be with yow and with us all, Amen! ffrom the Bell in Carter Lane, the 25. October 1598. Yowrs in all kyndenes, Ryc. Quyney. To my loveinge good ffrend and con treyman Mr. Wm. Shackespere deliver thees." The next quotation is the beginning of a letter dated Nov. 4th, 1598, written by Abraham Sturley at Stratford, "to his most lovinge brother, Mr. Richard Quinei, att the Bell in Carter lane att London :" "All health, happines of suites and wellfare, be multiplied unto u and ur labours in God our Father bi Christ our Lord! "Ur letter of the 25. of Octobr came to mi handes the laste of the same att night per Grenwai, which imported a stai of suites by Sr. Ed. Gr. [Edward Greville's] advise, untill, &c. and that onli u should followe on for tax and sub. presentli, and allso ur travell and hinderance of answere therein, bi ur longe travell and thaffaires of the Courte: and that our countriman Mr. Wm. Shak. would procure us monei, wc. I will like of, as I shall heare when and wheare and howe; and I prai let not go that occasion, if it mai sorte to ani indifferent condicions. Allso that if monei might be had for 30 or 401., a lease, &c. might be procured. Oh howe can u "The borough of Stratford at this time were soliciting the Lord Treasurer Burghley to be exempted from the subsidies imposed in the last Parliament, on the plea of poverty and distress occasioned by two recent fires." Malone's Life of Shakespeare, Appendix (note), p. 569. make dowbt of monei, who will not beare xxx.tie or xl.s. towardes sutch a match!" At the Carlton Ride Record Office is preserved a subsidy roll, dated October 1st, 1598, which shows that our poet was at that period assessed on property in the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate : 66 "Affid. William Shakespeare, vli.—xiijs. iiijd.”9 Ben Jonson himself records that his Every Man in his Humour was originally played in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's Servants; and in a list of the principal comedians" which is subjoined to it (but does not enable us to appropriate the characters to the actors respectively), the name of Shakespeare stands first.10 — That a sincere friendship existed between Shakespeare and Jonson will never again be doubted after the excellent memoir of the latter by Gifford ;11 , • Mr. Halliwell thinks that "the memorandum affid. attached to his name may possibly exhibit him as one of the parties who did not live in the district, and were consequently compelled to produce certificates or affidavits of non-residence. If the poet ever did reside in that part of London, it must only have been for a very short period." Life of Shakespeare, p. 153, folio ed. 10 He probably acted Old Knowell. It is, however, right 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 Gifford's edition of Jonson's Works. As Jonson had no claim to the epithet which he as well as others have applied to our poet,-"gentle,"-it may be presumed that the fault was his, if any thing ever occurred to ruffle for a time the friendship between him and Shakespeare: and I am hardly disposed to agree with Gifford (Memoirs of Ben Jonson, p. lx.) that in the following passage the word "purge" alludes merely to the effects of Shakespeare's overpowering genius: "Kemp. Few of the vniuersity pen plaies well; they smell too much and, indeed, it is surprising that the alleged enmity of Jonson towards Shakespeare should not have had an earlier refutation, especially as Jonson's writings exhibit the most unequivocal testimony of his affectionate admiration of Shakespeare. A more glowing eulogy than the verses To the memory of MY BELOVED, the author, Mr. William Shakespeare, was never penned; and one of the latest of Jonson's labours contains these words concerning him, "I loved the man, and do honour his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any." "12 of that writer Ovid, and that writer Metamorphosis, and talke too much of Proserpina and Juppiter. Why, heres our fellow Shakespeare puts them all downe; I, and Ben Jonson too. O, that Ben Jonson is a pestilent fellow: he brought vp Horace giuing the poets a pill; but our fellow Shakespeare hath giuen him a purge that made him beray his credit." The Returne from Pernassus, &c. Publiquely acted by the Students in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge, 1606, Sig. G 2. (Though not printed till 1606, it was acted before the death of Queen Elizabeth.) The entire notice of 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, that sometimes it was necessary he should be stopped: Sufflaminandus erat, as Augustus said of Haterius. His wit was in his own power: would the rule of it had been so too! Many times he fell into those things could not escape laughter as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, 'Cæsar, thou dost me wrong,' he replied, 'Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause,' and such like; which were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned." Discoveries,—Works, ix. 175, ed. Gifford. (Again, According to Rowe, 13 Shakespeare's “acquaintance with Ben Johnson began with a remarkable piece of humanity and good nature: Mr. Johnson, who was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of his plays to the players, in order to have it acted; and the persons into whose hands it was put, after having turned in The Induction to The Staple of News, Jonson makes Prologue say, "Cry you mercy, you never did wrong but with just cause. Works, v. 162,-where Gifford observes; "The attacks on Jonson for this quotation, which are multiplied beyond credibility, are founded on two charges, first, that he has falsified the passage, and secondly, that he was actuated by malignity in adverting to it at all. I cannot believe that the passage is 'quoted (as Steevens says) unfaithfully.' It is sufficient to look at it in the printed copy, to be convinced that it never came, in this form, from the pen of Shakespeare. One of the conspirators, Metellus Cimber by name, kneels at the feet of Cæsar, with this short address, 'Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat An humble heart.' And what is Cæsar's reply? 'Know Cæsar doth not wrong, nor without cause Will he be satisfied.' [Julius Cæsar, act iii. sc. 1.] How satisfied, and of what? Here is no congruity, and the poetry is as mean as the sense. In Jonson it stands thus: 'Met. Cæsar, thou dost me wrong. Cæs. Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause.' Here is, at least, a reference to something. The fact seems to be, that this verse, which closely borders upon absurdity without being absolutely absurd, escaped the poet in the heat of composition," &c. Gifford subsequently expresses his conviction that the passage, as printed in the folio of 1623, is the "botchery" of the players.-Let me add (for it may escape the reader) that Gifford supposes Shakespeare to have written thus; "If thou dost bend, and pray, and fawn for him, I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. Met. Cæsar, thou dost me wrong. Caes. Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause. Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my own," &c.) 13 Life of Shakespeare. it carelessly and superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an ill-natured answer, that it would be of no service to their company, when Shakespeare luckily cast his eye upon it, and found something so well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Johnson and his writings to the publick." This anecdote, 14-like many other traditionary stories,-is perhaps in some respects erroneous; but there seems to be nothing which forbids our believing it to be based on truth.-Private dwellings in those days did not furnish the accommodations and comforts which they now afford; and conviviality was confined almost entirely to taverns and ordinaries. At the Mermaid Tavern, Sir Walter Raleigh had instituted 15 a club, which included among its members Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, Selden, Donne, and others eminent for genius and learning. That Shakespeare also belonged to it we can hardly question; and there most 14 Gifford treated it as 66 'an arrant fable," on the strength of a notice in Henslowe's Diary, of "the comodey of Umers" having been originally acted by the Lord Admiral's Men in 1597,-which comedy Gifford supposed to have been Jonson's Every Man in his Humour: but Jonson (as before mentioned) expressly states that his play was first acted by the Lord Chamberlain's Servants in 1598; and therefore Mr. Collier (Life of Shakespeare, p. clxvi. sqq.) concludes that Henslowe's notice must refer to some other piece. 15 About 1603, if Gifford be right (Memoirs of Jonson, p. lxv.).—The Mermaid Tavern is generally said to have been in Friday-street: but, as Mr. P. Cunningham observes (Handbook of London), "Ben Jonson has settled its locality" by a passage in his lines On the famous voyage; "At Bread-street's Mermaid having din'd, and merry, Works, viii. 242, ed. Gifford. |