7^" 
 
 ^O 
 
 ^V 
 
932. 
 G.42S 
 
iyyyu^ 
 
 
 A N 
 
 A P O L O G Y 
 
 FOR 
 
 Tie BELIEVERS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SHAKSPEARE -PAPERS, 
 
 WHICH .WERE EXHIBITED 
 
 In NORFOLK-STREET. 
 
 -TI'I ALTERUM INCUSAT PROBRI, EUM IPSUM SE INTUERI 
 OPORTET. PLAUT. 
 
 AND IN THE REP'POOF OF THIS [Fn^uhy] LIES THE JEST. 
 
 POINS. 
 
 L O N D O N.-^ 
 rrlntsd for THOMAS EGERTON, Whitehafl. 
 
 17 97- 
 
THE 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 IF Mr. Malone, in his zsal for detecting the M':fcellaneous 
 Papers^ which were exhibited as Shakfpeare's j and 
 yrhich, with little help from others, had already deteded 
 themfelvesj had written, inftead of his iNqyiRY, a pamphlet 
 in plain profe', ftating his objections, without irony, and 
 fubmitting his documents, without fcofFs ; thereby impugn- 
 ing fraud, without afTerting fik9;ion, and convincing op- 
 ponents, without roufing adverfaries ; no one would have 
 anfwered what few would have read; fmce a cheat ex- 
 ploded is a cheat no more. 
 
 But, in his high-blown pride, he was little folicitous 
 to diflemble his free contempt for thofe, who, for a time, 
 thought differently from him on difputable points; while 
 tl^ey w^re influenced by reafonings, which will not foon be 
 confuted. He was, by thofe motives, induced to fcatter 
 Jiis wilful abufe^ with a ready pen, throughout his Inquiry^ 
 againft thofe, whom he terms " partizans of fraud,'* 
 *^ ringleaders of impofition,-' " hardened offenders ;" thus, 
 turning his pens to lances ; and, by a fcornful rhime^ en- 
 deavouring to make their names fixed figures for the time 
 cf f corny to point his flow unmoving finger at* Amidfl this 
 iempejl of provocation^ he fent them a roijling challenge to 
 defend, or retra6t, their opinions; thinkhig, doubtlcfs, to 
 fir ike amazement to their drowfy fpirits. 
 
 The Believers, indeed, felt, that extremity is the trier of 
 fpirits* Neverthelefs ; as men attacked, they merely a<5l on 
 
 the 
 
iv Tri-E ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 the dcfenfive, in making this Apology ; as Englifhmen, who 
 had received many a blow, they, in their dejperate turriy 
 barely fend back his arrows, but without their venom; and 
 as fcholars, antiquaries, and heralds, they only aft agree- 
 ably to their charter^ and their cujiomary rightSy when they 
 refifl the tyranny of a Dictator in the republic of letters j 
 without vindicating the Mifcellaneous PaperSy which they 
 acknowledge to be fpurious : yet ; they do not admit Mi*, 
 Malone's principle, that our whole Archaology may be mif- 
 reprefented, for the purpofe of detecting a literary fraud ; 
 nor, do they allow,' that the faid republic ought to be in- 
 vaded in its limits, or difturbed in its quiet, by his dif- 
 charge of this inundation of mijlempered humour y for the gra- 
 tification of an indifcreet zeal. 
 
 They will only add what Johnfon remarked of Hanmer": 
 
 But, I MAY, WITHOUT INDECENCY, OBSERVE, THAT 
 
 no man should attempt to teach what he has 
 never learned himself. 
 
 [Macbeth, mdccxlv.] 
 
 Postscript : 
 
 The ftamp in the Title-page fhows to the curious eye 
 the arms of the Revels : and, the Tail-piece exhibits to 
 the inquifitive dramatift tlie fcal of the oilice of the Revels,^ 
 during the reigns of five fovereigns, under the Killi- 
 
 GREWS. 
 
5^ 
 
 A N 
 
 APOLOGY 
 
 FOR T H 
 
 BELIEVERS 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 SH AKS PEAR E- PAPERS. 
 
 I HAVE the honour to appear at the bar 
 of this critical (a) court ; in order to fliew 
 caufe, why an information fhall not be filed, 
 by the public accufer, againft the believers, 
 of the papers, which have been attributed 
 to Shakfpeare, for having committed the 
 aggravated crimes of being *^ the credulous 
 " partizans of folly and {i?) impofture 5'' of 
 thinking for themfelves ; and judging from 
 
 (a) See the Sejfton of the Poets^ in the State Poems^ '^7^3> 
 vol. i. p. 206. 
 
 Apollo, concern'd to fee the tranfgreffions. 
 That our paultry fcribblers daily commit. 
 
 Gave orders once more to Aimmon a feffions. 
 Severely to punifh the abufes of wit. 
 
 (i) Mai. Inquiry, 366. 
 
 B evidence/ 
 
2 j/// APOLOGY [The General 
 
 evidence. I am not, however, inftrudled by 
 thofe believers, who certified, under their 
 hands, the genuinenefs of thdfe Shakfpeari- 
 ana : Nor, am I inftruded by thofe believers, 
 who retain their original belief to the prefent 
 day. Such being the parties ; . I will proceed, 
 if this court will grant me its indulgent at- 
 tention, and favour me with its accuftomed 
 patience, to ihow caufe why an information 
 fhould not be filed againft thofe believers, who, 
 claiming the right of fair difcufllon, and of 
 free exemption from the authority of a dic- 
 tator, within the republic of letters, are am- 
 bitious of appearing in this enlightened pre- 
 fence, without being deemed " fome untu- 
 " tor'd youths, unfkilful in the world's falfe 
 ** forgeries/* 
 
 §1 
 
 The general ARGUMENT. 
 
 Of Shakspeare, it cannot be afl^erted, as 
 of conquerors, in every period, that ie left a 
 name, at which the world grew pale. Shak- 
 fpeare was the delight of his own time ; and 
 became the admiration of after-ages. He was 
 born on the 23d of April 1564, a day, pro- 
 pitious to genius, fortunate for our ifland, and 
 7 ' happy 
 
Argument.] /br /hg BELIEVERS. J 
 
 happy for mankind. He was produced in the 
 gay feafon of nature, during a refplendent 
 reign of genius and talents. Nor, did Shak- 
 fpeare conteft the palm of poetry with " puny 
 •^ powers :'* He rofe to the higheft emi- 
 nence, after a ftrenuous competition with fome 
 of the greateft poets, which any clime liad 
 produced, in any age. The nation, at length, 
 claimed him as her own. And, Engliihmen, 
 when they travelled amongft the lettered in- 
 habitants of the Continent, valued themfelves, 
 and were valued by others, as the countrymen 
 of Shakfpeare. Whoever, then, offers a pur- 
 pofed diflionour to Shakfpeare, commits a 
 national offence. And he, who defignedly 
 publiflies fpurious papers, as the real produc- 
 tions of Shakfpeare, does him real diflio- 
 nour. I am, therefore, ready to admit, that 
 the partizans of fuch *' folly and impof- 
 ture," if fuch there be, ought to be proceed- 
 ed againft, in this court, as 
 
 « ^^^^ againft feats, 
 
 " So crimeful, and fo capital in nature. 
 
 Yet, he, who aiTumes the charader of a 
 public accufer, ought not to commit crimeful 
 feats himfelf. From him, fairnefs of pro- 
 ceeding, whilfl detecfling foulnefs, and candour 
 of reprefentation, whilft profecuting impofi- 
 
 B 2 tion. 
 
4 ^« APOLOGY [The General 
 
 tion, were to be exped;ed (r). Of all others, 
 he ought not to accufe thofe, whom he has 
 himfelf led to the tranfgreffion : Pie ought 
 not, in this equitable court, to take advantage 
 of his own wrongs in moving for an informa- 
 tion againft them j who, in forming their 
 judgment of the authenticity of the Mifcel^ 
 laneous Papers^ which were offered to their 
 tranfient infpedlion, as the genuine writings 
 of Shakfpeare, only drew a fair deduction 
 from the previous arguments of the public 
 accufer : He had diligently fliown [d) that, 
 in the archives of Shakfpeare*s defcen- 
 dants, fome of his fragments may yet be 
 found; and from this information, the be- 
 lievers inferred, that thefe might probably 
 be the expedted fragments : The public ac* 
 
 (^) The candour of Mr. Malone began to {lumber in the 
 fixth page of his Inquiry. By fupprefling the qualifying 
 words of the Prefacer to the " Miscellaneous Papers," 
 namely, " As far as he has been able to collect the fenti- 
 •^ meats of the before-mentioned menoftafte, antiquaries, 
 " and heralds,*' the public accufer has given that qua- 
 lified aflertion of unanimity an untrue diredlion; and thereby 
 mifreprefented the Prefacer, and confequently injured the 
 men of tafte, antiquaries, and heralds, who had infpe^ted th(* 
 papers, and had delivered their fentiments, with a greater, or 
 SI lefs, degree of referve. 
 
 {(i) Shakf. Edit. 1790, vol. i. p. 41. 
 
 cufer 
 
AiTGUMENT.] for the BELIEVERS. j 
 
 cufer had aiftually publiflied the declaration of 
 faith ofjohn Shakjpeare, which had been dif- 
 covered in the houfe of {e) Shakfpeare; and 
 the beUcvers, when they beheld Shakfpeare' s 
 profejjion of faiths naturally concluded that, 
 in a religious age, a pious poet might have 
 followed the example of his fathers. Mr. 
 Malone ftill (y) infifks, that fragments of 
 Shakfpeare may even now be found; becaufe 
 every circumftancc about that illuftrious poet 
 has been difcovered, either by the efforts of 
 diligence, or by the accidents of chance : Yet, , 
 he feoffs at thofe '* profound fcholars, anti- 
 quaries, and heralds," who are fo credulous 
 as to believe upon his predictions ; and, how- 
 ever difappointed by his declarations, and re-* 
 
 tradions ; ' 
 
 ^' Yet hope, would fain fubfcribe, and tempt belief/ 
 The literary world had not been troubled 
 with the feoffs of Mr. Malone, had his can- 
 dour of inquiry, and powers of ratiocination, 
 been equal to his activity of refearch ; becaufe 
 he would have fe^n, that the fad:s, which he 
 had, with diligence, afcertained, led inquifitive 
 men to infer from, them, that much was flill 
 
 {e) lb. vol. ii. p. 298. 
 
 (/} Advertifement, annexed to his Inquiry. 
 
 B3 to 
 
€ ^« APOLOGY [The General 
 
 to be found, with regard to Shakfpeare, by 
 iimilar diligence, and lucky accidents. The 
 acSive editor had thus fhewn, that Shak- 
 fpeare died, at the age of fifty- two, on the 
 23d of April 1 6 16 5 leaving his daughter 
 Sufanna, and her hufband, Doftor John Hall, 
 his executors: Now, the will demonftrates, 
 that he died poflefled of baubles, gewgaws, 
 and toys to mock apes. Dodtor Hall died, 
 on the 25th of November 1635^ leaving a 
 nuncupative will, whereby he bequeathed his 
 library, and manufcripts, to Thomas Nafh, 
 who had married his daughter, Elizabeth: 
 Here, then, is fufficient proof, that Dodlor 
 Hall, the executor of Shakfpeare, left a library, 
 and manufcripts, behind him. Sufanna, the 
 widow of Dodtor Hall, and the daughter of 
 Shakfpeare, adminiftered on his eftate, and 
 lived to the nth of September 1649. 
 Thomas Nafh, who married Elizabeth, the 
 daughter of Dodor Hall, died on the 4th of 
 April 1647, without ifllie, by the grand* 
 daughter of Shakfpeare ; but appointed her his 
 executrix, and refiduary legatee. After marry- 
 ing Sir John Barnard, Elizabeth Nafli died at 
 Abington, about the 1 7th of February 1 669-70, 
 in full pofleffion oi Newp/ace, her grandfather's 
 
 dwelling ^ 
 
Argvment.] /^r /^^ belie vers. jp^ 
 
 dwelling; and left her kinfman, Edward 
 Bagley, fole executor of her will. Sir 
 John, who feems not to have been very proud 
 of the honours of his unfruitful marriage with 
 Shakfpeare's grand- daughter, died in March 
 1 67I j and dying without a will, adminiftra- 
 tion was granted en his eftate the 7th of No- 
 vember 1674, to Henry Gilbert of Locko, 
 in the county of Derby, w^ho had married his 
 daughter Elizabeth, by a former marriage. 
 In this fatisfadory manner, has Mr. Malone 
 traced dov/n, from the public records, the 
 legal tranfmiffion of the perfonal property of 
 Shakfpeare's defcendants, including his books 
 and papers, to a recent period (^). And from 
 this accurate hiftory, he reafonably infers, 
 that amongft the defcendants of Bagley, or 
 of Barnard, fome fragments of Shakfpeare 
 may even yet be found, if curiofity would 
 prompt diligence to fearch the repofitories of 
 concealment. Thus fuccefsful was Mr. Ma- 
 lone, in awakening attention, and railing 
 hope. When the believers look back upon 
 the part, and forward to the future, they may 
 
 (g) Vid. Mai. Shakf. 1 790, vol. i. p. 1 23- 1 39, in the 
 Notes on the Life of Shakfpeare. 
 
 B 4 obferve. 
 
'« ^ -^« APOLOGY [The General 
 
 obferve, with Shakfpeare, on the fcore of 
 expefted fragments ; 
 
 « The r^y 
 
 <'That are within the note of ^xpeSIation^ 
 
 « Already are i* th' court." 
 
 From the appearance of Mr, Malone's 
 
 Shakfpeare^ in 1700, • 
 
 *' — Every moment was expeSfancy of more arrwcinceJ** 
 In fadl, difcovery fucceeded difcovery, with the 
 natural re-produdlion of the feafons. Every 
 admirer of Shakfpeare was ambitigus to pof- 
 fefs fome reUck. Mr. Malone, with the good 
 fuccefs, which generally attends beft endea- 
 vours, obtained documents enough to fill a 
 folio. Meantime, a painting of Shakfpeare 
 was found; the very painting, as it feems, 
 that enabled Droefliout to engrave *^ the fi- 
 '* gure of Shakfpeare," which was prefixed 
 to the folio editions of his dramas 3 and of 
 which Ben Jonfon affirmed, that, 
 
 " the graver had a ftrife 
 
 « With nature to outdo the life.'* 
 
 The oaken board, whereon the gentle Shak- 
 fpeare is pourtrayed; the infcription of the 
 poet's name, by a contemporary hand ; the 
 correfponding likenefs between the original 
 painting and the exifting print of Droefliout ; 
 the corroborating evidence of Ben Jonfon, 
 
 who 
 
Argument.] for //^^ B E L I E V E R S. ^ 
 
 who had compared " the figure" with the 
 man ; all conc*ir to evince the genuinenefs of 
 this ancient painting. Were we to confider 
 the argument^ without indulging prepoffeffion, 
 or referring to connoiffeurs, the authenticity 
 would be readily acknowledged by all judges 
 of evidence, except indeed by thofe, " who al- 
 ** \o\v to pojibilities the influence of fads" (/6). 
 Yet, Mr. Malone perfeveres, in grappling to 
 his heart, with hooks of fieely ** the unauthenti- 
 *^ cated purchafe of Mr. Keck, from the 
 ^* drefiing-room of a modern adlrefs:" For, 
 it is a part of his philofophy to allow to poj/i--. 
 bilities the infiiience of fa els. 
 
 While the admirers of Shakfpeare were 
 worfhiping the God of their idolatry y in Caftle- 
 ftreet, a new difcovery of Shakspeariana 
 was announced, in Norfolk -ftreet. Curiofity 
 was again roufed i and once more gratified, in 
 a greater, or a lefs, proportion ; as zeal was fa- 
 tisfied, or frigidity warmed. Whether i/ij/^^rjr, 
 and Credulity y be coufins in the firft, or fecond, 
 degree, mufi: be left to the decifion of thofe 
 critics, " who have read Alexander Rofs 
 " over." It is fufficient for me to maintain, 
 that the rational believers navigated their 
 northern bark, on this Argonautic expedition, 
 
 {h) See Mr. Steevens's Satisfactory DilTertation, in the 
 European Mag. October 1794, &c, 
 
 with 
 
«o Jn A ? O L O G ^ [TheGene»ai, 
 
 with fcientliic ikill ; fhunning the Charybdis 
 of credulity, or the one quarter^ and the Scylla 
 of fufpicion, on the other. 
 
 To the inquiiitive fearehers after truthy the 
 great ohjed of their ijoyage, there were pro- 
 duced title-deeds ; written aiTurances, and re-^ 
 ceipts ; letters of royal, and noble, perfonages ; 
 lignatures, and writings, of Shakfpeare ; and, 
 with other documents, engravings of drama- 
 tic charad:ers. In order to fatisfy themfelves 
 of the authenticity of thofe Shakfpeariana, 
 they applied to them, in forming their judg- 
 ments, the fame rules of evidence, which di- 
 ie(5l: the affairs of iifci which govern in the 
 diftribution of juftice ; which comfort in the 
 momentous concerns of religion. In thefe 
 interefting objeds, mankind ad only on cal- 
 culations of probability ; difrcgarding pojjibili^ 
 ties. From the never- failing recurrence of the 
 feafons, m.en naturally expe£l the ufual fuccef- 
 fion of the fpring to the winter, of fummer 
 to the fpring, of autumn to the fummer, and 
 of winter to the autumn, attended with their 
 happy effedts, in the accuftomed order: Hence, 
 mankind reafonably exped, that the events, 
 wliich ufually happen, will probably happen 
 again : And, as recent difcoveries had fhewn, 
 that fragments of Shakfpeare, having lately 
 been found, were likely again to be met with, 
 
 in 
 
Argument.] for the BELIEVERS. :*f 
 
 in the courfe of refearch ; the inquirers after 
 truth logically inferred, that they had difco- 
 vered, in thofe Shakfpeariana, the objeds of 
 their fearch -, believing, with Beattie, " that 
 ** things are, as our fenfes reprefent them" (/). 
 On thefe principles of common fenfe, which 
 induce us, in matters of evidence, to truft to our 
 hearing, feeing, touching, tailing, and fmell* 
 ing, men, women, and children, ad: in 
 ** daily life;" regarding ^rd?/^^/^////)/ j and difre- 
 garding poJJibUity. Never was any man pre- 
 vented from buying a houfe ; becaufe it was 
 objedled, that it would, pojjiblyy fall ; know- 
 ing, from the viev/ thereof, that it would, pro-- 
 bablyy ftand, during the intended period of its 
 duration. Never was any woman flopped 
 from gadding, in queft of pleafure, by an ob- 
 jedlion of the pojjibility of meeting with mis- 
 fortune ; becaufe (he inferred, from the ready 
 calculation of probabilities^ that, having al- 
 ways returned fafe from iimilar excurfions, 
 fhe fiiould again return, without meeting with 
 misfortune. Never was any child hindered 
 from play, by warnings of danger ; becaufe 
 he knew, from the probabilities of his boyifli 
 experience, that having often played, without 
 jbarm, there was but little probability of harm. 
 
 (/) EfTay on Truth, 63. 
 
 It 
 
Itft ^//APOLOGY [The General 
 
 •It is, then, from xKi^ probability y the refult of 
 experience, that mankind calculate, with intui- 
 tive promptitude, the probabilities of daily life; 
 without troubling themfelves with the pojjihi- 
 titles of accidental occurrences : And, there- 
 fore, the fearchers after truth calculated the 
 probabilities of truth, or of falfehood, in favour 
 of die Shakfpeariana ; knowing, that the poffi- 
 bility of fraud was a weak objection, which 
 proceeded either from prepoffeffion, or in- 
 difference, the great obftructers of free in- 
 quiry. 
 
 On thofe principles, our courts of juftice 
 adminifter right to contending parties. The 
 judges,, knowing, that controverfies could ne- 
 yer be determined, if pojfibility of error were 
 admitted as an objedion to the progrefs of 
 juftice, diftribute law, and equity, from the 
 probabilities of truth ; and, when they have 
 obliged the complainants to produce the beft 
 evidence, which the nature of the cafe will 
 admit, and which is in the power of the party 
 to give, proceed to a decilion, on a probable 
 prefumption of right ; being warned by ex- 
 perience, that demonftration feldom attends 
 the adminiftration of juftice, whatever any one 
 may fee, with jaundiced eye, or apprehend, 
 from perverted underftanding. This was the 
 
 opinion 
 
Argument.] for th BE LIE V E K S, if 
 
 opinion of the Lord Chief Baron Gilbert, 
 the great mafter of the law of evidence; 
 though the public accufer has mifreprefented 
 his fentiments, by fuppreffing his context. 
 With the leaye of this court, I will tranfcribc 
 into the note the whole [k) paflage ; in order to 
 
 do 
 
 (^) The following pafTage is tranfcribed from the fourth 
 Edition of The Lazv of Evidence^ corrected, p. I.— 5. 
 
 « The firft thing," fays the Chief Baron Gilbert, « to 
 <' be treated of, is the evidence, that ought to be offered to 
 " the jury, and by what rules of Probability it ought 
 " to be weighed, and confidered. — ^In the firft place, it has 
 ** been confidered by a very learned man (Mr. Locke) 
 " that there are feveral degrees, from perfedt certainty and 
 *' demonftration, quite down to improbability, and unlike- 
 *' linefs, even to the confines of impofiibility ; and there 
 *' are feveral a(5ts of the mind proportioned to thefe de^ 
 *« grees of evidence, which may be called the degrees 
 *' of afi^ent, from full aflurance, and confidence, quite 
 «' down to conje£lure, doubt, diftruft, and difbelief. — 
 <« Now, what is to be done, in all trials of right, is 
 " to range all matters in the fcale of Probability; fa 
 " as tt) lay moft weight, where the caufe ought to pre- 
 " ponderate ; and thereby, to make the moft exa6i: dif- 
 " cernment, that can be, in relation to the right,-— • 
 " Now, to come to the true knowledge of the nature of 
 « Probability, it is neceflary to look a little higher, 
 " and to fee what certainty is, and whence it arifes, 
 
 ^' —All certainty is a clear and diftin6t perception, and 
 *' all clear and diftindl perceptions depend upon a man's 
 " own proper fenfes : For, this, in the firft place is cer- 
 « tain, and that, which we cannot dpubt of, if we would, 
 
 " that 
 
t4 u/« A P O L O G Y [The General 
 
 do juftlce to that learned judge ; to confute 
 
 his opponent; and to fupport the truth. 
 
 Thus 
 
 ** that one perception, or idea, is not andther ; that one maii 
 " is not another : and, when perceptions are thus diftin- 
 " guifned on the firft view, it is called felF evidence, or 
 « intuitive knowledge. — There are fome other things, 
 ** whofe agreement, or diiFerence, is not known on the 
 «* view ; and then we compare them by the means of fome 
 " third matter, by which we come to meafure their agree- 
 «^ ment, difagreement, or relation. — As if the queftion be, 
 <« whether certain land be the land of J. S. or J. N. and 
 " a record be produced, whereby the land appears to be 
 <' transferred from J. S. to J. N : Now, when we (hew 
 « any fuch third perception, and that doth neceflarily 
 *^ infer the relation in queftion, this is called knowledge by 
 ^' demon ftration. The way of knowledge by necefTary in- 
 << ference is certainly the highefl: and cleareft: knowledge, 
 '^ that mankind is capable of in his way of reafoning ; and 
 '*- therefore, always to be fought, when it may be had. — 
 *' Demonftration is generally converfant about permanent 
 *' things, which being conftantly obvious to our fenfes, do 
 " afford to them a very clear, and diftin6l comparifon - 
 **• But, tranfient things, that cannot always occur to our 
 <' fenfes, are generally more obfcure ; becaufe they have no 
 " conftant being, but muft be retrieved by memory, and 
 " recollecSlion. — Now, moft: of the buHnefs of civil life 
 " fubfifts on the ailions of men, that are tranfient things ; 
 " and therefore oftentimes are not capable of ftri£t demon- 
 ** ftration, which, as I faid, is founded on the view of our 
 ** fenfes ; and therefore, the rights of men mujl he determined 
 •< by Probability. — Now, as all demonftration is founded 
 " on the view of a man*s own proper fenfes, by a gradation 
 *' of clear and diftiniTt perceptions ; Kb all Probability 
 ** is founded upon obfcure and indiflin6l views, or upon 
 
 *' report 
 
ArcuMENT.] for the BELIEVE R S. 15 
 
 Thus clear, and fatisfadlory is the. Lord Chief 
 Baron Gilbert, when his opinion is quoted, 
 as it ought to be, with the context, which 
 exhibits to the eye, and irnpreiles on the un- 
 derftanding, a very different train of reafon- 
 
 mg 
 
 « report from the fight of others. — ^Now, this, In the firfl 
 *' place is very plain, that when we cannot hear, or fee, any 
 " thing ourfelves, and yet are obliged to make a judgment 
 «< of it, we mufi: fee and hear by report from others ; which 
 " is one ftep further from demonftration, which is founded 
 " upon the view of our fenfes ; and yet, tliere is that faith 
 « and credit to be given to the honefty and integrity of 
 *' credible and difmterefted witnefTes, attefting any f^B: 
 " under the folemnitles and obligations of religion, and the 
 " dangers and penalties of perjury, that the mind equally 
 *^ acquiefces therein, as on a knowledge by demonftration : 
 " For, it cannot have any more reafon to be doubted than if 
 *' we ourfelves had heard and feen it: And this is the original 
 " of trials, and all manner of evidence. — The iirft, 
 " therefore, and moft fignal rule, in relation to evidence, 
 " is this, that a man muft have the utmoft evidence, the 
 ** nature of the fa61: is capable of: For, the deCign of the 
 " law is to come to rigid demonftration in matters of right, 
 ** and there can be no demonftration of a fa(5t, without the 
 « beft evidence, that the nature of the thing is capable of: 
 " Lefs evidence doth but create opinion and furmife, and 
 ** does not leave a man the entire fatisfaction, that arifes 
 •* from demonftration : For, if it be plainly (qcci in the na- 
 ** ture of a tranfa^tion, that there is fome more evidence, 
 " that doth not appear, the very not producing it is a pre- 
 ** fumption that, it would have detected fomething more 
 " than appears already ; and therefore the mind does not 
 « acquiefce in any thing lower than the utmoft evidence, 
 ** that the fa£t is capable of/' 
 
i6 ^//APOLOGY [The Generat. 
 
 ing from the wild pofition of Mr. Malone, 
 which evaporates, when truth appears with 
 " the facred radiance of the fun." 
 
 Mifapprehending thus, the chief Baron's 
 real fentiments, the public accufer would in- 
 culcate, that, when any new-found writings 
 of a dead poet are offered to our view, no- 
 thing fhort of rigid demonjlration ought to' 
 fatisfy us of their real authenticity. But, he 
 difcovers little philofophy, and lefs candour, 
 when he catches at an exaggerated expreffion 
 of the learned judge, which cannot be de- 
 fended in its whole extent. Every one, who 
 has attended to the workings of his own 
 mind, or liftened to the voice of daily expe- 
 rience, muft clearly perceive, that rigid de- 
 monftration can only be found in the higher 
 fciences. The learned judge meant nothing 
 more by his ftrong expreffion, as the context' 
 ihows, than the higheft evidence, which the 
 nature of different cafes can fairly afford. 
 The evidence of the fenfes, fubjedl as they 
 are to error, from natural imperfe<ftions, do 
 not furnifli demonftrations of a faft (/) : The 
 
 (/) We all remember the occurrence of a late ferjeant at 
 law, who, though he certainly knew the rules of evidence, 
 was yet fadly miftaken in fuppofing, that the fenfes furnifh 
 demonftrathn^ with regard to the identity of a robber. 
 
 evidence 
 
Argument.] for t^e BE L IE V EK S. 17 
 
 evidence of the fenfes only fupplies the under- 
 ftanding with proofs of high probability ; with 
 fuch certainty, as produces convi6lion {m). 
 And, the courts of law feldom attain to a more 
 perfed degree of proof, by v/hich right is efti- 
 mated, and juftice adminiftered. Such was 
 the opinion of the Lord Chief Baron Gilbert, 
 when he ftatcd " What is to be done, in trials 
 ** of right, which is to range matters in the fcale 
 *^ oi probability;, fo as to lay moft weight, where 
 *• the caufe ought to preponderate (^)/' And, 
 in this manner, we fee this great judge, and the 
 public accufer, ftand oppofed to each other, 
 in their opinions of evidence ; while the be- 
 lievers adled, according to the judgment of 
 the chief baron, in weighing the Sh^kfpeari^nat 
 in the fcale of probability. 
 
 It is, however, true, as Gilbert taught, 
 a3 Black ftone repeated, and as the public ac- 
 cufer re-echoes, that, in all law proceedings, 
 the beil evidence, which the nature of the 
 cafe admits; and which is in the power of 
 the party to give; ought to be produced, 
 when it is required. Now, in our cafe, fuch 
 evidence was offered to the examination of 
 
 (m) See Beattie's Effay on Truth, 63-69. 
 («) Law of Evidence, p. 2, 
 
 C thg 
 
iS An A? O L O G Y [The General 
 
 the fenfes : Originals were produced, not 
 copies-, ancient documents, purporting to, be 
 genuine papers ; parchment deeds, with their 
 accuftomed feals, which, when they'bav:!e'jc!e- 
 fied time for forty years, are allowed to'^prove 
 themfelves,in courts of law; to be fuch proofs, 
 as require no additional proofs to authenticate 
 them [o). Legal, or admiffible evidence, that 
 is, fuch proofs, as would be admitted in foren- 
 fic proceedings, were exhibited to the fenfes, 
 with a fair appeal to the convidion of the be- 
 holders. Had there been an iiTue joined, in Weft- 
 miniler Hall, on the lignatures of Shakfpeare, 
 and Heminges, comparifon of hands would 
 have been admitted as adequate proof, in a civil 
 'caJe,oi the authenticity of their writing: For, 
 id ejl certum, quod certum reddi poteji -, and from 
 'one certainty, another may be {p) deduced; the 
 
 fac 
 (o) Law. of Evidence, p. 94. 
 
 (p) I was prefent^ when the genuine deed of John He- 
 niinges, which is printed by Mr. Malone in The Inquiry 
 p. 409, was produced in evidence; when there was pro- 
 duced, at the fame time, ' a hlack-letter pamphlet, having 
 the name " John Heminges'* written at the top of the 
 title page, fo like, as to be a ^Qxhdi fac JimUe\ and, at 
 the bottom of the feme page, was written the nam^ 
 «' W". Shakfpeare" : On the back of the title-page was 
 written : *' This was the book of John Heminges, which he 
 i " gave 
 
Argument.] //r />&^ B E L I E V E R S. r^ 
 
 facfimiles induce a prefumption, that the un- 
 doubted fignature, and the fuppofedfignatiire, 
 were written by the fame hand ; and every 
 prefumption is evidence, till the contrary is 
 made apparent : Now, every prefumption, that 
 remains uncontefled, hath the force of €*vi- 
 dence, faith Lord Chief Baron (j-) Gilberts as 
 light proof, on one fide, Will outweigh de- 
 feftive proof, on the other fide. Of the 
 fame opinion was Wilkins, when he reafoned 
 in the following manner : " Things of feve- 
 
 ** gave unto me — W'". Shakfpeare.*' Now, had there 
 been an ijfue^ on an a£lion at law, whether thefe were the 
 fignatures of Heminges, and of Shakfpeare, the genuine deed 
 of Heminges would have been given in evidence, as the 
 certainty^ from which the uncertainty would have been in- 
 ferred : Here is legal, or admiffible proof;' and the jiiry, 
 who had been fworn to try that ifiTue, according to the evi- 
 dence given them^ muft have delivered their verdift for the 
 genuinenefs of the fignatures of Heminges, and Shakfpeare, 
 on the black-letter pamphlet before mentioned. This ex- 
 ample proves how difficult it is to detect fome forgeries by 
 fair difcuiiion. Firft; I. believe, that the deed of Heminges 
 is genuine: Secondly; I believe, that the lignature of 
 Heminges, on the black-letter pamphlet, was copied by 
 the pen of a forger from the real fignature, on the deed; and 
 that the fignature of Shakfpeare was copied by the fame pen, 
 from fancy, in fome meafure : Yet; am I of opinion, that 
 thefe forgeries cannot be detected by fair difcuflion. 
 
 (q) Law of Evidence, p. 53-4. 
 
 C 2 '' ral 
 
so yfo A P O L O G Y [The General 
 
 ** ral kinds may admit, and require, feveral 
 '* forts of proofs, all which may be good in 
 ^* their kinds: And, therefore, nothing can 
 ** be more irrational, than for a man to 
 ** doubt of, or deny, the truth of any thing ; 
 ** ^biecaufe it cannot be made out by fuch 
 *^ kind of proofs, of which the nature of fuch 
 " a thing is not capable." 
 
 Thefc reafonings apply ftill more forcibly 
 to religion, than to law. The leading arti- 
 cles of our faith do not admit of rigid demon?- 
 ftration. Rational probability is, in thefe, 
 the ftrongefl/ proof, which can be given to in-r 
 duce belief; to animate our hopes ; or td 
 excite our fears; without deluding our uni 
 derflandings with the fuggeftions of pojjibiiity^ 
 or entangling our convi<5lion with the for 
 phifms of infidelity. *' A bare poffibility,'* 
 iaith Tillotfon, '^ that a thing may be, or 
 ** not be, is no juft caufe of doubt, whether 
 ** a thing be, or not." 
 
 Yet, Mr. Malone reafons very differently. 
 He avows himfeif to be a fturdy Cartefian, in 
 his philofophical inquiries. Like a true dif- 
 ciple, he begins with doubting : He doubts 
 every thing, of which it is poffible to doubt, 
 and perfuades himfeif, that every thing is 
 falfc, which can poflibly be conceived to be 
 
 doubtful. 
 
ARGUMENT.] for tJ^^ BELIEVERS. 21 
 
 doubtful (r). In purfuance of fuch principles, 
 he will not (/) allow, " that thofe ancient 
 ** manufcripts can be entitled even to an ex- 
 ** amination," till he has been told the tale 
 of their difcovery. According to his philolb- 
 phy, he will not examine any of the qualities 
 of matter, till he has learned, from authority, 
 how it was produced. He will not trouble 
 himfelf about " the great globe itfelfi yea, 
 *^ and all which it inherit,'' unlefs he be in- 
 formed, when, where, and by whom, they 
 were created. It is not, then, furprifing, 
 that he will not look upon a manufcript till 
 he has been told, by what hand it was written, 
 and on what occafion 3 by what good fortune 
 it was preferved, and by what lucky accident 
 it was found. If Bodley, and Cotton, Har-. 
 ley, and Sloane, had been directed by his 
 maxims, how many manufcripts would have 
 been kept from our fight ; and how much 
 knowledge would have been loft to the world. 
 The truth is, which is ever the beft excufe, 
 as a Cartefian, he doubts of every thing, 
 except, that ie thinks ; that he argues more 
 rationally — than Tiilotfon, and Wilkins. 
 The public accufer carries his Cartefian 
 
 (r) See Beattie on Truth, 218. (/) Inquiry, 15. 
 C 3 principles 
 
tZ 4« APOLOGY [The General 
 
 principles into the ufual pradice of the courts 
 of law. Were he placed in the chair of the 
 Chief Baron, he would not admit, as evi- 
 dence in itfelf, an ancient deed, though it had 
 out-lived its century, without witnefles to 
 prove its creatiori, and an hiftorian to relate 
 the progrefs of its tranfmiflion. He would 
 not allow, in civil fuits, comparifon of hands, ^ 
 as admiffibie evidence. And, in criminal 
 cafes, he would, m Imme, prefume fraud, as 
 a general principle, and infer guilt, from the 
 firft appearance of the party. The tranfition 
 is, indeed, natural, from being the difciple of 
 Des Cartes, to become a believer with Berke- 
 ley: For, the change of fcepticifm is eafy : 
 From doubting ail things, it was to be exped:- 
 ^d, that Mr. Malone would deny the exifteace 
 of matter : Hence it is, by a confecutive tran- 
 fition, that he disregards the parchment, thq 
 tags, and the feals, of deeds, as non-exiftent 
 matter, though it is from thefe adjuncts, that 
 other judges diftinguifh, as with a touch-flone, 
 the feveral documents of bufinefs, and clafs into 
 their ufeful varieties the common affiirances of 
 daily life. The final confequences of fcepti- 
 cifm, as Beattie has fliown, are, to puzzle the 
 underllanding, and to harden the heart. It is 
 from this fource of er.*'or, that the public accufcr 
 
 confouiids 
 
Argument.] /or /^e B E L I EV EKS. 23 
 
 confounds the external y with the internaU evi- 
 dence ; confidering the parchment, and the 
 feals, as internal evidence, in as high a degree 
 as the ftyle, and the \t) fentiment ; and con- 
 founding, with an unpropitious temper,' the 
 matter y and th^fpirit : Neither the labels, nor 
 the feals, the faded ink, nor the difcoloured 
 paper, are external evidencey according to his 
 juridical code [u). Being thus entangled, by 
 his fcepticifm, in a maze of error, he infers 
 hiinfelf, and would perfuade the reader to in- 
 fer, that the binding is of the eflence of a 
 book : And, ' 
 
 " Puzzled in mazes, and perplex'd with error," 
 
 the public accufer confounds the labours of 
 the' paper-maker, and printer, of the book- 
 binder, and embellidier, with the poetic fic- 
 tibh; the appropriate fentiment, and the ener- 
 getic fiyle bi Shakfpeare, in the moft elabo- 
 rate of his dramas. But, fair inquirers, be- 
 holding fceptidffii, as the caufey and perplexity ^ 
 as the conjequencey may well cry out with 
 Young ; 
 
 '' Truth ftrikes each point with native force of mind, 
 " While puzzlM learning blunders far behind." 
 
 The other concomitant of fcepticifm is 
 hardnefs of heart." The neceflary confequencc 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 17. (?/) Id. 
 
 C 4 of 
 
H ^« APOLOGY [Tnfe GENEitAt 
 
 of this evil quality is, to reprefs curiofity, 
 which is natural to mankind ; and which is 
 the fpring of fome profit to a few, and the 
 fource of much pleafure to all. We can now 
 trace the caufe to its true origin, why Mr. 
 Malonej who had taken fo many weary fteps> 
 in fearch of Shakfpeariana, and had raifed, by 
 his labours, the expectation of others, made 
 not one effort to fee the Mifcellaneous Papers ^ 
 in Norfolk-ftreet. He remained in Queen 
 Ann - flreet - Eaft, fettered with do^rifte, 
 ** Which, unto fools, faith the preacher, is as 
 " fetters on the feet.'* He was thus content 
 to {x) learn, with furprife, indeed, ** from the 
 " information of various intelligent perfons 
 " who had viewed and examined the fuppofed 
 " originals, that every date affixed to thefe pa- 
 " pers, and almoft every fad mentioned in 
 ** them, were alike inconfiftent with the hif- 
 " tory of the time and with all the ancient 
 ** documents of which I was pofleffed (jk).*' 
 In this reprefentation, an accurate eye may 
 perceive, what Dryden calls *' a fophifticated 
 " truth with an allay of lye in it. With this 
 fophijiicated truthy however, was the public 
 
 {x) Inquiry, 4. 
 
 (y) I have pointed this paflage, as it is pointed by the great 
 critic hinifeU" , and, indeed, as all quotations ought to be. 
 
 accufer 
 
Argument.] for />&^ B E L I E V E R S. 2^ 
 
 accufer content, though he is not content to 
 keep it to himfelf. He comes, wildly, into 
 this enlightened court, to maintain, that fe- 
 cond-hand evidence is as good as the beft ; 
 and that the iiovits oi fophijiicated truth are as 
 much to be believed as the informations of 
 the fenfes. His fcepticifm difdains the old 
 adage, thdiX, feeing is believing : And, his rb/z- 
 iempt feoffs at thofe fcholars, antiquaries, 
 and heralds, w^ho formed their belief, as every 
 Inveftigation ought to be, rather from the 
 evidence of the fenfes, than the glofs of fo- 
 phiftry. From this view of his theory, and 
 his praftice, this critical court may fitly apply 
 to the public accufer, who avows fuch doc- 
 trines, and maintains fuch pofitions, what 
 Shakfpeare faid upon another occafion : 
 
 *' Cry the man mercy, love him, take his offer ; 
 " Foul is the moft foul ; being found to be afcoffer,'* 
 
 If there be perfpicuity in method, I would 
 illuftrate the darker parts of this interefling 
 difquifition, by dividing the ftory of the Shak- 
 fpeariana iilto th fee periods : ' Thi ift. Prom 
 the difcovery, in February, tb^ 'the publica- 
 tion of the papers, on the 24th of December 
 1795 i the 2d, from that epoch to the pro- 
 dudWon of Mr. Malone*s /;^y«/ry, two days 
 before the condemnation of Vbrtigern ; aiid 
 the 3d, from that period to the prefent. 
 
 ifl. During 
 
j6 ,^« A P O L O G Y [The General 
 
 I ft. During the firft period, it will be found, 
 that the advantage of argument lay wholly on 
 the fide of the believers. They carried with 
 them the probability, which Mr. Malone's 
 previous inveftigations had eftabliOied, for 
 proving the exiftence of fuch documents. 
 There were offered to their infpedion, as 
 confirmations of that probability, ancient deeds, 
 which would be admitted in our courts of 
 juftice, as proofs, that vindicate their own 
 authenticity. Written documents were fhown, 
 which, by comparifon of hands,, might be 
 converted into legal evidence. The variety, 
 and number, of the papers, gave additional 
 authority to the general prefumption, by lef- 
 fening the poffibility of fraud. And, collateral 
 circumftances, or extrinfic evidence, were 
 found, to add ftrong confirmations to the pre- 
 vious probability of the exiftence of fuch frag- 
 ments. Now, the Chief Baron Gilbert will 
 leach the public accufer, that fome proof is 
 more fatisfadlory than none ; that a weak 
 prefumption muft be allowed a juft portion 
 of evidence, till it is overpowered by a fironger 
 prefumption, which induces a new belief^ 
 that objedions of pojfihility ought not to be 
 admitted, in argument, againft the convic- 
 tions of probability ', and that fufpicions of 
 
 fraud 
 
Argumei^t.] for the. BELIEVERS, 27 
 
 fraud cannot be allowed, to weigh down pre- 
 fumptions of fairnefs. On the other hand, 
 what had Mr, Malone, during the firft period, 
 to oppofe to thefe reafonings, and to thofe fadls ? 
 He hrad an indifference, which ftifled his cu- 
 riofity. He was indifferent about the Shak- 
 fpeariana in Norfolk- flreet ; becaufe he had 
 been told, by travellers, tales " of antres vaft, 
 " and defarts idle \' He made little effort to 
 fee them ; fearing left his infpedtion ihould au- 
 thenticate them 'y left his examination fhould 
 clear the dark, and confirm the doubtful : So, 
 he refolved " to be a candle-holder, and look 
 ** on ;" threatening, however, to accufe> and 
 preparing, diligently, to crofs-examine, when 
 publication fhould furnifh matter, and give 
 him a pretence. He was urged, meanwhile, 
 by his fcepticifm to contradid: the probabi- 
 lity, which he had taught the inquifitive 
 world to entertain, in favour of the difcovery 
 of the fragments of Shakfpeare, either from 
 Bagley, or from Barnard. In this temper, was 
 he carried forward by his theory to contend, 
 during the firft period, againft Hooker, that 
 no truth can contradiui any truth, 
 
 2. Thus decifive was the general argument ^ 
 in favour oithe Believer s^ during the whole of 
 
 the 
 
2$ An k^ 6 L'o G V [TwE Ceneral 
 
 the firft period. We are now about to enter 
 on the fecond of the propofed periods, at the 
 epoch of the expedled publication. The day 
 came at laft, which relieved the public accufer 
 from his embarrafsments, when the MisCEL^ 
 XANEOUS Papers were fent into the cotd 
 worldy from Norfolk-fcreet. Contradictory 
 tales were now neither heard, nar told, by 
 ** ftrenuous partizans,'' on either fide. The 
 cavils of pojjibility^ which Tillotfon had ex- 
 ploded, as inadmiffible, in argument, vanilhed 
 into air ; into thin air. And, the various ob- 
 jedlions, which, during the firft period, had 
 -excited contempt by their folly, or laughter 
 by their levity, were difmiffed, during the fe- 
 cond period, to ferve a fimilar turn, on fome 
 lefs lucky day : 
 
 « Soon to that mafs of nonfenfe to return; 
 
 tc Where things deftroy'd are fwept to things unborn.** 
 
 The publication of the Mifcellaneous Papers 
 was extremely favourable both to the believers^ 
 and to the unbelievers. The believers were now 
 furniflied with the means, which they wanted 
 before, of carrying their general reafonings into 
 minute infpedrion : And, many were convinced, 
 by that infpedtion, and believed no more. On 
 the other hand, the impugners of thofe papers^ 
 who would not infpedt the originals, had now 
 
 an 
 
Argument.] /^r /-&<? B E L I E VE R S. 25 
 
 an opportunity to examine the copies, which 
 only fupplied a fecond-rate evidence. Objec* 
 tions of a new form, and of a very diiFerent 
 import, were at length framed, by very dif- 
 ferent minds, and urged, with very different 
 aims. The minor critics fucceffively appeared 
 with their Letters, their Free RefieBions, and 
 their Familiar Verjes, But, the world waited 
 with anxious fufpenfe, for the appearance of 
 ,the public accufer himfelf, who, for many a 
 month, with threatening tone, had avowed 
 his purpofe, to deteifl what he would not 
 condefcend to infpedt:— 
 
 " — All eyes direct their rays 
 ^ Oh him,^nd crowds turn coxcombs, as they gaze.** 
 
 He now (;?) undertook, without examining 
 
 the original^!, " to prove, from i. the ortho- 
 
 '" graphy, 2. the phrafeology, 3. the dates 
 
 *^ given or deducible by inference, and 4. 
 
 " the difTimilitude of the hand-writing, that 
 
 '" not a fingle paper or deed in this.extraordi- 
 
 *^' nary volume was Vv'ritteri or' executed by 
 
 *^ the perfon to whom it is afcribed (^)." Yet, 
 
 none of thefe propofitions could, in any degree, 
 
 (js) Inquiry, p. 22-3. 
 
 (a) \ quote this paflage, pointed as it is, defignedly, by this 
 matter of criticifm, in order to ibow his accurate knowledge 
 of that ufeful branch of critical fcience. . 
 
 have 
 
30 ^« A P O L O G Y [The General 
 
 have been eftablifhed by him, who was con- 
 tent with fecondary evidence, after calling for 
 rigid demonftration, if thofe papers had not 
 been publifhed; fince, without infpeffion, 
 there could be no examinatbn. The publi- 
 cation, then, was of great confequence to him, 
 ^hd alfo of elTential ufe to the world. And, 
 the fubfcribers, who contributed their money, 
 for the necelfary expence, thereby performed 
 an important fervice to Shakspeare, and to 
 Truth. Yet, the public accufer is too bufy 
 with his projedl of deteftion to thank the ad- 
 mirers of Shakfpeare, and lovers of truth, for 
 their liberality : And, as- gentle dulnefs ever 
 loves a joke i he is, ever and anon, breaking his 
 jefts upon their folly, and credulity y in acfling 
 without his confent, and believing without his 
 inftrudion; though without accomplifhing 
 his jocund purpofe oi Jetting the table in a roar. 
 Such dulnefs, and fuch jokes, may, perhaps, 
 provoke the fubfcribers to exclaim, with Mar- 
 fton(^): 
 
 *' Tut, tut, a toy of an empty brain, 
 
 " Some fcurrill jefts, light gewgaws, fruitlefTe, \raine." 
 
 Knowing, however, while thus occupied with 
 his light gewgawsy that the pofitive praife of 
 one, may refled: indirect cenfure on many; 
 
 {b) In the Scourge of Villanie, 1599. 
 
 Mr. 
 
Argument.] for the BELIEVERS. 51. 
 
 Mr. Malone brings his twenty years friend. 
 
 Lord Charlemont, on the ftage, to declare, in 
 
 terfe Englijhy " that if Lord C. had known 
 
 ** as much of it as he now does, he would not 
 
 " have given either his name or his money to 
 
 " the publication {c)y Nay ! Give his name 
 
 to the publication ! Did ever any nobleman 
 
 before, when fubfcribing his charitable guinea 
 
 to a fcribbler, think himfelf anfwerable for the 
 
 wit, the truth, or the propriety, of the book? 
 
 " Opinion mounts this froth unto the fkies"; 
 " Which judgements' reafonjuftly vilifies: 
 " For, ({hameto the poet) read Ned, behold! 
 " How wittily a Maifter's-hood can fcold (^)." 
 
 3. Thus njuch, with regard to the fecond 
 period. We are now to enter on the third of 
 the propofed periods, from the epoch of the 
 publication to the prefent day. While the 
 public accufer was thus carting froth againft 
 the wind, he was content to facrifice the graces 
 of candour, to relinquifh the praife of libera- 
 lity, and to enfeeble the ftrength of conceffion. 
 He might have conceded, with candour and 
 liberality, to the fubfcribers, the raoft of 
 whom, during this third period, believed as 
 little as himfelf, that they had done an ufeful 
 
 (f) Inquiry, p. i. 
 
 (</) Marfton's Satire: Stultorum plena funt omnia, 
 
 fervicc 
 
j« ^//APOLOGY [The General 
 
 fervice to Shakfpeare, and to his Inquiryy by 
 contributing to the charges of the pubHcation, 
 which enabled the world to fee, and him to 
 write ; and which changed the faith of more 
 believers, than all the objeftors, in profe, or 
 rhyme. He might have conceded to the be- 
 lievers, that the probability v/as in favour of 
 the Shakfpeariana, on the fiv^ fnatch of Jight. 
 And, without departing from one of his objec-* 
 tions, he might have acknowledged, that thq 
 general argument, concluded in favour of the 
 believers, for the authenticity of the imputed 
 papers. After all thefe conceffions, he might 
 have argued, had he been a logician, that pro- 
 bability muft give way to abfolute proof; and 
 that general reafonings muft evanifli before 
 the effulgence of fpecial fafts. He might, 
 with a good grace, have told the believers ; 
 •* I will admit the propriety, and the truth, 
 " of your politions; yet, will I demonftrate, 
 ** that your belief is unfounded:" and he 
 might have now thrown in, with effed;, his 
 dates, and anachronifms, his orthographical de- 
 tedions, and theatrical ftory, his comparifons of 
 fignatures, and inferences from analogy. But, 
 by delaying the publication of his book till in- 
 quiry was ufelefs ; by conceding none of thefq 
 points to the |:)elievers ; by difregarding the 
 
 ftrong 
 
Argument.] /t //^^ B E L I E V E R S. 33 
 
 ftrong prefumptlon of legal evidence; he gave 
 occalion to judicious men, v^ho had ftudied 
 the qucftion, to obferve, that the believers, 
 were led into their error, hyfyjiem, while the 
 inquirer himfelf is only right, by chance. 
 
 Whilft the believers, during every period of 
 the inveftigation, were forming their judg* 
 ments, from the fatisfad:ory evidence, which 
 convince mankind, in the interefting concerns 
 of legal proceedings, daily life, and their rcli^* 
 gious faith ; whilft they were adopting gene- 
 ral opinions, from loofe infpedtion^ whilft they 
 were believing, from feeing ; they could only 
 mean to form fuch judgments, to adopt fuch 
 opinions, and to entertain fuch belief^ until 
 crofs-examination fhould fhow, in the Mifcel^ 
 laneous Papers, inconfiftency, and anachronifm^ 
 until facSs fhould prove the probability of fic- 
 tion, and the poffibihty of falfehood^ until 
 minute infpeftion fhould difpel the deceptions 
 of curfory views ; and until the refulgence of 
 truth fhould beam through the clouds of error, 
 which, however they may envelope the learned 
 world, for a while, are foon difpelled by the 
 gentle gufts of accurate criticifm. Certainty, 
 when it appears, will ever be recognized by 
 candour : And, certainty will generally be the 
 refult of inveftigation, when inquiry is profecut* 
 
34 ^//APOLOGY [Quebn Elizabeth ; 
 
 ed, on folid principles, with diligent re- 
 fearch. 
 
 Such is the preliminary apology, which 
 the believers fubmit to this critical court, be- 
 fore they attend t\\t public accufer^ in the more 
 minute examination of the Miscellaneous 
 Papers, which have been attributed to Shak- 
 fpeare. 
 
 § II. 
 
 •QUEEN ELIZABETH; and her LETTER. 
 
 IN making the firfl ftep of the minute 
 inquiry, to confirm, or confute, the general 
 argurrient, on the interefting fubjeds of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and her Letter, we are at once ftruck 
 with an obfervation, which has already oper- 
 ated ^s an apology ior the believers, that the 
 objedions made, during the firft period of 
 inveftlgation, have been relinquiflied, as in- 
 defenfible, during the laft. To Queen 
 Elizabeth's Letter, it was conftantly ob- 
 jeded, that being a princefs of a lofty charader, 
 fie difdained to correfpond with much g?^eafer 
 meffthan Shakfpeare, The believers, know- 
 ing' the falfity of this affumption, laughed at 
 the fallacy of that objedion. Mr. Malone 
 nt)w paffes over the fidion, as difcreditable, 
 and rellnquiflies the argument, as indefenfible: 
 And, like a great general, he covers his retreat 
 
 from 
 
AND hbrLetter.] /or th B ELIE V ER S, 35 
 
 from an untenable poft, by giving a high pa- 
 negyric on the public character of Elizabeth, 
 which no one will difpute, inftead of ex- 
 hibiting her private charafter, which, as it is 
 fufficiently known, no one will defend ; being 
 forced, by the fad:, to give as a trait of man- 
 ners, " a proof of that condefcending famili- 
 " arity by which Ihe won the hearts of her 
 " people (a) J' 
 
 The fcholars, and antiquaries, and heralds, 
 who are the objects of Mr. Malone's fcorn, 
 knew that, in refped: to Elizabeth's more re- 
 tired life, and perfonal habits. Lord Orford had 
 pourtrayed (^) her; Mr. Hume had defcribed 
 (r) her ; and Mr. Whitaker had anatomifed 
 her (V). The believers alfo knew, that 
 Elizabeth correfponded, perfonally, with her 
 fervants at home, and abroad ; fending, and 
 receiving, letters, in a manner quite contrary 
 
 to 
 
 (a) Inquiry, 108. 
 
 (bj In the Cat. of Royal, and Noble, Authors ; article, 
 Ejex. 
 
 (c) Hiftory, vol. V. Note KK. p. 420 — 526. 
 
 (d) Vindication of M. Q^ of Scots, 2d vol: — '* Eliza- 
 " beth publiftied the letters afcribed to Mary, principally to 
 " ruin Mary's chara(5ler, in point of chaftity, 4.50 ; yet^ 
 *' Elizabeth vv^as unchafte, while Mary was not, 450. 
 " Elizabeth pretended to live, and die, a virgin ; yet, had 
 " Lord Leiceiter for her paramour, 45l-2-4and 456.— 
 " There is a letter of Mary's concerning Elizabeth's 
 " amours, 456—470—489. — The violent part of Eliza- 
 
 D 2 ** beth't 
 
$6 u^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 to the pradlice of the prefent times (e) : They 
 knew, moreover, that fhe wrote very fami- 
 liar letters to private perfons ; either to pro- 
 mote, or difcourage, (/') matrimony ; to con- 
 dole with favourites on the lofs of parents, 
 and (g) children ; to inquire after the health 
 of (/)) lervants; to return thanks for prefents 
 to (/) paramours ; or to interfere in the do- 
 meftic affairs of individuals (y). There are 
 anecdotes enough, to fhew how famiUar 
 Elizabeth could be, in gratification of her 
 
 *• beth's chara6ter in private live is illuftrated, 480-81- 
 «' 482-3 — 489-90. Her immodefty, 500—516 — 519- 
 <' 21. She was a great fwearer, 408 — 519. Her va- 
 <* nity, 491 — 98. Niggardly to all, but to paramours, 
 " and flatterers, 507-8 — 519. She had an ulcer in one legy 
 " 484. She was not formed, as other women are, 501-2. 
 *< Her general chara6ter fummed up, 416-17. Vindicated, 
 501-2. — See the Index, article, Elizabeth.^* 
 
 (e) Forbes's State Papers, every- where. 
 
 (/) Lodge's llluftrations, vol. iii. 11 — 16 — 65 — 69.— 
 123-4-6-8. 
 
 (g) lb. 24 ; Cabala, 212 — Q^ Elizabeth's letter to Lady 
 Norris on the death of her fon; which begins: *' My own 
 " crow — Harm not yourfelf for bootlefs help," &c. ^-Ful- 
 ler's Worthies, Oxf. 336.'^-and fee Queen Elizabeth's 
 Letters in Mai. Inquiry, 112-13-14. 
 
 (h) Cat. of R. & N. Authors, vol. i. 132. 
 
 (/') Lodg. Illuft. vol. ii. 254: Thanks for prefents to 
 Leicefter. 
 
 (j) Lodge-«-vol. ii. lO— 164 — 219 — 245 — vol. iii. 56; 
 wherein we may fee, that (he took part with Lady Shrewf- 
 bury againfl her hufband. 
 
 ruling 
 
AKD HER Letter.] /^r />^^ B E L I E VE R S. 37 
 
 ruling pajjion: Whenever the Earl of Eflex 
 put on a fit of ficknefs, " not a day pafTed," 
 fays Lord {k) Orford, " without the Queen's 
 ** fending frequent meflages to inquire about 
 ** his health j and once went fo far, as to fit 
 " long by him, and order his broths and 
 ** things'' When on the verge of three-fcore- 
 and-ten fhe afted the hoyden of fifteen. In 
 September 1602, ** the young Lady of Darby, 
 ** wearing about her neck, in her bofom, a 
 " pidlure, which was in a dainty tablet, the 
 ** Queen efpying it, aiked what fine jewel 
 ** that was. The Lady Darby was curious 
 ** to excufe the fhewing of itt, but the Queea 
 *' would have itt, and opening itt, and fynd- 
 ** ing itt to be Mr. Secretarye's, fnatcht itt 
 ** away, and tyed itt upon her fhoe, and 
 '* walked long w' itt there 5 and then fhe took 
 " itt thence, and pinned itt on her elbow, 
 ** and wore it fom tyme there alfo; which 
 ** Mr. Secretary being told of, made thefe 
 " verfes, and had Hales to fing them in his 
 *^ chamber. Itt was told her Majefty, that 
 
 {k) Cat. of Royal, and Noble, Authors, vol. i. 132. 
 When fhe heard, that Eflex was ill, fhe fent him word, with 
 tears in her eyes, " that if fhe might with her honour, fhe 
 *' would vifit him." lb. 136. When the Vice Chamber- 
 lain Hatton was fick, in 1573, E^^^^beth went almofl ^vtx^^ 
 <day to fee how he did, — Lodge's llluft. vol. ii. joi. 
 
 D 3 ''Mx. 
 
3? -^/zAPOtOGY [Queen Elizabeth ; 
 
 *' Mr. Secretary had rare mufick, and fongs : 
 ** She would needs hear them ; and fo this 
 " dittay was foung which you fee firft 
 ** written. More verfes there be lykewyfe, 
 " whereof fom, or all, were lykewyfe foung. 
 " I do bojdly fend thefe verfes to your lord- 
 " ihip, which I would not do to any els, 
 ** for I hear they are very fecrett. Some of 
 " the verfes argewthat he repines not thoghe 
 " her Majefty pleafe to grace others, and con- 
 *^ tents himfelf with the favour he hath (/)/' 
 
 {/) See Lodge's Illuftrations, vol. lii. 136, William 
 Brown's News-letter to the £arl of Shrewfbury. The 
 young Lady of Darby, who was treated in that manner, was 
 Elizabeth, the eldeil daughter of Edward Vere, Earl of Ox- 
 ford, and the wife of William Earl of Darby : It was Mr, 
 Secretary Cecil's picture, which gave rife to that flirtation 
 in Queen Befs, and produced the fongs, and mufick ; to her 
 great divertifement. Happy ! if thofe fongs of Mr. Secre- 
 tary could be retrieved, though it would require proofs of 
 holy writ to convince Mr. Malone of their authenticity. 
 The art of that profound flatefman is wonderful. Being 
 caught, hanging in the bofom of the young Countefs, 
 by Elizabeth, and being informed of her freak, he turned the 
 incidents into a fong : And, while he amufed the Queen, he 
 took care to difclaim any greater pretenfions to power, than 
 what he derived from her goodnefs. We fee, in the midft 
 of this joh^ the opinion of that moft accomplifhed ftatef- 
 man, who was then prime minifter, with regard to Eliza- 
 beth's jealoufyy perfonal, and political. If Mr. Secretary 
 Cecil were born, in 1550, he was not ayouthy in 1602. 
 
 With 
 
AND HER Letter.] /?r /^^^ B E LI E VE R S. 39 
 
 With fuch anecdotes the believers were per- 
 fedlly acquainted, although the public accufer 
 feems to have known nothing of them: And 
 from fuch documents, they reafonably inferred, 
 that Elizabeth might probably condefcend to 
 w^rite fuch a letter to Shakfpeare; whoie pret- 
 tye verfes were, no doubt, written with his beft 
 pen, in his gayeft fancy, on the encomiaftic to- 
 picks of love, and marriage, with " twenty odd 
 *' conceited true-love knots." 
 
 But, Mr. Malone is induced by his fcepti- 
 cifm to infift, that the pretty e verfes of Shak- 
 fpeare never exifted ; becaufe he has never 
 feen them; and he is incited by a peculiar 
 logic to argue, that whatfoever does not appear 
 to him has never exifted on earth. Yet, Mr. 
 Secretary Cecil's fongs on Queen Befs's fro- 
 lick, though they were once fung, are now 
 fung no more. And the fonnets of Shak- 
 fpeare, which inflamed the defire, and roufed 
 the gratitude of Elizabeth, may poffibly exift 
 in the fame caflcet with Cecil's dittays^ though 
 none of our Cottons, or Harleys, have pre- 
 ferved them, and none of our Waldrons, or 
 Malones, have found them. Nor, is it unac*- 
 countable, that the collectors of papers, and 
 the critics of plays, fhould have miffed the 
 prettye verfes^ which have fince been found : 
 while fcepticifm was ever-and-anon crying out 
 
 D 4 impoj/ible. 
 
40 -f^;i APOLOGY [Queen EtrzABETH; 
 
 impojjible^ curiofity loft her common incentives. 
 The fcenic fcholiafts may chara(fleriftically 
 cry out with Marcus : 
 
 ^* -— O ! brothefj fpeak with pojftb'ilittes, 
 " And do not break into thefe deep extremes." 
 
 If we might thus fpeak with pojfibilitiesy it 
 may be afferted, as very probable, that the 
 fonnets of Shakfpeare, which touched the 
 ruffe, that touched Queen Befs's chin, may 
 even now exift. During her reign, they were 
 handed about in manufcript (w). The Curls of 
 that period were deterred from printing them. 
 Yet, printed they were, in the fubfequent 
 reign. Impojjibky cries Mr. Malone ! On an- 
 other occafion, however, he fhows the poffi- 
 bihty, though he expreffes his furprife, that the 
 editors have not always difcriminated the fpuri- 
 ous from the genuine. " Though near a cen- 
 ** tury and a half has elapfed/' fays he, " fmce 
 •' the death of {n\ Shakfpeare, it is fomewhat 
 ** extraordinary, that none of his various edi- 
 ** tors fhould have attempted to feparate his 
 •* genuine poetical compofitions from the fpu- 
 " rious performances with which they have 
 *' been fo long intermixed, or taken the trou- 
 ** ble to compare them with the earlieft edi- 
 
 (wi) Mere's Wit's Treafury^ 1598, p. 623, 
 
 (w) Advcrtifement) p. iv. to his Supple?neni^ 1780. 
 
 ** tions/' 
 
AND HE^i Letter.] for the BE LIE V ERS. 41 
 
 ** tions." But, refearch was long fettered by 
 indifference. At length, Theobald undertook 
 this great {0) tafk; but he lived not to perform 
 it.^ Happily it fell into the abler hands, and 
 under the deeper difcernment, of Mr. Malone. 
 He will doubtlefs feparate the genuine, from 
 thefpuriouscompofitionsofShakfpeare. He has 
 attempted (p) this, with great adiivity of pow- 
 -vers, and greater difcriminatlon of tafte. He will 
 x:ertainly difcover the prettye verfes of Shak- 
 fpeare: Yet, ftrange to tell! he has feen them^ 
 he has criticifed them; but, whatever may be 
 the keennefs of his eye, or the acutenefs of his 
 criticifm, he has not difcerned them, though 
 he had the daily help of able coadjutors. 
 
 But, I will not any longer abufe the patience 
 of this court, I will no longer conceal the 
 fecret. The fugrd fonnets^ of which Meres 
 fpoke, in {q^ ^598, and which were firfl: 
 printed by Thorpe, in 1609, are i}i\^ prettye 
 njerjes of honey t ongu d Shakfpeare. Impojjiblel 
 cries Mr. Malone, with the monotonous 
 tongue of his own pretty Poll [f^). I will 
 
 now 
 
 {0) Preface to his edition, 1740. 
 {p) In his Supplement, 1780. 
 Iq) Wit's Treafury, 623. 
 
 (r) ScRiBLERus hath well remarked, that thofe expref- 
 fions 0^ pretty Pol/ wQre not applied yefterdayto thcmimick 
 
 , bird. 
 
42 ^//APOLOGY [QuiEN Elizabeth; 
 
 now maintain, to the fatisfaction of this 
 court, I truft, that the fugrd Jonnets^ which 
 -were handed about, before, and in, the year 
 1598, among Shakfpeare's private friends, 
 were the very verfes, which he addrefled to 
 Elizabeth in his fine filed {/) fhrafe y that the 
 Sonnets of Shakfpeare were addrefled, by 
 him, to Elizabeth, although I do not mean to 
 
 bird, as Mr. Malone would obje6l; but, are as old as the 
 age of Shakfpeare ; as John Taylor the water-poet will in- 
 form us, epigram 31; "A Rope for Parratt :" 
 
 " Why doth the parrat cry, a rope^ a rope? 
 
 " Becaufe hee's cagM in prifon out of hope, 
 
 *' Why doth the parrat call a hoate^ a boate ? 
 
 " It is the humour of his idle note. 
 
 •« O pretty Pali-, take heed, beware the cat; 
 
 *' Let Waterman alone, no more of that : 
 
 *« Since I fo idlely heard the parrat talk, 
 
 *' In his own language, I fay, walke^ knavcy walke" 
 See much learning on this curious fubje6t in Grey's Hu- 
 dibras, vol. i. p. 61: and Warburton's Shakfpeare, vol. iii, 
 p. 253. It is remarkable, that neither of thofe commenta- 
 tors feems to have known of the water-poet's epigram on 
 pretty Poll. 
 
 (j) '* To this perfon, whoever he was, [were] one hun^ 
 " dred and twenty of the following poems are addrefled ; 
 *' the remaining twenty-eight are addrefled to a lady," fays 
 Mr. Malone: "Many of them are written to {how the pro- 
 *' priety of marriage," adds he; "and therefore cannot well 
 « be fuppofed to be addrefled to a fchool-boy." [Supple- 
 ment 1780, vol. i. p. 579]. My pofition is, that the fon- 
 nets were all addrefled to one perfon* 
 
 contend 
 
AND HER Letter.] for the BELIflVERS. 43 
 
 contend for the fpurioiis performances of book- 
 fellers, the intermixtures of critics, nor the in-- 
 terpolations of Mr. Malone {t). In order to 
 fee this curious point, in its true light, it will 
 be neceffary to advert, with difcriminative 
 eye, to the character of Elizabeth, and to the 
 fituation of Shakfpeare. 
 
 Elizabeth was born in 1533; and was, of 
 courfe, one-and- thirty years older than Shak- 
 fpeare. Being bred in the fchool of adver- 
 lity, fhe acquired early habits of perfonal ad- 
 drefs ; being called on to play a part, during 
 critical times, fhe learned the cunning, which 
 the neceffity of circumfpedion, in political 
 revolutions, always teaches , and being, in 
 her early age, without hopes of future great- 
 nefs, fhe indulged in the natural propen- 
 
 (^) Mr. Malone undertook to print all the poems of 
 Shakfpeare, except his Fenus and Adonis, " faithfully from 
 « the original copies :" Yet, has he thruft in the Pafftonate 
 Pilgrimy which was firfl publifhed, in 1599, between The 
 Sonnets^ and The Lover^s Complaint; which were both printed 
 together, in 1609. I was enabled to fee this aberration from 
 editor-hip, by infpeitmg the firjl edition of The Sonnets: 
 Yet, Mr. Malone wandered into the path of error, while the 
 right road of duty was before him. See tiis Supplement, 
 1780, vol. i, p. 581; and p. 709, for the publication of 
 the Pafftonate Pilgrim m 1599; and p. 739, for the print- 
 ing of the Lover'' s Complaint^ at the end of the quarto edition 
 of his Sonnets, in 1609. 
 
 fities 
 
44 Jn AVOhOGV [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 fities of meaner mortals {u) . She was from con- 
 ftitution amorous ; but, without the power of 
 enjoyment {y) : She was led thus to cultivate 
 all the arts, and to acquire all the accomplifh- 
 ments, which make women irreliftible, when 
 they preferve the modefty of their nature, and 
 fludy the mild graces of their fex. With the 
 underftanding of a man, and the knowledge of 
 a fcholar, fhe indulged the vanity of the weak- 
 eft woman, and carried her paffion for praife, 
 even in the extremity of age, beyond the limits, 
 which are fcarcely allowed in girls : And, by 
 expofing this weaknefs to the world, (he became 
 thedupeofherownfervants,ofher fubjeds,and 
 alfo of foreigners, who all knew how to gain 
 their feveral objects, by gratifying her prevail- 
 ing paffion. How did fhe rack Melville, the 
 
 {u) Catalogue of Royal, and Noble, Authors, art. Eliza" 
 heth, 
 
 {v) For her youthful amour with the admiral Seymour, 
 fee Lodge's Illuftrat. vol. i. ill. She was fo pleafed with 
 lier entertainment, in September 1560, at Bafmg, by the an- 
 cient marquis of Winchefter, the treafurer, that {he faid 
 gaily : " By my trouthe, if my lord treafurer were a young 
 •* man, I could fynde in my harte to have him to my hus- 
 ** bande, before any man in England.*' lb. 346^ and Whit- 
 aker's Vindication of iVlary. vol. ii. 450— 456 — 469 — 500— 
 j6— 21. 
 
 ambaflador 
 
AND HER Letter.] for the BELIEVERS. 4.5 
 
 ambaffador of Mary Queen of [w) Scots, to 
 maJce him confefs, that fhe was handfomer, a 
 better dancer, and a better mufician, than his 
 Hiiftrefs, who was the handfomeft, and moft 
 accomplifhed princefs, in Europe. Moft of 
 her courtiers, therefore, feigned affection, and 
 defire towards her; addreffingher in the ufual 
 ftyle of gallantry. By fuch artifices, Leicefter, 
 and Effex, Raleigh, and Hatton rofe to favour, 
 and acquired eflates. Raleigh, having fallen in- 
 to difgrace, wrote a letter to Mr. Secretary Ce- 
 cil, for the fight of Elizabeth, which has the 
 following exprefiions of ridiculous flattery : — 
 *^ I that was wont to fee her riding like Alex- 
 *' ander, hunting like Diana, walking like Ve- 
 ** nus, the gentle wind blowing her fair hair 
 " about her pure cheeks, like a nymph, fome- 
 " times fitting in the fliade, like a goddefs, 
 *' fometimes finging like an angel, fometimes 
 " playing like Orpheus; behold the forrow 
 " of this world ! once amifs hath bereaved 
 " me of all (a:)." It is to be remarked, fays 
 Hume, that this nymph, Venus, goddefs, an- 
 gel, was then about fixty : yet, fome years af- 
 tery fhe allowed the fame language to be ufed 
 to her (j/). In 1599, when Elizabeth was 
 
 {w) Catalogue of Royal, and Noble, Authors, art, £//- 
 %Qheth. 
 
 (^) Murden, 657, {^y) Hiftory, vol. v. 527, 
 
 fixt/^ 
 
46 MA?OLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 fixty-fix, John Davis, who rofe to eminence, 
 by his talents, and his flattery, dedicated 
 his fine poem, Nofce teip/um, to her : 
 
 To that cleare majeftie, which in the north, 
 
 Doth like another funne in glorie rife, 
 
 Which ftandeth fixed, yet fpreads her heavenly worth, 
 
 Loadftone to hearts, and loadftarre to all eyes. 
 
 Fair foule, fince to the fair eft hod'ie knity 
 
 You give fuch lively life, fuch quickening power, 
 
 Such fweet celeftial influence to it, 
 
 As keeps it ftill in youths immortal flower. 
 
 O many, many yeares may you remaine, 
 A happie angel to this happie land : 
 Long, long, may you on earth our emprefle reigne, 
 Ere you in heaven a glorious angell ftand; 
 Stay long (fweet fpirit) ere thou to heaven depart. 
 Which mak'ft each place a heaven wherein thou art. 
 From the dedication of Davis, the tranfition 
 Is eafy to the fonnets of Shakfpeare^ who had 
 preceded Davis, in his flatteries, and celebrity. 
 Poets are born, not made : when I would prove 
 This truth, the glad remembrance I muft love 
 Of never-dying Shakfpeare, who alone 
 Is argument enough to make that one. 
 Shakfpeare was alfo born a man, in 1564. 
 
 Him, 
 
 " Fair fancy found, and bore the fmiling babe 
 " To a clofe cavern : 
 
 " Here, as with honey gathered from the rock, 
 
 " She fed the little prattler." 
 
 Thus found, and thas fed, he broke loofe, 
 
 ere long, from his confinement, prompted to 
 
 efcape, no doubt, by Cupid, and conduced, in 
 
 5 l^is 
 
AND HER Letter.] /^r //^^ B E LI E V E RS. 4^ 
 
 his flight, by Hymen : And thus ftimulated, 
 and dire(fl:ed, he became enamoured of Anne 
 Hathaway, who was eight years older than 
 himfelf, and married her, in 1 582, when he was 
 only eighteen years of age, and fhe made him 
 a father of his firfl: child, Sufanna, at the age 
 of nineteen (2;). While other boys are only 
 fnivelling at fchcol, and thinking nothing of 
 life, Shakfpeare entered the world, with little 
 but his love to make him happy, and little 
 but his genius to prevent the intrufion of 
 mifery. An increafing family, and prefling 
 wants, obliged him to look, beyond the limits 
 of Stratford, for fubfiftence, and for fame (a). 
 He felt, doubtlefs, emotions of genius, and he 
 favv, certainly, perfons, who had not better 
 pretenlions, than his own, riiing to eminence 
 in a higher fcene. By thefe motives was he 
 
 (z) Mai Shakfpeare, 1790. voL i. 105: His daughter 
 Sufanna was baptized May 26, 1583. On the 2d of 
 February, 1 584-5, were baptifed Samuel, and Judith, the 
 twin iflue of this marriage, when Shakfpeare was not yet of 
 age. lb. 172. 
 
 (a) The father of Shakfpeare fell into diftrefled circum- 
 ftances, foon after his marriage. John Shakfpeare, v/ho had 
 ferved the honourable office of high bailiff of Stratford, in 
 1569, was excufed in 15795 from paying a week's contribu- 
 tion of four-pence to the town ; and was removed from being 
 an alderman, in 1586, as he had not for fome years attended 
 the common halls. [Mai. Shakf. vol. i. p. 103]. 
 
 probably 
 
48 ^n APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 probably induced to remove to London, in the 
 period, between the years 1585, and 1588; 
 chafed from his home, by the terriers of the 
 law, for debt, rather than for deer-ftealing, or 
 for libelling. He may have received, per- 
 haps, an introdudlion to the theatre from 
 Robert Green, his kinfman, an ador, of 
 whom " none were of greater grace at the 
 ** court y or of more general love in the city ;'' 
 and Shakfpeare, certainly, enjoyed the patron- 
 age of Lord Southampton, to whom was de- 
 dicated " the firft heir of his invention." 
 
 Shakfpeare, however, foon became fenfible 
 of the imprej/iouy *' which vulgar fcandal 
 « ftamp'd upon his brow/' His gentle na- 
 ture was ere long fubdued. He perceived, 
 with regret that, from his occupation^ his name 
 had received a brands He deplored, with pun- 
 gency, t\i2itfortuney 
 
 " The guilty goddefs of his harmful deeds, 
 
 cc die] not better for his life provide, 
 
 " Than public means, that public manners breeds [b) : 
 And in this bitternefs of mifery, he adopted the 
 refolution, wherein he was, no doubt, con- 
 firmed by Green, his townfman, and relation, 
 to addrefs his prettye verfes to Elizabeth. 
 
 It may be pertinently afked, was Elizabeth 
 
 (^) Sonnet 915 Malone Sup. 670. 
 
 aprincefs. 
 
AKD HER Letter.] for de B'ELIEV EKS. 4^ 
 
 a princefs, who was likely to receive fuch 
 verfes ; was Shakfpeare a poet, who was like- 
 ly to write fuch verfes ? I anfwer both thefe 
 queftions, pofitively, in the affirmative. vVe 
 have feen her natural voluptuoufnefs ; we 
 have beheld her paffion for praife ; we have 
 obferved her great minifters, offering her the 
 grofleft flattery, which (lie received, as her 
 accuflomed due. We know, that Miiler 
 Speaker, sindti^e /jotife, again and again went up, 
 in order to woe her to {c) wed ; llie was 
 courted by fubjecfts and foreigners, by princes 
 and kings ; ^nd, at the age of forty, flie was 
 addrefled by the Duke D'Alen9on, who came 
 to England, in (d) 1572, "a paffionate pil- 
 " grim,'* to oiFer his vows : 
 
 " A woman, I forfwore; but, I will prove, 
 " Thou being a goddefs, I forfwore aot thee." 
 Now, Mr. Malone {e) admits, what the Son-^ 
 nets demonftrate, '' that many of them were 
 *' written to {how the propriety of marriage." 
 As to the fecond queftion ; Shakfpeare knew, 
 perfedily, the real charavfter of Elizabeth, 
 which made her the dupe of daily folicitation ; 
 he faw how many men of lefs genius, and 
 
 {c) Lodge, II, vol. ii. p. 138. 
 
 (//) Sir T. Smith's life, 147—159, 
 
 W Stipp. vol. i. p. 579. 
 
 E fewer 
 
5.0, ^» APOLOGY [Qr-EEN ELizABftw; 
 
 fewer pretenfions, than his own, had gained 
 their obje<fbs, and rifen to greatnefs, by grati- 
 fying her domineering paflion : And, thus was- 
 lie induced to fend her, by the Lord Cham- 
 berlain, no doubt, his fugrd Jonnets^ com- 
 pofed in filed phrafe, which no other woman, 
 than EHzabeth, would have been pleafed to re- 
 ceive, and no other poet, than Shakfpeare, 
 could eafily have written. 
 
 Yet, thofe fad:s, and this reafoning, had no 
 influence upon Mr. Malone's mind. Though 
 he cannot tell, with all the help of his learned 
 coadjutors, to whom iht fugrd fonnets were 
 addreffed ; yet, he is pofitive (/) that, of the 
 whole number of one hundred and fifty-four, 
 there were addreffed to a man one hundred 
 and twenty, and twenty-eight to a lady ; to 
 Jhow her the propriety of carriage. Now ; 
 Shakfpeare, who knew his own purpofe, ex- 
 prefsly fays : — 
 
 '^ Let not my love be callM idolatry ; 
 
 '* Nor my beloved, as an idol (how; 
 « Since all alike my fongs, and praifes, be, 
 
 " To oNEi of ONE, ftill fuch, and ever fo (^). 
 
 Thus, in the arithmetic of Mr. Malone one 
 is, by a ready operaticn, multiplied into ti^a : 
 
 (/) Suppt. vol. i. p. 57Q. 
 
 [g) Sonnet 105 — Mai. Supp^ vol. i.'p. 666. 
 
 o He 
 
AND herLetter.] /or //&r B E L I E V E R S. 51 
 
 He can divide ^ fplit hairs, z.rA Jlill divide y it 
 feems. The fadl is, that Shaklpeare had not 
 leifure to write one hundred and twenty fuch 
 fonnets to any man ; being wholly occupied in 
 providing for the day, which was pajjing over 
 him \ that the poet had no love, but a teeming 
 wife, to whom he was ftrongly attached, by 
 early ties; and for whom he could hardly 
 provide, by any means ^. Add to thefe circum- 
 ftances, that in another fonnet, Shakfpeare 
 maintains the unity of his objeB, by faying to 
 his idol, Elizabeth : 
 
 " For, to no other pafsy my verfes te?id^ 
 
 *' Than o^ your graces^ and your gifts-i to tell ; 
 
 " And more, much more, than in my verfe can fit, 
 
 " Your own glafs fhows you, when you look in it {h)» 
 
 Yet, Mr. Malone is not convinced : He flill 
 
 objedts, that many more of the fonnets are 
 
 addreffed to a male, than to a female (/). His 
 
 objection proves, that he did not know, that 
 
 Elizabeth was often confidered as a man :•— 
 
 {h) lb. 665. 
 
 (/■) Mr. Malone confiders it, as one of the great defeife 
 of thefe fonnets, « the majority of them not being dire6ted 
 " to a femaJe, to whom alone fuch ardent expreffions of 
 « efteem [love] could with propriety be addreire4»" 
 [Supplem*. vol. i. p. 685.] 
 
 E a fo 
 
$2 Afi APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 In poetr}'' ; Drant hails her as a {K) Prince ; 
 Spenfer paints her as a Prince (/) : In profe 
 Afcham celebrates her as a (w) Prince ; Bacon 
 delbribes her as a Prince, unparalleled among 
 women {72). Add to this, that there was much 
 
 (k) In Drant's verfcs prefented to the Queen's Majeftle, 
 feeing then at Cambridge, for the name of his degree : 
 « A Prince, extxad from hautie houfe, 
 *' A Prince of pompoufe porte, 
 " Approcheth here, whofe ancitours, 
 *« Triumphe in glories forte. 
 " Cum loftie poets cum, 
 **^ Strike up in regall rate, 
 ** To pennes, to pennes, purfue the chafe, 
 " Ye have a game of ftate. - 
 [D rant's medicinahU morale that is, the two books of 
 Horace his fatyres— Englyftied. Printed by Marfh, 
 
 1566] 
 
 (/) " Mod peerkTs Prince, moil peerlefs poetrefs, 
 " The true Pandora of all heavenly graces, 
 
 ** Divine Eliza; — — — • — 
 
 [The Tears of theMufes. HughsEdit. vol. 5. p. 1377.] 
 {^j" It is your ftiame, I fpeake to you all, you yong jentle- 
 " men of England," fays Afcham, " that one mayde [Queen 
 " Elizabeth, in the margin] fhould go beyond you all in ex- 
 " cellency of learning : Amongeft all the benehtes that God 
 " hath biefl'ed me withall, I count this the greateft, that it 
 " pleafed God to call me, to be one poore miniller in fet- 
 *' ting forward thefe excellent giftes of learning, in thys moft 
 ^' excellent />r/«f^." — [The t^Qolema/ier, 1571. p. 21.] 
 
