winter; for though the former theatre only is noticed in the instrument, it has been shown (p. xli.)

62 "BY THE KING.

"Right trusty and welbeloved Counsellor, we greete you well & will and commaund you, that under our privie Seale in your custody for the time being, you cause our letters to be derected to the keeper of our greate seale of England, commaunding him under our said greate Seale, he cause our letters to be made patents in forme following. James, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, Fraunce, and Irland, defendor of the faith, &c. To all Justices, Maiors, Sheriffs, Constables, Headboroughes, and other our officers and loving subjects greeting Know ye, that we of our speciall grace, certaine knowledge, and meere motion have licensed & authorized, and by these presentes doe licence & authorize, these our servants, Lawrence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemmings, Henrie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowlye, and the rest of their associats, freely to use & exercise the arte and faculty of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes, Moralls, Pastoralls, Stage plaies, and such other like, as thei have already studied, or hereafter shall use or studie, as well for the recreation of our loving subjects, as for our solace and pleasure, when we shall thinke good to see them, during our pleasure. And the said Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Enterludes, Moralls, Pastoralls, Stage plaies, and such like, to shew & exercise publiquely to their best

that Shakespeare and others were employed as early as 1596 on the repairs of the Blackfriars. By virtue of this grant they ceased to be the Lord Chamberlain's company, and were henceforth designated as the King's Players. It should be observed that the name of Shakespeare, which stood fifth in the actors' petition to the Privy Council in 1596, is here placed second; such importance had he acquired in the interval.

The good-natured James is said to have written.

commoditie, when the infection of the plague shall decrease, as well within theire now usuall howse called the Globe, within our county of Surrey, as also within anie towne halls, or mout halls, or other convenient places within the liberties & freedome of anie other citie, universitie, towne, or borough whatsoever within our said realmes and dominions. Willing and commaunding you, and every of you, as you tender our pleasure, not only to permit and suffer them heerin, without any your letts, hinderances or molestations, during our said pleasure, but also to be ayding or assisting to them yf any wrong be to them offered. And to allowe them such former courtesies, as hathe bene given to men of their place and qualitie: and also what further favour you shall shew to these our servants for our sake, we shall take kindly at your hands. And these our letters shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge in this behalfe. Given under our Signet at our mannor of Greenewiche, the seavententh day of May in the first yeere of our raigne of England, France, & Ireland, & of Scotland the six & thirtieth. Ex per Lake."

The above document is a copy of the Privy Seal, preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster, and printed in Collier's Hist. of English Dram. Poet. i. 348. The Patent under the Great Seal, in Rymer's Fadera, bears date, two days later, from Westminster.

D

63

with his own hand "an amicable letter" to our poet; 6 perhaps, as Farmer conjectures, in consequence of the compliment to the Stuart family in the tragedy of Macbeth.

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.65

63 "That most learned prince, and great patron of learning, King James the First, was pleased with his own hand to write an amicable letter to Mr. Shakespeare; which letter, though 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,
But knowledge makes the king most like his maker."

64" And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,
Which shows me many more; and some I see,
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:
Horrible sight! Now I see 'tis true;

For the blood bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his."

Act iv. sc. 1.

65" From a paper now before me, which formerly belonged to Edward Alleyn, the player, our poet [Shakespeare]

66

Besides the patronage of the munificent Southampton, that of the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery appears to have been extended to Shakespeare. Of his intimacies with those in his own rank of life, we knew but little. His fellow-players, Heminges, Burbage, Condell, and Phillips, possessed a portion of his esteem. With Beaumont and Fletcher 68 he was on very friendly terms. That a sincere regard subsisted

67

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 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 documents.

66 See the Players' Dedication of the first folio, 1623; but what degree of patronage these two noblemen showed to Shakespeare we are ignorant.

67 See the Wills of Shakespeare and Phillips.

68 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. [Mr. Dyce has altered his opinion since he wrote this note. See his Beaumont and Fletcher, p. lxxxii. of the Memoir.]

between him and Ben Jonson, will never again be doubted, after the masterly Memoir of the latter from Mr. Gifford's trenchant pen." 69 It is indeed 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." 70 The com

69 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.

70 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,