and that it has some foundation in truth cannot surely be doubted, notwithstanding what has been argued to the contrary by Malone, whose chief object in writing the Life of our poet was, to shake the credibility of the facts brought forward by Rowe.-There is no mistaking

of genuine, was put into the editor's hands many years ago by an ingenious gentleman (grandson of its preserver) with this account of the way in which it descended to him. Mr. Thomas Jones, who dwelt at Tarbick, a village in Worcestershire, a few miles from Stratford-on-Avon, and dy'd in the year 1703, aged upwards of ninety, remember'd to have heard from several old people at Stratford the story of Shakespeare's robbing Sir Thomas Lucy's park: and their account of it agreed with Mr. Rowe's, with this addition, that the ballad written against Sir Thomas by Shakespeare was stuck upon his park-gate, which exasperated the knight to apply to a lawyer at Warwick to proceed against him. Mr. Jones had put down in writing the first stanza of this ballad, which was all he remember'd of it, and Mr. Thomas Wilkes (my grandfather) transmitted it to my father by memory, who also took it in writing, and his copy is this," &c. Notes and Various Readings, &c. ii. 75.— Except that it has “ lowsie Lucy," &c., Capell's version of the stanza agrees exactly with that given by Oldys. Though it is quite good enough for the occasion, we may hesitate to believe it genuine.— That the entire ballad, said to have been found in a chest of drawers at Shottery, and the two stanzas of a different pasquinade on Sir Thomas Lucy by Shakespeare in Chetwood's Ms. History of the Stage (see Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, ii. 144, 565) are rank forgeries, no one can doubt.

Sing

1863. It appears that a Manuscript Pedigree of the Lucys exists at Charlecote, which contains a note about "the deer-stealing" and its consequences to Shakespeare; but, as far as I can learn, the said note is of comparatively recent date, and therefore of no authority.-I first became aware of the existence of this document from the History of William Shakespeare, &c., by S. W. Fullom,-a most preposterous and disgusting piece of "book-making," which Mrs. Lucy thus mentions in a letter to me, dated August 4th, 1862; "Mr. Fullom had no note whatever from me, or from the Manuscript Pedigree of the Lucys, to justify the absurd and untruthful story he has published in his History of William Shakespeare."

Malone took great pains to prove that Sir Thomas Lucy had no park at Charlecote. He may, however, have had deer; for his son and successor sent a buck as a present to Lord Ellesmere in 1602: see The Egerton Papers (printed for the Camden Society), p. 355.

the allusion to the Lucy family in the opening scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor, where Justice Shallow is highly indignant at Falstaff for having "killed his deer:" Slender informs us that the arms of the Shallows are a "dozen white luces," which the broken English of Sir Hugh Evans transforms into a "dozen white louses."5

Various sets of players, the Queen's company, the servants of Lord Worcester, of Lord Leicester, of Lord Warwick, and of other noblemen, had been in the habit of resorting to Stratford, and usually exhibiting their performances in its Guildhall. Before Shakespeare forsook his home, he had doubtless seen the best dramatic productions, such as they were, represented by the best actors then alive; and it is not unlikely that, his inclination for the theatre having early manifested itself, he had formed an acquaintance with some of the players at Stratford. Even supposing that he was not then under the mortal displeasure of Sir Thomas Lucy, his own circumstances must at the time have been affected by the unprosperous state of his father's affairs:

The coat of Sir Thomas Lucy was "gules, three luces [i.e. pikefishes] hariant, argent." Even Malone is forced to allow that passages of this scene "afford grounds for believing that our author, on some account or other, had not the most profound respect for Sir Thomas Lucy." Life of Shakespeare, p. 142.—1863. Not long ago, a copy of the 4to edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1619, was discovered by Mrs. Lucy among the family records,-the only old edition of any of Shakespeare's plays which has been found at Charlecote.

• The earliest notice of theatrical performances at Stratford is in 1569, when John Shakespeare was bailiff.

The elder Burbadge is believed to have been of a Warwickshire family; and Thomas Greene was certainly our poet's townsman.

it was natural, therefore, that he should have recourse to the theatre as a means of subsistence; and, in all probability, he was nothing loth to exchange the dull uniformity of his original occupation (whatever that was) for the more exciting profession of the stage.