 (^) " Q}}^^^ Elizabeth, a Prince-, that if Plutarch were 
 " now alive to write lyves by [.arallells, would trouble him 
 « to f^nd for her a parall-U among women." 
 
 [Advancement of Learning. Ed. 1605, p. 35.] 
 
 darknefs. 
 
ANn herLetter.] foi' the BELIEVERS. ^jr 
 
 darknefs, and confufion, introduced into writ- 
 ing, in the days of Shakfpeare, by the fre- 
 quent ufe of the mafculine pronoun his in- 
 ftead of the neuter demonftrative, // {o). But, 
 of thefe fonnets, I have not undertaken to 
 clear the obfcure, to reconcile the difcrepant, 
 or to difentangle the knotty. When Shak- 
 fpeare draws his topics of praife from meta- 
 phyfics, he is, like other metaphylicians, cold, 
 dark, and unintelligible. Happy ! had John- 
 fon criticifed Shakfpeare, as a metaphyfical 
 ppet, rather than Cowley, or Donne. But, 
 this is lefs to be regretted, confidering into 
 wbofe hands the tajk was to fall: — In t\\Q folio 
 life of our illuftrious dramatift, Mr. Majone 
 will, no doubt, find room for a particular 
 chapter, in which " to ear fo barren a land i" 
 barren, becaufe hitherto uncultivated. As for 
 me ; it is fufficient, that I maintain my great 
 pofition, that t\\Q fiigr d fonnets were addref- 
 fed by Shakfpeare to Elizabeth, whom the 
 greateft philologifts, and philofophers, of her 
 
 {o) With a view to this point, read the firft fonnet of 
 Shakfpeare, in Mai. Sup^ vol. i. p. 581 : 
 From fairert creatures we defirc increafe. 
 That, thereby, beauties ro/e might never die; 
 But, that the jiper (hould, by time decreafe, 
 iiis [iisj tender heir niight bear h:s [its] memory. 
 
 E 3 reign. 
 
14 An ATOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth ; 
 
 reign, addreffed both as a male, and fe- 
 male. 
 
 Knowing the paffions of Elizabeth, and 
 willing to gratify them, Shakfpeare opens his 
 purpofe, in his firft fonnet, by a diredt ad- 
 drefs to the great obje<ft of his flattery : 
 
 *« Thou, that art now the world's frefli ornament, 
 
 " And only herald to the gaudy fpring. 
 
 Whatever may have been the beauty, or ce- 
 lebrity, of the Warwickihire lafles, in that 
 age, I doubt, whether the prettied of them 
 could properly be called the world's frejh orna-' 
 menty and only herald to the gaudy fpring. Our 
 panegyrift goes on, in his fecond fonnet, to 
 praife his love, as the heir of perpetual 
 youth i as the objed: of univerfal admira- 
 tion : 
 
 *' When forty winters (hall befiege thy brow, 
 *' And dig deep trenches in thy beauties' field, 
 *' Thy youth's proud liveiy, fo gaT^d on now^ 
 « Will be a tatter'd weed of fmall worth held (/>). 
 
 Queen Elizabeth was certainly forty, in the 
 
 year 1573 > ^"^ ^^^ probably more than fifty, 
 
 [p) He repeats this topic of flattery, from univerfal ad- 
 miration, in the 5th fonnet : 
 
 ** The lovely gaze, where every eye doth dwell,*' 
 But, no Warwickfhire girl could merit the praife, nor any 
 Warwickfhire poet feign this univcrfality of admiration, 
 with r«fpcdl to a local beauty. 
 
 at 
 
AND HER. Letter.] /^r />^^ B E L I E V E R S. 55 
 
 at the epoch of this panegyric : But, this ob- 
 je(flion, in the prefent cafe, does not ftrike 
 with the fame force, as when applied to other 
 women of inferior rank, and of lefs affedla- 
 tion, in their daily habits. At the age of fixty, 
 Elizabeth was commonly addreffed by mi- 
 nifters^ and ambalTadors, as an Angela as a God- 
 defs [q) : Moreover, lord Orford has proved, 
 that Elizabeth dawnced, when fhe was Jixty- 
 eight *y and from this circumftance, he reafon- 
 ably inferred, that it was equally natural for 
 her to be in love, as to dawnce^ at fo advanced 
 an age. In profecution of his topic of praife, 
 from her youth, and beauty, Shakfpeare, with 
 great addrefs, holds up to her, in his third 
 fonnet, a rnirrour, which might recal, by a 
 retrofpeftive image, very agreeable fenfa- 
 tions : — 
 
 " Thou art thy mother's glafsy and fhe, in thee, 
 *' Calls back the lovely April of her prime." 
 
 But, it was in his feventh fonnet, that he 
 gave to her, and left to us, an undoubt- 
 
 (q) When {he w^s /jxty-feveny Veriken, the Dutch arn;^ 
 baffador, told her at his audience, *' that he had longed to 
 " undertake that voyage to fee her majefty, who for leai^ty 
 *' and vvlfdom excelled all other princes of the world." 
 [Cat. of Royal, and Noble, Authors, vol. i. 140.] 
 
 E 4. cd 
 
56 yf» APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth ; 
 
 ed fpecimen of real poetry, and of genuine 
 praife. 
 
 " Lo ! in the orient, when the gracious light 
 
 '' Lifts up his burning head, each under eye 
 " Doth homage to his new-appearing fight ; 
 
 *' Serving with looks his facred majefty : 
 *« And, having climb'd the fteep-up heavenly hill, 
 
 '' Refembling ftrong youth, in his middle age i 
 <* Yet, mortal looks adore his beauty ftill, 
 
 *' Attending on his golden pilgrimage : 
 " But, when from highmoft pitch, with weary car, 
 
 " Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day, 
 '' The eye*s, 'fore duteous, now converted are 
 
 *^ From his low tracSt, and look another way : 
 ''So thou, thyfelf outgoing in thy noon, 
 *' Uulook'd on, dieft, unlefs thou get a fon." 
 
 He defcends from this hi^hefi pitchy and 
 
 woes her to marriage, in his eigjith fonnet, 
 
 by allufions to mufic ; from the ti'ue concord 
 
 of well-timed founds, by unions married. And, 
 
 in his ninth fonnet, he remonftrates : 
 
 " Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye, 
 
 '* That thou confum'fl thyfelf in fingle life ? 
 ** Ah ! if thou ifluelefs fhalt hap to die, 
 
 *' The world will wail thee^ like amakelefs wife; 
 *' The world will be thy widow, and ftill weep, 
 
 " That thou no form of thee haft left behind, 
 «' When every private widow well may keep, 
 
 " ^y children's eyes, her huft)and's fliape in mind. 
 
 I might here clofe my proofs. A Warwick- 
 ibire "laenchy however pretty , and lanttyy would 
 
 fcarcelv 
 
jLND HER Letter.] /.r //.^ BELIE VE R S. 57 
 
 fcarcely have been bewailed by the world, had 
 file died iffuelefs : And, fhe would have been, 
 by the lofs of her hufband, as far from being 
 2i public widow, as Elizabeth would have been 
 a private widow, by the demife of ^' a well^ 
 ** wi/hed king.'' But, the fubjedt is curious 
 for its novelty, and the argument is important 
 for its inferences : and, I will, therefore, ex- 
 hibit Shakfpeare, as a woer, in feme other 
 lights. He courts Elizabeth, in his tenth 
 fonnet, by affuring her, that pe was beloved by 
 many^ and he conjured her to be, "as thy 
 *^ prefence isy gracious^ and kindT In his ec- 
 flafy, he fancies, that £he had given herfelf to 
 her adorer, as "a fair gift:" But, awaking 
 from his reverie, he cries out : 
 
 " Thus have I had thee, as a dream dolh flatter, 
 
 «^ In fleep a King (r) ." 
 
 Propriety could never have ufed fuch compli- 
 ments to knitters i tlf fun. In the feventeenth 
 fonnet, he breaks out in ajine phrenzy^ to praife 
 the prefent, and to prophecy of the future; 
 
 '' Who will believe my verfe in time to come, 
 
 " If it were filled with^^wr moji high dejerts? 
 
 — * ■ I . II I ■ . I , , 
 
 (r) See the 87th fonnet: and fee the 114th fonnet: 
 
 *' Or w^hether doth my mind, being crownM with you, 
 
 " Drink up the monarches plague^ this flattery: 
 «c ', tis flattery in my feeing, 
 
 *' And my great mind moft kingly drinks it up.*^ 
 
 « Thoiigli 
 
5« ^« APOLOGY [QuEEw Elizabeth; 
 
 " Though heaven yet knows, it is but as a tomb, 
 
 *' Which hides your life^ and Jhovus not half your parts. 
 
 " If t could write the beauty of your eye?, 
 
 " And, in frefh numbers, number all your graces, 
 
 " The age to come Would fay, this poet lies; 
 
 " Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces: 
 
 . " So fhouid my papers, yellowed with their agCy 
 *• ^efcor?2^dj like old men of lefs truth, than tongue; 
 " And, your true rights be term'd a poet's rage, 
 
 ■ *' A ftretched metre of an antique fong : 
 *' But, vi^ere fome child of your's alive, that time, 
 " You fhould live twice ; in it, and in my rhim.e." 
 
 Shakfpeare was not only poflefied of poetic 
 
 frenzy, but enjoyed a quality, whereof he has 
 
 not hitherto been fufpecfted, the fecund Jight: 
 
 He not only knew, that Elizabeth, the majier-^ 
 
 mijirefs of his paffion, would die ijjuelefs-y but, 
 
 he forefawthe fate of his "Miscellaneous 
 
 *' Papers;" and that they would, though 
 
 yellowed with their agey ht J comedy like old men 
 
 of lefs truth y than tongue. Becoming more 
 
 reafonable, in his ninety-fixth fonnet, he 
 
 calmJy defcribes Elizabeth, in fuch explicit 
 
 terms, as to remove even the doubts of fcep- 
 
 ticifm : 
 
 " Some fay thy fault is youth, fome wantonnefs; 
 
 " Some fay thy grace is youth, and gentle fport; 
 
 " Both grace, and faults, are lov'd of more and lefs : 
 
 " Thou mak'ft faults graces, that to thee refort; 
 
 " As on the finger of a throned queen 
 
 " Th^bafeji jewel will be well eJlcirrCd\ 
 
 *^ So 
 
AND HER Letter.] for ih BELIEV EKS. 5^ 
 
 ^ So are thofe errors, that in thee are feen, , 
 
 « To truths trariflated, and for true things deemM, 
 
 « How many gazers might'ft thou lead away, 
 
 " If thou would' Jl vfe ihejirength of all thy Ji ate {s). 
 
 While 
 
 (j) Let the curious reader, laying afide his prepofTefTion, 
 advert to feveral exprelTions, which are fcattered, by Shak- 
 fpeare, through his fonnets, with a lavifh hand. \\\ the 23d 
 fonnet, he fays, ^' who plead for love, and look for recompence.** 
 From \vhom could he look for recompence, but from EHza- 
 beth ? In the 25th fonnet he talks of thofe, who boaft oipub^ 
 lie honour, and proud titles ; and hints, that fortune had 
 barred him of fuch triumphs : yet, confoles himfelf v/ith 
 recollecting the fate of great princes favourites, who, at a 
 frown, oft in their glory die. In the 31 ft fonnet, he flatters 
 her, by faying, " thy bofom is endeared with all hearts." 
 In the 36 ih fonnet, he bewails his fituation ; as it might 
 prevent her from honsuring him with her public kindnefsm 
 In the 37th fonnet, he gives her pre-eminence of beauty y 
 birth, wealth, and %vit: And in the the 38th fonnet, he 
 heightens this panegyric, by fuggefting, that her accom- 
 pli (hments were too excellent, for every vulgar paper to re- 
 hearfe. After fpeaking of her beauty, and bounty, in the 53d 
 fonnet, he adds; "and you in every blejfed jhape, we know:'* 
 He then fpeaks of the univerjality of her praifes, in the 69th 
 fonnet; and prophecies of the eternity of her celebrations, in 
 the 55th, and 59th fonnets : All tongues, he tells, commend 
 ber outward', but, even her foes commend the beauty of ^^r 
 ?tiind, which they meafure, by her deeds, [See the 69th fon- 
 net]. He afterwards adds; that (he is 2iS fair 'n\ knowledge^ 
 as in hue. [See the 8 2d fonnet.] He then recals his/cr- 
 getful 7nufe, and bids her in his lOOth fonnet, " fmg to the 
 ^' ear tliat doth thy lays efteem, and gives thy pen boih 
 *' /kill and argument.*' Whoever will confid^sr, attcntivdy, 
 
 thofe 
 
6o ^» A P O L O G Y [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 While Elizabeth hath fuch ftrong preten- 
 fions to the honour of Shakfpeare's panegyric, 
 Mr. Malone, and his coadjutors, have been 
 wholly unable to name either man, or woman, 
 who could reafonably pretend to rival claims. 
 With fuch quicknefs of thought, does the 
 poet glance from earth to heaven^ that my 
 ** heavy ignorance" cannot follow him. In 
 his flights, he points indeed fometim.es at a 
 man, and often at a woman ^ yet he generally 
 refts, at laft, on " his fair fubjed:;'* — " finding 
 ** her worth a limit part his praife.'* One 
 hundred and twenty of thofe fonnets are fup- 
 pofcd, though without fufficient proof, to be 
 addrefleJ to a (/) friend ; and are reprobated, 
 though without adequate caufe, as profeiling 
 too much Jove to be addrefled to a man. [u\ 
 
 When 
 
 thofe appropriate topics muft perceive, I think, that they 
 could have been addrelTed to no other perfonagc^ than Eli- 
 zabeth, who is either particularly defcribed, or often alluded 
 to, through one hundred and fifty-four fonnets. 
 
 (f) Mr. Malone might have feen in Howard's Collec- 
 tions, p. 521, " An original love-letter of Sir George Hay- 
 ward, M'hich was written, in 1550, and begins, <'My dereft 
 " yr/VW, my fecond felf, nay my infeparable felf ; and ends 
 " your afFe6tionated and true friend." 
 
 {u) Tn Fenn's letters, vol. ii. p. 355, Mr. Malone might 
 have i^^vi the Duke of NorfoUc, when writing to John 
 
 Pafton, 
 
AND HER Letter.] /cr /^^ B E L I E V E R 3. St 
 
 When the admirers of Shakfpeare come to 
 perceive, that his fonnets were addreffed to 
 Ehzabeth, they will be happy to find, that the 
 poet was incapable of fuch grofsnefs. The 
 fadi: is, that Shakfpeare, knowing the voracity 
 of Ehzabeth, determined to gorge her with 
 praife. In executing his purpofe, *' /w ex^ 
 *^ haujled 'worlds y and then imagirid new** 
 Ought we to wonder that, in performing this 
 great operation, he fhould confound the fexes ? 
 Let us appeal to the truths which is always 
 the beft jaftification: He knew the mighty 
 obje(!l of his adoration to be of a very mixed 
 Jia^le : and he addreiled her, as Spenfer, Ra- 
 leigh, and Bacon had addreffed her before, 
 both as a princefs, and a prince^ as a heroine, 
 
 Pafton, in 1485, conclude his letter, " your lover, 
 " J. Norfolk/' Mr. Malone might have peruied in the 
 Cabala, p. 213, the following Love-letter from the Earl of 
 EfTex to Mr. Secretary Davifon : " As at my departure, fa 
 " upon my return, I muft needs falute you, as one, whom 
 *' then, and now, and ever, 1 muft love very much : 1 would 
 ** gladly fee you, but I am tied here a while ; when I may 
 '' have occafion to iliew my love to you^ 1 will do more thaa 
 " I now promife. In the mean time, wilhing you that 
 " happinefs, which men, in this world, ought to feek, I take 
 « my leave, your allured friend, R. £frex."--[ There are 
 in the Cabala, p. 213—15, other letLers of the Earl of 
 Efiex to Mr. Secretary Davifon, which are all written in a 
 fimilar ftrain of love'\, 
 
 and 
 
6t Jn APOLOGY [QuREN Elizabeth^ 
 
 and a hero ; as an angel, and a goddefs ; as 
 Adonis, and Helen f^'). Knowing her pa- 
 tience, while liflening to panegyric, Shakfpeare 
 determined, with the refoiution of his own 
 Dogberry, to beftow liis w/bole tedioufaefs upon 
 her, if he were as tedious as a king {w). 
 
 He felr, indeed, fome moments of weari- 
 nefs ; and feared, at times, the power of a 
 rivaL We may iearn thefe facls, from what 
 he admits himfelf, when he cries out, in his 
 eightieth fonnet: 
 
 " C [ how I faint, when I of you do vvrfte; 
 ^ Knowing a betier fpn-'tt doth ufe your name, 
 *' And in the praife thereof, fpends all his might, 
 *' To malce me tongue-ty'd, fpealcing of your fame: 
 *' Butj ^\i\Ciz your zuofthy (wide as the ocean is) 
 '^ The humble, as the proudefl: fail doth bear, 
 *' My {lucy bark, inferior far to his, 
 ** On your broad mawy dpth wilfully appear. 
 
 {v) In her lait progrefs, at Sir Henry Leighe's, the Queen 
 was received with a Dialogue, between Co7iJiandey and /«- 
 confiancte. C5;//?^;7(:/> addrelfes her : " moft excellent : fhall 
 *' I fay Lady, or Goddejfe? whom I fhould envie to be but 
 *^ a lady, and cannot denie to have the power of a goddejfe,*'* 
 [See The Phcenix Ne/i^ 1593, p. 16]. 
 
 {w) He addreffed to her 154 fonnets of 14 lines each, 
 which, of courfe, amounted to 2156 lines, in praife of her 
 beauty, and accomplifhments, without once touching her 
 governjnenty which he knew would rouze her pohtical 
 jealoufy, and offend againft h^x -"prerogative t which fhe 
 deemed facred, 
 
 »' Your 
 
AND HER Letter.] /cr /// B E L I E VE RS. 63 
 
 «' Your (halloweft help will hold mc up afloat, 
 
 " Whilft he upon your foitndlefs dtep doth ride : 
 
 « Or, heing wreck'd, I am a worth! efs boat, 
 
 " He a tall vu'ilulng^ and of goodly pride: 
 
 " Then, if he thrive^ and I be caft away, 
 
 " The worft was this; my love was my decay." 
 
 It would gratify a reafonable cariolity to 
 know what better fprite it were, of whom 
 Shakfpeare feared the fuperiority, and envied 
 the fuccefs. Mr. Malone has fuggefted, that 
 it was {x) Spenfer, who was then in the ze- 
 nith of his reputation; who had reared, 111 
 1590, the Fairie Queen, as '^ a tall building,'* 
 to eternize her name : And, Mr. Malone has 
 diligently fhewn, by having ranfacked the 
 records, that Spenfer had a penfion from Eli- 
 zabeth, contrary to the idle fuppofitions of his 
 biographers. Now, thefe fads are in them- 
 felves fufficient, to confirm the probability, 
 that Shakfpeare addreffed his fonnets to Eli- 
 beth, in emulation of Spenfer, and in hopes of 
 thriving^ as he had thriven. Yet, the reafon- 
 ing of Mr. Malone, " that there was certainly 
 " no poet in his own time with whom he 
 " needed to have feared a comparifon,'' is 
 not, I think, conclufive. He does not, fuf- 
 ficiently, carry his mind back to the pcrfons, 
 and things, of that time; and he docs not, 
 
 (^) Supplement, vol. i. p. 645. 
 
 properly. 
 
^4 An A? O LOGY [Queen El iZAEET^H^ 
 
 properly, bring in experience to the aid of his 
 recolle(flion. V/e all know, that the wretched 
 Settle was the rival of the mighty Dryden j; 
 who, for a titaie,/both feared, and hated him. 
 And, Shakfpeare, who appears to have been 
 modeft by nature, may have been tongue-tyedy 
 by feme petty poet, before he had been flat- 
 tered, by praife, to think highly of his owa 
 performances. As Settle was a court-poet for 
 a while, ip oppoiition to Dryden, was not 
 Churchyard a court-poet, in like oppoiiticn to 
 Shakfpeare ? The Queen fpent her New- 
 year's -day of i59t> ^t Hampton -Court y when, 
 and where. Churchyard prefented her " A 
 ^' pleafant Conceited penned in Verfe (j;. He 
 felicitated himfelf, in the following terms : 
 
 " The book, I callM of late my dear adieu^ 
 
 *' Is now become my wekomti home moft kind : 
 
 " For, old milhaps are heal'd yN\^\ fortune new^ 
 
 *-^ That brings a balnie to cure, to cure a wounded mind. 
 
 '' From God, and Prince^ I now fuch favour find, 
 
 « That full afloat my jh'ip it rydcs, 
 
 *' At anchorhold againjl all checking tydes,** 
 
 (y) It was printed, for Warde, in 1593. There is z 
 Dedication to the Queen; "which Pleafant ConceitSy* he 
 tells her, " I have prcfumed (this Newyear's day) to prefent 
 " to your Majefty, in fign, and token, that your gracious 
 '^ goodnefs towards me oftentimes (and chiefly now for /ny 
 " perfion) (hall never go out of my remembrance." [See 
 that very curious book, Nichols's ProgrefTes of Queen 
 Jtlizabeth.j 
 
 The 
 
And herLetter.] >r //^^ B E LI E VERS. 6; 
 
 The time, the place, the parties, the peniion, 
 the Fortune new, the prince, the fiip, riding 
 at anchor, on the iroad main of Ehzabeth, 
 againft checking tides; are all, furely, ftriking 
 coincidences (2;). Raleigh was the patroa 
 both of Spenfer, and of Churchyard : Hatton 
 was alfo the patron of Churchyard. Why 
 Churchyard fhould have been preferred, at 
 court, to Shakfpeare, it is vain to enquire the 
 
 (z) From the notices of Wood, in the Athenas, Oxon. 
 vol. i. p. 317, a life of Thomas Churchyard might be writ- 
 ten. He was born at Shrewlbury ; and lived, and fought, 
 and wrote, and fufFered hardfhips, in the reigns of Edward 6, 
 Mary, and Elizabeth. During the laft of thefe reigns, he 
 furniflied the court with many Interludes, or other Conceites^ 
 for the Queen's divertifement. He wrote, as is well known. 
 The JVorthlnes of Wales ^ which, forming part of Shakfpeare's 
 library, may be feen, at this day, in Norfolk-ftreet, with the 
 name, and notes, of the great dramatift, written in many 
 parts of it, in a fair hand, and genuine character, to the utter 
 defiance of all fceptics, upon the point of their authenticity* 
 Churchyard died poor, fays Wood; and is buried near the 
 famous poet, John Skelton, in the choir of St. Margaret's 
 church, Wellminfter. His epitaph is in Weaver, 497. But, 
 none of the biographers can tell, when he died. By infpedl- 
 ing the parifli regifter, I found, that Mr. Thomas Church- 
 yard was buried, on the 4th of April 1604. On obferving 
 a X before his name, I afked the meaning of the crofs : the 
 clerk, with the importance, which is hereditary in the family 
 of pariih-clerks, informed me, that it was a mark of emi^ 
 tifricc', as, indeed, the prefixed Mi/ier ^ihinly confirms. 
 
 F caufe> 
 
66 ^» APOLOGY [Queen ELiZAEETHf 
 
 caufe, and ufelefs to regret the efFedl. Our 
 great dramatift, probably, injured himfelf by 
 paying fuch frequent court to Lord Southamp- 
 ton, who had not the intereft, during Eliza- 
 beth's reign, to procure for him the fmalleft 
 favour. Whether it were Spenfer, or Church- 
 yard, who roufed the emulation of Shakfpeare, 
 they both looked to Elizabeth, as the fun of 
 their worihip : And, from this circumftance, 
 we may preiume, that he, too, muft have 
 pointed tot. that great luminary, as the /oaJ^ 
 Jlone of his heart, and loadjiarre of his eyes. 
 
 I have now clofed the proofs, which have 
 convinced me, that the fonnets of Shakfpeare 
 were addrefled by him to Elizabeth. The 
 ftrong prefumption, which is fet up by thofe 
 proofs, cannot be deftroyed, hut by proofs of 
 greater weight, that would carry with them a 
 contrary perfuafion. 
 
 The believers, who recognized, in thtfugrd 
 fonnets^ the pretty e verfes^ of Shakfpeare, natu- 
 rally inferred, fi'om the plaineft principles of 
 common fcnfe, that, as Elizabeth had given 
 penfions to other poets for lefs prettye verfesy 
 file might, probably, have fent a letter of 
 complhneiit to Mafterre William^ on?ie tbeyre 
 greate excellence. The believers knew, more- 
 over, that the prefumption, which arofe from 
 
 the 
 
 8 
 
And HER Letter.] /or //^^ B EL I E V ]^R S. 6j 
 
 thedidates of common icnk, was ftrengthen- 
 cd, by collateral evidence. And they recol- 
 lefted, what Mr. Malone feems to have for- 
 gotten^ an additional proof in Otway's Pm* 
 Jogue XohU Caius.Marius: -,.,» 
 
 " Our Shakfpeai'e wrote too in an age as blejl^ 
 <'^ The happiefl poet of his time, and beft; 
 " A gracious prince's favour cheer'd his mufe, 
 " A conftant favour he ne'er fear*d to lofe (^).'* 
 
 Yet, neither a ftrong prefumption, nor col- 
 lateral evidence, will fatisfy the public accufer^ 
 without rzg^'d demonjiration. One of his great 
 objedlions, indeed, is, that this epiille had an 
 archetype^ after which it was formed (i). On 
 the contrary, the believers reafonably infer- 
 red, that> fince an archetype had exifted, a 
 copy might probably be produced ; and, iince 
 a precedent of fuch a letter had been fhown, 
 Elizabeth's letter might fairly be admitted, ac- 
 
 . (tf) MaL Shakf. vol. i. p. 217. — Otvi^ay lived at an 
 epoch, when fuch anecdotes were flill remembered. The 
 hlejfed age was plainly the happy reign of Elizabeth, who is^ 
 with great propriety, called by Otway, as fhe had been called 
 by Shakfpeare, a gracious prince. Churchyard^ we may 
 recollect, called her 2Lpri?ice^ in his dedication to her: And, 
 Elizabeth calls ber(df a. prince^ in het letter to Lady Paget.— 
 Mai. Inquiry, p. 114, 
 
 {b) Inquiry, 27 :—"A model," fays he, with gTe3.t ter/e- 
 nefsy " either now exifting or which once exifted, on which 
 " it has been conftrutled." 
 
 F 2 cording 
 
6t JhATOLOGY [Queen £Li2A*Et rf^ 
 
 cording to the eftablifhed praftice, as a genuine 
 document. 
 
 But, this logic the public accufer does not 
 admit into his code. The prefumption, aris- 
 ing from the probability ; the collateral evi- 
 dence, growing cut of the fcenic hiftory ; 
 the archetype for the copy; and the precedent 
 for the praftice; are all difregarded by our 
 logical inquirer, as fupplying lefs evidence^ 
 ,than rigid demonftration. He thinks it fuf- 
 ficient, in that ^c) difregard, " merely to 
 ** contraft the orthography of this, and the 
 *' other, papers with the fpelling of Eliza- 
 " beth herfelf, or any other writers of her 
 "age." In profecution of this thought, he 
 deems it equally reafonable, to contraft manu- 
 fcripts, which exhibit the orthography of the 
 party, with books, that generally {how the 
 fpelling of the printer. In purfuance of this 
 reafoning, he fappofes what he ought to prove ; 
 nay, he alTumes what he has difproved, viz. 
 that the orthography of the reign of Elizabeth 
 was uniform in its practice, and fyftematic in 
 its principle. And, in order to entitle him- 
 felf, as a fair logician, to reafon from the uni- 
 formity of fpelling ; and ioy to proye the fpu- 
 rioulncf^ of Elizabeth's epiftle, from iv^ wa* t 
 
 (0 Inquiry, p. 3 1. 33. 
 
AND HER Letter.] /^r //^^ B EL I E VER S. 69 
 
 of conformity to the fettled rule, he quotes a 
 thoufand paflages of (^) books, from the epoch 
 of Chaucer to the days of Norden, which de^.. 
 monftrate, that there was, in thofe times, no 
 fettled rule, and no uniformity of practice, in 
 the phrafeology of the Englifh language. If 
 there were no fettled rule, there could be then 
 no ftandard of uniform praftice ; and if there 
 were no uniform practice, there could never be 
 any deviation from the eftabliflied phrafeology. 
 The public accufer, who is continually mif- 
 taking ajfumptions for proofs^ proceeds, how- 
 ever, a ftep further. He contrails letters of 
 Elizabeth, in the Mufeum, with her letter, in 
 Norfoik-ftreet; in order to fhow conjiftency in 
 her fpelling, and, at the fanje moment, to 
 fhow difcrepancy, between the genuine let- 
 ters, and the pretended epiftle. But, was fhe 
 coniiftent, in her own pradiice ? Without at- 
 tending to thefadty he has attempted to anfwer 
 this queftion, by fhowing her learning, from 
 hex fpeaking many tongues 5 as \i Jpeakingy 
 and writings languages were not very diflindt 
 qualities ^ as if millions, at this day, did not 
 
 (i) -See the various quotations, which, without gratify- 
 ing curiofity, only prove, that there was not then any fettled 
 prthography : Inquiry, 35 to 69. 
 
 F 3 fpeak 
 
jo' ^//APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 fpeak Engliih, who cannot write it, accu- 
 rately. He has, indeed, been perfuaded to 
 make another move in this game of draughts^ 
 contrary to his better judgment : He was, in 
 this' manner, Induced to publifh a table, from 
 ihtfcheme of a friend, in order to eftabUfh the 
 conjijlency of the queen's orthography j though 
 this fcheme, and that table, are inconfijient 
 with his own documents (^). 
 
 I will, now, proceed to prove, from the 
 public accufer's ow?z Jhewing, that the ortho- 
 graphy of Elizabeth was not formed on anyi 
 fettled principle, nor ufed according to any 
 regular praftice. In her letter to Lord Shrewf- 
 bury, fhe writes [f) : " Let no grief touche 
 " your harte for fear of my difeafe for I affure 
 " you if my creadit wer hot greater than my 
 " jQiewe ther is no beholdar wold beleve that 
 " ever I had bin touched with fuche a mala- 
 " dye." In this iliort paffage, I propofe to 
 liiow a contrariety in the fpelling, by the pen 
 of Elizabeth, in no fewer than eight words. 
 In another of her letters to the fame Lord 
 Shrewfbury, fhe fays (^): *' How loth we are 
 
 (i ) Compare Mai. Inquiry, p. 74, with p. 1 13-14. 
 
 • {/) Inqiii-ry, ri3. 
 
 {g) Lodge's U. vol. iii. Ii2. In Murden, 185, (he has 
 t< hertlely wi(h." 
 
v^ND HER Letter.] /or //6^ B E L IE VER S. 71 
 
 ** to burden o' own fubjeCts w'*" charges o' 
 *^ own hart doth know beft/'" In a letter to 
 her ambafFadors, /lie has " wherewith they 
 ^^ were much fatisfied {IS)'' In the fame 
 letter fhe fpeaks of " our gret feal," in- 
 ftead of greatar feal. She tells her ambaf- 
 fadors, in the fame letter, " there was no ar- 
 " ticJe ne covenant in the treatye (/)/' In 
 oppofition to wold belevt^ in one page, ilie 
 utters would wifh, in the next (/) : And, fhe 
 advifes Sir Harry Sydney, in thefe words : 
 " Belive not, thogh {k) the fwere that they 
 *' can be ful found, whofe parents foght the 
 " rule that the full iz-^n^ would have/' This 
 quotation, which is taken from one of Mr. 
 Malone's authorities, is full of the contrarieties 
 of the confijient Queen Befs : Belive for belevey 
 the for they^ ful for fidU would in place of 
 wold. Inftead of had bin touched, which fhe 
 tells Shrewlbury fhe had not bin^ by the fmall- 
 pox, fhe afTures Sydney that, Prometheus 
 
 (h) Forbes's State Letters, vol. i. p. 109. 
 
 (/) In the fame letter, fhe tells her ambairadors, "that 
 " althoght it [/he has yt and hit, at times] was not compre- 
 " henfed by any fpeciall article within the treaiy,^^ 
 
 (j) See Mai. Inquiry, p. 113-14. 
 {k) In Forbes, vol. i. p. 109, fhe has, althoght It was 
 jnot. 
 
 F 4 " hathc 
 
72 ^» APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 *' hathe ifine myne to long(/)/' Oi fuche 
 contrarieties we may ealily find fuch a (m) 
 number, as will make the public accufer 
 afhamed of the imiformity of Elizabeth's fpel- 
 ling. Strange ! that a lady, who had fo many 
 lovers, and thought fo much of love, fhould 
 have been fo irregular in her orthography, as 
 to exhibit, in the fame page, of that conjijlent 
 critic, loving fovraigne ^m oppofition to lovinge 
 fouveraine [n). With the fame inconfiftency, 
 fhe fpeaks of the higheji lord, and " How yre- 
 ful wyl the hieji power be may you be fure 
 " whi murmure JhalhQ made of his pleafing 
 " wyl (o),'* With the fame difcrepance, fhe 
 writes to Lady Drury [p) : *' Bee well ware 
 ** my BefTe you ftrive not with divine ordi- 
 " nance :" Yet, ihe writes to Sydney {q) 
 " A fole to late be wares, whan all the perrel 
 
 (/) Sydney Pap. quoted by Mr. Mai one, p. 7, 
 
 {m) Lodge II. vol. iii. p. 112. 
 
 («) See Mai. Inq. p. 11 3- 114, for the curious fa£l: and 
 Lodge's Illuft. vol. ii. p. 154: — She has zMo fiver aigney and 
 fivcrapey [lb. 154-5] 2.n^ fiver et^nm Fuller's Worth. Oxf. 
 336 : We have here the thing, which was conftantly in the 
 mind of ElizabethjCxhibitedjby her pen, in fix different forms. 
 
 (0) Mai. Inq. 114: and, fee her letter to Sydney [pa. 8.] 
 forjhallznd will-, and w/7, in Nichols's Prog. vol. i. p. 24. 
 
 (/)) Mai. Inq. 113. (^) Sydney Pap. vol. i. 8. 
 
 " is 
 
AND HER Letter.] /or /^^ B E LI E V E R S. 7j 
 
 " is paft 'y' and fhe adds, in the fame contra- 
 didoiy ftrain, to Sydney (r) : " Whan our 
 *' lome is wel nigh done, our v/ork is new to 
 " begin/' She talks to Lady Drury of her 
 " married >&^/';" Yet, fhe fpeaks to Shrewf- 
 bury {/) of *' the beft good happe that any 
 *' prince on earthe can befaule/' To Lady 
 Paget fhe writes (/) : " Let nature therfor 
 " not hurt yourfelf but give place to the 
 " givur :" Contrariwife fhe writes to Lord 
 Strange (z^) : " 'therefore at this tyme, direct 
 " you to repayre hyther than your/elf ih^M fee 
 *' may ftand with your father's lykyng in this 
 ** his ficknes, but yet confidering your ab- 
 " fence we have been erneft with our coojyn 
 " your wiff, that fhe wold move yow to fend 
 ** up yowr eldeft fone(^')/' She thanked ^^/^// 
 Sir Harry Wallop '^for foe othr fervices than 
 ** comen commifiios for wiche in fkroile of 
 
 (r) lb. — fhe has alfo — well defarvers-^^xi^worjar hap, 
 
 (j) Lodge llluft. vol. ii. p. 155. {/) Mai. Inq, 114. 
 
 («) Murden, 185: In Lodge, vol. hi. p. 112, file has 
 covftn-f and in Forbes, vol. ii. p. 415, fhe has her cojin: we 
 have already had bin^ and bine. She fpeaks above of giving 
 " place to the givur:" in her often quoted letter to Sydney, 
 fhe advifes him " not to confult fo longe as til advis come 
 ^' to late to the givers,** 
 
 (v) in her letter to Lady Drury— [[nquiry 114] fhe has 
 yfiiii and yours, 
 
 '' other 
 
74 ^/z APOLOGY [Quien Elizabeth; 
 
 ** Other memorielz I faile not to locke in my 
 " befl memorye:" Contrary to this again, 
 file advifes Sydney {w) : '* Let this me^- 
 " moriall be only committed to Vulcanes 
 ** bafe keping." In her letter of thanks 
 to her very good coufins Lord, and Lady, 
 Shrewfbury, for kindly difcharging the dyety 
 at Buxtonsy of her coiifm of Leycejiery fhe 
 writes {x) : " This good happe then grow- 
 " ing from youy ye might thinke youvjelfes {y) 
 " moft unhappy ej^ you frved fuch 2i prince as 
 *' fhould not be as readye gratyouflie to conli- 
 " der of ytJ' She fays contrariwife to Syd- 
 ney (2,): "If aught have bine amys at home, 
 ** I wyll pache thogh I cannot hole it{a)J' 
 
 I will here clofe my proof, on this head; 
 and fum up the refult. In order to demon- 
 ftrate the uniform orthography, and confiftent 
 fpellingjpf Elizabeth, Mr. Malone has given a 
 table y which was fchemed by a friend , com- 
 prehending^'u^-^/^^-/i£;^/^/y words [b). I will 
 
 (w) Sydney Lett. vol. i. p. 8. {x) Lodge, vol. ii.p. 155. 
 
 iy) In the fame letter flie has yourfehes» 
 
 (z) Syd. Letters, vol. i. p. 8. 
 
 (a) In her letter to Lady Paget [Inquiry 114] fhe has 
 " yet is hit fent.'' 
 
 {b) Inquiry, 73.74. 
 
 now 
 
AMD herXetter.] for tht BELIEVERS. 75 
 
 now confront him, and his friend, with a table 
 of more than ffty words, which might h^ve 
 been enlarged; in order to demonftrate the 
 inconfiftent fpeUing, and unfyftematic ortho-^ 
 graphy, of Elizabeth :— 
 
 Anfwer 
 
 Aunfwear 
 
 Aunfer (r 
 
 Althoght 
 
 Thogh 
 
 Although 
 
 Bee 
 
 Be 
 
 
 Be/^ve 
 
 Be//Ve 
 
 Beleeve 
 
 Bin 
 
 Bine 
 
 Bene 
 
 Ca/c 
 
 Cace (i) 
 
 Ca^e 
 
 CalifTe (the 
 
 Town) Calles {e) 
 
 
 Coufin 
 
 Cofm Goofin 
 
 Coufyn (j 
 
 Comforte 
 
 Compfort {£) 
 
 
 Dear 
 
 Deere {h) 
 
 
 Debt 
 
 Debte 
 
 
 Ful 
 
 Full 
 
 
 Hap 
 
 Happe 
 
 
 Hart 
 
 Harte 
 
 H<r/lely 
 
 How 
 
 Howe (0 
 
 
 Higheft 
 
 Hiell 
 
 
 G/Ve 
 
 Gever(y^) 
 
 
 (f ) See the Queen's letter to her ambaffadors in France, 
 Forbes, vol. ii. 414. 
 
 ' {^d) Inquiry, 1 14 5 Lodge II. vol. ii. 155. 
 
 (e) Forbes, vol. «i. 415. 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 1x4; Lodge, vol. ii. 155. 
 
 {h) Howard's Col. 246-7. 
 
 (/') Inquiry, 114; Lodge, vol.ii. 155, 
 
 {g) lb. 362. 
 
 {k) Id. 
 Givur 
 
76 An 
 
 APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 Givur 
 
 Olivers 
 
 Greatar 
 
 Gret [ar] 
 
 If 
 
 Yf 
 
 It 
 
 Yt Hit 
 
 King 
 
 Kinge (0 
 
 Leycefter 
 
 Leicefter {m) 
 
 Loving 
 
 Loving^ 
 
 May 
 
 Male («) 
 
 Mee 
 
 Me (0 
 
 Memoriall 
 
 Memorirfx 
 
 Moe 
 
 More (;>) 
 
 Mynde 
 
 Minde(5') 
 
 Raigne 
 
 Reigne (r) 
 
 Shall 
 
 Shal 
 
 Shrewfbury 
 
 Shrewefbury (5) 
 
 Soveraigne 
 
 Soveraine 
 
 Sovraigne 
 
 Souveraine 
 
 Soverayne 
 
 Sovereign 
 
 Such 
 
 Suche 
 
 Thanckfull 
 
 Thd^e ThankfuUic (0 
 
 Than 
 
 Then (a) 
 
 (/) Howard's 
 
 Col. 247. Mai. Inq. 1 14, 
 
 [rri) Cabala, 26; Lodge's 11. vol. ii. p. 155. 
 
 {n) Inquiry, I 
 
 14; Lodge, vol. ii. 155. 
 
 {q) Howard's 
 
 Col. 247. (/>) lb. 246.7. 
 
 {q) Mai. Inq. 
 
 114; Howard's Col. 246. 
 
 (r) Letter to \ 
 
 Sydney, and Howard's CoL 246. 
 
 (i) Lodge's I] 
 
 . vol. ii. p. 82. 
 
 (/) In the fame letter — Lodge, vol. ii. 155. 
 
 {«) Mai. Inq. 
 
 112 J Howard's Col. 247. 
 
 They 
 
Hb diR Letter. 
 
 ] /«/• //>tf B E L 1 
 
 EVERS. 
 
 They 
 
 The 
 
 Thei 
 
 Ther 
 
 There 
 
 Theyre 
 
 Therfor 
 
 Therefore 
 
 
 Thogh 
 
 Though (i;) 
 
 
 To 
 
 Too (w) 
 
 
 Treaty 
 
 Treatye 
 
 
 Ware 
 
 Wares 
 
 
 Were 
 
 Wer {x) 
 
 
 Well 
 
 Wei 
 
 
 Will 
 
 Wyl 
 
 Wil 
 
 Which 
 
 Wiche 
 
 
 When 
 
 Wh^n 
 
 
 Wyfe 
 
 Wyf 
 
 
 Would 
 
 Wold 
 
 Would( 
 
 You 
 
 Yow 
 
 
 Your 
 
 Youer 
 
 
 Yours 
 
 Yowrs 
 
 
 Yourfelves . 
 
 Yourfelfes 
 
 
 77 
 
 Such, then, are the fafts, which, as they 
 are chiefly drawn from Mr. Malone's own 
 documents, demonftrate, in oppofition to his 
 theory, that Elizabeth had neither confiftency 
 in her fpelling, nor uniformity in her pradtice 
 of orthography : If flie had no confiftency, 
 how can a rule be formed, from that want of 
 
 (v) Howard's Col. 246; Mai. Tnq. 114. 
 
 {wj Letter to Sydney, and Howard's Col. 246. 
 
 (x) Inquiry, 113; Forbes, vol. i. IC9. 
 
 confiftency. 
 
'7& An VAT O L b G y [QuEEREnzABiVH^ 
 
 confiftency, to diftinguifli the genuine letters 
 from the fpurious, by applying what cannot 
 be fixed to what is equally unliable. If he 
 were to take the word fovereign, as an exam- 
 ple, whereby to difcover fome inconfiftency, 
 which might be fatal to the fpurious^ what 
 would he gain by his example, but a confu- 
 tation of his own principles, after I, have 
 ihown, diftinftly, that Elizabeth hath fpelt 
 that familiar word, \v\,Jix different modes ? 
 He has, infadt, adopted your, Jhall, thery, ie, 
 for ', as words uniformly fpelt by her ; yet, 
 have I fhown yowr, Jhal^ theyre, bee^ fore, as 
 diredt contrarieties to that uniformity ; with- 
 out effaying to prove *' this learned Queen, 
 *' who was miftrefs of eight languages, to be 
 ** fuch a dolt as not to know the true ortho- 
 " graphy of words thus familiar to her (^)/' 
 ^^Truth ftrikes /;6^ fiears and ?neafure from his 
 hand; yet does he continue to fet out, with 
 nimble hajle, but without a yard, his Imfy^ 
 'woolfy^ in open market. Candid inquirers often 
 difcover, and eftablifli uncertainties from a 
 certainty : It was referved for our Inquirer, to 
 
 (;') Mai. Inquiry, p. 71 : No; fhe, he, or they, only 
 are doltSy who rt^Xon a bfurdiy from the plaineft topics ; who 
 are continually ajferting inftcad of arguing ; and who are, 
 ever-and-anon, begging the queftion, which they ought to 
 
 P'^^^- attempt 
 
And her Letter'.! for t7:e B E L I ET ER S. 7^ 
 
 attehipt the Herculean taik of ejlabltfhing the 
 
 'fame uncertainty from uncertainties. 
 
 Such, however, is the perfeverance, and 
 courage, of the public accufer, that he is ^/?(? 
 \s)hitte difmayed. He challenges all comers to 
 fliow, that and was c:^ fpelt with a finals, 
 as it is in Elizabeth's epiftle to Shakfpeafe. 
 " I never once found the copulative' ^;zi/," Ke. 
 afleverates, "fpelt as it is here, with a fihal^,*" 
 though "from the time of Henry the fourth, 
 *^ I have perufed feme thoufand deeds arid 
 " other manufcripts (z)." 'This is, no doubt, 
 a long life (front the time of Henry IV) of 
 
 'piiilful'perufal, but not fuccefsful fearcht [ 
 Among the black-letter books, which he* has, 
 carefully, colled;ed, he has not, it feems, the 
 very black-letter (^) book, which contains, 
 not indeed fome thoufands, but feveral ands 
 with the final e. Here are two, in a fhort 
 paffage : " And^' yf I have not that repentaunce, 
 " even from the bottome of my herte, and^ 
 " beleve not that I am forgeven for Chryftes 
 "fake, as afore fayde (^)/' Yet, our chal- 
 lenger, becaufe The hamentacyoji is not in his 
 library, difputes the authority of this curious 
 
 (z) Iiiqub'y,,33. 
 
 (^) See The lament acy on of a Chrtjle agdijl the City e of 
 Londov^for fom^ certaine greate vyces ufed^hert": — Imprlted 
 1 y^ yere of cur Lord m, d* xlviiL 
 
 (^J Sign, eriiii^ 
 
 book. 
 
go ^« APOLOGY [Queen EtiZABiTHi 
 
 book, which will be conjigned to fame, for 
 having confuted this irrefragable critic. I will, 
 however, quote a book, which he certainly 
 has in his library {c). On the 24th of May 
 1 5 17, the Earl of Northumberland wrote to 
 the Earl of Shrewfbury : " Methinke I nede 
 " not to be put to this bulinefs, if they would 
 ** have pondered the charge that they have 
 ** put of late unto me, ande the paymentes 
 " that I have made of late/' Yet, the public 
 accufer will not be convinced ; becaufe this 
 quotation is not from a manufcript [d). Now, 
 then, will I convince him, by quoting a 
 manufcript : — *' Goode Majler Stonley I doo 
 " mofte harteylye requyre youe to have pa- 
 ** cyence w* me ande to concyder what ex- 
 " treme charge I have been at whyche forced 
 *^ me to that I was lothe to breake w\ youe 
 " off all men Gode by fbe] they [the] juge 
 ** Nevertheles at halloutyde I will w*. godes 
 *' grace fully e recompence youe fo in they 
 *^ [the] meane tyme I mofte hartely requyre 
 youe to have pacyence. 
 
 " Toures afuredly, E: Duddeley (^).*' 
 
 This, 
 
 (f ) Lodge's Illuftrations, vol. i. p. 22. 
 
 (^) The manufcript letter is in the College of Heralds, 
 
 (^) This letter, which bears upon feveral parts of this 
 
 inquiry. 
 
 <c 
 
AND herLetter.] for ihe B ELI EV E R S, 2t 
 
 This, then, is not one of the thoufand ma- 
 nufcripts, which our critic has been pe- 
 rufing, from Henry the Fourth's time to the 
 prefent (/) ! 
 
 He is equally pofitive, on the word Jorre ; 
 ** a mode of orthography, I believe, unpre- 
 ** cedented,*' fays he (^). Yet, he has fre- 
 quently read, becaufe he has often quoted, 
 Fenris Letters -, in which he {^wferr and/^rr^f 
 for far 'y and Byffor, Byfo?^e, wherffory and 
 wherfoir (/5) : But, he has not read, what 
 Would not have done him any differvice, as a 
 
 inquiry, was obligingly communicated to me by Mr. Cra- 
 ven Orde of Bloomfbury Iquare, from his curious Collection. 
 It is addreffed : " To my verye louyng friend Mafter Ston- 
 " ley." [Stanley] — It is marked, on the back. In a hand of 
 the time « The L. Dudley, C X, li-febr. 1572."— For this 
 Lord Edward Dudley, who died on the 4th of July 1586, 
 See Dugdale's Bar. torn. ii. p. 2 1 5- 1 7. 
 
 (/) Nor, has our critic been perufing the Rolls of 
 Parliament, wherein he would have feen the familiar 
 copulative with a final <?, and aifo a curious fpeclmen of 
 the Englifh language, in Judge Rikhiirs anfwer to the 
 Commiffion of his liege Loord, during the year 1397 : 
 '' Jnde the fame day of Septembre, alle the matieres and 
 " points before iknowe and confeflid be the forflaide Dulc 
 " be his owne honde fuliy and plainly iwrete, deliverid it 
 « to the fame William Rikhill." [Rolls, vol. iii. p. 378,] 
 
 {g) Inquiry, 34. 
 
 {h) Vol. ii. p. 204 — 234 — 244 — 70; vol. i. p. 21—27 
 -~28— -29^30. 
 
 G critic. 
 
Sz ^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 critic, " T!he ffiores of Guide de arte amandi 
 ^ with theyr englyfshe afore (/) them ;'* wherdft 
 he would have k^n'^p-recedent oiforrei^j). He, 
 however, difputes the authority ; whilft, — 
 
 <t . — No power in England 
 
 ** Can alter a decree eflablifh'd : 
 
 " 'Twill be recorded for a precedent ! 
 
 There are other words in Elizabeth's eplftle, 
 which our poftive critic thinks equally un- 
 precedented. Maijler was the fpelling of the 
 word Majiery at that period, in our Maijier^ 
 vocabulary. But, in Dudley's Letter to Ston- 
 ley, we have, repeatedly, feen Majier. And 
 he might have read in Spenfer's Three (i) 
 Letters, which he quotes, at times ; " But, 
 '* Mailer Colin Clout is not every body ; and 
 " albeit his olde companions Majier Cuddey, 
 " and Majier Hobbinol, be as little beholding 
 
 {i) Imprynted by Wynkyn de Worde, with the types 
 of Caxton, in 1513.. This book is the more valuable, as 
 it has an Englyfshe Jlphabete, 
 
 (J) Sign. A iiii : and fee the Literary Mufeum of that very 
 cha{te editor Mr* Waldron, printed in 1792, forrt fomme 
 liune pothe poefye ofMaiJler Lydgate .•— 
 
 " Forre gyife you doe me jubylye.'* 
 Had our critic perufed this fine fpecimen of genuine ortlio- 
 graphy, he had faved the trouble of much laborious reading; 
 tohimfelf, and of fatiguing perufal to his readers. 
 
 {k) Three Proper LetterSy imprinted by Bynneman, in 
 1 580. p. 40. 
 
 3 « tQ 
 
AND herLetter.] /cr /^f B £ 'L I E V E^ 3. 83 
 
 '* to their miftreffe poetrie, as ever you 
 '* wift." Hacluyt dedicated his Divers (/) 
 Voyagesy " To the right worfhipfuU and moft 
 *« vertuous gentleman Majler Phillip Sydney 
 ** Efquire/* Pulton dedicated his Penal [m) 
 Statutes, " To the right worfhipfuU Sir WiU 
 *' liam Cordell, Knight,M^^r of theRoulcs :" 
 and Pulton treated of Majlevy and Servant. 
 This orthography occurs very frequently in 
 the dedications of books, during the reign of 
 Elizabeth (;?). And the fame mode of fpelling 
 Majlyry may be traced back to the times of 
 our Edwards, and Henrys {p). Nothing but 
 
 the 
 
 (/) Imprinted by Wodcocke, 1582, 
 
 {m) It was imprinted by C. Barker the Queen's printer, 
 in 1578. 
 
 (ri) Spenfer dedicated his 64th fonnet, to his efteemed 
 friend Majier James Huifh. — See a Type, or Figure, of 
 Friendftiip, printed, in 1589 : and fee Fouldes's Frogs and 
 Miccj 1603 : and fee, though laft, not leafl, Afcham's 
 Scohma/iery in 157 i» 
 
 {0) See Fenn's Letters, everywhere. In 1460- 1, To 
 my Mafter Pafton, vol. iii. p. 404. In 1461, To the right 
 worfhipfuU Maji^ my mafter — lb. vol. iv. and in p. 72, the 
 right worfhipfuU Majire^ my mafter. In 1468, John Pafton 
 wrote to his mother : " Recommend me to my fitters both 
 *' and to the il<f^;>r my cofyn Dowbeny, Syrjamys, Syr 
 *' John Style and pray him to be good maftyr to lyttle Jak 
 ** and to lerne him well." [Fenn's Letters^ vol. i, p. 8, 9 ; 
 and fee Ma/fraSyHoVw, Fenn, p. 18 — ^130 — 224.— In the 
 
 G 2 2d 
 
S4 ^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 the film, which fcepticifm has fpread over 
 Maijier Critics eyes, could have prevented 
 him from feeing, every where, in his black- 
 letter library, Majler, Majiyr^ and Majlres -, 
 as I have often ktn Maijier y and Maijlrefsy in 
 my little colleftion. Bifliop Hall will furnifli 
 the befl apology, for all of us, when he fays ; 
 '* It is no Jloamey noty to know all things \ 
 " but it is a juji Jhame to over-reach in any 
 - thing {p)r 
 
 But, our candid critic continues to talk 
 about uniform orthography, in an age y which 
 heard of none. He fays, " the omiffion of 
 " the letter r in Chamberlayne is unprece- 
 *' dented (j^)/' Whoever told him fo is not 
 very fuccefsful, in fearching for precedents. 
 
 2d vol. p. 295, there is a Love-letter from John Pafton to 
 Maftreffe Annes. He repeats Majirejje fix times : But he 
 never calls her Meijlrejfe in the ungallant orthography of 
 our Waldrons, and Malones. I obferve from collation, that 
 Mr. Malone does not fairly print Elizabeth's letter to Sydney 
 [papers, 6-7- 8] as it is in the book, which he quoted for the 
 Ipelling of Maijires, 
 
 (p) Works, 1634, p. 13. 
 
 {q) Inquiry 69-70 : Yet, fee Lord Burghley's letter of 
 the 22d July 1577, ^^ Lord Shrevi^lbury, in Lodge's 111. 
 vol.ii. 159: — *• This morning, the 23, T receaved your L* 
 " of the 21, being here at on[e] Mr Chamb-'ie-'s near 
 " Caxton." — Lord Burghley frequently ufed the figure of 
 fyncopey which, indeed, was often pradifed in that age. 
 
 He 
 
AND HER Letter.] /^r //^^ BE L I E VERS. 85 
 
 He anfwers, cogently ; " If the Queen had 
 *^ chofen to omit any letter in that word, it 
 " would have been the m!' No : The fnar- 
 ling letter r was the rough letter, that the 
 " accomplifhed Elizabeth*' would naturally 
 omit, when fhe wifhed to write, in her befl: 
 manner : Writing an epiftle to a poet, who 
 had gratified her paffion, fhe, who was mlf- 
 trefs of eight languages, chofe to Italianize 
 her phrafe, according to the fafhion of her 
 court j fo, fhe wrote Chambelayney in order to 
 approach, as near as the idiom of her own 
 tongue would allow, to the Italian Cambellano, 
 and the French Chambellan (r) ; It was upon 
 this principle, that fhe omitted the gh in 
 highejiy and gave fuch a variety of fpelling to 
 (j-) fovereign, whatever he may think of the 
 fpelling of that period of her reign. 
 
 Yet, is it more material, he fays, to advert 
 to Londonne \ thinking London^ ** lighter in 
 " the [t] mouth ;'* and finding *^ no example 
 ** of fuch orthography.'' They " who make 
 " fearches into antiquity," fays ( «) Howell, 
 " may be faid to pafs often through many 
 
 (r) See Skinner, 1671, in Vo. — Chamberlain. 
 (5) Inquiry, 113-14. 
 (^) Inquiry, 70. 
 
 (?<) In the advertifement to his Londinopolis. 
 
 G Q ''dark 
 
86. M APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth ; 
 
 " dark lobbies^ and duilcy places, before they 
 " come to aula lucisy the great hall of light." 
 Our celebrated Lond//?opolis was, in the time, 
 and talk of Tacitus, Londinum copia negotia- 
 torum. Our Britifli anceftors called it, figni- 
 ficantly, {v) Llongdhiy Lhong-porth^ or port of 
 iliips. Our Saxon fathers wrote it (jiv) Lun- 
 den-byrigy Lunden-buryy Lunden-ceaJleVy and 
 Lunden-burgh (a:). Our critical inquirer, ne- 
 verthelefs, paffes over thofe varieties of our 
 (lunceftorsy to get at Londoriy the unmeaning 
 corruption of modern times. But, Elizabeth, 
 who was vain of her Britifli anceftry, and am- 
 bitious of learning, as Mr. Malone is ftudious 
 to tell, feized the occafion of inditing a re- 
 munerative epiftle to a poet, to difplay her 
 archceology^ by writing hondonne ^ a more fo- 
 iiorous name than London, She found, in the 
 Saxon Chronicle, which fhe, no doubt, read^ 
 the archetype of her fpelling, in Lundene, 
 Juundune^ and Londone [y]. In the courfe of 
 
 his 
 
 (v) Strype*s Stow, vol. i. p. 5 — 8 j Holland's Ciiindei^ 
 J637. p. 421. 
 
 {w) Saxon Chron. edit. Gibfon, p. 96-97. 
 
 {x) Sorn ner, in Vo. 
 
 {y) See Gibfon's Nominum Locorum^ in Vo, Lunden^, 
 As Mr. Malone infifts, pofitively, that Elizabeth ufually 
 r^ad the books of the privy council j I may rqalonably 
 
 argue^ 
 
AND HER Lb-tter.] /^r /^/ B E L I E V E R S. 8^ 
 
 his refearches, our diligent inqairer has, nei- 
 ther met with any of thofe modes of fpelling 
 LoJidinopolisy nor has he ittxi it, in any other 
 than the modern form of London {z) ; And, 
 in conformity to his ufual logic, he thence 
 infers, that its orthography never exifted in 
 any other form. I have, however, fhewn, 
 from the faciy the fallacy of this argument. 
 He talked, in the fame manner, of Hamp- 
 town Court, till accident threw in his way a 
 folitary [a) inftance, which might have con- 
 vinced 
 
 argue, on the authority of Afcham, her Scolemajier^ that 
 fhe may have perufed that dele£lable book, the Saxon Chro- 
 nicle. Londinopolis is Lundene in the map, which is pre- 
 fixed to Gibfon's edition of the Saxon chronicle. 
 
 (z) We may, therefore, fuppofe, that he has never ih- 
 fpe£led Queen Elizabeth's Progrejfesy as they have been 
 publifhed by the praife-worthy Mr. Nichols : For, he would' 
 have feen, in the Proclamation againji the ^leen of Scots ^ 
 1586, [vol. ii. p. 231.] the following paflage, which mud 
 be admitted to be a decifive authority : " With loud voyce 
 *' folemnely proclaymed by the Seijeant at Armes of the 
 *' fame citty, in foure feverail places ; to wit, at the CrofTe 
 ^^ in Cheape, at the end of Chauncery-lane in Fleete-ftreet, 
 ** overagainft the Temple, at Leadenhall corner, and at 
 " St. Magnus corner, neere Londonne bridge." 
 
 («) Inquiry, 70-71, Hamp^^ww Court, written by a 
 Clerk. The document in Forbes's State Papers, vol.ii. p. 109, 
 is a letter from Elizabeth to Sir Adrian Ponyings; and for 
 iWJght that appears was written, with her ufual induilry, in 
 
 G 4 lier 
 
8^ i^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth • 
 
 vinced him of the futiUty of his own reafon- 
 ing, and the fophiftry of his own fyftem. 
 But, he is in conftant habits of retradtion ; 
 and he may perhaps find other folitary in- 
 ftances, which may convince him, that he 
 ought to be lefs poiitive in his affertion, and 
 more confecutive in his argument. 
 
 Yet j he is refolved to retradt no more : 
 He is determined to be doubly pofitive in his 
 affertions, and four-fold feeble in his proofs. 
 ** All former misnomers, are trivial, fays he, 
 '^ compared with her [Elizabeth's] not know- 
 *^ ing the true orthography of the name of 
 *^ Leycefler, for which we have Leycejierre. 
 ** Her uniform attachment to that nobleman 
 
 her own hand ; but not by a clerk, for which aflertion, 
 there is no evidence : If the documcHt in the Paper Office 
 be a draught, it is moft probably in Burghley's hand, who, 
 when fecretary of ftate, was generally her draughts-man. 
 In this ftrain of fophiftry, our inquirer goes on to remark, 
 that this folitary inftance " probably gave rife to the fpelling 
 « adopted in this forged letter." [Inquiry, 71.] But, for 
 this afllimption, there is not the leaft proof; and it is fcarcely 
 confiftent with probability. The name is Ham/«« in the 
 Saxon Chronicle ; and in Huntingdon's Hiftory Hamtune, 
 [Gibfon's edit. nom. Loc. mYo. Hamiun.'] The fpelling, 
 ofcourfe, in Elizabeth's epiftle — Hamp/ow;«, is more ana- 
 logical than Hampton. [See Johnfon in Vo, Town •, tun, 
 Saxon; tuyn, Dutch.] In the map of Middlefex, 1593, 
 John Norden has Haw/>ton, and Ha/;i/on-court ; fo little 
 attention was there, in thofe days, to analogical accuracy \ 
 
 4C j^ 
 
AND HER Letter.] for the BELIEVERS. ^ 
 
 " is well known ; probably, fcarce a day paf- 
 ** fed, without her feeing his name, uniformly 
 " written, as he always wrote it, Leyces- 
 " ter(^)." Strange! then, that Elizabeth 
 did not know how to fpell the name of her 
 favourite, Leyceiler. It is ftranger ftill, that 
 a critic, of fo much acumen as Mr. Malone,' 
 ihould not know, that there was no attention 
 to fuch matters, in an age of unfyftematic 
 fpelling. Was not Burghley another name 
 for learning, difcretion, and diligence ? Did 
 not he daily fign difpatches, on the fame 
 paper, with Leicefter (r) ? And yet, Burleigh 
 fpelt the favourite's name Lecefter (^). The 
 Earls of Derby, and Shrewsbury, wrote to the 
 chancellor, and the treafurer, two days after 
 the death of Leicefter, a letter of condolence . 
 on the death of their noble frende the £r/^ of 
 Leicefter 'y and to offer their fervices to the 
 
 ( b ) Inquiry, 72 : Whether the text of The Mifcella^ 
 neous Papers has Leycefterre, or Leifcefterre, is fomewhat 
 deubtful, 
 
 [c) See a very fhort letter from Leycefter, and Cecil, 
 to Lord Shrewfbury, in Lodge's II. vol. ii. p. 20 -, and, 
 though they both had frequent letters from Lord Shreivjhury\ 
 yet, they addrefled him by the name of hhrovejbury : And 
 Burghley is fo little uniform in fpelling the name of a no- 
 bleman, with whom he was familiar, that he calls him 
 Shrewfbury. [lb. 164.] 
 
 {d) lb. 164. 
 
 Queen, 
 
^Q- J» A?OLOGY [QuEEK Elizabeth; 
 
 Queen {e). Mr. Secretary Walfyngham pre- 
 ferred LekcRcr to 1/fycefter {f) : And the 
 Lord Buckhurft followed his example {g), 
 Elizabeth calls him fometimes Z^cefter, and 
 alfo ** our cofin, the Eari of jLi?/cefl:er (/^):" 
 So little conliftency had Befs in her fpelling, 
 of her coofins names, that ihe wrote Shrei£;j"- 
 bury, and Shre'ze^^j-bary, in the fame (/) epiftle ; 
 omitting, by fyncope^ the e in the iirft, as if 
 to protefl: againfl: the theory of our pertina- 
 cious critic. 
 
 But, the fcepticifm of the public accufer 
 is not to beihaken. From having jufl thrown 
 his eyes on the books of the privy council, 
 
 [e] The Bifliop of Carlifle alfo called him Lekejfer, 
 £Ib. 172.] In the map of Weftminfter, John Norden has 
 X^^'-cefter-howfe ; in the map of London, X^/-celler-howfe. 
 
 (/) Cabala, part 2d. p. 49. 
 
 {g) lb. 44.5. 
 
 [h) lb. 26. Mr. Malone is pofitive, that the favourite 
 «« always wrote it L^'cefter." [Inquiry, 72. ] Yet, fee a ge- 
 nuine letter ofLcicefier's, in his Zi/>, 1727, appendix N0.6; 
 wherein he figned " Rob. Z^;ccfterj" And fee Peck's De- 
 JideratOy 104,-5-6-11-12-13-14^ wherein he figned R.Le- 
 cefter, half a dozen times 5 and often Ro. Lecefter. [lb. 97 
 — 104-5.] There are, in Peck's Desiderata, feveral of 
 Leicefter's letters, which prove, that Leicefter had not any 
 uniformity in Ki$ fignature, either in his title, or baptifmal 
 
 name, 
 
 (/} Lodge II. vol. ii. 82. 
 
 on 
 
AND HER Letter ] /oitleBEhl'EtVRl^S. g\ 
 
 on fome cloudy day, he grows firmer in hb 
 faith. In thofe curious, and inftrudive, /-f- 
 forcfsj he finds, with (harper fight than others, 
 what no other perufer had ever found in them 5 - 
 ^* For,'' he fays, " the Queen, it is welJ knowfiy 
 ** conjiantly attended the fittings of her privy 
 ^* council,'' *' and took fo adlive a part at 
 " what was doing, that we may be fure ihe 
 ** perufed the regifter of each day's proceed- 
 ^' ings ; which flie could not look at without 
 ^* the name of Leycefter almofl: conftantly 
 " prefenting itfelf to her, while he was in 
 ** England ( a lift of the councillors prefent 
 ** being always fet down) {Ji)J* — Now, I join 
 ifiiie with the public accuier on his feverai 
 aflcrtions :- — Whoever has perufed the coun- 
 cil regifl:ers of the Queen's reign well knows, 
 that fhe did not conjiantly attend the fittings 
 of her privy council. The record, containing 
 the prefence^ or fpecification of the cotinfellors 
 prefent, contradi<5ts the averjnent of the pub- 
 lic accufer, which he, as a lawyer, ought not 
 to have made. I will not quote the regifters 
 generally, in confutation of his confidence*, 
 be.caufe artifice deals in generals : But, I quote 
 
 {k) Inquiry, 72-3 ; — which I have printed, exactly, as. 
 the pafTage is in the book^ 
 
 the 
 
9* ^;« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 the regifters of the prefencey fpecifically, in 
 order to prove, that fhe was not prefent, on 
 the lit of June 1586, at Greenwich; on the 
 loth, at the Star-chamber; on the 12th, at 
 Greenwich ; on the 17th of July, at Rich- 
 mond; on the 26th of Auguft, at Windfor : 
 Nor, was flie prefent on the 21ft of Novem- 
 ber 1587, at Ely-houfe, in Holborn; nor, on 
 the 23d, at the lord treafurer's, in Covent- 
 garden ; nor at Ely-houfe, on the 28th ; nor, 
 at Somerfet-houfe, on the 10th of December; 
 nor, at Greenwich, on the 24th : Nor, was 
 fhe prefent, at the Star-chamber, on the 6th 
 of February 1588 ; nor, at Greenwich, on the 
 1 2th of April ; nor at Hackney y on the 1 9//^, 
 when the Lord of Leycefterre was prefent ; 
 nor, at Greenwich, on the 21 ft of April 
 158S (/). And, thefe fpecifications are alone 
 fufficient to fhow the prudence of the law of 
 England, which, contrary to the pradbice of 
 
 (/) The regifters, No. 6, and 7, comprehending the 
 years 1585-6-7-8, demonftrate, that the Queen did not 
 con/iantly attend; that the councils did not meet daily^ as the 
 inquirer afferts ; — [Inquiry, 92] And that the number of 
 privy counfellors, in her reign, was eighteen^ and iwenty-oney 
 inftead of ten or twelve^ as he avers, in the fame page : 
 And, I have gone over the regifters thus minutely; in 
 order to (how the boldnefs of the public accufer, in quoting 
 the books of the privy council, for what they do not contain. 
 
 the 
 
-AND HER. Letter.] /?r //^^ B EL I E VE.RS. 95 
 
 the public accufer, will not allow any aver-- 
 me7it againfl a record. 
 
 Yet, in oppofition to both law, and logic, he 
 continues his avermefzts, " We may be fure/* 
 he fays, '* the Queen perufed the regijler of 
 each day's proceedings {jn)^ Nay; Afcham, 
 t\iQ fcolemajler of Elizabeth, gives a very dif- 
 ferent account of her daily ftudies. He calls 
 out fhame upon the yo?ige jentlejnen of Eng-^ 
 land, who did not " beftow fo many houres 
 " dayly, orderly, and conftantly, for the ia- 
 ** creafe of learning, as dothe the Queene's 
 " Majeftie herfelf :" And he adds, *' yea, flie 
 " readeth more Greeke every day, than fome 
 ** prebendarie of this church doth read Latin 
 ** in a whole weeke [n)'' Now, I leave it to 
 the judgment of every difcreet perfon, whether 
 t\iQfcolemaJlcr of Elizabeth, or the public ac- 
 cufer, could beft know, and mofl truly tell, 
 what Elizabeth daily perufed; whether the 
 Greek dailies, or the council-regifters. But, 
 I will admit, for the purpofe of argument, 
 that fhe did perufe the regifters; vv^hich, fays [0) 
 he, " She could not look at without the namd 
 ** of Leycefter almoft conftantly prefenting 
 
 (») Inquiry, 73, («) The Scolemafter, 1571, p. 21* 
 {0) Inquiry, 7^, 
 
 '* itfelf 
 
94- ^n At*OLOGY [Queen Elizabeth ; 
 
 ^^ itfelf to her/* She faw, then, on the regif- 
 ter of the i ft of April 1587, Leyceftrd', and 
 L^'/cefter (/>) : So that, from a careful perufal 
 of the coun:ril-regifters, fhe might have learnt 
 to fpell the name of her favourite in^ differ- 
 ent forms ; lince it is found there, in Jix dif- 
 tin5i vaf^ieties. " Now, if you can blufh, and 
 ^* cry guilty, cardinal, you*ll fhevv a little 
 " honefty!" 
 
 But, the public accufer goes en, coolly, 
 to (^) difcufs, whether Ehzabeth cottld have 
 feen, either in the council-^regifters, or in 
 printed books, the word compliment^ whidh 
 was not known, in H'hat age, in the modcrh 
 fenfc. He certainly fliews great reading, in 
 
 (/>) The regifter, No. 7, p. 311 ; and on p. 328, Lei- 
 ceftr^; and p. 337, the name is fpelt Leicefter, Leiceftre,; 
 on p. 340, the name is fpelt Leiceftre: on the 23d of No- 
 vember, fhe faw Leicefter, and Leiceftre, Leycefter, and 
 Leyceftre: And, in tiie 5th regifter, p. 423, fhe might 
 have feen Leycefli?r,. — -He is named, by a document of the 
 20 Elizabeth, in the paper office, the Earl oi Lejier^ mafter 
 <)f the horfe: And he is called Lecejlcr^ in Nichols's Pro- 
 gralTes, vol. i. p. 58^ and in Peck's Defiderata^ Ii8: — 
 Upon the whole, [ have fhewn eight varieties, in fpelling 
 the name ofLeicefler, whi<:h Elizabeth both may thave feen, 
 and might have copied. 
 
 (f) Inquiry, 76- 8r 
 
 many 
 
AND HER Letter.] /or /^r B EL IE VE R S. ^5 
 
 many (r) didlionarles ; in order to prove, that 
 the Queen could neither compliment herfelf, 
 nor be complimented by men ef compliments • 
 Strange ! that for ftich a purpofe, he would 
 ranfack the ftorehoufes of learning, rather 
 than look into the fafhions of life. He might 
 have found an affefting letter to the Earl of 
 Southampton, from the Earl of Effex, when he 
 nvas under fentence of i^s^ death y which had faved 
 himfelf much trouble, and the refled:ions of his 
 readers : — " My Lord ; as neither nature, nor 
 ** cuftom, ever made me a man of complin 
 " 7nentS'y fo now I fhall have lefs will than 
 *^ heretofore to ufe fuch ceremonies, v/hen I 
 ** have left to Martha to h^ folicita circa 
 ** midtay and believe with Mary, that unum 
 ** fufficit: But, it is no compliment^ or cere- 
 " mony, but a real and neceffary duty, that 
 " one friend owes to another in abfence, and 
 " efpecially at their leave taking/' We per- 
 ceive, then, though the fcepticifin of our critic 
 
 (r) In Edward Philips [Phillips] New World of Wordi., 
 which, he thinks, firft appeared in 1659, [1658] we have 
 compliment in its original, and fecondary fenfe, [Inquiry, 
 p. 78.] He knows not, he fays, when the firft edition of 
 Coles's Englijl) Dictionary was publiflied. [lb. 8r.] The 
 title-page of my copy fhows it to have been pubiiftied, in 
 1676 ; as his Latin Didion^ry was firft printed, in 1677, 
 
 (j) Howard's Col. p. 52. 
 
 cannot 
 
96 ^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 cannot fee it, how common the word was, in 
 that age. Shakfpeare has the very expreffion 
 of Eflex, " A man of compliments (/)." " He 
 *' obferved few complimentSy in matters of 
 f^ arms/' fays Sydney, at an earlier period. 
 Yet, the public accufer can fcarcely be per- 
 fuaded, that the fubftantive compliment was 
 ufed in Elizabeth's reign (u) : But, he is pofi- 
 tive, that the verb to compliment did not then 
 exift. Hamlet, however, when the players 
 came to entertain him, faid ; ** Gentlemen, you 
 ** are welcome to Elfmoor ; your hands : come, 
 ** then; the appurtenance of welcome is fafhion> 
 ** and ceremony : let me compliment with you 
 " in this garbe {v)J* Mr. Malone, indeed, has 
 difplaced compliment^ and inferted comply^ in 
 its {w) room, though, with v/hat propriety, I 
 
 (/) Love's Labour Loft, a6l i, f. i ; as Mr. Malone 
 allows : And fee Ayfcough's Index in Vo. ComplimentSy 
 how frequently Shakfpeare has the word, and has it oftener 
 than the Index (hows ; as he alfo has the adjedive cojitpli" 
 ment«l-i which is coofyn to the verb. 
 
 [u) The Engliih ambaflador, Sir Henry Neville, wrote 
 from Paris, on the 20th of February m|, to Mr. Secretary 
 Cecil : " I went to compUmentife with the extraordinary 
 *' ambaflador of Venice : — our fpeech was little befides 
 ** compliments : — We parted with kind compUnientsJ** 
 [Win wood's Mem. vol. i. p. 154-] 
 
 (1;) Hanmer's Edit. 1745. vol. vi. p. 360. 
 
 {w) Mai. Shak. vol. ix. p. 269, 
 
 will 
 
AND HER Letter.] /;r //&^ BE L I E V E R S. ^ 
 
 will not inquire. I will now produce an 
 authority, which the public accufer cannot fo 
 readily difplace, nor eafily difpute. Among 
 the injlruclions y which Lord Burghley left to 
 his fon, Robert Cecil, there is the following 
 precept : '* Be furc to keep fome great man 
 " thy friend, but trouble him not for trifles. 
 *' Compliment him often with many, yet fmall 
 " gifts, and of little charge (at)." Now, here 
 is the verb to compliment, exprefsly ufed by 
 Lord Burghley, who perfedlly knew what he 
 wrote, both as to fentiment, and ilyle. But, 
 whether Marfton, the fatirift, knew his own 
 meaning, in the following lines, I pretend 
 not to divine : — 
 
 " But, now thlsy^^/^r, with the worlds confent, 
 *' Hath halfe his foul ; the other, compliment^ 
 " Mad world the whilft. But, I forget me, I, 
 " I am feduced v/iththls poefie {y)** 
 
 Without pretending to know, whether Mar- 
 fton intended, in this poefie^ to ufe compliment, 
 
 [x) Peck's Defiderata^ vol. i. p. 49. Sir George Buc 
 has the following expreilions, in his Dedication of the Trea- 
 tife, on Tihe Third Univerfity^ to Sir Edward Coke, dated 
 the i2th of Auguft, 1612: " And albeit I doe not (in cotn^ 
 " plimenting manner) make daily profeffion of this my obli» 
 gation, as many ufe to do; yet, &c. [Howe's Chroniclcj 
 1065.] Here is the participle of the verb to compliment. 
 
 (y) Marfton's Scourge of Villanie, l599> Sig'. H 2;—* 
 Stultorum plena funt omnia. 
 
 H 09 
 
^ An APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 as a fubftantive, or a verb, I will only add, for 
 the fake of thofe, who are curious in tracing 
 the ramifications of our language, as it budsj 
 bloffommes^ and fades, that there was pub- 
 liflied, before the Reft oration^ the Art of [z) 
 Complimenting ; an art, which was fufficiently 
 known, and often pradtifed, during Elizabeth's 
 reign* 
 
 From a difquifition on compliments, it 
 was eafy to diverge to the epithet, pretfye. 
 The ufage of the times did not allow Eliza- 
 beth, as the public accufer pretends, to com- 
 pliment the pretty e verfes of Shakfpeare. Skel- 
 ton had fhewn her father how a parrot could 
 be {a) praifed ; ufing the very epithet : 
 ^^ Parrot is a goodly byrd, a pretty popagey : 
 " Hagh, ha, ha ; parrot, ye can laugh pretyly, 
 
 A c ham put the epithet, no doubt, into 
 " the ynkhorn*' of his " Mayden" Scholar : 
 For, he indites of " Men in Italy, who were 
 ** fo unnatural, as to hate prettie yong vir- 
 
 (z) See JVifs Interpreter^ the 3d edit, 1671. « Prefixed 
 ** i^ a figure of Shakfpeare,'* which emulates the " Chanda^ 
 ** fan canvas," for its great likenefs of the gentle original, 
 James Shirley publifhed, in 163 1, a comedy, entitled, " The 
 " School of Compiiments'i* which was republiflaed, with his 
 plays, in 1653. 
 
 {a) " Bokes of Skelton, poet laureat :" Speak parrot^ 
 &c. Imprinted by Abraham Weale, without the year. 
 
 5 ** ginnes/* 
 
AND HER Letter.] /^r /^^ BE L I E VERS. 99[ 
 
 " ginnes (^)/' And, Shakfpeare himfelf has 
 the word, in the fonnets, which he fent to 
 Elizabeth, by the Lord Chamberlayne : 
 
 " Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain (f)/' 
 Our great dramatift brought upon the boards 
 a " wench of excellent difcourfe, pretty^ and 
 ** witty {d) J' Yet, our fceptical critic doubts, 
 " whether the epithet pretty was then ap- 
 " plied to written compofitions {e)J' Mar- 
 fton would have removed his doubts, had he 
 looked into the fatirift's '' Scourge of Vil-^ 
 
 ** lanie :"— 
 
 " Whatfoe're he vitwes^ thats prety^ prety good, 
 ** That epithete hath not that fprightly bloo4." 
 
 [b ) Scholemafter, 1571, p. 29. — In the Phoenix Neji^ 
 imprinted by Jackfon, in 1593, p. 59> Thomas Lodge has 
 the following couplet ; 
 
 " For pittie pretie eies furceafe, 
 
 *• To give me wane, and grant me peace." 
 In a comedy, which was written about the year 1602, and 
 entitled " The Return from Parnaflus,** Furor Poeticus 
 cries out : « Come pretty fhort nos*d nymph 5 O fweet 
 « Thalia, I do kifs thy hot J'^--^ Fur or immediately adds: 
 
 '* He is a pretty inventor of flighc profe; 
 
 " But, there's no fpirit in his grov'ling fpeech.'* 
 
 {c) Mai. Sup. vol. i. p. 690 ; Ibnnet 132, 
 
 {d) Comedy of Errors, a. 3, f. i, {e) In<juiiy, 75^ 
 
 H 3 Marftofli 
 
103 M APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth ; 
 
 Marfton, defcending from his general topic, 
 addrefled a fatire, " Ad Rithmum : — 
 
 *' Come pr£tty plcafmg fymphonie of word {/).** 
 
 Now, the verfe of Marfton was a written com- 
 pofition {g), But,our fceptical critic might have 
 completely cleared up his moft fceptical doubts, 
 by reading any page of Webbe's Difcourje of 
 Englijh Poetry J which was printed, in 1586. 
 Treating of the different fpecies of poejie, 
 Webbe fays, " the third kind is 2l pretty round 
 *' verfe/' He fubjoins; " Behold the ^r^//y 
 " paftoral contentions of Virgil in the third 
 " asgloge/' To this he adds, that Abraham 
 Fleming has many prety poejis [poems] of his 
 own. We here fee, that Webbe decifively 
 applies the epithet pretty to written compo- 
 fitions, as Elizabeth applied the fame epithet 
 
 (/) Three Bookes of Satyres: Printed by J. R. Anno 
 Dom. 1599, Sig^ D. 
 
 " Be not To fearful (pf^ffy foules) to mcete, 
 *' As FUccus is the fergeant's face togreete." 
 
 ig) See the Dedication of Florio's JVorld of TFardsy 
 1598, where, in fpeaking of writers, he fayf, "Boccace is 
 *' prattle hardf yet, underftood : And our William Thomas 
 " hath done prettUU.'* — William Thomas had publifhed 
 " The Italian Grammar and DiiSlionary." [Herbert, 875. J 
 —On the margin of the tranflation of Herodotus, imprinted 
 by John Day, in 1583, fol. 2i, b, there is the following 
 nQte : " A Prety Difcourfe ; (hewing the means how Crce* 
 " fus and Aftyages came to be of a kinne.'* 
 
 to 
 
Awo HtK Letter.] for />&<? 'BE L t'e V tR^r'' ''"' idi 
 
 to th€ prettye verfes of Shakfpeare. During 
 that age, it became proverbial to fay, " Every 
 " thing is prettie, when it is little J' John 
 Taylor, the water-poet, wrote an epigram , 
 upon the proverb : 
 
 *' There is 2i faying eld, but not fo wittie, 
 
 " That when a thing is little, it is prettie : 
 
 " This doating age of our*s it finely fits; 
 
 " Where many men, thought wife, have pretty wits(^).*' 
 
 But, whatever doubts our fceptical critic 
 may have about the epithet pretty^ he has 
 none about the impropriety of the word our^ 
 felfe, as an ujiity : He has never found it in 
 any "manufcript of that age, written as 07ie 
 word. In the copious volume of our lan- 
 guage, he cculd not have found a word more 
 variouily joined, and disjoined, than tlie pro- 
 nounfel/\i). It was from Elizabeth her-felf, 
 that he learned to make a disjundive of this 
 copulative, felf. When the Queen thanked 
 the Earl, and Countefs of Shrewfbury for their 
 
 [h) Works, 1630, p. 264, Taylor was born in 1584; 
 and was, of courfe, the contemporary of Shakfpeare, though 
 twenty years younger: The waterman mufl have ofteii 
 fculled Shakfpeare, who is faid to have lived on The Bank- 
 fide: They muft have chopp'd verfes together. If the con- 
 verfations of the greateft dramatift, with the greateft water- 
 poet, could be retrieved, what a prodigious difcovery it would 
 be : Let us not defpair ! Shakfpeare has the fame play on 
 pretty and little^ in Love*s Labour Lofl, 
 
 (/) See Jobnfon, in No, felf. 
 
