Concerning the domestic economy of Shakspeare after his marriage, and the means by which he maintained his family, neither tradition nor record furnish the most distant hint. Nor is the date of his leaving Stratford better ascertained; but it is conjectured, with much plausibility, that it did not take place till after the birth of his twin children. As to the cause of his flight to the metropolis, the common story is, that being detected in robbing the deer park of Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, that gentleman, who was one of the county magistrates, prosecuted him with so much rigour, that he found it necessary to escape out of the boundaries of his influence and jurisdiction. Sir Thomas's spirit of justice, or, as some call it, revenge, is said, on this occasion, to have been stimulated by a ballad written by Shakspeare, of which the following stanza was communicated to Steevens by Mr. Oldys, Norroy King at Arms: "A parliemente member, a justice of peace, At home a poore scare-crowe, at London an asse; He thinks himself greate, Yet an asse in his state We allowe by his ears but with asses to mate. These lines, if really from the pen of Shakspeare, are not calculated to impress his admirers with a favourable idea of his early powers of composition; nor, if the circumstances which are said to have occasioned them be true, can any one regard them otherwise than as the effusion of a sarcastic heart, and of a mind insensible to moral propriety. As our bard, however, both in his writings and in his subsequent life, exemplifies a very opposite character, we are inclined to regard the whole story as fictitious, and to ascribe his removal to London either to natural inclination or to family disagreement, perhaps estrangement from his wife. This notion derives some probability from the neglect of her manifested in his will, and the fact of his not cohabiting with her, or at least having any children by her, after 1584. It is curious also, that an entry occurs in the Stratford register, recording the burial of a child named "Thomas Greene, alias Shakspeare," in 1589-90. The inference of which this circumstance is susceptible must be obvious. The inducement of Shakspeare to resort to the theatre, and his first employment after his arrival in London, are matters no less clouded with obscurity, than the previous incidents of his life. Pope, on the authority of Rowe, who has however omitted the anecdote in his published memoir, says that he became acquainted with the players in consequence of waiting at the theatre door to take charge of the horses of those gentlemen who had no servants: but this story is discredited by Steevens and by Malone; the latter of whom suggests an opinion, that Shakspeare was introduced to theatrical connexion by his townsman and relation, Thomas Green, who was one of the best actors of his day. The office which he first held in the theatre, according to a stage tradition, was that of " call-boy, or prompter's attendant," but this statement is almost as questionable as the legendary tale of Pope. At all events, his continuance in that capacity was of very short duration. Talents like his could not remain long unnoticed or unemployed; but we are inclined to think that he was earlier distinguished as a player than as a dramatic writer. He must have made himself conversant with the machinery of the stage, its language, &c. before he composed even the simplest and least difficult of his plays. We now come to that era in the life of Shakspeare, when he began to write his immortal dramas, and to develope those powers which have rendered him the delight and wonder of successive ages. At the time of his becoming in some degree a public character, we naturally expected to find many anecdotes recorded of his literary history: but by a strange fatality, the same destitution of authentic incidents marks every stage of his life. Even the date at which his first play appeared is unknown; and the greatest uncertainty prevails with respect to the chronological order in which the whole series was exhibited, or published. As this subject was justly considered by Malone to be both curious and interesting, he has appropriated to its examination a long and laborious essay. Chalmers, in his "Supplemental Apology," however, endeavours to controvert Malone's dates, and assigns them to other eras; as specified in the second column below. Malone says, the "First Part of King Henry VI." published in 1589, aud commonly attributed to Shakspeare, was not written by him, though it might receive some corrections from his pen at a subsequent period, in order to fit it for representation. The "Second Part of King Henry VI." this writer contends, ought therefore to be considered as Shakspeare's first dramatic piece; and he thinks that it might be composed about the year 1591, but certainly not earlier than 1590. The other plays of our great dramatist, are placed in the following order of time by him and Chalmers:Third Part of King Henry VI. A Midsummer Night's Dream Comedy of Errors Taming of the Shrew Love's Labour's Lost Romeo and Juliet Hamlet.. King John 1591 1595 1598 1592 1593 1591 1594 1598 1594 1592 Two Gentlemen of Verona 1595 1595 1595 1592 1596 1597 1596 1598 King Richard II. 1597 1596 King Richard III.. 1597 1595 First Part of Henry IV. 1597 1596 Second Part of Henry IV. 1598 1597 Merchant of Venice 1598 1597 All's Well that Ends Well 1598 1599 Timon of Athens Othello... The Tempest Shakspeare, besides his plays, wrote several poetical pieces, viz. "Venus and Adonis," printed in 1593; "The Rape of Lucrece," printed in 1594; "The Passionate Pilgrim," printed in 1599; "A Lover's Complaints," not dated; and a collection of sonnets, printed in 1609. The first and second of these productions our author dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, who is stated, on the authority of Sir William D'Avenant, to have given him a thousand pounds. If this anecdote be really true, it evinces a spirit of liberality and welldirected munificence, which entitles his lordship to the highest rank among the patrons of genius. It shows also that Shakspeare's merits were appreciated by some eminent characters, even in his life-time; a truth which is confirmed by the rapid sale of his poems, and by the attentions which he received from Queen Elizabeth, and her successor King James. The former, says Rowe, had several of his plays acted before her, and "without doubt gave him many gracious marks of her favour." According to the same writer, it was at her desire he composed the Merry Wives of Windsor. King James also was present at the representations of many of his pieces, and is stated by Lintot to have written to him "an amicable letter" with his own hand, and as Dr. Farmer conjectures, in return for the compliment paid him in Macbeth. This letter, though now lost, is said to have remained long in the possession of Sir William D'Avenant. Shakspeare, as already hinted, was an actor as well as a writer of plays, and seems to have taken a share in the representation of many of his own productions. As late as the year 1603, only thirteen years before his death, his name appears among the actors of Ben Jonson's play of Sejanus. Thus it is evident that he continued to perform many years: but of his merits as a player, we find no positive data to found an accurate estimate, and hence there is much diversity of opinion among his commentators. Performers and dramatic authors were not then so closely watched, and fastidiously criticised as in the present age;. indeed diurnal reviewers were then unknown. From some satirical passages in the writings of his contemporaries, he appears not to bave been a favourite actor with the public. His instructions on the subject of acting, however, in Hamlet, are so peculiarly excellent, that we are not a little inclined to suspect that his unpopularity arose rather from the want of taste in his audience, than from the deficiency of theatrical powers in himself. The "science of acting was then only in its infancy; and as he that "strutted and bellowed" most, was probably esteemed the best player, Shakspeare's gentleness would be considered tameness, and his observance of nature ignorance of his art. At what period our poet gave up all personal connexion with the theatre has not been discovered; but it is probable that he retired from it at least three years before his death. Rowe indeed states, that the latter part of his life was spent, as all men of good sense would wish theirs may be, in ease, retirement, and the conversation of his friends." During his dramatic career, he appears to have acquired a share in the property of the Globe Theatre, and to have been joint manager of the same, as his name is mentioned in the licence granted by King James, in 1603, for the exhibition of plays in that house, and in any part of the kingdom. This share he probably sold when he finally retired to Stratford, as it is neither alluded to in his will, nor does his name occur in the accounts of the theatre for 1613. Shakspeare, like most men of pre-eminent talents, is said to have been much assailed by the attacks of envious rivals, notwithstanding that diffidence and good nature were the peculiar characteristics of his personal deport |