8

His arrival in London may be fixed about the year 1586. According to Rowe, "he was received into the company, at first in a very mean rank;" which agrees with the account given by the old parish-clerk of Stratford to Dowdall' in 1693, that he "was received into the playhouse as a serviture." Another tradition,1o

10

"Here I cannot forbear relating a story which Sir William Davenant told Mr. Betterton, who communicated it to Mr. Rowe; Rowe told it to Mr. Pope, and Mr. Pope told it to Dr. Newton, the late editor of Milton, and from a gentleman [Dr. Johnson], who heard it from him, 'tis here related. Concerning Shakespear's first appearance in the playhouse. When he came to London, he was without money and friends, and being a stranger, he knew not to whom to apply, nor by what means to support himself. At that time, coaches not being in use, and as gentlemen were accustomed to ride to the playhouse, Shakespear, driven to the last necessity, went to the playhouse door, and pick'd up a little money by taking care of the gentlemen's horses who came to the play; he became eminent even in that profession, and was taken notice of for his diligence and skill in it; he had soon more business than he himself could manage, and at last hired boys under him, who were known by the name of Shakespear's boys. Some of the players, accidentally conversing with him, found him so acute, and master of so fine a conversation, that, struck therewith, they [sic] and recommended him to the house, in which he was first admitted in a very low station, but he did not long remain so, for he soon distinguished himself, if not as an extraordinary actor, at least as a fine writer." Lives of the Poets, &c. By Mr. Cibber, 1753, vol. i. 130. (The title-pages of the later volumes have "By Mr. Cibber, and other Hands."-Johnson's assertion (in his Life of Hammond, and in his conversation apud Boswell) that these Lives were written wholly by Robert Shiels is incorrect:-Theophilus Cibber contributed largely to them; see Croker's note on Boswell's Life of Johnson, p. 504, onevolume ed.).—"To the foregoing accounts of Shakespear's life I have

-that he used to hold the horses of those who rode to the theatre without attendants, till the performance was concluded,-is extremely improbable; for we can hardly suppose his situation to have been desperate enough to subject him to so degrading an employment. It is most likely that he gained access to the stage by means of some of the players, with whom he had become acquainted during their visits to Stratford.-But however subordinate may have been his rank at first, he quickly raised himself to distinction: if we now lose sight of him for a period, it is only to meet with him again as a successful actor and a popular dramatist.— There is no proof that he was ever attached to any other company than that which owned the Blackfriars and the Globe, the latter of which was first opened, if not in 1594, early in 1595.

ance.

only one passage to add, which Mr. Pope related, as communicated to him by Mr. Rowe. In the time of Elizabeth, coaches being yet uncommon, and hired coaches not at all in use, those who were too proud, too tender, or too idle to walk, went on horseback to any distant business or diversion. Many came on horseback to the play; and when Shakespear fled to London from the terror of a criminal prosecution, his first expedient was to wait at the door of the playhouse, and hold the horses of those that had no servants, that they might be ready again after the performIn this office he became so conspicuous for his care and readiness, that in a short time every man as he alighted called for Will. Shakespear, and scarcely any other waiter was trusted with a horse while Will. Shakespear could be had. This was the first dawn of better fortune. Shakespear, finding more horses put into his hand than he could hold, hired boys to wait under his inspection, who, when Will. Shakespear was summoned, were immediately to present themselves, I am Shakespear's boy, sir. In time Shakespear found higher employment: but as long as the practice of riding to the playhouse continued, the waiters that held the horses retained the appellation of Shakespear's boys." Johnson's Prolegomena to Shakespeare, 1765.

The following buildings were used for the representation of plays in London between the time of Shakespeare's first arrival there and his final retirement to Stratford it must be understood, however, that some of them were constructed subsequent to his appearance in the metropolis.

The Theatre (so called by distinction) and The Curtain, in Shoreditch; Paris Garden, The Globe, The Rose, The Hope, The Swan, on the Bankside, Southwark; The Blackfriars, near the present site of Apothecaries' Hall; The Whitefriars; The Fortune, in Golden or Golding Lane, St. Giles's, Cripplegate; and The Red Bull, at the upper end of St. John Street. There was also The Newington Butts Theatre, frequented by the citizens during summer.11

Nearly all these buildings, it is probable, were of wood. Those termed (we know not why) private12 theatres were entirely roofed-in from the weather, while the public theatres were open to the sky, except over the stage and galleries. On the outside of each was exhibited a sign indicative of its name; and on the roof, during the time of performance, was hoisted a flag.

Their interior arrangements resembled those of the

The Cockpit, or Phoenix, does not appear to have been converted into a theatre until Shakespeare had finally retired to Stratford.

12 For an account of all the distinguishing marks of private playhouses, see Collier's Hist. of English Dram. Poet. iii. 335.