 H 3 rare 
 
toe ' '' ' '^'' ' ' ^iii' oA-P-'O'L- OGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 rare prefent to her paramour, Leicefter, flie 
 [i) wrote y " in how thanckful forte we ac- 
 " cept the fame at both your hands, not as 
 " done unto him but to c cwne felf, reputing 
 " him as annother our f elf J' We herein fee, 
 indeed, how Elizabeth could feparate, and 
 conjoin, her deareft objecfl. But, our inquirer 
 ought to have gone back, to her grandfather's 
 time, for a genuine fpecimen of the unity of 
 the word felf. Lord Bacon (/) fays, that the 
 inftruftions, which Henry 7th gave to his am- 
 baffadors, when he fent them to woo the 
 young Queen of Naples, were exquifitely pen- 
 ned. Here they are {m) : " Inftruccionns geven 
 ** by the Kinges Highnefle to his trufty and 
 " well beloved fervauntes Franceys Marfyn, 
 '* James Baybroke, and John Stile, fliewing 
 *' how they fhall order t^eymfe/f when they (hall 
 ** come to the prefence of the old Queue of 
 " Naples and the young Quene hir doughter/' 
 The anfwers are ftill more e^gtit/ite/y penned, 
 A fhort example will prove feveral points : 
 ** As we be informyd that the faid quynes 
 ** have their logeynges everycha of theym fe- 
 
 (jf) Lodge, II. vol. ii. 155, (/) Hiftory of Henry 7. 
 
 (m) The infl;ru6^ions of Henry 7th to his ambafTadors 
 were printed for Becket and De Hondt, in 1761. 
 
 *' veral 
 
AND herLbttte«.J fw tU. BEL:IEVI^KS, ?q3 
 
 " veral by theymfelfe and everycbe of theyme 
 " have their fervantes men women and fclavis 
 '* by theym felfe not w* ftondeynge the faid 
 " quynes do kepe their aftates & howfe 
 ^^ holdys bothe jointly togethers as oon houie- 
 *' hold." — And, Henry 8th did not difparage 
 the ftyle of his father [n). This exquifiie 
 writing had not become quite unfafhionable 
 in Elizabeth's days. In her aforefaid letter 
 of thanks to Lord and Lady Shrewfbury, fhc 
 tells them ; " Ye might think yourfelfes moft 
 ** unhappye yf yae frved [here is a fine fpe- 
 " clmen of the fyncope] fuch a prince as 
 " fhould not be as readye gratyouflie to con- 
 *' fider of yt or thankfullie to acknowledge 
 ** the fame." Selfy at that refplendent pe- 
 riod, was much ufed in compofition ; and, by 
 Shakfpeare, often very harfhly, as Johnfon has 
 well exempUfied {o). Yet, Spenfer has paint- 
 
 («) In Henry 8th, Anfwere unto a certayne letter of 
 Martyn Luther j— " which boke, faith the royal author, we 
 « regardynge (as it was worthy) cotempned and nat wolde 
 '* vouche fafe any thing to reply reputyng ourfelfe m 
 " Chrift's caufe, (nat to good with a right meane man to rea« 
 ** fon or cotrary) but nothing metely frutelefle with a leudc 
 *' Frere to rayle." [Herbert's Printers, vol. i. p, 298.] 
 
 {0) Johnfon, in Vo. Self, 
 
 Yi4. ed 
 
^* t'>iy^r^Jf^'A.?'0'tO.'GY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 cd fe/f, {o ftrikingly, as to farnifh our artift 
 with a fine fubjedl : 
 
 " Before the door, faty^^-confuming care^ 
 
 " Day and night, keeping wary watch,, and ward." 
 
 RecoUedling Shakfpeare's wench oi excellent 
 difcourfey our fceptical critic only hefitates 
 dijlike to the excellence of Shakfpeare's verfes, 
 as exprefled by Elizabeth. He calls on the 
 believers, to produce an example of the word 
 excellence being applied, in that age, to written 
 compofitions: He knows of no fuch example (^). 
 Had he looked into the Concordance y he would 
 have found in the Englilh Bible, the word ex^ 
 cellence applied to almoft every thing in art, or 
 nature, written and unwritten (j-) 
 
 He doth not, however, hefitate d'lfiike to the 
 word amufe: He was quite fcandalized, that 
 Elizabeth, who underflood eight languages, 
 ihould ufe the word amuze, which, in its prc- 
 fent fenfe, is perfedly modern (r). He runs 
 over the beadroU of dictionaries; of Barrett, 
 and Bullokar, Cawdrey, Cockeram, and Kerfey, 
 
 (p) Inquiry, 79. 
 
 {q) See the Colophon of 7he hyjiory Sege and dejlruc- 
 cion ^Troye, printed by Pynfon in 1 513: 
 
 " Go lytell boke (and put the in the grace 
 " Ofhymthatis) mo&c of ixeelUnce,** 
 
 (r) Inquiry, 81. 
 
 Sherwood 
 
A KD HER Letter.] /or />&tf B E LIE VE RS. 105 
 
 Sherwood, and Philips [Phillips] ; in order to 
 make out his point. Coles is the firft lexico- 
 grapher, who furnifhed him with an example 
 of " amiife' to put [one] " in a dump," 
 though he knows not when Coles firft pub- 
 liflied his Englifh DicSionary (^). Why will 
 our critic make a parade with his lexicogra- 
 phers, without looking into the very diction- 
 ary, which would have fhown him amtife in 
 the prefent fenfe. In Hov/el's Lexicon Tetra^ 
 glottoriy an Englifh -French- Italian -Spanifli 
 Dictionary, which he compiled, before the 
 Reftoration, and publifhed in (/) 1660, our 
 inquirer would have found to amufe^ amufed^ an 
 amufer, an amufement. It were worthy of his 
 philological diligence to inquire, whether lan- 
 guage exifted before dictionaries ; or diftiona- 
 ries before language. His inquiries would pro- 
 bably find that, though the Englifh language 
 had been fpoken, and written, for ages, yet, 
 that the origin of Englifh dictionaries, and the 
 birth of Elizabeth, have nearly the fame 
 
 (5) It wa» firft publifhedj in 1676. 
 
 (t) ThisJarge peece of Indujlryy was dedicated by Howel 
 to Charles 2d, in May 1660, "when the difmal clowd, 
 " which had put a fea of reparation between the king and 
 *> his fubjedts, was fcattered in lefs than twelve hours ^ to the 
 ^* wonderment of mankind," 
 
 epoch. 
 
io6 ^» APOLOGY [QygEN EniiiBETH; 
 
 epoch («). As amufements had long exiftcd 
 in England ; {o the word, in its various forms, 
 exifted there, before Howell placed them in 
 his alphabet. Cotgrave, as quoted by Mr. 
 Malone, certainly ufed the word amuje^ in 
 1611. If it exifted in our language before 
 Howell ufed it; may not the word have alfo 
 exifted in it, before it was v/ritten by Cot- 
 grave ? Elizabeth, and Shakfpeare, were not 
 only amufed themfelves, but were the caiife 
 of amufement in others, before Cotgrave, 
 ** the pioneer of literature, was driven by the 
 ** fear of evil, to labour at one of the lower 
 •^ employments of life." 
 
 Yet, is it one of the fallacies, which 
 ftbound in T^be Inquiry^ to fuppofe, that a word 
 does not exift in our language, bccaufe the 
 critic cannot find it in his library. If a dic- 
 tionary be a feleBion, rather than a collection, 
 of the words in our mat email Engly/Ije ; a dic- 
 tionary cannot afford a decifive proof of the 
 non-exiftence of a word, in fome other book, 
 
 (k) In fa^t, there did not exift, at the birth of Elizabeth, 
 any didlipnary .Qf."oure maternall Englyfhe tongue:" as 
 may be inferred from the filence of Herbert, though there 
 doubtlcfs were vocabularies of Englifti and Latin : The 
 Prcmptorius Puervrum^ printed by Pynfon, in 1499, was the 
 firil EngVtJhy and Latin, didionary. Herbert, vol. i. p. 248. 
 
 which 
 
AND HEA Letter.] /er i^^ B ELIE VERSi ^07 
 
 which the lexicographer may never have read. 
 And it is a fallacy, which, in the fame man- 
 ner, contaminates every page of the Inquiry, 
 to fuppofe, that a word was, for the firft time, 
 introduced into our fpeech, when it was firll 
 arranged in our didtionaries ; as if lexicogra- 
 phy were coeval with our language. Such 
 is the abfurdity of negative arguments, which 
 are, as unfounded in faBy as they are falla- 
 cious in reafoning. A critic muft be weak, 
 indeed, who argues, that a word does not 
 exift ; becaufe he cannot find it : Still weaker 
 muft the critic be to infift, that a book, con- 
 fifting of many words, does not exift on earth j 
 becaufe lie cannot find it in his library. 
 Every coUedor of curious fpecimens of the 
 typographic art is ambitious of poflefling 
 fome black-letter book, which Ames had 
 never iztn^ nor Herbert ever heard of. It 
 is not, then, rational, for a commentator on 
 Shakfpeare to infift, that a writing of Shak- 
 fpeare does not exift ; becaufe it is not in his 
 colledion {y\ We may fee this pofition ex- 
 emplified 
 
 (1;) I happen to poiTefs, among my few books, Shak*. 
 fpeare's Venus and Adonis, which was printed, in 1627, 
 at Edinburgh, by John Wreitton, and *< to bee fold in his 
 " ihop a little beneath the SaltTrone:" Yet, this rare 
 
 book 
 
ic8 -*!« APOLOGY [Queek Elizabeth; 
 
 cmplified in the barrennefs of CapelFs Shak-* 
 fpeariana, after all his refearch. If a book may 
 be found in fome library, though it be not in 
 every library, may not a word be difcovered 
 by the thorough fearch of a more penetrating 
 eye, although it may have efcaped the fuper- 
 ficial infped:ion of a fceptical inquirer ? In- 
 deed, as our great lexicographer has obferved, 
 it is hard to keep a bufy eye Jleadily fixed upon 
 evanefcent atoms^ or a difcurfive mind upon 
 evanefcent truth. 
 
 Thus much for the language of Elizabeth's 
 epiftle to Shakfpeare. We are now to examine 
 t\i^ fuperfcription ; for what it is, and for what 
 it is not (w). The particularity *' For Mafler 
 *' William Shakfpeare at the Globe bye Thames y* 
 now roufes fcepticifm from his apathy. His 
 worfhip would have learned, from a little in- 
 quiry, that it was the fafhion of the age, and 
 of Elizabeth, to be very circumftantial in her 
 fuperfcriptions : Her famous letter of thanks, 
 which has fupplied fo many inftrudtive no- 
 tices, file direded " To our right truftie, and 
 ** right wel-belovid Coufin and Counfellor 
 
 book is not mentioned by Mr. Malone, among the editions 
 of Shakfpeare's poems ; becaufe he fuppofed> no doubt, that 
 it did not exift. 
 (zv) Inquiry, 83. 
 
 *^ Th' 
 
AND HER Letter.] for t/>e B ELI EY EKS, 109 
 
 ** Th' Erie of Shrewfbury, and to o". right 
 ** dere and right wel- beloved Couiin the 
 ^* Countefie, /jis Wyfe (x),*' Knowing, that 
 there was then only one theatre of that name, 
 ihe V/2S ftridly grammatical, in directing for 
 a player, and writer of plays, at t&e Globe-, 
 which, ftanding on T^he Bankjide, was fitly 
 defcribed as bye Thames (^). This may den 
 fcholar would have incurred the cenfure of 
 x^fcham, though at the fame time enfured the 
 praife of Mr. Malone, if flie had diredled her 
 own meffenger, whoever he were, the matter 
 of her pofls, or the matter of her revels, *^ to 
 " make haft, haft, poft haft, for thy lif (2)." 
 
 After clearing from his way this traih of 
 words, our inquirer is ready to lay a ftrong 
 foundation of fafts. ** The Globe Theatre,'' 
 
 {x) Lodge's Illuft. vol. ii. p. 155 : And fee the very par- 
 ticular fuperfcriptions of Burghley, every vfc'here, in the 
 fame book. 
 
 [y) See Skinner in Vo. By from the Anglo Saxon Bi^ 
 Big ', Prope, Juxta : And hence, the Agmrnen^ or By-name, 
 See alfo Johnfon in Vo. By \ Befide ; near to \ noting prox- 
 imity of place : The Globe was certainly within eighty 
 paces of the river, in that part, which has been greatly en- 
 croached on by embankment, during the laft two centuries. 
 
 (z) See our inquirer's amplificatiom in p. 83-4 ; as if a 
 controvertift, who was coming forward with an anaQhro* 
 nifmy wanted fuch verbofity, 
 
 fays 
 
fko ^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth J 
 
 fays he, ** was not built at the time to which 
 " this letter muft be referred (a) J* This let- 
 ter, then, was either, written before the 4th 
 of September 1588 ; or, it was never written : 
 On that day, the Earl of Leicefter, who was 
 invited to the play, at Hampton-court, died, 
 at Cornbury, in Oxfordfhire, on his way to 
 Kenelworth {b). If the Globe theatre were 
 not built till after the 4th of September 1588, 
 the anachronifm would certainly prove the fpu- 
 rioufnefs of Elizabeth's epiftle. Yet, is it the 
 bufinefs of the public accufer to make out his 
 point from fadts, without trufling to negative 
 reafonings. Neither Aggas's map of London, 
 which is fuppofed to have been made, in 1568; 
 nor Vertue's engraving of a map of London, 
 in 1560; nor Braun*s map, in 1573; exhibit, 
 fays he, the leaft trace of any playhoufe {c). 
 
 [a) Inquiry, 84. 
 
 {b) Dugdale's Warwick, p. 359 ; the Life of Leicefter, 
 1727, p. 281 : — There is a letter, which has been already 
 quoted, in Lodge's II. vol. ii. p. 377-8, dated on the 6th of 
 September, 1588, at ShefFeld Lodge, inYorkfliire, Hvo days 
 after the death of Leicefter, from the Earls of Shrewfbury 
 and Perby j offering their condolence, and fervices : This 
 early date, after his deceafe, at fo great a diftance, proves 
 how fpeedily the great men of that reign had tiieir informa- 
 tion of important events, 
 
 {c) Inquiry, 84. 
 
 A5 
 
^MB HE& Lbttbr.J forthe^ELlEVEKS, m 
 
 As thefe witnefles fay nothing, they prove 
 nothing. His next witnefs will, doubtlefs, be 
 more loquacious, and concluiive. Chytraeus, 
 a German, vifited London, in 1579 ; and, " if 
 ** any fuch building then exifted, in South- 
 ** wark, he, without doubt, would have al- 
 " luded to it(^)/' Chytraeus, then, proves as 
 little, as the former witnefles (<?). The public 
 accufer, indeed, admits, that there were plays 
 exhibited in Southwark, as early as 1579; 
 but he denies, " that there was any regular 
 ** theatre, on the Bankfide, exprefsly, built 
 *^ for fcenick exhibitions (J) :' Neither the 
 admitting, nor the denying, here, prove any 
 thing. Now, the council-regifters evince, 
 that there were, before the year 1581, " Cer- 
 " tain companies of players heretofore uiing 
 ** their common exercife of playing within 
 ** and about the city of London, who were 
 
 (i) Inquiry, 85. 
 
 {^) The council-regifler of the lOth November 1578, 
 proves, " that there were certain players, within the Bo- 
 '* rough of Southwark, and other places near adjoining, in 
 *< that part of Surrey,'* at, and before, that epoch, what- 
 ever Chytroeus may have not feen. 
 
 (/) Id : But the council- regifter of date the nth of 
 May 1586 proves, that there was then a regular playhoufe, 
 in St. Saviour's parifh, which was emphatically called, 
 «* The Theatre" by the record. 
 
 *' only 
 
112 An APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth j 
 
 ** only brought up, from their youth, in the 
 ** pradice, and profeffion, of mulic, and play- 
 " ing [g)'' The fad: is, that as early as 1570, 
 there were feveral regular playhoufes eredled 
 in, or about the city of London {h) : When 
 the playhoufes were ordered to be pulled down,: 
 within the city, in 1580, tie TAealre, in 
 Blackfriars, efcaped the fury of the fanatics (/). 
 The perfecution of the drama, at that epoch, 
 within the city, probably drove the players, 
 over the Thames, into ^Ae liberty of the Clifikn 
 in St. Saviour's parifh. In Odober 1587, the 
 inhabitants of Southwark complained to the 
 privy council, that their lordfhips' order, for 
 re {training plays, on Sunday Sy was not obferved 
 in Surrey, " particularly within the Liberty of 
 " the Clink, and in the pai-ifli of St. Sa- 
 " viour's (^)." Now, from thefe fads, it is 
 inferible, that there was a regular theatre, 
 within The liberty of the Clink, on the Bankfidc, 
 
 (s) Regifter, 3d December 1581. 
 
 {h) Mai. Sbak. vol. i. 2d pt. 36 ; Stecvens's Shak. 
 vol. ii. p. 154. 
 
 (/) Id: And fee Northbrook*s Treatife againft Dicing, 
 Dancing, Plays, and Enterludes, 1579, ^'^ich fpeaks of 
 the Theatre-, and Curtain^ and other fuch like places ; 
 p. 28-29. 
 
 {k) Regifter, 29th Oaober 1587. 
 
 which 
 
siTib heuLetter.] y^/^^ believers. nj 
 
 which is within that Liberty t And, Norden's 
 map of London, which was engraved> in 1593^ 
 at whatever time the furvey maj^ have beeii 
 made^ exhibits the Playhoufe^ on the Bank-- 
 Jide (/). Bat, our inquirer infifts, though 
 without authority, ** that this was not the 
 " Globe^ biit the Rofe theati^e, which was fo 
 ^* denominated from Rofe-alley, near which 
 ** it flood, as the Globe probably derived its 
 " name from Globe-alley (w)." And he fixes 
 Upon the year I594> as the jprpbable epoch 
 of the building oi the Glohe theatre. He pro- 
 duces a bond, and a contract, to eflablifli his 
 point : But, though they prove fomethingj 
 they do not prove enough ; the bond, fpeak- 
 
 (/) Mr. Malone fayS, generally^ in Southwarf: : [In- 
 quiry, 86.] — But, the fite of the Globe theatre was, and 
 is, called, by the people of the p'<xn{h^ The Bankjjde, Sed 
 Strype's edition of Stow's London, vol. ii. p. 8. 
 
 (m) Inquiry, 86 : But, Nordeh's map, 1593, and Str}^pe; 
 vol. ii. 7, prove clearly, that Rofe-alley, and Globe-alley, di4 
 not then ekift ; and fo, thefe alleys 01 iginated from the 
 theatres, and not the theatres from them : On the bank of 
 the river, there was, at that epoch, «• a row of tenements j" 
 but behind them, there were gardens, arid a p^rk ; as Nor- 
 den's map, and Strype, and the Parijh books oi Si. Saviour's, 
 demonftrate.— On the 12th of June i575, '^ the Parilhion- 
 " ers agreed to deliver to the Queen's barns at Greenwich 
 " two loads of firft cut hay, thirty- fix truiTes to the load, 
 " and fixty pounds to each trufs." [Thf Pariih books of 
 that date]. 
 
H4 '^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth ; 
 
 ing, generally, of the performance of certain 
 articles of agreement 5 and the contract, re- 
 ferring, in 1599, to x\\Q late ereBed Globe on 
 The Banke [li). The fa6l is, as I have Ihown, 
 
 in 
 
 iji) Mr. Malone fays exprefsly, «' that the Globe theatre 
 *' was not iituated hy Thames^ but in Maiden-lane, a ftreey 
 *' in Southwark at [ome diflance from the rlver^ as is proved 
 " by an authentic document in my poflefilon." [Inquiry, 
 p. 84.] The contra6^, dated the 8th of January 1599- 1 600, 
 as exprefsly refers " to the late erected playhoufe, on the 
 *' Banke, in the faid parifh of St. Saviours, called The 
 " Globe." [Mal.Shak.vol.i. parted. p.326, Inquiry, p.87.] 
 Now, thefe contradiftions, between our inquirer, and his 
 own documents, demonftrate, that his pofitions muft be 
 wrong ; and of courfe, that his point is unfupported by cre- 
 dible proof. — On the contrary ; I maintain, that the Globe 
 was fituated on the Bank, within eighty paces of the river, 
 ■^hich has lince receded from its former limits ; that the 
 Globe flood on the fite of John Whatley's windmill, which 
 is at prefent ufed for grinding colours ; as I was affured by 
 an intelligent manager of Barclay's brewhoufe, which 
 covers,: in its ample ra,nge, part of Globe alley; and that 
 Whatley's windmill ftands due fouth, from the weftern fide 
 of Queenhy the, by the. compafs, which I fet for the exprefs 
 purpofe of afcertaining the relative bearing of the windmill 
 to the oppofite objects ori the Thames : Now, the Play- 
 HousEj on Norden*s map, ftands due fouth of the weflern 
 fide, of Queenhy the, or Broken- wharfF; fo that, as far as 
 the compafs can guide us, we have demonflration, that the 
 fite of Norden's playhoufe, and of Whatley's windmill is 
 the fame : But, Mr. Malone afTures us explicitly, " that 
 " the Rofe theatre flood more to the voeji^^ than Norden's 
 
 playhoufe > 
 
 I 
 
AND HEJL LBtTER.] for t^e B E LlEY E ^ S. 115 
 
 in the note below, that the public accufery 
 and his own proofs, contradid: each other, 
 while both ftand oppofed to demonflration. 
 Now, if there be certainty in fadts ; if there 
 be any demonftration in proofs ; it will follow, 
 that he has^ failed, in eftablifliing his point j 
 and, of ^confequence, he is unwarranted, in 
 his conclufion : — " Thus we fee the Globe 
 *' theatre did not exift at the time to which 
 " this letter muft be referred [o)J* On the 
 contrary, Norden's map is evidence, that the 
 Globe was built /before the year 1593 5 and 
 the council-regiller is proof, that it may, 
 probably, have exifted, as early as 1586. 
 
 The public accufer now goes on, in the 
 fame ftrain of contradidion, and alfumptioUi 
 to compare the anachronifm, which he has 
 thus failed to ellablifh, with events, and dates, 
 which cannot be difputed* Leicefter, who 
 was to attend Elizabeth to the play at Hamp- 
 ton-court, was in Holland, daring the greatefl 
 
 playhoufe; fo that, according to his own Jheiuingj the Rofe 
 theatre, and Norden's playhoufe, cannot be the fame : And, 
 the council-regifter of the nth May 1586 proves, that 
 there was a playhoufe, within St. Saviour's pariih, which 
 was then, emphatically called The Theatre. Howe's Chro- 
 nicle, p. 1 003, aflerts, that the theatre, or playhoufe, called 
 the Globe^ was upon the Bankftde^ neer London, 
 (0) Inquiry, 88, 
 
 I a part 
 
rr6 An APOLOGY [Qusen Eliztabethj 
 
 part of the year 1586 : He returned to Lon- 
 don, on the 23d of November; and went, 
 late at night, to the court, at Richmond : 
 He departed far Holland, on the 25th of 
 June 1587 : Bur, he was recalled on the 9th 
 of November 1587 ; and he arrived in Eng- 
 land, in December, ^S^l^P)* From 1587, he 
 remained at home, till his death, on the 4th 
 of September 1588 (j'). And, the public ac- 
 cufer profelTes, " to fhow beyond a doubt ^ that 
 ** the Queen was not at Hampton -court 
 *' during tlie holydays in either of the pe» 
 ** riods above mentioned (r)." 
 
 (/)) Hov/e'sChrcn. p. 743. But, hiftory has not yet fixed 
 the date of that event. Churchyard has, however, in his Hif^ 
 torical Difcourfe on the Civil Wars in the Netherlands, l6c2, 
 p. 102, given an accurate narrative of Leicefter's return, 
 in the following manner: " The 14th of November, re- 
 « turning into Zeland, [from Holland] to vifit the cities 
 <' there ; and fo, at Vere, in Zeland, reconciling unto him 
 « certaine captaines of the garrifon, in fecret mannery he 
 " departed thence, the 21ft of November; and at length, 
 « taking fhip at Flufhing the 17 of December anno 1587, 
 '* he returned the fecond and kft time into England.** 
 
 (^) Inquiry, 89: And fee Stow,. Howe's edition, p. 740 
 — 44: — Brook fays he died, in 1586. [Catal. of the Suc- 
 ceflion of Kings, and Nobles, 1619, p. 136.] This is the 
 herald, who was to corre^ the errors of Catnden ! 
 
 (r) Inquiry, 90. 
 
 He 
 
ANTHER Letter.] for ^^he BELIEVERS. uif 
 
 He opens his proof with his ufual petitio 
 principii. After putting it upon others to 
 fhow, that the Queen was at Hampton-court, 
 during fome part of thofc periods^ he pro^ 
 duces his firft proof. " The regular time/* 
 fays he, " for the exhibition of plays at court 
 ** was Chriftmas, Twelftide, Candlemas, and 
 " Shrovetide." He might have more cor- 
 red:ly added, Childermasday^ Sundays^ and other 
 days(j-). Here, then, he fails. He fpeaks (/) 
 next of the inconvenience of the apartments 
 at the Queen's palaces ^ in order to fhow the 
 improbability of plays being aded, at Hamp- 
 ton-court: But, the council-regifiers prove, 
 that there were plays adled there, at Chrift- 
 mas 1575, and at Chriftmas 1591 {u)i Now, 
 here, again he fails, in his fecond proof. He 
 Wdil be more fuccefsful, perhaps, ia his third 
 proof: ** From the beginning of December 
 •^ 1587, to the 8th day of July 1588, ftie 
 ^* refided at Greenwich," His pofition is, as 
 
 {/) Council- regifter, N 2 ift February iSlh ^4*^ ^^' 
 jjTuary 1579: and the regifter, 1575 — 1579 — 1581-2— 
 1588— 1590-91, 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 90-1. 
 
 («) Regifters, 20th January 1576; and 7th March 1592; 
 vAiiQh. contain warrants, for paying the playprs, who a6ted at 
 Hampton-court, on thofe days, 
 
 I 3 the 
 
in^ ^//APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 the context evinces, that fhe refided, conti- 
 nually, during that period, at Greenwich. He 
 pught to have added, what was very material, 
 indeed, for him to conceal, that the court 
 was at Hacney, onthe i6th of April (-u) 1588, 
 where Leicefter was prefent. Now, this is 
 a moft important abfence from Greenwich, 
 It was at this period, if ever, that the Queen, 
 and Leicefter, went to the play, at Hampton- 
 court, which is only a fhort journey from 
 Hacney. And he thus fails in his third proof: 
 and, failing in all his proofs, he has failed in 
 ihpwing, beyond a doubt y that her majefty 
 was not at Hampton-court, in any of thofe 
 periods, when Leicefter could have pleafed 
 her, by his prefence, and Shakfpeare amufed 
 her, by his acSting, 
 
 After all thofe failures, the public accufer 
 comes, by a regular approach, to his lajl, and 
 fatal objeftion to Elizabeth's epiftle. He 
 opens the trenches, in his accuftomed man- 
 ner, by begging admiffion, inftead of forcing 
 tlie place. He is aftonifhed to fee the modeft, 
 and carelefs Shakfpeare *^ feduloufly docketing 
 
 (v) Council-reglfter of that date ; and fhe did not return 
 to Greenwich tiH'the 21ft of April : fhe was alfo abfent, 
 from Greenwich, in February 1588, as appears by the rc- 
 cifter of the 6th of February, 
 
 f'his 
 
AND HER Letter.] /or i^e BELIEVERS. 419 
 
 " his papers with the punftilious exaftnefs of 
 '* a merchant or attorney^ic;)/' It is ftill more 
 remarkable, he {x) fays, that the poet fliould 
 take fuch care of this gracious epiftlcj yet,ihould 
 not have preferved the prettye verfesy which 
 gave occafion to it (j). Our fceptical critic is 
 fcandahzed, that the Lord Chamberlain fhould 
 have prefented the prettye verfesy inftead of 
 the mafter of the revels, or the treafurer of 
 the chamber, who were, ** unqiLefimiably y^ 
 the proper perfons to convey to players royal 
 mandates, and royal bounties 5 as if the Lord 
 Chamberlain, and ladies of the court, had not 
 been in the conftant pradlice of prefenting 
 books to the Queen, and communicating royal 
 acknowledgments {z). If Churchyard pre- 
 fented 
 
 {w) Inquiry, 97. (a-) Id. 
 
 {j) Thefe verfes, we have feen, the poet did preferve; 
 and the commentator criticized them, ^\\k\Q\xtrecogni%ingthe 
 (Stherial gueji, 
 
 (z) In I594> the Gejia GrayorumvfcvQ prefented before 
 the Queeen, who, being pleafed with the entertainment, 
 *« willed the Lord Chamberlairiy that the gentlemen fhould 
 « be invited, on the next day, and prefented to her: Her 
 ^« majefty gave them her hand to kifs, with moft gracious 
 '' words of commendation to them particularlv, and in ge- 
 «' neral to Gray's Inn, as an houfe fhe was much beholden 
 '^ to 5 for that it did always ftudy for fome fports to prefent 
 
 I 4 " unto 
 
ti# ^« APOLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 fented his Conceit to Elizabeth, in 15Q2, at 
 Hampton-court -, why might not Shakfpeare 
 prefent his prettye verfes to her, by the Lord 
 Chamberlain's hands : And, if Elizabeth 
 thanked Lambarde, perfonally, for his printed 
 book ; why might fhe not thank Shakfpeare, 
 by an epiftle, for his unpriiited fo.nnets I We 
 may perceive, from her interview with Lam- 
 barde, that Elizabeth perfectly underftood 
 Shakfpeare*s axiom: "The pooreft fervice is 
 ** repaid with thanks'' 
 
 The public accufer comes at length to his 
 laji topic. His fatal objedion is not " to the 
 *' diffimilitude, but the total and intire diffir 
 f* militude of every part of the writing of this 
 ^' letter (except the fignature) from Eliza? 
 f' beth's genuine hand- writing {a) J* His laft 
 topic, he proves, e3f:a£tly, in his former mode, 
 
 f' unto her." [NIc. Prog. Gejla Grayormti^ p. 49.] On the 
 4th of Auguft x6oi, William Lambarde prefented to Queen 
 Elizabeth, in her privy chamber, at Greenwich, his Pait" 
 de^a RotuloruTfi'i whereof fhe had giyen \\\m the charge, on 
 the ?iiT: of January preceding; " Her majefiie chearfullic 
 Y received the fame into her hands, faying: — yoy intendec) 
 *' to prefent this book unto me by the Countefs ofJVarwick\ 
 ^' but I will none of that ; for if any fubjedl of mine do mq 
 \^ a fervice, / will thankfulUe accept it from his own hands,'* 
 [Id.fign. 0.41.] 
 
 {a) Inquiry, 103, 
 
 *f From 
 
4SD hirLetter.] /^ //^^ BEL IEVERS. nzt 
 
 *' From the examination of various y^^: Jimi^ 
 ^' lesy' he {b) fays, ** it appears that her 
 " hand-writing gradually enlarged as fhc ad- 
 *f vanced in life ; and that in the year 1587, 
 ** or 1588, it was at lead a fourth, perhaps a 
 ^* third, larger than her writing when fhe 
 ** came to the throne.'* Is it, then, wonder- 
 ful, that he fliould have found in this epiftle, 
 which was, no doubt, haftily w^ritten, as fhc 
 palTed through London, " no lefs [fewer] 
 <' than fix grofs errors," he fhould have faid, 
 fix dijjimrlarities : The wonder had been, had 
 any fimilarity been found. Who could paral- 
 lel Elizabeth, who was fo unparallel to herfelf, 
 at different periods of her various life ? I have 
 compared the fac fimiles of Elizabeth's figna- 
 ture, which he has taken the trouble to (r) 
 engrave, with 2ifaC'-Ji7nile in Lodge's {d) lUuf- 
 trations, and with a fac-Jimik of the Queen's 
 fignature in Forbes's [e) flate-papers : But, 
 they are fo diflimilar in the general refem- 
 l;)lance, fo unlike in the letters, and fo different 
 in the flourifhes, that I could fhew six grofs 
 errorsy in the befl of them ; if there could be 
 
 (^) Inquiry, 104. (<•) Inquiry, plate i, 
 
 (4) VoUi. plate icu {e) Vol. p. 59. 
 
 derived 
 
122 Jlft A?OLOGY [Queen Elizabeth; 
 
 derived from the labour, any inftrudlion, and 
 amufement, which would repay the trouble of 
 detedtion. The public accufer aflerts, as his 
 eopeluding proof, what, indeed, is equally 
 unwarranted by tie fa^, as his former af- 
 fiimptions, that " her genuine autographs are 
 *' hk' upright [f) ; ' ' Of Iwlt - uprigkt7iefs^ how- 
 ever, who can judge, without a plummet^ But, 
 cf Gontradidting contradidlions, there is no end ! 
 I here clofe my apology for the believers, 
 which I fubmit to this critical court, on this 
 tead of the Inquiry. It will be eafily recollecfl- 
 cd, that the public accufer undertook, by fpe- 
 cial inveftigations, to confute the general ar- 
 gument of xhQ JirJlfeBiony which concluded fa 
 flrongly, in their favour. His feveral objec- 
 tions, I have fully examined* But, I have 
 found, in his affertions, fo little reality ; in his 
 argument, fo little confiftence ^ in his pre- 
 tences,, fb little candour ; in his jokes, fo little 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 105. In order to verify the afTertion, with 
 regard to the bolt-'uprightnefs of Elizabeth's autograph Sy 
 1 compared a great number of her fignatures, which 
 >re preferved in the College of Arms : And, it appeared 
 diftindly to me,, that the main ftroke of the E was uniformly 
 defigned to be upright; but that, generally, the fmall letters 
 incline to the left, particularly, from the b in EWz^betb, So 
 that the aflerteduprightnefs of the Queen's autograph is not 
 wholly confident with the real truth. 
 
 rifibility; 
 
AND HER Letter.] /or /i&^ BELIE VERS. laj 
 
 {g) rifibility ; that I flatter myfelf, he will be 
 allowed to take nothing by his motion^ although 
 he may be admitted to be right by chance^ 
 rather than convincing by argument. 
 
 {g) In the Inquiry, p. 102, Mr. Malone has indeed made 
 one good jokey at the expence of the believers : He feigns a 
 committee of the Crofs-row, B. C. D. E. O. P. Q^R. 
 who are fuppofed to be fitting on " the M'lfcellaneous Papers ,' 
 and when the anachronifm of an allufion to balloons, and to 
 the earthquake at Lifbon, was objedted, over-ruled the ob- 
 je£lion ; having " unanimoufly voted it of no weight what- 
 ^^ ever." At the joke^ I am prepared to laugh:— But, I am 
 not prepared, if it were allowable to introduce fiSiion into 
 the dete6lion of forgery^ to admit the truth of the anachro- 
 nifin. There v/ere balloons in the age of Elizabeth, and 
 Shakfpeare. For the word\ fee Florio's World of Words, 
 1598, in Vo. hallone^ a great ball ; a halhne. For the thing\ 
 fee A Thoufand Notable things of fundrie Sorts^ printed by 
 Roberts, in i6orj book 10, No. 37, *«how to make a 
 " bladder leap from place to place 5" and No. 49, « how 
 " to make an egg afcend into the air i^^ Both thefe tricks 
 were performed, like fimilar tricks of modern times, by the 
 rarefaSlion of air. For an account of the earthquake at 
 Londpn, and other places, including Lifbon, no doubt, fee 
 Spenfer's Three proper Letters^ printed hy Bynneman, in 
 1580, p. 23; wherein may be read " a grave meteorologi- 
 *^ call conference, touching earthquakes." — We may hence 
 obferve, how eafy it is to fupply ignorance with anachronifm^ 
 to fill vacuity with wonder -^ and to tickle folly with a joke. 
 
 § in. LORD 
 
$1^ An APOLOGY [Lord SdUTHAMprON^? 
 
 § III. — 
 
 LORD SOUTHAMPTONj 
 
 A N D H I S 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Ill Opening the Apology, on this head of 
 the fubjedt, the believers are again led, by the 
 fad:, to obferve, that the objections, which 
 had been ftrongly ftated, during the firft pe- 
 riod of difquifition, are either relinquifhed 
 wholly, or fupported feebly, fince the publica- 
 tion of the Mifcellaneous Papers, 
 
 To the fignature of Lord Southampton, by 
 his titki it was objected by thofe, who pre- 
 tended to know parliamentary ufages, that the 
 pradlice of the peers, in figning by their titles, 
 without their baptifmal names, did not com- 
 mence, for a century, after the epoch of his cor- 
 refpondence with Shakfpeare. The fceptics ap- 
 plauded this pbjecSion to I^ord Southampton's 
 fignature, as a decifiye proof of the fidlion. On 
 the contrary, the believers heard it, without 
 affenting to the truth of the premifes, or the 
 fairnefs of the dedudlon ; becaufe, recolkCling 
 precedents, they knew, that the objeftion was 
 neither fupported by fad:, nor juftified by 
 cuftom. 
 
 Without 
 
AND HIS CORRESPOKDENCE.Jyor/yJ^ BELIEVERS. 12^ 
 
 Without referring to feudal times, whea 
 men were known by the names of their lands, 
 and barons diftinguifhed themfelves by their 
 titles, the pradlice may be eafily traced by 
 precedents, and the cuftom clearly illuftrated 
 by examples, at foccefiive periods of our hif- 
 tory. A few inftances from the remarkable 
 fpecim^ns of fignatures in Fenn's Letters, 
 written during the times of our Edwards 
 and Henrys, will throw abundant light on this 
 curious fubjedl -, and alfo prove, that the mo- 
 dern pradtice had a more early origin, than the 
 objed:ors fuppofed. John de Vere, writing to 
 John Pafton, in the 38tli of Henry 6th, con- 
 cluded : " Uretyn at Wouenho, the xvii day; 
 " The Earl of Oxenford; — Oxenford (^)/' 
 We here fee, that the baptifmal name of this 
 great peer was not prefixed to his lignature. 
 John Lord Scales, a nobleman of uncommoa 
 worth, concluded his letter to John Pafton 
 thus : — " Writen at Midelton the xvi day of 
 ** Oftob'r; — ^youre frende, — Scales (^)/' One 
 
 of 
 
 {a) Fenn's Let. vol. iii. p. 362. 
 
 {b) lb. 367. And fee autographs of Lord Oxenford, and 
 Lord Scales, in vol. ii. pkte i. And fee Lord Hajiyng^s fig- 
 nature, in the fame manner, in plate iv. and fo, of others, in 
 the other plates: — The fa(^, then, is incontrovertible, as to 
 
 the 
 
126 j^H AF O L O G Y [Lord Southampton 5.. 
 
 of the executors of Sir John Faftolf, writing 
 to the ryg/jf worcheppful Sere Mayjier "John 
 Stokes f a dodtorof the civil laws, and an officer 
 of the biiTiop's court, concluded : " Wretyn 
 ♦* in y^ abbey of ^ngeley tl}e viii day of y^ 
 " monyth of may, the yeere of our lord 
 '* m, cccc, Ix : youre preeft ; ^ — abbot of 
 '* langeley {c)J" And, even 'private gentle- 
 men, in thofe days> figned their furnames, 
 without their baptifmal appellations ; as in a 
 letter to Sir Robert Rokyfby '* be his fervant 
 " and Bedman, Perfe {d) : A fimilar pradHce 
 continued, through, the fubfequent [e) reigns, 
 though the cuftom was not altogether uni- 
 form (j^). The knowledge of the believers 
 was warranted, then, in rejecting the ignorance 
 of the fceptics, upon a point of archaeology, 
 
 the fignaturc of peers, in thofe times, without their baptifmal 
 appellations, or the initial letters of their names, and titles. 
 
 (c) lb. 400: and p. 422 for other fignatures, in the man- 
 ner of anagrams, 
 
 {d) lb. 434; and fee the autographs, in the fame volume, 
 plate xvii — -xviii — xix — xx : And, fee a letter, in September 
 1603, figued Fowler-i in Lodge's II. vol. iii* p. 169. 
 
 {e) See Howard's Colle6lionsj 160-61. 
 
 (/) See the autographs in Lodge's Illuftrations, vol. i. 
 plate 5, &c. — And fee the autographs in Forbes's ftate- 
 papers, in the time of Elizabeth*. 
 
 which 
 
AKD HIS Correspondence.] /<»r^^^ BELIEVERS, V27 
 
 which was fo clearly eftabliflied, and generally- 
 known : Yet, fays the public accufer, *^ in 
 *^ the reign of Elizabeth, as your lordfhip 
 *V. knows, noblemen in their iignatures ufually 
 **.:prefixed their Chrifiian name to their {g) 
 ** titles;'* though his, own documents de- 
 mo nftrate a contrary ufage. 
 
 During the long, and improving, reign of 
 Elizabeth, the practice of the peers, in their 
 fignatures, went on progreffively, from an- 
 cient irregularity, towards modern uniform- 
 ity. Let us take, as examples, the celebrated 
 favourites of that maiden queen : The earl of 
 Leycefter was very various, in his fignature : 
 as we may fee, often, R. {h) Lecefter; Ro. (/) 
 Lecefler; Ro. (y^) Leycefter; R.Leycefter(/). 
 Thefe varieties fufficiently prove, that there 
 is no drawing a true conclulion from a finglc 
 autograph, in that age. This obfervation is more 
 ftrongly exemplified from the ftill more vari- 
 ous praftice of Elizabeth's other favourite : 
 He figned, at times, Eflex; R. Effex; Ro. 
 
 {g) Inquiry, 184. (/^) Peck's Dcfid. 11 2-1 3H4. 
 
 (ij lb. 100-4-5-6. [k) lb. 128-132. 
 
 (/) Lodge's II. vol. ii.. p. 286 ; and Mai. Inquiry, plate 
 ii. which is a different autograph, in Tome points, from the 
 preceding, in Lodge. 
 
 Eflex f 
 
12? ^a APOLOGY [Lord Southampton; 
 
 Effex; Rob. EfTex; and Robert Eflex (w); 
 Now, the egregious fophiftry, of arguing from 
 a fingle autograph, is apparent from thofe 
 varieties. If any fyftem could be deduced 
 from fuch variety, I fliould conclude, that 
 when he was moft gay, he iigned EJex, and 
 when he was moft grave, he fubfcribed Robert: 
 Effex {n). 
 
 The public accufer, however, comforts him- 
 felf, with [o) remarking, that ** whatever exam- 
 " pies of the modern praftice may occafionally 
 " be found in ancient times, Henry, Lord South- 
 •* ampton prefixed his Chrijlian name to his ti- 
 ** tie 5 a practice, which feems to have been 
 ** hereditary in his family ; for the autograph 
 " of his father — (H. Southampton) is in the 
 " Mufeum.*' Strange ! That fo accurate a lo- 
 gician fhould continually argue againft the 
 
 {m) See Birch's Mem. vol. ii. p. 444-5—458—486 : 
 Howard's Collc£lions, 232 — 521. See the Cabala, p. 213- 
 15, for itv^w letters to Secretary Davifon, figned R. EfTex; 
 p. 216, two to the Queen, figned, Ro. Eflex; and p. 2i8, 
 one letter to the Lord Keeper Ellefmere, figned, Eflex: and. 
 Birch's Mem. prove, that he figned his Latin letters, 
 EJfexiuT, 
 
 («) While he lay, a condemned man, in the Tower, he 
 fubfcribed Robert Eflex, [Howard's Col. 524: Birch's 
 Mem. vol. ii. p. 486.J 
 
 (0) Inquiry, 184. 
 
 conviftlon 
 
ANt) HIS Correspondence.] for the BELIEVERS. up 
 
 convidllon, which his own documents en- 
 force. His autographs do not prove, that 
 either the father, or the fon, prefixed their 
 chrifiian names to their titles ; fince they only 
 prove, that they prefixed the initial H : — 
 Now, H might reprefent Humphry, Hugh, 
 Hubert, Horatio, Herbert, Hamon, Hadrian, 
 Hodge, Heftor, Hob, Harry, Hobbinol, Henry, 
 or Hildebrand. Here, then, he fails. But, 
 he is certain of his pofition, that the father, 
 and the fon, uniformly fubfcribed H, South- 
 ampton. Had he looked into Howard's Col- 
 ledlions, he would have feen the fubfcription 
 of the father, in the modern form, to be 
 Southampton^ without either his chriftian name, 
 or the initial of it (^). When he was ran- 
 facking, unfuccefsfully, every place for auto- 
 graphs of Shakfpeare's patron, had he thrown 
 his eyes on a 'white-letter publication of the 
 Virginia Company, whereof his lordfhip was 
 treafurer, he would have beheld the formal 
 fubfcription of Henry Southampton [g). Here, 
 
 again, 
 
 (p) See, in p. 216, a letter, dated the 27 th of June 1573 > 
 now, the autograph, in the Inquiry, is affixed to an epiftlc, 
 dated July 26, 1572. [Inquiry, 185.] 
 
 {q) See " His majefties gracious letter to the Earle of 
 ^^ Southampton, treafurer, and to the Council and Company 
 
 K ** of 
 
130 -<^« A P O L O G Y [Lord SotJTKAMPTox ; 
 
 again, he fails. The beUevers knew, from 
 thofe remarkable exam.ples, that there was no 
 uniformity, in fignatures, during thofe times. 
 His beft apology is, while the believers re- 
 quire none, that he was mifled by the intem- 
 perance of his zeal to reafon from a fancied 
 vmlformity, which being only a Will-o'-th'- 
 wilp, led him headlong into " the great bog of 
 ** Allen." Here, with Lord Charlemont by 
 his fide, he plunges a while. At length, they 
 flounder through, " by producing two letters 
 *^ written by Lord Southampton, the o?ily let- 
 " ters of his known to be extant (rj." But, I 
 have produced another letter of Lord South- 
 ampton, written on a public occafion, publifhed 
 by authority, and made notorious from its 
 
 '' of Virginia heere :" Commanding the prefent fetting up of 
 filk works, and planting of vines in Virginia, &c. publifhed 
 by authority: and printed by Kyngfton, 1622. Lord South- 
 ampton's name is fubfcribed, in the before mentioned form, 
 of Henry Southampton, to the letter, which the company 
 in England fent, on that occafion, " To the Governour and 
 " Councell of State in Virginia.'* This pamphlet will now 
 go down the ftream of time, borne along it by the names of 
 Southampton, and Shakfpeare; and will be remembered, in 
 the annals of that country, "where tobacco loves to grow.'* 
 
 (r) Inquiry, p. 185. 
 
 objedt. 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] /cr /^^ BELIEVERS. 131 
 
 objedl (j"). Once more, then, our inquirer 
 fails, egregioufly: And, the believers may, 
 at length, retort : — 
 
 " Thyfelf, from flattering felf-concelt defend, 
 *« Nor, what thou doft not know, to know pretend! " 
 But, it is felf conceit, flattering felf-conceit, 
 which is the bane of all refearch, and the ob- 
 ftruftion to all knowledge. Never was this 
 remark more fully proved, than in the bio- 
 graphy of Lord Southampton, which Mr. 
 Malone has feveral times touched upon ; yet 
 has left it, either without fulnefs, in its 
 fad:s, or precifion, in its notices. It may, 
 therefore, be of ufe, to run over the life 
 of Shakfpeare's patron ; in order to eluci- 
 date this fubjeft ; to point out the miftakes 
 of error; and to eftablifhthe certainties, which 
 are often mifconceived by fondnefs, and very 
 often miftated by flattery. 
 
 The family of Wryothfley, who were com- 
 monly called Wrythcy may be found among 
 the heralds^ in the feveral reigns, from Edward 
 4 to Henry {t) 8. The grandfather of Shak- 
 
 (i) See yet another letter of Lord Southampton to Win- 
 wood, dated the 6th Auguft 161 3, in Win. Mem. vol. iii* 
 P- 475- 
 
 (/) See the Archseologia, vol. iii. p. 209. 
 
 K 2 fpeare's 
 
I32 ^« A P O L O G Y [Lord Southampton ,' 
 
 fpeare's Southampton rofe, from being faucon- 
 herald, to be lord chancellor, and an earl, un- 
 der the capricious Henry viii. Lord South- 
 ampton's father was Henry, Earl of Southamp- 
 ton ; his mother was Mary, the daughter of 
 Anthony, the firft Vifcount of Montague : And, 
 he was born, on the 6th of Odober 1573 {u). 
 He had the misfortune to lofe his father, on 
 the 4th of Oftober [v) 1 58 1 3 an event, which 
 enabled his mother to marry, ere long, Sir 
 Thomas Heneage ; who, as treafurer of the 
 chamber, had much connection with players, 
 and writers of plays. Wherefoever Lord 
 Southampton may have received his earlieft 
 learning, he compleated his education at Cam- 
 bridge, and finifhed his ftudies at Grey's 
 
 From 
 
 (u) Burghley had recorded, in his Diary, that Henry Earl 
 of Southampton, was born in 1573; [Murden, 792,] but 
 Mr. Malone has afcertained, from the efcheat rolls of the 24 
 of Eliz. the day of his birth. [Inquiry, 180.] 
 
 {v) Mr. Malone fays he died in i583:[Shak. vol. x. p.4.] 
 But, Brook, and the heralds, are as pofitive to the day, and 
 month, and year. [Cat. of Succeflion, p. 224.] 
 
 (w) Dec. II, 1585. Hen. Comes Southampton Impubes 
 12 annorum admiflus in matriculam Acad. Cant. [Reg^ 
 Acad. Cantab.] Henricus Wrtothjlcy Comes Southampton 
 ccrftatus in ordinftn Magijirorum in artibus per gratiam 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] for the BELIEVERS. 133 
 
 From the trammels of difcipline, he entered 
 the world, on the 6th of Oftober, 1 594. When 
 he was fcarcely of age, he had the honour to 
 receive Shakfpeare's dedication of Venus and 
 Adonisy " the firft heir of his invention \' As 
 another token of his lovcy Shakfpeare foon 
 dedicated to his firft patron *^ T^he Rape of 
 ** Lucrece-y' though **but a fuperfluous moiety 
 *^ of his duty/' It is eafy to conjedture, how 
 this reciprocation of kindnefs commenced, be- 
 tween the peer, who was eleven years younger 
 than Shakfpeare, and the poet, who was ftrug- 
 gling with the difficulties of life. We have 
 already feen the origin of this conned;ion, in 
 the marriage of Sir Thomas Heneage, the 
 treafurer of the chamber, with Lady South- 
 ampton; in the confequent intercourfe of the 
 family, with the play-houfe; and we may 
 
 Jun. 6, 1589. [Regr. Acad. Cantab.]— This note, Mr. 
 Craven Ord very obligingly copied for me from the late Mr^ 
 Cole's copy of Wood's Athenae, which is in his library. Lord 
 Southampton v^^as of St. John's College. [Mai. Shak. vol.x, 
 p. 4. J Apd, in June 1590, he entered himfelf of Lincoln's Inn, 
 it is faid, on the authority of Leland, in his Encomia: But, 
 the regifter of that inn, vi^hich has been fearched, fhows, that 
 this aflertion is a miftake, as to the inn ; and a penfion-roU 
 gf Grey's Inn has lately been found, in Lady Grey's library, 
 at Wreft, in Bedfordfhire ; in which penfion- roll [161 1] 
 Lord Southampton is mentioned as a member of Grey's- 
 
 K 3 ealily 
 
i34 ^« APOLOGY [Lord SorTHAMPTONi 
 
 eafily fuppofe, that the youthfulnefs of Lord 
 Southampton led him into all the gayetles of 
 the world ^ as his paflion for fame made him 
 the protedlor of letters. From this epoch. 
 Lord Southampton may be faid to have been 
 fed with dedications, the flatulent food of 
 wandering vanity. 
 
 But, Lord Southampton was ere long fmit- 
 \,tVL with love of a very different kind from 
 Shakfpeare's ; being captivated by the charms 
 of the^i/r^ Mijirefs Varnon {x). The oppo- 
 lition of Elizabeth made this a tedious court- 
 fhip ; which ended, at length, in a comfort- 
 lefs marriage. — '' He accompanied Lord Efl^ex; 
 *^ as a volunteer in the expedition to Cadiz, 
 '' in 1596," fays Mr. Malone {y)-. But, 
 Camden, and Hakluyt keep Lord Southamp- 
 
 [x) Rowland White, whom we fliali have frequent oc- 
 cafion to quote, wrote to Sir Henry Sydney, his patron, on 
 the 23d of September 1595; "My Lord Southampton 
 '< doth with to [too] much familiarity court the fairc Mrs. 
 *^ V^arnon, while his friends, obferving the Queen's hu~ 
 <' mours towards my Lord of Efl'ex, do what they can to 
 " bring her to favour him; but it is yet in vain." [Sydney, 
 Pap, vol.i. 34B.J Mr. Malone has wifely remarked, that we 
 ought not to be mifled by the olden word miJlrefs to fuppofe, 
 that this charming fair one was either a difconfolate widow, 
 or an old maid. 
 
 [y) Mai Shafc. vol. x. p. 4. 
 
 toq 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] /£?/- />^i? BELIEVERS. 135 
 
 ton in [z) England; where he, doubtlefs, 
 remained, *' fetter'd in amorous chains :" 
 And, Mr. Malone appoints Lord Southamp- 
 ton, in the following year, " captain of the 
 " Garland, one of Queen Elizabeth's beft 
 " fhips," and, makes him '^ vice admiral of 
 " the firft fquadron, in the fleet that failed 
 ** againfl the Azores,'*' in '1597 {a). But, 
 Camden fays exprefsly, that the Earls of Rut- 
 land, Southampton, and other lords, and 
 knights, "lifted themfelves as volunteers m 
 ^' this expedition (^)." Whatever command 
 
 he 
 
 • (z) Kennet's Col. vol. ii. p. 5935 and Hakluyt's Voy- 
 ages, 15985 vol. i. p. 607-17, vi^hich both fpecify the prin- 
 cipal perfons in the expedition ; and fhow, that the fleet re- 
 mained at Cadiz, on the 5th of July 1596; Now, Lord 
 Southampton executed at London a power of attorney, on 
 the I ft of July, 1596, to Richard Rounching, to receive of 
 George, Earl of Cumberland, and John l^aylor, his fervant, 
 a thoufand pour.ds. This curious document, which proves, 
 that Lord Southampton, could not be at Cadiz on the i ft of 
 July, 1^96 ; and which alfo (liows, how Lord Southampton 
 could wri'te at tfie age of three and twenty, Mr. Cfiii^en Ord 
 communicated to rhe, ' in the fiioft liberal manrier. See 
 Birch's Mem, of Q^ Eliz. vol. ii. p. 45-50, for additional 
 proofs, that Lord Southamptgn was not on the expeditioh to 
 Cadiz, in 1596, 
 
 (a) Mai. Shak. vol. x. p. 4, 
 
 {h) Kennet, vol. ii. 597 : Rowland White wrote Sir 
 
 K 4' ' Henry 
 
1^6 ^a APOLOGY [Lord Southampton ; 
 
 he may have got. Lord Southampton behaved 
 moft gallantly : He was wounded in the en- 
 gagement {c) with the Spaniards : He was 
 knighted by Effex, upon the voyage : Yet, 
 when he returned, with his friend, to court, 
 in Od:ober 1597, Lord Southampton was 
 frowned on by the Queen, " who thought 
 ** that Effex migiit have done morey and be- 
 " haved better to Raleigh {d):' 
 
 Lord Southampton returned to the amufe- 
 ments, and bufinefs of London, with a new 
 relifh. On fome quarrel, he challenged the 
 Earl of Northumberland; but, they were re« 
 ftrained from fighting, by the Queen's {e) or- 
 der. He began his parliamentary career, on 
 
 Henry Sydney, on the 9th of April 1597 — " Lord Southamp- 
 *' ton, by two hundred means^ hath gotten leave to go with 
 *' them [Lord Thomas Howard, and Raleigh] and is ap- 
 ** pointed to go in the Garland," as a volunteer^ fays the 
 context. [Sydney, Pap. vol, ii. p. 37.] And Birch's Mern^ 
 vol. ii. p. 344, is pofitive on the point, 
 
 {c) Birch's Mem. vol. ii, p. 274: The Earl of North- 
 umberland, who had been challenged by Lord Southampton, 
 wrote to Bacon, that his lordlhip's " arm was hurt with the 
 « ballon^ 
 
 (d) Syd. Pap. vol. ii. p. 72 : "Lord Southampton fought 
 *' with one of the king's great men of war, and funk her," 
 fays Rowland White 5 but this is a very different ftory from 
 Mr. Maloiie's, 
 
 [e) Bjrch's Mem, vol, ii. p. 274. 
 
 the 
 
AND HIS CoRRESPONDBNCE.] fof the BELIEVERS. 137 
 
 the 24th of Odlober 1507 (/). He recom- 
 menced his courtfhip, with tkit fallings -out y and 
 renewals of love. He propofed, in January 
 159^, to travel with Mr. Secretary Cecily 
 " to the extreme grief of his miftrefle, that 
 " paffes her time in weeping (^)." He, at 
 the fame time, gave mortal offence to Eliza- 
 beth, who was already indignant enough, that 
 he fhould prefume to love, without her know- 
 ledge, and to think of marriage, without her 
 confent. Southampton, Raleigh, and other men 
 of fafhion, being at play one evening in the 
 prefence chamber, were warned by Willough- 
 bie, the proper officer, to depart; as the Queen 
 was retired to reft. Raleigh, who knew the 
 penalty of difobedience, put his money into 
 his purfe, and departed : But, Southampton, 
 being young, and heedlefs, remained, and 
 llruck Willoughbie, who returned the blow. 
 Elizabeth hearing, on the morrow, of this 
 brawl, thanked Wijloughbie, and faid, " he 
 
 (/*) *' IntroduSium fu'it breve Comiits South'* ton^ 24 06^. 
 1597. [Lords Journ. vol. ii. p, 192.] Lord Southampton 
 wasprefent, on the 7th Nov. the 26th Nov. the 13th and 
 14th Dec. and the parliament rofe on the 8th of Feb'ry 
 159J. [lb. 224.] 
 
 (^) Rowland White's letter, dated 14 Jan'ry isgf, in 
 ^yd. Pap, vol. ii. p. 8x. 
 
 *^ had 
 
ijS ^« A P O L.O G y [Lord Southampton J 
 
 " had better have fent Southampton to the 
 ♦* porter's lodge ; to fee who durft have 
 " fetched him out (^)/' Yet, Lord South- 
 ampton thought her majefty's ufage of him 
 very ftrange (/). He refolved, however, to 
 attend Secretary Cecil, on his embalTy to Paris ; 
 But, mean time, Cobham, Raleigh, and South- 
 ampton, ** feverally feailed Mr. Secretary, be- 
 ♦* fore his departure 5 and had plates, and ban- 
 " quets (/^)." On the I oth of February 1 59-1, 
 Lord Southampton departed from (/) London; 
 ** leaving behind him a moft defolate gentle- 
 *^ woman, that almofl; wept out her faireft 
 ^* eyes {ni)*' 
 
 Few 
 
 {h) Rowland White tells the ftory, admirably, In his let^ 
 jter of the 19th Jan'ry 159!:' Syd. Pap. vol. ii, p. 83* 
 
 (/) lb. 87. 
 
 (i) Rowland White, 30 JanVy, 159I. lb. 87. 
 
 {/) Birch's Negotiations, p. 87. 
 
 {m) Rowland White, 11 February 159-J. Yp. Qp. He 
 had fecretly heard, " that Lord Southampton was to have 
 « been married to his faire midreiTe, before his departure." 
 [lb. 88.] This accounts for the weeping of the defolate 
 gentlewoman. Yet, Mr. iVIalone marries thpm, Jn 1596 ; 
 And, he fends him, in 1598, as general of the horfe, to Ire- 
 land, with Eflex ; while he was travelling with Mr. Secre- 
 tary Cecil, in France. [Shale, vol, x. 5.J In the poetical 
 
 dedication 
 
^ND HIS Correspondence.] /or //^^ BELIEVERS, 139 
 
 Few young noblemen have travelled with a 
 more prudent guide, than did Lord Southamp- 
 ton, with Mr. Secretary Cecil, They arrived 
 at Paris on the ift of March 159I. But, it 
 was at Angers, on the 17th of March, that 
 they had the gratification of feeing the cele- 
 brated Kenry IV.; when Secretary Cecil pre-* 
 fented Lord Southampton to that illuftrious 
 monarch, faying; that his lord (hip ** was come 
 ** with deliberation to do him fervice:" Henry 
 IV. embraced, and welcomed Lord (;?) South- 
 ampton ; who was difappointed, by the peace 
 of Vervins, in the hopes of ferving the cam- 
 paign of 1598, under that great commander. 
 He, probably, returned to London, in Novem- 
 ber {0) 1598 ; and was, undoubedly, foon af- 
 ter 
 
 dedication of Florio's TForld of TVords^ to Lord Southamp- 
 ton, in 1598, there are the following Unes: 
 
 *' Nozv liv'Ji in tra'vdlyforeine rites inquiringy 
 " Honor's ingender'd fparkles thereto Uring, 
 '•' Immutable in travel's mutabilitie.'* 
 
 \''J 
 
 See the difpatch in Birch's Negotiations, 109. 
 
 («) Rowland White wrote, 2d November 1598, that 
 Lord Southampton is about to return to England. Syd. Pap. 
 vol. ii» 104, In the year 1598, Florio dedicated his World 
 of Words .^ to the Earl of Rutland, to the Earl of Southamp- 
 ton, and to Lucie, the Countefs of Bedford. To the EarL 
 ^f Sojithampton he faid :-— *• In truth, I acknowledge an en- 
 
 « tire 
 
f4<5 ^/7 APOLOGY [Lord SouTHAMpTawj 
 
 ter married to Elizabeth Vernon, the daughter 
 of John Vernon, of Hodnet, in the county of 
 Salop ; to the great offence of Elizabeth, who 
 fent them both to {p) prifon ; as the inexora- 
 ble lord chancellor now fends his wards to 
 darance vtVj, when they have been led, farrep- 
 titiouSy, to the altar of Hymen. 
 
 After mature deliberation, the Earl of EfTex 
 was appointed, in the beginning of 1 599, Lord 
 Deputy of Ireland, with unprecedented pow- 
 ers. On the 27th of March 1 599, he depart- 
 ed for Ireland : And on that occafion — • 
 cc . London pour'd out her citizens : 
 
 « tire debt, not only of my beft knowledge, but of all ; yea, 
 *' of more than I know, or can to ypur bounteous lordfliip, 
 «' in zvhofe pay and patronage I have lived fome years ; to 
 •* whom I owe and vowe the years I have to live. But, as 
 «' to me, and many more, the glorious and gracious funfhine 
 ** of your honour hath infufed light and life.*' It ought to 
 be remembered that, wben the fecond edition of this World 
 gfJVordsj was publifhed, in 16 1 1 , the firft dedication was un- 
 gratefully fuppreffed, and a frefli dedication was made, " To 
 •' the imperiall majeflie of the highefl borne princes, Anna 
 « of Denmark, crovi'ned queen of England, Scotland, France, 
 *' and Ireland; &c." 
 
 {p) Brook's Catalogue, 224 : In writing to the Lords 
 of the Council, Eflex exprefled htmfelf thus: "Was it 
 *' treafon in my Lord of Southampton to marry my poor 
 ** kinfwoman, that neither long imprifonment, nor any 
 *' punifhment befides, that hath been ufual, in like cafes, can 
 " fatisfy, or appeafc ?" [Birch*s Mem. vol. ii. p. 422.] 
 
 « The 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] for the BELIEVERS, i^t 
 
 « The mayor, and all his brethren, in beft fort, 
 « Like to the fenators of antique Rome, 
 '« With the plebeians, fwarming at their heels, 
 <* Went forth." 
 ** In 1598'* [1599] fays Mr. Malone, *' Lord 
 ** Southampton attended his noble friend to 
 ^* Ireland, as general of the horfe {q)*' Being, 
 at laft, fafely arrived, in Ireland, fays Camden ; 
 ** and having received the fvvord, according to 
 ** form, Eflex immediately made the Earl of 
 " Southampton general of the horfe, clean con* 
 ** trary to his inftruftions (r).'* It was here, 
 that an enmity began between Lord Southamp- 
 ton, and Lord Grey, which created, afterwards, 
 much vexation to both(j'). Lord Southampton, 
 being foon difmiffed from his command, by the 
 Queen's orders, returned to London, on th& 
 2oth of September 1599; and Lord EiTex 
 unexpectedly arrived on the 28 th of the fame 
 
 {q) Shak. vol. X. 5. 
 
 (r) An. in Kennet, vol. ii. 614: Birches Mem. vol. il. 
 ' p. 396. 
 
 (i) Mr. Secretary Cecil wrote to the ambaflador Neville 
 at Paris on the 9th of June 1599: *' Yf you chance to heare 
 " any flying tale, that my Lord Grey fhould be cofnmitted in 
 " Ireland, the accident was only this: That he being only a 
 " colonel of horfe, and my Lord of Southampton general, he 
 " did charge, without direction ; and fo, for order fake, was 
 " only committed to the marfhal, for one night." [Win- 
 wood's Mem. vol. i. 47.] 
 
 month j 
 
iiir -^« APOLOGY [Lord Southampton $ 
 
 month ; but, without " bringing rebeUion 
 *' broached on his fword(/)/' Lord South- 
 ampton came not any more to court, but 
 palled his time in London, merely in going 
 to plaies, every day. Lady Southampton, and 
 Lady Rich, who had been at ElTex-houfe, 
 retired into the country [zi). 
 
 In December 1 599, Lord Mountjoy, a 
 perfon of lefs prefumption, and more talents, 
 than EfTex, was nominated Lord Deputy of 
 Ireland. Lord Southampton was, foon after, 
 appointed to accompany him ; having the 
 command of only two hundred foot, and one 
 hundred horfe : yet, he attended feveral weeks, 
 in hopes of having the fatisfaction of kiffing 
 the Queen's hand ; but, though Mr. Secretary 
 Cecil was kis friend^ he could not obtain that 
 favour 'y the Queen only wifliing him, at lafl, 
 a good journey \v)» When Lord Southampton 
 
 {t) Rowland Vv^hlte v/rote, on the nth Aiiguft 1599, 
 « that Lord Southampton is difcharged ;'* on the 25 Sep- 
 tember, " that he is returned to London;" on the ill Oc- 
 tober, that Lord Efl'ex had " unexpecSledly returned, and 
 « was committed to cuftody." [Syd. Pap. voL ii. 115- 
 128-130.] {u) lb. 132. 
 
 \y) It fliould feem from Birch's Mem. vol. ii. p. 471, 
 '^ that Lord Southampton was fcnt to Ireland by the Earl of, 
 " Ellex," for whatever purpofe of good, or evil : Becoming 
 vlW^tS.'j there, he went from thence to the Low Countries. 
 
 departed. 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] /or //-'^ BELIEVERS. 14^ 
 
 departed, in April 1 600, he fent word to Lord 
 Grey, " that he would meet him in any place 
 " in Ireland/' The Queen tranfmitted orders 
 " to ftay the combat." As a foldier, he adled 
 with fuch good condufb, and bravery, as to 
 obtain the Lord Deputy's commendation. He 
 loon flopped his military career, in order to 
 end his quarrel with Lord Grey, in The Low 
 Country s. But, in September 1600, they both 
 appeared in London, where their quarrel was 
 foon forgotten, by the world, amidft events 
 of greater moment [w). 
 
 Meantime, Lord ElTex was tried, and cen- 
 fured for his mifconduft in Ireland, He fub- 
 mitted ; and repented ; and foon again of- 
 fended. He recalled Lord Southampton from 
 the Low Countries ; in order to concert with 
 him projeds of infurredion : And, he la- 
 boured, by flatteries, to prevail upon the King 
 of Scots, to enter into their feditious pro- 
 jeds [x). It was at this moment, at the eve 
 of the infurredion, that Lord Grey affaulted 
 Lord Southampton, as he rode along the 
 ftreets ; for which, however, he was com- 
 mitted to the Fleet : So ungoverned were the 
 refentments of the great, in that, and the fub- 
 
 (w) See Rowland White's News, in Syd. Pap. vol, ii. 
 149 — 64-5—71-9—82 — 90—98—209-10-16. 
 
 (a-) Camden, in Kennet, vd. ii. 629-30-31. 
 
 ^ fequent. 
 
t44 >^« APOLOGY [Lord Southampton * 
 
 iequentj reign (j). Lord Southampton now 
 entered, with Lord Eflex, into the moft trea- 
 fonable confultations. On the 8th of Fe- 
 bruary 1 600- 1, they aflembled, with other 
 confpirators, at Effex-houfe. And, they there 
 imprifoned the privy counfellors, who were 
 fent by the Queen, to learn the meaning of 
 their tumultuous convention. They now Tal- 
 lied out, into the city, with rebellious (z) 
 purpofe ; expecting to overturn, by fudden 
 tumult, the beft eftabliflied governmenr in 
 Europe. They were, however, foon over- 
 powered. Eflex, and Southampton, were tried, 
 on the 19th of February, for high treafon. 
 
 (y) See Camden, in Kennet, vol. ii. 629 ; and Winwood*s 
 Mem. vol. i. p. 292. 
 
 (z) With regard to Effex's infurreflion, Camden [Ken- 
 net, 632,] remarks what is very curious j " Thofe that 
 " judged mofl fever ely of it, termed it perverfenefs, and an 
 « impatient thirll: for revenge ; and they that fpoke vi^orft of 
 " it, gave it no harlher name, than that of an indifcreet 
 «' forwardnefs -, and to this day, few there are that looked 
 " upon it as a capital ofFencev"-— Of this opinion, is Mn 
 Malone, who fays, that Lord Southamptcn was condemned 
 for having joined Lord EiTex in his wild projeSi, [Shakf* 
 vol. X. p. 5.] We here fee an example, how an imputation 
 may be caft on judges and juries, by mifreprefenting the 
 ■nature of the criminal's offence : Lord Southampton was 
 not found guilty of " joining in a wild projcdl:;" but of le- 
 vying war againft the Queen, which, in judgment of law, 
 amounted to high treafon. 
 
 Effex 
 
AkiJ HisCJoRHESPONDENCE.I /er //^^ BELIEVERS. iac 
 
 Eflex was^ condemned, and executed. Lord 
 Sb^thamptQn' micie a. defence, nfidffeft, but 
 feeble : anil Having calmly' afked the attorney 
 ' gepefarCoke/ vVhat "he 't!ib\ight7 'in "Kis con- 
 fcience, they dviigried to do'witH'the'^J^een ? 
 *! The ftrne^^''l(a4^''66ke;^"^ith'^ t^ 
 acutenersy *^thaf Henry of LancafteV'tiid^ with 
 *' Ric'hard'the.2a/*; Lord Southamp%dh was 
 alfo condenined ' ** by all the feveral voices of 
 *^ everyone of the peers," who fat on the 
 trial. Ef&x generoufly requeflred the peers 
 ^ to interpofe with, the. Queen, in favour of 
 ,_ Southampton ; who, he faid, was capable of 
 doing her good fervicd. Lord Southampton 
 himfelf begged' tne {)eers to intercede for bim 
 . in fb becoming- a manner, as excited the cdm- 
 ' paffion of all, who heard him (^). He', at 
 „ length, obtained 'a pardon, which faved his 
 life, and which he owed to the friendiliip of 
 Mr. Secretary Cecil ;■ between whom, and him, 
 \ there. had been a nearnefs, ^nd mtmacy, from 
 " 'their' (/J) youth i but, Southampton was con- 
 fined 
 (a) Canulen, in Kennetj , vol. ii. 636, 
 
 {b] Camden, in Kennet, vol. ii.635.-^Winwoocl'sMem. 
 
 vol. i. 307 — 19.— On this point, however, Mr. Malon'e rea- 
 
 T Ions, in Jiis ufual manner, that becaufe there 'Was' enmity, 
 
 'between Efl^x and Cecil, there was hatred between Cecil 
 
 and Southampton; and, in a moment, propitious to illibe- 
 
 L 
 
i/^6 ^7? APOLOGY [Lord Southampton ;, 
 
 fined in the tower, from prudential confiae- 
 rations, during the reign of the Queen ; hap- 
 pily, for himfelf, I think, and fortunately, 
 for his family : For, he was a man of in- 
 difcretion, through his whole life. 
 
 It is a fadl, which will ever be memorable, 
 in dramatic hiftory, " that the afternoon be- 
 " fore the rebellion, Merrick, with a great 
 ** company of others, who were afterwards 
 ** in the adlion, procured to be played before 
 " them, the play of depofing Richard 2d : 
 ** When it was told Merrick, (rj by one 
 " of the players, that the play was old, and 
 " they fliould have lofs in playing it, becaufe 
 " few would come to it, there were forty 
 *^ fhillings extraordinary given to play it ; and 
 ** fo, thereupon, played it was (^). The in- 
 gratitude 
 
 rality of fentiment, he fubjoins, " that Salilbury's [Cecil's] 
 *' mind feems to have been as crooked as his body.^* [Shakf. 
 vol. X. p. 6.] And, (qq ReiiquiaWotion^ ibo: and Birch's 
 Mem. vol. ii. p. 462. 
 
 (f ) Sir Gilly Merrick ; who, being charged as the chief 
 eonimander, that undertook the defence of EfTex-houfe, was 
 found guilty of treafon, and executed. 
 
 {d) See A Declaration of the PraSiices and TreafonSy at' 
 tempted and committed by Robert late Earl of Ejfex^ and his 
 Complices :^*Fnnted by Barker, 160 1. This declaration 
 was plainly penned by Bacon, and publifhed by authority. 
 
 It 
 
AkD HIS Correspondence.] yir/^f' BELIEVERS. 147 
 
 gratitude of Eitex did not fink "deeper ihto 
 the heart of Elizabeth, than the a(fHr1g of this 
 play, as the watch- word of the rebels. Ker 
 fears transformed her into Richard 2d ; and 
 made her fancy hdrfelf dready a captive pfiti- 
 cefs^ tvhb was btily one ftep "more from the 
 ygria.ve'(£'). Her wounded pride induced her 
 
 to 
 
 it contains a copy of " The Examination or 'the Earl of 
 • ^ " Southampton after his Arraignment." There is a doubt 
 
 <. among the commentators, whether the jslay, a£^ed on that 
 occafion, were Richard 2d, or Henry 4th. [ Mai. Shak, 
 vol. V. p. 3.] But, this declaration, with the conference be- 
 tween Elizabeth and Lambarde, {how clearly, that there 
 was no fufficient ground in The State Trials for that doubt. 
 (e) The Englifli world owe much to Mr. Nichols for 
 publiftiing in his Progrejps, vol. ii. p. i, The conference be- 
 tween Queen Elizabeth, and William Lambarde, on the 4th 
 
 ir .of Auguil 1 60 1. She never a<Si:ed better, though fhe had 
 received a mortal wound. It is remarkable, that Queen 
 Elizabeth, and Dr. Johnfon, fell upon the fame mode of 
 delicate commendation : v/hen Johnfon woiild. Indirectly, 
 compliment Beattie*s verfes on the birth of the prefentEarl 
 of Errol, he read them aloud with fuch grace, and dignity, 
 as to charm the hearers: When Elizabeth would compli- 
 ment Lambarde, fhe read his Pandemia Rotulorum^ ''with 
 " an audible voice, fo readily, and diftin£tly, that it clearly 
 " appeared flic well undcrftood them." Her Majefty, at 
 length, fell upon the reign of Richard 2d ; faying : " I am 
 " Richard 2d, know ye not that ?'* Lambarde anfwered : 
 '* Such a wicked imagniation was attempted by a moft un- 
 " kind gentleman, the moft adorned creature, that ever 
 '* your Majefty made.^ The Queen replied : " He that 
 
 L 2 " will 
 
 \ 
 
j^9 -^« APOLOGY [Lord South AMtToK; 
 
 to fee her own degradation by him, who had 
 been raifed by her favour, and enriched by 
 her bounty : And, (he allowed fuch un- 
 worthy thoughts to prey upon her fpirits. 
 Diftruft conftantly whifpered, in her ears, 
 what fhe feems to have believed, that hardly 
 an honeft man was any where to be found. 
 Jealoufy, and fear, taking alternate pofleffiort 
 
 " will forget God, will alfo forget his benefactors; this 
 " tragedy was played forty times in open ftreets an J houfes." 
 After fome indifferent difcourfe, fhe afked Lambarde : ^' If 
 « he had everfeen a lively reprefentation of Richard 2d:'* 
 — He anfwering, '^ None, but what be in common hands,'* 
 fhe faid, " She wotdd command Knevet, the keeper of her 
 *«. boufe at Weftminfter, to fhew him a pi6lure of Richard 
 , •*,-2d, which Lord Lumley had found on the back fide of a 
 " door, in a bafe room." Returning to the Rolls of ancient 
 times, (he faid : " In thofe days force and arms did prevail, 
 *' but now the wit of the fox is every. where on foot; to as- 
 " hardly a faithfull, or virtuous man may be found." In 
 this interefling conference, we may fee how the tragedy of 
 Richard 2d hung upon her fplrit^y and how much the 
 " Unfaithfulnefs of EfTex, and the a£ling of Richard 2«," 
 contributed to bring that great Queen, with forrow, to 
 the grave. This dedu^lion is much Cpnfirmed by a letter, 
 dated, in 1601" ; from Sir Robert Sydney to Sir John Har- 
 rington : *' I do fee the Queent often ; fhe doth wax weak^ 
 " fmce /^f late .troubles 'y and Burleigh's death doth often 
 " draw tears down her goodly cheeks : She vi'alketh out but 
 " little, meditates much alone, and fometimes writes in 
 " private to her beft friends." [See this letter, which is very 
 curious, in the Nuga JnttqucFy vol. li^ P» 2 5 3. ] 
 
 4. of 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] for the BELIEVERS. 149 
 
 of her mind, made her apprehend, that (he, 
 who was fupported by the wifeft, and braveft, 
 men in England, was neglected by her own '*> 
 miniflers. Thus torn, by contradidory paf- 
 fio;isV (he was at length deferted by hope, the 
 laft refuge of the wretched ; and ihe died, on 
 the 24th of March 1603; refuling fuflenance; 
 and rejecting confolation. 
 
 At the acceffion of James ift to the throne 
 of England, the rifing fortune of Lord South- 
 ampton condudled him from his prifon to the 
 palace (y) . He was releafed from the tower, 
 on the loth of April, 1603; and he was imme- 
 diately reftored to his lands, and other rights, 
 which had been forfeited, by his attainder. 
 He was made mafler of the game to the 
 Queen. A penfion, of fix hundred pounds 
 a year, was fettled on his wife. He was in- 
 ftalled a knight of the garter, on the 2d of 
 July 1603; made captain of the ifle of Wight; 
 and, by a new patent, dated the 21ft of J'dy, 
 he was again created, by his former titles. 
 He was appointed, in the beginning of the 
 
 (f) On the Queen's demife, '' Lord Southampton was 
 '* much vifitedj and much well-wiflied.'* He was courted 
 by Bacon. [Bacon's Remains, 61.] Raleigh addrefled, in 
 Auguft 1603, a letter of juftification to the Earls of Souths 
 amptcriy Suffolk, and Devonfliire, and to Lord CeciL [Ra- 
 leigh's Works by Birch, vol. ii. p. 37 9. J 
 
 L 3 fubfequent 
 
159 ^« APOLOGY [Lord Southam?tom i 
 
 fabfequcnt year, lord lieutenant of Hamp-. 
 fliire, together with the Earl of Devonfhire. 
 When the parlian^tnt met on the 19th of 
 March 160I, Lord Southampton produced 
 his writ of fumnions. The firft bill, which 
 was read, after the recognition of the King, 
 was for reftitution of Henry, Earl of Souths 
 ampton ; and immediately was palled, a bill 
 for reftitution of the children of the Earl of 
 Eflex (^). ICing Jaixies, recollecting the in- 
 trigues of Eflcx, and the confpiracy of Gowry, 
 aded, on his acceffion, as if he had thought, 
 that rebellion againft Elizabeth was a rifing 
 for him. 
 
 Amidft other felicities of that happy period 
 of his life. Lord Southampton's wife brought 
 
 (g) See Lords Journal, vol. ii p. 264-66 : On the 26th 
 of March 1604, the Lord Chamberlain fignified to the houfe 
 of Peers '' that the Ear!$ of Southampton and Pembrolfp 
 '^ were to be excufed for their ubfence from parliament for 
 « fome time; for that they were commanded to wait upon 
 " the King in his journey to Royfton." [lb.] Yet, it is 
 faid, that he was arretted in June 1604, for a Juppcjed con- 
 fiiracy^ [Birch's Mem. vol. ii. 494.] By the machinations 
 of Efl'ex's great adyerfary, the Lord Salifbury, it is fuppof^d, 
 fays Mr. Malon^, King James was perfuaded to believe, 
 that too great an intimacy fubfifted between Lord South- 
 ampton, and hisQiiecn. [Shakf. vol.x. p. 6 — 9. j Sec Birch's 
 M..m. vol. ii. p. 495. ' Lord Southampton, hov/ever, was 
 prefent at the prorogation of parliament, on the 7th of July 
 1604.— [Loris Journal, vpl. ii. of that date.] 
 
AND HIS Cor RESPONDENCB.] ^A-/^^ BELIEVERS. 151 
 
 him a fon, on the 4th of March 1605 5 who 
 was chriftened, at court, on the 27th ; " the 
 '* King, and Lord Cranburn, with the Coun- 
 « tefsof Suffolk, being goffips (;&)." This tide 
 of favour continuing to flow. Lord South-^ 
 ampton was appointed for hfe, in June 1606, 
 warden of the New foreft, and keeper of the 
 park of Lindhurft. In February 1607, he 
 obtained an additional grant of lands in the 
 New foreft. In the fubfequent November, 
 he loft his mother ; who, after the deceafe of 
 Sir Thomas Heneagc, married Sir William 
 Harvey ; and who " lefte the beft of her . 
 ^^ ftuffe to her fonne, and the greateft part to 
 " her hufhand(/)/' He now tried to promote 
 his own intereft, and to benefit the ftate, by 
 engaging in colonization, notwjthftanding the 
 fatire of (y ) Hall, the farcafm o{{k) Shakfpeare, 
 
 (b) Winwood's Mem« vol. iiii p. 54 : This tranfa6lion 
 ought to convince the incredulous, that Lord Cranburn 
 [Cecil] was the conflant friend of Lord Southampton, 
 (i) Lodge's IJluft. vol. iii. p» 331* 
 (7) In his Virgickmiarumy printed in 1599 ; 
 *♦ Ventrous Fortunio his farme hath fold, 
 " And gads to Gufane land to fifh for gold.'* 
 
 (k) In the Merry Wives of TVindfgr .•—Falftaff' fays of 
 Ford's wife : '' She bears the purfe too ; (he is a region in 
 " Guiana ; all gold, and bounty :" — Of Mrs. Ford, and 
 Mrs. Page, he fays : " They (hall be my Eaft, and Weft, 
 ♦' Indies \ and I will trade to them both.'' 
 
 L 4 and 
 
^ oD 4Iii f!HA 
 152 y<« APOLOGY ^[LOR-D SOUTHAMBTOKJ 
 
 and the united ridicule ;Qf, Chapman, Jonfon, 
 and Marfton (/). . He became, in i6.09> a 
 leading ehar'adter ia .the Ji,rft Virginia com- 
 pany : lie took.an a<fl:ive pai:t,_ ; in -the projeft 
 o^ fendiiag. (hips, to,' ^}^p ]4nA?Wan c^aft, for 
 tlie ' pu rpcfes X>1 . r dif^p vej^y,^ . . ^rid .j of. .. traffic , 
 Dunngcihe years /62Qhi6?ri,,,^nd i'6^^:^, hp 
 waSjckc^fen, in opporittio^fj^; the court, the 
 trealurer of that corpp^atpi), ^a place of en- 
 vied truftf;;^. , . .,0.,' . 
 
 Meantime, Lord Sgutharnpiton engaged in 
 the'hrabie^ of .the;, town, which evince, by 
 
 »^[l\^l^^E,aJlwar(l.}ioey 1605 :-^Scapeth rift aiks, " If 
 « ^Virginiar be a.pleaiant countrie?" S-eagull anfwers: " As 
 *' -ever the furind fhin'd on : Wild bore is as common there, 
 *^ as o'ir 4amoft' b^con is: here ; venifon, as (mutton j and 
 <Vyou (hiilllive freely there, without fergeants, or courtiers, 
 " or lawyers, or intelligencers : You may be an aldi^rman 
 'i. there, without;^. bein^ a fca,y^epger.; you may be any other 
 *fi -officer jhere, and never be a Have : To riches and fortune 
 " enough, ygunrv^y (:ome, and never hay e the rnore viU 
 " lainye, nor the lefs witte : . Befides, there, we. fliJ^U have 
 " no more law, than coiifcience ; andiiot too much of 
 '' either.'- It Is curious to obferye, that Virginia had not 
 been planted, in 1^05. It was flrft colon ized^ in 1607. 
 [See Stith's. Ilillory of Virginia, prmted at Williamfburg, 
 in that country, J 747.] - • 
 
 .') (m)^? 3^3 tvJ Several places were riacnecf in Virginja ^ftcr 
 .Lord Southampton : ^s, Southampton-hyridrecl : Hampton- 
 roads, 
 
 ' ^" their 
 
AND HlsCbRRESPONDENCE.]/^r /;&f BELIEVERS. i^^lt 
 
 their freqaency, during " the gentle fleeping-^ 
 *' peace " of James's reign, the turbulence of '• 
 the age. In April t6io, he had a quarrel' 
 with the Earl of Montgomery : " They fell 
 *^ out at tennis, where the rackets flew abou^Q 
 " their ears, but the matter was compounded^ 
 ^* by the King, without further bloodihed (;^)ii 
 He was foon after diftmguiflied, in a more ' 
 honourable manner. When Henry was created 
 Prince of Wales, on the 4th of June 16 10, 
 Lord Southampton afled as his carver, at the 
 fplendid (^) entertainment, which was given 
 on. that feftive day. In July 161 3, expeding* 
 a vifit at his houfe, in the New foreft, from 
 the King, in his progrefs. Lord Southampton- 
 returned from, the continent, with unwelcome 
 hafte (/). He now received dedications from 
 the learned ^ and, in return, gave protection 
 to learning (^). In 16 17, he accompanied 
 
 («) Winwood's Mem. vol. iii. p. 154. : 
 
 {0) lb. 180. (/>) lb. 461—75. 
 
 (q) In 16 1 4, Richard B rath way t, dedicated The Scholars 
 fldedley '* to Lord Southampton, learning's beft favourite.'* 
 In 1617, Lord Southampton contributed, with other muni- 
 ficent patrons of learning, and vt^orth, to relieve the diftrefs 
 of Minjheu^ the elaborate author of The Guide to Tongues^ 
 See a very curious advertifement to the firji edition of that 
 learned, and ufeful, work. 
 
 King 
 
154 -<^« APOLOGY [Lord Southampton; 
 
 King James, into Scotland (r). His attentions 
 on that journey paved the way to an honour, 
 which he had long folicited, without fuccefs ; 
 being fworn a privy- counfellor, on the 19th 
 of April 1 6 19. But, as he never was re- 
 markable for prudence, he feems to have de- 
 rived no benefit from the ftation, to which he 
 had looked up as the confummation of his 
 wilhes. As the court did not adl with him ; 
 fo he a6ted againft the court : He oppofed, 
 both in the Virginia company, and in parlia- 
 ment, the defircs of the King, and the mea- 
 fures of the minifter. He made a fuccefsful 
 motion againfl illegal patents, in the parlia- 
 ipent, which met the beginning of the year 
 J621 (j"). Jt was at the fitting of the I4.th 
 pf March, that he had an altercation with the 
 Marquis of Buckingham, which was moderated 
 by |:he Prince pf Wales. Yet, on account of 
 fufpicions, which were entertained of his in* 
 trigues, on that occafion, with members of the 
 Houfe of Commons, he was committed, on 
 the i6tb of June, twelve days after the ad- 
 journment pf pariian>ent, to the keeping of 
 
 (r) Lord Southampton returned from Scotland, or> the 
 28th of June 1618. [Bacon's Letters, p. 126. J 
 
 (j) Lord's Journal, yol. iii. p. 10 — 46 --62. 
 
 the 
 
AUD HisCoRRESPONDiircE.] /J'r /i^^ BELIEVERS. 155 
 
 the Dean of Weftminfter, under the charge 
 of Sir William Parkhurft (0- On the i8th 
 of July, he was fo far enlarged, as to be 
 confined to his houfe, at Titchfield : And, on 
 the I ft of September he was fet, altogether, 
 at liberty iu). 
 
 This confinement did not reprefs Lord 
 Southampton's activity, and ufefulnefs, in the 
 new parliament, which aflembled on the 9th 
 of February 162I. He was on the committee, 
 for confidering of the defence of Ireland ; he 
 was on the committee, for the flopping of the 
 export of money ; he was on the committee, 
 for the making of arms, more ferviceable : 
 And he was prefent at the prorogation, on 
 the 29th of May 1624 {y). The animofity of 
 the nation againft Spain, and the violence of 
 the parliament, which was excited by that 
 refentment, obliged King James to depart 
 from his pacific fyftem, although contrary to 
 
 (/) Camden, in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 656-7 : And fee Lord 
 Southampton's examination in the appendix to Tyrwhit's 
 Proceedings of the Houfe of Commons^ 1 620, printed at Ox- 
 ford, 1766. 
 
 {«) Council-regifters of thofe dates. And fee theCahala, 
 for his correfpondence with the Lord Keeper Williams, on 
 that occafion, p. 331-2 of the edit. 1 691. 
 
 {v) Lords Journals, vol. iii. p. 237— 258 —293, 
 
 his 
 
hi$.vvarmeft remonftrance?^^. : In this manner^ .^ 
 was James induced to ea|ter.into a trcaty^^ on ^ 
 the 5th of June 1624, with the , States ,Ge- _^ 
 neral ; for continuing the . defenfive alliance^ 
 between (•i£^)th!emi and for allowing tbea^ to.^ 
 raife four regiments in England, whigh. were . 
 tc^ confiftj.of fix thoufand fiien^ Lor^ 'South- 
 ampton obtained the command of one^of tliofe 
 regimenis^^.?ir)^.^, jIn this inglorious fervice of a , 
 foreign powery hq loft his eldeft fon, and his 
 own .life : He died at Bergen-op-zoom, on 
 the loth of November; a^d^was burie^ at 
 Titchiield, with^hislba, on. the zSth of De- , 
 cember i624. He left three daughters, who^, 
 iTiarried^ into honourable families ; and a 
 ^idowjj who long furvived him{y)r The, 
 
 faes,^ 
 
 («;) The treaty is publiflied in a General ColhSiion^ 
 printed in 17 13, p. 226. From this treaty, it appears, thatt 
 the four regiments were each to contain twelve companies^} 
 who were to be commanded by one colonel ; the whole were 
 to be under commilHons from The States General, 
 
 [x) Mr. Malone fays he was appointed johitly with the 
 Earl of E flex, Lords Oxford, and Willoughby, to the com- 
 mand of fix thoufand men, who were fent to the Low Coun* 
 tries. [Shakf. vol. x. p. 6.] Thefaft is, as I have dated it, 
 rfiat Lord Southampton was merely colonel of a regimenj: 
 hi the Dutch fervice ; as the treaty tlearly proves. 
 
 (v) There is in the Cabala, p. 299, a letter from the 
 LokJ Keeper Willi am?t da^ed the ytii Nov'. 1624, to the 
 ::ii Duke 
 
Wfts/ that mvei in ^ this rtiartner, been fairly 
 ""jiatedi' are thebcft illuftrations of his genuine 
 phar^9:er / and* are the ftron^eft proofs of his 
 literary coiiheftibn with Shakfpeare. 
 • Yet/ the ^pj^blicaccufer declares, that the 
 epiftles between Southampton, and Shakfpeare, 
 .;," if poffible furpafs in abfurdity any thing we 
 :'^\ have yet examined {z).'' In order to prove 
 "this abfurdity, he produces,"as his firft argu- 
 ment, an exifting archetype of thefe epiftles, 
 which might be ** commbdioufly wrought 
 ** upon (^)." As his fecond. argument, he 
 ftates, an exifting tradition, which was firft 
 mentioned by Mr. Rowe, and had been tranf- 
 mitted to him *by Sir William D'Avenant, 
 that Lord Soiitliampton had' given Shakfpeare 
 a thoufand pounds. And, he'fubjoins, as' his 
 third argument, that this ftory, lru6, of falfe, 
 V'as a good fubjedt for a cbrfefporidence, be- 
 tween the patron and the poet. • Now, thefe 
 are the very arguments, which would have 
 induced Watts, Locke, and Wilfon, who, in 
 their feveral ages, had taught right reafon to 
 
 ^ Duke o^ Buckingham ; begging « his grac6 and goodnefs 
 " towards the moft dirtrefied widow arid children of my 
 " Lord Southampton." 
 
 (js) I;iquiry, 1 64. - (<J) lb. 166. 
 
 X- " , lytell 
 
I^t ^« APOLOGY [Lord Southampton; 
 
 lytell wktesy to be of opinion, that the faid 
 correfpOndence, between the patron and the 
 poet, was, probably, genuine. Our inquirer's 
 fourth argument is an aflertion, that " the 
 " hand-writing of the firft letter has not the 
 '' ilighteft refemblance to that of [b) Shak- 
 " fpeare ;'* as if the hand-writing of Shale- 
 fpeare had been ever afcertained. His fifth 
 argument is an affirmation, without proof, 
 <' that the fpelling is the fpelling of no time;*' 
 as if there had been, in thofe times, 2s\y fettled 
 rule for fpelling. And, he infifts, as a fixth 
 argument, that Shakfpeare has here departed 
 from the duplication of the r in for ; as if the 
 public accufer had not before objefted to the 
 duplication of the r mforre^ as unprecedented 
 in the Englifh fpeech. 
 
 But, he will, now, produce an objeftfon, 
 which muft carry convid:ion with it to eVery 
 mind. By way of compenfation for the illo- 
 gical weaknefs of his former arguments, he 
 ** gives us bllojfomes and bllooms^ a combination 
 " of confonants of which no example can be 
 *' produced in the Englifh language, from 
 ** the time of Robert of Glofter to this 
 " day." If the objedion be levelled againft the 
 
 (h) Inquiry, p. 171. 
 
 duplication 
 
AND HIS CoRkispOKDENCE.] y2/r /^^ BELIEVERS. 159 
 
 duplication of the /, as unexampled, a more 
 diligent inquiry will probably find, that his 
 afTunjption is unfupported by the fad:. Not 
 one of the letters in our alphabet has been 
 more duplicated, by our Britifh aiiceftors, 
 than 1 {c). From them we have, to this day, 
 LlandafF, Llewellin, and Lloyd. This dupli- 
 cation of the Britons was converted, by our 
 Saxon progenitors, into an afpirate : as blafy 
 for loaf; hlafmaejfe^ for lammas (^). And the 
 pradice was ftill more foftened, by our an- 
 ceftors, during the civil contefts of York, and 
 Lancafler j as may be feen in fymfjll for {e) 
 Jimple ; Mychelbnejfe for Michaelmas ; in alU 
 meffe, for (f) alms ; chapellayn^ for [g) chap'- 
 lain ; and in allmyghty God (/6): ^* Yff they 
 " wolle not dredde ne obbey that," fays Sir 
 John (/) Faftolfe, with great piety, but with 
 great duplication of confonants. There was 
 
 (c) See Davis Di6tionary under the letter LI : And fee 
 Salefbury's Britilh Grammar, 1567, Sig\ D. 1 : " Of tho 
 " ftraunge found of double / / ; — The Englyfh email's 
 " toungue, when he would found //, flydeth to ///* 
 
 (i) See Manning's Lye, L. 
 
 {e) Fenn's Letters, vol. i. p. 282. 
 
 (f) lb. vol. ii. 84. {g) lb. vol, ii. 88. 
 
 {h) lb. vol.ii. 34. [i) lb, 52. 
 
 a fafliion 
 
'<^i6o vf/r APOLOGY [Lord Southampton • 
 
 ^ a fafliion in fpelling, among particular per- 
 ^•(bns, as in objedts of greater confequence. 
 The worthy wyffe of the worjchopffull John 
 Pafton had a paflion for the duplication of g j 
 '■ as Hafiynggs, for Haftings ; tynggys, for 
 'Vthings ; as tydynggs, for tidings j as, the 
 " Kynggs howyn ha?jd. In 1455, the great 
 * Earl of Warwick affofled to duplicate, both 
 the g, and the n ; He dated his letter from 
 " Wythinne owr loggyng in y" G/y Freys 
 *^ wythinne Newgate i^k). During the reigns 
 of Henry 8, and his three children, the ftate- 
 papers, publiflied by Lodge, illuflrate this 
 point of the orthography, as well as throw 
 * abundant light upon the hiftory of Eng- 
 land. Mr. Malone fails, then, in his af- 
 fumption, that fuch a duplication of confo- 
 nants is unexampled, in the Englifl^ lan- 
 guage, from the days of Edward ift to the 
 prefent (/). 
 
 But, Shakfpeare was too good a naturalift^ 
 the public accufer repeats, not to know, that 
 
 {k) lb. vol. i. 86. 
 
 (/ ) He feems to forget " The goodly Hyftory of the 
 *' true, and conftant Love betvVeen RhomQO and Ju- 
 «« lietta,*' in Paiftter's Pahue of Pleafurcy vol. ii. p. 179; 
 wherein he might have feen the unprecedented duplication 
 of ^^omeo. v^ • v/ . . 
 
 a bud 
 
I^kb HIS Correspondence.] far the BELIEVERS. liSi 
 
 a bud Jirji bho7nSy and then {m) blojfoms ; and 
 too good a drayman, it feems> to put the cart 
 before the horfe. I fufpedt, however, that 
 while Shakfpeare's heart was overflowing with 
 gratitude, his eye was fixed on a paffage of 
 Gafcoignej in praife oi Concord {n) : 
 
 " When tradl of timereturnes the luftie ver^ 
 " By thee alone the buds and blojfoines fpring : 
 " The fields with flowers begarniftied everywhere', 
 " The blooming trees aboundant leaves do bring." 
 In the fame ftrain of affumption, the public 
 accufer goes on to fuppofe, that Shakfpeare 
 was carelefs ; that our carelefs poet never kept a 
 copy of any letter he wrote ; and, that the 
 epithet Grace was never applied to peers, who 
 
 \ni) See Johnfon in Vo. Bloom^ a bloffom'y to bloom', to 
 bring blojjoms : See Aih, in Vo. Bloom, a bloflbm; to 
 hloom toblofTom : And fee Florio's World of Words ^ 1598, in 
 Vo. Pulluli^ buds, bloflbmes^ or young fprigges j PuUtilare 
 to bud, bloflbme, to fpring. Shakfpeare was too good a 
 philologift not to know, that blooms^ and b/ojpmsy are fyno- 
 himas ; and like other writers, who are labouring more with 
 the thought, than the language, tried to add fomething to 
 the force of the fentiment, by the repetition of fynonimas, 
 how contrary foever this may be to later pradtice. Shak- 
 fpeare may have learned, as he learned other matters, from 
 Painter's Palace of Pleafurcy 1567, by means of the tale of 
 *' The Emprefle Fauftina, and the Countefs of Celant, what 
 " blojfofns blome of whoriih life, and what fruidtes thereof be 
 " culled." [See the preface to the fecond volume.] 
 
 {«) England's Parnaflus, 1600, p. 33. 
 
 M were 
 
iSl Jn AfOLOCSt [Lord Southampton; 
 
 were inferior to dukes : For, he adds, the 
 phrafe,-^-/6/j Grace of Norfolk, or his Grace of 
 Bucks, is much pofterior to the jQxteenth cen- 
 tury [o). But, to affert is always more eafy 
 than to inquire. I join iflue with the -public 
 accufer^ upon the point : and, I undertake, on 
 the contrary, to prov6, that the epithet Grace 
 was applied to the lower orders of nobility^ 
 during the fifteenth century. A love fick 
 lady, writing to a baron, bold, produced thefe 
 memorable verfes [p) : 
 
 " My Ryght good Lord, mod knyghtly, gentyll knyght, 
 
 '' Onto yo'r Grace-y in my moft humbyll wyfe 
 
 *' I me commend • — 
 
 *' Onto your Lordjhep to wryght wrought lycence." 
 
 Having thus proved my point, I might here 
 ciofe my proof: But, for the eftabli/hment of 
 truth, will I fhow, equally, that his fecond 
 pofition is as groundlefs, as his firjd. Drant 
 has fome [q] verfes, which he dedicated *' To 
 
 '* the 
 
 {q) Inquiry, 172-3. — Thephrafe too j " Jocky of Norfolk 
 •' be not too bold, for Dickon, thy mailer, is bought, and 
 *' fold;" is much poflerior, no doubt, to the age of Shak- 
 fpeare. 
 
 (/>) Fenn's Let. vol. iii. p. 304, in the time, either of 
 Henry 6th, or of Edward 4th. 
 
 {q) Tranflationof Horace, 1566: — 
 
 " O fame, where dydlle ihou then fojorne, 
 
 " Inviron*d in what place, 
 
 «* Waft 
 
liiibiiisGoiiRESPONDENCE.] for th BELIEVERS. 163 
 
 ** the Duke's grace's departynge:" The fadl Is, 
 that there was no fettled practice, for the ap- 
 plication of complimental epithets, to the 
 peers. When Shakfpeare dedicated his Venus 
 and Adonis to Lord Southampton, in 1593, he 
 concluded; " your honours^ in all duty:" when 
 he dedicated his Rape oi Lucrece^ to the fame 
 patron, in 1594, he~ concluded; "your lord- 
 Jldips in all duty/' The ftate papers, and the 
 ftage plays of that period fhov/, plainly, that 
 there was no fettled practice, in the ufual 
 mode of addrefs either to the (r) prince, or to 
 
 the 
 
 *' Waft thou ? that we in no wife kne\ve> 
 
 " The commyng of his grace.'* 
 «-This, I prefumc, was the Duke of Northumberland, who 
 proclaimed Qi,ieen Mary, at Cambridge, on the 20th of July; 
 and was beheaded on the 22d of Auguft, 1553. [Howe's 
 Chron. 612-14.] 
 
 (r) In Shakfpeare's Henry 6, part 2d, a(^ i, f. 2: 
 - Hume. J efu prefer ve your royal wfl/fy?y/ 
 Duch. What (ay * ilihoUf majefyf 1 am but^^zr^. 
 Hume. But, by the grace of God, and Hume's advice, 
 
 Your grace*s title Ihall be multiplyM. 
 'Duch. What fay 'ft thou, man? has thou as yet conferred 
 
 With Margery Jourdain, the cunning witch; 
 
 And Roger Bolingbroke, the conjuror? 
 
 And will they undertake to do me good ? 
 Hume. This, they have promifed : To (how your highne/s 
 
 A fpirit rais'd from depth of underground. 
 
 That fball make anfwer to fuch queftions. 
 
 As by your grace Ihall be propounded him,** 
 
 M 2 This 
 
t64 ^« APOLOGY [Lord South amptok ; 
 
 the peer. And, it is, therefore, inconclufive, 
 to found objedions upon a fuppofed uniformity, 
 which never, in fadl, exifted. 
 
 feut, the public accufer afferts with the fame 
 pofitivenefs, which is equally unfupported by 
 proofs, that the conclufion of Sbakfpeare's 
 epiftle is ^^ completely modern :'^ ^^ Tours de^ 
 ^' votedlye and with due refpedie,'* he af- 
 firms, is a conclufion completely modern (j). 
 On this poiition, I again join ifiue with him. 
 The fubjeft is curious, as a point of archaeo- 
 logy ; if it were not always of importance to 
 vindicate the truth. Fenn*s letters fhow, with 
 Sufficient diftindnefs, how familiarly the epif- 
 tolary correfpondence of the fifteenth century 
 was concluded. For example: In 1477, 
 
 This paflage is alone fufficient to prove, that there was then, 
 fto fettled form of ufing majejly^ grace^ and hlghnefs. And, 
 fee adt i. f. 3. Grace is an epithet, which Shakfpeare has 
 been ftudious to ufe in many forms. [See Ayfcough's Index, 
 in Vo. Grace."] In Phaer's dedication of his Firgil to Queen 
 Mary, in 1 558, he calls her indifcriminately "gracious 
 <' hlghnefs^ excellent prtncejje., foverain good ladie, redought- 
 " ed maiftrefTe, majefty, and grace.^* James Howel, writing 
 to Jane, the Marchionefs of Winchefter, in 1626, concluded ; 
 " Your grace's moft humble and ready fervitor." [Howel's 
 Letters, 116.] This quotation proves, that the epitliet,^r^rf', 
 had not, even in 1626, been appropriated by fcholars. 
 
 (0 Inquiry, 177. 
 
 ^* Your 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] ^r/^^ BELIEVERS. 165 
 
 '' Your fellow, — Haftyngs {t) :" '' Your^ 
 '' John Pallon {u) -/'—In 1465, " Per le vo- 
 « trey J. Payn ('u) :" In 1469, "Yours', 
 ** Margaret Pafton ('Z£;)." In 1460, " Your 
 ** friend. Scales (x). In 1460, " Your prieft, 
 " the abbot of Langley (;/)." In 1485, the 
 Duke of Norfolk, writing to John Pafton, 
 concluded his epiftle, " Your lover^ J. Nor- 
 " folk {x)y The fame familiarity of %Ie 
 continued through the fubfequent century; as 
 may be feen in Howard's Collections. Lady 
 Stanley, writing, in 1571, to Lord SufTex, 
 concluded, " Yours, Ifabel Stanley {a) '* The 
 Duke of Norfolk, writing to Mr. Secretary 
 Cecil, in 1567, concluded, " Your ever moft 
 ** beholden." Lord Windefor, writing in 1560, 
 to Lord Suflex, concluded, ** by your aflur- 
 " ed(^)." The Earl of Eflex, writing to 
 
 (t) Fenn's Let. vol. ii. p. 155. {u) lb. 133. 
 
 (v) lb. vol. i. 63. (iv) lb. 31. 
 
 {x) lb. vol. iii. 367. (j) lb. 401. 
 
 (z) lb. 335: — Cardinal Wolfey, after his fall, concluded 
 bis letter to Secretary Gardiner, in the following manner : 
 " Wryttyn at Afher with the tremyllyng hand and hevy hert 
 " of your afluryd lover and bedyfman, T. Car*^'. Ebor." 
 [Strype*s Mem. vol. i. apx. 91.] The cardinal concluded 
 another of his letters to Secretary Gardiner : " Toursy with 
 t' hert and prayer, T. Car^^^ Ebqr. mijerrimus" [lb. 90.} 
 
 {m) Howard's Col. 235. [b) lb, 221. 
 
 M 3 ' the 
 
i66 ^« APOLOGY [Lord Southampton; 
 
 the Lord Chamberlain, in 1577, concluded, 
 ** Your lordfliip's moil: bounden." Baldwin 
 finiflied his epiftle dedicatory of his Mirrour 
 for MagiJlrateSf in 1559, by faying, " Yours 
 *' moft humblie.*' In 1567, Painter con-, 
 eluded the dedication of his Palace of Pleafiire 
 to Sir George Floward, by fubfcribing him- 
 felf, **Your moft bounden." When the Doome 
 to "Judgement was dedicated to the Lord Chan- 
 cellor Bromley, in 1581, the author finifhed 
 his epiftle, by fubfcribing, " Yours at com-. 
 ** mandment, Stephen Batman, in divinity 
 ** profefTor." In January, 1589, Spenfer con- 
 cluded his prefatory epiftle of the Fairy 
 Queen to Raleigh, '^ Tours moft humbly af- 
 ** feftionate •/* He concluded his dedication 
 of Colin Clout to Raleigh : " Yours ever 
 " humbly Edmond Spenfer." The Penitent 
 Publican was dedicated, in 1610, to the 
 Countefte of Huntington, by the author, who 
 fubfcribed, " Your honors moft humblie de^ 
 <* voted ^ Thomas Collins." When Drayton 
 publilhed a corred:ed edition of his poems, in 
 1613, he addreffed them to his efteem.ed 
 friend, Majier James Huifh, by faying ; " In 
 " good faith, worthy of all love I think you, 
 ^* which I pray you let fapply the place of 
 ^^ further compliment \ yours ever, Michael 
 
 " Drayton,"' 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] /^r /i'^ BELIEVERS. i6» 
 
 " Drayton." The dedications of books, dur- 
 ing the preceding age, are, generally, con- 
 cluded, by fuch familiar expreffions, as " Tours 
 " moft hutublie;" " Yours moil humblie ^^^ 
 ** voted 'y' " Tours ever/' But, I will knit ui) 
 this looped iietworky* — 
 
 '' — or at the lead, fo prove it, 
 
 " That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop, 
 " To hang a doubt on," — 
 by quoting the modern conclufiion of Heylyn's 
 dedication to his " Little Defcription of th^ 
 Great Worldy' in 1624 ; " To the moft ex- 
 '* cellent Charles Prince of Wales ;*' fub- 
 fcribing himfelf, " Your HighnefTe moft 
 ^* humbly devoted ^ Peter Heylyn." 
 
 Yet, the public accufer pofitively infifts upon 
 his point ; and continues to call for examples 
 of fuch familiar phrafes, that were ufed by the 
 loiv to the high: yoursy ahd yours devotedly y 
 he fays explicitly, he has never found in the 
 conclufion of letters, during Shakfpeare'sagc [c). 
 By quoting fuch conclufions of epiftles, in 
 that, and the preceding, age, I have faved hini 
 
 {c) Inquiry, 179: The ihort anfwer is j "Seek:, and 
 ^*'ye fhall find :" Look into Fenn*s Letters, every where; irs, 
 Hov/ard's Coiledtions ; in the Cabala; in the Sydney Pa- 
 pers ; which are all books, he fomeiimes quotes ; — -and in 
 the epiftolary dedications of black letter pamphlets; of 
 Vi'hiqi^ he has many thoufands. 
 
 M4 ^ thQ 
 
i63 ^APOLOGY [Lord South amptok ; 
 
 the trouble of a fecond fearch, although i% 
 may mortify the conceit of fceptios, who fup- 
 pofe, that a thing does not exift ; becaufe they 
 cannot find it. 
 
 In this fpirit of fcepticifm, however, the 
 public accufer takes a view of Lord South-? 
 ampton's anfwer to Shakfpeare's epiftle {d). 
 Of this munificent patrqn, the paymajier of 
 Florio, he is ftudious to ftate, as his firft argu- 
 ment, that *^ all the poets and artifts of the 
 ** time looked up to him as their protec- 
 " tor(^)/' From this fadt, Croufaz would 
 have {/) concluded, that it is very probable, 
 fuch a Southampton would write fuch an epif-r 
 tie to jfuch a Shakfpeare, The public accufer 
 now pafl^es from t}ie prthography ; and comes 
 to the phrafeology ; although he ftill worfhips 
 uniformity y as the idol of his philology. The 
 Deare William of the addrefs, he thinks too 
 familiar, for, ** the immeafurable diftance at 
 ^* which Shakfpeare ftoo4 from Lord South- 
 " ampton (g)'' This diftance was not more 
 immeafurable, than the height between Queen 
 Elizabeth and her female attendants; and, 
 
 {d) Inquiry, 179. {e) lb. i8o. 
 
 if) See LaLogique* Amfler. 1720. 
 (^) Inquiry, 181, 
 
 I^ing 
 
AND HisGoRRESPONDBNCE.] /or /^^ BELIEVERS. 169 
 
 King James and his male fervants : Yet, to 
 Lady Drury Elizabeth wrote, " Bee well 
 ♦* ware my Bejfe -,'' to Lady Paget, "good 
 ^* Kate,'' to Lady Norris, ^* my own {h) 
 *^ crowe :"* King James began his letters to 
 the Lord Treafurer, Salifbury, " My little (/) 
 ** beagle," and to the Duke of Buckingham, 
 " My dear ftinie [k).'* But, it feems, peers 
 were, in thofe days, more ftarched, than their 
 fovereigns : And yet, we fee nothing of this 
 in Fenn-s Letters ; nor in Lodge's Illuftra- 
 tions. The endearing epithet Deare^ in the 
 commencement of an epiftle, is quite unex- 
 ampled, it feems ; yet, have we, in 1550, 
 ^* My derefl friend;" as the firft words of a 
 letter from Sir George Hayward to a lady (/j. 
 
 {h) Inquiry, ii 1-13-14: And, fee, in Strype's Annals, 
 vol. iii. p. 166, a letter from Elizabeth to Burghley 1583, 
 which begins " Sirfpirit^ I doubt I do nickname you : For 
 « thofe of your kind (they fay) havenofenfe. But, I have 
 ^' of late feen an ecce fignum^ that if an alTe kick you, you 
 " feel it fo fopn, &c." She concluded : *' God blefs you, 
 ** and long may you laft, omninoy E. R." — Burleigh had 
 his revenge of her; as may be feen in Peck. 
 
 (/) Syd. Pap. vol. ii. p. 325. 
 
 (k) See in Lord Hailes's Mem. Glafg. 1766, feveral let- 
 ters from Stinie to King James ; which he concludes ; 
 f Your majefty*s moft humble flave and dog.'* 
 
 ^/) Howard's Colledions, p. 521. 
 
 When 
 
lyo ^» APOLOGY [Lord Southampton j 
 
 When Elizabeth wifhed to difavow her odious 
 privity to the death of Mary, fhe began, hef 
 deceitful letter to the Scottifh king {m) : ** My 
 *^ dear brother ; I woulde you knew the ex-» 
 *^ treme dolor that overwhelmes my piinde 
 ** for that miferable accident.'* A more ca- 
 pital objection, though not more ftrongly fup-r 
 ported, ftill remains. " Dear Willam is the 
 '^ pronunciation of a vulgar illiterate female of 
 " the prefent day («)." Had the expreffion 
 been Wiffm^ or Wm^ it had been, without ob- 
 jection j; becaufe Shakfpeare himfelf has writ- 
 ten it in that contraded form. From fuch 
 an objedtion, and fuch reafonings, the public 
 accufer goes on to tell {p) usj^ how Lord 
 
 {m) lb. 246: She repeats^ '' You have not in the world, 
 <' a more lovlnge kinfwoman, nor a more deer frende^ then 
 " myfelf."- EfTex, writing to Elizabeth, begins : " moft 
 <* dear and mofl admired lady." [Birch's Mem. vol. ii. p. 
 443 ; and fee many more fuch dear expreflions in the fame 
 book, p. 418, 43O5 437.] Lady Leicefter, writing to her 
 fon, the Earl of EfTex, in 1598, concluded; ''your mother, 
 « dearliejl loving you." [lb. 388.] One of the letters of 
 the once faftiionable Euphues to his friend Livia, began ; 
 <' Deare Livia, I am ^s glad to hear of thy welfare, as ibr- 
 « rowfulto underftand thynewes." [Lyly's Euphues^ 15815 
 p. 86.] Hamlet, writing to Ophelia, begins : " O dear 
 " Ophelia i" and concludes: "Thine evermore moft ^^^r 
 ^ lady." 
 
 [n) Inquiry, 18?, [o) lb.;i8i. 
 
 9 SouthamptoQ 
 
AND HIS Correspondence.] /or /^^ BELIEVERS. 171 
 
 Southampton would have written ^ had he con-- 
 defcended to write to our poet. He can alfo 
 tell us, no doubt, wliat would be of great 
 importance to know, whether, when Lord 
 Southampton condefcended to box with Wil- 
 loughbye, he ftruck with his fift open, or fhut; 
 and, when he condefcended to brable at tennis 
 with Lord Montgomery, whether Lord South- 
 ampton fought with the racket, in his right 
 hand, or his left. The Records in the Tower 
 could not ftand before arguments of fuch 
 ^' pith and puijfance,' 
 
 But, the public accufer, is now to give the 
 laft blow to this celebrated correfpondence. 
 He thinks it very abfurd for Lord Southamp-^ 
 ton to call Shakfpeare his d.^2,xt^freynd^ even 
 had this been the /felling of the age : Here, 
 again, he fuppofes what he ought to prove ; 
 but, what did not exift, the uniformity cf fpel^ 
 ling (p). In the fame ftrain, he objects to 
 the conclufion^ " yours, Southampton." But, 
 I have already fhown, that yours was a very 
 common conclulion of letters before Lord 
 
 (p) Inquiry, 182. Had he looked, with more care, into 
 Spenfer's Three Proper Letters^ 1580, which he fometimes 
 cjuotes, he would have feen, in ^.^,frende\ in p. 31-33, 
 friend \ in p. 37, freendes -, and in p. 61, /r/VW^; Here, 
 then, TiiQ four varieties, which illuftrate thefpelling of the agey 
 and reiterate the proof of its want of uniformity. 
 
 Southampton 
 
172 JfxAVOhOGY [Lord Southampton; 
 
 Southampton was born, during the age, where- 
 in he lived, and after his deceafe : And, I 
 have alfo proved, that the mode of lignature 
 " with the Chriftian name (q) prefixed," was 
 neither hereditary in his family, nor the uni- 
 form praftice of Lord Southampton himfelf. 
 He fails, then, in his fuppofitions, and his 
 proofs : And, he fails, therefore, in his objec- 
 tion to the conclufion of the letter ; which is 
 not objedlionable, if pradtice forrn precedent. 
 
 He, at length, produces '* two (r) letters, 
 " written by Lord Southampton, the onfy let- 
 " ters oi his known to be extant ;'■ Had the 
 public accufer produced thefe letters fimply, 
 and proved their authenticity ; the inquiry, on 
 this head, would have been greatly fhortened : 
 But, he is conftantly contaminating truth, by 
 fome intermixture of fiftion; which, as it 
 cannot be admitted, becaufe it is untrue, at 
 once provokes remark, and calls for confuta- 
 tion. Why affert, that thefe are the only 
 letters of LordSouthampton, which are known 
 
 (^) Inquiry, 184. Lord Southampton did not prefix hiS; 
 Chrijlian name: he only prefixed the initial of it, according 
 to Mr. Malone's own fhowing ; though I have produced a 
 letter, which he did fign with his Chriftian namej befides^ 
 the diverfjty proves the want of uniformity^ 
 
 (r) laquiry, 185. 
 
».ND HIS Correspondence.] for the BELIEVERS. i;^ 
 
 to exift, although this aflertion is contrary to 
 the fad ; a fad, that I have already afcertain- 
 ed? Yet; I will not pufh him further on 
 the point ; as I am of opinion, that the never- 
 to-be - forgotten epiflles of Southampton, 
 and Shakfpeare, are fpurious ; a truth, of 
 which I was early convinced, not by the 
 proofs of the public accufer, but by the power 
 of attorney from Lord Southampton, before- 
 mentioned (x). 
 
 Such is the Apology, which \\\q believers 
 addrefs, with bland words, to this equitable 
 court. When the ftrength of the General 
 Argument fhall be compared with the feeble- 
 nefs of the fpecial objedions : when the vio- 
 knt prefumption, arifing from collateral cir- 
 cumftances, fhall be oppofed to the flight evi- 
 dence, which the comparifon of unknown 
 hand-writing affords : The believers will 
 humbly hope, that this court will allow the 
 public accufer to take nothing by his motion. 
 When he fhall have refleded on this ifTue of 
 his bad pleadingy he may then cry out : — 
 
 " Ha ! Do I dream ? Is this my hopM fuccefs ? 
 
 ** I grow a ftatue, ftiff, aiid tmUonlefs,^\ 
 
 (0 See before, page 135, 
 
 § IV. SHAK- 
 
174 ^^ APOLOGY/^r [Skakspeare's Letter, ani^ 
 
 . §IV. "' 
 
 SHAKSPEARE'S LETTER; 
 
 AND VERSES . . . 
 
 To ANNA HATH ERRE WAVE. 
 
 :. The public accufer, neverthelcfs, is re* 
 iblved not to remain long in his dream. The 
 confutation of his pleading, and the denial of 
 his motion, only urge the ad:ivity of his per- 
 feverance. And be now plays oft liis former 
 objedions, with his accu domed logic, on the 
 Ept/iky znd FerfaSy of the love-fick Shakfpeare* 
 That a youth of eighteen, who was born a 
 poet, and who at that age fell in love, and 
 married the objedl of his pafiion, fhould write 
 a love-letter^ and love-verfeSi to the goddefs 
 pf his idolatry, the public accufer thinks very 
 unnatural : and, being thus unlikely to hap- 
 pen, he infers, with the help of Venus, and 
 her {a) fon, that it is very improbable, fuch a 
 lover iliould fend fuch love-Jhafts fmartly from 
 bis how* Occupied as he is, with '* all the 
 " Loves and [h) Graces,*' whom Mr. Malone 
 invokes, the public accufer can never be-^ 
 lieve-— * 
 
 (tf) Inquiry, I42. {h) Inquiry, 142. 
 
 «' Thefc 
 
VitRSESTO AknaHatherrewaye.] /-^^ believers, if^ 
 
 ** Thefe antique fables, nor thefe fairy toys. 
 
 « Lovers, and mad:nen, have fuch feething brains, 
 
 *' Such fhaping fantafies, that apprehend 
 
 " More than cool reafon ever comprehends. 
 
 ** The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, 
 
 »" " Are of imagination all compa6l." 
 
 It is the logic of love, then, which ought 
 to decide the fadt as to '* thefe fairy toys " of 
 Shakfpeare; the letter, the verfes, and the 
 lock of hair. Yet, doth the public accufeif 
 think it worth our inquiry, ** how far the 
 " lady here meant was entitled to this addrefs^ 
 " or how probable it was that this letLef 
 " fhould ever reach her hands (<:)/' Shak- 
 fpeare, by marrying the lady, has decided 
 the point, in the affirmative : And, there- 
 fore, by every motive of love, by cveiy 
 principle of logic, by every rule of law, is 
 the public accufer ejiopped from inftituting 
 fuch an inquiry, which, indeed, cool reafon 
 can fear cely comprehend. But, he perfeveres ; 
 and affirms, with all the confidence of truth, 
 that " She had no title whatfoever to either 
 ** of thofe names : fhe was chriftened plain 
 " Anney and her name was not Hath err ew ay e^ 
 ** as fhe is here abfurdly called, but Hatha- 
 " way[d)\* Thus, applying the parifh re- 
 gifters, as a decifive rule, for judging of 
 
 (r) Inquiry, 144. (i) lb. 144. 
 
 '' the 
 
fjG An APOLOGY/or [SHAKSPEAfeE'sLETTERi ANii 
 
 ** the lunatic, the lover^ and the poet." The 
 faid parifh regifters do not, however, record 
 the baptifni, or marriage of Anna Hatherre- 
 waye, but the marriage of one Anne Hatha- 
 way, who, he himfelf allows, was a different 
 lady • and who was unluckily deftined to a 
 very different hufbaiid (^). 
 
 But, of fuch inquiries^ and fiich logics 
 there is no end ! If it be true, that Shak- 
 fpeare was born a poet ; that Shakfpeare's 
 genius was to itfelf a law ; is it not reafonable 
 §,\o infer, that fuch a poet, as Shakfpeare^ 
 ^ would, at the age of eighteen, read the writ- 
 ings of fuch a poet> as Spenfer [f) ? Who 
 would controvert this conclufion, but fcep- 
 tics ? Shakfpeare, then, mufl have ftudied 
 the Three Proper Letters of Spenfer, which 
 are inftruftive, for their criticifm, and digni- 
 fied, for their fenfe. And, herein, Shakfpeare'^ 
 doubtlcfs, faw Spenfer's verfes, ** To my good 
 ". Miflreffe Anne : the very lyfe of my lyfe, 
 ** and onely beloved myftrefle :-** 
 
 {e) lb. 146. 
 
 (/) The controverfy, with regard to the learning of 
 Shakfpeare, was decidedj by a fimilar argument j by fhow- 
 ing that, as there exifted tranflations of the claffics, which 
 Shakfpeare rnight read j fo he did probably tead them. 
 
 « Gentle 
 
Verses to Anna Hat HERRE^yAYE.]//6^ BELIEVERS. 177 
 
 " Gentle Mi{\:ief[c Jnne, I am plaine by nature : 
 *' I was never fo far re in loue with any creature. 
 " Happy were your feruant, ifhee coulde bee fo Anned 
 " And you not vnhappy, if you fhoulde be (o manned. 
 *' I love not to gloze. where I love iadeede, 
 " Nowe God, and good Saint Anne, fende me good 
 fpeede (^)." 
 
 Here, then, is the precedent for Shakfpeare's 
 epiille, and the archetype of his verfes. To 
 this theory, however, the public accufer has 
 an objedion at hand : If Shakfpeare did not 
 underftand Latin, he could not tranflate the 
 Englifh Anne, into the Latin Anna. But, is 
 it, in fadl, a tranflated, or an original, name ? 
 Mr.Waldron will inform (-^) us, indeed, " that 
 ** Anna is a Latin adoption of comparatively 
 ** modern ufe ;*' [HeireWyhe ihould have faid]. 
 And, Mr* Malone will aflure us that, " to 
 *' talk of Anna Hatherrewaye, in 1582, is 
 ** truly ridiculous (?)." He appeals to Lord 
 Charlemont upon the point. The firft rife, 
 he adds, of the prevailing paffion for fonorous 
 Chriftian names is well remembered. The 
 Lady Elizas, the Lady Matildas, and Lady 
 Louifas, have now gained a com pleat afcend- 
 ency ; and a Lady Betty, or a Lady Fanny is 
 hardly to be found (^).- His pofition is, that 
 
 i^g) Three Proper Letters, 1580, p. 43. 
 
 (/;) Free Refledions, 10. 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 145. {k) Id. 
 
 N till 
 
178 An AVOhOGY for [Shakspeare's Lbttsr ; and 
 
 till within time of memory, the women of this 
 country were not known by poetical names. 
 Upon this pofition, I join iffue with him. 
 I maintain, that the ladies of our illand were, 
 m former times, diftinguifhed, by names as 
 poetical yZS themfelves were elegant. Such as: 
 Gulielma, Milmetta, Philippa, Francifca, were 
 their ufual appellations (/). In the 5th of 
 Stephen, Lucia, the Countefs of Chefter, was 
 fined, in the Exchequer, that " She might do 
 ^* right among her tenants [m),'' Joia, the 
 widow of William, the fufor, or melter, in 
 the time of Henry 2, and Richard i, " prof- 
 *^ fered ten merks, to have livery of the lands, 
 ^ and chattels of her hufband ;*' but, fhe was 
 too poor to pay the fine («). Lady Juliana 
 Berners wrote the " Bcke of Hunting," at 
 
 (/) Camden's Remains, 86 : And, among the ufual 
 Chrijiian names of women, that great antiquary mentions 
 Anna-^ fignifying, gracious^ or merciful, lb. 77. 
 
 (772) Madox's Exeheqr. vol. i. p. 397. This book con- 
 tains many fuch names in thofe olden times : as, Mabilia, 
 Sibylla, Wiverona, Abreda, Aeliza, Emma, Maria, Matilda, 
 Roheifa, Helewifa, Gundreda, Conftantia, Alicia, Hawifa, 
 Cecilia, Ifolda ; and many others of fimilar found, who paid 
 fines, for either marrying, or refufmg to marry. And fee 
 Madox, vol. i. p. 463-4. 
 
 («) Madox, vol. ri. p. 309 : And, fee Dugdale^s Ba- 
 ronage, every where, for fuch names. 
 
 5 the 
 
Verses to Anna Hatherrewaye.] ^/&^ BELIEVERS. 179 
 
 the epoch of the invention of typogFaphy, 
 Lady Arabella Steward was baptized, iii 
 1578 (d?). Spenftr dedicated \\\^Daphnaidey 
 in 1 59 1, to Helena^ the Marchionefs of 
 Northampton. Thq Countefs of Northum- 
 berland, who was the celebrated Earl of Ef-? 
 fex's filler, was named , D/^/?^. I will now 
 clofe my proofs, with regard to the iffuejoined^ 
 on this fubjed:, by ftatii)g a fa6t, which will 
 convince the reader, that beyond time of me-^ 
 mory, very fonorous names were given to girls : 
 — " On the thirteeth of July 1616, v^as bap- 
 ** tized, at Wimbledon, the Lady Ge 011 gi- 
 " Anna, the daught,er of the Earl of Exeter; 
 " Queen Anne, and the Earl of Worcefter, 
 *' being witneffes (/>)/' The public accufer, 
 therefore, fails, egregiQufly, in proving his 
 pofition. 
 
 {0) Lodge's Illuftrations, vol. ili. p. 178 : Yet, fhe al- 
 ways figned her name, Arbella, to her letters ; as, indeed, 
 fhe engraved her name on the walls of her prifon, in the 
 tower. 
 
 (p) Lyfons's Environs, vol. i. p. 537 : And fee the mar*- 
 riage of Chriftopher Wraj^e, Efq. and Aibinia Cecil, in 
 1633. [Id.] Richard Burbadge, the celebrated comedian, 
 the fellow of Shakfpeare, named two of his daugnters Julia^ 
 not Juliet^ as Mr. Malone miftakingly 'alTerts. " John Florio, 
 thelexi'cographer, who was eleven years older t;han Shak- 
 fpeare, gave his only daughter the name oi Jurelia, 
 
 N 2 But, 
 
l8o Jn hVOhOGY for [Shakspeare's Letter; AND 
 
 But, he v/ill, doubtlefs, be more faccefsful, 
 in his next challenge : ** In plain profe the 
 ** moft diligent refearcher will, I am confi- 
 ^* dent, not difcover a fingle Anna in the 
 " fixteenth century ( j')/* I accept of his 
 challenge. I produce the Bible ^ printed by 
 Barker, in 1583 : " And there was a prophe* 
 *^ tefle one AnnUy the daughter of Pha- 
 *' nuel(r):'' Nor, is this a folitary inftance, 
 in holy wfit : " Now, Anna fate in the way 
 *' looking for her fon," [Tobias.] (j). But, 
 he will, no doubt, objedt to the Bible y as 
 too figurative, and poetical, for plain profe. 
 I will, therefore, offer a book of very plain 
 profe. Cooper s ThefauruSy 1573, which Shak- 
 fpeare may have feen : *^ Anna^ a name of 
 " Hebrue, which fignifieth gracious : Anna^ 
 " alfo the name of a GoddeiTe, the daughter 
 '* of Belus, and fifler of Didoy ^eene of Car^ 
 ** thage.*' Whatever the public accufer may 
 think of this book, I will clofe my proofs 
 with an authority, which, he, of all objedors, 
 
 will not difpute : 
 
 ** Thou art to me as fecret, and as dear, 
 
 " As Jnna to the Queen of Carthage was (/). 
 
 He, 
 
 (q) Inquiry, 145. 
 
 (r) Luke, ch.ii. v. 36. {s} Tobitj ch.xi. v. 5. 
 
 (/) Mai. Shakfpeare, 1790, vol. iii. p. 263, The Taming 
 of th Shrew* And fee the Contemplations of Bifhop Hall, 
 
 wha 
 
Verses to Anna Hatherrewaye.] the BELIEVERS. i8i 
 
 He, however, thinks it very abfurd in 
 Shakfpeare, to change the fpelHng of his 
 fvveetheart's name, from Hathaway to Ha- 
 therreivaye. But, is this more abfurd, than 
 for Lady Shrewfbury to alter the name of her 
 {u) hufband ; or, for Shakfpeare to vary the 
 fpelling of his own name, in the moft folemn 
 ad of his Hfe [v) ? The fad is, there was, 
 
 in 
 
 who was born in 1574, ten years after Shakfpeare : " But, 
 " Anna {hall find her hu{band*s afFedion in her portion.*' 
 [Profe Works, 998-9-1000.] A writer in the Gentle- 
 man's Mag. for May 1796, p. 364, has met with one foiitary 
 inftance of Jnna^ in the parifh-regifter of St. Botolph's, 
 Bifhopgate, an. 16 13, He would have met with a thoufand 
 inftances in the prerogative office. 
 
 (w) Lodge's Illuftrations, vol. ii. p. 168-9 • ^^^ ^^-' 
 drefled her letter ''' To my lorde my hufbande, the Erie of 
 " Shrowefbury:" She fubfcribed her letter: "Your faythe- 
 " full wyiFe, E. Shrowefbury." The Erie her hujbande 
 appears to have been uniform in writing his name Shrewf" 
 bury. 
 
 {v) The firfl: brief of Shakfpeare's v/ill is figned Shacks 
 fpere ; the laft, Shak^p^^r^ .- His deed is figned Shakfpeare. 
 in Fenn's Letters, vol.iv. p. ibb-'J^ may be feen Bore/per 
 for Boarfpeare, In the Vocabula Stanbrigij^ imprinted by 
 Abraham Wele, without the year, but probably, in the 
 reign of Hen. 8, may be found together " a fpere-Jiaffe ; 
 " a fpeare.'* In Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, 1607, 
 p. 206, he hsisfpeare. In Dugdale's Warwickfhire, p. 518 
 — 20 — 23, may be ken the monumental infcriptions of the 
 Shakfpeare family, which give three varieties: Shsk/perey 
 
 N 3 Sh^kejpear^y 
 
l82 -^« APOLOGY /c;r [Shakspeare's Letter ; and 
 
 in thofe times, no fixed attention to the uni- 
 form fpelling of names : Barnaby Rych, gen- 
 tleman, who had an office at court, in the 
 dedication of his Short Survey of Ireland to 
 the Earl of Saliihury, in 1609, calls him the 
 Earle of Sari/bury, Lord High Treafurer of 
 England. The author gives his own name, 
 Rychy in the title-page ; Riche, at the end of 
 the dedication : and, he calls himfelf Rich, 
 when he publifhed, in 1622, The IrijJd Hub- 
 bub. Like the Englifh Hue-and-cryy the 
 Iriih Hubbub was originally inftituted for the 
 wifeft pufpofes ; But, before honeft Barnaby 
 Rych, Riche, or Rich, publifhed his ufeful 
 truths, in 1622, the Hubbub had degenerated, 
 like modern Inquiries, into the raifing of loud 
 outcries, on flight pretences. 
 
 Butj the public accufer is determined neither 
 " to tire our patience, nor miflead our itni^^ 
 He merely hejitates dijlike to the fir ft two 
 words of Shakfpeare's epiftle ; to dearcj}, as a 
 
 Shakc/J>^(7rr, and ^h?i\fpeare. In Fuller's Worthies, p. 126, 
 there are two varieties : ^\\^^kefpeare ; and ^h^kQfpear : 
 And (cQ the fame book, ch. xvii. p. 51 : *' Of the often 
 ** altering of firnames, and the various writing thereof :" — 
 *' T'hus, I am informed," fays Fuller, *' that the honourable 
 « name of Fiiliers is v/ntt^n fourteen fev^'ol 'ivaySy in their 
 *' pivn evidences.'^ 
 
 word 
 
Versss to Anna HatherhswayeJ/^^BELIEVERS. 1S3 
 
 word (w) uncommon ; and to themfelves^ " fpelt 
 *^ as one word, inftead of two (a,*)." From 
 verbal criticifm, he comes, at length, to feri- 
 ous things : The public characfler of Queen 
 Elizabeth ^ the general loyalty of her length- 
 ened reign; and his own opinions of French 
 politics (j)/). I will not contend with him 
 
 (w) In confutation of this, I have already quoted How- 
 ard's Col. p. 521 : I will now add The Hiftory of Hawfted, 
 P- i53> for a letter, in 1595, from Rebecca Pake ; begin- 
 ning " D:are mother," And EfTex began his letter to 
 Queen Elizabeth, dated the 17th Auguft 1597, *^ Moft 
 « dear lady." [Birch's Mem. vol. ii. p. 358.] To all 
 t-hefe, 1 will fubjoin from The Enemy of Idlenefs^ 1 62 1, 
 " newly publifhed' and augmented," p. 232, what "A 
 " lover writeth unto his lady : To exprefle unto thee (my 
 *' deere) tlie inward griefes, the fecret forrowes, the pinching 
 " paines, that my poore opprefled heart pittifully indureth, 
 *' my pen is altogether unable." It is to be remarked, that 
 this " Enemy of Idlenefle," was fet forth with the laudable 
 defign of " teaching a perfect platforme how to indite epiftles 
 " of all fortes," This, then, is decifive upon the point; 
 being doubtle/s the very precedent from which Shak/peare 
 copied his love epiftle to Anna Hathei rewaye. 
 
 {x) In reprobation of this, I have formerly quoted Henry 
 7th's inftru6lions to his agents, and their anfwers. See be- 
 fore, p. 102, I will here only add, that there is in the paper- 
 office, Scots Correfpond, N"9, fol. 573, a letter from Lord 
 Hunfdon, dated the i5thof Auguft, 1569, to Lord Burghley, 
 in which, himfelfe is written, as one word', themfelves is 
 written, as one word\ and myfelf\s written, as one word. 
 
 {y) Inquiry, 148 tp 154. 
 
 N 4 about 
 
sS4 Jn AfOhOGY for [Shakspeare's Letter; and 
 
 about what is inapplicable to the fub- 
 
 jeca. 
 
 But, if the public accufer, to get at the 
 boyiih pertnefs of a riling poet^ on the fcore 
 of loyalty y and liberty, niean to fay, of inli- 
 nuate, that there was no free fpeaking, no 
 
 Jree writing, and no free atfting, in that reign, 
 I will again join iffae with him. Need I 
 quote the black-letter fermons of the puri- 
 tans, which fvvarmed from the prefs, during 
 that age (2;). Elizabeth had hardly been 
 feated on her throne, when flie was faluted 
 with ** The firfl blafi: of the Trumpet againft 
 " the monftrous regiment of women (^)." 
 Buchanan foon gfter publifhed his De jure^ 
 with the countenance of Burleigh, for a fpe- 
 cial purpofe ; though it contained the feed-^ 
 plot of the French principles of the pr^fent 
 
 (z) See Strype's Annals of the Reformation, vol. ii. p, 
 629: vol. iii. P' 572-3 • And fee, vol. i, a proclamation 
 againil traiterous books-, and p. 575, a proclamation, comr 
 nian(5ing the loyalty ot fubjedts, and the difcoveiy of the fe* 
 ditious. 
 
 ^_ {a) Printed in 1558 : The author wonders, " that none 
 " of the pregnant vi^ittcs of the Ifle of Great Brittany fhould 
 " not adnionifh the inhabitants how abominable before God 
 *' is the rule of a wicked woman ; yea, of a traiirejje^ ancj 
 '^ 2i hajiardy What is Shakfpeare's hawhle to this fnc 
 writing of Knox ! 
 
 dayt 
 
Verses to Anna Hatherrewaye.] /^^BELIEVERS. i8^ 
 
 day. Parfons, by the name of Dolcman, pub- 
 lifhed, in 1594., *' A Conference about the 
 '' next fucceffion to the Crown of {b) Eng- 
 *' land/' with a dedication to the Earl of 
 Eflex, though it contained very free writing. 
 — It is a fad, fufficiently known, that the two 
 favourites of Elizabeth, Leicefter, and EfTex, 
 countenanced, for their private ends, the fe- 
 ditious practices " of that ungracious crew, 
 ^* which faines demureft grace/' Very dif- 
 ferent was the condud: of that mirrour of 
 chivalry. Sir Philip Sydney, who, when the 
 dedication of The School of Abufe was offered 
 him, rejeded it with fcorn (r). It was the 
 free condud of our dramatifts, when Shak- 
 fpeare was yet unknown to fame, that roufed 
 the attention of Elizabeth's minifters ; and 
 
 {h) On my copy of this very rare book, there is the fol- 
 lowing manufcript note : " This book was condemned by 
 " parliament, an. 35 Eliz. when it was enaded, that who- 
 '<■ ever fhould have it in his houfe (hoiild be guilty of high 
 " treafon. The printer was hanged, drawn, and quar- 
 f^ tcred." 
 
 (c) This curious anecdote is mentioned by Spenfer, m 
 his Three Letters^ 1580, p. 54. 1 repeat it with pleafure ; 
 becaufe it adds another wreath to the chaplet on Sydney's 
 brov/. 
 
 required 
 
l86 Jn A? OluOGY for [Shakspeare's Letter; and 
 
 required then, what has fince been [d) call- 
 ed, a licenfmg a5l. It was to this remark- 
 able cifcumftance, which occurred, while our 
 poet was whetting his pen, that we probably 
 owe much of the corre5lnefs of Shakfpeare's 
 dramas. Such are the fads, which exhibit 
 a very different ftate of the^r^^ principles, and 
 free praBices of that reign, from the wild 
 reprefen^ations of the public accufer, who, in 
 grouping his pidure, has thrown a thoufand 
 fliades about the truth. 
 
 The public accufer, however, brings Shak- 
 fpeare's bawble ; the jools bawble, into vivid 
 light. Yet, does he doubt, whether the word 
 
 {d) The Lords of the privy council wrote the Archbifhop 
 of Canterbury, on the I2th of November 1589 : — " That 
 *' whereas there hath grown fome inconvenience by comon 
 *' playes and enterludes in and about the cyttie of London ; 
 " in [as much as] the players take uppon [them] to handle 
 *' in their plaies certen matters of divhiytte^ and o^Jiaie un- 
 " fitt to be futTeredj for redreile whereof their lordfhips 
 " have thought good to appointe fome perfons of judgn^.ent 
 ** and underflanding to viewe and examine their playes be- 
 •' fore they be pmitted to p(ent them publicklv," &c. 
 iv:c. Similar letters were at the fame time written to the 
 Lord Mayor of London, and, to the Mafter of the Revels 3 to 
 co-operate in this necelTary meafure. [Council-regifter, 12 
 November 1589.] This curious, and important hti is, 
 alone, fuf&cient to overthrow the whole reafoning of Mr. 
 Malone, about ihtfree writing of Shakfpeare's epiftles. 
 
 bawble 
 
Verses to Anna Hatherrewaye.]//^^ BELIEVERS. 187 
 
 bawble had obtained, fo early as the middle of 
 Elizabeth's reign, the fignification of any flight 
 toy, gewgaw, or trifling piece of finery. Why 
 doubts he, with the authority in his hand ? I 
 will fhow, without much refearch, that the 
 word bawble was ufed, in its prefent fenfe, be- 
 fore Shakfpeare was born. When the author 
 of '* A Schole of wife Conceytes," ofl?ered his 
 work to the printer, in 1569, he objedled, 
 that the book contained nothing but what 
 was in Efopey which " already engliflit is." 
 The author admits the publication oi Efope^ 
 but anfwers; ^^ comparing that with myne, 
 *^ it is as neare, as eafl:e to wefl:; and drofle 
 *^ to filver fine." The printer now compares 
 the Wife Conceytes [e) with Efope Englijht, and 
 at length finds therein, contrary to his firft 
 thoughts of it ; — 
 
 <' Befides uncomely tales,. 
 
 '' And falfly forged fables, 
 
 " Wherewith his book replenlfht is, 
 
 " Perceyve I many babies" 
 
 If this proof be not deemed fatisfailory, I will 
 produce an evidence, who ihall fpeak deci- 
 fively, Spenfer knew the Englifh language, 
 the Englifl:) language of his fathers : Now, he 
 
 {e) Written by Thomas Blage, ftudent of Queen's Col. 
 Cambridge ; and printed by isinneman, in 1569. This is 
 a r^re, eleg;ant, and inftrudivcj book of fables. 
 
 fays. 
 
:88 An k?OhOGY for [Shakspeare's Letter; ah© 
 
 fays, merrily, when commending virtue, fame, 
 and wealth : — 
 
 " Meere gewegawes^ and babies In compariron of thefe. 
 *' Toyes to mock apes, and woodcockes, in comparifon 
 
 of thefe. 
 '' Jug^JfJg caftes, and knicknackes^ in comparifon of 
 
 thefe (/).»^ 
 
 And, in this obvious fenfe, Shakfpeare fpeaks, 
 in T^roiius and CreJJida, of " fliallow bawble 
 *' boats ;" and in Cymbeiine^ of a letter, as " a 
 '* fenfdefs bawbleJ* But, our poet talks of 
 bawble in a more appropriate meaning ; oi baw- 
 ble, as *' the foors truncheon of office.'' The 
 commentators, in explaining the nature of the 
 office, and the utility of the thing, have be- 
 ftowed all the cream of their learning. The 
 public accufer, in elucidating the ** original 
 ** barbarous term baubeUu7ny' has ferved up 
 only the (kimmilk of his knowledge. Hif- 
 torians, by repeating, inaccurately, the irreve- 
 rent expreffion of Cromwell, for the fpeaker's 
 mace, have brought the word, and the thing, 
 
 (y) The Three Proper Letters, 1580, p. 34. Stubbes, in 
 his Anatom'te of Aoufes^ 1 583, Sig^ M 2, fpeaks thus of " xMy 
 " Lord of Mifrule*s cogni%ances :^^ They have alfo certain 
 papers, wherein is " painted fome babbler ie^ or other, of ima- 
 *' gery work; and thefe they call my Lord of Mifrule'^s 
 " badges: Thefe they give to every one, that will give mo- 
 *' ney for them, to maintaine them in their heathenrie, divel- 
 *' ric, whordom, drunkenes, pride, and what not." 
 
 n^ore 
 
Verses to AnnaHatherrewaye.] the BELIEVERS. i8g 
 
 more frequently before the 'reader's eye. It 
 were worthy the diligence, and acumen of 
 our critic to fhow, from whence Cromwell 
 derived his kxio^ltdigQ oi the foors bawble. It 
 was from Cambridge, that Cromwell had his 
 knowledge, and ufe, of the expreffion : For, 
 performing, there, the part of Ta^tus in Brewer's 
 Lingua-, or the Combat of the Tofigue and the 
 Five Senfes ; Cromwell bore a part in the fol- 
 lowing fcene, which will, probably, bring 
 many refle(ftions into the reader's mind (^), 
 
 « [Tad^us ftumbleth at the Robe znfi Crown i^^] 
 " Tadtus: — High thoughts have flipp'ry feet; I had well 
 « nigh fallen. 
 
 « Mendacio:— Well doth he fall, that rifeth with a fall. 
 « Taaus:— What's this ? 
 
 « Mendacio : — O, are you taken ! Its in vain to ftrive— 
 " Tadlus : — How now ? 
 
 *' Mendacio : — You'll be fo entangled ftraight— 
 ^' Ta£tus : — A crown ! 
 " Mendacio :— That it will be hard— 
 « Ta£tus: — And a robe! 
 " Mendacio : — To loofe yourfelf. 
 *' Ta6tus : — A crown ; and a robe f 
 *' Mendacio : — It had been fitter for you, to have found 
 2ifoo!s'Coaiy and a bawble\ hey, hey!" 
 
 I have now proved my point, that the word 
 iawbleyf3i^ in ufe, in its prelent fenfe, before 
 Shakfpeare was born ; and have, incidentally, 
 
 (g) See Dodiley's Old Plays, voL.v. p. 1 16-128. 
 
 ' fhown 
 
190 An AVOhOGY for [Shakspeare's Letter; and 
 
 fhown the inutility of difquifion, and the im- 
 pertinence of learning, when 2ifaB can be af- 
 certained by proof. 
 
 But, the public accufer is determined to 
 fail no more. . He thinks it a ftrong objedion 
 to the letter, that Shakfpeare borrowed his fen* 
 timent of charity from himfelf. Upon other 
 ijji) occafions, our critic finds it a commodious 
 method of illuftration, to (how the fimilarity 
 of the poet's thoughts, and language, on dif* 
 ferent fubjeds. Yet, he refolves to cut down 
 the talk cedarre of Shakfpeare by the foBj 
 ** that there were no cedars in England till 
 *V after the Reftoration (i)." '' Where,'' 
 then, he pertinently alks " could this image 
 ** have been prefented to our Stratford 
 " youth ?" He immediately fubjoins, *^ in 
 " the Bible," or perhaps, " in fome natural 
 ** hiftory that will ihortly be brought for- 
 " wardy Now, mark the potent efficacy of a 
 plain tale againft '^ the bookfuU fcholar, with 
 " loads of learned lumber in his head." Will ve 
 iayis to Anna : " I cheryflie thee in mye une 
 ** hearte forre thou arte ass a talle cedarre 
 
 {h) See Mr. Malone's comments on Shakfpeare's Son- 
 nets, in his Supp. vol. i. 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 162^ 
 
 '* ftretchyngc 
 
Verses to Ann a Hat«6rre\vaye.] i^ BELIEVERS. 191 
 
 '* ftretchynge forthe its branches ande fuc- 
 ** courynge the fmallere plants fromme nyp- 
 " pynge winneterre orr the boyfteroufe 
 " wyndes." Shakfpeare makes the king-de- 
 throning Warwick fay, when dying in the 
 field, as the fpelling has been modernized by 
 the commentators (^) : 
 
 " T)ius, yields the Cedar to the axe's edge^ 
 
 « V/hofe arms gave (belter to the princely eagle; 
 
 " Under whofe (hade, the ramping lion flept; 
 
 « Whofe top ' branch overpeer'd Jove's fpreading tree, 
 
 ** And kept low Jhrubs from winter's powerful wind (/)," 
 
 [k) Mai. Shale, vol. vi. p. 373. 
 
 (/) In Henry 8th, Cranmer prophecies: 
 ** He ihali flourifh, and like a 
 " Mountain cedar, reach his branches 
 " To all the plains about hint." 
 [See Mai. Shak. vol. vii. p. 1 39.] When the Gfjla Gayorum 
 were exhibited at court, on Shrove Tiiefday, 1594, " The 
 ** ImprefTes which the mafkers ufed upon their efciitcheons^, 
 « for their devices^ Vi^ere: H. Helmes, Prince : In a bark of a 
 " CIDAR TREE, the charader E engraven : Crefcetis.'* If 
 there were no cedarre trees m England, at Shrove-tyde, in 
 1594, the prince of the mafkers mud, no doubt, have im- 
 ported from other lands, the bark of the cedar tree^ for the 
 purpofe of his device. In The Phoenix Nejl^ '593> P* ^'» 
 we have the following lines: — 
 
 *' And that which was of woonder mofl, 
 ** The phcenix left fweete Arabic: 
 <* And on a cadar in this coalt, 
 «* Built up her tombe of fjpicerie.** 
 
 Ths 
 
192 -<^« APOLOGY /o^ [Shakspeare's Letter; AND 
 
 The fadt, then, prechides the inquiry, 
 whether the cedar re were introduced into Eng- 
 land before, or after, the Reftoration; th^fa^ 
 anfvvers the queftion, whether Shakfpeare 
 were gardener enough to know, what every 
 nurfery-man can tell, the benefit of fhelter ; 
 how comfortably the cedar^ " whofe top- 
 " branch over-peer'd Jove's fprcading tree, 
 •** kept low fhrubs from winter's powerful 
 ** wind,'* If it be true, that Shakfpeare e:s:^ 
 haiijled words, and then imagined new, is it not 
 equally true, that " felf-glorious pride" ought 
 neither to fatigue patience, nor excite ridicule, 
 by minute inquiries, whether the maker derived 
 his images from what exifled in Britain, or on 
 the great globe itfelf\ The abfence of the 
 cedarre tree from Britain did not preclude fatire, 
 it feems, from faying, what felf-glorious pride 
 may repeat j 
 
 «' I know my ruder hands begin to quake, 
 « To think what lofty cedars I muft fhake (w).'* 
 The public accufer will, however, no more 
 Incur either the danger of ridicule, or the re- 
 buff of confutation. He, at length, draws 
 our attention [n) to the love-verfes of the 
 lifping poet " to the fvveet nymph of Avon 
 *^ fayre." Yet, he flops his critical career, by 
 inquiring, whether this be a love-fonnet, or 
 
 {m) Marfton's Satires, 1599, N. iiii. («) Inquiry, 163. 
 
 the 
 
Verges tOx\nnaHathbr'rewaye.] /^^ BELIEVERS. 193 
 
 the pofy of a (o) ring ? Neither; Spenfer 
 will anfwer : It is " JVillyes Embkme : — 
 '' To be wize, and eke to loue, 
 " Is graunted fcarce to God above (/>).'* 
 The public accufer lickens at the found: No 
 more of this ( j^) Namby - Pamby -^Jiuff^ he 
 
 cries, — 
 
 " -^— . in fonorous flrain, 
 
 *' Walls, fteeples, fkies, bray back to him again." 
 Yet, he rcfolves to draw our attention to 
 the rhythm of the firft line; taking care to 
 create the fault, which Shakfpeare never com- 
 mitted, by lengthening heav-enney with a di-^ 
 a/foh'c hyphen. The critic appeals to the de- 
 cilion of Spenfer : *' Heaven being ufed fhort 
 ** as one fyllable, when it is in verfe ftretched 
 ** [out] with a diajiok is like a lame dog that 
 " holdeth up one leg (r)/' I bow to the de- 
 cifion, and reverence the fenfe, of Spenfer, 
 A poet, who, contrary to ordinarie ufe, which 
 
 (o) Ih4uiry, 164. 
 
 (^) See Speiifer's 57;r^tf Letters^ 1580, p. 38. 
 
 (^) Inquiry, 164: "I {hall not therefore ficken your 
 * lordfhip with any more of this namby-pamby-ftufF.'* 
 
 (r) Spenfer certainly fays this, but v/Ith more accuracy of 
 language, orthography, and pointing, in his Three Lettersy 
 1580, p. 6; but, in p. 54, S{)enfer treats ^^this imagiriarj^ 
 " (UafioU as nothing worth." 
 
 O Spenfer 
 
tg4- -«^« APOLOGY y^r [Shakspeare*s Letter; anB; 
 
 Spenfer calls the fovereign ruky will lengthen 
 a monofyllable y certainly merits reprobation: 
 But, what does the critic deferve, who, con- 
 trary to the purpofe of the poet, will flretch 
 out the verfe by a diajlok? As a lame dogy he 
 merits no help over thejlile. 
 
 Let us, however, attend to the context of 
 Spen(er, where he gives his final judgment 
 upon the point (i). . " Now for your heaveUy 
 ** feaven, eleaven, or the like i I am likewife 
 " of the fame opinion : as generally in all 
 " words elfe : we are not to go a little farther, 
 ** either for the profody^ or the orthography ^ 
 ** (and therefore your imaginarye diajiole no- 
 " thing worthe) than we are authorifed by 
 " the ordinarie ufe^ and cujlomy and proprietie, 
 " and idlome, and, as it were, majejlie of our 
 " fpeech ; which I account the only infallible 
 " and^ fovereign rule of all rules : and there- 
 ^* fore, having refped; thereunto, and reputing 
 ** it petty treafon to revolt therefrom: dare 
 ** hardly eyther in the profodie^ or in the or^ 
 ^^ thography either, allow them two fillables 
 ** infteade of one, but would as well in writ- 
 *' ing, as in fpeaking, have them ufed as 
 ** monofyllables, thus : heavn, feavn^ aleavn-, 
 ^* as Maijier Afcham in his Toxopfiilus doth 
 
 (0 lb. p. 54. 
 
 ** yrney 
 
VteRSEST0ANNAHATHERRBWAYE.]/^^BELIEVERS. 195 
 
 ** yrne^ commonly written Tron." — Thus 
 much for the final decifion of Spenfer, againft 
 the public accufer. As I am now, probably, 
 to take my leave of his Three Proper Letters, I 
 will adopt what Pope applies to Boileau, pa 
 the fame occafion ^ 
 
 " And, Spenfer ftill, in right of Horace, fways (/)/* 
 
 In our poet's genuine compofitions, fays 
 Mr. Malone, we never find any fuch hobling 
 metre [u). You may find a thoufand fuch 
 hobling metres, if you will ftretch out the verfe 
 by a diajiolic hyphen. Let us take an exam- 
 ple from Shakfpeare's fonnets : 
 
 « O how I faint, when I of you do write; 
 
 " Knowing a better fpir-it doth ufe your name." 
 
 Spirit, fays Mr. Malone, in his note, is here, 
 as in many other places, ufed as a monofylla- 
 ble(y). In the fame manner, I fay, that 
 heavenne in the firft ftanza of Shakfpeare's 
 verfes to Anna Hatherrewaye ought to be 
 read as a monofy liable, if ordinarie ufe be the 
 fovereign rule , and if Shakfpeare himfelf hath 
 
 ^ (t) Spenfer quotes Horace's y/rj Poetica, in p. 44. 
 
 («) Inquiry. 164. 
 
 (•c;) Sup. vol. i. p. 645. — Sir John Davis, in his Nofce 
 Teipfum^ 1 599, p. 6-12-22, hath very ohQn fpirit [fprite] as 
 a monofyllable : So has he fukil as a monofyllable, fubtk. 
 See before, page 46, 
 
 O 2 ' ufed 
 
196 M APOLOGY /or [Shakspeare's Letter, &c. 
 
 ufed heaven y monofyllahically , a thoufand times; 
 ishen muft the criticifm of the public accufer 
 
 " As falfe, by heaven^ as heaven itfeH" is true. 
 But, with Shakfpeare's epiftles, in profe, 
 and rhyme, I have now done. I will here 
 lubmit to the equity of this court this Apology 
 for the believers^ in refpedl to both. On this 
 occafion, it will eafily be recollefted, that the 
 general argument concluded moft favourably 
 for the believers, " if there^ be truth mjighty 
 On the other hand, the public accufer under- 
 took, by particular inveftigations, to overthrow 
 the flrong prefumpticn, arifing from general 
 f eafonings. The poet, who early wrote *' A 
 ** Lover's Complaint ;" who was in habits of 
 inditing verfes of Venus and (w) Adonis -y is 
 confidered, by the public accufer, as a very un- 
 likely perfon to write love-epiftles to the 
 Warwick/hire lafsj whom he loved. I have 
 examined, and I truft, confuted his objedions. 
 Neverthelefs, feeing the letter^ and verfes of 
 Shakfpeare, in fiifpicious company y I will ac- 
 knowledge, on behalf of the believers, that 
 
 in future, 
 
 '' We mud frarve our fight from lover's food." 
 
 (w) See Malone's Sup*, vol. i. p. 403 — 739. 
 
 \ y. SHAKSPEARE'* 
 
Profession OF Faith.] /^^^ B E L I E V E RS. 197 
 
 § V. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE's PROFESSIONof FAITH. 
 
 Of this monument of Shakfpeare's piety, 
 the public accufer profeffes to " have very 
 ** little to {a) fay;'' judging, wifely, as he is in 
 the habit of retraction, that tie leajl faid is 
 Jooneft mended. Yet, he urges, though with 
 lefs force, the fame objeBmis, which he had 
 made to former documents : " The ortho- 
 ** graphy ; the language and phrafeology ; 
 *' the diffimilitude of the hand-'wrhing %' 
 which, having been already confidered, and 
 confuted, need not be confidered again, at more 
 length, nor confuted, under this head of the 
 inquiry, by new fadls. 
 
 But, the public accufer recurs, neverthelefs, 
 to his old logic, fuppofing what he ought to 
 prove, and arguing againft experience, though 
 fuch logic be contrary to all the rules of rea- 
 foning, which have been laid down, by every^ 
 logician, from Wilfon to Watts. In the fame 
 ftrain, he [b) objedls, that though John Shak- 
 fpeare made a confeffion of faith, in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, it is improbable, V/illiam Shak- 
 fpeare ihould make a profeiTion of his faith, 
 
 [a) Inquiry, 196. [h) Inquiry, 197-8. 
 
 O3 m 
 
198 An APOLOGY [Shakspeare's Profession 
 
 in the reign of King James. He had himfelf 
 produced to the public, in 1790, the confef- 
 fion of John Shakfpeare, which was found in 
 the hiding-hole of the houfe of Shakfpeare. 
 From the fentiment, and the language, this 
 confeflion appears to be the efFufion of a 
 Roman Catholic mind, and was probably- 
 drawn up by fome Roman Catholic prieft (^). 
 If thefe premifes be granted, it will follow, 
 as a fair deduftion, that the family of Shak- 
 fpeare Vv^ere Roman Catholics -, a circum- 
 fiance this, which is wholly confiftent with what 
 Mr. Malone is now ftudious to id) inculcate, 
 viz. " that this confeffion could not have 
 '* been the compofition of any of our poet's 
 " family." The thoughts, the language, the 
 orthography, all demonftratc the truth of my 
 conjecture, though Mr, Malone did not per- 
 
 (r) As a fpeclmen, let us take the beginning of this De- 
 claration of faith, from Mah Shak. vol. i. pt. 2. p. 330: — 
 " In the name of God, the father, fonne, and holy ghoft, the 
 " moft holy and blefTed Virgin Mary, mother of God, the 
 « holy hoft of angelr, patriarchs, prophets, Evangelifts, 
 " Apoftles, Saints, Martyrs, and all the Celeftial Court and 
 ^' Company of heaven, I, John Shakfpeare^ an unworthy 
 " member of the holy Catholkk Religion^ being," &c. and 
 fee ftill ftronger terms in the conclufion of this proteft^^ 
 tion; confeffion^ and charter, in p. 162-6. 
 
 {d) Inquiry, 198, 
 
 ceivQ 
 
o? Faith.] for ihe ^EtlEVEKS. 199 
 
 ceive this truth, when he firft publiflied this 
 paper, in 1790. But, it was the performance 
 of a Clerke, the undoubted work of the family 
 prieft. The conjefture, that Shakfpeare's 
 family were Roman Catholics, is ftrengthened 
 by the fadl, that his father declined to attend 
 the corporation meetings, and was, at laft, re- 
 n)0ved, from the corporate body {e). Yet, 
 the public accnfer {f) infers, "that it is ex- 
 ** tremely improbable that all the Shakfpeare 
 ** family fliould be confejjors of their faith/' 
 Every other logician would infer, that if it 
 had been the cuftom of the family, which was 
 followed by the father, it is extremely proba- 
 ble, the fame cuftom would be alfo followed 
 by the fon, who, at times, cannot conceal his 
 faith, even in his dramas (^). 
 
 This 
 
 (^) The place too, the roof of the houfe, where this conr 
 fefiion was found, proves, that it had been therein concealed, 
 during times of perfecution, for the " holy Cathollck 
 " religion." 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 199. 
 
 {^) In the famous fcene between the Ghoft, and Hamlet, 
 there are many flrokes of a Roman Catholic pen. Shak- 
 Ipeare, apparently, through ignorance^ fays Warbt'RTON, 
 makes Roman Catholics of thefe Pagan Danes : [Steevens's 
 Shak. 1793. vol. XV. p. 72-5.] But, this is not fo^much an 
 c^uimple of ignorance^ as of knowledge^ though perhaps not of 
 
 O4 his 
 
200 v^// APOLOGY [Shakspea-re's Profession 
 
 This reafoning is confirmed, by the confide- 
 ration, that the reign of Elizabeth was a pe- 
 riod of apparent (A) piety, and the reign of 
 Jamas ift, an age of religious fpeculation. 
 To avow particular modes of faith became 
 extremely fafhionable, during both thofe pe- 
 riods. It was, probably, by this fafhion, that 
 Lord Bacon, the prince of philofophers, was 
 induced to draw up his confejfion of [t] faith \ 
 
 bis prudence, when the poet avows, covertly, indeed, his <?w;w 
 opinions. In Othello, Shakfpeare makes Emilia fay : <' I 
 *' fhould venture purgatory for't." The readers of Shak- 
 fpeare will eafily remember other expreiHons of a fimilar 
 kind, which plainly proceeded from the overflow of Roman 
 Catholic zeal. He Is continually fending his charaders to 
 ^r//?,' or confeffion : "Riddling confejfion finds but riddling 
 *' Jhrift.*^. *' Bid her devife fomc means to come to Jhrift 
 *' this afternoon." On the other hand, he is ftudious to 
 fhow his contempt for the Puritans. In Twelfth Night -y 
 ♦' Marry, Sir, he feems fometimes a kind of Puritan :'* In 
 Winter* s Tale ; **• But, onq Puritan among them, and he 
 *^ fmgs Pfalms to hornpipes." The religion of our great 
 dramatift, will, no doubt, fill a whole chapter of the folio life 
 of Shakfpeare, which will be, certainly^ written, without 
 feoffs at the opinions of ot^er biographers, 
 
 (h) See Lord Burghley's Profejfton of Faiths in Strype's 
 Annals, vol. il. p. 334: And, Archbiftiop Parker's Profef- 
 fion of Faith, may be feen in Strype's Life of that Prelate, 
 p. 500. 
 
 (i) Bacon's Kemainsj Ed, 1648, p. 94, 
 
 3 ^ 
 
or Faith.] for the BELIEVERS. 20* 
 
 in order to pleafe a monarch, who interefted 
 lumfelf in religious theories. Bacon's con-^ 
 jeJ/io?i, I prefume, the pubUc accufer will de- 
 nominate a " myftical rhapfody;'* without 
 much con li deration perhaps of the real mean- 
 ing of the term, myfticaly or much inquiry intp 
 the proper lignification of the word rhap- 
 fody(>J). 
 
 But, he has yet a flronger objeftion to 
 Shakfpeare's rhapfody, whether it be myftical, 
 or literal. In order to convid: it of fiftion, the 
 public accufer is ftudious to prove, *^ that it 
 *^ has been evidently formed on h<?ly writ(/)/' 
 Whether he learned this modie- of reafoning 
 from Crakanthorp, Wallis, or Aldrfcb, may 
 require fame explanation (;/?). Eyery Chrifi- 
 tian rhetorician would reafonably infer, that a 
 confeffion of faith, which has been formed on 
 holy writ, is probably genuine in it^ declara- 
 tion, and true in its dodrine. 
 
 The public accufer is, neverthelefs, deter- 
 mined to overthrow general reafoning, by fpe- 
 
 {li)- Queen Elizabeth's Prayer^ for tHe fuccefs.of the ex- 
 pedition againft Cadiz, in 1 596, which was fent by Mr, 
 Secretary Cecil to EfTex, may be k^n in Birch's Mem. 
 vol. ii. p. 18. This, 1 prefume, will alfo be called a 
 fnyfikal rhapfody^ 
 
 (/} Incjuiry, 200. {m) See the Inquiry, 196. 
 
 cial 
 
202 u/// APOLOGY [Shakspeare's Profession 
 
 cial inveftigation. He repeats an objection, 
 which had been already made by others, to 
 the epithet leffte, as applied to a tree, when 
 trees are denuded of their foliage : But, there 
 are, in Shakfpeare, as great wonders as " this 
 ** unfortunate epithet." The Queen ex- 
 claims, in Richard 3d : — 
 
 " Why grow the branches, when the root is gone ? 
 
 << Why wither not the leaves, that want their fap r" 
 In this ftrain of minute criticifm, he {n) 
 inquires, " whence the abfurd introduffion 
 " oi 2. chicken for the mother- bird J* Whence, 
 but from the creative faculties of the poet's 
 mind ? What is a poet, if you deprive him 
 of his ji5tionsy and his fancies ? Why does 
 Shakfpeare, ml'imon of Athens^ make xki^Fool 
 anfwer the friends of Titnony though they 
 were, probably, parental birds : '* She's e'en 
 ** fetting on water to fcald fuch chickens as 
 ** you are." 
 
 But, the public accufer conceives it a wafle 
 of time to detain his noble correfpondent any 
 longer, when he has (o) added, " that the 
 ** word hymfelfe is exhibited as one wordy and 
 '' the word acceded is found in it." Had he 
 taken the trouble to look into Cooper s The- 
 faurusy 1573, he would have ittn the word 
 
 («) Inquiry, 201. [9) Inquiry, 202. 
 
 hymfelfe 
 
OF Faith.] /^r //?^ B E L I E V E R S. 203 
 
 hymfelfe printed, as one word, a thoufand 
 times ; as I have already fhown the word 
 theymfelfe was written, before Shakfpeare was 
 born (/>). Thus, '* he draweth out the thread 
 *' of his verbofity finer than the ftaple of his 
 *' argument/* 
 
 Yet, in this fpirit of minutenefs, the public 
 accufer perfeveres, in fpinning many a thread 
 of iimilar finenefs. And, he infifts, that the 
 nonexijience of the word accede in the Englifh 
 language , for a century after the death of 
 Shakfpeare, in 161 6, is decifve, in proving 
 the fpurioufnefs of Shakfpeare' s ConfeJJi.on {jj). 
 Happy ! had his proof been equal to his poli- 
 tivenefs. The diplomatic word accede is fo 
 recent, be fays, that Johnfon gives no ex- 
 ample of its ufe. As lexicographers fome- 
 
 (/>) In Sir John Davis's Nofce Teipfum^ I599> P- 27, 
 may be often {^^vi himfelfe^ printed, and written, 2iSone word: 
 ** Which hbn/e'fe makes, in bodies formed new, 
 ** Which him/dfe makes of no w^/m^/ thing." 
 Here, the rhythm forbids the disjunction of him-felfe, and 
 requires the accent on the firfl fyllable ; fo as to give a bre- 
 vity of pronunciation to the word, Hymfelfe may be fcen often 
 printed by Wynken de Worde, as one word, in the Fruytfull 
 Sayenges of Dauyd-, 1529: So is themfelfe printed in it, as one 
 word, for themf elves : — '^ Suche as gyve themfelfe to wordly 
 ♦* voluptj^es may well faye." And fee himfelfe printed, as one 
 ^ord, in Lyly's Euphues^ 158 1, p. 20**. and 53'*. &c, - 
 
 {q) Inquiry, 202—4. 
 
 times 
 
304 An APOLOGY [ShakspbarbV?iiofessio« 
 
 times quote one another, he might have cited 
 De Foe*s Didionary, 1735- Kerfey has not 
 this uncommon word, it feems, in his Dic- 
 tionary, 1708, after all the fpeaking, and 
 writing, about treaties, in preceding times. 
 Nor, is it in Coles, nor Phillips ; in Bullokar, 
 nor Barret ; in Blount, nor Miniheu. He 
 cannot afcertain the epoch of its introdudicn ^ 
 yet, is he (r) poiitive, that the word was un- 
 known to our language for near a century, 
 after the ufe of it in Shakfpeare's ConfeJJton. 
 On the other hand, it muft be admitted, that 
 the word accede has been long in our lan- 
 guage : and, the only queftion is, when did 
 it come into ufe ? He fuppofes, indeed, what 
 cannot be allowed, becaufe it Is inconfiftent 
 with truth, that our diiiHonaries contain every 
 word, in the vaft volume of our learning, 
 whether wbite- letter y or black-letter . John- 
 fon's Dictionary is, like every other did:ionary, 
 a mere feleftion y nor does any preceding 
 word-book contain a more copious collediion 
 than his : Yet, the public accufer inlifts 
 that, becaufe he cannot find a word, on the 
 " blafled heath " of cur lexicography ; it, 
 therefore, does not exifl in our libraries, either 
 in print, or in manufcript. But, in the vo- 
 
 (r) Inquiry, 204. 
 
 cabulary 
 
•F Faith.] /^r /i&^ B E L I E V E RS* 205, 
 
 cabulary of Mr. Malone a JeleBion means a 
 colkBion : And, in his logical didtionary, fai- 
 lure of proof ftands for fulnefs of probation j 
 whence fomething^ contrary to the fyftem of 
 nature, may be deduced from nothing. Very 
 different, indeed, is the poetical reafoning of 
 Davis : — 
 
 " Of n$ughtj no creature ever farmed ought : 
 
 " For, that Is proper to the Jlmightieh hand (j)/' 
 
 The almightie critic's inanity of reafoning, 
 I will oppofe with faBs, It is remarkable, 
 fays he, " that Edward Philips, [ Phillips] 
 " Milton's nephew, who was a good fcholar, 
 ** has not the word [accede] in his didionary, 
 " though he has the kindred word concede ; 
 '* and, what ihews deciiively," he adds, " that 
 *' the word [accede] did not exift, when he 
 *' publiflie4 his book, (1659) is, he explains 
 " the two law writs Aecedas ad curiam, and 
 ^^ Accedas ad vicc-comitam (/)/' Let us il-« 
 
 luftratc 
 
 {5) Nofce Teipfum. 
 
 {t) Inquiry, 202-3. ^^^ ^^ account of Edward Phil- 
 lips^ as he fpelt his own name, fee Wood's Ath. vol. ii, 
 c. 1 1 16. Blount, the author of the Law Diflionary, 1670^ 
 complaiils of the plaglarifm of Phillips ; and Skinner, who 
 wrote the Etymologic on^ accufes him of ignorance. Now, 
 the fa«£l is, that thefe two laio-tAjrits were not in Phillips's 
 ^r/? edition, 1658: But, t^ey were inferted in hk ficond 
 
 edition^ 
 
2o6 An APOLOGY [Shakspsare's PRbFEssiorJ 
 luftrate this reafoning, by the example of the 
 two kindred words ; accefs, and accej]ible : 
 Naunton, in writing to Efiex, from Paris, in 
 J 597, tells him " that no man fhall have 
 " accefs to the King," [Henry 4th] : But, 
 writing foon after, Naunton informs EiTex, 
 ** that the King is grown more accejjible {u)." 
 Barret has, in his ^ivearie, 1580, the word 
 acceffe I but not accejjible \ Minfheu has the 
 ^ord accejfe^ in his Guide into the tongues y 
 1617; but not ^^^^/^/<? ('z;). Now, were the 
 inquiry, v/hether the word accejjible exifted 
 at that- period, in the Englifh language, 
 the arifwer muft be, according to Mr. Ma- 
 lone's logic, that accejjible did not exifl, in 
 the age of Shakfpeare : But, the Jacly thus 
 
 edition, which gave rife probably to Blount's complaint. 
 The //;/Vi edition v/as publifhed, in 1671. Had there been 
 a queition, in 1658, whether thofe two law writs exifted 
 then, in the language of our law, it would have been a de- 
 cifive argument, according to Mr. Malone's reafoning, to 
 infift, that they had no exiftence, in our law ; bccaufe they 
 were not to be found in Phillips's World of Words ^ in 1658. 
 This title was plainly taken from Florio : What Phillips 
 flole from Blount, I pretend not to know. 
 
 (z/) See Birch's Mem. vol. ii. p. 71 — 83, for the curious 
 letters from Sir Robert Naunton to the Earl of EfTex, of 
 \vhich Queen Elizabeth thought highly. 
 
 (v) Minfheu inferted acceJjfihU in \\\%fe(;ond edition, 1627. 
 
 ftrongly 
 
•F Faith.] /*r /)&^ B E L I E V E R S. 207 
 
 ftrongly oppofed, from the ufe of the word 
 by Naunton, in 1597* overpowers the argu- 
 ment of the public accufer. 
 
 In this correfpondence, between Naunton, 
 and Eifex, may be feen a variety of phrafes, 
 which, as they are not to be found in word-- 
 books, eftablifli the polition, that words may 
 exift in our language, although they do not 
 appear in our didionaries. As the fubjedl is 
 curious for its information, and the dedudion 
 from it bears upon the Inquiry; I will 
 illuftrate the argument, by giving a few ex- 
 amples from the erudite Letters of Naunton : 
 Ingeminated ; tickle^&2iiQ of things ; tickle-' 
 piece of fervice -, ojientative humour; weary -^ 
 fomely longed for; jejune conjedturals -y clear ^ 
 Her fee; refavourizing -, dif conceit -y palinodiziyig 
 in his refolutions ; new ambience ; interme- 
 diation ;V^^>7;7<?^ out of (tc) Ronen; uncir-, 
 cumfpecSion ; detred:ed ; difcorrelpondence : 
 Such, among others, were the words, which 
 were ufed by Naunton, when writing to 
 Ellex, for the fight of Elizabeth ; and which 
 have not been adopted by our lexicographers* 
 Lord Burghley has the fine word expugnable -, 
 which is not adopted by Johnfon, though Hq', 
 
 (w) Birch's Mem. vol. li. p. 68 — 72 — 73—94.-83—89 
 
 —go— 93— 95— .97— 266— 303—449. -; '> 
 
 has' 
 
208 An AP O L O G Y [IShakspeare's P^oFEssiow 
 
 has expugn. Old Lady Bacon, the learned 
 widow of tRe Lord Keeper, writing an ex- 
 poftulatory epiftle to Lord Eflex, on account 
 of his gallantries with a riiarried lady, in 
 Elizabeth's court, complains of the frail fair 
 one's " unjljamefacednefs,'' of her, " iinwifelike, 
 *^ and unfhamefaced demeanor {x)'' Lady 
 Bacon is a great authority ; for fhe was one 
 of the learned daughters of Anthony Coke ; 
 ahd her epiftle exhibits fcriptural reference, 
 and both claffical quotation, and allufidn. 
 It would be a wearifome talk, indeed, to 
 clDinpare the vaft volume of Raleigh, and the 
 intiumerable Writings of Bacon, With our dic- 
 tionaries ; in order to ieftablifli iiiore ftrongly 
 the pofition, th^t ten thoufand words exift in 
 our language, which have riot been collodied 
 into our vocabularies, A fevv words fhall, 
 however, be given from Petty'^ */ Advice to 
 " Hartlib for t\iQ Advci?2cement oi[y)Lear72i?ig'y* 
 
 [x) This curious letter, which is in Birch's Mem. vol. ii. 
 p. 2 1 8, was writteft with fuch force of argument, and energy 
 of expreflion, as to leave Eflex no other anfwer, than to 
 deny the fa£l\ though the whole court had been witnefTeSj 
 of the unjhamefacednep of tl^ Earl, and tht.unwifelike de- 
 meanor of the Lady, 
 
 (y) It was publiflied in 1648 j and fee the words q^uoted, 
 in|>.4— 6— 20. 
 
 ^ as 
 
bF Faith.] for t^g BE LI tV EK S. 209 
 
 as the convidllon of examples will then be 
 added to the feafonablenefs of my polition t 
 Unpreocciipied in children ; educands to be 
 taught by the educators-, Mcece?iates and pa- 
 trons; navarChy and making fhips \ lucrife-^ 
 roiis ; hiciferous {z) : If, then, the q':eftion 
 V/ere, whether thofe fignificant words exifted^ 
 when that original genius. Petty, made ufe of 
 thcni> the anfwer of our critical theorift muft 
 be, that they did not exill:, in our language ; 
 becaufe he d^xinot find them, in our dic- 
 tionaries* 
 
 Johnfon Was probably the firfl: of our 
 lexicographers) who relifhed the beauties of 
 Shakfpeare's phrafeology, and fenriched his 
 Gidionary, by adopting its bullion : Yet, how 
 much fo ever he borrowed ; it is aftonifliing 
 how much he left behind ; either unclaimed 
 by choice, or Unadopted by accident. If a 
 Vocabulary of the words, which fparkle 
 in Shakfpeare's dramas, and yet are. not found 
 to dignify Johnfon's diftionary, 'were fub- 
 Inltted t6 the reader's eye, it should furpfife 
 thofe> who have indulged themfejves in fup- 
 poiing, that our whole language may be (ctn 
 ih our word-books 5 and would perhaps furnifh 
 
 (z) Kerfey has, indeed, Lucriferous^ in his word-book ; 
 ^et, Johnfon did not think fit to infert it in his didionary. 
 
 P caufe 
 
2IO Aa APOLOGY (SHAjiSPiARE's pROFESStOl* 
 
 caufeof circumfpedlion to confidence, if it did 
 not teach a leflbn of humility to arrogance. 
 Such a VOCABULARY I have actually n^ade ^ 
 confifting of more than a thoufand words : It 
 might have been enlarged, if it had been con- 
 fiftent with my prefent purpofe ; but this vo- 
 CABULARY is fufficiently copious, to lliame 
 fophiftry into filence {a). 
 
 I wass 
 
 {a) I will here fubjoin a ftiort fpeclmen of my vocabu- 
 lary of wordsj which are in Shakfpeare*s dramas, but not 
 injohnfon's dictionary; as it is curious from its novelty; 
 ihd* is a ftrikihg example of the extreme fallibility of nega- 
 tive proofs, which abound fo much in Mr. Malone's Inquiry: 
 J'hold: « Lay her ahold, ahold." [TheTempeft.] To 
 lay the fhip ahold is to bring her to the wind. 
 This word is not in Johnfon. [I conftantly quote, 
 or allude t©, the 6th edition of the diitionaryy 
 ini785, 4to.] 
 -jfirbraving : ''. Who in a moment, even with the earth 
 " Shall lay your ftately and airhraving towers.*' 
 [Henry IV.] 
 . 'Jpelsarer: *' He hath been fmce an ^/>^^^^r^r.'* [Win- 
 ter's Tale.] 
 Arabian: *< O! thou Arabian bird." [Anthony and Cle- 
 opatra.] 
 Archmock : *< Oh 1 ^is the fpight of hell, the fiend's Arch-' 
 
 " TwcL" [Othello.] 
 Artsman : " Artsman^ praeambula ; we will be fmgled from 
 « the barbarous." [Love's Labour Loft.] Johnfon 
 has arujariy and ariift, 
 AJftmhlan^t : " Care I for the bulk and big ajpmbknce of 
 
 « a ixxan/' 
 
^^:F^;i^«.] for He BELIEVERS. m 
 
 I was led into this wide furvey of Johnfon's 
 adoptions from Shakfpeare, which might have 
 
 been 
 
 « a man." [Henry IV".] Johnfon has ajfemhlage^ 
 from Locke; and from Thomfon: '' In Mtajfem* 
 « blage liften to my fong." 
 
 Ajfmego: " An Jffmego may tutor thee." [Troilus and 
 Creffida.] 
 
 Bacchus: "Love's po\x^er proves dainty Bacchus grols in 
 « tafte." [Love*s Labour Loft.] «PIumpy5^c- 
 '' chus with pink eyne." [Anthony and Cleopa- 
 tra.] Johnfon has bacchanahan and bacchanals: 
 He often quotes from Milton, and Pope, and 
 even from the minor poets, what he might have 
 feen in Shakfpeare ; and thereby has done a flight 
 wrong to our dramatift, to whom all fubfequent 
 poets have been much indebted. 
 
 -^cmalPd : " How flie was bemaiPd" [Taming of the 
 Shrew.] 
 
 Bemete : " Or I fhali fo bsm:te thee with thy yard." [Id.] 
 • Befeei : " I befeek you now j aggravate your choler." 
 [Henry IV.] Johnfon has befeech. 
 
 Eewhor'd: " My lord hath fo bewhor'dher." [Othello.] 
 
 Boneache : " Incurable boneache,'* [Troilus and Cref- 
 fida.] 
 
 Buttjhaft: " Cupid's buttjhaft is too hard for Hercules's 
 " ,club»" [Love's Labonr Loft.] 
 
 Cacademon .' " Hie thee to hell, for fhame ; and leave this 
 '' world, thou Cacodemon.^* [Richard III.] 
 
 Cankerhlojjhm : " Oh me ! you juggler ; oh, you canker ^ 
 " blofjom-y you thief of love." [Midfummer 
 Night's Dream.] 
 
 Gannah'in : " And, let me have a cannakin clink." 
 [Othello.] 
 
 P 2 Codjhead: 
 
2!I2 A APOLOGY [Shakspeare's pRbPEsgidf* 
 
 been more numerous, without any impeach- 
 ment of the Iexicographer*s judgment; in or- 
 der 
 
 Codjhead : ^* To cKange the codjhead fbr the falmon's- 
 
 « tail.'' [Othello.] 
 Cojiermonger : '' Virtue is fo little regarded in thefe cof- 
 
 " termonger times, that trite valour is turn'd bear- 
 
 « heard." [Henry IV.] 
 Cujiardcoffin : " Why ; thou fayft true : It is a paultry 
 
 " cap, a cujiardcoffin^ a bauile^ a filken pye.*' 
 
 [Taming of the Shrew.] 
 l)eedachievhg : "By dcedachievtng honour newly 
 
 " nam'd." [Coriolanus.] 
 Denotement : " Given up himfelf to the denotement of her 
 
 « parts, and graces." [Othello.] 
 DireSfttude : '* Durft not fhew themfelves his friends, 
 
 « whilft he's in dire£fitude»* [Coriolanus.] 
 Dlfpunge: " The poifonous damp of night difpunge upon 
 
 " me." [Anthony and Cleopatra.] 
 « Dlzzy-efd fury." [Henry VI.] 
 Dotant: " Or with the paHy'd interceffion of fuch a* de- 
 
 " cay'd ^<?/c7«^ as you feem to be." [Coriolanus.} 
 Do%)edrawn : " I met her deity, cutting the clouds to- 
 
 '* wards. Paphos, and her fon dovedrawn with 
 
 « her." [Tempefl.] 
 Eaningtime : "The ewes did, in eaningtimey fall party- 
 
 " coloured latnbs." [Merchant of Venice.] 
 Eanlings: [Id.] 
 Eark'ijftng: « They are yet, but eark'tjjing arguments." 
 
 [Lear.] 
 " Earplercing %.kr [Othello.] 
 Earwax : " But, he hath not fo much brain-, as earwax,^*' 
 
 [Troilus and Creffida.J 
 " Enfrtedoming thy pcrfon." [Love's Labour Loft.] 
 
 Engtldi : 
 
tifFAiTH.] /or /le BELI'EV EKS, 213 
 
 der to enable every mind to judge of the ineffi- 
 pacy of negative proofi^ for the eftablifhing of 
 
 fiegative 
 
 ^ngllds : " Who, more engilds the night, than all yon iiery 
 « o's and eyes of light.'* [Midfurnmer Night's 
 Dream.] 
 
 EngoaVd: '^ Wi.thin my mouth, you have engoaPd my 
 " tongue." [Troilus and Creffida.] 
 
 Enlard: " That were to enlard his fat-already pride." 
 [Troilus and CreHida.] 
 
 Enjkfd: " I hold you as a thing enjkfd and f^int^d.'^ 
 [Meafure for Meafure.] 
 
 pfd (Eyfel); « Woo't drink up ^//." [Hamlet.] Eyfel^ 
 fays Mr. Steevens, is vinegar, which is a good pre- 
 ventive againft infectious diforders, fays Mr» 
 Malone. 
 
 Eairfac'd lesigue, [King John,] 
 
 Fairplay : " According to the /airplay of the world." 
 
 [Id.] 
 
 Faniafttcoes: " The pox on fuch antick, lifping, affecSl- 
 
 " ing fantafticoes." [Romeo and Juliet.] 
 (« /7^;«/> drunkard." [Merry Wives of Windfor.] The 
 following paflage from " The Libell of Englifti 
 *' Policie of keeping the fea," which was written, 
 in the reign of Henry YI. and was firlt printed in 
 Hakluyt's Voyages, 1598, vol. ii. p. 192, is j^t 
 once a defence, ^nd an illuitration of Shakfpeare, 
 by fhowing the grofs^efs of the Flemings, in pr^- 
 cedin^ times ; 
 *' Ye have heard that two Flemings f^gider, 
 ** Will undertake, or they go any whither, 
 ff Or they rise once to drink a firkin full 
 ff pf good Uerekin-j fo fore they hall and pull; 
 
 P 3 <« Under 
 
«I4 JaAVOLOGY [Shakspeare's Pro'Fessios? 
 
 negative inferences; to decide, whether fome- 
 thing can be deduced from nothings and tq 
 
 *^ Under the board, they pifTen, as they ilt; 
 " This Cometh convenient of a worthie wit: 
 *' Without Calais, in their butter they cakked, 
 ** When they fled home, and when they leifure lacked.'* 
 ^« Fool/holt (a) is foon (hot." [Henry V.] 
 Fooijhead: "Did I defer ve no more than a fool/head,'^ 
 
 [Merchant of Venice.] 
 Foolsparadife : ^' If you fhould lead her into a foohpara- 
 
 d'lje*^- [Romeo and Juliet.] 
 Forehorfs : " I (hall flay here the forehorje to a fmock/' 
 
 [MPs Well,] 
 '^ Foreivearfd in this a6lion of fvvift fpeed.*' [King 
 
 John.] 
 " F5//^c,^^)7 coward." [Titus AndroniciiS,] Johnfonhas 
 
 fouimouthed. 
 Free way : '* I do befeech you, let her will have a free 
 
 •" way:' [Othello.] 
 Frofly fplrked : ^^W\i^X.2>. frojly fpirited xo'^^ is this." 
 
 [Henry IV.] 
 '* Full acorn'd\i02ccy [Cymbejine.] 
 '"^ Furnace-burning hcTin.^* [Henry VI.] 
 Here, will I clof this note, which is already too long. In 
 the fame manner, I could have gone through the whole alpha- 
 bet, and very much enlarged the number of example?. But, 
 having proved my point, by fbowing the fallibility of nega- 
 'tlve proofs, I will knit up my Focahularyy by avowing my 
 fincere admiration of Johnfon's invaluable work ; whilft I 
 am lliowing, by the invert igatlon of fa«5ts, that his dictionary 
 is rather ^ fele^ion-^^^in z collc£iion of the Englifh language: 
 And, as hi^ plan did not thus allow him to adopt every 
 word in Shakfpeare's dramas, it is inconfiftent with his plan, 
 zr^A with the fadl:, to draw conclufions ffopi his filcnce. 
 
 eftimate, 
 
ofFaith.] /or /^^ belie V ER S. 215 
 
 eftimate, whether 71071" entities ought to be 
 deemed equal, in critical examination, to po- 
 iitive premifes. But, of fuch logic we have 
 furely enough ! I will acknowledge, how-> 
 ever, that when a careful fearch has been 
 made, by an attentive eye, in the moft volu- 
 minous of our didlionaries, a fufpicion will 
 arife, that the w^ord, which has been looked 
 for, without fuccefs, may, pojjibly^ not exift ia 
 our language. 
 
 A perfon, who is accufed of forgery, comes 
 into court with every prefumption in his fa* 
 vour; with every probability of innocence, 
 for his protection \ with every inducement, 
 under a want of proof, for his acquittal ; But, 
 the public accufer, by fuppofing what he ought 
 to prove ; by finding 72072'e7itities in the bar- 
 rennefs of lexicography, he raifes a fufpiciou 
 only, that the accufed mzy pojibly be guilty; and, 
 ** all proofs fleeping elfe, but what his jea- 
 ** loufies awake,'' he then prays for judg- 
 ment ; as if guilt were to be the refult of 
 jealoufyy and convidion were to be the confe- 
 quence of his own failure in proof. " I will 
 *^ fight with him upon this theme, until my 
 ^* eyelids will no longer wag/' 
 
 Jt was in this confidence, that he laid the 
 P 4 whole 
 
tl^ JnAVOLQGY [Shakspeare's Profession 
 
 whole ftrefs of fbe i/fue, on the non-cxijience of 
 the v^oxdi accede y when Shakfpeare made his 
 pTofeJion af faith. The public accufer is quitQ 
 pofitive, that the word accede did not exift in 
 our language, .during that age (^). J^^ut, J 
 will, on this occafion, oppofe his negative. 
 proofs by pojitive evidence. Thtfaci is, not- 
 withftanding this pofitivenefs of dogmatifm, 
 that the word accede did exift, during the age 
 of Shakfpeare. Florio found this word ac- 
 cede^ in i6ii, though Coles did not adopt it, 
 in 1679. la ^een Annas. New World of 
 
 {b) Mr. Mai one is decidedly of opinion that, becaufe 
 Coles did not infert the word accede into his Latin diction- 
 ary, 1679, this negative circumftance is an unquejiionahle 
 proofs ihat this word was then unknown. [Inquiry, 204.] 
 He regards the not finding of a word in dictionaries, as ade-, 
 cijive evidence o^ forgery^ in the document, which may contain 
 fuch a word. [Id.] He admits, however, in the Inquiry, 258, 
 V' the impoffibility of proving an univerfal negative;" but, 
 be infifts, that he has brought evidence enough to fatisfy- 
 reafonable inquirers of the truth of his negative pofition, till 
 thofe, who diiter with him, prove the exiftence of the con- 
 tciled words. No; Sir, you have no right to call upon 
 others to help you out with your proofs : You undertook 
 to eftablifh a forgery : Now, it is quite fufficient for your 
 opponent?, to p'ead not guilty: And, it is your duty, as 
 the public accufer, to fupport the accufation, by your own 
 proofs, or an acquittal, with its ufual confequences, mud 
 be the refult; whether we decide, according to common 
 law^ pr common fenfe. 
 
 Words^ 
 
QF Faith.] /tr the "BE LIE Y EK%. ^117 
 
 Words, 161 1, there is^^accedere; to accede; 
 " to approach, or have accefs unto ; alfo tq 
 ^^ ql/l'nt unto :'' Now, here is accede, found in 
 this New World, at the very time, and in the 
 very {^\\{q, of Shakfpeare. Tl*e pubiic accufer 
 fails, then, in proving his ilfue \ he fails in his 
 negative proof; and he fails, confequently, in 
 ^ftablifhing his fundarnental pofition, for 
 proving decifively the fpurioufnefs of Shak- 
 fpeare's profeffion, that the word accede was 
 not adopted into the Englifh language, for a 
 century, after Shakfpeare's death. 
 
 If, moreover, a negative could poffibly be 
 oppofed to an ajjirmative. Coles is not fo good 
 an authority, as Florio, who had more genius, 
 ipore learning, and more refearqh (<:}. It 
 
 was, 
 
 {c) Of Florio, it is to be obferved, that he was not a 
 foreigner, who might be fuppofed to have colIe<5^ed his Eng" 
 lifl)^ at fecond hand. He was born in London, about the 
 year 1553, ^^ Italian parents, indeed, who, being Waldenjes, 
 fought refuge in England, during the reign of Henry VUl : 
 But, they returned again to the continent, during Mary's 
 perfccutions. Florio received his puerile education abroad. 
 They all came back to England upon the acceiTion of Eli- 
 zabeth. Florio, for a time refided at Oxford, as we learn 
 from Anthony Wood, who gives an imperfe6l account of 
 him. Thither, he attended Mr. Barnes, the Bifhop of Dur- 
 )iam's fon, in 1576, as his tutor for the French, and Italian : 
 ^nd, wearing a goivriy he was matricukted, as a member of 
 
 Emanuel 
 
 / 
 
fi^9 An APOLOGY [Skaks? eare's P^tdFEssioff 
 
 was, indeed, to be expefted by thofe, who 
 look on the analogies of language, with dif- 
 
 cerning 
 
 Emanuel College, in 15S1 \ and taught fcholars in the unii- 
 verfity, when he was eight and twenty years of age. The 
 7naide?ihead of his indujiry^ hededicate^ to the renowned Le-z 
 fi'siery in 15783 expeding patronage, which he never expe-? 
 rienced ; This was probably his Firji Frutesy which were 
 adapted to if^.^ ufi of foch as were but meanly entered in the 
 Italian tongue. He publiftied his Second Fruies^ in 1591. 
 He enjoyed a penfion for fome years before he publifhed his 
 World of Wordsy in 1598, from Lord Southampton. He 
 publiihed a tranilation of Montaigne's EffaySy in 1603. But, 
 ^ better profpeft now opened to his fight. At the acceffion of 
 King James, Florio was appointed reader of the Italian Ian-, 
 guage to Qiieen Apjic, and qwq of the gentlemen of her 
 privy chamber. I have feen a document in the paperroffice, 
 ^hich fhov^^s, that he had, for thofe appointments, ;^.ioo a 
 year ; as Samuel Daniel, the poet, whofe fifter he married,^ 
 had annually yr.6o, as a gentleman of her privy chamber. 
 In i6ii, he publiihed his Ne%v World of Words y newly much 
 migmentedy to which was prefixed a print of tb^ author, in a 
 very gorgeous drefs. l^etiring tq Fulham, to avoid the 
 plague, which then raged in London, he was, however, carr 
 ried off by it, fays A. Wood, in 1625. After great delibe- 
 ration, he made his will, which he wrote with his own hand^^ 
 and is dated the 20th of July 1625. He calls himfelf John 
 Florio, of Fulham, Efquire. He laments that he was able, 
 from his poverty, to leave fo little to his wife Rofe, whom 
 he made his executrix, and to his daughter Aurelia, who had 
 married James Molins : Yet, he bequeathed to Willian^ 
 Earl of Pembroke, the Lord Chamberlain, " all his Italian,^ 
 H French, and Spanifh, books, as well printed, as unprinted, 
 
 « being 
 
(DP Faith.] for the BELIEVERS. ^^ 
 
 cerning eyes, that accede would be adopted in- 
 to the Englifli tongue, as early as the kindrg4 
 words accefs and accejjihlcy Jecede and fucceed^ 
 ^nd recede, which is the very contrary of the 
 truant accede. But, as the fadi is now fettled, 
 dl'fubfequent reafoning, upon the point, is 
 vain. And, I will here clofe my examination 
 of the public accuftr's objedions to Shak^ 
 fpeares Profejjion of Faith ; whereby I have 
 Ihewn, that the obje5lion is ftill far from the 
 decifion. 
 
 Such is the Apology, which, on this head of 
 the Inquiry, I fubmit to the equity of this 
 court. It will be readily remembered, that 
 the public accufer undertook to overturn the 
 general argument for the believers, by fpecial 
 objeftions, although the profejjion of faith is 
 ftrongly fupported by external evidence. I 
 
 " being in number about three hundred and forty, including 
 ^' his new and perfe£l dictionary, his dialogues in Italian 
 ^' and Englifh, and his unbound volume of divers v^^ritten 
 '< colledlions and rhapfodies ; and entreated his lordfhip, as 
 *' he once promifed, to accept of them, as a token of afFec- 
 ." tion, and for the teftator's fake, to place them in his lir 
 " brary either at Wilton, or elfe at Baynard's Caftle, in Lon- 
 " don.'* This will was proved by his executrix, in the 
 prerogative office, on the ifl: of June 1626: From this fact, 
 I fufpec?-, that Florio dcceafed in the preceding month. He 
 died at the age of feventy- three, if we calculate from the date 
 on the print ^ him. 
 
 have 
 
?20 vf« APOLOGY [Th^ Miscf L^ANii^ 
 
 have crofs- examined bis fpecial objedtions, 
 wbich I have fhov/n, I truft, to be unfupr- 
 ported by argument, and inconfiftent with 
 fadts : He has failed, then, in his pleadings. 
 And being thus wro7ig by fyjlem^ and merely 
 right by accidenty I humbly hope, that this 
 court will allow him to take nothing by his 
 motion. A contrary deciiion would only fur- 
 nifh report w^ith an o^cafion, and a caufe, to 
 kriiit ;— 
 
 « . So (liall you hear 
 
 ** Of accidental judgements.^ cafual flaughters, 
 
 V' Of deaths put on by cunning, zn^forc'd caujej^ 
 
 §VI. 
 
 YHE MISCELLANIES, 
 
 The public accufer has not hitherto, aa 
 we have feen, taken any thing, by any motion ;^ 
 yndef any head of his Inquiry. Yet, he is 
 not difcouraged. He p.erfeveres, in his ol4 
 modes of logical probation, with the perti- 
 nacity, which the beft fuccefs generally in- 
 fpires in other minds ; thinking, no doubt;, 
 
 that,— 
 
 « . . Perfeverance keeps honour bright: 
 
 " To have done, is to hang quite out of fafhion, 
 ^' Like rufty mail, in monumental mockery/' 
 
THE Receipts.] >• //^^ B E L I E VE R S. tti 
 
 In this temper, he continues to make 
 fuch objeftions to ti)e Mifcellaneous Papersy aS 
 having been already confuted, need not ht 
 again confidered : Who, but Alexander, would 
 Jight his battles o'er again ; thrice to jlay the 
 Jlain I The public accufer, however, perlilts, 
 in fuppofing what he ought to prove ; in fub^ 
 ftituting aflertions for proofs 5 and in drawing 
 inferences, when he ought to eftablifh pre-^ 
 mifes. In this manner, he finds the notes of 
 handy and receiptSy '* fo replete with abfurdity 
 *^ and incongruity, that it is fcarce worth 
 ** while to examine them (^)." 
 
 But, he does think it worth while to exa- 
 mine the hand-writing of Shakfpeare, on the 
 Receitfts : and ^' to enter into a minute detail 
 *^ refped;ing the fpelling of his namefji).*- 
 He goes into this minute criticifm, notwith- 
 ftanding his own declaration, when he exa- 
 mined the fame point, in 1790. Before that 
 ^poch, much had been written, ** relative to 
 ** the proper mode of fpelling Shakfpeare s 
 " name :'' But, a mortgage y which had been 
 given by our poet, in 16 13, was, luckily, dif- 
 covered, in 1768. When Mr. Malone faw 
 Shakfpeare's fubfcription to that deed, he 
 
 (^) Inquiry, 116. {b) Id. 
 
 cried 
 
3S* Jft APOLOGY [The Miscellanies^ 
 
 cried out, ia a decifive tone : ** It is hoped 
 ** we fliall hear no more idle babble upon this 
 " fubjed:. He fpelt the name himfelf as I 
 ** have juft now written it, y^ithout the mid- 
 *' die e. Let this therefore for ever decide 
 *^ the q.ueftion {c)J* But, idle babble feems 
 to be a perennial fpring ; which continually 
 throws up bubbles, and froth, and fume, ac- 
 cording to the feafon. Infpired by the ex- 
 halations of this fountain, he is now deter- 
 mined, that the queftion, about Shakfpeare*s 
 name, fhall never be decided. And, he, ac-^ 
 cordingly, employs feveral pages to 'prove, that 
 his decifion, in 1790, ought to be reverfed, 
 and the queftion re-argued, in 1796. 
 
 I too have attentively examined the ori- 
 ginal will of Shakfpeare, which confifts of 
 three briefs. Each of thefe briefs, or iheets/ 
 is apparently fubfcribed by him, though in a 
 very different manner. Nor, is there any 
 thing, in the mode of thefe fignatures, more 
 obvious ,to an accurate eye, than their com- 
 plete diffimilarity. The baptifmal name is 
 difTimilar ; the furname is diffimilar : In the 
 firft brief, there is William, in the fecond, 
 
 {c) Mai. Shakfpeare, 1790, vol.1, part i. p. 192. 
 
 Willm, 
 
IHB Receipts.] fir tl'e B ULIEV E1^ ^, aaj 
 
 Willm, and in the third William {d) t In the 
 firft brief, there is Shadcfpere, in the fecond^ 
 Shakfpe re, and in the third Shakfpeare. The 
 W in William, in the three feveral fignatures 
 is quite different ; the fecond s in Shakfpeare 
 is written differently, being a long / in the 
 fecond brief, and a fhort i in the laft: and 
 the r is not exad:ly fimilar in the three feverdi 
 fignatures. The fcrivener, who wrote this 
 never-to-be-forgotten will, fpelt the tefta- 
 tor's name Sharkfpe^re. When the teflator 
 fubfcribed his name, for the laji lime, he 
 plainly wrote Shakfpe<:?re. And, the mo-- 
 numental infcriptions of his family exhiipit 
 three varieties; Shakefpeare; Shakefpere ; and 
 Shakfpeare (e). Yet, Mr. Malone, with all 
 thofe documents before him, infers from the 
 Jmg/e autograph of one deed, amidft fo many 
 varieties, *' that his own, [Shakfpeare's] or- 
 ** thography of his name is afcertained, be- 
 ^' yond a poffibihty of doubt, to have been 
 " Shakfpere (/) :" And, he adds, as a ?2ecef-- 
 
 (d) The mortgage, which is publiihed in Mai. Shak. 
 vol. i. part i. p. i^, is figned IV"* Shakfpe^: The convey- 
 ance publiQied in Mai. Inquiry, 402, is fubfcribed IVilUain 
 Shakfper. 
 
 {e) Dug.dale's Warwick, p. 518, 52©. 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 1 20. 
 
 - * . My 
 
ft24 -^n APOLOGY [Tki^fisctfLANiESf 
 
 fary cbnfeqtiencey although we have now before 
 us Jive fignatUreSy which are all different froni 
 each other, *' that thefe paper.s in which a 
 " different orthogfaph}/ is almoft uniformly 
 ** found, cahnot but be a forgery (^j/'^ Hei 
 thinks, in oppofition to he laft fignature^ 
 which the poet ever iliadd, that he wrote 
 Shakfpere : Yet, does the public accufer avow 
 his purpofe to give his feafons hereafter, why 
 he will continue to fpell the name of our 
 dr^niatid Shdkfpeare. Let us, however, hopCj 
 with Mr. Malone, iii 17905 *': to hear no mere 
 *^ idle b'cibble upon this fub^ft," in cppofitiori 
 to Mr. Malone, in 1796 (/i). " Vvhere much 
 •* bablyng is there muft nedes be offence \ and 
 " he that reftraineth his lyps is wyfe(/)i" 
 
 [g) Inquiry, p. 1 21-2. 
 
 [h) See the annexed plate of \}(i^ flue genuine figriatures 
 of Shakfpeare, which I caufed to be engraved ; in order W 
 enable every reader to form his own opinion from his own 
 infpe^tion. The fignature on the fecond fh^t of the v/ill 
 is engraved together v^^ith the word the of the preceding line-, 
 for the purpofe of fhowing hov^r Shakfpeare was prevented 
 from inferting fome letter before the final re. The reader 
 may be aflured that thefc fignatures are very perfect fac^ 
 Jiniiles, 
 
 (i) See The pithy and moop notahle fay Inge s of al fcrip- 
 ture gathered by Thomas PayneL Lnprimted by Copland for 
 Juggc, without the yere. 
 
 Bur, 
 
To/iicel'. 224-. 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 
 ru^ y^i"^ • "S^Z 
 
 5 
 
 '^l /i^«-^ /(Vu€i^w«^ ^C<c^^.j^.r^^ 
 
 y^, /4) /ro?^/? 
 
 Z, M^my . yl6!^.y^^x/on^ /fAi/:ey JI. vlTX 
 
 4. i^A^ermyJ^^ ^^x^tr/^ //re^^c^VAe^ ^"dl: 
 
 5, i^^rorn>M^ ^f^c^l ^/jJ'o/^.^^ 
 
 I.^i'rli'n delUtJcul/ir:2.S.' Marh'rir Leffrand. 
 
if rift Receipts.] /cr the B t. LI EVE^S, ti2^ 
 
 But, the public accufer will, perhaps, 
 be more happy, on feme other occaiidn. 
 «* Thofe," he {k) fays, " are but trifling ob- 
 " jeftions to the manner in which the fums 
 ** are here fpecified, I mean in Arabick nu^ 
 •* merals ; a mode which thofe who have the 
 " flighteft knowledge of former times know 
 *' not to have been the pradice of that age." 
 Upon this important point of our archaeology, 
 he is as pofitive as the earth is firm. Yet, 
 will I join iffue with him upon iH^ for the 
 vindication of the truth. 
 
 The introdudion of Arabic numerals 
 into England may be traced back, at leafl, as 
 far as the epoch of the Conquefi {^l). Mr. 
 Aftle is; however, of opinion, that Arabic nu- 
 merals were not introduced into our charters, 
 before the fixteenth century y and, that, if 
 Arabic numerals were found in any Englifli 
 charters, before the fourteenth century, this 
 circumftance would invalidate fuch charters, 
 by railing ftrong fufpicions of their fraudu- 
 lence (w). With regard to parochial regiflers, 
 
 [k) Inquiryj p. 126. 
 
 (/) See VVafie's Diflertation, Bihl. Liter. No.vlii, 1722 ; 
 Archaeolog. vdl. i. p. 150 ; and Mr. A filers curious work 
 OR Writing, 180, and plate 30. 
 
 (w) The Progrefs of Writing, 188. 
 
 , CL and 
 
S^lS An APOLOGY [The MiscELLANrgs; 
 
 and the accounts of parifti officers, Mr. Wafle 
 aflerts> that it wa3 not^ till about the year 
 1600, that the Arabic numerals w ere ufed in 
 them (/?) : But, this opinion of IVfr^iW^fle,. 
 like the pofitivenefs of Mr. Malone, appears 
 to be founded, upon a narrow view- of the 
 fubjedt. Mr. Malone might have feen, in the 
 Archaeologia, a very curious fpecimen of the 
 accounts of the parifh of St. Helen's, in 
 Al^ingdon ; which, from the firft of Philip 
 and .M^^y^ were kept in Arabic numerals [0). 
 This fpecimen is alone fufficient to fhow, 
 that the opinions both of Mr. Wafle, and Mr. 
 Malone, ought to be received with many li- 
 mitations y fo as to give to both the qualified 
 meanings, which they, probably,, intended, 
 and the truth, certainly, requires. But, had 
 their propoiition been, that the pariih officers, 
 
 {«) BIbl. Liter. No, viii. 
 
 {0) Archaol. vol. i. p. 11. This fpecimen is the more 
 fatisfad^ory, becaufe it has intermixed Roman numerals, for 
 the years, and Arabic numerals, for the money ; which is 
 ftated m /hillings^ and pence^ without the pounds : This do- 
 cument is alfo important j as it furnifties other illuftrations 
 of Shakfpeare. And, fee Strype's Life of Archbiihop Grin- 
 dal, the appx. JNo, 5 : The Faculty Office : The Difpenfatiom 
 with their prices : Thefe are all flated in Arabic numerals ; 
 arid this document is, therefore, a very fatisfadory fpecimen ; 
 being a MS. of the Archbiihop, who died on the 0th of July 
 J583. [Strype,p.289.J 
 
 8 the 
 
ttfE Receipts.] /cr />^^ B E L I E VE k S. -ai; 
 
 the managers of theatres, and houfehold ftew- 
 iards of families, generally, kept their accounts, 
 during the age of Elizabeth, in Ro?nan nu- 
 merals, it would not have followed, as a con- 
 fequence, that the tranfcript from the books 
 of St. Helen's, and the Faculty Office of Arch- 
 bifhop Grindal, or the Notei and Receipts of 
 Shakfpeare are fpurious 5 becaufe they contain 
 Arabic numerals. 
 
 This reafoning is confirmed, by a thoufand 
 (^) documents, from the reign of Henry 8, 
 to the acceffion of King James [q). The ac- 
 count of the fales of chauntiieS; collegeSj ^nd 
 other lands of a fimilar nature, in the fecond 
 year of Edward the 6th's reign, as it is drawn 
 up in Arabic numerals, is fatisfa<flory evi- 
 dence ; and, as it contains many ciirious 
 particulars, gives rife to fome ferious re- 
 fledlions [r). A Certificate of Fees, which were 
 paid in thofe days, in the Confiftory Court of 
 
 {p) See Strypes r»IemoriaIs, vol. i» appx. No. xxix j 
 c. vii ; c. xlx^ for ieveral ftatements in the time of Henry 8, 
 which were drawn up in Arabic numerals. 
 
 iq) LoidBurghley's Diary, in Murden's State Papers, is 
 full of Arabic numerals. 
 
 (r) Strype^s Mem* vol.ii. appx. p. 85. It is a remarka- 
 ble circumftaacej t^at this account cgintains j^. 2. 2. o. 
 [See p. 9 1. J 
 
 0^2 Norwich ; 
 
3»S An APOLOGY [The Miscellanies- 
 
 (J) Norwich, as it is written in Arabic nu- 
 merals, is equally authentic in its notices, and 
 equally fatisfadory in its inferences. There 
 were, during Elizabeth's age, ecclefiaftical 
 documents, which were formed in a mixed 
 flyle of compofition, both of Roman, and of 
 Arabic^ numerals. Of this mixed nature, is 
 ** The State of the Biilioprick of St. Davids, 
 " which was fent by the Bifhop to Burgh- 
 " ley (/).'* Of the fame nature, is the ^' Survey 
 " taken of the value of the Bifhoprick of 
 " Chichefler, upon the death of CurtefTe the 
 '* kte Biihop thereof (^rr).'* Of the fame kind, 
 and ftill more iliuflrative, is, *^ a difcovery 
 *' of the prefent eftate of the Bifhoprick of 
 "; St. Afaph," which was fent to the Lord 
 Treafurer Burghley, February 24, 1587(1;). 
 Thefe documents, compofed as they are of 
 Arabic numerals, prove decifively the rafhnefs 
 of unqualified alTertion, and the inconclulive- 
 nefs of negative poiitions. 
 
 (i) Strype^s Annals, vol. if. appx. p. 79. 
 
 (/) Strype's An. vol. iii. appx. p. 37, Here is the firfl; 
 
 article : " The Bifhoprick of S^ Davids was by Commif- 
 
 " fion. An. 27. R. Reg. Henrici O^avi^ valued de claro-^ 
 « — CCCCLVII. 1. 22. d. obq." 
 
 («; lb. p. 123. {v) lb. 184. 
 
 I might 
 
T H E Re en pts.] /^r z;^^ B E L I E V E R S. aap 
 
 I might here clofe my proofs/ upon this 
 point. With this refutation of the objection to 
 the Arabic numerals ; which, as it is founded 
 in miftake, might be difmiffed, without fur- 
 ther notice. But, I will proceed a ftep, or 
 two, further, for the vindication of truth, and 
 the iliuftration of our archeology. The in- 
 vention of the Arabic cyphers was a difcovery 
 of as much importance to fcience, a& it was 
 convenient to bulinefs. Soon iafter the intrb- 
 dudlion of printing, the arithmetical books 
 were printed in Arabic numerals. In this 
 manner was Tonftai's work, De Arte Sup-- 
 fiitandiy imprinted by Pynfon, in 1522 {yo)- 
 KtQovdiS Arithmetic ky the ground of arts ^ 
 vvhich was dedicated to Edward 6th^ was 
 printed in Arabic numerals. At the acceflion 
 of Elizabeth, the more general knowledge, 
 and common ufe, of the Italian method of 
 book-keeping, by double entry, was intro- 
 duced, and taught, by Jam.es Peele {x). It 
 
 was 
 
 {w) The Whetjione ofJVitte^ which is the feconde part 
 of Jrithmetike, was printed in Arabic numerals, by Kyng- 
 ftone, in 1557. 
 
 {x) Anderfon's Hift. Deduction of Commerce, vol. i. 
 p. 408. — Anderfon neglected to give us the title-page of this 
 curious book, which is here fubjoined for the reader's fatif- 
 foc^ion; fince it (hows alfo the miftake of Anderfon, in 
 
 0^3 fixing 
 
230 Jh% APOLOGY [The Miscel?.anies ; 
 
 was, by thefe means, that the habit of ufing 
 Arabic cyphers, in the operations of life, 
 becarne more cuftomary; while the Roman 
 numerals kept their accuftomed places, in the 
 Exchequer-pradlice. And, before the con- 
 clufion of Elizabeth's reign, the Arabic figures 
 had almoft banifhed the Roman numerals, 
 from the ufual tranfadions of daily bufinefs. 
 
 This deduction may be proved by many do- 
 cuments. In the year 1 545, there is " A Note 
 fV of the defraying of vidiuals for BuUoyn, 
 *' Callais, and other places," in Arabic nu- 
 merals.(j)^). In 1552, there is " A BrieiF of 
 *V all the Kipg's Majeftyes Debts with pro- 
 **\yiiion for the difcharge thereof (2;)." In 
 
 fixing the year 1569, as the epoch of the introdudlion of 
 book'-keeping b^ double entry : — 
 • * " 1569. 
 
 ^\ Tlj^e ,Pat.he way?: tp? Perfe6lnes, in th' Accomptes of 
 '' P^bkour, and Credltour : in manner of a Dialogue,, 
 *' very pleafaunte and proffitable for Marchauntes and al| 
 *' 'other » that'niirroe to frequente the fame: once agayne 
 ^y^filnforthe^ and verie muche enlarged, by James Peele 
 '' Citizen and Salter of London, Clercke of Chriftes 
 '^;jtio^all5pra£tizer?*nd teacher of the fame. 
 - '.-^S Imprinted -at London, in Pauley Churehyarde. 
 
 " By Thomas Purfoote, dwellinge at the figne of the 
 
 ■J,, ,,:,.,,^«,j;>iici-ccq.,-r-i6 Auguft.'' 
 
 'it;} JnH^yiie.sBur^ghieypapers, p.54. 
 
 ■ \%) ib; 126.' This too is in •Arabic numtrals. 
 
CTH* Rec^^Pts.] for the BELIEVER S. aj-l 
 
 1 56-^, there is " the Eftablifliment and charges 
 " of the Eaft, Weft, and middle, Marches (^)." 
 There is " A State of the Low Countries," 
 which was drawn up by the accurate pen of 
 Burghley^ in Arabic numerals (Jx). There is 
 *^ An Account of the Earl of Arundel's Debts, 
 *^ Eftate, and,Circumftances," which is ftated, 
 wholly, in Arabic numerals ( <: ) . Raleigh 
 wrote to Burghley, in 1592,' concerning the 
 huge C^rr^', called the Mother of Gody fe- 
 veral letters -, in which he introduces many 
 Arabic numerals [d). There, is a paper drawn 
 np by Burghley, in 1592, ftating in Arabic 
 numerals, the Queen's extraordinary charges, 
 by means of the Spanifh war (6'). Sir Thomas 
 Grefliani>. wl^o was the great agent for money, 
 
 {a) In Hayne's Burghley papers, p. 397. — This is a 
 very long account in Arabic numerals : And, fee the fame 
 book, p. 455, for the Bifhop of London's Certificate of the 
 numbers of all ilrangers, within the feveral wards of that 
 city, which is ftated in Arabic numerals. 
 
 (b) Strype's Annals, vol. iii. appx. p. 66. 
 
 {c) lb. p. 134. And fee the fame book, p. 147-8—153 
 — 169 — 174-5 — 182 — 221 — 226, for a variety of curious 
 documents, which are all drawn up in Arabic numerals. 
 
 (d) Strypes's Annals, vol. iv. p. 126-9— 130. 
 
 (e) lb. iii : And fee p. 197, the names of recufants, with 
 the fums of money psld by tbem, in 1594, which are alfo in 
 Arabic numerals, 
 
 0^4 in 
 
113* u#« APOLOGY [The MisciLLANiEsj 
 
 in that reign, made conftant ufe of Arabic 
 numerals, in his letters to Burghley (/"). The 
 ftate of the (hips, and men, which were to 
 oppofe the Spaniihi Armada, in 1588, was 
 drawn up wholly in Arabic numerals {^)* 
 There is " A brief note of all fuch Silver 
 " Bullion as was brought into the Towere 
 " by Sir Francis Drake, and laid in the vaute 
 " under the Jewel houfe, and what hath 
 ** been taken out, and remaineth,'* which 
 was ftated in Arabic numerals {h). Peck has 
 preferved fame very curious papers of that 
 age, which are written in Arabic numerals (/). 
 Mr. Malone has, indeed, exprefled his doubts, 
 about fome of thofe papers -, without recol- 
 ledting, that douiu are not proofs. His fcep- 
 
 (/) Murden, p. 217. (g) lb. 594— 627. 
 
 (^) Il>. 539. 
 
 (2 ) Defider. Curiofi vol. ii. p. 246-7-8-9 : — There are 
 two articles, which are ftrikingly interefting : 
 
 It : — 6 yards of tawny velvit at 14?. each yard ^f .4 4 o 
 
 It:— 3 hhds.cf winf, i white, i red, snd 1 clar et 550 
 In. Peck's Defid. vol. i, p. 61, there is an account of 
 " Queen Elizabeth's annual expence, civil and military,** 
 v/hich is drawn up in Arabic numerals. Mr, Malone, 
 however, " has not the fmalleft doubt, that the Arabick nu- 
 ^* morals were adopted by Peck, as leaft troublefome." 
 [Inquiry, p. 127.] This is not only to doubt agaipft the 
 dccument, but to argue againft facl. 
 
 ticifm 
 
THE Receipts.] /^r />&^ B E L I E V E R S. jj 
 
 ticifm cannot remember, that unlefs he provcj^ 
 that the univerfal praftice of the age was to 
 keep accounts in Roman numerals, he will fail 
 in his objed:ion to the ufe of Arabic numerals, 
 in the Mifcellaneous Papers, 
 
 I have already difproved the univerfality of 
 the practice of keeping boqks of accounts in 
 Roman numerals, during that age, whatever 
 may have been done in the exchequer. Of 
 more than fifty warrants, for paying money to 
 players, which I have gleaned from the conn- 
 cil-regijlers of Elizabeth's reign, one eighth of 
 them are ftated in words y one eighth in Roman 
 numerals, and the other three fourths of them 
 in Arabic numerals. In the paper office, there 
 is a book, N"* 24; containing Prince Henry's 
 privy-purfe expences, for one year, from the 
 29th of September 1609, to the 29th of Sep- 
 tember 1 6 1 o ; which is drawn up, wholly, in 
 Arabic numerals (i^). This book, as it was 
 
 thus 
 
 (i) The whole expenceoFoneyear was j^.1400. Among 
 other charges, the following are remarkable : 
 17th Odiober paid to a Frenchman, that pre- 
 
 fented 2 book — — ^.4100 
 
 20 Odio^ paid Mr. Holyoak for writing a Cata- 
 logue of the Library which the Prince had of 
 Lord Lumley — — 8 13 4 
 
 1610-1 r, Janry, paid to two poor fcholars 200 
 
 , jq Sep"", lojl at cards — — 660 
 
 > ' ■ ■ 
 Here^ 
 
73«f ^« APOLOGY [The MiS!C£LLAKiss$ 
 
 thus kept in Arabic numerals, ought to re^ 
 move fome of Mr, Malone-s doubts ; fince he 
 knows how often ^^ doubting things go ill/' 
 
 Yet, he continues to doubt, with regard to 
 Shakfpeare's receipts of money for splaying at 
 the houfe of /orde Leycejierre {I). He fufpedls, 
 that an error of his own, vyhich he now retrad:s, 
 w^s the foundatioU of the forgery of thefe re- 
 ceipts. The fact is, as- the CGuncil-regiftcrs 
 evince,, that the ufuai necompence for playing 
 before the Queen was ^.6. 13.4; and gene- 
 rally >C*3* ^- ^» in', Edition, as the royal boun- 
 ty (»/). On this head, th^n^ the pbjedion to 
 the fum of^.ig, which Lord Leycefterre paid, 
 
 Here> we fee the Prince of Wales lofing fix guineas at 
 cards. This book is fubfcribed by the Prince :— 3/" Henry P; 
 his baptifmal name being Frederick Henry. — And, as a con- 
 duftve proof of the ufe of Arabic numerals, among the 
 players, in Shakfpeafe's days, fee Mr. Malone's own docu- 
 ment, the Articles of Grievance againft Mr, Hinchlowe. [In-» 
 ^uiry, 247.] 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 1 28-9. 
 
 [fn) A warrant was granted, on the 27th of Nov. I597f 
 to Sir John Stanhope, the treafurer of her majefty's cham- 
 ber, to pay to John Hemings, and Thorns Pope, fervants to 
 the lord chamberlain, for fix interludes, played before her 
 majefty, in the Chriftmas holydays laft, the fum of forty 
 pounds, for their pains and charges, and by way of her ma- 
 jcfty's reward j^.20. [Council-regifter of that date.] 
 
 on 
 
^HE Receipts.] y»r /-&<? B E L I E V E R S. 235 
 
 pnone occafion, for the players greate expennces 
 in Splaying ats hoiijiy is not to be juftified, when 
 we confider both the fait, and the pradicc. 
 But, the great liberality of Lord Leyccfter, 
 whofe name Shakfpeare could not fpell, it 
 feems, though every body elfe could, who did 
 not live fo near .to Kenelwofth Gaftle, is ex- 
 tremely objecflionable j beitrg ho lefs than 
 *' the fumme o' 50 poundes' (;/).''■ As we are 
 not told how many plays were ena(fled, or 
 what work was done, for this great reward, 
 the minute critic has not fufficient ground for 
 his Jlretch' d footing and the f caff oldage. 
 
 Thus, is the public accufer continually 
 finding objeftions in his own miftakes. In 
 this ftrain, he objects to the application of the 
 worfhipful epithet grace to any bther noble 
 perfonages than dukes ; and he objects to the 
 fpelling of Leycejier. But, we have feen, that 
 fuch objedions are more eafily made, than fully 
 fup ported : I have already fhown, with fuf- 
 ficient conviction, that there was then no fettled 
 cuftom, in the application of the epithet grace y 
 which was applied, at time^, to a marchionefs^ 
 and to a baron ; nor any general uniformity, in 
 
 («) Inquiry, 126, 
 
 the 
 
33^ ^« APOLOGY [The Miscellanies} 
 
 the fpelling of that favourite's title (a). Happy 
 had it been for Mr. Malone, if before he en- 
 tangled himfelf, in fuch a maze of doubts, he 
 bad refieded, with Dekker, that, 
 
 *' A maTie is like a doubt y 
 " 'Tis eafy to get in>, hard to get out.*' 
 Yet, is he determined to perfevere in his 
 congenial mode of obj effing to a want oi uni- 
 formity, \n an age, when uniformity did not 
 e^ift in practice, or theory. In this ftyle, he 
 objefts to ih^ki^tzvQsfpecialties to John He- 
 piingc'j- 5 ** for fo his name Ihould be writ- 
 ** ten," fays Mr. Malone {p). Was the 
 |iam? of this firft editor of Shakfpeare*s dramas 
 ever written, apd printed fo before ? Was it 
 fo written by Mr. Malone, in 1790 ? Was it 
 fa wrjtten in \\i% will ? Was it fo printed in 
 
 (e) The famous Sir Thomas Greftiam, writing to Burgh- 
 ley on the 28th of May 1572, prays: " that I maye have my 
 " Lady Mary Grey removed owght of hand, feeing that her 
 *' majeftie havthe holly relferyed the matter to you, and my 
 « Lord Leajjitor^ wherein youre Lordefhip ihall do me and my 
 •• wiffe a veryyJ«^^^«/«r good Torne." [Murden, p. 217.] 
 Now, the queftion is, whether this letter of Sir Thomas 
 Greiham, who knew men^ and matters^ as well as any perfon 
 of that age, be genuine, or fpurious ? Mr. Malone has al- 
 ready decided, that it is fpurious ; becaufe Greftiam, who 
 had probably lent money to Leiceder, muft have knowa 
 flow to fpdl the name of th^tjinggeular good lorde, 
 
 (p) Inquiry, 137-9. 
 
 the 
 
i»ftE Receipts.] Jbr the B E L I EY E SiS. 257' 
 
 the firft edition of Shakfpeare*s comedies, 
 tragedies and hiftories, in 1623 ? Was it 
 ever (o printed fince ? If you alk Mr. Malone 
 for. a reafon, why the name ihould be Jb writ- 
 ten, he will anfwer, in his own manner ; be- 
 caufe "it was a very frequent praftice in the lafl: 
 " age to add a final s to proper names/* He 
 fubjoins a better reafon: " the corruption of 
 " the name of Heminge was by himfelf, by 
 ** adding a final s:'* And, he fortifies this 
 accufation, by aflerting, that **the name is 
 *' alfo written Hemingf^r in the margin of that 
 ** will, which is preferved in the prerogative 
 ** office as an original/' I fufpeft, however, 
 that the affertion, with regard to the name of 
 Heming^j", on the margin of the will, cannot 
 be fupported. On examining the record, it 
 appeared to me, diftindlly, that the name, 
 v/hich was written on the margin, by the clerk, 
 is Hemingj'(5^). But, Mr. Malone will be, 
 doubtlefs, more happy in the difcoveries, which 
 
 (q) In the council-reglfters, the name is fpelt fometimes 
 Heming^s, but oftener Hemingj. A will of John Flemings 
 may be found in the prerogative office, in 1665: And, In 
 1686, the will of George Hemings. It appears from Ly- 
 fons's Emj'trons of London^ vol. ii. p. 10, and vol. iii. p. 334- 
 95—585, that the name of Heming remains to the prefent 
 day. One autograph (and we have only one genuine figna- 
 tiire of Heminges) is not fufHcient evidence to prove how hs 
 gizierally fpelt his name. 
 
25^ ^//APOLOGY [THEMiscELtANiis* 
 
 he has recently made, on this fubjeft, in the 
 parifh-regifters of St* Mary Aldermanbury ; 
 as he can read the old hand-writing fo much 
 better, th^n the believers : He therein found, 
 it feems, that John Hemingx was married on 
 the X^'^ of March 158^. to Rebecca Nue/, 
 widow. Yet, the regifter demonftrates, that 
 thefe difcoveries are all imaginary. In the 
 entries of his marriage, in the pariih- regifter, 
 and of the baptifm of hi^ five children, the 
 name is uniformly fpelt (r) Hemin^ ; and he 
 inarried, not Rebecca Niie/^ but Rebecca 
 Kne//, widdow (j). If it were a queftion^ 
 whether the parifli-regifters of St. Mary Al- 
 dermanbury be genuine, or fpurious^ Mn 
 Malone would readily decide, as there is a 
 niiflpelling in the name of Heming, that they 
 
 (r) The regifter of Shottery parifti, near Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, fpells tiie name Heming, and Hemyng, but never Her 
 trnx^ges, [Mai. Shak. 1 790, vol. i. part ii. p. 189.] 
 
 (j) If I might be indulged a conje£lure, vi'hen adjufting 
 fuch an important point, as the true fpelling of Hemyng's 
 name, I fhould guefs, that the Miftrefs Knell, w^hom John 
 Heming certainly married, vi^as, probably, the ii^idow of 
 Knell^ the a^tor, w^ho is mentioned by Heyvi^ood, in i6i2j 
 as dead before his time ; [Apology for Actors, Sig^ E. 2\\ 
 and is fpoken of as the Garrick of his day: For, there v^as 2, 
 very intimate connedtion between the players of former 
 times. ^ 
 
 arc 
 
YBfB Receipts,] fir 4& ]& EiLI E.V E RS. 25^ 
 
 are certainly fpurious; as: he would equally 
 decide, in favour of his awn infallibility, as to 
 Miftrcfs Nm}^ againft Miftrefe KnelU and the 
 •regifter. XJnifortmtyof ffdling is to Mr. Ma- 
 lone> what a quibble Y!'3i% to 5hakfpeare : He 
 purfues it, at all adventures, as the traveller 
 purfues an ignis fatuils ; it is fure to lead 
 him out of the way; and is fure to plunge 
 him in the mire: Umformity- of fpelling is the v 
 fatal Cleopatra, for which he loft the critical 
 world ^ and is content to lofe it. 
 
 After fuch difcoveries, and fuch indications 
 of forgery, the public accufer thinks it unne- 
 ceffary to call the attention *' to the fum of 
 ^^ Jive guineas y here in fadl, though not in 
 *' words promifed to be paid/' He admits, 
 however, that "in the infinite combinations 
 ** which fams are capable of fuch payments 
 ** may occafionally have been made as five 
 ** pounds and five ihillings."— Yet, even in 
 thefe inftances, the ufual mode of ancient times - 
 Was, to write xxi fliillings ; oj cv {hillings. 
 In oppofition to thefe affumptions, and fug- 
 geftions, I have iliown payments of ^.6. 6 /. 
 
 iC-5* S^* -?C-4' 4-^- ^^d X'2. 2 J. in Shak- 
 fpeare's age ; and which were all charged, in 
 Arabic numerals ; in direct refutation of Mr» 
 
 Malone's 
 
2JfX> Ah AVOLOGY [TH^MlSCEtLANI«- 
 
 Malone's theory ; and in contemp't, as it were, 
 of the idle babble about ^i;^ guineas. 
 
 But, the minute critic, as he is invefted 
 with unbounded invention^ is alfo endued 
 vj\xkifeco7idJight, The word recompence, which 
 is ufed in Shakfpeare's fpecialtyi " though it 
 " was in ufe at that time, would not have been 
 '* the word employed here ; but (/) reward" it 
 feems. In fadl, Shakfpeare ufes the word 
 recompcncpi^ on fuch occafions; Shakfpeare 
 might have faid to Hemings, not in the 
 honey-moon, indeed, which would have dif- 
 fatlsfied the wanton widdow {u) Nuel-, but in 
 the following year : " Do not look for further 
 *' recompencey [in going down to Stratfordy] 
 ** than thine own gladnefs that thou art em*- 
 ** ployed -r Hemings might have replied, in 
 " friendly recompence'' to Shakfpeare : " Thou 
 " art fo far before, that fwifteft wing of re- 
 " compeiice is flow to overtake thee {v)'' 
 The public accufer concludes his objections to 
 this fpecialty of Shakfpeare, in his beft man* 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 1 36. («) Inquiry, 140. 
 
 (v) In his twenty- third fonnet, Shakfpeare afks; 
 
 " Who plead for love, and lock for recompence P^* 
 See Mai. Supl' vol. i. p. 600. And, fee twelfth Night: 
 
 " I am no feed poft, lady ; keep your purfe ; 
 
 ** My mailer, not myfslf, lacks rec9m^en/e,'\ 
 
 ncn 
 
THE Receipts.] /^r //^^ B E L I E VE R S. 241 
 
 ner. After deciding, by an averment, that 
 difficult queftion, when the Glo^i^ theatre 
 was built, he adds : /' But we want no aid 
 " from thefe minute obfervations: The whole 
 " is an evident forgery {10).'' Three fophifms, 
 in one breath, the Globe, the forgery, the 
 evident forgery, may v/ell prompt an enraged 
 critic to exclaim with Lear, ** Ha ! here's 
 " three of us ^.x^fophijlicatedr 
 
 In this ftyle of fophiftry, the public accufer 
 opens his attack on Shakfpeare s Letter to 
 Couky[x). He deems it a ftrong objec- 
 tion to aflert, *' that Richard Cowley was a 
 *' low aBor, who played the part of Verges in 
 " Much Ado About Nothing ; and who, if we 
 " are to credit thefe papers, was our poet's 
 " bofom friend (7)." He meets him in fuit- 
 able company; yet, with the acutenefs of 
 Dogberry, hefufpeBs him, by virtue of his office 
 to be no true man. Richard Cowley was cer- 
 tainly not one of the hired men o^The Company-y 
 but was, undoubtedly, aJeUoWy of Shakfpeare, 
 Hemings, Cundal, Laurence Fletcher, Au- 
 gufline Phillips, Robert Armin,' and other 
 chief comedians. He had the honour to be 
 mentioned, by King James, with Laurence 
 Fletcher, Shakfpeare, and the other refpeftable 
 
 {w) Inquiry, 137. [x) lb. 205. {y) lb. 
 
 R adors 
 
24a An A? OLOGY for [The Miscellanies; 
 
 adlors of that epoch, as one of the company 
 at the Globe theatre. When Auguftine Phil- 
 lips made his will, in 160^, he gave a legacy 
 to Richard Cowley, together with Shakfpeare, 
 Cundal, Laurence Fletcher, Armyn, and the. 
 teftators, other fellows of the King's com- 
 pany (2;'. It appears from various circum- 
 fiances, that the players, of that period, had 
 a warm friendfliip for each other -, which, as 
 it does credit to their characters, refle(fl:s ho- 
 nour on their memories. Thefe fadls eftablifh 
 a ftrong prefumption, which idle aifertion 
 cannot fhake, that Shakfpeare might proba- 
 bly account Richard Cowley, a pleajaynte ande 
 witty e perfonne whofe company e he did ejieeme. 
 
 But, a witty perfon, in Shakfpeare's time, 
 fignified, fays Mr. Malone, " either a man of 
 ** cunning and flirewdnefs ; not as it is here 
 *' ufed, a man of lively fancy (/^).'' I wot 
 no w^hat wit it is, who fays : " I am not 
 *' only witty in myfelf ; but the caufe that 
 *' wit is in other men :" Mr. Malone can tell. 
 He has read, no doubt, a certain comedy, 
 yclept Much Ado About Nothing ; wherein he 
 
 (2) I have luckily found the JVill of Auguftine Phillips, 
 which Mr. Malone unluckily miffed ; and which, as it con- 
 tains many curious particulars, will be hereinafter printed. 
 
 [a) Inquiry, 205-6. 
 
 3 might 
 
YflE Letter ToCoWLEY.] /-&^ B E LIE VERS. 243 
 
 might have feen an exemplification of witty 
 perfons : 
 
 Benedict : Sir, I fhall meet your wit in the career, if 
 you charge it againft me. 
 
 ■^I^ ^ ^ 5^ W 
 
 Benedi6t : Sir, your wit ambles well ; it goes eadly. 
 
 Pedro : I'll tell thee, how Beatrice praifed thy wit the 
 other day : 1 faid, thou had/i a fine wit : ^rue ; 
 fays {he, a fine little one : No ; laid I, a great ibit: 
 Right ; faid file, a great grofs one : Nay ; (aid I^ 
 a good wit : Jiifi ; (ays (he, it hurts nobody. 
 
 Shakfpeare repeats the word wit^ for a reci- 
 procation of fmartnefs, a thoufand times [b). 
 
 Yet, 
 
 (1^) « What a witfnap-per are you." [Merch. of Venice.] 
 ■*' A college of witcrakers cannot flout me out of my 
 ^^ humour." [Much Ado.] Chapman, Ben Johnfpn, and 
 Maifton, concurred with Shakfpeare, when they wrote the 
 Prologue to Edfiwarcl Hoe^ in 1605, which concludcid with 
 -this couplet : 
 
 ** Bear with our willing pains., if dull, or nvitty, 
 
 ** We only dedicate it to the cittye." 
 
 *Ben Johnfon's verfes to the memory of Shakfpeare, as they 
 are publifhedin Mai. Shak. vol. i. p. 201, have thefe lines: 
 '* Which were fo richly fpun, and woven fo fit, 
 ** As, fince, (he will vouchfafe no other w// .• 
 ** The merry Greek, tart Arillophanes, 
 •^* Neat Terence, -iviity Plautus, now not pleafc; 
 •** But antiquated and deferted lie, 
 "'■ As they were not of Nature's family.** 
 Ben Johnfon was faid, at the time, to be the ivittieft brick- 
 layer In England. Harrington has witty very often in his 
 Epigrams. Yet, Mr. Malone refumes his obje6tion to wittyy 
 ia the Inquiry, 297 ', infifling with unlucky perfeverance, 
 
 R 2 that 
 
244 ^« APO LOGY for [The Miscellanies; 
 
 Yet, Mr. Malone gravely maintains his po- 
 fition, with wild pertinacity; as if the epithet 
 uoitty had not been ufed by Shaklpeare, and 
 the other wits of his age, in both the fenfes ; 
 for 'Si /mart J and for a fhrewd, perfon. ^ 
 
 The public accuier now diverges from 
 'witty to whimJicaL ** The whymjicall Conceit 
 *' v/ill demand,'* he fays [c) ferioufly, " a more 
 " particular examination. " He turns over 
 diftionaries, for the word whimfcaU without 
 fuccefs; though he iinds, in the age of Shak- 
 fpcare, whim-wham^ and w>6/V;7^,— fantaftical, 
 toyiih, odde, conceited -, which are all coufin- 
 germans of whi?njical conceit : And, from his 
 difappointment in the fearch, he infers, ac- 
 
 tbat it bore, ia thofe times, no fuch meaning, as farcaftic 
 joke. Wilfon in h\.s Arte of Rhetorique^ which was printed 
 in 1553, ^5^7> ^^^ ^5^5? ^^s a chapter of wittte jefting : 
 " Many pleafant gentlemen are well pra6tifed in merrie 
 « conceipted jefts." [Laft Edit. p. 184.] See Marfton's 
 Satire, 1599 • Stultorum plena funt omnia : 
 
 ** For, ((hame to the poet) read Ned, behold I 
 ** How vjittily a maifterfhood can fcold. 
 In a note Marfton adds : '' Mark the witty allufion to 
 " my name" [Sig. Hi.] But, Ned cried out j enough f 
 enough ; of tvltty^ quite enough ! [ ! 
 
 {c) Inquiry, 206. — Fowler fent from Wodftoke, on the 
 nth of September 1603, to the Earl and Countefs of Shrewf- 
 bury, « A Conceate of myne drauen from ane horologe,"" 
 [Lodge's 111 u ft, vol. iii. p. 169. J 
 
 cording 
 
THE Letter TO CowLiY.] /if B ELI EVER S. 245' 
 
 cording to his own mode of logic, that the 
 word whimjical did not then exift. I have 
 already difcovered fo many words, which are 
 thus fuppofed not to exift, that I feel myfelf 
 entitled to deny the right of the public 
 accufer, to confider nonentities, as fad:s ; to 
 reafon from fufpicions, as bearing the force 
 of evidence ; aild to call for convid:ion from 
 what he aflerts, rather than from what he 
 proves. While fearching unfuccefsfully for a 
 whimjical conceit, he might have found a boke 
 of wyfe conceytes ; containing " wit tie fayned 
 " fayings of men, beafts, and fouls (//):" 
 Herein, he might have feen, how ^ crane 
 trying to emulate the eagle, in flying up as 
 high as ih^funne, evinced, by her fate, that, 
 
 " Who fo clymbeth higher than he ftiould, 
 <' Fiilleth lower than he would." 
 
 {d) This rare, elegant, and wittie, Schole oi wife Conceytes 
 was printed by Binneman, in 1569. The inquirer [p. 209] 
 objeds to ^^oune for one^ which (he fays) is the fpelling of no 
 *' time whatfoever." If he had not thought negative proofs 
 quite fufficienf, he might have feen oon for one^ frequently, 
 in Henry the yth's inllrudHons, before mentioned; in a love- 
 letter of Henry the 8th to Anna Bullen, there is won for one;^ 
 and he may fee oone for one, very often in Sir Edward Wal- 
 degrave's account of the burial of Edward the 6th, in The 
 Archa^ol. vol. xii. p. 395. My argument is, that there v^as, 
 in thofe times, no uniformity of fpelling ; and confequently, 
 there could be no precedent for the fpelling of any one word. 
 
 R 3 The 
 
2^6 ^» APOLOGY [Th2 MiscELLASrEsr; 
 
 The fate of the crane does not, however^ 
 reftrain the public accufer fronri making fimi- 
 lar objedions to Shakfpeare's Deed of Gift to 
 William Henry i^e) Ir eland , which he fupports 
 by fuppofing much, and proving little. This 
 is the firft deed, he protefts, that he had 
 ever perufed, though he had examined net a 
 few, in which a ftory, with all its circum- 
 ftances, was regularly told. He has never 
 read, it feems. Weft's Symboleographie^ which 
 he fometimes quotes. This defcription of in-* 
 Jiruments^ and precedents , fufficiently proves^ 
 that recitals were very commonly prefixed to 
 deeds ; in order to lay a ftrong foundation, 
 for the fubfequent contrails (/). He thus 
 fails, in his firft objection. In oppofition to 
 the deed, he makes an averment, that Shak- 
 fpeare did not live in the Blackfriars, in 1 604 : 
 And, in order to make out this objection, he 
 fays, that Shakfpeare had no motive to live 
 then in the Blackfriars ; undertaking withal, 
 tp prove, that Shakfpeare lived in Sou, thwark 
 
 s 
 
 {e) Inquiry, 2I0, 
 
 {f) I quote the edit, 1647 j wherein may be feen, par- 
 ticularly, contracts of marriage, which regularly tell the ftory 
 with all the circumftancss : And, the fcrivcner would have 
 ill difcharged his trufl, h.id he not recited the intention, and 
 ^greementjj pf the contracling parties, 
 
 during 
 
THE Deeds.] for the B E LI EV E R S. 247 
 
 daring the year 1596 ; perhaps from that 
 year to 1608. It would be a point of more 
 importance to fettle, whether Shakfpeare ever 
 had a fixed refidence in the metropolis. 
 I doubt, if the poet ever brought his family 
 from Stratford, or ever confidered London, as 
 his home {g). If it be true, that his houfe- 
 
 (g) From the parifh-regifler of Stratford-upon-Avon, 
 it appears : — 
 
 ift. That he was baptized there, on the 26th April 
 
 1564; 
 2dly. That his daughter Sufanna was baptized there, on 
 
 the 26ch May 1583 ; 
 3dly. That Hamnet and Judith, his twin fon, and daughter, 
 
 were baptized there, the 2d February 158I. 
 4th]y. That his fon Hamnet was buried there, on the nth 
 
 of Auguft 1596. 
 5thly. l^hat his daughter Sufanna was there married to 
 
 John Hall, on the 5th of June 1607. 
 6thly. That his daughter Judith was there married to 
 Thomas Queeny, on the lOth of February i6|^; 
 7thly. That he was buried there, on the 23d April i6i6. 
 From thefe incontrovertible fads, I am led to infer, that 
 Shakfpeare's family conftanilyrefided at the place of his birth, 
 and burial. Add to this, that his mortgage, dated the loth of 
 March 161 2- 13, defcribes him, as William Shaicefpeai-e of 
 Stratford-upon-Avon, gentleman. He is faid to have pro- 
 duced his Twelfth Nighty in 16 14. Ben Johnfon calls him 
 the Sweet Swan ofAvon^ not of Thames. And, the tradition, 
 which is ftill remembered, of Shakfpeare's frequent journies 
 from Stratford to London, and from London to Stratford^ 
 confirms my conjecture. 
 
 R 4 hold 
 
243 An APOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 hold was at Stratford, and his abode in Lon- 
 dog, during particular feafons, it will follow ; 
 that the objedtor again fails in his pofition. 
 
 By the acceffion of King James, Shakfpeare 
 acquired fome honour. From being the fer- 
 vant of the Lord Chamberlain, he, and his 
 fellows, became immediately the fervants of 
 the King (Z>). It was from the mere favour 
 of James, who wi{hed to pleafe every body, 
 and not to the folicitation of Lord South- 
 ampton, who had too many things to afk for 
 (/) himfelf, that the licenfe was granted to 
 Fletcher, Shakfpeare, and other players, on 
 the 19th of May 1603, to play at the Globe, 
 and at other convenient places, within any 
 town. And, it was equally commodious for 
 Shakfpeare to refide, for a time, in the Black- 
 friars, as on the Bankfide. Here again the 
 objedlor fails. — 
 
 " I laugh, when thofe who at the fpear are bold, 
 
 " And vent'rous, if that fail them, fhrink and fear." 
 
 But, the public accufer will neither fhrink, 
 nor fear, when he engages to invalidate the 
 
 [h) Gilbert Dugdale's Time Triumphant 1604, fig. B. 
 
 (/ ) Mr. Malone fays, tliat the licenfe was procured, 
 « without doubt, by the favour of the Earl of Southampton.'* 
 [Inquiry, 214.] It would require much ftronger evidence, 
 than mere afTertion, to fatisfy me of the truth of this pofition j 
 (q doubtful, and fo improbable, do I think it. 
 
 deed 
 
THE Deeds.] /or //^^ B E L I E V E R S. 249 
 
 deed of gift to Ireland ; by (howing, that, as 
 Shakfpeare could fwim, he owed no obligation 
 to his faviour : And, he proves, that Shak- 
 fpeare could {k) fwim, by faying, that the poet 
 could defcribe the ufeful art of fwimming^ 
 as if, by parity of reafon, the dramatift were 
 able to create the cliffs of Dover : — 
 
 <* Mark, and perform it, fee'ft thou ! for the fail 
 
 " Of any point in't fhall not only be 
 
 « Death to thyfelf ; but " 
 
 Notwithftanding this denunciation, we are, 
 from vague conjefture, once more carried 
 back(/)to verbal difquifitiony which, in this 
 Inquiry, are not long feparated from each 
 other. The feamen's word upfety which they 
 ufe colloquially, it feems, to exprefs one of 
 the many modes of iliipwreck, the public 
 accufer could not find in Johnfon's diftionary, 
 nor indeed in any book [m) : Yet, he admits 
 it to have crept into our language ; though he 
 cannot tell when. It has been faid, by John- 
 fon, that the ?2ava/ dialogue of the Tempeji is 
 perhaps the firft example of failor's language, 
 exhibited on the ftage. If this creative ge- 
 nius firft introduced the naval dialogue of our 
 
 [k) Inquiry, 217. (/) lb. 219. 
 
 {m) In Eliot's didtionary, printed by Berthelef, 1545, 
 the word ever to is rendered " to tourne up Jet downe." 
 
 dramatic 
 
2^0 An APOLOGY [TitbMiscellanissV- 
 
 ATaraatiG Golloquy, is it improbable, that he 
 may have adopted iipfet^ either by defign, or 
 chance. If it be probable, that he found the 
 Avard on the Bankfide, or in Eliot's didionary, 
 a Jufpicion^ arifing from ?zcgative argument, 
 will not deprive the finder of the advantages 
 of his difcovery. When an accident happens, 
 fays Mr. Malone, to a boat from the mif- 
 management of a fail, or the force of the 
 wind, the boat is faid to be over-turfied [71) : 
 No : failors, and phiiologers, would ufe, on 
 fuch an accident, the appropriate term, over- 
 fety which means to turn bottom [0) upwards ; 
 but the word overturn, fay Johnfon, and Afli, 
 means to throw down ; to tople down ; to 
 fab vert ; to ruin ; and, from Milton, to over- 
 power ; to conquer. He is not more lucky 
 in his conclufion, where his obfervation is 
 founded in fadt, rather than philology : — . 
 ** Here therefore," fays he, *' we find an acci^ 
 ** dent not i)ery likely to happen on the Thames, 
 ** where we Jeldom have Juch boifierous waves,, 
 " exprefl^ed by a word unknown in our Ian- 
 ** guage for above a century afterwards (/?)/' 
 If we examine, however, the records of the 
 drama, we fhail find, that the faB does not 
 
 (»). Inquiry, 220. {0) See Johnfon, and Afh, in Face. 
 (/>) Inquirvj 220. 
 
 warrant 
 
TH§ Deeds.] /or the B E LI ZYE K S, ajt 
 
 warrant his conclulion. In the Eajlward Hoe 
 of Chapman, Johnfcn^ and Marfton, which 
 was printed, in 1605^ we may fee, in the 
 fcenes of real life, " what prankes the Thames 
 " plaies in her defperate lunacy/' Let us 
 feled: an example by way of illuilration of 
 the fubjed : — 
 
 Enter Drawer. 
 
 ^' Drawer : Sir Petronel ; Here's one of your water- 
 men come to tell you, it will be ffood thefe three 
 howeres 5 and that Hr will be dangerous gov/ing 
 againft the tide : For, the fkie is overcaft ; and 
 there was a porpifce, even now feen at London- 
 bridge, which is always the meiTenger of tempefts, 
 he fayes. 
 
 Fstronel : A porpifce ! what's that to th' purpofe ? 
 Charge him, if hee love his life, to attend us : 
 Can we npt reach Black wall (where my fhip lies) 
 againft the tide, and in fpight of tempefts ?— 
 Captain Seagull ; charge a boat. 
 
 Omnes : A boat, a boat, a boat. ^Exeunt: 
 
 Drawer : Y' are in a proper taking indeed to take a boat ; 
 efpecially at this time of night, and againft tidff, 
 and tempeft. 
 
 Enter Securitie. 
 
 Securitie : What, Winny ! wife, I hy ! out of dores,. at 
 this time ; where fliould I feek the g^dflie ? She's 
 gone with tlie Knight: — woe be to theeBillingf^ 
 gate : A boate^ a b&atey a boate^ a full hundred 
 marks^ for a boat (q) ! 
 
 [q) In this dull parody on Richard's horfe^ we fee another 
 tnalignant ftroke of Ben Johnfon, at gentle Shakfpare ; 
 >v)iich has not been generally obfoved. 
 
 The 
 
25*^ ^« APOLOGY [The Miscellanies J 
 
 The porpifce was for once a true proiphet 
 as it feemeth. Slit gut entering with a faire of 
 cxe-hornes^ early in the morning, defcribes 
 what he beheld : 
 
 Slitgut : Up then, Heaven, and St. Luke, blefie me, that 
 I be not blown into the Thames, as I clime this 
 tree, that is all fruit and no leaves-^ with this fu- 
 rious tempejl, Lorde ! what a coyle the Thames 
 keeps ; fhe bears fome unjuft burden, I believe, 
 that ihe kicks, and curvets, thus, to caft it : 
 Heaven blefie all honeft paflengers, that are upon 
 her back now ; for, the bitte is out of her mouth, 
 I fee, and fliee will run away with them. Oh me ! 
 here's a boate has been caft away, hard by : Alas, 
 alas, fee one of her paflengers labouring for his life. 
 
 We now perceive, in this dramatic hiftory, 
 
 that the Thames fometimes heeps a coyle ; 
 
 that a furious tempeft will arife, when tlfe 
 
 forpoife foretels it ; that when drunken men, 
 
 and naughty women, will take boat againft 
 
 the tide, and in fpight of tempefts, the rude 
 
 Thames will " plaie prankes in her defperatc 
 
 *^ lunacie." Here, is the very tempeft, for 
 
 aught that appears, which tipfet Shakfpeare, 
 
 which called forth the benevolence of Ireland, 
 
 and which prompted Shakfpeare to exhibit a 
 
 fpecimen of his gratitude, in his deed of 
 
 gift (r) to the never-to-be-forgotten faviour 
 
 of his life. 
 
 But, 
 
 (r) Let no minute critic, in order to fix an anachronifm 
 on the face of this coincidence, remark, that Eajlward Hoe 
 
 was 
 
THE Deeds.] /^r //^^ B ELI EVER S. 253 
 
 But, the public accufer will, however, be 
 more lucky in his fearch for the family of 
 him, who, by faving Shakfpeare, gladdened 
 life. William Ireland he eafily finds ; but, 
 William Henry Ireland he cannot find. He 
 beftows much unfuccefsful pains " to fhow 
 ** that in the beginning of the lafl century, 
 " and long afterwards, perfons of the firfl: 
 ^^ rank in England were contented with one 
 *' Chrijlian name, though this haberdafher in 
 " the Blackfriars has been decorated with 
 " two (j*)." The heirs apparent of the crown, 
 
 was printed, in i6o5> or calculate, by an algebraical ope- 
 ration, that the year 1605, is fubfequent to 1604: The 
 facSl: is, that though Eaftvjard Hoe was printed, in 1605, it 
 was acSied at the Blackfriers fometime before, and the tem- 
 peft muft have fet the Thames in a coyle-y before the publifh- 
 ing, the adling, or the inditing of the comedie : For, as the 
 prohgus of it well obferves; *' ther'»no effect, where ther's 
 '' no caufe.'* The only difference, in thofe coincident events, 
 undoubtedly is, that the voyage of Petronel and Seagull 
 was from Billingfgate to Blackwall, dozune Thames ; while 
 the voyage of Shakfpeare and Ireland was upp Thames from 
 Blackfryers to Batterfea. There is another coincidence, 
 which is worthy of notice : Shakfpeare recites in his deed 
 of gift ; " having with mye goode freynde Mafterre Wil- 
 « liam Henry Ireland, and otherres /<?/« ^^^^/^ ;" Now; in 
 Eaftward Hoe it is faid ; " I believe yee were drown'd in a 
 «' tavern before, or els you would never have toke boat, in 
 " fuch a dawning as this was." 
 
 {s) Inquiry, 226-7-8-9. 
 
 Henry, 
 
ty^ ^» APOLOGY [THEMlsC£LLANlts^ 
 
 Henry, and Charles, he adds, could boaft of 
 no fuch diftindlion {t). He means to flake 
 his credit, as a philological antiquary, upon 
 the afrun:iption, that two baptif mat names were 
 unprecedented y in that age. 
 
 Now, upon this curious point of our ar- 
 chaeology, I join iffue with him. In the 
 painfulnefs of his fearch, he feems to have 
 forgotten, that there is fuch a book as Cam' 
 Jens Remains : Fie appears to have alfo for- 
 gotten, that Camden had already treated of 
 this fubjed:, with his ufual judgment, and 
 modefty. The various events of time pro- 
 duced, in the fucceffion of ages, a variety of 
 names. Chriftianity introduced the nam.es of 
 virtuous perfons, for the purpofe of worthy 
 example. Succeeding ages, little regarding the 
 admonition of the Fathers^ recalled names of 
 unhappy difafter. The reformation brought 
 in the baptifmal appellations of Zachary, 
 Malachy, Jofias, with other names of fcrip- 
 tural recoijdmendation. During the reign of 
 Elizabeth^ it became cuftomary in England, 
 though not in other European nations, to give 
 furnames for names of baptifm. But, fays 
 Camden, " two Cbrifiian names are rare, in 
 ^ England : J only remember now his ma- 
 
 (/) Inquiry, p. 229. 
 
The Deeds.] /^r a&^ B E L I E V E R S. 255 
 
 ** jcfty, who was named Charles James, as 
 " the prince his fon, Henry Frederick ; and, 
 ** among private men, Thomas Maria Wing- 
 " field, and Sir Thomas Pofthumous Hob- 
 " ley [u):' But, the fad: is, that two Chrif- 
 tian names were not then Jb rare, as Camden, 
 with his ufual circumfpeftion, conceived. On 
 the 7th of May 1603, Thorns Pope Blount 
 was knighted at Theobalds. In the fecond 
 charter, which King James, granted to the 
 Virginia company, in 1609, among many 
 perfons, Robert Earl of Salifbury is the firft, 
 Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, is the fecond, and 
 Henry, Earl of Southampton, is the third, 
 may be feen Robert Hildebrand Sprififon, and 
 Edward Maria Wingfield (y). In the coun- 
 cil-regifter, 1 596, may be found Miles David 
 Miles; and, in the regifter of 1592, Watkin 
 John Thomas. But, thefe inftances are fuf- 
 licient to prove, that double names of baptifm 
 were not wholly unprece dented , in the age of 
 Shakfpeare, and Ireland {w). And thus, have 
 
 I refcued 
 
 {«) I quote from the fourth impreffion of Camde«*s Re- 
 mains, ia 1629: The firft edition was publifhed, I believe, 
 in 1614. 
 
 {y) Stith's Hift. of Virginia, the Appx. N" ii. 
 
 {w) DawbridgC'QOurt Bek^hier publifhed, in 16 18, an 
 
 interlude. 
 
256 Jn APOLOGY [The MiscELLANiEsj 
 
 I refcued Camden, and the truth, from the 
 critical claws of the public accufcr. The 
 critic has, indeed, retradted his affertion, with 
 regard to Henry Frederick, the Prince of 
 Wales (a;). But, having once opened tha win- 
 dow of his Qiind, he could not prevent the eyes 
 of the curious from feeing the furniture within. 
 The public accufer will be more fortunate, 
 perhaps, and not lefs perfevering, in his next 
 objeftion. The fpe] ling, and phrafeology, of 
 Shakfpeare's time was the Bhck/ryers, fays he, 
 and not the Bhckfriars (y). Eajiward Hoey 
 which was pubUihed in 1 605, was played in the 
 Biack/r/Vrj- by the children of her majefly's 
 revels. In Wicklyffe's Treatife againfl the 
 
 interlude^ called Hans Beerpot : But, how many names Mr. 
 Belchier had, I know not. See the Rolls of Parliament, 
 vol. iii. p. 400, for a very curious collection of names. 
 
 (x) In Birch's life of Prince Henry, p. 6-7-8, anti- 
 quaries had read the ceremonial of the baptifm of Frederick 
 Henry, Henry Frederick, the heir apparent of James jft; 
 which names being three times repeated by the bifhop, were 
 then proclaimed by the heralds, with the found of trumpets; 
 yet, the repetition of the bifhop, the voice of the heralds, the 
 clangor of the trumpets; all did not preferve the name 
 of Henry Fred .rick, in fame memories. From various 
 autographs, it appears, that he ufually fubfcribed his name 
 f.H^nry, P. 
 
 {y) Inquiry, 222. 
 
 order 
 
THE Deeds.] " foy thi B E L I E V E R s: 2^ ^* 
 
 order of (2;)/ni?rj-, which was printed, in 1608, 
 may be feen four varieties, which preclude 
 all pretence to uniformity of fpeliihg, in Shak- 
 fpeare's tinie. Here again he fliils in his ob- 
 jection. 
 
 - The public acciifer, will now produce an 
 objedtion, which, as he will doubtlefs main- 
 tain it by fad:, rather than afiertion^ may not 
 be eafily anfwered* He quotes from the deed' 
 of gift, the following paflage, for the fake of 
 the points; ** for the which fervlce I doe> 
 " herebye give hym as followithe ! ! !" And, 
 he adds, ** No pun6luation whatfoever is em- 
 " ployed in deeds {a\r Nay; the deeds, 
 which are publiihed by himfclf, in his " In- 
 " quiry," Appendix No* II> III, and IV, 
 
 (z) In p. 23^ Fr/^rs; in p. 24, FnVrsj in p. 25, Fryers; 
 and in p. 31, Fryers. John Leylande's Laboryoufe yourney 
 was to be fold, in 1549, at the fign of the Crowne next unto 
 the Whyte jpry^^rj-gate. In Fenn's Letters we have Black 
 freyrs^ and Grey fieers. In the Inquiry, 268, Mr. Malone 
 refumes this obje6lion ; faying that this word, or rather two 
 words, was conjiantly written Biaek-frj^rs. Yet, in John 
 Norden's map, 1593, we have Black fr/Vrs, Whyte fr/Vrs.— • 
 During thofe times, we have in the council -regifters, alter- 
 nately, Biackfr;/^rs, and Blackfr;vrs. 
 
 {a) Inquiry, 231: And as to thefe notes of admiration, 
 he adds, " of which even the printed books of former times 
 " farnifh no example." [See the note in p. 231.] 
 
 S - with 
 
25S An A POL O G Y [The MrscELtrAi»i»sj 
 
 with regular punftuation, difprove his own af- 
 fertion. The various inftruments in Weft's 
 Symbokographie are copioufly pointed (i^). If 
 he mean to aflert, that printed books of former 
 times furnifli no example of notes of admira- 
 tion, his aflertion will be found to be equally 
 groundlefs. The Eaftward Hoe of 1605 has 
 points of admiration ; T^he Witch of Middle- 
 ton, during the fame age, has notes of admi- 
 ration : And, Shakfpeare is not without notes 
 oi admiration (^). The public accufer thus 
 
 {b) The following eontra6t, which is an original paper in 
 my pofleflionj is pointed thus: '■' Articles of agreement made 
 ^^ between the Right worihipful Sir John Hart and Sir 
 ^^ Richard Martin Knights and Aldermen of London for the 
 " true payment of eight hundred pounds due unto the laid 
 ^^ Sir John by the faid Sir Richard : I [ In manner follow- 
 " ing viz: 1 I" Here, then, are fimilar points to Shak- 
 fpeare's, which flout at the groundlefs aflertion of no ■pun£iu-' 
 ation whatsoever is employed in deeds. See this contrail 
 hereafter : and fee a note of hand hereafter, which is alfo 
 pointed in a fimilar manner. In 1613, Alexander Cooke> 
 the player, wrote his lafl: will with his awne hand; and. 
 pointed it in a fimilar manner : " Or whatfoever is mine ia 
 " all the world 1 1 1 This is my laft will and tefl:ament| I 
 *' have fet to my hand, Alex: Cooke ] " 
 
 (c) Inquiry, p. 231 :. "O God of lova! O day untoward - 
 " ly turned! O mifchief ftrangely thwarting! O plague right 
 « well prevented !" [Much Ado About Nothing, 1600, ia 
 Steevens's twenty quarto plays. J 
 
 fails 
 
THE Deeds.J for the B E L I E V E ii S. 459 
 
 fails egregloufly, in objecting to points, and 
 notes of admiration. 
 
 He is at laft refolved, afrer fo many failures, 
 to fail no more. The public accufer now 
 proceeds to tell us how Shakfpeare^ had he 
 ever mentioned his hiftorical play of Henry 
 the fifths would have written it ; not as we 
 find it here, but fift^ as he himfelf unju^Jimi" 
 ably pronounced the word\ and as half the peo« 
 pie of England pronounce it, at this day [d). 
 What is this, but alTuming to tell, what 
 cannot now be told, how Shakfpeare fpoke, 
 and wrote the word fifth I Nor, does the ir- 
 regular prad:ice of the times warrant his af- 
 fumption {e). And, of courfe, he once more 
 fails in an objeftion, which was hazarded, 
 with all the firmnefs of infallibility. 
 
 From fuch topics, with regard to writing, 
 
 {d) inquiry, 234.^. 
 
 {e) In Googe's Zodiake of Life^ ^Sj^y P«6i, we may. 
 fee the ffthe boolce j in the Palace of Fleafurey vol. ii. the 
 fifth Novell; in the Flowers of Eloquent fpeech^ 1581, fign» 
 B. I. cciiii. Xkt fifth a6l; in Newton's Seneca, 1581, there 
 is thtfifthe ir^gedie and th^ fifth tra^gedy. In Florio's Second 
 Frutesy 1 59 1, we have, p. 65, thQ fifth chapter. In Dray- 
 ton's poems, 1613, we have, in his Baron's Warsy the fifth 
 booke. In the firft edition of the play of Henry Vth, the 
 word is accidentally fift : But, the fecond folio edition of 
 Shakfpeare^s dramas, 1632, has ^Z', and ^, alternately. 
 i. r S 2 pointing. 
 
s6o An APOLOGY [The Mi&cella:? ies ; 
 
 pointing, and conveyancing, we are plunged 
 into the contentious abyfs of copy -right. The 
 public accufer difputes the right of Shakfpeare 
 to his own plays : Our poet, having already 
 " fold to the theatre the enumerated plays, 
 " according to the conftant pradice of that 
 " time, had no property whatfoever in them {/), 
 Shakfpeare does not give to Ireland the right 
 oi aEling his plays, which having already con- 
 veyed to the theatre^ he does not pretend to 
 reclaim. The right oi printings the poet ftill 
 referved, for aught that appears : Nor, will 
 rights ever be fuppofed to be furrendered, 
 till their conveyance be fliown by documents. 
 It is incontrovertibly certain, that Shakfpeare; 
 did poflefs, till his dying day, the right of 
 printing his dramatic works [£). Heminge, 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 234. 
 
 (^) Hear what the firft editors of. his dramas, fay upon 
 the' point, in oppofition to Mr. Malone: "It had been a 
 " thing, fay they, in their Preface, worthie to have been 
 " wiftied, that the author had lived to fet forth, and over 
 " feene his owiie writings ; but fince it ha^h been ordained 
 " otherwife, and he, by death, departed from that rights we 
 " pray you do not envy his friends the office of their care 
 " and paine, to have coUeSfcd and puhlifned them ; and fo to 
 " have publiilit tliem, as where [before] yo\i were abufed 
 '* with divers ftolne and furrepticious copies, maimed and 
 *^ deformed by the fraudi' and ftealths of injurious impoftors, 
 *' that expofcd them/' 
 
 and 
 
Tkt Deeds.] /^r //^/ B E L I E V E R S. 261 
 
 iand Condell, the firft editors, acknowledge 
 this right in him ; and their recognition ought 
 to prevent any editor of the prefent day, from 
 aflerting, in contradidlion to it, that he had no 
 property whatfoever in his own writings. Eight 
 judges, with Lord Mansfield, at their head, 
 were of opinion, that Shakfpeare had a right, 
 a common-law right, in the productions of his 
 own genius (^). Sucking lawyers, however, 
 are of opinion, that the poet had no right 
 whatfoever^ in his own dramas ; though it be 
 admitted that, he did, in fad:, fell them, for a 
 fpecial purpofe (/). 
 
 Yet ^ would I knew that Jiroke would prove 
 the worji ! But, the public accufer is ready to 
 give a death's -blow to the deed of gift. 
 ** The indorfement before us, containing the 
 " year of the king's reign in EngliCh, inftead 
 " of Latin, is a decifive proof of forgery -, 
 " and the two words " 2 James,'' are as fatal, 
 " on ^ the outfide as William-Henry are within 
 " this inftrument {k)J' In this manner, is it 
 fhown, that the Englifli fcribble of Ireland, a 
 haberdafher, who kept a fliop in the Black- 
 friars, nulHfied his own deed(/). In coa- 
 
 -<, {h) Blackft. Com. Edit. Chriftian, vol. ii. p. 4, 
 
 (i) Inquiry, 236. (^k) lb. 237. ('/) lb. 222-4. 
 
 fii.t S 3 firmation 
 
2^2 \^« APOLOGY [TH«Mi<iC>Li-^-Ni:is; 
 
 iprmation of this do£lrine, the public accufer 
 quotes Co, Lift, Hargrave's edit, to prove, 
 that an obvious anachronifm will prove the 
 fraudulence oia doubtful deed. Littelton, Coke, 
 and Hargrave, are authorities enow, to prove a 
 .felf-evident poiition. But, we are before the 
 jury, upon queftions oifaB. The public ac- 
 cufer has en-jployed three Jifis of his Inquiry 
 to fix palpable anachronifms upon the Mif- 
 cellaneous Papers, Your Jifths of this Apology 
 are occupied, fuccefsfully, I truft, in proving, 
 that his pretended anachronifms have neither 
 folidity of argument, nor authenticity of fad:, 
 to fupport them, in their premifcs, or conclu- 
 fions. Thus much, then, for the " unreal 
 mockeries' of the public accufer {m)- 
 
 We are now arrived, as it feems, " within 
 " fight of land." After difpatching Shak« 
 fpeare's tributary lines to Ireland-^ the vieiio of 
 Ireland's houfe-y and the portraits of Bajjfanio 
 .and Shylock ; we have only three or four dee^^ 
 to examine («). 
 
 With regard to the tributary lines of Shak- 
 
 fpeare to Ireland, the public accufer ^ffures us, 
 
 on the fincere word of an intelligent man, that 
 
 there is not a young lady of fifteen, in Great Bri- 
 
 tain and I reland, that would not, after reading hei: 
 
 {m) See Inquiry, 238, [n) Id. 
 
T«t Deeds.] for the BELIEVERS. 263 
 
 firft novel, produce fomething more in charac- 
 ter. Of the competency of the miffes in 
 Great Britain, and in Ireland, I pretend not to 
 judge : They are all, no doubt, fatrfacd and 
 forward for their years i But, I will prefume, 
 that a bad joke, even if exprefled in terfer 
 Englifli, than the public accufer's, does not 
 amount to good proof in any court of law, or 
 court of criticifm. 
 
 He is now determined to deface *^ the view 
 *^ of Mafterre Irelande's houfe,'* by more 
 fubftantial means, than a bad joke, inelegantly 
 exprefled. The only objedion to it is, " that 
 " the word vieWy in the fenfe of a delineation 
 ** of any objeA, was unfortunately wholly ^/;^- 
 ** known to our ancejlors (<?)." Yet, of the 
 twelve fenfes, which Johnfon afligns to the 
 word vieWy the firft fenfe is profpe^ ; and, for 
 this fenfe, he quotes Shakfpeare's Cymbe- 
 
 line : — 
 
 '' ' you (hould tread a coujrfe 
 
 " Pretty and full ofview:'*- 
 
 Yet, fays Mr. Malone, the word view, in this 
 fenfe, is fo completely modern, that it is not 
 found in any of the vocabularies, which I have 
 mentioned in the courfe of this Inquiry (/>). 
 
 We 
 
 (o) Inquiry, 239. 
 
 (/>) Inquiry, 240 : He would not have hazarded this ob- 
 
 S 4 fervation. 
 
264 An APOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 We now perceive, from //?/J" view^ that Mr. 
 JvL^lone looks into vocabularies, z.n6, not into 
 the body of our language, for his examples. 
 If he will allow me, I will quote a book, 
 which he certainly has in his library, and 
 which will doubtlefs give him fatisfadlion • 
 See Maloiie's Shakfpeare, 1790, vol. i, part i. 
 p. 80 : ** A i/7Vi£^of Valiaunce, tranflated from 
 ** Rutilius Rufus, by Thomas Newton 1 580;'' 
 And yet, fays Mr. Malone, the word view, as 
 jiovy ukdforpro/pei^- came to us from the French, 
 in the beginning of the prpfent century (q). 
 But, of fuch hallucinations enough ! His 
 apology is, that thpfe fabrications were founded 
 on archetypes, which were furnifhed by the 
 edition of Shakfpeare, publiilied in (r) 1790, 
 [by himfelf]. 
 
 Of 
 
 fervatiorij if he had looked Into Leigh^s Science of Survey in g^^ 
 1577, Sign. I. I.; wherein he would have been inftru<Sled, 
 *' Hov/ a furveyor (hould take a perfe£le view of a man- 
 ** nour i'* and, in the fubfequent page, he might have fecn: 
 <* Thetowne of Dale; the view of the Mannour of Dale j 
 *' taken the x. day of May, the ?ciiii yere of the raign qf 
 *' King Henry the eight/' 
 
 {q) Iriquiryj 241. 
 
 (r) In facl, Johnfon regards view^ in one of its fenfes, as 
 Tiprofpecl', and profpe^y as a view: They are fo fynonimous, 
 th^t |ieiph<?r he,.nor Afii, can ea fjy feparate their various 
 
 (hades 
 
THE Deeds.] for the BELIEVERS. 265 
 
 Of the prints of Bajfanio, and Sbylock, he 
 pretends not to judge : But, he believes them 
 to be fpurious ; as he has been told, " they 
 ^* are manifeftly wafhed drawings of a recent 
 *' date/' Here again he fails; unlefs we ad- 
 mit his belief for proof; and allow ourfelves 
 to be convinced of fraud ; becaufe he is now 
 willing, from hearfay to let belief take hold of 
 him. 
 
 In this believing mood, the public accufer 
 examines the agreement between Shakfpeare 
 and Lowine[s). This contradl comes into 
 court, like other deeds, with every fair ap- 
 pearance of unfufpicious genuinenefs. The 
 folemnities, which accompany it, bring with 
 them all the probabilities of truth : And, this 
 contra cl, being an ancient deed, muft be ad« 
 mitted, in every court of criticifm, as it would 
 be, in every court of common- law, to prove 
 itfelf, from the energies of its own evidence. 
 
 fliades of fignification : Yet, Mr. Malone can do this, fo 
 nicely, that he may exclaim with John Derrick, in T^he Image 
 of Ireland^ a poem, dcvifed by him, in 1578, and pul?lifhcd 
 in 1581 :— 
 
 " Lo Lordynges ! here the draught, 
 
 ** Sett out in open <vevje : 
 *' For, by inftrudions, I am taught, 
 ** Falfe forgynges to efchewe.-' 
 
 (0 Ijiq'ii'-y, 244. 
 
 Yet, 
 
266 An APOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 Yet, is the public accufer ready to bring 
 forward bis fpecial objedtions, which he will 
 make out, with the clearnefs of demonftration, 
 and fupport, with the firmnefs of truth. His 
 firft objedlion is to the exprefiion bring for* 
 wardy which is daily feen, at breakfaft, in the 
 play bills ; but, he leaves it to " the parti/am 
 *• of thefe manufcripts" to afcertain how ^;7<r/V;/^ 
 this expreffion was firft brought forward (/). 
 The wit, the logic, the demonftration of his 
 thruft fends it through and through : But, he 
 will kill outright with his fecond thruft. The 
 name of Lo^win was never written Lowine, as 
 it is exhibited in this deed {u) : Yet, with the 
 fame dafli of his pen, he produces a document, 
 which proves, that there was no uniformity in 
 the fpelling of Lowine's [v) name; and, con- 
 fequently, if there were 720 ru/e, there could be 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 245. [u) Inquiry, 250. 
 
 {v) " Lent unto John Lowyn^ the 12th March 1602, when 
 ;' he went into the contrey to playe v {hillings." Inquiry, 
 ^50 J which quotes Henflowe's MS. Regifter: — I think I 
 have feen the name of this perfonage in the council-regifters 
 of the 15 March 1589-90, fpclled Lauhon, The name, 
 (lowever^ niay have been John Lanham; as there is a blur in 
 ^he book. And in a lift of the Lord Chamberlain's war- 
 rants, 1632, in the paper ofHce, he is called Lovuen. It is 
 then, abfurd, to found an objedtion on an uniformity of fpd- 
 ling^ which did not, in fa6t, exift. 
 
 no 
 
ZH^ De€ds.] for th BELIEVER S. 267 
 
 fio deviation. Speak on^ Sir; I dare your worjl 
 objedlions ! He goes on to objed, that in 
 1608, the epoch of this agreement with Shak- 
 fpeare, Lowine was low in his profeffion, and 
 poor, in his circumftances : And, from thefe 
 fads, he infers the improbability of his hiring 
 himfelf to Shakfpeare. In confirmation of 
 this inference, he (w) alTerts, that Lo'wine, 
 " without doubt, had a half fhare, or fome 
 ^' other portion of one, even in 1608 (^) :" 
 And, from this affertion, he infers this to be 
 •'* a fatal circamftance for the deed before us/' 
 Nay ; if vou will but allow the public accufer 
 his Jiafid and his kver^ he will overfet the great 
 globe it/elf. He now takes his ftand, with his 
 lever ; and he produces a genuine ftage con- 
 
 {w) Inquiry, 253. 
 
 [x) If we may believe the date on his pifture, Lowiiij was 
 born in 1576; and he died on the 8 th of March 1658-9. In 
 the fad period, which intervened, Lowin partook of the vari- 
 ous misfortunes of the times : From the loweft commence- 
 ment as a player, about the year 1600, he rofe, in thirtyi 
 years, to the top of his profeflion: In 1632, there were ifTued, 
 '* To Jo. Lowen and the reft of the players for acting 
 ** twenty four plays; three atj^.20. a piece, and twenty one 
 « Tit £.10. 2l piece — ^^.270." [A lift of the Lord Cham- 
 berlain*s warrants in the paper-office.] From this document 
 it clearly appears, that the fettled price, which was paid in 
 1632, for a6ting a play at Hampton-court v/aS;^.20j and at 
 ^Vhitehall^.iQ. 
 
 tra<a 
 
268 Jin APOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 trad of this v-ery period, that he fays, '^ T^n," 
 ." ders it quite unneceffary to fay more on 
 •* this part cf the fubje6t {y) :" Yet, this 
 ftage contniB is not between the fame parties; 
 a>or does it contain any faft, circumftan'ce, or 
 point, which bears upon the agreement be- 
 tween Shakfpeare and Lowine. As if an ana- 
 chronij&n had been iixed in this agreement, 
 with the certainty of a ftroke of death, we are 
 told, that *' this true ftage contraffe is as de- 
 *' ciiive a proof of the forgery as can be con- 
 ** ceived [z),'' Thus, eafily, doth our Ar- 
 chimedes tipfit the agreement between Shak- 
 fpeare and Lowine ! Yet, is he determined 
 to overturn this agreement by additional proofs 
 of its forgery : The fabricator has introduced 
 into this contrad: the word compofition^ as de- 
 fcriptive of a written work; which he beheves 
 it did not then fignify {a) : Spenfer, indeed ha^ 
 the word, for the ad: of compofing a work ; 
 but the higheft authority, Dr. Johnfon could 
 'find for compojitiony with the fignification of ^ 
 booJzy is L'Eftrange [b). As if confcipus of 
 
 fome 
 
 (;-) Inquiry, 254. (z) lb. 256. (a) lb. 256. 
 
 {^) lb. 257 : Mr. Malone is continually talking of what 
 Dr. Johnfon rWi/;:^; as if our great lexicographer had 
 ever looked for the prccifc age of words j or had ever give»i 
 
 himfelf 
 
thsDeeds.] /w- fj&^ B ELI ever S» %6^ 
 
 fome deficiency, he faintly acknowledges the 
 impojjibility oi proving a [an] univerfal nega^ 
 five : But, he apprehends, he has brought for^ 
 ward fuch evidence; as, having the appear- 
 ance of truth, may be received as fuch, till 
 fome of his opponents (hall produce tht con- 
 tejied words, from a book of Shakfpeare's agejf^ 
 When he finds the oar too vi^eighty for hi^ 
 own handling, he conftantly attempts to put it 
 into the hands of his opponents. At this oar, 
 will I tugg, when he fhall h^iMQ fatisfied rea-- 
 fonable inquirers^ that there is any logic in 
 begging the queftion j or that proof is con- 
 tained in affertion; or that a thoufand fic- 
 tions, how nicely fo ever tacked together, by 
 infinuations, and fuppofes, amount to one 
 truth. 
 
 In this abfurd ftrain it is, that he draw:s the 
 attention to Mafter Lowine's fed (<:). He 
 fbrewdly fufpefts, that, by the help of Herf- 
 
 hlmfelf any farther trouble about v/ords, than taking the near- 
 efl at hand, which anfwered bis purpofe. Had the Do6tor, 
 or Mr. Malone, looked into Barret's Ahearie^ 1580, in vo. 
 Ccmpa^e^ they would have found compofnion for verborum 
 ftru^ura^ placing or compacling of vjordes toglther : Yet, our 
 iiiquirer fwppofes, that this word, in the {^'[ii^ of a book, came 
 to us from the French about the Rejioration, [Inquiry, 358.] 
 
 [c) Inquiry, 259. 
 
 chel's 
 
1J70 jfff AFOL6GY [The Miscellanies} 
 
 chel's magnifiers, may be perceived, a well- 
 formed head of fome of our Saxon monarchs, 
 which may have been copied from the engrav- 
 ings of {J) Virtue : [Virtue he ftiould have 
 iaid [e).] With the afliftance of the logical 
 fpedlacles of Watts, or Locke, I wot no 
 which, he difcovers, that the want of a crejl 
 and cypher, on the feal of Lowine, is an un- 
 doubted proof of forgery, in an agreement, to 
 which is appended a fancy feal. Difcoveries 
 lead to difcoveries. The clear *vieWy which, 
 by HerfcheFs help, we have thus had of 
 Lowine's feal, will enable the biographer of 
 Shakfpeare to difcover, with lefs powers of 
 magnifying, whether our great poet had an 
 appropriate feal. That he had not is certain^, 
 from incontrovertible evidence {f). If Shak- 
 fpeare had not an appropriate feal, with either 
 fpeare in bend, or a crejt and cypher, what could 
 we expe(ft from Lowine, low, and poor, as he 
 is ftated to have been ? 
 
 (J ) Inquiry, 259. 
 
 (e) See Lord Orford's Cat. of Engravers from the MSS. 
 of Mr. George FertuQ, 
 
 (/) See Mai. Shak. 1790. vol. i. part i. p. 192-3, the fig- 
 nature and feal of Shakfpeare*s mortgage: The impreflioFi 
 of the feal is H L, with an Etoile furmQuntedy as the heralds 
 ba,vc it. 
 
 The 
 
rttt tJESDs.] for tht BELIEVER S. z^t 
 
 The public accufer, in attending to the feal, 
 had almoft forgot to objeft, that to this agree- 
 ment, Shakipeare had fubjoined, in a new mode 
 of contraction, his baptifmal name Willam: But, 
 has he not fubfcribed Willm to his will [g) ? 
 Mr. Malone has not yet difcovered, amid hi^ 
 other difcoveries, as it feemeth, that there arc 
 forgeries, which cannot be detefted by candid 
 difcuflion. In this happy land, every forger, 
 in whatfoever manner fufped:ed, accufed, or 
 profecuted, has a fair trial, and is convicted 
 by legal evidence only, or acquitted. The 
 public accufer feems to fliow, by the number, 
 and nature, of his objedlions, that, if fair 
 means fail, while he racks the fcribble with 
 Bacon, he rather would torture the fcribbler 
 with Elizabeth. 
 
 In this fpirit, is the public accufer deter- 
 mined that, " Bitter torture fhall winnow the 
 ** truth from falfhood/' He now applies the 
 quejiion to the agreement between Shakfpeare 
 and Condel {Jo). His firfl objedtion is, that 
 this contract is extremely iimilar to the ftage 
 contradls of that age. With the fame kind of 
 logic, he objedts, that Condel v/as 2iJJjarer in 
 the profits of the houfe, and not. a hirelings 
 
 [g) lb. See the plate facing the will of Shakfpeare : And 
 fee, before, the plate, facing p. 224. 
 
 (i&)Tnquiry,.26o. 
 
 for 
 
47* ^ft APOLOGY [TheMiscbllakies; 
 
 for wages : But, this is faid, without con- 
 fidering, that this agreement is of a fpecial 
 nature ; not to ad: in general, but to perform 
 in particular plays of the compofition, not of 
 Shakfpeare, but of others. Here again the 
 quejlion is unfuccefsful, in extorting the truth. 
 In this extremity, he refumes his objection to 
 the word compofition ; as being unufual, during 
 that age, in the fignification of writing (/). 
 But, he does not refledt, that the repetition of" 
 objedions, which have been already fhown 
 to be groundlefs, is not likely to be more 
 fuccelsful. Once more, then, the que (lion fails, 
 in extorting a confeffion. Thinking, no doubt, 
 that an accumulation of bad objedions will 
 form one good objedion, he fafpeds, that 
 the falary of one pound one Jjydling a week fa- 
 vours much of a modern guinea. According 
 to this rule of accumulation, he objeds " to 
 '^ the pretty fidion of a trim boar's head i" 
 being intended to pafs for Shakfpeare's feal : 
 But, it has been already proved, that our poet 
 did not ufe any appropriate feal. In this 
 fhrain of logic, he objeds to Condel's figna- 
 ture, without having any autograph, where- 
 with to confront it ; or any circumftance, to 
 oppofeit; unlefs we admit conjedures, and 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 261. 
 
 fuppofes^ 
 
THE Dkeds.] for the BELIEVERS. 273 
 
 fuppofes, as circumftantial evidence. In fu- 
 peraddition to all this accumulated teftimony, 
 he ftates tlie Englijh indorfement ori the agrce- 
 iiienti as very curious ; and the unneceflary fi 
 after the 20, as very ,fufpictous\k). After all 
 thefe experiments of the queJliGn, the culprit 
 remains firm, and denies in the confident tone 
 Df innocence th€ imputed guilt. Little dif- 
 trufting the efficacy oi bitter toy'ture to enforce 
 inilant confeffion, the public accufer, — 
 
 " AftonlfhM at the voice, now ftood amaz'd, 
 " And all around, with inward horror, gaz'd." 
 
 It is BeccAria, who, with mathematical 
 precifion, propofes the following problem, in 
 law logic : " The force of the mufcles, and 
 ^* the fenlibility of the nerves of an innocent 
 " perfon being given ; it is required to find 
 " the degree of pain, which is necejQary to 
 " make him confefs himfelf guilty of a givea 
 " crime.'* This problem is very ingenioufly 
 folvedj by the public accufer, in examining 
 Shakfpeare's leaje to Michael Frafer and his 
 wlfe{l)[ He at the fame time, incidentally 
 folves a fupplemental problem ; what degree 
 of fatigue is neeeffary to make the beholder 
 of fuch torture exprefs impatience, at its 
 mode, its matter, and its duration. 
 
 {k) In<5iriry, 264-5. (/) Inquiry, 265. 
 
 T In 
 
^74 An APOLOGY [The MiScELLANiH!ri 
 
 In folvjng thofe problems, his firft obje^lion 
 to this leafe is, that ** it is a motley mafs 
 " of trum^i^t'ry (w)/' From fach fyUogiJiick 
 trumpery, he proceeds, in his fecond objedlion, 
 to feofF at thofe *' ingenious, intelhgent, and 
 " difmterefied, perfons,'* who conlidered an 
 ancient ^ttd^ as admiflible proof, prima facie ; 
 who regarded the parchment, the feals, and 
 fignatures, as fufiicient evidence, either ex-* 
 ternal, or interna], to eftabhih a ftrong pre- 
 fumption, which, according as it is confident 
 with probable circumftances, muft enforce a 
 fatisfadlory convidlion of the truth. 
 
 But, this conviftion, arifing from thofe cir- 
 cumftances, and that prefumption, the public 
 accufer proceeds to overturn, by minute exa- 
 mination, and defnonftx^able fadls. The firfl 
 point of his minute examination confifts, in 
 objeding to the defcription of the demifed 
 premifes, which, he thinks, is too indiftin(5l ^ 
 being fix acres and a half of land, abutting 
 chfc to the Globe theatre, by Blackfryers. 
 Thus, the Globe theatre is the land-mark, 
 which, being afcertained, fixes the pofition of 
 the contiguous parts. . I have already fettled 
 the true fite of the Globe, with mathematical 
 precifion, to be on \\\^ Bajihjide^ within the 
 
 {m) Inquiry, 265. 
 
 liberty 
 
THE Deeds.] /^r //'^ B E L I E V E R S. 275 
 
 liberty of the Clink, in Southwark. But, is 
 ■ this pofition by Blaekfryers ? The anfwer to 
 this queftion muft be given, according to the 
 notions, which were affixed, by the parties, 
 to the pre pofition by : — Among many other 
 fenfes, Johnfon fays, from Shakfpeare himfelf, 
 that it denotes befide ; near to -, in prefence ; 
 proximity in general («) : And, in the lan- 
 guage of the poft-office, by is underftood to 
 mean neighbourhood ; fo letters diredted to 
 John Style's, reliding at St. Peter's by Margate, 
 would be very intelligible to all the forters, 
 and carriers of the poft-office, without the 
 help of a critical vocabulary. But, the public 
 accufer will (how nicer difcrimination, in his 
 next objection : " The phrafe abutting to 
 " [which is] here employed, is unknown to 
 '* our language, abutting upon having been 
 ** invariably the legal and colloquial Ian- 
 " guage from the time of Shakfpeare to this 
 " hour(^)-" lie who objeds, with critical 
 
 (72) In Hollar's map of London, which was engraved at 
 Antwerp, in 1647, the Globe is placed exa£lly on the fite 
 of the prefent Albion Mills ; abutting clofe to Blaekfryers- 
 bridge. It may be of ufe to thofe artifts, who may hereafter 
 wirti to give an engraved view of the Globe^ to obferve, that' 
 Hollar adorned the flag^ which was difplayed therefrom, with 
 the crcfi of St. George, 
 
 {0) Inquiry, 268. 
 
 T 2 m^alignity. 
 
Q.']^ ^« APOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 jnalignity, to bad Englifli, ought himfelf to 
 write good : And he, who has any critical 
 candour, ought not to change a phrafe, for 
 the purpofe of objedion. The criticifm will 
 vanilh, when the real words are difcovered^ 
 as falfhood vanifnes at the appearance of 
 truth. The genuine phrafe of Shakfpeare is 
 *' abutting clofe to the Globe.'' In this figni- 
 iication oi clofe, as joined, without any inter- 
 vening diftance of time, or place ; the Engiifh 
 idiom, and ufe, required clofe to : '' We muft 
 " lay afide^ fays {p) Burnet, that lazy, and 
 *' fallacious method of cenfuring by the lump> 
 '* and muft bring things clofe to the teft of 
 *' true, ov falfeJ" 
 
 The public accufer will, doubtlefs, be more 
 lucky in his next objedion. " It is obferva- 
 " ble, fays [q) he, that in this deed. Black- 
 " fr}^ers is fpelt rightly." He had before, as^ 
 we may recollect, objefted to the erroneous 
 fpelling of Blackfryars. Our Procrufies is now 
 determined, it feems, that this unlucky word 
 fhall be neither too long, nor too Ihort ; nei- 
 ther right, nor wrong. 
 
 In thi^ fpirit, the public accufer appeals 
 from criticifm to f aft. Affecfting difficulties 
 in afcertaining, on which fide of the Thames 
 
 (/>) Theory. {q) Inquiry, 267. 
 
 the 
 
THE Deeds.] yz^r //^^ B E L I E V E R S. 27; 
 
 the demifed premifes lay, whether on the 
 Bankfide, or in Blackfriars, he takes a view 
 of both. He admits, that there certainly Was 
 in Southwark, fome ground, unoccupied by 
 buildings, in (r) 1596; but, he aflerts, that the 
 unoccupied ground lay more to the weftward 
 than .the Globe. 
 
 Yet, let us confront what he admits, and 
 what he retradls, with the accurate account, 
 which is given by the hiftorians of St. Sa- 
 viour's parifli ; who, living on the fpot, muft 
 neceffarily know the local circumftances of 
 what they daily fee : *' We will, however, 
 ** give the general ftate of the Bankfide, as 
 " we have pretty accurately colleded it, from 
 ** the year 1600: From various title-deeds^ 
 ** and other written documents, now extant, 
 *' and without any reference to what has 
 " been written by others on the fubjed:, we 
 ** hazard not to afTert, that the Bankfide was 
 ** in a great meafure gardens, orchyards, and 
 ** in general an open, but cultivated, fpot (j-)." 
 
 Neverthelefs, 
 
 (r) Inquiry, 269. 
 
 (5) Concanen and Morgan's Hijiory and Antiquities of the 
 pari ft} of St, Saviour^ s^ Southivark^ ^795) P« IQI* The hif- 
 torians of the place might have appealed to the parifli-regif- 
 ters, which confirm the truth of their reprefentation. They 
 might have relied on Norden's map of London, 1593, for 
 
 T 3 fhowing. 
 
zyS ^//APOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 Neverthelefs, fays the public accufer, at an ear-: 
 lier period of the reign of Ehzabeth, the ground, 
 near where the Globe ftcod, feems to have been 
 almoji all occupied^ though I do not doubt, 
 there may have been then fonie fmall gardens 
 in that quarter (/). He forgets, that in 1575, 
 the parishioners of St. Saviour's had a park, 
 from which they agreed to fend two loads of 
 the iirft cut hay to the Queen's barns at 
 Greenwich [u). As little does he recollect, 
 that the Biiliop of Winchefler had a park 
 which, after the f^Jioration, w^as formed into 
 Redcrofs-ftreet, Queen-ftreet, Duke-ftreet, 
 Ewer-Ai'eet, Worcefter-ftreet, and Caftle- 
 flreet {y). And, there is a ftreet, near the 
 
 brcwbGuJCy 
 
 {howing, that there was a long row of tenements on ths 
 Bankftde^ from the bridge, with gardens behind them. [And 
 fee Strype*s London, vol. ii. p. 7.] 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 269. 
 
 («) The parifh-regifter, 12th June 1575. This reglfter 
 /hows, that the pari fh- officers had, in thofe times, many 
 tenements, with gardens behind them, to let, along the 
 Bankjide, 
 
 (v) See Tyler's Antiq. of St. Saviour's, 1765. p. 50-51. 
 And fee the charter of Edward 6th. to the corporation of 
 London, dated the 23d April 1550, in Concanen and Mor- 
 gan's Hiftory, p. 8—21, for the large parcels of vacant 
 ground, within that parifh, which were then granted to the 
 
 city. 
 
THE Deeds.] /or th B E LI "EV E KS. 27^ 
 
 hreiohoiifey and the windmill, which is called, 
 to this day, the Park, and v/ili, from this 
 time, be remembered with the Globe theatre j 
 fliowing, by the coincidence of the name, that 
 the Globe was probably built in, or clofe to^ one 
 of the /'(^ryfj of Elizabeth's reign. After this full 
 expolition, the public accufer exclaims, with 
 a very illogical grace : '* till fach an ancient 
 ** building as the Globe theatre by Black-friars 
 ^* fhall be proved to have exifted in the reigh 
 " of James the firfl, together with fix acres and 
 
 city. In tracing the progrefs of buildings within three miles 
 of London, v/e ought to advert to the various obftruciions, 
 which the law oppofed to new erecllons. For this end ; 
 Queen Elizabeth ifiued a proclamation againft new eredlions, 
 in 1580. [Ander. Com. vol. i. p. 421.] In 1593, was pafled 
 the ftatute of the 35th Eliz. ch. 6, prohibiting new buildings 
 within three miles of the city gates : and profecutions were 
 inflituted in the -ftar- chamber againfl the offenders. In 
 1602, Elizabeth enforced this law, by a frefh proclamation. 
 [Rym. Feed. torn. xvi. p. 448.] Puttenham, in his Arte of 
 Englifb Pcsfie^ 1 589, p. 216, when illuftrating the fault of 
 overlabour^ gives the foUov/iiig pafTage from oie of our lale 
 makers^ whofe intent was, to declare, how upon the tenth 
 day of March, he crofled the river of Thames, to walk in 
 St. George's field: 
 
 '* Tiic tenth of March when Aries received 
 •' Dan Phoebus* raies into his horned head ; 
 «* And I myfelfe by learned lore perceived, 
 *' That Ver approcht and frofly Winter fled, 
 " J croft the Thames to take the cheerefull aire, 
 ** \x{ open fields y the weather was fo faire.'* 
 
 T 4 " aa 
 
^o ^//APOLOGY [The MiscELLANiEsjr 
 
 ** an half adjoining to it, this deed muft fliare 
 " the fame fate with the reft^ie^):" That is, it 
 muft be tortured, in the bed of Procruftes. 
 
 From making his furvey, on the Bankfide^ 
 which furvey is, we perceive, contradidted in 
 its outHne, by hiftory, and record, the public 
 accufer proceeds to take a n:ie%v of Black- 
 friars [x). " There were, he admits, in that 
 '* diftrid: fome void fpaces certainly : but in 
 " general on the eaft fide of Fleet ditch 
 " (where the theatre ftood) v/as ahnoft wholly 
 '^ occupied by houfes/' I pretend not to af- 
 certain, with algebraical accuracy, the exa(5t 
 quantity of vacant ground, which was ftill 
 open for buildings, in 1610. It is fufficiently 
 certain, from the reprefentations of (j') maps, 
 and the notices of record, that there were, 
 even in the Blackfriars, confiderable parcels 
 of vacant ground, which might have been 
 occupied, either by the gardener, or the 
 builder (2?). 
 
 Having 
 
 (zf) Inquiry, 270- 1. (a-) lb. 269. 
 
 ()') See Aggas's map of LondoHj engraved, in I737> 
 by Vertue, for the Antiquary Society j and the re-engraved 
 map of London, and Wcftminfter, as they were in 1563. 
 
 (z) In the council-regifter, of the 18th Auguft 1618, 
 there may be feen ^' A lift of buildings and new foundations, 
 <' fmce 1615." It is therein faid, « That Edward Allen 
 
 *< £fqr 
 
:y*iEj:)EEDS.] /^r /i'f B E L I E V E R S. 2S% 
 
 Having taken this view, which does not 
 exhibit much refearch, nor enforce flrong 
 convidion, the public accufer adverts to lie 
 Jeafe. He finds it difficult to decide, whether 
 the draughtfman fhows the moft ignorance, 
 the worfe fpelling, or the greatefl incongruity 
 of fidion, with the hiftory, and manners of 
 the time (a). Thefe had been plaufible ob- 
 jedlions, if he could have fupported them by 
 proof. He immediately adds, what he will, 
 doubtlefs, prove by authority : " Even the 
 ^' draughtfman's /aw is all Jal/e (i).'* In 
 proof of this pofition, he produces fome re- 
 dundant expreffions. But, xifurplufage would 
 vacate a deed, what deed could be defended ? 
 He ftrengthens his pofition, by fuggefting, 
 that this leafe is not very ikilfully drawn, 
 nor its folemnities very accurately executed. 
 Yet, it m.ay be pertinently afked, whether 
 obfei'vation, and fad:, warrant this objecftion ? 
 The moft experienced judges have often re- 
 
 " Efq' dwelling at Dulvvich [the well known player, and 
 « munificent founder of Dulwich college] hath built fix 
 *' tenements of timber upon new foundations, within two 
 " years pafled, in Swan-alley, near the Wardrobe'* In 
 1618, King James followed the example of Elizabeth, in 
 ifTuing a proclamation againft new buildings. [Rym. Feed, 
 torn. xvii. p. 117.] 
 
 {a) Inquiry, 271. [b) Id. 
 
 marked. 
 
28a Jn APOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 marked, that forgeries are fure to be precifely 
 adjufted, jadicioufly drawn, and legally exe- 
 cuted. In fadl, there is no falfe law m the 
 leafe, if we except fuperfluity of expreilion, 
 iinfkilfulnefs of penmanfoip, and ignorance 
 of forms. But, at laft, it will be found not 
 to be defedive in legal fclemnities, like thofe 
 aflurances, and wills, which arc fometimes 
 executed, without the requifites, that politive 
 ftatutcs require. 
 
 In this llrain of jurifprudential criticifm, 
 the public accufer remarks, with the acute- 
 nefs of Coke, that this leafe concludes, wath 
 ♦' Anno Dom. (1610); which is not the abre- 
 <* viation of the time, but either Anno Dni., 
 ** or A. Dhi., or An. Dni. (c)." Thus, by 
 fliowing thefe varieties, in the conclufion of 
 deeds, he tries to maintain his objeclion to 
 the want of a. fuppofed uniformity, according 
 to the real pradlice of the time; yet, he him- 
 fclf prove^^.Jby iiiilancing the varieties, that 
 his fuppofed uniformity did not in fadt extil: ; 
 
 (f) Inquiry, 275 : Had he lookrediilito Weft's'iS;w^<?/^(?- 
 graphic^ which he l^:>metlmes qa6tei, he would have feen 
 An. Do. in ki:S.^'p; Anno xxiiii Dom, noftrae reginse Eli- 
 zabelhic; and Anno Dom. J590, in feifl. 653. — We fee, 
 from this accurate authority, that the public accufer is un- 
 founded, in his affumption of the fa6l j and, confequcntly, 
 i"? unwarranted, in the conudence of his conclvifion. 
 
 as 
 
THE Deeds.] /or //'^ B E L I E VE R S. 283 
 
 as we have feen in the Symbokographie of 
 Weft. But, the public accufer thinks it pru- 
 dent to judify his peculiar mode of criticifm, 
 by quoting a remark of Pope ; who, when 
 fpeaking of the early publifhers of Shak- 
 fpeare's gramas, obferves, that their French is 
 as bad as their Latin, and even their very Welch 
 isfalfe {d). Thtfalfe Welcfo of Pope, who was, 
 no doubt, as profound a critic in the Welch, 
 as he was in the Greek, like the falfe law of 
 the public accufer, is more eafily ftated, than 
 fully proved. 
 
 . Pie is now about to difpatch the culprit, 
 by giving him the death-blow; and to difm.ifs 
 the fpedators, by freeing them from pain, at 
 the fame ftroke. *^ Our poet at length leaves 
 " the fcrivener in the lurch, fays (/)he, with 
 ^' enigmatical obfcurity, by fubfcribing his 
 *^ name to this deed, in plain and legible 
 " charaders, William Shakfpeare ; '' and he 
 might have added, with full as much bril- 
 liancy of wit, and cogency of proof, as our 
 poet fubfcrihed his will. An error of the prefs 
 is finally (y) objedled, like the laft, but in- 
 complete, ftroke of the executioner, which 
 leaves the head adhering to the body, by the 
 
 (^/) Inquiry, 271. [e) lb. 276. (/) lb. 275. 
 
 fkin*. 
 
>84. 'Jn AV OiL O G Y [.The MiiciLLAKxas; 
 
 Ikin. After fufFering die toiture of fuch cri- 
 ticifms on the leafe to Frafer, Shakfpeare 
 mighty with Coriolanus, exclaim : 
 
 Prefent me 
 
 *' Death on the wheel, or at wild horfe? heels j,- 
 " Or pile ten hills, on the'Tarpeian rock, 
 « That the precipitation might d.ovn\ ftretch 
 " Below the beam of fight ; yet, will I flill 
 *' Be thus to them." 
 The deed of trufi to John Hemynge is^ it 
 ieems, " the laft legal inftrument prefented to 
 " us, in this new Anthology/' — Were we 
 to enquire of Johnfon the meaning of the 
 'Wordy which feems here a little mirplaced, even 
 when taken ironically, he would anfwer; a 
 coUeBion. of Jiowersy a collection of devotions in 
 the Greek church -, a colleciion oi poems. All 
 former abfurdities muft now, it feems, yield the 
 palm to this fuperior abfurdity: The thick-fet 
 Chnmerian darknefs being bright funinine, he 
 adds, in well-fupported metaphor, with the va- 
 fid mnfejife of this fabrication. (^). When the 
 
 Cimmerian 
 
 {g) Inquiry, 276. In the fubfequent page, we have the 
 following clear, and confifteht pailage : Shakfpeare is de- 
 ftribed- in- the genuine deed " as of Stratford upon Avon, 
 *« frcm whence I am inclined to believe that he had then rc- 
 « tired from the ftage." Johnfon explodes from whence, 
 as a vitious mode offpeech : But, had the unidiomatical frcm 
 been forgotten, the inference would have been ungrammati- 
 cally 
 
theD^eds.]. for iJ!^4 BELIEVERS. aSj 
 
 Cimmerian cloud has pafled over him, the 
 public accufer is left in bright funfliine to ob- 
 ferve, that Stratford m Avon is fufpicioufly 
 written for Stratford upon Avon ; as if um-* 
 formity had been ftudied in the childhood of 
 orthography {h). 
 
 But, however incredible it may be, that 
 Shakfpeare ihould not know how to fpell the 
 name of his birth-place, the public accufer, 
 thinks it utterly incredible^ that he, who was a 
 bit of2iW attorney, who had a coufin an attor- 
 ney, who had a friend an attorney, fhould 
 tranfmit to pofterity fuch a malevolent and 
 unfounded ftigma, on a moft ufeful and ho- 
 nourable profeffion {/). The public accufer 
 
 cally drawn. To have made the paiTage good Englifh, the 
 ^rltic ought to have faid, from which defcriptlon^ " I am in- 
 " dined to believe." It is to be remembered, that we are 
 now upon a chapter oi vapid nonjenfe-y which might be ex- 
 tended, through alJ the mazes of Cimmerian darknefsy to a 
 liioft tirefomc length. 
 
 (^) In the council-regifter of the i8th of March 1618, 
 the birth-place of Shakfpeare is fpelt Stratford'Upo-Avon\ — 
 Stratford'Upm- Haven : In Speed's map of Warwickfhire,' 
 1610, this never-to-be-forgotten town, is called Stretford 
 upon Juen ; and, it is fimply called Stretford^ in Saxton's 
 map of 1576. In the Index to Howe's chronicle, Mr. Ma^ 
 lone might have feen his fufpicim realized : " Stratford m 
 ** Auon burnt, when, and how,- 1004, i, 36." 
 (/) Inquiry, 280. 
 
 fupports 
 
286 An APOLOGY [The Miscellanies ; 
 
 fupports his pofition in his ufual manner^ 
 by reafoning againft fadt, and declaiming againft 
 argument. Does, then, Shakfpeare never feoff 
 at the law, and lawyers ? ^* The bloody book 
 *^ of law you fhall yourfelf read in the bitter 
 « letter {k)r 
 
 With all this knowledge of law, and law- 
 yers, in his mind, Shakfpeare thought fit to 
 leave his matters in none of their hands, but to 
 
 [k) " Refolutlon thus fobbed as it is, with the rufty curb 
 '« of Q^A father Antick^ the law.'' — Henry 6. 
 
 ** The ftate of law is bond Have to the law."— Rich- 
 ard 2. 
 
 " To give fear to ufe and liberty, which have for long 
 •' run by the hideous A7iy/'— Meafure forMeafure. 
 
 " When law can do no rights let it be lawful^ that law 
 " bar no if row^."— King John. 
 
 " In lavo what a plea fo tainted and corrupt^ but being 
 " feafonM with i gracious voice, obfcures the fhovv of evil.'^ 
 —Merchant of V^enice. 
 
 '' Do, as adverfaries in law^ ftrive mightily, but eat, and 
 " drink, as friends." — Taming of the Shrew. 
 
 " The firft thing we do, lets kill all the lawyers.'* — 
 Henry 6. 
 
 *' Crack the Uivyer^s voice, that he may never more falfe 
 '* title plead." — Timon of Athens. 
 
 " It is like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer.''* — Hamlet. 
 
 " O'er lawyer'' s fingers, who ftraight dream of fees." — 
 Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 '^ Why may not that be tlie fcull of a lawyer? where be 
 " his quiddits now." — Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 truft 
 
THE Deeds.] /of ih B E LI E V EKS. 2S 
 
 truft his tried friend ]o\in (/) Hemynge; a cir- 
 cumftance this, which, for want of better evi- 
 dence, is deemed a ftrong proof of forgery4 
 The public accufer will immediately give a 
 clue, to enable us to find our way out of this 
 labyrinth oi folly and impojlure. This cluCi 
 which is thus to condud us through this noji^ 
 fenfical labyrinth, confifts, in fuppoling the 
 very point to be proved. ^* This inftrument 
 " was made,'' he fays, " with a view at the 
 '^ fame time to cover and give fome collateral 
 ** ftrength and authenticity, not only to the 
 " lock of hair, love letters, and pidlures al- 
 ** ready noticed, but to all fuch trumpery of 
 *^ the fame kind as the credulity of the town 
 *' at any future period might digeft (w).*' 
 
 All 
 
 (/) It is a curious fafi, that 'John Hemynge was appointed 
 by Auguflin Phillips, another fellow player, one of the 
 overfeers of his will ; and the widow having married, con- 
 trary to the teftamentary wifh of Phillips, Hemynge proved 
 the wi!l, on the i6th of May 1607, and had adminiftration 
 granted to him. It is a remarkable coincidence, that he is 
 called Hemynge in the will. [See the will, and the probar, 
 which was fuppofed not to exifl, in the prerogative office. 
 And fee a copy of the will which is hereinafter printed.] It 
 appears, from every circumflance, that John Hemynge was 
 altbgether truft- worthy; being an active, bu filing, difcreet, 
 honeft, man. 
 
 {m) Inquiry, p. 283. — As we are ftill in a chapter of non^ 
 
2S^ w^« APOLOGY [TheMiscellaniis J 
 
 All this, it is eafy to fay, even in terfer Eng- 
 Hfli ; but is not fo eafy to prove ^ as his 
 pains is forted to no proof. 
 
 Faffing over the orthography, which, as it 
 had no uniformity, can furnifh no objection 
 againft its uniformity, the public accufer goes 
 on to confider the inftrumeftt itfelf* This 
 was called, by Shakfpeare, a deed of gift, to 
 be executed after his death > it is improperly 
 Galled, by the editor of the Mifcellaneous Pa- 
 
 finfi-i which, however tedious, is ufeful for its examples, it 
 may be proper to afk the meaning of fome doubtful paf- 
 j^ges : " ift, Thefe obfervations [which were] naturally 
 " fuggefted by Shakfpeare, and flated in the edition which I 
 ** had the honour to prefent to the public.'* — Edition of 
 what? of the will; or of the works of Shakfpeare ? —2dly, 
 " At the fame time to cover and give fome collateral 
 '^^ ftrength:" To cover what? To cover collateral ftrength; 
 to cover authenticity? The verb has here no fubje£t. — 3dly, 
 « As the credulity of the town might digeit:" — Credulity 
 digeft trumpery I What a maw credulity muft have ! He 
 probably m.eant to hy't credulity might be made to digeft 5 
 or might be able to digeft. In the Inquiry, p. 293, we have 
 it, "as well as many others prove'* [proves;] in p. 295, we 
 fee " the Blackfriars and Globe theatre" [theatres;] in p, 
 agG, "ha is fomev^rhat niggard [niggardly] of his praife.'* 
 This chapter on the deed of iruji is particularly remarkable 
 for uncommon fpecimens of fuch Cimmeriah phrafeology j 
 which furnifh additional proofs of the truth of that well- 
 known axiom : 
 
 *' Great wits fometimes may glorioufly offend, 
 ** And rife to faolts true critics dare n6t mcnd^*' 
 
 § pers. 
 
*ri!fe Deeds.] for i^e B U L lUVE RS. 289 
 
 p-^rs, a deed of truji ; and it is denominated, 
 by the public accufer, with his greater know- 
 ledge of law, a codicil: Yet; *^ this CODI- 
 *' ciL to ^n unmade will furely furpaffes,'* 
 be faySj " any inftance oF fecond fight that 
 ** eVer has been recorded in Scotland («)." 
 One aiiertion maybe anfwered by another; 
 leaving the wit, and propriety, of both, to fu- • 
 ture confideration. It may be affirmed, that 
 this remark of his furpaffes any inftance of 
 HALLifCiNATioN, which has ever been re- 
 corded in Ii*eland. The public accufer again 
 opens ontr of the windows of his mind, for a) 
 moment. We difcover, however, from this 
 opening, his law opinion to be, that there 
 cannot h^ ^ codicil without 2i teftament. On 
 the contrary, I maintain, that every written 
 declaration of any perfon's mind, with regard 
 to what he will have done with his goods, and 
 chattels, after his death, without appointing 
 an executor, is a codicil: For, a codicil is the 
 fame as a laft will, excepting that // is without 
 an executor. Several codicils, any fit perfon 
 may make, without making a will : Why 
 fhould I quote Swinburn to prove what ever}' 
 fucking lawyer underftands {0). Nay, a tejia- 
 
 mentary 
 («) Inquiry, 284. 
 
 {o") Swinburn on Wills, part i. £.5, and fee " A Codicil 
 
 TJ « before 
 
290 An APOLOGY [The MisCELLANiis; 
 
 mentary fcheduk, without witneffes, olr an ex- 
 ecutor, has been declared to be a will (^). 
 Now, the deed of Shakfpeare, whether it be 
 deemed a codicil, or a will, if he had not 
 made a iubfequent will, had operated in law, 
 as his lafl: will : For, letters of adminiftration 
 would have been granted to John Hemynge, 
 with the codicil, or will [q) annexed, which it 
 would have been his duty to execute, accord- 
 ing to the intention of the teftator. 
 
 It would be a much more eafy tafk, for the 
 public accufer, to fix forgery on the laft will 
 of Shakfpeare, in the prerogative office, than 
 on the codicily in the Mifcellaneous Papers. 
 Nothing prote6ls the laft will of Shakfpeare 
 from the imputation of forgery, but the place, 
 wherein it is preferved. The manner, in 
 
 " before the'makingof aTeftament," In Weft's Symboleo- 
 graphle, fe<3:. 648 : And Weft fays exprefsly, in the fubfe- 
 quent fe£iIoa " that codicils may be made, without any tefta- 
 *f mertt, either precedent, or. fubfequent." Mr. Malone, 
 indeed, admits, " that this is a will rather than a deed of 
 « gift." [Inquiry, 286.] Now, if Shakfpeare's deed of 
 gift, be a codicil^ this circumftance will over-rule the law, 
 quoted in the fame page, from Blaclcftone, as applicable to 
 a contratl^ which muft have zjufficient confideration to fup- 
 port it. 
 
 (^) 2d Lord Raymond, 1282, Powel v. Beresford. 
 
 • (y) Lit. 168; Swinb. on Wills, p,.i, f. 5, Br. Tefta- 
 ment, 20, 
 
 which 
 
t^eDekds.] /cr /y&tf B E LI eve p. S. *igt 
 
 xyliich this inftrumentis executed, is extremely 
 fufpiclous : The moil: acute obfervers have 
 doubted, whether the three fignatures of the 
 teftator, be all of Shakfpeare's writing (r). 
 The laft will is full of interlineations, and 
 blurs; from which the codicil is free. At 
 the making of the laft will, Shakfpeare had for- 
 gotten his wife, till he w^as put in remem- 
 brance by the byftanders, that he had a wife, 
 and he then left her fome kind of bed to lie 
 on {s) : In the codicil, he is aw^are, that he has 
 a wife, for whom he provides in a hujbandlike 
 manner : And, he is alfo aware how wrong it 
 would be, to wring a widow from her accujiomed 
 right. When making his laft will, he had near- 
 ly forgotten his fellows^ Hemynge, Burbadge, 
 and Condel : when making his codicil, he re- 
 colled:ed all his fellows, who were worthy of 
 remembrance ; while making his laft will, he 
 w^as induced, by fome monitor, to bequeath 
 Kemynge, Burbadge, and Condel, two marks 
 apiece, according to Mr. Malone's calculation, 
 to buy them rings ; but, by the codicil, he be- 
 queaths to his feveral fellows, what was more 
 
 (r) Malone's Shakf. 1790. vol. i. parti, p. 191: Mr. 
 Malone indeed fays, miftakingly, that the name at the top of 
 the margin of the firft fticet was probably written by the 
 fcrivener, who drew the will. 
 
 (x) Inquiry, 282. 
 
 U 2 congenial 
 
2$z" Jn APOLOGV [The Miscellanies; 
 
 congenial for a poet to give, and players to 
 receive, his dramas^ which have conferred im- 
 mortality on them all. When making his 
 codkily the mifbehaviour of his daughter Judith, 
 whatever it had been, made him ne'gled: her : 
 When he made his will, he feems not to know, 
 whether (he were married, or not, or what to 
 give her, after his heft recoil e(ftion. His 
 deare daughter Safanna Hall, who had alwaye 
 demeaned herfelfe ivelly the teftator made his 
 refiduary legatee, in both. Yet, the public 
 accufer, after all his elaboration, does not re- 
 mark, what experienced judges have often 
 obferved, xhzt fraud generally adjufts circum- 
 ftances with more precifion, than truths which, 
 as it has nothing to conceal, is never circum- 
 fped: about incidents. 
 
 He declares, however, that Shakfpeare'a 
 legacy to his dear daughter, 'who had always 
 behaved herfelf well, would have been void, 
 for its uncertainty^ according to a maxim of 
 Lord Verulam : But his lordfliip has another 
 maxim, which might have been quoted, for 
 effeftuating the will of the donor : that, " in 
 *' contemplation of law, every thing is cer- 
 ** tain, that may be reduced to a certainty.*' 
 I will not difpute Lord Verulam's maxim, 
 that an ambiguity, in a deed, cannot be holpen, 
 
 by 
 
THE Deeds.] for the BELIEVER S. 295 
 
 byan averment. Like other maxims, this is true 
 in the general, but is not juft, in the particular 
 application : It may be true, when applied to 
 a deed; but it is not juft, when applied to a 
 will: For, it was determined in Lord Cheney's 
 cafe that, for explaining the doubtful words of 
 a isoilly a parol avtrnunt may be admitted, to 
 afcertain the perfon, who was intended, but 
 not to alter the nature of the eftate, which 
 was devifed (/). It would not» therefore, 
 have required ** fbme CEdipus to inform us," 
 which of Shakfpeare*8 daughters, Sufanna, or 
 Judith, had always demeaned he^-felje well. 
 
 Yet, the public accufer, when he fails in 
 
 overpowering Shakfpeare*s codicil, by his law 
 
 maxims, is determined to raife fufpicions of its 
 
 genuinenefs, by a charge againft it of novelty. 
 
 For the Gtid fums given, fuch as twenty ftv en 
 
 pounds, no probable reafon can be affigned ; 
 
 all gifts and legacies, being ufually even funis, 
 
 fuch as twenty fix pounds fx fhlllings and 
 
 eight pence («). But, Shakfpeare has himfelf 
 
 affigned a probable reafon : " They fay there is 
 
 " divinity in odd numbers either on nativity, 
 
 *^ chance, or death.'* Who has ever before 
 
 pretended to calculate the effccfts of caprifCy in 
 
 making gifts ? Can any probable reafon be 
 
 (f) 5. Rep. 68. {u) Inquirj', 20 5, 
 
 U 3 affigned. 
 
«94 ^» APOLOGY [The Miscella n 
 
 affigned, why our inquirer has departed frora 
 the rules of logic ; by begging the queftion, 
 which he ought to prove ; by fhifting from 
 himfelf to his opponents the labour of re- 
 fearch, though it lay upon him to prove what 
 they may, rightfully, deny. If he had faid, 
 that all gifts, and all legacies are always given 
 in even funis, I would have ihown by exam- 
 ples, " at this odd, even, and dull, watch of 
 ** the night,'' that they were often conferred 
 by deiign, or chance, without thefe odd fums 
 being confidered, " as manifeft denotations of 
 ** lidion {y)y Such objedtions, and fuch 
 
 (^;) The gifts to Shanke, and Rice, two low players, are 
 chiefly obfervable, for the abfurd fums allotted them; to one 
 37 (hillings in money, and i8 millings to buy a ring j and 39 
 fhillings to anoth^T. "No number of nobles or marks will 
 " make any [one] of thefe fums;.'* [Inquiry, 297-8.] In the 
 wills of Heminge, Cundel, and Underhill, which have been 
 publiilied by Mr. Malone [Shakf. 1790, vol. i. part ii. p. 
 191 — 199—2^2.] there is no allufion to nobles or marks, 
 Heminge bequeathed ^'y^ pounds; Cundel bequeathed ^y^ 
 pounds: And, Underhill wasfo abfurd, as to bequeath eleven 
 fhillings apiece, to each of his executors, to buy them rings. 
 Why would not Mr. Malone read the will of Underhill, 
 which would have warned him, as a beacon, againft running 
 his critical bark afliore upon the fhoals of odd fums, Au- 
 guftine Phillips bequeathed an odd thirty Jhilling piece in 
 gould to Shakfpeare: But, as Mr. Malone could not dif- 
 cover this interefting will of Phillips, he could not calculate 
 whether a thirty (hilling piece be an oddfum-, or not. 
 
 reafonings. 
 
thbDeids.] y»r /i# believers. 295 
 
 r^afonings, might tempt the believers to ex- 
 claim with the morofe Swift : 
 
 ** But, man we find ihe only creature, 
 " Who, led by folly, combats nature ; 
 *^' Who, when fhe loudly cries. Forbear^ 
 " With obftinacy fixes there ; 
 <* And, when his genius leaft inclines, 
 " Abfurdly bends his whole defigns." 
 
 The public accufer proceeds obftinately 
 from his coniSderations about the bequefts of 
 odd fums, in his accuftomed ftrain of ajjump^ 
 tioUy though nature loudly cries, Forbeary to a 
 minute examination of the particular legacies. 
 Shakfpeare's bequeft to his deare daughter is 
 not more unlucky, it feems, than the dona* 
 tion to ** the wittye Maftirr Armyne {10)'* 
 Had the donor called the player gamefom^ 
 Mafter Armin, there would have been no ob- 
 jedtion. But, afluming what he ought to 
 prove, the public accufer fays, "that the^a- 
 " bricatory has {tumbled on a word [wittye] 
 " that bore no fuch meaning as was here in- 
 " tended to be affixed to it [x)J' Of this in- 
 aufpicious word wittyey he appears not yet to 
 have had enough. He thus fliows, by his 
 own declaration, that he had never ktn " Me^ 
 " ncecmiy which was printed, in 1595, ^ plea* 
 *' fant and fine conceited comoedie^ taken out of 
 
 (w) Inquiry, 297. (*) LKjuiry, 297. 
 
 U4 '' the 
 
296 An APOLOGY [The MiscELLAMiEsj 
 
 " the moft excellent wittie poet Plau- 
 " Tus(j/) :" Nor, had he ever perufed Har- 
 rington's Epigrams}, which, as they are wittie 
 themfelves, ftudioufly fpeak of other wittie 
 fayings [z). In a fimilar ftrain of argumenta- 
 tion, does he prove, " that the various dona- 
 ^* tions to the feveral adtors named are as ab- 
 " furd, capricious, and incongruous, as thofe 
 " to his wife, and daughter \' — Continually 
 proving things doubtful, by things as doubt- 
 ful ; without troubling himfelf much about 
 the accuracy of his premiles, or caring greatly 
 about the juflnefs of his concliifion, 
 
 (;;"j It was reprinted with five other old plays, on which 
 Shakfpeare founded his Meafure forMcafure; Cpmedy of 
 Krrors ; Taming of the Shrew ; King John ; King Henry 
 VL and Henry V; and Kiqg Lear; by Nichols, in 1779. 
 This -quotation anfwers at once two objections j to excellent^ 
 as applied to writings j and to wittie^ in the fenfe of fmart-^ 
 nefs. 
 
 (z) Harrington's Epigrams, 16 18, wherein, a diligent 
 reader rpig^t have ittn a witty fpeech of Heywood, the epi- 
 grammatift to Queen Mary; z witty anfwer of Bifhop Bon- 
 ner; a ivitty choice of a country fellow ; a witty vi'riter of 
 this time. The objector is not more lucky in his obferva- 
 tlon on Hemynge*5 honour ; " a phrafe which the fabricator 
 « forefaw would come into ufe after his death.** [Inquiry, p. 
 30 1.] But is the aflumption true ? There is not, certainly, 
 a word, in the dramas of Shakfpeare, that is introduced, in a 
 greater variety of phrafes, than honour^ which, we may fay, 
 with Profpero, "cannot be meafured or confined/* 
 
 Yet, 
 
TjjE Df E»s.] for the BELIEVER S. 397 
 
 Yet, is he about to bring forward an ob- 
 jeftion, which will nullify Shakfpeare's tefta* 
 nientary deed, by the decinve ftroke of an 
 apparent anachronifm. The liberahty of our 
 poet, fays [a) he, *' fends, three pounds and 
 *' a gold ring after his good Kempe, who ap^ 
 " pears to have been then dead." We are 
 ultimately referred, for proof of the fd5ly to 
 the Guls Home- book, which, when pub- 
 Jifhed, in 1609, fays; " Tufh, tufl), Tarleton, 
 " Kempe, nor Singer, nor all the litter of fools, 
 "that 710W come drawling behind them, 
 ** never played the clownes part more natu- 
 ** rall^, than the arranteft fot of you all." 
 The Guls Horne-book, we fee, was obvioufly 
 written in the ftyle of fatire, rather than the 
 language of ftrioufnefs \ to gull thofe critics, 
 who believe, without reafon, and doubt, with- 
 out a caufe. But, did not Lord Bacon, in 
 1618, fpeak of Allen, that was the acSor; 
 although Ned had only retired from the ftage, 
 and lived to endow Dulwich college ? May 
 not Kempe, in the fame manner, have only 
 retired from the fcene, before the year 1609, 
 ^nd haye probably lived to enjoy Shakfpeare's 
 
 {a) Inquiry, 297, which refers us to Shakf. 1790, vol.i. 
 p^rt ii, p, 197, 
 
 legacy ? 
 
jgS An APOtiOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 legacy ? Mr. Malone is equally ip) pofitive, 
 that Thomas Pope, who alfo performed the 
 part of a clown, died before the year i 6oq ; 
 and for this ajfertioriy he quotes another Guls 
 Home-booky Heywood's Apology for A5lors : 
 Yet, have I found, in the prerogative- office, 
 ;the will of Pope, the player, which was made 
 fcy him, in 1603, when, the teftator affirmed, 
 h6 was of dif^ojing mind ^y an evidence of 
 thinking, which, our Cartejian muft allow, 
 is the very definition of entity. It is not, 
 then, apparent, that Kempe was dead, in 
 1609. And every one, who is accuftomed to 
 weigh circumftances, in the fcale of proba- 
 bility, will rather prefume, in favour of life, 
 that Kempe was probably living, and was 
 legally capable to wear Shakfpeare's ring, in 
 open contempt of the Guls Home -book. 
 
 The public accufer is not only determined 
 to fend Kempe to an untimely grave, bat is 
 refolved, by reviving an exploded queflion, 
 to deprive Shakfpeare of his copy-right in his 
 pever-dying dramas. ** At that time, lie fays, 
 •* no notion of literary property was entertained^ 
 ** unlefs where a particular licence to print 
 
 certain books by the crown.*' Yet, contrary 
 
 {^) Shakf, 179Q> vol i. part ii. p. 19S. 
 
 to 
 
 «c 
 
THE Deeds.] for /;&? B E L I E V E R S. 299 
 
 to loofe affertion, the regifters of the Sta- 
 tioners' company prove, that notions were even 
 then entertained of literary property. In 1 559, 
 there are entries of fines, for invading copy^ 
 right: In 1573, other entries mention the 
 Jale oi copies y w^ith the prices. In 1582, the 
 entries are ftill more remarkable 5 as fome of 
 them are made with a provifo, that if it be 
 found any other has a right to particular copies ^ 
 then the licence for the copies fo belonging to 
 another JJjall be void. This provifo, as it in- 
 dicates a notion of copy-right antecedent to the 
 licence^ is a compleat anfwer to the queftion (^), 
 ^* Shakfpeare, therefore, well knew, it is faid, 
 ^^ that he had no title to any of his plays then 
 *' in the hands of his aiTociates (^).'' Yet, 
 his allcciates pofitively declared, when they 
 fent his dramas into the world, that he had 
 a right to pubhfh [e) them, though the aftors, 
 
 to 
 
 (r) See Hargrave's Argument in Defence of Literary 
 Property, p. 42-3. 
 
 (i) Inquiry, 290. 
 
 {e) See the player's preface s and fee the entries on the 
 18th of January 1601, or the Merry Wives of Windfor, 
 ajfigned by John Bufby to Arthur Johnfon ; of King John, 
 by affignment from Stafford, on the 6th of May 1605 ; of 
 Shakfpeare's comedyes and tragedyes, fo many of the faid 
 (ofm as viere not entered to other men^ on the 8 th of No- 
 vember 
 
300 jfn AFOLOGY [The Miscellanies; 
 
 to whom they were affigned for the fpecial 
 porpoie, may have had the privilege of pre- 
 ienting them on the ftage. The right, then, 
 of Shakfpeare to difpofe of his own dramas, 
 was, m thofe times, indubitable, thongh un- 
 der certain modifications, as to thof^ pl-ys, 
 which he may have already difpofed of to the 
 players, or the printers (f). 
 
 Yet, the public accufer allcs many queftions, 
 with regard to Shakfpeare's gifts, to which 
 be knows not what anfvver will be given [g)^ 
 Why did none of the aftors avail themfelves 
 of thofe valuable gifts, on the death of Shak- 
 ipcane ? Why did not Barbadge, and his 
 fellows, print the Tempeift-, and the other 
 dramas, which had been fo long withheld ? 
 Why did not fome of the adors inflitute a 
 ftiit againft Fleminge to compel a fpecifick 
 execution of the tpuft ? Why did not Mrs. 
 Shakfpeare receive her own letters, rings, 
 and other gewgaws ? " To fay ay, and no, 
 
 ▼ember 1623 : And on the 23d June 1632, fixteen of thofe 
 jplays, were affigned by Edward Blaunt to Edward Allot, 
 who was one of the publifliers of the fecond folio edition of 
 Shakfpeare's dramas. [Mai. Shakf. vol, i. p. 255-256- 
 ?5.9.26o.] 
 
 {/) See Profeffbr Chriftian's argument, in Black. Com. 
 vol. ti. p. 407, 
 
 {g) Inquiry, 302. 
 
 ** to 
 
TttE Deeds.] y^^ /^^ B E L I E VE R S. 3^1 
 
 ** to thefe particulars, is more thaa to anfwer 
 *' in a catechifm/' One anfwer may, however, 
 be given to a diouland luch queffioas. The 
 deed of truft being, in contemplation of law, 
 a mere codicil, was compleatly revoked, by. 
 the publication of Shakfpeare's laft will ; 
 whereby a different difpofition of his property 
 was made, and a new truft created, which 
 was executed under a competent Jurifdi<ttion. 
 There are, moreover, other qucftions, with 
 regard to Shakfpeare*s affairs, which the pub- 
 lic accufer afks, when puzzled in mazes ; yet 
 cannot anfwer, when pe7'plexed with error. 
 He cannot tell, why John Hemings was made 
 a truftee by Shakfpeare, when he purchafed 
 his eftate in Blackfriars ? Why did He- 
 mings, by a deed, dated the loth of February 
 1617-18, convey that eftate to the ufes, de- 
 clared by Shakfpeare's'will ? Vv^ould not the 
 eftate have defcended, as the will direfted, 
 without the help of Hemings (^). Thus eafy 
 is it to afk more queftions in a minute, than 
 can be anfwered in a day. But, a little learn- 
 ing is a dangerous thing ; as we all know : 
 And, a httle law-learning is a ftill more dan- 
 gerous thing ; as this difquifition on Shak- 
 en) Inquiry, 303-4. 
 
 Ipeare's 
 
302J ^//APOLOGY [The Miscellanies, 
 
 fpeare's deed of truft evinces. Yet, thofc 
 dangers might have been avoided by the pub- 
 lic accufer, had difcretion warned felf-fuf- 
 iiciency of the gulf, whigh Separates igno- 
 rance from knowledge : — 
 
 " Be fure yourfelf rmd your own reach to knov/, 
 " How far your genius, taRe, and learning go} 
 " Lanch not beyond your depth, but be. difcreet, 
 *' And mark that point, where fenfe and dullnefs meet. 
 
 After this indulgent hearing, nothing re- 
 mains for me, but to fubmit to this court my 
 forepaji proofs, however the matter fall, as the 
 beft apology for the believers, on this mifcel- 
 laneous head of the Inquiry. The general ar- 
 gument, which is too folid to be overturned, 
 by general reafonlngs, the public accufer un- 
 dertook to confute, by particular inveiligations. 
 He has offered his objeftions, which, in my 
 turn, I have fully examined. Prefumptions fo 
 equally weigh againfl prefumptions, as " to 
 " poife the caufe in juftice' equal fcales, whofe 
 ^* beam fta:nds fure." It is for the equity of 
 this court, "^ while thus, doubts ftand even, to 
 decide either in favour of innocent belief or 
 in condemnation of 2iCQ\,\(\ng fcepticifm. 
 
 § VII. 
 
The Leare; &c.] for the BELIEVERS. joj 
 
 § VIL 
 
 THE LEARE ; and HAMBLETTE. 
 
 The public accufer at length proceeds from 
 ** the farrago of papers and deeds '* to Leare 
 and Hamblet {a). " Three words on this fub- 
 " ject will fuffice/' he fays {b). " Had the 
 *^ fabricator of this piece [thefe pieces, Leare, 
 " and Hambletf] been content to exhibit // 
 '•^ as a play-houfe copy, // had been a curio- 
 *^ fity, but he has ventured to write in the 
 ** firft page — '* Tragedye of Kynge Leare ifle 
 " fromme Mafterre HoUinnefnedde I have 
 " inne fomme lyttle deparretedde from hymme 
 ** butte thatte libbertye will notte I truft 
 ** be blamedde bye mye gentle Readerres '* 
 '* W"'. Shakfpeare."— « If it is [be] not of 
 ** Shakfpeare's own hand, it is nothing (c")." 
 In this opening paragraph, v/e have fome ad- 
 mirable fpecimens oi tbofe faults, which great 
 wits may glorioujly commit y and v/hich trm 
 critics dare not mend. 
 
 But, the public accufer will, doubtlefs, be 
 more fortunate in his matter^ than he has 
 been happy in his 7nan72er. By fpeaking de- 
 cifively of the fabricator of thofe pieces, in 
 
 {a) Inquiry, 304. {h) Id. [c) lb. 304^^5. 
 
 a the 
 
304 An kVOLOGY for [TheLeare; 
 
 the outfet, he takgs for granted the very pointy 
 which he undertook to prove. Like a great 
 wify he overleaps the vulgar bounds of logic^ 
 and, without pqfjing through the judgment y at 
 once comes at his end. He, however, does 
 make fome objeffions, v^hich he thinks de- 
 cilive proofs of undoubted forgery4 The 
 fabricator apologizes " for the liberty he has 
 " taken in departing from the hifliorian \ a 
 *' word not ufed in that fenfe till long after 
 ** his death* The term of his age (here re- 
 " quired) was licenfe [d^y We have now 
 another fubftitution of mere averment, for 
 promifed evidence. If we look, however, 
 into Cooper's T^hefauruSy 1573, we fliall find 
 libertas \ liberty^ in a good fenfe ; licentia 5 //- 
 cence^ or immoderate liberty, in a bad fenfe* 
 Now ; what does Jacques afk for ? 
 
 cc . I niuft have liberty 
 
 " Withal, as large a charter as the wind, 
 
 '^ To blow on whom I pleafe ; for fo fools have. 
 
 Jacques does not, then, aflc for liberty y to do 
 what is fit ; but for licence y to do what he 
 pleafes : And, in the fame fpirit, the Duke, 
 
 (^/J Inquiry, 309. The more curious reader will pleafe 
 to obferve, that I have printed, and pointed, the above quo- 
 tation, exad^iy as it is in the Inquiry ; that the reader may 
 fairly judge of the great wifs matter, as well as his 
 manner. 
 
 in 
 
AND Hamblette.J /-&^ believers. 30^ 
 
 in Mcafure for Meafure -y defcribing a ftate of 
 
 anarchy, fays : 
 
 " And, liberty plucks jujlice by the nofe ; 
 
 <' The baby beats the nurfe ; and quite athwart 
 
 ^ Goes all decorum." 
 
 Now; does liberty y in a good fenfe, pluck 
 juftice by the nofe ; or, is it the licence y with 
 which the baby beats the nurfe } Nor, can 
 there be a more anarchial ftate of indecorum ; 
 except when the critical baby beats the poeti-- 
 cal nurfe y which has foftered him- for thirty 
 years ; becaufe fhe will not blow on whom he 
 pleafes. 
 
 But, the public accufer is now determined 
 *^ to fhow by a fingle glance, that it [Leare] 
 " is a plain and palpable forgery (^)/' " To 
 " prove this decifively, he (/) fays, it is only 
 <^ necefiary to quote a fingle paffage from it." 
 After avowing, " that he has not collated any 
 part of this tragedy ey except one fpeech ; after 
 alking, whether Shakfpeare knew verfe from 
 profe, or fenfe from nonfenfe ; he produces 
 from the firft ad, and fourth fcene, a fpeech 
 of poor diftraded Lear, which, in its amended 
 ftate, is fufficient to Jhake our manhood i and 
 which, as it was firft publifhed, is one of 
 the moft corrupted paflages in the dramas 
 
 (e) Inquiry, 305. (/) Id. 
 
 X of 
 
3o6 '^/j APOLOG Y/sr [TheLeare; 
 
 of Shakfpeare (^). Scarcely any fcene has 
 given rife to more controverfy, among the 
 commentators, about the true reading, and 
 genuine fenfe. The queftion has never been. 
 
 Is) ^ g*^^^ ^^^^ never-to-be-forgotten paflage from the 
 4to edition of 1608, as it was republifhed, in 1766 : 
 
 « Lear :•— What, fifty of my followers at a dap, v/ithin 
 
 a fortnight ? 
 
 «• Duke: — What is the matter Sir? 
 
 " Lear : — lie tell thee, life and death ! I am afliam'd 
 
 '' that thou haft power to {hake my manhood 
 
 « thus, that thefe hot teares that breake from me 
 
 *' perforce, fhould make the worft blafts and fogs 
 
 '' Fpon the vntender woundings of a father* s curfe, 
 
 '^ perufe fenfe about the olde fond eies, beweep 
 
 '' this caufe againe, ile plucke you out, and you. 
 
 ** caft with the waters that you make to temper 
 
 <^ clay." 
 
 Such is Lear's fpeech, in the firft quarto. Yet, the public 
 
 accufer thinks it is much more probable, that thofe very rare 
 
 editions [the early quartos] were beyond the reach of the 
 
 fabricator. [Inquiry, 308.] True it is, however, as a thou- 
 
 fand witnefles can teftify, that the editor of the Mifcellaneous 
 
 Pap£rs was pofleft of the quarto edition of Lear^ ibo8 : 
 
 And, from this fa£l:, a public accufer, who had been more 
 
 ready witli real, than groundlefs, objections, might better 
 
 have firued hk ufes^ both in pirfe^ and perfsn. He thinks 
 
 t\\zfccmdfslio was very german to the matter in hand, and 
 
 v/as very properly choTeu for the bads of a new fiv9:ion. 
 
 [ib. 30B.] The only difference, however, between the 
 
 lafts and the fuperJlmSfure^ is, tliat the firft is \\\ metre^ the 
 
 fecond in profe : a difference this, which his prejudices 
 
 a^ainll: both did noi allow him to diftlnguifh. 
 
 till 
 
andHamblette.] the believers. 307 
 
 till now, whether Shakfpeare knew verfe from 
 profe, or fenfe from nonfenfe : — But, the dif- 
 ficulty has ever been, with the moft learned, 
 and the moft acute, to difcover, amidft fo 
 iiiuch uncertainty, what he really wrote. The 
 player-editors profefTed, indeed, to give our 
 poet's comedies, hijlories, and tragedies, *' ab- 
 " folute in their numbers as he conceived 
 ** them." Yet, when they efcaped the players, 
 the works of Shakfpeare, fays Warburton, 
 did not fall into better hands, when they came 
 amongft printers, and bookfellers : The Jiub- 
 born nonfenfe, with which the poet was in- 
 crufted, occaiioned his lying long negledled 
 amongft the common lumber of the ftage (/6). 
 From the days of Rowe, it has been the con- 
 tinual endeavour of genius and diligence, of 
 folid fenfe and adive intelligence, of the 
 acuteft intelledl and the profoundeft learning, 
 to remove the incruftations of nonfenfe, and 
 to clear our author from the lumber of 
 the ftage. 
 
 If, then, the finding oi nonfenfe, in the dramas 
 of our immortal poet would throw a fufpicion 
 upon their genuinenefs, which of them would 
 be free from the charge of fpurioufnefs ? If a 
 queftion had arifen, in 1609, whether T^bc 
 
 (Z>) Warburton's Preface, 
 
 X 2 Chronicle 
 
3c3 ^«APOLOGY/^r [The Li are; 
 
 Chronicle Hijlory of the life and death of King 
 hear and his three daughters, were the ge- 
 nuine work of Shakfpeare, it would have been 
 a manifeft proof of forgery, according to tne 
 logical canon of the public accufer, to have 
 quoted the before mentioned fpeech, non- 
 fenfical, and unmetrical, as it is undoubtedly. 
 The argument, then> which was to be decifive, 
 appears now to decide nothing. But, he has 
 ftill more of the fame decifive arguments to 
 produce. " As the whole of this play is in 
 ** the hand-writing, alTigned to Shakfpeare, 
 *' and as it is manifeji that it cannot be genuine^ 
 ** it follows neceflarily, that it is an abfolute, 
 " forgery ;" as if the hand- writing of Shak- 
 fpeare were indifputably afcertained 5 as if 
 Shakfpeare, like other poets, did not fome- 
 times write (/) feebly : as if fophiftry were 
 german to the matter of argument. Here, he 
 again fails, unlefs aJjumptioUy and proof be 
 the fame. 
 
 From fuch reafonings we are, at length, 
 condud:ed to the laft fcene of Lear, which 
 exhibits the concluding fpeech of Kent, that 
 has embarraffcd the critics, and divided the 
 commentators : — 
 
 (;) His declamations, or fet fpeeches, fays Johnfon, are 
 commonly cold, and weak. [Preface.] 
 
 « I have 
 
^ivB Hamblette.] /y^f B E LI E VE R S. 309 
 
 " I have a journey, Sir, fhortlytogo, 
 *' My mailer calls, and I muft not fay no." 
 
 In the lajl edition, we have, in the place of 
 this couplet, which has not been deemed the 
 moft energetic, in the fentiment, or the moft 
 explicit, in the language, the following fpeech 
 of Kent : — 
 
 " Thanks, Sir j but I go to that unknown land, 
 
 *' 7'hat chains each pilgrim faft within its foil; 
 
 " By living men moft fhunn'd, moft dreaded : 
 
 « Still my good mafter this fame journey took ; 
 
 " He calls me, I am content j and ftreight obey : 
 
 " Then, farewell world, the bufy fcene is done ; 
 
 " Kent liv'd moft true, Kent dies moft like a man (i)." 
 
 T.hefe verfes, which Shakfpeare need not 
 hav.e been afliamed to own, are reprobated, 
 as not at all Shakfpearean, The two lines, 
 which, however fhort and bald, are cer- 
 tainly genuine, have been beaten out, we 
 fire told, and amplified into itvtn (/). But, 
 the public accufer forgets, that there is a 
 new, and important, fentiment introduced, 
 and expanded : The editor of 1790 infifls, 
 that Shakfpeare meant to throw Kent into. 
 
 {k) Upon the authority of Johnfon, who fays, that the 
 pointing of Shalcfpeare*s dramas is in our own power, I have 
 taken the liberty^ {licence^ I (hould have faid,) to point, in 
 my own way, this reprobated fpeech of Kent, who " liv'd 
 ^ moft true, and died moft like a man." 
 
 (/) Inquiry, p. 309. 
 
 X 3 diflra^ioTiy 
 
:3io Jn APOLOGY for [The Learej 
 
 diJira5tion, but not into the ^r^t;^ ; In thefe 
 lines, the late editor difpatches Kent to that 
 unknown landy which chains each pilgrim f aft 
 within its foil. Here, then, the pubhc accufer 
 fails. The fupplemental verfes are nof better, 
 he fays, than any poetical fchoolboy could 
 write : The couplet of the firft edition is 
 not better, I fay, than any poetical boarding- 
 fchool Mifs could write. Here, again, he. fails. 
 Thofe kwcn. lines have been (;;^) quoted, it feems> 
 by fomebody, for want of better argumentSy 
 ^% teeming with energy, and pathos («). For 
 want of better arguments^ the public accufer 
 prefers the old couplet^ which is fo unin- 
 telligible, as not to be under flood, without 
 the help of comments. Strange ! that he will 
 not recoiled: the duty, which he owes to his 
 public engagement ; viz. to prove the intelli^ 
 gible lines to htfpuriotiSy by his own ftrength, 
 rather than by his opponent's weaknefs. 
 
 But, the bufy fcene is done I The public ac- 
 cufer now recurs to negative arguments -, be- 
 caufe, he doubtlefs thinks them the beft. 
 The lines throughout are numbered in the 
 margin, a pradlice unexampled in our author s 
 time, he (<?) fays ; as if there were not always 
 
 {?n) Inquiry, 309. («) Id. {0) Id. 
 
 exceptions 
 
andHamblette.] /^^ B E L IE VER S. 3H 
 
 exceptions to the general pradice ; even if the 
 fadt had been proved, rather than aflerted. 
 The manufcript plays, which he poffefles,, or 
 all which he had ever feGn, are written on 
 both fides of the flieet, he adds ; but, the /ja/f 
 covered Leave is only written on one of the 
 lides ; as if it were poflible to eUabliih a ge- 
 neral practice from half a djzen old plays of 
 Shakfpeare's (/>) time ; as if it were eafy to 
 account for the fancies of defign, or the va- 
 rieties of chance. He iheds the tears of la- 
 mentatioriy that only four and twenty paper 
 marks are mentioned, and not one fac fmile 
 is given, as a proof of the antiquity of the 
 paper j as if the archaeology of paper marks 
 had been yet fettled, by coUedling the names 
 of paper makers, in that age, and exhibiting 
 the mark of each. 
 
 From the inconclufivenefs of negative ar- 
 guments, he proceeds to the more cogent de- 
 ciiivenefs of affirmative ftatement. He now 
 goes on to inftrud the world, how old paper 
 may be eafily procured, for the execution of 
 fuch a fcheme of literary fraud (^). But, he 
 forgets to fhow, how the paper of this half 
 covered Leare was obtained, whether from the 
 
 (/)} Inquiry, 309. {q). Inquiry, 310. 
 
 X 4 door- 
 
512 An A? OhOGY for [TheLeare; 
 
 door-keeper o? iht paper -office y or from the book- 
 binder of Cambridge. The houfehold books of 
 ancient families^ indeed, the public accufer ad- 
 mits were out of the reach of the never-to- 
 be forgotton country gentlernati. But, though 
 he can tell where old paper may be found, 
 for any fabrication, he has never met w^ith 
 one perfon, who had ever feen the half covered 
 hearcy ** or even a fingle fheet of it (r) \' It 
 was produced, it feems, to the admiring crouds 
 in fingle leavvsy that is, ^* as faft probably as 
 ** the country gentleman could write it (j)." 
 Thefe pofitions are gravely ftated, in the pre- 
 fence of a thoufand perfons, who have feen the 
 Lear, in its integrity ^ whole ^ and entire, who 
 could have informed him, how it was fewed y 
 what number of leaves it contained; and 
 whether the edges were in their natural rough 
 ftate. The faid thoufand perfons could have, 
 moreover, told him, that his whole concep- 
 tion of the half covered Lear is completely er- 
 roneous. But, the public accufer has retailed 
 his mifconceptions, in broken fntences, and 
 fingle leaves ; in order to reprefent ** the be- 
 ** lievers in thefe fiftions,'' as perfons, who 
 had neither common fenfe, to perceive a pal- 
 
 (r) Inquiry, 3 II, {s) Id, 
 
 pable 
 
andHamslbtte.] /^^ B E LI E VE RS. 313 
 
 pable impolitlon, nor common honefty, to re- 
 probate an obvious cheat. Yet; who would 
 not, in a choice of difficulties, rather wifh to be 
 deceived, than to deceive ! The public acculer 
 may find his true juftification, by lamenting 
 with Davis, in his Nofce Teipfum : 
 
 *' What can we know? or what can we difcerne? 
 " When error chokes the windowes of the mind ! 
 
 On this head of the Inquiry, with regard 
 to Leare and Hamblettey the believers will 
 only add, in the fair frejence of this critical 
 court, as their ^beft apology : 
 
 <c _»_ — O! error-^fion conceiv'd^ 
 
 " Thou never com'ft unto a happy birth; 
 
 « But, kiirft the mother, that engender'd thee." 
 
 The public accufer, by raifing//^^ expedlancy 
 of fome fragments of Shakfpeare, was himfelf 
 the mother of thisyS<9;2 conceived error. Whether, 
 in fulfilment of the forebodings of the Jeer^ 
 this error will kill, by an unhappy birth y the 
 mother that engendered it, is a fate, which 
 can be known only to thofe, who pretend to 
 fhcond Jight . One truth is, however, certain, 
 as the faid feer affures us : 
 
 "Oft €xp elation fails, and moft oft there, 
 " Where moft it promifes; and oft it hits, 
 " Where hope is coldcft, and defpair moft fits/* 
 
 % Vni. SHAK- 
 
jr4 ^ APOLOGY [Sha^klspearf/s Not? 
 — - § VIIL . 
 
 SHAKSPE ARE'a NOTE of H A N I>. 
 
 It is foreign to the purpofe of this Apology 
 to go into confiderations, concerning thofe 
 documents, which, as they have been fcarcely 
 feen, and never publiflied, feldom attradied 
 much attention, or were the objed:s of much 
 regard. Every queftion about fuch docu- 
 mentSj v/hether defined, or undefined, proper, 
 or improper, mud be anfwered by thofe, who, 
 being intimatesy may be fuppofed to be beft 
 qualified to fearch out *' what's paft, and 
 *^ what's to come/^ It is of more ufe, as it 
 may afford more inftrutfbion, to inveftigate 
 the ilibjed: of the note of hand ^ wliich was re- 
 fer ved for this place ; in order to eonfider, at 
 once, what has been advanced by the public 
 accufer, and what has been urged by his 
 learned {a) coadjutor, after turning over his 
 kiw books. 
 
 It is unneceflary to repeat, here, the minute 
 criticifms of the public accufer, were they lefs 
 tedious ', as they have been already anfwered : 
 Indeed, he himfelf declares, that "he wants no 
 ** aid from thefe minute cbfervations : The -whole 
 
 {a) Inquiry, 133; Appx. N"^ !► 
 
cfHand.] for the believers. 315 
 
 " is an evident forgery {U)^ To this afler- 
 tion, he adds another ; as if the accumulation 
 of aflertions amounted to the fulnefs of proof: 
 " I run no hazard," he fays, '* when I alTert, 
 ** that no fuch form of promt ff or y note exiiled 
 *' at that time (^)." In order to prove his ne- 
 gative affertion, with refpeit to the uniformity y 
 both in matter, and manner, of unfealed bills, 
 he immediately produces three unfealed bills 
 of different forms (J) : And, it thus appears, 
 from his own proof Sy that the wfealed bills of 
 Shakfpeare's days were extremely different, in 
 their matter, and form {e) : And, from /jis 
 
 own 
 
 (^) Inquiry, 137. (c) lb. 140. (d) lb. 141. 
 
 (e) I will fubjoin two other forms of unfealed bills, 
 in order to prove fully, that there was then no uniform man- 
 ner in drawing them; and that, confequently, an objedtion 
 to the want of uniformity to a fuppofed ftandard is ground- 
 lefs: — 
 
 '' Memoranda" borowed of Mr. Richard Remchinge 
 " gent, the xxx^^: of Jully 1596 : •/ the fomme of fortie 
 " {biliinges whiche I promyfe to paye att all tymes vpon de- 
 " mande ^ in wittnes heareof I have fubfcribed my name 
 <' the daye & yeare firft above wry ten ; • / 
 
 E: Slansfeilde 
 <^ More I doe owe fyve ihillinges 
 " fo in all xlv-^ :/ 
 *' More borowed fyftene fhillinges 
 " Somma totall— iij li. 
 
 The 
 
5f6 Jin APOLOGY [Shakspeare'^Note 
 
 own JJjewtng, it follows, that there did not then 
 -cxift any Jet form of promifibry notes. Tb& 
 public accufer fails, then, in proving either his 
 negative pofition, that no Jucb form of promif- 
 fory note exijiedf at that (J) time-, or his affirm-- 
 ative pofition, that there then exifled an iini- 
 forn^ mode, in writing unfeakd bills, which 
 was quite different from Shakfpeare's note. 
 
 After all thofe failures, the public accufer 
 is fludious to fbow how very ignorant the fa- 
 bricator of this note, undoubtedly, was. With- 
 
 The original of SlansfeiWe's note of hand was obligingly 
 communicated to me by Mr. Craven Ord. The following 
 unfeakd bill, which exhibits a fifth variety, I copied from 
 the parifh regifters of St. Saviour's, Southwark, the very 
 fite of the Globe Theatre. 
 
 *' Memorandum — That whereas upon the 2d daye of 
 " July 1590 Gilbert Rocket now one of the churchwardens 
 " of the parifh of St. Saviour's in Southwark in the county of 
 " Surrey did lend unto the reft of the church wardens for 
 " the ufe of the parifh the fome of fiftye poundes good 
 *' and lawful money of England towards the payment fute 
 " hi fyne for the leafe of our parfonage : It is pro- 
 " mifed and agreed by the churchwardens and veftrymen 
 " hereunder written, that the faid fome of fiftye poundes ihall 
 " be repayde unto the faid Gilbert Rocket, his executors, 
 "orafligns at and uppon the fecond daye of Julye which 
 " fhall be in anno 1591, without any fraud, coven, or fui- 
 « thcrdclaye'* 
 
 (Signed) &c. [The names,] 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 140. 
 
 out 
 
otHand,] /or /^if believer S. 317 
 
 out difputing about the ignorance, or the 
 knowledge, ofy3 obfcure a perfonagey it may be 
 admitted, without controveriy, that the editor 
 of the Mifcellaneous Papers was ill informed, 
 or ill advifed, to call this common ajfurance of 
 Shakfpeare, "a note of hand/' which neither 
 Shakfpeare, nor Heminge, who were the parties 
 to the tran faction, call it themfelves. From 
 them it did not receive any name. And by 
 them, it was left, without a name, like other 
 legal inftruments, to find its own way in the 
 world, and to fupport, if necelTary, its owa 
 fufficiency, in Weftminfter-hall. If this facfi 
 had been attended to, much learned inveftiga- 
 tion would have been faved, and much witty 
 writing fpared ; to the no fmall difappoint- 
 xnent of the curious reader* 
 
 The truth is, that the word hill is the moll 
 ancient term, and is of Saxon [g) derivation^ 
 while the word note is a modern upftart of un- 
 certain extracftion. Before, and>^fter, the days 
 of Shakfpeare, bill was the common word for 
 any writing. And, from this original fignifi- 
 cation, we ftill have, in the prefent times, in 
 daily ufe, bills of exchange, bills of lading; 
 bills of flore, bills of fufferance^ bills of par- 
 
 [g) Skinner, in Vo* 
 
 7 ccls. 
 
jiS^ ^//APOLOGY [Shaspeare'sNote 
 
 eels. The term billy however, was, in Shak- 
 fpeare's days, and by our great poet himfelf, 
 more confined in its fenfe; being particularly 
 appropriated to evidence fome Jimple contra5ly 
 or money lent, and borrowed {IS). Yet, the 
 word note began to be ufed, during thofe 
 limes, to fignify a fchedule, or fliort memorial 
 of familiar tranfad:ions (/). From this brief 
 account, we may perceive, how memorandums 
 •for goods bought, or money borrowed, came 
 to be called bills of debt, which were fometimes 
 iealed ; and which, according to the circum- 
 ftances, whether fealed, or unfealed, had very 
 different ooerations in law, 
 
 {h) In Much ado about Nothing: ''Have a care that 
 « your hills be not ftolen :"— In Hen. 6 :—" When fliall 
 " we go to Cheapfide, and take up commodities on our 
 ^ hills: — In Timon of Athens: " All our ^//A; — knock me 
 " me down with them."— In June 1588, a warrant was 
 iflued to deliver to the Earl of Leicefler all his bills ; tef- 
 tifying the receipt of tv/enty thoufand pounds. [Murden, 
 ^88.] In the ftate papers of that period, letters, and other 
 familiar writings, are called bills, 
 
 (/) Sir Thomas Heneage, in writing to Lord Burghley, 
 on the 4th of September 1570, of a particular tranfa£i;ion, 
 promifed " to keep the note thereof for him." [Haynes, p. 
 606.] Sir Thomas Greftiam, in writing to Lord Burghley» 
 in 1572, fpeaks of the particular not of the money. [Mur- 
 den, 217.] ' 
 
 : The 
 
GT Hand.] for tie BELIEVERS. 31^ 
 
 The three inftances, that were produced 
 by Mr. Malone, and the two now laid before 
 the public, are unfealed bills of debt ^ which, in 
 the prefent times, would be called notes of 
 hand. But, none of thefe^ he adds, ^* were 
 *' indorfable over, nor could any aBion at law 
 ** be mamtained on themr Thofe notes oi 
 hand were not, indeed^ indorfable over, accord- 
 ing to modern pradiice ; but, they were af- 
 fignable ; and in fa6l, were often affigned, ia 
 payment for goods, or in fatisfadlion for debts- 
 That an aBion at law could not be maintained 
 o7i them is an affeition, which is hazarded, 
 without coniideration : For, it muft be deem- 
 ed inconfiftent with our jurifprudence, con- 
 trary to the maxim, that there can be no 
 wrong without a remedy^ and adverfe to tTic 
 great authority of Coke-Lyttelton {k). Here 
 is another example, that a little law-learning is 
 a mofl dangerous thing. The public accufer, in- 
 deed, affigns the true reafon for that alTertionr 
 *' I did not think it neceffary," fays he, ** to 
 
 {k) 56 A. It is an eftabllflied poliit, *'that when tlie 
 ^ common law gives aright, or makes a thing an injury, the 
 *< fame law gives a remedy, or a(3:ion.'' [i balkeld's Rep^ 
 20-21 -, 6 Mod. Rep. 54.] Now; is not an u/t/ealddhill o£ 
 /kbt a legal evidence of a ri^ht withheld ? 
 
320 Jit APOLOGY [Shakspeare'sNote 
 
 *^ turn over my law hooks, or to go deeper into 
 •^ thefubjea(/)/' 
 
 Let us now attend to the learned coadjutor 
 of the public accufer, who does turn over his 
 law books,, and does go deeper into the fub- 
 jeft {7n), 
 
 Like a true Cartefian jurift, this learned 
 perfon begins his difquilition by doubting. He 
 doubts, whether any fuch inftrument as Shak- 
 fpeare's note to Hen^inge is known to have 
 been in ufe at that period («)• He fees three 
 fuch notes before his eyes; and he might 
 have iz^w. three hundred, in the pradice of 
 that period : Yet, he doubts the exiftence of 
 fuch notes of hand, during the age of Shak- 
 fpeare. Cartefius never doubted, v/hether he 
 could think: But, this learned perfon, when 
 he obferves unfealed bills before his eyes, 
 doubts, whether he can fee. 
 
 In this fpirit of doubting he turns his eyes 
 from thefaB, to examine the black-letter law, 
 the reports, and the year-books ; in order to 
 prove the non-exiftence oi imfealed bills. He 
 difcovers, that the perfonal fecurities, which 
 were ufcd, in the time of Shakfpeare, and for 
 
 (/) Inquiry, 142. {m) lb. 369^— Appx. N* i. 
 
 («) Inquiry, 371. 
 
 centuries 
 
b^ tiASD.] for //.f B E L I E V E R ^ jir- 
 
 Centuries before, were either obligations, called 
 bonds, or bills, which were ibmetimes called 
 bills of debt, or bills obligatory ; and which 
 were equally deeds -^ requiring to be iigned, 
 fealed, and delivered. " It w^ould be idle, he 
 ** immediately adds, to multiply authorities 
 *^ to prove, that there was always a feal to 
 " thefe bills [o)'' Idle would it be, indeed, 
 to quote Cowel, and Coke-Littelton, to prove, 
 that there 'ivas always a feal to a sealed bilL 
 The coadjutor w^as inquiring, whether there 
 cxifted, in facft, during Shakfpeare's age, un-- 
 fealed bills : And, he multiplies authorities to 
 prove, that there were, in that age, fealed 
 bilisj both in fad, arid law. But, there is 
 one authority, which he does not quote, 
 Bacon s life of the Law. That great writer, 
 in treating of the feries, wherein legacies are 
 to be paid, fays ; — " but this is to be under- 
 " flood, by debts of record to the King, or 
 *' by bill, and bond faled^ or arrearage of 
 '^ rent> or fervants, or workmens, wages ; 
 *^ and not debts of (hopbooks, or bills un- 
 ** fealed, or contracts by word (/>)." And, 
 thus, the fad: fupports the authority of Bacon ; 
 
 {t)) Inquiry, 37 ij which quotes Cowel, and Coke-LiC* 
 telton, 
 
 (/>) I quote from- the edition of 1635, p. 71. 
 
 Y as 
 
ii2 jIh A?OLOGY [SHAKSPEARE'sNOTft 
 
 as the authority of Bacon explains the ope- 
 ration of the fad:. Of Mallet, it was remarked, 
 when he wrote the life of Bacon, that he had 
 forgotten. Bacon was a philofopher : This 
 learned perfon, when treating of a law queftion, 
 forgets, that Bacon was a lawyer. And, is it 
 neceffary to prove, that Bacon, as he was born, 
 in I561, and died, in 1626, was the contem- 
 porary of Shakfpeare ; who was born, in 1564, 
 and died, in 1616 ? 
 
 It is, however, of fome importance to fliow, 
 that t^je law will not always prove the fadl ; 
 though thefaB may fornetimes prove the iaw^ 
 Were it a queftion, whether there exifted in 
 England, during that period, any gaming- 
 houfes, the learned coadjutor of the public 
 accufer would, doubtlefs, quote the ftatute 
 of the 33 Henry 8, which prohibited fuch 
 houfes ; in order to prove the fad, that there 
 could have been none : Yet, that this evi- 
 dence is inconclufive, a little inquiry would 
 have fatisfied him. Qiieen Elizabeth, in the 
 28th of her reign granted to Thomas Corn- 
 wallis a licenfe " to make graunts for keeping of 
 " gaming-houfes, and ufing of unlawful games, 
 ** contrarie to the ftatute of 33 Hen,8. (y)" 
 We now perceive, that an ad of parliament 
 
 \q) Lodge's 111 uftrations, vol. iii. p. 161. 
 
 6 itfclf 
 
OF Hand.] >r //^^ B E LI E V E US. 323 
 
 itftlf is not conclufivc evidence, to prove the 
 fa5i afferted ; which is eftablifhed by different 
 evidence of fuperior force. " There are no 
 ** tricks in plain and fimple faith/* When//6^ 
 faB rifes in the horizon, by the produdion 
 of unfealed bills of various kinds, the ftrong 
 beams of truth foon difperfe the clouds of re* 
 ports, year-books, and law authorities, which, 
 in the prefent day^ only ohfcure the fcene, 
 which they once iUuminated ^r). 
 
 But, this learned perfon perfifts in alking, 
 " Were there no inftruments, like this in 
 " Shakfpeare's name, then ufed by merchants, 
 '* and others in their confidential tranfad:ions ? 
 *' It will be found, on the contrary, that the 
 ** want of them was a theme of complaint for 
 '* more than half a century after his death.*' 
 He perfeveres, neverthelefs, in this dark fearch, 
 
 (r) The famous Richard, Earl of Warwick, on the 2d 
 of November 1454, wrote to Sir Thomas Todenham to 
 borrow ten, or twenty pounds ; promifmg " We fhatl fend 
 " it you again afore new-year's day, with the grace of God, 
 " as we are a true knight.'' [Fenn's Letters, vol. i. p. 87.] 
 Here, then, is a curious fpecimen of an unfealed bill of 
 knight'hood. To this bill, however, the learned Mr. Ser- 
 jeant Vavafor would have obje6i:ed : " Here are no words of' 
 " obligation; for Tiprsmife does 720t con/iitute an ^ligation.''* 
 [Inquiry, 376.] There is fcarcely an abfurdity, that fome 
 philofophers have not maintained : And, hardly a chicane, 
 which fome lawyers have not pradifed ! 
 
 Y 2 though 
 
SH ^ APOLOGV [Shaicspear£'sNot« 
 
 though ihe fa^t was blazing before his eyes : 
 For, there undoubtedly were unfealed bills, in 
 the practice of England, before Shakfpeare was 
 born. I have produced a genuine note of handy 
 dated, m July 1596. The public accufer has 
 produced three unfealed bills, of various forms. 
 His learned coadjutor has feen, in the well 
 known treatifes on common aijurancesy unfealed 
 bills of every (hape. Lord Bacon fpoke fami- 
 liarly of unfealed bills 5 and affigned them their 
 proper rank among book debts, and verbal 
 contrad:s (j) . Yet, notwithflanding all thofe 
 authorities, the learned perfon " plays faft and 
 " loofe v^ith faith : fo jefls with heaven." 
 
 It will be found, on the contrary, that it 
 was not the want of unfealed bills, but the 
 want of negotiable qualities in them, which 
 was the real " theme of conftant complaint."" 
 The learned perfon will quote the ftatute of 
 (/) Anne, which was made to give thofe ne- 
 
 (f) The Statute of Ufury, 13 Eliz. ch. 8. makes void 
 •* All b;indes,contra6lefi,anda{rurances, collaterall, or other;*' 
 This proves hov/ various common affurances then were. Sir 
 John Harriiigton has an epigram " On one that lent monej 
 *' on Aire band;" — 
 
 " And for yoar more aflfu ranee you fhall have 
 ** What obligation, you yourfelf will crave ; 
 ** Or bill, or band, your payment to performe, 
 " Recognizance, ftatute, or any forme." 
 
 (/) 3-4 Ann. ch. ix. Inquiry, 394. 
 
 gotiabi* 
 
or Hand.] /or />^^ B E L I E VE R S. 32^ 
 
 gotiable qualities to unfealcd notes ; in order 
 to prove, in con tradition to the facl, that 
 fuch notes did not exifl before the ftatute : 
 Yet, the pradice of the country, and the pro- 
 ceedings of the courts, as they are reported hj^ 
 the lawyers, and quoted by him, evince, that 
 fuch notes did exift, and circulate among 
 traders j though the recovery of them, by 
 fuits at lav^, was obftinately oppofed, by chi-* 
 chane in ermine. But, I will not quote pro- 
 ceedings, which do no credit to the judgeSj| 
 who were unconfcious, that the law con- 
 tinually grew under the benches ; and who 
 had not then learned to facilitate the admini- 
 ftration of juftice, by applying the principles 
 of the common law^ to the comm.on prafticQ 
 of the country \ -^s often as the fpirit of com- 
 merce introduced new modes of bufipefs. 
 
 The ftruggle, which vvas thus fo long 
 maintained in our jurifprudence, by the fpirit 
 of commerce, as it forced its w;^y ,in the 
 w^orld, and the courts of juftice, ad:uate<i as 
 they were by prejudice, rather than principle, 
 proves ch^arly, that iinjeakd notes did exift, 
 did circulate ; and v^ere affigned, in faft, 
 though they were not affignable, in law, 
 during a century, previous to the rtatute of 
 Anne. The report of the Board of Trade, 
 
 Y 3 xf^ 
 
325 Ah apology [Shakspeare's Note 
 
 In December 1697, ^^ ^ proof of this («) 
 point; by ihowing, that, bonds, bills, and 
 notes, were afligned, though not fo frequently 
 as neceffity required. At the epoch ,of the 
 Refloratlon, it was a common practice to 
 pay debts, by affignment of other debts^ 
 and to transfer documents, by daily fale {y), 
 
 [u) *' And whereas a great part of trade is carried on by 
 credit, and trult in dealing, We humbly conceive, If it were 
 ena£leda that it {hall not hereafter, be in the power of any 
 perfon, that haih by any writing, under liis hand, teftified 
 by two witneffes, aiTigned or transferred, any bond, bill, or 
 note^ made to him by any other perfon, to make void, dif- 
 charge, or releafe the faid bond, bill, or note, or any of the 
 money due on fuch bond, bill, or note, or any part thereof, 
 after fuch affignment, made on the faid bond, bill, or note, 
 but that fuch aflignee (hall have the fame right, power, and 
 authority to fue fuch perfons, indebted by fuch bond, bill, or 
 note, in his own name^ and to recover the money fo due, as 
 if fuch bond, bill, or note, had been made originally to him- 
 felf J that then, traders would more frequently take bonds, 
 notes, or bills, for fuch goods, as they may fell, to be paid 
 at time, and would transfer, and ailign, the fame to others, 
 as their occafiohs may require : And thereby make fuch 
 bonds, bills, and notes very ufeful and fubfervient for the 
 carrying on, and increafmg cf trade." 
 
 {v) See, The Scales of Commercey by Thomas Willsford, 
 printed in 1660, fig. 2. which, as a treatife of book-keeping, 
 fhowing the piatlice of mercantile bufmefs, is a better au- 
 thority, than a law report, (bowing the practice of the courts 
 of juftice i which was governed by artiticial principles, 
 rather than by the ufages of commercial life. 
 
 Bu,t, 
 
eF Hand.] /cr the B E LlEV E RS, 32? 
 
 But, this pradlice, which neceflity dictated, 
 and convenience approved, was of a much 
 older origin. The cafe, which is reported by 
 Malynes, of a foreign facflor, who purchafed 
 baize at Colchefter, to be paid for in the bill 
 of debt of a third perfon, would alone prove 
 the fa5l [w). One of the firfl afts of King 
 James's government, after his acceffion, was> 
 to prohibit, by proclamation, the afjigmnent of 
 debts ^ and aciions [x) The practice, then, of 
 ajjignmg debts, was common, during the reign 
 of Elizabeth. And, the accuftomed bufinefs 
 of the city of London was very different from 
 what the reports of fuits in Weftminfter-hall 
 feem to reprefent, as the varied tranfad:ions 
 pf mercantile bodies (j/); Here, then, is 
 
 anothei- 
 
 [w) Malyne's Lex Merc. edit. 1622, p, 99 : The bills 
 were not, at that early period of our mercantile affairs, in- 
 dorfed over, according to modern forms, but afligned, and 
 often renewed to the affiance ; who could then maintain a 
 fuit for the recovery of payment, in his own name. 
 
 (jf) The proclamation Wvis dated the 7th of May 1603, 
 and may be feen in Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 379. 
 
 (y) The following agreement, between two alderquen of 
 I^ondon, which I found in a large colledion of original 
 papers, that had come from the Longvillc library, ancj 
 >vhich I lately purchafed pf Air. Chapman, the bookfeller, 
 \ ^^bmit to the reader 5 becaufe it fhows the true nature of 
 
 Y ^ real 
 
32S ^« APOLOGY [Shakspeare*s X"oT« 
 
 another example, which proves, with ftrong 
 
 conviction, that fhv wing the la^A^, even if 
 
 it were accurately ftated, does not eflablifh 
 
 the fatt^ 
 
 The 
 
 real bufinefs ; becaufe it bears on fevcra! topicks of this In- 
 quiry; viz. the contraction of y/««5 Z)/i''. ; the pointing;//; 
 the affignment of Mr. Secretary Cecirs hond^ \n JatlsfaSltQn of 
 a debt ; and becaufe this agreement proves incontrovertibly 
 ■the pofitions in the text: — 
 
 " Sexto die Novembris Anno Dm: 1602. 
 
 Articles of agreement made between the right 
 worfhipful Sir John Hart and Sir Richard 
 Martin knights and aldermen of London for 
 the true payment of jpight hundred poundes 
 due unto the faid Sir John by the faid Sir 
 Richard ;// in manner following —viz' ; // 
 ^lOO — That Sir John Hart fhall have the benefitt of a 
 certain bond of Mr. Secretary Cecill's of ^^ 100 , 
 principall dtbt, which is due to the faid Sir Richard, 
 which bond Sir John Hart doth accept for . ^ 1 og : / 
 j([4C0— That Sir Richard Martin fhall pay or caufe to bee 
 paid unto the faid Sir John Hart the fume of jf 400 
 out of certain fait workes belonging unto the faid Sir 
 Richard Martin by /200 <^ A° — viz^ At every 
 fix hiOno'ihSjf IQO and for tne true payment thereof 
 at the faid tymes or wiihir. x.'^" days after every of 
 the faid times Sir John Hart is to have good fureties 
 fuch as hee fhall like of 
 ^300— That Sir Richard Martin (hall pay or caufe to be 
 paid unto Sir Jchn Fi art ^300 more, by ^100 at 
 every fix montus end, the hrft month to begin from 
 
 Chriftmas 
 
PfHano.] for the be LI eye KS, ^2^ 
 
 The learned coadjutor of the public accufer 
 fails, then, in feveral points : Firft, he fails, 
 in arguing againft thefadt ; For, various formg 
 of unjealed bilh^ which may be called notes 
 of hajid, being produced, it was abfurd to 
 inquire, whether they exifted, at the epochs 
 of their feveral dates, which go back to the 
 year 1589: Secondly, he fails, in fuppofing, 
 that proof of the non-ajjignment of notes would 
 prove i\\t\x non-exijience : Thirdly, he fails, 
 in producing the law-reports of variou3 fuits, 
 that vi'ere inftituted, for enforcing the pay^r 
 
 Chrlftmas next, after the date above written, putting 
 in good bonds togither with fuificient fureties unto 
 Sir John Hart fuch as hee {hall like of for the due 
 payment thereof accordingly 
 
 In confideration whereof Sir Jphq Hart is con- 
 tented to yeeld up and deliver unto the faid Sir Rich* 
 ard Martin or his affigns all fuch writings and evi- 
 dences which he hath of the faid Sir Richard, at or 
 before the twentieth day of January next enfuing the 
 day above written, fo that the faid Sir Richard dop 
 performc every of thabove mentioned articles within 
 or uppon faid twentieth of January otherwife ^ 
 thinges are to remayne unto the faid Sir John Hart 
 as they do at ibis prefent, and thefe articles to be void , 
 to all intents and purpofes 
 
 In VVitnes whereof the faid Sir John Hart to 
 thefe prefents hath fett his hand the day and ye^5^ 
 Jirll above written." 
 
 (figned) John Hart: 
 
 mept 
 
339 Jn APOLOGY [Shakspeare*s Noti 
 
 jnent of goldfmiths notes, promiffory notes, 
 mnfealed bills, inland bills, foreign bills ; which 
 prove, that fuch documents did exill:, and 
 were afligned : And laflly, he fails, in ad- 
 ducing an argument, which, however learned, 
 is whdlly irrelevant to the queftion, with re- 
 gard to the exilTience of fuch a note as Shak- 
 ipeare's, during that bufy age. 
 
 But, this learned perfon will be, doubtlefs, 
 more happy in fome other of his toplcks. 
 " The Chief Juftice [Holt], was as firm, 
 *' fays he, in the confcientious difcharge of 
 ^* his duty againji the law merchant y as on 
 *' another memorable occafion lie had been 
 " ^gzm^tbe law of ,parltame7itr It feemeth 
 to have been the opinion of the Chief Jujftice, 
 as it is of this learned perfon, that the law 
 merchant y and the law of parliajnent, were not 
 parts, nay are not important branches, of the law 
 of the land. The Statuttim de Staptdis of [z) 
 Edward 3d, appears to have been forgotten 
 
 in 
 
 (2) 27 Ed. 3, ftat, 2. ch. I. AH people of the Staple fliall 
 t)e ruled by the law merchant^ and not by the common law, 
 7 he Statutum de StapuUs formed, then, a kind of mercantile 
 ^ode. By change of circumftanccs, the whole body of traders 
 9f England became the people of the Staple^, who were entitled, 
 in ^heir commercial trania<£lions, to the protecSlion of that 
 
 ftatute^ 
 
OF Hand.] /^r //^^ B E L I E V E R S. 331 
 
 in Weftminfter-hall, although it was remem- 
 bered on 'Change. " The merchants were 
 ^' foiled in all their attempts," he adds, to 
 obtain juftice, according to the nature of their 
 grievances. He immediately affigns the rea- 
 fon : *^ The circulation of promiffory notes 
 " however was not oppofed by Weftminfter- 
 ** hail alone. Many of the mercantile in- 
 ** tereft, and even Sir Jofiah Child, among 
 " the reft, originally declared againft " [the 
 circulation of promiffory notes.] I could fet 
 agairft that affertjon a chronological feries 
 of TraBs on Trade^ which would demonftrate 
 this felf-evident pofition, that the merchants, 
 who generally underftand their own intereft, 
 were the greateft promoters of the circulation 
 of every fpecies of mercantile paper : And, 
 the fad is proved, by the pradlice. Yes ; Sir 
 Jofiah Child was very jealous againft this 
 circulation of notes ! For, he has written a 
 whole chapter, to ftiow the yaft benefit, 
 which would refult to the country, from 
 
 ftatute. But, it was long before the judges could be made 
 fenfible of thofe truths ; or that the fpirit of trade, and the 
 practice of the people, had produced a kind of re volution ii; 
 the law, without their perceiving the change, or adverting^ 
 {hat it Was their duty to accommodate the proceedings of 
 ;he courts to the new habits of the people. 
 
'jfi Art APOLOGY [Shakspeare's Not* 
 
 the iransfej-ence cf debts {a). Child, and the 
 merchants, v/ere brought upon the ftage ; in 
 Ofder to "exhibit fromijjory nrAes, as a nem 
 cifculation of recent times. But, the fad: 
 *'' outfpe^ks the actors/' It has been fhown, 
 by every mode of proof, that notes of hand 
 did exift, though not in name, daring Eliza- 
 beth's reign ; that debts were transferred, 
 though they were not indorfable, in that pe- 
 riod > that the inveftigation of the law, were 
 the bw clearly fettled, cannot over- rule the 
 faB, when it is once afcertained. 
 
 *^ But, the great epoch, in the hiftory of 
 paper credit, is the formation of the Bank 
 
 t( 
 
 {a) DiTcotirfe on Trade, 1690, ch. v. p. 106. — Sir Jofialy 
 Child, indeedj and every other writer, may be made to ailert 
 Anything, by interpolation. In the Inquiry, p. 396^ Sir Jo- 
 ilah is fard to have originally declared againft " the innovated 
 ^ pia6lice of bankers; and the new invention of cafliiering.'* 
 Kowj the firft claHafe about bankers was taken from his 
 DHcourfe, p. 17, the fegond claufe about cap/iering was 
 taken from a different paragraph, in p. 18 ; though both 
 are pirt together in the Inquiry. Sir Jofiah was arguing in 
 1690, during the prcfTures of that moment, againft the m- 
 ftovated praSlice of taking money from trade to lend to the 
 government, during that diftrefling war, and the new in- 
 vention of cajhiering^ in buying up dlfcredited public fecu- 
 f Ities. Child was fo far from originally declaring agrJnft the 
 pradiice of bankers, that he originally wrote in favouF of 
 V^nkerSr {See his Brief Obferuatiom^ 1668, p. 5.} 
 
 " of 
 
©fHand.] for the B E 1 I E V E R $. !jj^ 
 
 ** of England, in 1694.,'* fays this learned 
 perfon {h) : And, this is fiid by him, partly 
 to (bow the recent cftabliflimcnt of paper 
 Credit; but more to afcertaln the true birth 
 and parentage of proniilTory notes. It is cer^ 
 tain, however, that paper credit was intro- 
 duced, and promiflbry notes originated, up- 
 wards of a century, before the great epoch of 
 1694. Paper credit was compleatly eftablifh- 
 cd, during the civil wars, though it had its 
 origin in an earlier age {c). Yet, this learn- 
 
 {h) Inquiry, 388* 
 
 : {c) Debentures were Ifluedj for paying foldlers arrears, ia 
 164-8 [Scobel, 1648, ch. ii3i] and, thefe ^^Z-i^^/wr^j were 
 iffaed, as a ftate refourcc, in the fubfequent years. Tliefe de- 
 bentures were declared, by the ordinance, to be in the nature 
 of bonds, or bills, payable to ajftgnees^ each debenture to be 
 for ^.10, or under. [Scobel, 1649, ch. 42.] Here, then, we f^e 
 paper credit, exchequer bills, or bonds, and bills, payable tc* 
 ajjvgnccs^ in fmall fums, for the purpofe of currency. And, 
 fee the ordinance, 1650, ch. 29-49 — 1652, ch. 6-16. for 
 public faith paper credit^ which, in facSt, began with the war.. 
 [Scobel, 1642, ch. 5-6-7.] But, this paper credit may , be 
 traced to Elizabeth's reign, if not to an eajlier period. Ia 
 January 1589, a v/arrant w;is ilTued to jSir Francis Walfing- 
 ham to make out privy feah for a loan, [Burgh ley's Diary^ 
 In Miirden, p. 789.] Sir John Harrington has an epigram^ 
 ^ on lending on privy fc ah ^' in the time of Elizabeth : — 
 
 " While Cod prefer ves the prince ne*re be difmay'd, 
 
 *^ B^tfiffpe faU, be fure we Ih-all be paid.** 
 
534 i^/z APOLOGY [Shakspeare*sNote 
 
 cd perfon quotes War bur ton, another 
 learned perfon, for declaring *' paper credit to 
 *^ be an invention, fince the time of William 
 ** the third {d).'' Happy ! might it be, if 
 learned perfons would deal a little more in 
 fad;s, and a little lefs in affertions. The ori- 
 gin of the goldfmiths notes is afTigned to the 
 year 1673 (^). Yet, thefe too may be traced 
 back to an earlier tera. They became vifible 
 to every eye, about the year 1650, with the 
 debentures y 2S\di public faith paper money of thofe 
 diftraded times (j^). But, there were gold- 
 fmiths, in London, during the reign of James ift, 
 who dealt in gold and filver; who were cajhiers-^ 
 and who, confequently, iffued notes, as inci- 
 dental to their trade {g). From this hiftori- 
 
 cal 
 
 [d) Inquiry, 400. [e) Inquiry, 383-85. 
 
 (/) John Polexfen, an intelligent member of the firft. 
 Board of Trade, when treating of this fubje6V, in 1696, fays, 
 *' there were no footfteps of goldfmiths' notes, pafling for 
 ** money, till fmce anno 1650." [Difcourfe on Trade SLnd 
 Coiriy 1697, p. 64.] And, he adds, " that the pafling of pa- 
 •* per, in payments, was not much pra^tifed till after anno 
 <^ 1660/' [IK 68.] 
 
 (g) Vid. The Detlaration to Parliamenty by Thomas Vi- 
 olet of London, goldfmith, 1643, p. 22. Banks, and bank- 
 ers, became foon familiar to the wits of thofe times ; as we 
 may infer from the commendatory verfes, which were pre^ 
 
 iixed 
 
OF Hand'.] for the BELIEVERS. 3^5 
 
 cal deduftion, we now perceive, that thofe 
 commercial anachronifms were brought from 
 ** flafky darknefs" into noon day, by thofe 
 learned perlbns ; in order to fuit their feveral 
 fyftems ; the one, to juftify the fooUfli invec- 
 tive of Pope againft paper credit; the other, 
 to prove, from the recent origin of paper cre- 
 dit, and of goldfmiths notes, the modern epoch 
 of notes of hand ; as if there were any inti- 
 mate connection between the one kind of do- 
 fixed to Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, 16475 and which 
 George Hills addrefled to Fletcher: — 
 
 " Monarch of wit ! Great magazine of wealth-, 
 
 " From whofe rich hanke^ by a Promethean ftealth.'* 
 
 The habits, and language, of merchants, during the pre- 
 ceding age, may be feen in the Beggafs Bujh of Beaumont 
 and Fletcher : — 
 
 " There was never brought to harbour fo rich a bottomc, 
 *< but his bill would pafle unqueftioned for her ladinj^J*^ 
 
 '< Nor lend upon the aflurance of a well-penned letter-^ al* 
 ** though a challenge fecond the denyall." 
 
 '* Are you the owners of the (hip, that lafl night put into 
 " the harbour ? — 
 
 « Both of the (hip, and lading.^ — What's X^q fraught? 
 « Indigo, quitchineel, choife Chyna fluffs ; and cloth of gold 
 *' brought from Cambalh— Rich lading ; for which I were 
 " your chapman ; — but I am already out of cajh, — File give 
 '' you day^ for the moiety of all. How long ?— Six months.— 
 *' sTis a faire ofter: which (if we agree about the prizes) 
 « [prices] I, with thanks, accept of j and will make prefent 
 ^< payment of the reft," ^ 
 
 cument. 
 
55^ ^« A P O L O G Y [SriAKSPEARt's Note 
 
 cument, and the other ; as if the unfealed bill, 
 which is the original note of hand, under va*- 
 rious forms, but a different name, had not 
 exifted, in fad:, for ages before paper credit 
 was underflood, or goldfmiths notes were cir- 
 culated. But, prejudice and error are the 
 conftant companions of each other. The 
 learned coadjutor emulates the public accufer, 
 ■in arguing again ft the fadi^ which cannot be 
 denied; and in affuming the point, which he 
 undertook to prove : — 
 
 That 
 
 one error 
 
 <' Fills him with faults ; makes him run through all fms. 
 I might here fubmit this Apology for the 
 Believers^ to the juft confideration of this cri- 
 tical court, who have been as patient as a gen- 
 tle Jireaniy without taking the benefit of a re- 
 capitulation. But, the fumming up of the evi- 
 dence to the jury fhows the nature of the 
 iffue between the parties ; clears away all the 
 rubbifli of fophiftry from the caufe , and col- 
 le(fts all the rays of proof into one focus of 
 demonftrative conclufion. The believers were 
 accufed of being the partizans of a clumfy and 
 bungling forgery ; without having the fpirit to 
 defend their belief or the virtue to retraB their 
 error. TJiey now fubmit fuch an Apology, 
 as could be made in fome hafte, amid other 
 
 avocations. 
 
OF Hand.] fbr the B E L I JE^V,%R S. 'ja^ 
 
 avocations, without much previous ftore of 
 materials, or any great fabfequent ftudy. 
 They have produced a general argument, 
 which, they think, cannot be refuted, for prov- 
 ing, that they ought, according to the efta- 
 blifhed rules of logic, to have believed, in tha 
 firft inftance, thofe Mifcellaneous Papers to be 
 genuine. By declining to meet this general 
 argument, the public accufer betrays his own 
 confcioufnefs, that it is not to be refuted* 
 But, he attempts to overthrow the primary 
 convi(ftion, which is the refult of thofe gene- 
 ral reafonings, by particular inveftigations. 
 In doing this, he makes a thoufand objeftions,^ 
 fucceffively, to the Mifcellaneous Papers^ both 
 publifhed, and unpublifhed. His objedtions 
 have, in their turn, been minutely examined, 
 not by vague declamation, but by oppofing 
 fadl to fiction, and true logic to delulive fo- 
 phiftry. By thefe means, have nine hundred 
 and ninety-nine of his objedions been found 
 wanting, in the balance of truth. It is, there- 
 fore, humbly hoped, that the public accufer 
 JJ^all take nothing by his motion y when he prays, 
 that the believers may be adjudged to the 
 critical pillory, for having, on very difputable 
 pbints, thought differently from himj and 
 becaufe they ftill think, contrary to his judg* 
 
 Z ment. 
 
f^f An APOLOGY [SHAKsPEAitE*sNaTE 
 
 ment, that thofe Mifcellaneous Papers cannot 
 eafily be convidted of fpurioufnefs ; and that 
 fomc of thofe papers, like the famous pofition 
 of Berkley, denying the exiftence of matter, 
 which it is fo difficult to confute, by logical 
 feafonings, cannot, by fair argumentation, be 
 fliovvn to be counterfeit, although7^//-/^a>;?^^ 
 mzj fuppofe them to be a clumfy fraud (h). 
 feut, having undertaken mpojjibilitiesy the pub- 
 lic ^ccufer has failed, egregioufly, in proving 
 his point. And, it remains for the urifdom 
 of this court, when it fhall confider his erro- 
 neous pleading, to admonifli the fophift, who, 
 is deluded by felf-conceit, how he undertakes, 
 hereafter, by 
 
 " Murdering impojfthilityy to make 
 
 << What cannot be, flight work/* 
 Yet, grave admonijhments prevail not with 
 hitn, though they be given by the favereign 
 ninlL He refolves to make Jlight work with 
 the believers, whom, for their various offences, 
 he divides into feveral clafles, according to 
 their refpeftive degrees of guilt : T^he ring- 
 leaders, who " know nothing of the hif- 
 •* tory of Shakfpeare, nothing of the hif- 
 /* tory of the ftage, or the hiftory of the 
 y Englifh language (/) :" — The harpened 
 
 , , (h) Inquiry, 35a. (/) Inquiry, 352-3^3- 
 *^**' "^ 5 " PFFENDERSj 
 
otHaijd.] /^r /i'^ believers, 359 
 
 OFFENDERS, " who Iiaftily gave judgment on 
 " a matter which they did not underftand ; 
 ** who knew nothing of old hand writing, and 
 " nothing of old language (^)." Thefe are 
 weighty accufations, no doubt. And, a juft 
 regard for their own reputations, as antiqua-* 
 ries, fcholafs, and heralds, renders it neceflary 
 for the believers to make fome additional apo^ 
 logy \ in order to fhow, that they are not quite 
 fo ignorant of the hiftory of the ftage, of the 
 ftudies of Shakfpeare, or of the fucceffive ftate 
 of the Englifh language, as the public accufer 
 conceits. They cannot remain filent, with- 
 out pleading guilty to the charge, which, as 
 it attacks reputation, involves life in the iflue. 
 Driven thus by neceffity, the believers may 
 exclaim with Lear : 
 
 « : We know not ho^y conceit may rob 
 
 " The treafury of life, when life itfelf 
 
 «' Yields to the theft ^— ^— - — -." 
 
 . § IX. — 
 
 Of thp history of the 3TAGE, 
 
 When we turn our attention to the paftimes 
 of our anceflors, who w^re brave, but illitc-* 
 rate, we perceive, that they delighted mor? 
 in fuch fports, as refembled the grappling vi^ 
 
 (i) lb. 364- 
 
340 Jn AVOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 gour of war, than the tmdejl fiillnefi of peace » 
 Tournaments were. In thofe times, not only 
 the delight of barons, bold; but of ladies, 
 gay [a). In the regulation of the houfehold 
 by Henry vii, it is ordained^ that three dayes 
 after the coronation, " the Queen e, and all the 
 't ladies in their frelfheft array, may go to be- 
 " hold the {b)jujies'y' but, not to fee the ^/^?y. 
 Even as late as 1515? Henry viii, on May-day, 
 in the morning, with Queen Katherine, and 
 many lords, and ladies, rode a-maying from 
 Greenwich to Shooter's-hill ; where they 
 were entertained by Robin Hood, and his 
 men, to their great contentment (^). While 
 the people were yet grofs, the fports of the 
 
 {a) Warton's Hid. of Poetry, vol. ii. £ 7. 
 
 {h) Household Ordinances pub. by the Ant, Soc. 1790,. 
 p. 124. — " Jufts^and tournaments, were a court recreation, 
 " in former days, at folemn times, and lafted to the begin- 
 '^ ning of Queen Elizabeth's reign. In April 1560, were 
 " great jufts at Weftminfter, and running at the tilt." 
 [Strype's Stow, vol. i. p. 300.] This obfervation might 
 have been extended, perhaps, to the end of that reign : For, 
 X^vA, a^ayment^ on the 29th of November 1 601, "unto 
 " George Johnfon, keeper of the Spring-garden^ of ^.6, for 
 *« a fcafFold, which he had eredled againft the park-wall, 
 " in the tilt-yard ; and which was taken for the ufe of the 
 " Countle Egmound^ to fee the tilters," [Council-reg^] 
 
 {c) Stew's Hift, of London, edit. I754> voLi. p. 304. 
 
 , ' ' field 
 
o^ THE Stage.] /./- /^^ B E L I E VE R S. 34? 
 
 field being agreeable to their natures, were 
 more encouraged, from policy, than the effe- 
 minate paftimes of " a city-feajl.** 
 
 It was with the revival of learning, during 
 the middle ages, that a new fpecies of enter- 
 tainment was introduced, which was addrefTed 
 rather to the intelledl, than to the eye. A 
 religious colloquy, which was aptly called a 
 myjieryy was contrived, without much inven- 
 tion, indeed, and without plan ; confifting, 
 often, of the allegorical charadcrs. Faith, 
 HopCy Charity, Sin, and Death. The my^e- 
 ries were originally reprefented in religious 
 houfes, in which places only learning was, in 
 thofe days, cultivated ; and whence inftruftion 
 of every kind was difperfed among a rude 
 people. The ancient myfteries were intro- 
 duced upon the fame principle, which has 
 often been adduced in defence of the modern 
 drama, that they inJiruBedy by pleafingy and 
 f leafed y by injiruciing. While few could read; 
 and at a time when few were allowed to pe- 
 rufe the Scriptures, religious truths of the 
 grcateft importance were, in this manner, 
 plea fan tly conveyed to illiterate minds. Thu^j^ 
 too, was the rudencfs of their manners graA 
 dually changed into the fofter modes of po- , 
 lifhed life : And, at length, the myjieriex ob- 
 
 Z 3 tained 
 
|4i ^* At^OLOGY [Opt«eHistorv 
 
 Uined a conqueft over the tournament^ which 
 was lefs relifhed, as manners were more re- 
 fined, and were lefs frequented, as the mind 
 w^S elevated to ^ greater deiire of gentle 
 peace. 
 
 But, the invention of printing, and the intro- 
 duftion of learning, made the myjieries of ruder 
 times, lefs neceflaryj when a new age was 
 induced by more knowledge, and civility, ta 
 pra<flife new cuftoms. Henry the viiith tried 
 to abolifli the myjieries by ad; of {d) parlia- 
 ment ; and the Puritans with a wilder fpirit, 
 but more effeftual fuccefs, exploded the re- 
 ligious dramas, as finful, and facrilegious ; 
 though they had been authorifed by popes, for 
 the propagation of the gofpel, and encouraged 
 by bifhops, for the polifli of manners. 
 
 As the people advanced from rudenefs to 
 refinement, the myjieries were fucceeded by 
 the moralities. Simplicity now gave way a 
 littje to art. Charaders began to be delineat- 
 ed* }>y the introduction of hiftorical perfon- 
 ages, in the room of allegorical beings ; and 
 plot to be attempted, by the unravelment of 
 fome fable, for the inculcation of fome mbral. 
 The reign of Edward the 4th is fuppofed ta 
 
 y) 34-5 Hen. 8. ch. i» 
 
 foe 
 
OT THE Stage.] /^r //&^ B E L I E VE'R S. 543^ 
 
 be the epoch of moralities. The reign of 
 Henry the 7th was the period of the greateft 
 prevalence of thofe moralities: But, they 
 were not often adled, during Elizabeth's reign 
 of gradual improvement. 
 
 The moralities gave place, in their turn, to 
 the {e) Interlude ; fomething played^ fays 
 Johnfon, at the intervals ojfefiivity^ a farce, or 
 drama, of the loweft order. It fecms certain, 
 then, that in every period of our annals, we 
 had players of fome fpecies, for the benefit of 
 inftruftion, and the purpofe of amufement. 
 Henry the viith, " the qwene, and my ladye 
 iK the Kyng's moder," amufed themfelvcs 
 with a play at Candlemas (/*)• Henry the 
 viiith was, probably, the firft of our kings, who 
 formed an eftablifhment of players, for the 
 amufement of his many qwenes ; but, he was 
 the firft, who introduced a majler of the revels^ 
 
 (e) Henry 8th placed on his houfehold eftablifhment £/]g-^/ 
 players of interludes^ at £, 3. 6. 8. each, yearly. This 
 number, and falary, continued to the reign of James ift. 
 The eight players could only prefent a drama of a very fim- 
 pie, and imperfed, form. 
 
 (/) Steevens's Shale vol. i. p. 151-2. Hen, 7 tb, who 
 
 was not apt to put his hand in his pocket, gave, as charity to 
 the players^ that begged by the way, 6 fhs. 8ds. There were, 
 in his reign, not only playersy in London^ but, Frenjb players, 
 
 Z 4 for 
 
)(^;: jfn AVOLOGY [Of the HisTORr- 
 
 for promoting mirth, and at the fame time 
 preferving order. 
 
 But, aii/Je, and ^Ae ufe^ are the neceflary 
 concomitants of each other. Even the Re-- 
 formation^ a neceffary good, brought with it 
 religious conteft, its concomitant evil. The 
 poets, and the players, who were to live by 
 pleafing, prefented to the people fuch dramas^ 
 as pleafed, rather than inllruded ; offered to 
 a coarfe populace what was profitable, rather 
 than what was fit. 
 
 " Next, Comedy appearM, with great applaufe, 
 
 " Till her licentious and abufive tongue, 
 
 " Weaken'd the magiftrate's coercive power." 
 
 Such a government, indeed, as Henry the 
 viiith bequeathed to his infant fon, necelTarily 
 produced every kind of grievance. One of 
 the firft complaints of Edward Vlth's reign, 
 was the feditioufnefs of the ** common players 
 '" of interludes and playes, as well within the 
 ** . city of London, as elfe where," On the 
 6th of Auguft 1547, there iffued "^ pro- 
 *^ clamacion for the inhibition of players {g)^' 
 
 And, 
 
 {g) I here print this document which has been miftatcd, 
 and mifreprefenttd, from the collef^ion " Of fuche procla- 
 « macions, as have been fette furthe by the Kynge's Majef- 
 « tie,** and imprinted by Richard Grafton, in 1550: — 
 , « Forafmuche, as a greate mJber of thofe, that be com- 
 '^1 « mon 
 
OP THE Stage.] for the BELIEVERS. 34^. 
 
 And, the maker was, ia that reign, fent to the 
 Tower, for the writing of plays ; the offence 
 
 being 
 
 *^ mon plalers of enterludes and plaies, as well within the 
 " citie of London, as els where, within the realme, do for 
 ♦* the mofte part plaie fuche interludes, as contain matter, 
 " tendyng to fedicion, and contempnyng of fundery good 
 " orders & lawes, whereupon are growen, and daily are 
 *' like to growe, and enfue muche difquiet, diuifio, tumultes 
 *' & uprores in this realme the Kynges Ivlajeftie, by the ad- 
 ♦' vife and confent of his dereft uncle, Edward duke of So- 
 *' merfet, gouernour of his perfone, and prote£lor of his 
 *' realmes dominions and fubiedles, and the reft of his hlgh- 
 " nes priuie counfall, ftraightly chargeth and commaundetb, 
 " al and euery his majefties fubiedes, of whatfoever ftate, 
 *' order, or degree thei bee, that fro the ix daie of this pre- 
 ". fent moneth of Auguft, untill the feaft of all Saind^es nexte 
 " comrayng, thei ne any of them, openly or fecretly, plaie in 
 " the Englifti tongue, any kinde of interlude, plaie, dia- 
 *' logue, or other matter fet furthe in forme of plaie, in any 
 " place, publique or priuate, within this realme upo pain 
 ^^ that whofoever fhall plaie in Englifhe any fuche play, in- 
 *' terlude, dialogue, or other matter, fhall fuffre imprifon- 
 *^ ment, & further puniflimei, at the pleafure of his majeftie. 
 " For the better execution whereof^ his majeftie, by the faid 
 *' aduife and confent, ftraightly chargeth and comm^Tideth, 
 <' all and fmguler maiors, ftierifes, bailifes, conftables, hed- 
 ** borowes, tithyng men, juftices of peace, and al other his 
 *' majefties hed officers in al y^ partes throughout the realme, 
 *' to geve order and fpeciall heede, that this proclamacion 
 *< be in all bchalfes, well and truely kept and obferued, as 
 <' thei and every of them, teder his highnes pleafure, and 
 ** will auoj^de his indignacion." 
 
 The 
 
Si^ ^n APOLOGY fOp the Hisrojtr 
 
 being probably aggravated by difobedience to 
 feme injundion (/6). The jealoufy, and ilrid:- 
 nef&, of that period, would only permit the 
 players of the highefl: noblemen to play, 
 within their own houfes (/). The court of 
 
 Edward 
 
 The proclamation h^m^ bat temporarv, did not take 
 down, but only clear the ftage, for a time, fays Fuller ; re* 
 Iqrmed enterludes (as they term them) being afterward per- 
 inkted : Yea, in the firft of Queen Elizabeth, fcripture- 
 plaies were adled even in the church it felf, which, in my 
 ©pinion, the more pious, the more profane, (looping faith to 
 fency, and abating the majeflie of God's word. Such pa^ 
 gmnts might inform^ not ed'ijiey though indulged the igno- 
 rance of that age : For^ though children may be played into 
 htirningy all muft be wrought into religion^ by ordinances of 
 divine injlitutionsy and the 7iuam ought to be as feriousy as 
 the end \s,fecret, [Church Hift. Cent. xvi. p. 392.] It ap- 
 pears, fays Mr. Malone, " from the proclamation [of Edward 
 *' tlie vith] that the favourers of Popery about thattimehad 
 ^^ levelled feveral dramatick inve(Si:ives againft Archbifliop 
 *' Cranmer, and the do£lrines of the Reformers/' [Shak, 
 vol. i. part ii. p. 25.] Yet, we fee, that the proclamation 
 does not bear him out in his afiertion, which was probably 
 made, like fome other of his aliertlons, without feeing the 
 document, 
 
 (^) In the eouncil-regllter, appears the following order: 
 -^" At Greenwich, lOth June 1552, It was this day order* 
 *•> ed> That the Lord Treafurer fhould fend for the poet, 
 ** which is in the Tower for making playsy and to deliver 
 w him.'* 
 
 (/) A letter was written from the privy council, on the 
 jtiftjune 1551, to the Marquis of Dorietj " fignitying 
 
 " licenfe 
 
OF THE Stage.] for ti€ BE LIKVERS, ^^ 
 
 Edward had, however, a few joyous moments. 
 Military triumphs were exhibited ** at Shrove- 
 *' tide, and at Twelftide {k) \" At the fefti- 
 vals of Chriftmas, and Candlemas, A lord of 
 the paftimes was appointed, and playes were ad:- 
 ed : and for the greater joyoufance, poets of 
 the greateft talents were fought, to promote 
 feftivity . George Ferrers, a perfon of fuperior 
 rank, who was educated at Oxford, and entered 
 at Lincoln's-inn ; and who was a gentleman 
 belonging to the Proteftor Somerfet, was em- 
 ployed, as the lord of the paftimes (/). William 
 Baldwyn, who was a graduate of Oxford, and 
 another of the celebrated authors of the Myr- 
 roiir for Magijirates, was appointed to fet 
 
 *' licenfe to be granted, for to have his players, play only in 
 ^' his lordfhip's prefence." [ Council- regr.] 
 
 {k) On the I2th Janry. 1547, a warrant was iflued for 
 jf . 60. 8 J. 10 d. to Sir Thomas Darcy, for pikes, lances^ 
 and other neceiTaries, for the Trimnph, at Shrove-tide; and 
 for weapons at Twelf-tide. [Council-regr.] 
 
 (/) A warrant was ifllied, on the 30th November 1552, 
 to pay George Ferry s^ being appointed to be Lord of the Paf- 
 times, in the King's Majefties houfe, this Chriftmas j^.ioo, 
 towards the neceflary charges. {Council-reg^] Stow fays, 
 that he fo pleafantly behaved himfelf, the King had great de- 
 light in his paftimes. George Ferrers, who, we fee, was 
 called Ferry s^ died in 1579' There is an accurate account 
 of him in Warton*5 Hift. of Poetry, vol. iii. p. 213, 
 
 forth 
 
34^ Jn APOLOGY [Of the HisroRr^ 
 
 forth a play (;«). Edward had a regular 
 <eftabli(hment of players of interludes ; and of 
 {n) mynjlrelsy and Jinging men, who fung in 
 the King's prefence [o). But, the feftivitles 
 of Edward's days were foon clouded over by 
 the reign of blood, which fucceeded his pre- 
 mature demife. 
 
 The gloom, which hung over the court of 
 Mary, did not fpread far beyond the influence 
 of her prefence. In London, and in Canter- 
 bury, in Eflex, and in Yorkiliire, plays con- 
 tinued to be adled, becaufe they were agreea- 
 ble to the country, however difpleafing to 
 the court, which, in its own darknefs, faw 
 danger from merriment, and, from its own 
 weaknefs, perceived fedition, in the hilarity of 
 
 [m) A letter was written, on the 28th Jaiiry I55f, to 
 Sir Thomas Cawerden, the mafter of the revels, to furni(h 
 William Baldwin, who was appointed to fet forth a play, 
 before the King, upon Candlemas-day, at night, with all 
 neceflaries. 
 
 («) In 15475 the efi-ablifliment confided of Hugh Woude- 
 hous, marlhal, of John Abbes, Robert Stouchy, Hugh 
 Grene, and Robert Norman, mynftrels, whofc wages 
 amounted to each fifty marks a year. [Council-regidcr.J 
 
 {0) A warrant was iflued on the 14 June 1548, to pay 
 Richard Atkiiifon, in recompence of forty marks yearly, that 
 he had of the King's Majeftie for fmging before him. 
 [ Council- regifter. J 
 
 the 
 
QF THE Stage.] /^r /i^^ B E L I E V E R S. 349 
 
 the drama. Special orders were, accordingly, 
 ifliied to prevent the adling of plays in par- 
 ticular places {p). When thefe failed of ef- 
 tedl, a general order was iiTued from the ftar-* 
 chamber, in Eafter term 1557; requiring the 
 juftices of the peace, in every Aire, to fuffer 
 no players, whatfoever the matter were, to 
 play, within their feveral jurifdidions. But, 
 thefe injundlions, as they were difpleafing to 
 the people, were not every where enforced ; 
 and the ftrolling players found means to fave 
 themfelves from the penalties, which the law 
 inflifted on vagabonds (^). The magiftrates 
 
 of 
 
 (p) The privy-council wrote to Lord Rich, on the 14th 
 of February 1 55 J " that where [as] there is a ftage play 
 ^' appointed to be phyed this Shrovetide at Hatfield-Bra- 
 " dock, in EfTex, his Lordlhip is willed to (lay the fame> 
 *' and to examine, who fhould be the players, what the ef- 
 *' fe6\ of the play is, with fuch other circumftances as he 
 " (hall think meet, and to fignify the fame hither." Inquiry 
 foon found, however, that neither the play, nor the players, 
 were very dangerous. And, on the igth of the fame month 
 a letter of thanks was written by the privy-council " to the 
 <* Lord Rich for his travel in ftaying the ftage play ; and 
 '' requiring him for that he knoweth the players to be honcft 
 <« houfeholders and quiet perfons, to fet them again at li- 
 <' berty, and to have fpecial care to flop the like occafions 
 « of aflembling the people hereafter.*' 
 
 (q) See the letter from the privy-council to theprefident 
 of the north, dated the 30th April 1556, in Strype*$ Mem, 
 
 vol. 
 
^50 ^« APOLOGY [Of THE HistORy 
 
 of Canterbury were remarkably adkive in obey- 
 ing thofe orders ; in committing the players, 
 and feizing their lewd play-book (r). But, 
 
 the 
 
 vol. Hi. appx. 185; and Lodge's Illufl-. vol. i. p. 212. la 
 ^e fubfequent year, the orders, which were fent into the 
 north, were iflued to every other (hire. A letter of thanks 
 was written by the privy-council, on the nth of July 1557, 
 to the Lord Rich, touchmg the players ; and fignifying to 
 his Lordfliip " that order was given in the ftar- chamber 
 " openly to the juftices of the peace of every fhire, this laft 
 •' term, that they fhould fufFer no players, whatfoever the 
 <* matter was, to play, efpecially this fummer, v/hich order 
 " his Lordfliip is willed to obferve, and to caufe them that 
 ^ ftiall enterprise the contrary to be puniflied.'*— A fimilar 
 letter was wTitten, on the fame day, to the juftices of the 
 peace for the county of Eflex ; " fignifying, that as they 
 *' were admonifhed this laft term in the ftar- chamber, it is 
 '* thought ftrange, that they have not accordingly accom- 
 <' pliflied the fame." [Council-regifter.] 
 
 (r) The privy-council, on the 27th of June 1557, wrote 
 a letter to ^* John Fuller, the Mayor of Canterbury, of thanks 
 ♦* for his diligence, in the apprehending and committing of 
 *' the players to Ward, whom he is willed to keep fo, until 
 '' he (hall receive further orders from hence. And in the 
 '' mean [time] their lewd play-book is committed to the 
 *^ confideration of the King's and Queen's Majefty's learned 
 '' council, who are willed to declare v/hat the fame waieth 
 « unto in the law ; whereupon he ftiall receive further order 
 " from hence, touching the faid players.*' On the nth 
 of Auguft 1557, another letter was fent " to the mayor and 
 ^ aldermen of Canterbury, with the lewd play-book, fent 
 ^* hither by them, and the examinations alfo of the players 
 
 *^ thqreof| 
 
optheStage.J for de BEH^VEKS, 351 
 
 the mayor of London feems not, like his 
 brother of Canterbury, to have merited, on 
 that occafion, the thanks of the privy-council, 
 for his zeal againft plays (j-). On the 5th of 
 
 September 
 
 « thereof, which they are willed to confider, and to follow 
 ^ the order hereof fignifled utito them, which was, that upon 
 « underftanding what the law was, touching the faid lewd 
 « play, they fhould thereupon proceed againft the players 
 " forthwith, according to the fame, and the qualities of 
 " their offences ; which order, they are willed to follow, 
 « without delay." [CouncU^regifter of thofe dates.] 
 
 (i) A letter was written by the privy-council, on the 4th 
 June 1557, ^^ ^^^ Lord-mayor of London, " That where [as] 
 <' there were yefterday certain naughty plays played inLon- 
 " don (as the Lords here are informed) He is willed both 
 " to make fearch for the faid players ; and having found 
 " them, to fend them to the commiffioners for religion, to 
 «' be by them further ordered. And alfo to take order, that 
 " no play be made henceforth within the city, except the 
 ^ fame be firft (e^n and allowed and the players author Ifed." 
 -^On the 5th of September 1557, the privy-council wrote 
 a letter to the Lord-mayor of London.-r— '* To give order 
 " forthwith, that fome of his officers do forthwith repair to 
 " the Boars-head, without Aldgate, where, the Lords are in- 
 " formed a lewd play, called a Sack full of News-^ fhall be 
 *f played this day ; The players thereof, he is willed, to ap- 
 « prehend, and to commit to ward, until he fhall hear fur- 
 <' ther from hence; and to take their play- book from them, 
 " and to fend the fame hither." The Lord-mayor ap- 
 pears, to have pun£hially obeyed. And, on the morrov/, the 
 privy-council wrote ;inother letter to the fame magiftrate 5 
 
 <« willing 
 
35* ^« APOLOGY [Op the Historv 
 
 September 1557, he was ordered to caufe his 
 officers forthwith to repair to the Boars-head, 
 without Aldgate, and to apprehend the play- 
 ers, who were then, and there, to reprefent 
 a lewd play, called A Sack Jull of News ; 
 which was thereupon fo compleatly fuppreffed, 
 as to prevent its fubfequent publication. 
 The reprefentation of this /ewd play induced 
 the privy-council to dired: the Lord Mayor 
 to fufFer no plays to be played, within London, 
 hxxxfuch as werefeen a?id allowed by the Ordinary. 
 In the mean time, the Queen continued the 
 hcufehold eftablifhment, which her father had 
 made, for eight players of interludes. The 
 great poet of her reign was John Heywood, 
 the epigrammatift, who fled from the face of 
 Elizabeth, at the revival of the reformation, 
 which immediately fucceeded her acceffion. 
 If any drama were printed, during the reign 
 of Mary, it has efcaped the eyes of the mod 
 diligent coUeftors. 
 
 " willing him to fet at liberty the players, by him apprc- 
 « bended, by order from hence yefterday, and to give them 
 " and all other players throughout the city, in command- 
 '* ment and charge, not to play any plays, but between the 
 " feafts of All- faints and Shrovetide, and then only, fuch 
 " ai are feen and allowed by the Ordinary,'^ [Council- 
 regifter of thofe <Jptes.] 
 
 The 
 
or THE Stage.] for t&e B ELl'EY EKS. ^f 
 
 The fun of Elizabeth rofe, in November 
 1558, and went not down, until March 1603, 
 This reign, as it thus appears to have been 
 long in its duration, and is celebrated for the 
 wifdom of its meafures, enabled learning, by 
 its kindly influences, to make a vaft progrefs ; 
 and aflifted the ftage, by its falutary regula- 
 tions, to form a ufeful eftablifhment. What 
 Auguftus faid of Rome, may be remarked of 
 Elizabeth, and the ftage, that ihe found it 
 tricky and left it marble. The perfecutions of 
 preceding governments had, indeed, left her 
 without a theatre, without dramas, and with- 
 out players (/). Thefe pofitions appear, from 
 what has been already faid 5 and are con- 
 firmed by A Breif Eftimaty which I dif- 
 covered in the paper -office; and which, 
 being very interefting in its matter, and cu- 
 
 (/) From a document, in the paper-office, it appears, that 
 Queen Elizabeth had fuch an eftabhfhment of muficians, 
 and players, as her father had made: — 
 
 Musicians ; as Trumpeters, Luters, Harpers, 
 Singers, Rebecks, Viallf, Sagbutts, 
 Bagpipes, Mynftrels, Domeilads, 
 Flutes, Players ' on Inftruments, 
 Makers of Inftruments ; Salarys 
 yearly -------- ^200 — — 
 
 Players of Interludes - - - - - - 21 13 4 
 
 Aa 
 
 nous 
 
354 ^« APOLOGY [Or the Kistohv 
 
 rious in its manner, is fubjoined in the mar^ 
 ginal note below («). 
 
 Such 
 
 (u) " A Brief Eftimat of? all the carges againft Crift- 
 *'' mas and Candellmas ffor iij Plays at Wyndfor Vv'^'». thare 
 ** neceflaries and provicions fFor the Garages and Recarages 
 <* of the fame ftufF and all ordinarie charges and allfoo 
 " for the conveyinge of the ftuiF in to the cleane ayre and 
 *' favekepinge of the fame in Anno Sexto Elizabeth. And 
 " allfoo in the fame yeare the ix^*'. of June Repayringe and 
 <* new makinge of thre Mafkes with thare hole furniture 
 ** and Div* devifTes and a Caftle fFor ladies and a harboure 
 " ftor Lords and thre Harrolds and iiij Trompetours too 
 " bringe in theDevife with the Men of Armes and fhcwen 
 ** at the Courtte of Richmond before the Q^ieiis Ma^^*. 
 <' and the French Embaffitours &''. And div* [divers] Eyr- 
 " rings Repayringe and Tranflatinge of funderie garments 
 ** ffbr playes att Criflmas and Shroftid in Anno Septimo 
 ** Elizabeth and many thinge^ miond [commiflioned] and 
 *< furnefbed v/^'*. ware nott fene and much ftutF bought 5c^ 
 
 I563-~Criftmas wages or dieats of the Of- 
 ficers & Tayllors Paynters Silkwemen 
 mcers [mercers] Lyncn Drappers 
 ppertie makers and other necefTaries 
 & provicions occupied and bought 
 fFor the fame ------;^39li4 
 
 J.563-— Candellmas fFoUowinge wages or dieats 
 of the officers and Tayll°'\ Silk- 
 wemen mcers [mercers] Skynars and 
 ppertie makers and other neceflaries 
 and provicions .-----. 10 65 
 
 1564. — Eyrringe [airing] and Repayringe in 
 April] ffoilov/inge wages or dieats of 
 
 the 
 
OP THE Stage.] /^r /^^ B E L I E V E R S. 35^ 
 
 Such was the ftate of the drama, when 
 Shakfpeare was born. We fhall perceive 
 that, before he came out upon the ftage, 
 great improvements had been made in the 
 
 plays ; 
 
 the officers and Tayllors pvlcions and 
 
 neceiTaries & other ordinarie charges ^856 
 
 1564 — The ix"^. of June Tranflattinge new 
 
 At Richmy^" malcinge of thre mafkes and other 
 
 Mons Gonvi Devifles againft the French Em- 
 
 baflitours cominge to Richmond , 
 
 wages or dieats of the officers and 
 
 Tayllors payntars workinge uppon 
 
 the Caftle and other devifles & mcers 
 
 [mercers] ffor farfnet and other ftufF 
 
 and Lynen Drappars iFor canvas to 
 
 cov- [cover] y* withal and Silkwemen 
 
 for fFrenge and taflalles to garnefh the 
 
 old garments to make them feme 
 
 frefti agayne and other pvicions Sc 
 
 neceffaries - ------'^87 96 
 
 1564 — Erryinge [airing] Repayrlnge in Aguft 
 follownige wages or dieats of the 
 officers & Tayllo^*. Silkwemen for 
 fFrenge & raffells and other neceffaries il 18 4 
 1564 — Erryinge [airing] in September follow- 
 inge wages or dieats of the Officers 
 and Tayllo'^^ & other pvicions and 
 neceffaries ------- 868 
 
 /564 — Criflmas Anno Septimo Elizabeth 
 wages or dieats of the Officers 
 
 Edwd Hayedy f_ „ 
 
 and layllo". payntars workinge 
 div* [ divers ] Cities and Towns 
 
 A a 2 Carvers 
 
356 ^n APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 plays ; in the actors ; and in the theatre ; 
 but that much was ftill wanting to reduce 
 dramatic reprefentations into the moil per- 
 
 f©a form. 
 
 • When 
 
 Carvers Silkewemen for frenge 6c 
 tafTells mcers [mercers] fFor Sarfnett 
 and other Stuff and Lynen Drappars 
 forcanvas to cov" [cover] div^ [divers] 
 tovvnes and howfTes and other De- 
 vifles and Clowds for a Malke and a 
 Showe and a playe by the Childerne 
 of the Chaple ftbr Rugge bumbayft 
 an cottone fFor holTe and other pvi- 
 cions and necefTaries - - - - ;^ 87 7 B 
 £rryinge [airing] in lenevery fFor cayr- 
 tenc playes by the gramar fkolle of 
 VVeftmynfle'" and the Childerne of 
 Powles wages or dieatsof the OlHcers 
 and Tayllo". Mercers and other pro- 
 vicions - - _*.--. 868 
 J564— The iS^^ of Februerie wages or dieats 
 
 of the Officers and Tayl- ' 
 
 Sir Percivall Hart s Sons , , . 
 
 lors paynttars worlcinge 
 uppon div" [divers] Cities and Towns 
 and the Emperours Pallace & other 
 Devifi'es carvars nicers for farfnett 
 and other ftufF & Lynen Drappars 
 for canvas to cov" [cover] the Towns 
 with all and other pvicions for a playe 
 maid by Sir Percival Hartts Sones 
 w'.amafkeof buntars anddiv"[divers] 
 devifles and a Rocke or hill fFor the 9 
 
 Mullet 
 
OP THE Stage.] for the BELIEVER S. 357' 
 
 When we throw our eyes upon the fcenic 
 paftimes of thofe days, we fee that Queen 
 Elizabeth was chiefly entertained by children ; 
 by the children of PauFs j by the children of 
 
 MuHes to finge uppon w^**. a vayne 
 of farfnett drawn upp and downe be- 
 . ^ , fore them &^ - ----;£ 57 lO -^ 
 156'4'r-ShroftId ffollowinge wages or dieats of 
 
 otS^s *^ Offi«'' ^nd Tayllors payntars 
 of Court workinge uppon the Townes and 
 Plana Pallas Charretts for the Goodefles and div'"'* 
 deviffes as the Hevens and Clowds 
 and foure mafks too of them not oc- 
 cupied norfene w*^. thare hole furni- 
 ture w*^'^. be verie fayrand Riche off r 
 old ftuiF butt new garnifhed w^**, 
 frenge and taiTells to feme new and 
 div".fhowes made by the Gentillmen 
 of Greys line rncers [mercers] for 
 farfnett and other ftufF Silkwemen for 
 frenge and tafleiles Lynen Drappers 
 I for canvas ppertie makers and other 
 
 {xvicions and neceffaries - - - 1 15 — 7 
 Eyrringe [airing] Repayringe in A prill 
 ^ folio winge and Tranflatinge of div'^'. 
 
 garments w**". thare provicions and 
 necefTaries for the fame ^ ^ - - 10 8 3 
 
 444 10 II 
 
 It is to be remembered, that the marginal notes are in 
 J/ord Burleigh's hand j and that the Roman numerals of the 
 original document are converted into Arabick numerals, 
 for convenience. 
 
 A a '2 Weftnninfter j 
 
35^ ^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 Weftminfter ; by the children of the chapel ; 
 and by the children of Windfor. Tiie truth 
 is, that our drama firft took its rife in the 
 fchools ; which were fettled in the monaf- 
 teries, or were eftabliflied in the Univerfi- 
 ties [v). The fock, and the bufkin, paffed, 
 by an eafy tranfition, from the fchoolboys to 
 the finging boys. As early as the year 1430, 
 the chorifters, or eleemofinary boys of Max- 
 toke-priory, near Coventry, afted a play every 
 year ('z^;). Henry the viith was entertained, in 
 a fimilar manner, by the chorifters of Winchef- 
 ter, in 1487 {x), Heory the viiith, Edward 
 the (y) vith, and Mary, were, in their turns, 
 dramatically amufed by finging boys. As early 
 as the year 1 378, the chorifters of St. Paul's ca- 
 thedral, in London, petitioned Richard the iid, 
 that he would prohibit ignorant perfons from 
 ad:ing Tie hijlory of the Old Tejlament^ which 
 the clergy of that church had prepared, 
 at a great expence, for public reprefentation, 
 during the enfuing Chriftmas. From adling 
 myjieriesy thefe chorifters paffed, by a gradual 
 progrefs, to the performance of more regular 
 dramas (2;). They became fo famous for the 
 fuperiority of their fcenic fkill, that they were 
 
 [v) Warton's Hift. of Poetry, vol. ii. p. 388-9. 
 {w) lb. 390. {x) lb. vol. i. p. 206. 
 
 {y) lb. vol. ii. p. 391, (z) Id, 
 
 fent 
 
cp THE Stac^.] for /y^^ B ELI E VE RS. 359 
 
 fent for, whenever great entertainments were 
 given in the country \ in order to contribute, 
 by their micnick art, diveriion to the Briton 
 reveller {a). 
 
 The children of St. Paul's w^ere the favour- 
 ite adlors, at the acceffion of Elizabeth: And, 
 in confequence of their celebrity, and fuccefs, 
 they at length found imitators, and rivals, in 
 the children of Weftminfter, in the children 
 of the {b) Chapel, and in the children of 
 Windfor ; who all continued to entertain Eli- 
 zabeth, while fhe lived , though much fel- 
 domer towards the conclufion of her reign, 
 as the eftabliLhed adlors, neceflarily, gained a 
 fuperiority over thern in the art, and its ac-» 
 commodations (t). 
 
 Whether 
 
 («) Warton's Hift. of Poetry, vol. ii. p. 391. 
 
 {h) In June 1552, Richard Bower, the mailer of the 
 King's childen of the chapel, was authorifed to take up, as 
 many children, as he might think fit, to ferve thgre from 
 time to time. [Strype's Mem. vol. ii. p. 539-] Righard 
 Bower, who had been mafter of the children of the chapel, 
 under Henry the yilith, and Edward the vith, was continued 
 in that office, on the 30 Apr. 15595 with a falary of/.40. ^ 
 year. [Rym. Feed. torn. xv. p. 5 1 7 ] Commiffions iflued in 
 the 4th, 9th, and 39th of Elizabeth " to take up well fing- 
 ^' ing boys, for furnifliing the Queen's chapel." [^Lyfon's 
 Environs, vol. i. p. 92.] 
 
 {c^ I here {ubjpin a chronological lift of the feveral pay- 
 
 A a 4 m^nW 
 
t6o ^« APOLOGY [Of THE History 
 
 •' c '; ' 
 
 Whether thofe chorifters were always chiU 
 dren may admit of fome doubt. The word child 
 
 had 
 
 ments to thofe children, as the rewards of their perform- 
 ances, which were gleaned from the council -regifters:— 
 lOth Janry I56f — Paid Sebaftian Weftcott, maf- 
 
 ter of the children of Pauls jf 6 13 £f{i 
 iSthJaiiry 15 6|— Paid Sebaftian Weftcott, maf- % 
 
 ter of the children of Pauls, ^ 
 
 for a play on Chriftmas laft 6 13 4 
 lath Janry I56|. —Paid Sebaftian Weftcott, maf- 
 ter of the children of Pauls, 
 for two plays on Chriftmas 
 laft - . - 13 6 8 
 
 13th Febry 1565 — Paid John Taylor, mafter of the 
 
 children of Weftminfter, for ' ^. 
 
 a play on Shrovetide laft - 6 134' 
 1 2th Janry 157I — Paid Richard Ferraunt, mafter 
 of the children of Windfor, 
 for a play on St. John's day 
 laft - - - 6 13 4 
 
 . Do. —Paid Sebaftian Weftcott, maf- 
 
 ter of the children of Pauls, ,» 
 
 for a play on New year's day 
 laft - - - 6 13 4 
 
 Do. —Paid John Honnys,Gent. mas- 
 
 ter of the children of the 
 chapel, for a play on Twelfth 
 day laft - - - 6 13 4 
 29th Febry 157* —Paid the mafter of the children 
 of Weftminfter, for a play on 
 Shrove-tuefday laft - 6 13 4 
 lOth Janry 157J —Paid Sebaftian Wetlcott, for a 
 
 play at Chriftmas laft . - 6 13 4 
 
 1 0th 
 
OF THE Stage.] for tlie BELIEVERS. 361 
 
 had formerly a very different fignification, thaa 
 it has lately had; as we may learn from our old 
 
 Englijh 
 
 lOth Jiiiiry 1575 — Paid Richard Ferraunt, for a 
 
 play at Chriftmas laft - j^, 6 I3 4 
 29th Dec'". 1575 — Paid the mafter of the chil- 
 dren of Windfor, for a play 
 on St. John's day laft - lo — .— * 
 7th Janry 157I- — Paid Sebaftian [Weftcott] 
 mafter of the children of 
 Pauls, for a play at Twelfth 
 daylail - - lO — — 
 
 20th D° 1577 — Paid the children of the cha- 
 pel, for a play in Chriftmas 
 holydays laft - - ^^3 4 
 D» —Paid the children of Pauls for 
 
 a play in Chriftmas holydays 
 lafl: - - - 6134. 
 
 And by way of reward 
 
 ^.2 10. to each of them 5 — — 
 20th Febry 157 ^ — Paid the mafler of the children 
 
 of Pauls - - - 6 13 4 
 
 And by way of reward 5 marks. 
 1 6th Janry 157I — Paid the children of Pauls \ 
 — Paid the children of the chapel 3 
 Warrants ifiuedjbut nofums 
 mentioned. 
 I2th March 1575 — Paid Richard Ferraunt, mafter 
 of the children of Windfor, 
 for a play on Shrove Monday 
 laft - - - 6 13 4 
 
 And by way of reward - - 3 6 8 
 25th Janry 157/5 — Paid the mafter and children 
 
 of the chapel - - 6 13 4 
 
 And 
 
36* ^« APOLOGY [Of'the History 
 
 EngliJJj ballads y in the fame manner, as the 
 word bairn^ in the Scottifh poets, and in Shak- 
 
 fpeare's 
 
 And by way of reward - ;f • 3 6 8 
 2Sth Janry 157/^j — Paid the mafter and children 
 
 of Pauls - - - 10 
 
 30th Jaiiry 158^ — Paid the mafterofthe children of 
 Pauls, for a play on Twelfth 
 day - - - 10 — — 
 
 I3thFeFryi58o-i — Paid the mafter of the children 
 of the chapel, for a play on 
 Shrove Sunday laft - - 6 13 4 
 A^nd by way of reward - 368 
 
 ift April 1582 — Paid the mafter of the children 
 of the chapel, for two plays 
 on the laft of December and 
 Shrove-tuefday - 20 marks. 
 
 And by way of reward - 20 nobles. 
 24th April 1582 — Paid the children of Pauls, for a 
 play on St. Stephen's day 
 
 laft - - - lio 
 
 9th April 1588 — Paid Thomas Giles, mafter of 
 the children of Pauls, for a 
 play on Shrove Sunday - lO — •»• 
 23d March 158I — PaidThomasGiles, mafter of the 
 children of Pauls, for fundry 
 plays in the Chriftmas holy- 
 days - - ^ 30 — — 
 I pth March 158/© — Paid the mafter of the children 
 of Pauls for three plays on 
 Sunday after Chriftmas day, 
 Newyears day, and Twelfth 
 
 day - - - 20 • 
 
 And by way of reward - 10 — — 
 
OF THE Stage.] /cr /^^ B E LI E VE R S. 353 
 
 fpeare^s dramas, denotes a youths as well as a 
 child ; and as the word child fignified 2iyouth, 
 and a youth of a higher rank ; fo child and 
 knighty and bairn and knight, came to be fy- 
 nonimoiis ; as we may perceive in the Reliques 
 of Ancient Poetry: Hence, the children of the 
 chapel, and the youths of the chape!, were, 
 really, the fame, though, nominally, different. 
 From thofe feminaries, fome of the ableft 
 a<flors were tranfplanted into the regular com- 
 panies (^). Contributing fo much to fefti- 
 vity, by their adting, they, in fome meafure, 
 communicated their denomination of children 
 to the profeffed adlors, by the name of the 
 children of the revels. By the celebrity of 
 
 24th June 1 60 1 —Paid Edward Piers, mafter of 
 the children of Pauls, for a 
 play on Newycars day laft 20 marks. 
 And by way of reward - - 5 marks. 
 
 {(i) The theatrical children were fometimes kidriapped^ by 
 rival mafters, no doubt. One of the boys of Sebaftian Weft- 
 cott vvas, in this manner, carried away from him : And, on 
 the 3d of December, 1375, the privy council wrote "A letter 
 « to the Mafter of the Rolh, and Mr, Doaor Wilfon; that 
 " whereas one of Sebaftion*s boys, being one of his principall 
 " plryers, is lately flolen, and conveyed, from him^ they be 
 " required to examine fuch perfons as Sebaftian holdeth fuf- 
 " pe£led, and to proceed with fuch as be found faulty ac- 
 ^* cording to law and the order gf this realm." 
 
 their 
 
364 -<^« APOLOGY [Op THE History 
 
 their performances, they even envenomed the 
 eftabliflied comedians with rival- hating envy, 
 as we may learn from Shakfpeare. During 
 EHzabeth's reign, there had been four com- 
 panies of children, v\dio, under diilinft mailers, 
 gave hfe to the revelry of that extended pe- 
 riod. They continued, after the acceffion of 
 King James, to ^^A2iX2X^ \}i\Q. faint Jlumbers of 
 his peaceful reign. And, they were deem.ed 
 io important, that there fometimes were 
 granted royal patents to particular perfons ; 
 empowering them, " to bring up companies 
 " of children, and youths, in the quality of 
 *' playing interludes, and ftage plays {e)y 
 
 Thus 
 
 (^) The company, confifting of Robert Lee, Richard 
 Perkins, Ellis Woorth, Thomas Bafle, John Blany, John 
 Cumber, and William Robins, who aded at The Red Bully 
 and had been the fervants of Queen Anne, feem to have ap- 
 propriated to themfelves the name of The Company of the Re- 
 veils. They obtained, in July 1622, a patent, under the 
 privy feal; authorizing them '• to bring up children in the 
 *' qualitic and exercife, of playing comedies and ftage plays, 
 *' to be called by the name of The Children of the Revels, 
 [Steeven's Shak. 1793, vol. ii. p. 171.] Similar patents 
 had been conferred in former years. Such a patent was 
 granted under the great feal, on the 17th of July 1615, to 
 John Daniel, gentleman, one of the prince's fervants. This 
 authority was oppugned zn^ refified^ it feems; and thereupon 
 was ifTued, in April 1618 the foWomn^ Letter of AJpJiancey 
 
 which 
 
©jp THE Stage.] /c^r //^^ B E L I E V E R S. 365 
 
 Thus have I tried to ilied a few rays of 
 brighter light on this curious fubjed, which 
 
 had 
 
 which was tranfcrlbed from a copy In the paper-office; and 
 cafts fome new lights on the hiftory of the ftage : — 
 
 " After our hearty commendations : Whereas it pleafed 
 *' his Alajefty by his letters patents, under the great feal of 
 <* England, bearing date the 17th day of July, in the 13th 
 " year of his Highnefs's reign [16 15] to grant unto John 
 " Daniel, gent: (the prince his fervant) authority to bring 
 <' up a company of children and youths in the quality of play- 
 " ing interludes and ftage plays. And wee are informed 
 « that notvvithftanding his Majefty's pleafure therein that 
 « there are fome who oppugne and refift the fald authority in 
 « contempt of his Majefty's letters patents. In confideration 
 <« whereof and for the further effecSling and performance of 
 « his Majefty's pleafure therein; wee have thought good to 
 *' grant unto the faid John Daniel thefe our Letters of Af- 
 *^ fiftance, thereby requiring you, and in his Majefty's name 
 " ftraightly charging and commanding you and every of 
 " you, not only quietly to permit and fuffer Martin Slatier, 
 " John Edmonds, and Nathaniel Clay (her Majefties fer- 
 " vants) with their aflbciates, the bearers hereof, to play as 
 " aforefaid (.-^s her Majejlfs fervant s of her royal chamber at 
 " Br'iftd) in all playhoufes, town halls, fchool-houfes, and 
 " o her places, convenient for that purpofe, in all cities, 
 '' univerlities, towns, and boroughs, within his Majefty's 
 " realms and dominions, freely, and peaceably, without any 
 " of yourletts, troubles, or moleftatlons: But as occafion 
 " ftiall be offered (they or any of them having to ftiow his 
 " letters patents and a letter of affiftance from the faid John 
 *^ Daniel) to be likewife aiding and affifting unto them, they 
 '' behaving themfelves civilly and orderly, like good and 
 <* honeft fubjeds, and doing nothing therein contrary to the 
 
 *' tenor 
 
556 An APOLQGV [Or t^he Hisroar 
 
 had been thrown too much into fhade, by the 
 pencils of our fcenic painters. Yet, have I 
 perhaps raifed, rather than gratified curiofity. 
 And thofe, who find a pleafure, in reviewing 
 the amufemcnts of former times^ may wifh 
 for more gratification, from additional notices* 
 It was with defign to gratify this reafonable 
 delire, that I compiled a chronological 
 LIST of fuch plays, as were a6led by thofe 
 companies of theatrical children, which is fub- 
 Joined in the note [/), The chrmology was ad- 
 
 jufled 
 
 « tenor of his Majefty's faid letters patents^ nor flaying to 
 *' play in any one place above fourteen days together, and 
 ^ the times of divine fervice on the fabbath days only ex- 
 *« cepted. Whereof fail you not at your perils :- Given at 
 «* the court at Whitehall this [ April 1618.]'' 
 
 Xo all mayors, fherifFs, bailiffs, conftables, and 
 oiher his Majefty's officers and liege fuhje(5ls to 
 vyhom. it may belong, or in any wife appertain. 
 
 \ 
 
 (/) A chronological liji of the various plays, which were 
 prefentcd by the theatrical children : — 
 i^^i — Edward's Datnon and Pcthias, a comedy, before the 
 
 Queen, by the children of her chapel. 
 1584 — ^Peel's /Irraymneni of Paris \ before the Queen, by 
 
 the children of the chapel, 
 1584 — Lyly's Alexander Campafpe and Diogenes ^ before the 
 
 Queen, on Twelfth day at night, by her Majefty's 
 
 children, and the children of Paul's. 
 1591 — Lyly's Endimion^ and the Man in the Alcon, before 
 
 the 
 
OF THE Stage.] /;r /-&^ B E LIEVERS. 367 
 
 jufted from the feveral dates of the fucceffive 
 publications ; whence may be conjedlured, 
 
 rather 
 
 the Queen, at Greenwich, on Candlemas day, at 
 night, by the children of Paul's. 
 
 I^Ql-,-.Lyly's Sapho and Phao [Phaon] ; before the Queen, 
 on Shrove Tuefday, by her Majefty's children, and 
 the t)oys of Paul's. 
 
 1592— Lyly*s Gallathea; before the Queen, at Greenwich, 
 on Newyear's day at night, by the children of 
 Paul's. 
 
 1 59^ — Lyly's Mother Bomble^ fundry times, by the children 
 of Paul's. 
 
 I^Q^— Nafti's Dido ^ieen of Carthage', by the children of 
 her Majefty's chapel. 
 
 T^OO — Lyly's The Maids Met amor ph oft Sy by the children of 
 Paul's. 
 
 l6ao — Ben Johnfon's Cynthia* s Revels^ or The Fountain of 
 Self Love, by the children of the Queen's chapel. 
 
 I boO'^TheJVifdo?n of Dr. Dodypnll-, by the children of Powle's. 
 
 160 1 — Lyly's Lovers Metamorphcfis -, firft played by the chil- 
 dren of Paul's; now by the children of the chapel. 
 
 1 60 1 — Ben Johnfon's Poetajier-, by the children of the 
 Qiieen's chapel. 
 
 1601 — Jack DrunCs Entertainment^ or Pafquil and Kathe- 
 rine^ by the children of Powle's. 
 
 1602 — Dekker's Satiromajiix ; or The JJntruffmg of the Hu- 
 mourous Poet', pubiickly a6led by the Lord Cham- 
 berlain's fervants ; and privately, by the children 
 of Paul's. 
 
 1 602— MzrHon' s Jntonio and Melli da; by the children of 
 Paul's. 
 
 1602 — Marfton's Jntonio's ReveJige^ by the children of 
 Paul's. 
 
 X605— 
 
358 ^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 rather than afcertained, when each play was 
 aiSed. Amid other novelties, it is curious 
 
 to 
 
 y^05-^ — Chzpman^s Eajiward H^e-, at Blackfriers, by the 
 
 children of her Majefty's Revels. 
 l505— Marfton's Dutch Courtezan^ at Blackfryers, by the 
 
 children of the Revels. 
 1 606 -—Chapman's Monfieur D'OIive^ by the children of 
 
 Blackfryers. 
 t666— Marfton's ParlfitaJ^er^ or The Fazvne, at Black- 
 fryers, by the children of the Revels. 
 1606— Day's Ifle of Gulls, at Blackfryers, by the children 
 
 of the Revels. 
 j6o6 — Sir Gyhs Goo/ecappe Kiiight; by the children of the 
 
 chapel. 
 ji^Oj—The Pur it an, or The IVidow of IVatling Street \ by 
 
 the children of Paul's. 
 1607 — ^Dekker's Wefiivard Hoe-y by the children of Paurs. 
 1^07 — ^Dekker's Northward Hoe-, by the children of Paul s, 
 1607 — Middleton's Phcenix-, by the children of Paul's. 
 1607 — Middleton's Michaelmas Term ; by the children of 
 
 Paul's. 
 1607— Beaumont and Fletcher's Woman Haier; by the 
 
 children of Paul's. 
 j6o J— Cupid^s Whirligig 'y by the children of the Revek. 
 1608 — Middleton's Fa??iily of Love -, by the children of his 
 
 Majedy's Revels. 
 16-8 — Middleton's Mad World my Majiers ; by the chil- 
 dren of Paul's. 
 j6o8 — Day's Humour out of Breath \ by the children of 
 
 the King's Revels. 
 1608 — Y)'^f% LawTricksy or JVloo would ham Tl^ought ^j 
 
 \>Y the children of the Revek. 
 
 1608-^ 
 
optheStage.] /or i-&tf believer S. 569 
 
 to remark, that none of the many plays, which 
 
 were prefexited by the children of PauFs, and 
 
 the children of the Chapel, before the year 
 
 1 571, have been preferved, at lead been pub- 
 
 lifhed ; and none of the plays are faid to have 
 
 been afted by the children of the re"z;^/f, fubfe- 
 
 quent to the year 163-?. An attention to this 
 
 date would carry the inquirer into the gloom 
 
 oi puritanifm : And, from authority, he would 
 
 be told : 
 
 " You cannot revel into dukedoms there." 
 
 1608 — Machines Dumbe Knight -y by the children qf the 
 
 Revels. 
 1609 — 'Armin's Hiftory of the Two Maids of More-^dacke 
 
 [Mortlake] ; by the children of the King's Revels, 
 1610 — Mafon's Turk\ by the children of the Revels, 
 J 6 10 — Sharpham's Fleire\ at Blackfryers, by the children 
 
 of the Revels. 
 161 1 — Barry's Ram Alley ^ or Merrie Tricks \ by the chil-- 
 
 dren of the King's Revels, 
 i6i2-^Field's Woman is a Weathercock \ before the King, 
 
 at Whitehall, and at Whitefryers, by the children 
 
 of her Majefty's Revels. 
 1 6 15— Beaumont's Cupid's Revenge-, by the children of 
 
 the Revels. 
 1620 — May's Heire, by the company of the Revels, 
 j622— Markham's and Sampfon's True Tragedy of Herod 
 
 and Antipater \ adled at the Red Bull, by ^he 
 
 company of the Revels. 
 1633— Rowley's Match at Midnight j by the (children of 
 
 the Revels, 
 
 B b Thus 
 
3>p ^ ^« APOLOGY [Op thbHistory 
 
 if: Thus much, then, for the children of St. 
 FauFs, of Weftminfter, of Windfor, of the 
 Ghapel, and of the Children of the Revels. As 
 early as the reign of Henry the Vllth, French 
 players appeared in London, though not as an 
 eflablifhed company; for we fee nothing of 
 them, in the fubfequent reigns. The Italian 
 language became as much the objed of cul- 
 tivation, during Elizabeth's reign, as the 
 French had ever been, or is at prefent. And, 
 Italians ihowed their tricks, daily, in our 
 ftreets, and exhibited their dramas, often, in 
 our halls [g) : In January 157^ Droufiano, 
 an Italian commediante^ and his company, were 
 authorifed by the privy council, to play within 
 the jurifdidlion of the city of London. It 
 does not, however, appear, that there was 
 
 (^) A letter was written, on the 14th of July 1573, by the 
 ppyy council to the Lord Mayor of London, " to permit 
 «*.'c<;rtain Italij^in players^ to make fhow of an inftrument of 
 « jlrange motions within the city/* This order was repeat- 
 ^, on the 19th of the fame month j the privy council 
 " mervelllng that he did it not at their firft requeft." — 
 The injirument of Jirange motions was probably a theatrical 
 automaton. — On the 13th of January 157J, the privy coun- 
 cil wrote to the Lord Mayor, " to give order, that one 
 *' Droufiano, an Italian, a commedeantey and his company, 
 <j may play within the city and liberties of the fame, betweea 
 ** that day, and the firft week in Lent." 
 
 then 
 
oj TiiE Stage.] for //^ B E L IE V E R S. 371 
 
 . ;ben any fettled zom^2x\y oi foreign players; 
 though Lord Strange 's tumblers ii^ay have had 
 ftrangers among them. 
 
 As foon as the adling of plays became a 
 profeflion, jealoufy of abufe made it an objeft 
 of regulation. Accordingly, in 1574, the pu- 
 ritanic zeal, or the prudential caution of the 
 Lord Mayor, Hawes, procured various bye- 
 laws of the common-council, to regulate the 
 reprefentation of plays, within the city of 
 London [h). Yet, this zeal was not wholly 
 approved of at Whitehall. And the privy 
 council wrote the Lord Mayor, on the 22d of 
 March, 157I:, " to advertize their Lordfliips 
 *' what caufes he hath to reftrain playes ; to 
 " the intent, their Lordfliips may the bet- 
 " ter anfwer fuch as defire liberty for the 
 " fame (/)." 
 
 The year 1 574 is probably the epoch of 
 the firft eftablifliment of a regular company 
 of players. It was on the loth of May 1574, 
 that the influence of the Earl of Leicefter ob- 
 tained for his fervants, James Burbadge, John 
 Parkyn, John Lanham, William Johnfon, and 
 Robert Wilfon, a licenfe, under the privy feal, 
 
 [h) Strype^s Stow, vol. i. p. 299-300. 
 (/) The council-regift. of that date. 
 
 B b 2 'Mo 
 
372 ^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 ' ** to exercife the faculty of playing, through- 
 " out the realm of England (i)/' Leicefter 
 was not a man, who would allow the Queen's 
 grant to be impugned, or his own fervants to 
 be oppofed. And, his influence procured, 
 probably, diredtions from the privy council to 
 the Lord Mayor, on the 22d of July 1574 
 ** to admit the comedy players within the 
 *« city of London ; and to be otherwife fa- 
 « vourably ufed(/)/* 
 
 % But, the zeal of the Lord Mayor neither 
 darkened the gaiety of the city, nor obltrudled 
 the operations of the players, fo much as did 
 the plague-, which, in that age, frequently 
 afflidled the nation, with its deflrudlive ravages. 
 
 " During feveral years of Elizabeth's reign, the 
 
 [k) A copy of the patent is in Steevens's Shak, vol. ii. 
 p. 156, who found it among the unpublifhed papers of Ry- 
 mer in the Britifh Mufeum. The next licenf^', for ailing 
 generally, was granted by an open warranty on the 29th of 
 April 1593, " to the plaiersj fervants to the Earl of Suflex; 
 " authorizing them to exercife their quality of playing co- 
 " medies and tragedies, in any county, city, town or cor- 
 " poration, not being within feven miles of London, whv^re 
 *' the infection is not, and in places convenient, and times 
 " fit." [Cpuncil-reg' of that date.] 
 
 (/) On the fame day, a pafsport was granted « to the 
 « players to go to London [from the court] and to be well 
 *' ufed on their voyage" [journey,] 
 
 privy 
 
Of THE Stage.] for t^e BE L'IEV E KS. 373 
 
 privy council often gave diredions for reftrain- 
 ing players, v^ithin the city, and its vicinage; 
 on account of the frequent peftilence, which 
 was fuppofed to be widely propagated, by the 
 numerous concourfe of people, at theatrical 
 reprefentations. It is to this caufe, that we 
 ought to attribute the many orders, which 
 were ifllied under the prudent government of 
 Elizabeth, with regard to players ; and which 
 are contradictory in appearance, more than 
 in reality : When the city was iickly, the 
 playhoufes were fhut ; when the city was 
 healthy, they were opened ; though dramatic 
 entertainments were not always allowed in 
 the dog-days. t 
 
 Among thofe expedient orders, the privy 
 council required the Lord Mayor, on the 24th 
 of December 1578, " to fufFer the children 
 " of her Majefty's chapel, the fervants of the 
 *' Lord Chamberlain, of the Earl of Warwick, 
 ** of the Earl of Leicefter, of the Earl of 
 " Effex, and the children of PauFs, and no 
 ** companies elfe, to exercife plays within 
 ** the city 5 whom their Lordfhips have 
 " only allowed thereunto, by reafon that 
 ** tie companies aforenamed are appointed 
 ^ to play this Chriftmas before her Majefty/* 
 
 Bb3 Yet, 
 
^4 ^•'APOLOGY [Or THE HrsroRT 
 
 Yet, It is (m) faid, that there were then, with- 
 in the city eigAf ordinary places, for playing 
 publickly, to the great impoverifliment of the 
 people. 
 
 No fooner was the drama protected by the 
 wife minifters of Elizabeth, who diftinguifhed, 
 Hiicely, between the ufe, and the abufe, of every 
 inftitution, than plays, and players, were per- 
 fccuted by the Puritans, whofe enmity may 
 be traced up to the publication of t/je Laws of 
 Qenevai which prohibited ftage plays, as fin- 
 M {n). In- 1 574, A form of ChrijHan Policy 
 was drawn out of the French y and dedicated to 
 Lord Burleigh, by GeofFryFenton((9)» Goflbm 
 printed his School of Abufe, in 1578, which 
 Was dedicated to Sir PhiKp Sydney, by whom 
 
 (m) Stockwood's Sermon, rfySf quoted in Mai. Shak, 
 vol. i. part ii. p, 39. 
 
 , {n) A tranflatlon of the Geneva laWs was publifhed at 
 London, in 1562 : " Playes and games are forbidden," fays 
 the code. 
 
 [0) Of this book, the whole of chapter the 7th was written 
 to prove " that mynftrels are unworthy of the fellowfbip of ■ 
 '' townfmen; that puppet players are equally unworthy; 
 " that players were caft out of the church; that all diMate 
 '' playes ought to be forbidden :" Yet, he admits, ^' comical 
 '' and tragical {how t^ of fchollers, in moral doctrines, to re- 
 *' proove vice, and extol virtue, to be very profitable." 
 
 K it 
 
o> THE Stage.] 'for //^BELIEVERS. ffif 
 
 it was difdainfully rejedted. In 1579, John 
 Northbrooke publifhed A Treatlfe, wherein' 
 dicingy dauncingy vaine plates ^ or enterludes, 
 with other idle pajlimes were reprooved {p). 
 Stubbes exhibited his Anatomie of Abufes, in 
 1583 ; ihowing the wickednefs oi Ji age play es^ 
 and enterludes. The churches continually re- 
 founded with declamations againft the Jlage, 
 And, in 1592, the vanity^ and unlawfulnefs, of 
 plaies, and enterludes, were maintained, in the 
 uiiiverlity of Cambridge, by Dodor Rainolds, 
 againft Dodor Gager, the celebrated drama- 
 tift. This academical controverfy was foon 
 followed by a kind of theatrical refcript in the 
 form of a letter to the vice chancellor of 
 {q) Cambridge, from the privy council, dated 
 
 at 
 
 (/>) Mr. Malone fays t3iis treatife was publifhed ahout the 
 year 1579; ^^°^^ the year 1580. I have two copies of 
 Northbrooke's treatife, which prove, that it was publifh- 
 ed in 1579, as Herb. Typ. An. vol. ii, p. 991-1117, 1148, 
 iliow, that it was licenfed, in 1578, and in 1577: — Prynne 
 aflerts, that it was printed by authority, of which there feems 
 to be no evidence. The notices of Northbrooke's treatife 
 muft be, therefore, referred to a period, antecedent to the 
 
 year 1577. 
 
 ?* 
 (^) A letter of the fame tenor, and date, was fent to the 
 
 Vice Chancellor of Oxford. [Council-regr. 29th July 
 
 1593.] The following is a copy of the letter frbrh the privy 
 
 council to the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge :-*- 
 
 Bb4 « Whereas 
 
57* ^» APOLOGY [Of THE HrsTORV 
 
 at Oatlands, on the 29th of July 1593^ the 
 fame year, in which appeared the firjl heir of 
 Shakfpeare's invention. 
 
 From 
 
 *^ Whereas the two univerfities of Cambridge, and Ox- 
 ** ford are the nurferies to bring up youth in the knowledge 
 << and fear of God, and in all manner of good learning and 
 " virtuous education, whereby after they may ferve their 
 ^* prince and country in divers callings j for which refpe6l 
 *' efpecialcare is to be had ofthofe two univerfities, that all 
 *« means may be ufed to further the bringing up of the youth 
 <^ that are beftowed there in all good learning, civil ediicil- 
 *•* tion, and honeft mean?^ whereby the ftate and common 
 <' wealth may receive hereafter great gootl. And like 
 *' caufes to be ufed, that all fuch things as may illure and 
 " intice them to lewdnefs, folly and vicious manners, where- 
 « unto, the corruption of man's nature is more inclined, 
 " may in no wife be ufed or pra6ti(cd in tbofe places, that 
 " are fchools of learning and good nurture. We therefore 
 « as councellors of ftate to her Majefty, among ft other 
 " things concerning the good government of this realm, 
 ** cannot but have a more cfpecial regard of thefe principal 
 « places, being the fountains from whence learning and 
 ** education doth flow, and fo is derived into all other parts 
 «* of the realm. And for that caufe underftanding, that 
 " common players do ordinarily refort to the univerfity of 
 •* Cambridge, there to recite interludes and plays, fome of 
 " them being full of lewd example and moft of vanity, be- 
 *< fides the gathering together of multitudes of people, 
 ** whereby is great occafion alfo of divers other inconveni- 
 ** ences. Wee have thought good to require you the Vice 
 « Chancellor with the affiftance of the heads of the colleges, 
 <« to take fpeci^d order that hereafter there may no plays or 
 
 " interludes 
 
Of THE Stage.] for the BELIEVERS. 37^ 
 
 From this outcry againft the drama, loud 
 a-s it was, and long as it continued, fome good 
 
 efFefts 
 
 " interludes of common players be ufed or fet forth either In 
 " the univerfity, or in any place within the compafs of five 
 " miles, and efpecially in the town of Chefterton being a 
 " village on the water fide, nor any fliows of unlawful games> 
 *' that are forbidden by the ftatutes of this realm. And for 
 " the better execution hereof^ you fhall communicate thefe 
 " our letters to the mayor or mayors of the town of Cam- 
 " bridge for the time being, with the reft of the juftices of 
 '• the peace, within five miles of the faid town, and that no 
 ** other juftices may give licenfe to the contrary, who fhall 
 '• likewife by virtue hereof be required as well as you to 
 " fee the tenor of thefe our letters, put in due execution, 
 " every one of you in your feveraljurifdi^tions. Moreover 
 " becaufe we are informed, that there are divers inmates re- 
 " ceived into fundr y houfes in the town, whereby the town 
 '' doth grow over burthened with people, being a thing 
 ^ dangerous in this time of infedion, and that caufeth the 
 " prices of vidiuais and all other things to be raifed, and 
 " doth breed divers other inconveniences : You fhall like- 
 * wife by virtue hereof if your own authority be not fuf- 
 " ficient by your charter, confer with the mayor of the faid 
 " town of Cambridge of the means, and to put the fame in 
 " execution how this diforder maybe redrefied, and to for- 
 " fee hereafter that the fame be in no ways fufFered. Laftly, 
 " where [as] the fair of Stourbridge is at hand, which is kept 
 " a mile out of the town, in refpedl of the great infedion 
 " and vifitation of the ficknefs in London at this prefent; 
 " you the vice chancellor fliall give order as direded from 
 " us, to the maftres and heads of the colleges there, that 
 ** during the tinic of the fair, the gates of the colleges may 
 
 « be 
 
3>» >J APOLOGY [Of theHistort 
 
 ciFeds refultcd ; as there did from a fimilar 
 outcry, which was raifed by Collier againft the 
 ftage, in more modern times. As early as 
 1578, the privy council endeavoured, though 
 not with complete fuccefs, to prevent the adl- 
 ing of plays, during Lent (r). This folici- 
 tude, for the interefts of religion, was foon 
 after extended to the preventing of ftage plays 
 on Sundays (j-). Yet, this care did not extend 
 
 to 
 
 ♦' be kept fhut, and that no fcholars be permitted to repair 
 « thither." 
 
 (r) On the 13th of March isyf^the privy council wrote" 
 to the Lord Mayor to fufFer no plays to be a6led, within his" 
 jurifdiftion, during Lent^ until it be after Eajier. A fimilar 
 letter was written, on the nth of March 1600-1 ; requiring 
 the Lord Mayor, " not to fail in fuppreffing plays, within 
 *« the city, and the liberties thereof, efpecially at Pauh^ and 
 ** ih the Blackfrinsy during this time of Lent,^* 
 
 (j) The privy council wrote to the juflices of Surrey, 
 on the 29th of October 1587, " that whereas the inhabit- 
 ^ ants of Southwark had complained unto their Lordfhips, 
 '1 that the order fet down by their Lordlhips for the reftrain- 
 ^' ing of plaies and interludes, within the county on the Sab^ 
 *' bath dates is not obferved j and efpecialiie within the Li- 
 ** bertie of the Clinkey and within the parip) of St, Savioursy 
 *' in Southwark y they are required to take fuch ft ri£l order, 
 *' for the flaying of the faid diforder, as is alreadie taken by 
 " the Lord Mayor, within the libertie of the cittie ; fo as 
 « the fame be nor hereafter fuffered,at the times forbidden, 
 *^jn anyplace in that county.*' A fimilar letter was writ- 
 ten. 
 
oftheStage.] /or the BEtltVERS, 5^^ 
 
 to the court, where plays were prefented, fot 
 Queen Elizabeth's recreation, during her 
 whole reign, on Sundays. This reftridion 
 againft acting plays, ©n Sundays, was conti- 
 nued, by fucceffive orders of the privy council, 
 till it was at length enafted by parliament/ 
 *' that no plays fhould be prefented on the 
 *' Lord's-day (/)/' 
 
 The players were alfo obftrudted in the 
 exercife of their profeffion by orders, which' 
 originated from a lefs pious fource, and de- 
 prived of their profits, by injundlions, which 
 proceeded from a lefs difinterefted motive* 
 The royal bearward found, that the people, 
 who are entitled to praife for fuch a prefer- 
 ence, took more delight in ftage-playing, than 
 in bear-baithig y their fecond figkt forefeeing, 
 no doubt, that Shakfpeare was at hand, to juf- 
 tify their choice : Accordingly, in July 1591, 
 an order was iflued by the privy (u) council 
 
 that 
 
 ten, on the fame day, to the juftices of Middlefex : Yet, Mr. 
 Malone is of opinion, that the a6ling of plays on Sundays 
 was not reftrained till the reign of King James, 
 
 (/) By I Ch. I. ch. i. 
 
 («) The privy council, on the 25th of July 1591, wrote 
 tiom Greenwich, to the Lord Mayor of Lpndon, and to the 
 juftices of Middlefex, and Surrey;—'' Whereas heretofore 
 
 « there 
 
380 'V« APOLOGY [Or THE HisTORr 
 
 that there fhould be no plays, publickly,fhe wed 
 onThurfdays ', becaufe, on^hurfdaySy bear-bait-* 
 ingy and fuch like paftimes, had been ufually 
 prad:ifed. In this manner, were the minifters 
 of Ehzabeth, at times, gravely, and wifely, 
 occupied. 
 
 By thofe various caufes, were the players, 
 who had no other profeffion, deprived of their 
 livelihood -, by the recurrence of peililence, by 
 the intervention oi Lenty by the return of Sun * 
 day^ and by the competition of bcarwards. On 
 the 3d of December 1581, the players ftated 
 their cafe to the privy council j reprefented 
 \ki€\x poor ejiatesy as having no other means to 
 fuftain their wives, and children, but their ex- 
 
 *' there hath been order taken to reftrain the playing of in- 
 '' terludes and plays on the Sabbath-day, notwithllanding 
 *• the which, (as wee are informed) the fame is neglefted 
 " to the prophanation of this day J and all other days of the 
 " week in divers places the players do ufe to recite their 
 " plays to the great hurt and deJiruBion ofthegaine of bear " 
 '* baitings and like pajiimcs^ which are ?naintained for her 
 " Majefifs pleafurej if occafion require : Thefe {hall be 
 " therefore to require you not only to take order hereafter, 
 " that there may no plays, interludes, or comedies be ukd or 
 *' publickly made and fliewed either on the Sundays, or on 
 " the Thurfdays, becaufe on the Thu^fdays^ thefe other games 
 " ufually have been always ace n/h??ied2ind pradlijed. Whcre- 
 '* of fee you fail not hereafter to fee this our order duly ob- 
 " ferved, for the avoiding inconveniences aforefaid." 
 
 ercife 
 
OF THE Stage.] for the BELIEVERS. 381 
 
 ercife of playing ; fhowed, that the ficknefs 
 within the city were well Jlacked -, and prayed 
 that their Lordfhips would grant them licenfe 
 to ufe their playing as heretofore : The privy- 
 council, thereupon, for thofe confiderations, 
 and recolle(fl:ing alfo, *' that they were to pre- 
 ^* fent certain plays before the Queen's Ma- 
 ^' jefty, for her folace, in the enfuing Chrift- 
 *^ mas," granted their petition; and ordered 
 the Lord Mayor to permit them to exercife 
 their trade of playing, as ufual. On the 2 2d 
 of April 1582, this order was extended for a 
 further time, and enforced by weightier con- 
 fiderations ; for honejl recreation fake^ and in 
 refped, that her Majefiy fometimes taketh de-- 
 light in theje pajiimes (^v). Yet, the privy- 
 council 
 
 [v) The following is the proceeding of the privy-coun- 
 cil from their regifter of the 3d of December 1 581 :— 
 .*' Whereas ceftain Compa?iies of Players heretofore ujing 
 " their common exercife of playi?ig within and about the city 
 " of London^ have of late in refpe6b of the general infedtion 
 " within the city been reftrained by their Lordfhips com- 
 '' mandment from playing : the faid players this day exhi-^ 
 '< bited a petition unto their Lordfliips, humbly defiring 
 « that as well in refpefl of their poor eftates having no other 
 « means to fuftain them, their wives and children, but their 
 *' exercife of playing, and were only brought up from their 
 " youth in the practice and profejfion of muftck and playing : 
 <« gsfor that the ficknefs vi^ithin the city were well flacked, 
 
 it fo 
 
^^Z • An APOLOGY [Of th^ Histort 
 
 council did not, in their laudable zeal for 
 bo7ieJl recreatioHy depart, in the leaft, from 
 accuflomed prudence ; requiring, as effential 
 .conditions of removing thofe refl:rid:ions, 
 
 that 
 
 '**' to that no danger of Infe£lion could follow by the aflem- 
 
 "** Wies of people at their plays : It would pleafe their Lord- 
 
 -*' ihips therefore to grant them licenfe to ufe their faid ex- 
 
 f'^ ercife of playing, as heretofore they had done. Their 
 
 " Lordfhips thereupon for the confiderations aforefaid, as 
 
 " alfo for that they are to prefent certain plays before the 
 
 *«■ Queen's Majefty for her folace in the Chriftmas-time now 
 
 . f^ foJlowing, were contented to yield unto their faid humble 
 
 *' petition 5 and ordered that the Lord Mayor of the city of 
 
 " London fhould fuffer and permit them to ufe and exercife 
 
 ^<« their trade of playing in and about the city as they have 
 
 "« heretofore [been] accuftomed upon the week-days only, 
 
 « being holidays or other days fo as they do forbear wholly 
 
 *' to play on the Sabbath-day either in the forenoon or after- 
 
 « noon, which to do they are by this their Lordfliips order 
 
 *' exprefgly denied and forbidden/* On the 25th 
 
 of April 1 582, the privy-council wrote the Lord Mayor of 
 London the following letter : — " That whereas heretofore 
 ." for fundry good caufes and confiderations their Lordfliips 
 *' fjave oftentimes given order for the reftraining of plays 
 *'. in and about the city of London, and neverthelefs of late, 
 ^^ for honeji recreation fake in refpe£f that her Majejly fame- 
 ." timei taketh delight in thefe pajiimes their Lordfhips think 
 '}*• it not unfit having regard to the feafon of the year and the 
 .** clearnefs of the city from infe6lion to allow of certain 
 " companies of players to exercife their playing in London, 
 ** partly to the end they might thereby attain to the more 
 ^ pcffedipn and dexterity in that profeflion the rather to 
 
 *' content 
 
OF THE Stage.] for th B Z L iZ V*£ R S, 3^ 
 
 that the comedies and interludes be looked into 
 for matter, which might breed corruption of 
 manners ; and that fit perfons might be ap^ 
 pointed, for ailov/ing fuch plays only, as 
 fliould yield no example of evil. We fliall 
 find, in our progrefs, that regular commif- 
 fioners were appointed in 1589, for reviewing 
 
 ^' content her Majefty, whereupon their Lordftiips per- 
 " mitted them to ufe their playing until they fliould fee to 
 " the contrary and forefeing that the fame might be done 
 '' without impeachment of the fervice of God, reftrained 
 *' them from playing on the Sabbath-day : And for as much 
 *' as their Lordfhips fuppofe that their honefV exercife of 
 *' playing to be ufed on the holydays after evening-prayer 
 *' as Jong as the feafon of the year may permit and may be 
 " without danger of the infe(?tion will not be offenlive 
 *' fo that if can he had that their comedies and interludes be 
 '' looked intoy and that thcfe tuhich do contain matter that ma^ 
 " breed corruption of inannen and coiiverfation among the 
 *' people be forbidden, Whereunto their Lordfhips wifh there 
 <' be appointed fome fit perfons who may confider and allow 
 " of fuch plays only as be fit to yield honeft recreation and 
 " no example of evil. Their Lordfliips pray his Lordfliip 
 " to revoke his late inhibition againft their playing on the 
 « holydays, but that he do fuffer them as well v/ithin the 
 *' city as without to ufe their exercife of playing on the faid 
 « holydays after evening prayer only, forbearing the Sab- 
 " bath-day according to their Lordfliips faid order, and when 
 " he fliall find that the continuance of the fame their exer> 
 « cife, by the increafe of the ficknefs and infedion, ftiall be 
 *' dangerous to certify their Lordfliips and they will pre* 
 ** fently tak« order accordingly." 
 
 the 
 
384 ^« APOLOGY [Of tmbHistory 
 
 the labours of our dramatifts ; for allowing 
 the fit, and rejecting t/je unmannerly i which 
 appointment feems to be, only, a fyftematic 
 improvement of Queen Elizabeth's ecclefia^ 
 ftical injundions, in 1559. 
 
 Of fuch players, and fuch companies, that 
 incited honejt merriment^ during Elizabeth's 
 days, and were regarded as objects of confi- 
 deration, by fome of the wifeft minifters, that 
 have ever governed England, who would not 
 wifh to know a little more ? The children of 
 St. Paul's appear to have formed a company, 
 'invery early times. At the acceffion of Eli- 
 zabeth, Sebaftian Wejftcott, was the mafter of 
 thofe children. With his boyifh adlors, he 
 continued to entertain that great Queen, and 
 to be an objed: of favour, and reward, till the 
 year 1586. He vvas fucceeded, as mafter of 
 the children of Paul's, by Thomas Giles, who, 
 in the fame manner tried to pleafe, and was 
 equally rewarded for his pains. Thomas Giles 
 v^as fucceeded, in 1600, by Edward Piers, as 
 the mafter of the children of Paul's, who was 
 to inftruft them, in the theory of mufic, and 
 dired them " to hold, as 'twere, the mirrour 
 •* up to nature." The eftablilTiment of the 
 children of her Majefty's hoJiourabk chapel 
 feem? to have been fojmed on the plan of 
 
 that 
 
OF THE Stage.] for the B '^ LI E V E K S, jSj" 
 
 that of the children of St. Paul's. Richard 
 Bovver, who had prefided over this honoura- 
 ble chapel under Henry the viiith, continued 
 to folace Elizabeth, by the finging, and adting, 
 of the children of the chapel, till 1572. 
 Richard Bower was then fucceeded, in his 
 office, and in thofe modes of pleafmg by, John 
 Honnys. This mafter was followed by Wil- 
 liam Hunnis, one of the gentlemen of the 
 chapel ; who, not only endeavoured to glad- 
 den life, by the ading of his children, but to 
 improve it, by the publication of the peni- 
 tential pfahns, with appropriate mufic {w). 
 The children of IVeJhninJler had for their 
 diredlor, John Taylor, from the year 1565, 
 for a long fucceffion of theatrical feafons. 
 And, the children of Windfor were, in the 
 fame manner, employed by Richard Ferrant, 
 during Elizabeth's refidence there, " to eafc 
 *^ the anguifli of a torturing hour." 
 
 It was from thofe nurferies, that many a 
 cyon was grafted into the more regular 
 companies of players. During the infancy of 
 the drama, the players were driven, by the 
 
 (iw) William Hunnis republifhed, in 1597> " Seven Sobs 
 « of a forrowful Soul for Sin 5" and, in the fame year, he 
 printed " A Handful of Honifuckles." — We may here fee 
 another example ho\y the fame name was different fpelt 
 Honnys^ and Hunm's, 
 
 C c penalties 
 
3^86 -^;? APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 penalties of the ftatutes againft vagabonds, to 
 feek for {belter under private patronage, by 
 entering themfelves, as fervants, to the greater 
 peers, and even to the middling fort of gentle- 
 men* At the acceffion of Elizabeth, the Lord 
 Robert Dudley's players became confpicuous. 
 When,- by his influence, they vi^ere incorpo- 
 rated, into a regular company, in 1 574, their 
 leaders were James [x) Burbadge ; John Per- 
 kyn ; John Lanham ; William Johnfon ; and 
 Robert Wilfon. None of thefe rofe to emi- 
 nence, or contributed much to the advance- 
 ment of the ftage. When the Earl of Lei- 
 cefter died, in September 1588, they v/ere 
 left to look for protection from a new mafter. 
 In 1572, Sir Robert Lane had theatrical 
 fervants, at the head of whom was Laurence 
 Dutton, who appears to have joined the Earl 
 of .Warwick's company : but Lane's fervants 
 feem not to have long continued, either to 
 
 (x) James Burbadge^ who Is more known, as the father 
 of Richard Burbadge, and Cuthbert Burbadge, than for his 
 own performances, during the infancy of the theatre. Jived 
 iQng in Holywell-ftreet. He had a daughter baptized, by 
 the name of Alice, in the parifh of St. Leonard's, Shore- 
 ditch, on the nth of March i57y. He was buried there, 
 as appears by the regifter, on the -id of February 1595. 
 Helen Burbadge, widow, was buried in the fame coemetery, 
 on the 8th of May 1^6 Jij 5 aad was probably the reli<5t o( 
 James Burbadge. 
 
 profit. 
 
OF THE Stage.] /or the B E L IE V EK S. 387 
 
 profit, by pleafing others, or to pleafe them- 
 felves, by profit. 
 
 In I 572, Lord Clinton entertained drama- 
 tic fervants, who, as they did Httle, have 
 left little for the hiftorian of the ftage to re- 
 cord. When the Lord Clinton died, on the 
 1 6th of January 1584, thofe fervants found 
 fiielter probably from fome other peer, who 
 like him, was ambitious of giving and re- 
 ceiving the pleafures of the ftage.- 
 
 In 1575, spp^^i'cd at the head of the Earl 
 of Warwick's company, Laurence Dutton, 
 and John Dutton, who, as they did not 
 diftinguifh themfelves, cannot be much diflin- 
 guifhed by the hiftorian of the theatre. 
 
 In 1575, the Lord Chamberlain had a 
 company of adting fervants : whether William 
 Elderton, and Richard Mouncafter, were then 
 the leaders of it, is uncertain : But, Shakfpeare 
 was, certainly, admitted into this company, 
 which he has immortalized more by hi$ 
 dramas, than by his adling. In 1597, John 
 Heminges, and Thomas {y) Pope, were at the 
 
 head 
 
 (y) Thomas Pope, who is faid to have played the part 
 of a clown, died before the year 1600, adds Mr. Malone. 
 [Shak. vol. i. partii. p. 198.] Yet, Pope made his will, 
 which may be kQn in the Prerogative-office, on the 22d of 
 
 C c 2 July 
 
388 -^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 head of the Lord Chamberlain's fervants, who 
 were afterwards retained by Kingjames ; and 
 long ftood the foremoft, for the regularity of 
 their eftabliihment, and the excellency of their 
 plays. 
 
 In 1576, the Earl of Suflex had a theatri- 
 cal company, which began to aft at The Rofe, 
 on the 27th of December 1593 3 yet, never 
 rofe to diftinguiihed eminence. 
 
 In i577> Lord Howard had dramatic fer- 
 vants, who, as they did not diftinguifh them- 
 felves, have not been remembered by others. 
 
 July 1603; and which was proved on the 13th of Fe- 
 bruary i6c|. He devifed his Ihares in the Curtain^ and the 
 Globe to Thorns s Bromley, who had been theretofore bap- 
 iizedy in St. Andrew' s^ JJnderjhaft, [Thomas Bromlie was 
 baptized, fays the regifter, which mentions the baptifm of 
 no other Thomas Bromlie, on the 28th of Auguft 1602.] 
 He bequeathed his wearing apparel, and his arms, to Robert 
 Gough, the player, who had, probably, been his apprentice, 
 or fervant, and to John Edmans. Pope bequeathed three 
 pounds to the poor of the parifh of St. Saviour*s, Southwark> 
 where he lived, and ^. 20, for his funeral expences, and a 
 monument, in the church ofthat pari fli, wherein he was buried, 
 by his own diredion 5 yet his burial is^ not recorded in the 
 parilh-regifter. He left ^. 100 to Sufan Gafcoigne, whom 
 he had educated. He devifed leveral houfes on the Bank- 
 fide to his brother, John Pope, and left handfome legacies to 
 his mother. He was plainly a man of property j who fpoke 
 familiarly, in his will, of his flate^ and diamond-ringSy which 
 the players generally afFeded to poflefs. 
 
 In 
 
OF THE Stage.]' for tk B ELIEVEKS. 3S9 
 
 In 1578, the Earl of EfTex had a company 
 of players, who probably finifhed their ca- 
 reer, when he paid the penalty of his treafon, 
 in 1601. 
 
 ' In 1 579, Lord Strange had a company of 
 tumblers, w^ho, at times, entertained the 
 Queen with feats of activity ; and vv^ho began 
 to play at T^he Rofe, under the management of 
 Philip Henflow, on the igth of February, 
 159! 5 yet, were never otherwife diftinguifti- 
 ed, than like the Jirutting player , whofe conceit 
 lay m his hamjlring. 
 
 In 1579, the Earl of Darby entertained a 
 company of comedians, which had at its 
 head, in 1599, Robert Brown, to whom Wil- 
 liam Slye devifed, in 1608, his fliare in the 
 Globe. 
 
 In 2585, the Queen had certainly a com- 
 pany of players, which is faid, without fuf- 
 ficient authority, to have been formed, by the 
 advice of Walfingham, in 1581. The earlieft 
 payment, which appears to have been made to 
 the Queen's company, was iflued on the 6th of 
 March 1584. And, in March 1589-90, John 
 Dutton, who was one of Lord Warwick's 
 company, and John Lanham, who belonged 
 to Lord Leicefler's, appear to have been at 
 the head of Elizabeth's company, which muft 
 be dillinguiilied from the ancient eftablifh- 
 
 C c 3 ment 
 
390 jf» APOLOGY [Oi^ the History 
 
 ment of the houfehold, that received a falary 
 at the Exchequer, without performing any 
 duty at court. 
 
 In 1 59 1, the Lord Admiral, had a company 
 of comedians, who began to adl at Hhe Rofcy 
 on the 14th of May, 15945 and who had at 
 its head, in 3598, Robert Shaw, and Thomas 
 Downton. Conneded with them, in the ma- 
 nagement, and concerns, of the company, were 
 Philip Henflow, and Edward Allen ; two 
 perfons, who are better known, and will be 
 longer remembered, in the theatrical world (2;). 
 
 At 
 
 (z) Philip Henflow was illiterate himfelfi yet, as he was 
 tlie protc6tor ^f Drayton and Dekker, of Ben Johnfon and 
 Maffinger, will never be forgotten in the annals of the ftage. 
 He rofe from a low origin by prudent conduft. He married 
 Agnes Woodward, widow, by whom he had no iflue ; at 
 leaft none, who furvived him. It was, by this marriage, that 
 he became conn?<3:ed with Edward Allen, the celebrated 
 comedian j who married, on the 22d October, 1592, Joan 
 XVoodward, the daughter of Henflow's wife. About that 
 epoch, he conne£^ed himfelf with the ftage. He was the 
 proprietor of The i?^ theatre, on the Bankfide. Here, 
 the Lord Strange's compan}') the Lord Nottingham's com- 
 pany, and the Lord Pembroke's company, ufed to play, un- 
 der his prudent management. He became a proprietor of 
 the bear-garden. He was a veftryman of St. Saviour's pa- 
 rifh, Southwark ; where he lived, and died. Henflow had 
 the honour, with qther refpeclable parilhioners, to be one of 
 the patentees, to whom King James granted his charter, in 
 favour of St. Saviour*s, He made his will, on the ift of 
 5 January 
 
t)^TH£ Stage.] /*r //^^ B E L I E V E ]i S. 591 
 
 At the acceffion of King James, the theatrical 
 lervants of the Lord Admiral had the honour 
 
 January 16 r^} leaving his wife Agnes, his executrix, and 
 his fon-il^r. Edward Allen^ Bfq. one of the overfeers of it. 
 This fa£l explains how the account books of Henflow, 
 which have ilkiftrated fo many obfcure points, in theatrical 
 itiattcrs, came to Dulwich college. He appears from his 
 will^ which may be feen in the prerogative-office, to have 
 Imd, at the time of making itj no connedion with playhoufes, 
 plays, or players. He devifed.the reverfion oi the Boar'sr 
 head^ and the Bear-garden^ to his godfon Philip Henflow, the 
 fbn of his brother William; nor did he forget his brother 
 ]6\\\\z waterman. The teftator was buried,' as appears 
 from the regifter, in the chancel of St. SaviQur'$ ehurch|- 
 on the I oth of January i64|. .. -. 
 
 Edward Allen was born in 1566; and dieci in 1626, after 
 an active life of uncommon celebrity, which has furnifhed 
 ample matter for biographers to detail. Though he was a 
 ywinger man than Shakfpeare, he became diftinguiihed, as an 
 a6lor, when that poet's dramas began to illumine the ftage. 
 From the epoch of his marriage, in 1592, he probably re- 
 fided on The Bankftde, Yet, he built The Fortune play- 
 houfe, near Golden-lane, in St. Giles's, Cripplegate, in the 
 year i6co. On the 2d of March 160 J, Allen was chofen 
 a veftryman of St. Saviour's ; as Henflow was already of 
 the fame pari(h truft. He retired from the ftage foon after 
 the death of Henflow in January i6'|. In 1619, he found- 
 ed Dulwich college. He lived on till November 1626, in 
 the fame courfe of prudent refpedability; perfe<Sling that 
 great a£t of his life ; vifiting the good ; and receiving the 
 vifits of the great. In the courfe of my theatrical refearchcs, 
 I have often obferved, that charity is the laft adt of a player. 
 
 C c 4 to 
 
59* An APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 to be taken into the fervice of Henry-Frede- 
 rick, Prince of Wales (^a). 
 
 In 1592, the Earl of Hertford entertained 
 a company of theatrical fervants, who have 
 left few rnaterials for the theatrical remem- 
 brancer. 
 
 In 1593, the Earl of Pembroke flieltered, 
 in the fame manner, under his protection, a 
 company of perfons, v/ho equally made a pro- 
 feffion of ading, as a mode of livelihood, iand 
 who were, more defirous of profit, than emu- 
 lous of praife. This company began to play 
 at T!he Rofe\ on the 28th of Odlober 1600. 
 
 The Earl of Worcefter had alfoa company 
 of theatrical fervants; who, at the acceffion 
 of King James, had the honour to be en- 
 tertained by Queen Anne, in the fame ca- 
 pacity. 
 
 Thus, we fee, in this flight enumeration, 
 fifteen diftindt companies of players , who, 
 during the protraded reign of Elizabeth, and 
 
 ia) We may learn from Birch's Life of Prince Henry, 
 appx. p. 455, the names of his players : 
 
 < Thomas Towne Anthony JefFes 
 
 Thomas Downton Edward Colbrande 
 
 William Byrde William Parre 
 
 Samuel Rowley Richard Pryone 
 
 Edward Jubye W^iJliam Stratford 
 
 Charles Maflye Francis Grace 
 
 Humphrey Jcffes Jolin Shanke, 
 
OF THE Stage.] /^r //^^ B E L I E V E R S. 393 
 
 in the time of Shakfpeare, fucceffively gained a 
 fcanty fubliftence, hy lafcivious p leafing. The 
 demife of the Queen brought along with it the 
 diffolution of thofe companies, as retainers to 
 the great : And, we fliall find, that the accef- 
 fion of King James gave rife to a theatric 
 policy, of a different kind. The ad: oi {b) 
 parliament, which took away from private 
 perfons the privilege of licenfing players, or 
 of protecting flrolling acSors, from the penal- 
 ties of vagrancy, put an end for ever to the 
 fcenic fyftem of prior times. 
 
 This fubjeft, though curious, has hither- 
 .to remained very obfcure. Materials for il- 
 luitration were wanting, whWc felf-fufficiency 
 aluimed the pen of hiftcry. A laudable curi- 
 ofity ftill requires additional information, which 
 can only be furnifhed, by the communication 
 of new notices, in a diflinCt arrangement. 
 This, I have endeavoured to perform, by 
 compiling a chronological feries of the feveral 
 payments, which were made, from time to time, 
 by Elizabeth's orders, to thofe various com- 
 panies, for their refpedive exhibitions : And, 
 this chronological feries y I have fubjoined in 
 the marginal note^ becaufe it will fhow more 
 clearly, than has yet been done, in which 
 
 {b) I Jas. I. ch, vii. 
 
 company 
 
394 ^» APOLOGY [Of THg HisrbRr 
 
 company Elizabeth ofteneft " took delight i' 
 on what days ihe enjoyed this recreation ; and 
 what fhe gave for each day's enjoyment ; 
 whether that delight was communicated, by 
 the afting of the players, the feats of the tum- 
 blers, or the groffer fports of the bear- 
 garden [c). 
 
 While 
 
 [c) A CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES of Queen Elizabeth's 
 payments, for plays acted before her : [From the council- 
 reg".] 
 
 On the lOth January i56f, to Lord Dudley's 
 players, for a play, prefented before her 
 this Chriftmas ------;f. 6134 
 
 l8th Januury i56|, to the Earl of War- 
 wick's players for two plays, prefented 
 before her lafl Chriftmas - - - 13 6 8 
 1 2th January 1 57 3, to Lawrence Button, and 
 his fellows, fervajits to Sir Robert Lane 
 Knight, for prefenting a play before her 
 on laft St. Stephen's day, at night - 6 13 4 
 29th February 1 57?, to Lawrence Dutton,and 
 his fellows, for prefenting a play before 
 heron Shrove Sunday, at night - - 13 6 8 
 7th January 157I, to the Earl of Leicefter's 
 players for two plays, prefented before 
 her - -.---.-_ 13 6 8 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward for 
 
 their charges, Sec, - ----6134 
 
 1 0th January iS7h ^^^ two plays prefented 
 before her this Chriftmas, viz. 
 
 To Lord Clinton's men - 613 4 
 To William Elderton's - 6 13 4 
 
 On 
 
oftheStage.] for t/^e be lie VEVLS. ^9$ 
 
 While the aftors were chiefly children ; 
 and while the theatrical companies were no- 
 blemen's 
 
 On the 22d February 1571, to the Earl of Lei- 
 cefter's players, for prefenting a play 
 before her the 2 ift inftant - - £»(> i^ 4 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward ' 3 ^ B 
 1 8th March 157I, to Richard Mouncafter for 
 two plays prefented before her on Can- 
 dlemas-day, and Shrove-tuefday laft 
 
 20 marks. 
 And further for his charges - 20 marks. 
 29th December 1575, to the Earl of Lei- 
 cefter's players, for prefenting a play 
 before her, on Candlemas-day at night 10 — . — . 
 2d January 157I, to the Earl of Warwick's 
 players, for prefenting two plaj's before 
 her, on St. Stephen's day, and New 
 year's day laft, at night - • - 20 -■— — . 
 7th January 157I, to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's players, for a play prefented before 
 her, on Candlemas day, at night - 10 «— -«• 
 nth March 157^, to Richard Mouncafter, 
 for prefenting a play before her, on 
 Shrove Sunday laft - - - - - 10— 1.-^ 
 nth March 157I, to Lawrence Dutton and 
 John Dutton, fervants to the Earl of 
 Warwick, for prefenting a play before 
 her, on Shrove Monday laft - - 10 — .— . 
 20th January 157^, for two plays prefented 
 before her, in the Chriftmas holydays 
 laft, viz. 
 
 To the Earl of Warwick's players 613 4 
 To the Earl of Leicefter's players 6 13 ^ 4 
 
 And 
 
39^ ^//APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 blemen*s fervants; the theatres, on which they 
 prefented their interludes, and difplayed their 
 
 various 
 
 And to each of them by way of her Majefty's 
 
 reward ;^. lO - - _ . ^ ^.' 20 
 
 On the 3d February 157^, to the Earl of Suflex's 
 players, for a play prefented before her, 
 on Candlemas-day laft - -_»5ij^ 
 
 And by way of her Majefty*s reward - - la ■ 
 
 ;xoth February i57|> for two plays prefented 
 before her, on Shrove Sunday, and 
 Monday laft -, viz. 
 
 To the Earl of Warvtrick's players 613 4 
 To the Lord Chamberlain's players 613 4 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward, to each 
 of them — 5 marks. 
 9th January i57g> to the Earl of Leicefter's 
 fervants, for a play prefented before her, 
 In the Chriftmas holydays - - - 6 13 4 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - - 3 6 8 
 9th January 157 J, to Lord Howard's fer- 
 vants, for a play prefented before her 613 4 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - 368 
 
 14th March i57f, to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's players, for a play on Candlemas- 
 day laft --------10 — — . 
 
 16th January 157^, for four plays, prefented 
 before her Majefty, viz. 
 One by the Lord Chamberlain's players. 
 Two by the Earl of Leicefter's players. 
 One by the Earl of Warwick^s players. 
 
 13th March 157 J, to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's players, for a play prefented be- 
 fore her, on Shrove-tucfday - - - 6 J3 4 
 
 And 
 
OF THE Stage.] for the BELIEVERS. 397 
 
 varioas powers of performance, could not have 
 been very large, or commodious. When 
 
 Queen 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - j^. 3 6 8 
 On the 1 3th March 157I, to theEarl of Warwick's 
 players, for a play prefented before her, 
 on Shrove Sunday - - ---6 13 4 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - - 3 6 8 
 i8th March 157I, to the Earl of Warwick's 
 players, for a play that fhould have been 
 played on Candlemas-day laft - -6134 
 25th January 157-^^0? for four plays prefented 
 before her, including the reward to each 
 of them, viz. 
 
 To the Lord Chamberlain's players 10 «— — 
 To the Earl of Leicefter's players 10 — -^ 
 
 To theEarl of Warwick's players 10 
 
 To the Lord Straunge's tumblers 10 — •— 
 23d February i57/c> ^^ ^he Lord Chamber- 
 lain's players, for a play prefented before 
 her, on Candlemas-day laft - - - 
 ' And by way of her Majefly's reward - - 
 23d February 157 1"^, to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's players, for prefenting a play be- 
 fore her, on Shrove -tuefday laft - - 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward 
 23d February 157 g'^, to the Earl of Darby's 
 players, for a play prefented before her, 
 on Sunday the 14th inftant - • - 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - - 
 30th January 158 J, to Ralph Bowes, mafter 
 of her Majefty's game of Paris garden, 
 for bringing the faid game before her, 
 on Sr. John's.day,'at Chriftmas laft - 5 — — 
 
 On 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 n 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 ? 
 
39* ^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 Queen Elizabeth did her beft, to entertain the 
 French ambaflador, with her tayllorsy payntors^ 
 
 JUkwemeUf 
 
 On the 20th January 158^, for three plays, prefent- 
 ed before her, viz. 
 Tolhe Earl of S ufTex's men for a play 
 
 on St. John's day at night - j^. lO — — 
 To the Earl of Leicefter's fervants 
 
 for a play on St. Stephen's day - 10 — — 
 To the Earl of Darby's men for a 
 
 play on New year's day - '- 10—*—. 
 13th February 1582, to the Earl of Leicef- 
 ter's fervants, for a play prefented be- 
 fore her, on Shrove-tuefday - - - 6 13 4 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - - 3 6 8 
 13th February 158?, to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's fervants, for a play prefented be- 
 fore her, on Candlemas day laft - - 613 4 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - - 3 6 8 
 2d July 1 58 f , to Edward Bowes, the 
 mafter of her Majefty's game of Paris 
 garden, for two reprefentations of the 
 faid game before her, at Whitehall, on 
 the 23d of April, and I ft of May laft 10 — — 
 2 ift January 158^, to Edward Bowes, mafter 
 of her Majefty's game of Paris garden, 
 for prefenting the faid game before her, 
 at Weftminfter, the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 
 laft day of December - - - - 20 — — 
 2ift January i58f, to the Lord Strange's 
 fervants, for fundry feats of a6livity, 
 fliewed before her, on Childermas day 
 
 laft - " - - 5 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - - 5 *- — 
 
 On 
 
• F THE Stage.] /jr /i* B E L I E VE R S. 399 
 
 filbwefnefi^ and drappars, " to garnijlj the old 
 garments to make them feme frejh againe ;" 
 
 and 
 
 «5 
 
 On the 6th March i58|,to her Majefty's players for 
 a play prefented before her j on Shrove 
 Sunday ---- --_ ^,10-^ — 
 
 4th. March 158^, to her Majefty's players, 
 for three plays prefented before her, at 
 Chriftmas and Shrovetide - - - 20 -~ «-« 
 
 27th February 158I, to the Lord AdmiraPs 
 players, for two interludes, prefented be- 
 fore her Majefty, on the Sunday after 
 Chriftmas day, and Shrove Sunday laft 20 — — 
 
 i6th March 158I, to her Majefty's players, 
 for two interludes prefented before her, 
 on St. Stephen's day, and Shrove Sunday 20 — — * 
 
 1 0th March i58y?o, to the Lord Admiral's 
 fervants, for certain feats of a61:ivity, 
 ihewed before her, on the 23 Decem- 
 ber laft - _-----«5i^^ 
 
 Alfo for a play prefented before her, on 
 
 Shrove-tuefday laft -- ---6134 
 
 And by way of her Majefty *s reward - - 6 13 4 
 
 1 5th March 1 58^^^ , to John Dutton and John 
 Lauhon [Lanhemj two of the Queen's 
 players, for two interludes, (hewed be- 
 fore her, on St. Stephen's day, and 
 Shrove Sunday laft - - - - -20— «— « 
 
 5 th March 159°, to her Majefty's players 
 for four interludes prefented before her, 
 on St. Stephen's day, Sunday after New- 
 year's day, Twelfth day, and Shrove 
 Sunday - - - - - . - 26 13 4 
 
 And by w^y of her Majefty'? reward - 13 6 8 
 
 On 
 
400 ^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 and with all her houfes, and clouds, and hills, 
 and other devices, ihe appears neither to have 
 
 made 
 
 On the 5th March 159?, to the fald players, for i 
 
 ihe wing an Interlude before her, on 
 New Year's day laft - - - ^.6134 
 And by way of her Majelly's reward - - 3 6 8 
 D"* to the Lord Admiral's fervants, for two 
 plays, prefented before her, on St. John's 
 day, and Shrove-tuefday laft - - 13 6 8 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - - 6 13 4 
 20th February 1591, to the Earl of Hertford's 
 fervants, for a play prefented before her, 
 on Twelfth night laft - - - - 10 — — 
 
 D° to Lord Strange' s fervants, for fix plays, 
 prefented before her, at Whitehall — viz. 
 — St. John's Day; Innocents Day; 
 New Year's Day ; Sunday after 
 Twelfth Day; Shrove Sunday; and 
 Shrove Tucfday ------40 — — 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - 20 — — 
 D° to the Earl of Suflex's fervants, for a 
 play prefented before her, on Sunday 
 after New Year's day, the 2d of Janu- 
 ary laft - -------10 — — 
 
 27th February 159!, to her Majefty's play- 
 ers for a play prefented by them be- 
 fore her, on St. Stephen's day laft - 10 — -^ 
 7th March I59|, to Lord Strange's fervants 
 for three plays prefented before her Ma- 
 jefty at Hampton-court, viz. St. John's 
 Night ; New Year's Eve ; and New 
 Year's day - ------ 20 — —*. 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - 10 — ^ — 
 I ith March 159}, to the Earl of Pembroke's 
 
 fervants 
 
or THE Stage.] for fi^e B E LI E V E R S. 401 
 
 made any fplendid . fliow, nor furnifhed any 
 adequate accommodations. The children of. 
 
 St. 
 
 fervants, fot tv^fi'plays prefented before 
 her Majeftyat court, viz. on St. John*s 
 day, at nighty ^id Twelfth day, at nlght;^. 13 6 8 
 And by way of het Majeftyi's reward * 6 13 4 
 On the 27th November i597,toJohnHemingsand 
 •■ •'- Thomas Pope, fervants to the Lord 
 Chamberlain, for fix interludes, prefent- 
 ed before herMajefly, in the Chriftnrias 
 holydays laft - - ----40— — 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - 20 — — « 
 3d December 1598., to John Heraings and 
 Thomas Pbpe, fervants to the Lord 
 Chamberlaiii, for four interludes, pre- 
 fentcd before her Majefty - - - 26 13 4 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - 13 6 8 
 D" to Robert ShaWj and Thomas Downton^ 
 fervants of the Earl of Nottingham, for 
 ^ \ two plays prefented before her - - 1 3 6 8 
 And by way of her Majefty's reward - 6 13 4 
 1 8th February iSr^^i to John Hemings, for 
 three interludes, fh^wed before her, by 
 the Lord Chamberlain's fervants, viz. on 
 St. Stephen's day, at night, Twelfth day 
 at night J and Shrove Sunday, at night 20 — — . 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's revvard - 10 
 
 D** to Job?! 'i/kiwe for two plays prefented 
 before her, by the Lord Admiral's fer- 
 vants, on St. John's day; and New 
 
 Year's day - - 20 marks. 
 
 And by way of her Majefty's re\Vard - ^- 6 13 4 
 D« to Robert Browne^ for a play prefented 
 
 D d before 
 
402 ^/r APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 St. Paul's probably e^xhibited their paftimes in 
 the hall of their own fcliool-houfe. The 
 regular companies ha'd only the public inns, 
 within the city of London, where they could 
 pleafe by a6li-ng> and obtain their fubfilience 
 by pleafing. 
 
 The year r 570 has beerr^ marked, by our the- 
 atrical hiftorianSj as the probable epochs of the 
 firft ereftion of regular playhoufes. As early as 
 the year 1576, there certainly exifted a build- 
 ing, which was appropriated to fcenic repre- 
 fentations, and was emphatically called The 
 Theatre. It was probably fituated in the 
 Blackfriers, without the Lord Mayor's jurif- 
 didion (^). Before the year 1583, theatres 
 
 and 
 
 before her, by the Earl of Darby's fer- 
 
 vants, on Shrove-tuefJay, at night - 6 13 4 
 
 And by way of her Majefly's reward 5 marks. 
 
 Iith March 1600- 1, to John Hemings, for 
 three interludes, prefented by the Lord 
 Chamberlain's fervants, at Chriftmas 
 hft _------_- 30 
 
 (<r/) The privy council on theiftof Auguft 1577, wrote to 
 Lord Wentworth, to the Mafter of the Rolls, and the Lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower, " that for avoidine; the ficknefs from 
 " the hea: of the weather, they take immediate order, as the 
 « Lord Maypr had done within the city, that fuch players as 
 ^' do ufe to play without the city, within ihat county [Mid- 
 
 '^dJcfex] 
 
©r THE Stage.] /or i/;e B E LI E V E'KS. 403 
 
 znii cur tames were familiarly known, and pu- 
 ritanically reprobated, as Venus palaces {e). 
 Before the year 1586, there was a playhoufe 
 at Newington-butts, in the county of Surrey, 
 which was denominated the Theatre [f). The 
 paffion for theatrical reprefentations was, at 
 that time, become exceffive ; as we may learn, 
 indeed, from Stubbss Anatomy of Abufes^ : So 
 there were managers, who endeavoured to 
 gratify the popular paffion for fcenic amufe- 
 trient, by eredling theatres. But, it is not eafy 
 to calculate the number of playhoufes, in thofc 
 days, nor to afcertain their lites. It feems, 
 however, certain, that, while the beams of 
 
 « dlefex] as the Theatre^ and fuch like, fhall forbear any 
 «« more to play until Michaelmas be paft." 
 
 (^) Stubbs's Anatomy of Abufes 1583, fign. LV. Stubbs 
 immediately fubjoins, " For proof whereof, but marke 
 " the flocking and running to theaters and curtens^ daylie 
 " and hourely, night and daye, tyme and tyde, to fee playes 
 ^' and enterludes, where fuch wanton gellures, fuch bawdie 
 '' fpeaches j fuch laughing and fleering : fuch ki fling and 
 <' buffing : fuch clipping and culling : fuch winkinge and 
 " glancinge of wanton eyes, and the like is ufed, as is won- 
 " derful to behold."— We may cafily fuppofe, Stubbs did 
 not lb much defign to draw a piclure, as to daub a caraca- 
 ture. 
 
 (/) The letters of the privy council, dated the nth of 
 May 1586} direding the theatres lo be fhut up, for pre- 
 venting peftilence. 
 
 D d 2 Shakfpeare's 
 
4^4 -^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 Shakfpeare*s fun brightened the ftage, there 
 were fever? principal theatres in London, and 
 Its fiiHufbs : The Globe oh the Bankfide, the 
 Curtain in Shoreditch, the Red -bull in St. 
 John's flreet, and the Fortune in White- crofs 
 ftreet ; the Theatre in Blackfriers, the Cock- 
 pit in Drury-lane, and a rriore private play- 
 houfe in Whitefriers : Add to thefe, the 
 feveral theatres, which had, in the mean time> 
 arifen in St. Saviour's parifh from this paffion 
 of the people, vi'ho laudably preferred the 
 fentimerital pleafure of the drama, to the 
 favage entertainment of bear-baiting. 
 
 But, this preference, which encreafed the 
 number of theatres, gave offence to thofe, 
 who wifhed to influence the people, in their 
 religious opinions, and to dired: them, in 
 their focial condud. A violent outcry was, 
 now, raifed againft the number of playhoufes. 
 Complaints were repeatedly made to the {£) 
 
 privy- 
 
 {g) The veftry of St. Saviour's, Southwark, where fo 
 ir-any playhoufes had been erected, thought fit to order, on 
 the 19th July 1598, " that a petition fhall be made to the 
 " bodye of the councell, concerning the playhoufes in this 
 " parifh j wherein the enormities fbail be fhowed that comes 
 *' thereby to the parifh ; and that in refpeft thereof they 
 "" may be difmilTed and put dov/n from playing : And that 
 " iiij or ij of the churchwardens &c ihall prefent the caufe 
 
 « with 
 
OF THE Stage.] /or //^^ B E L I E VE R S. 405 
 
 privy-council, of the manifold abufes, that 
 had grown from the 7nany houfes, which were 
 employed in, and about London, for common 
 ilage plays. Thefe complaints were, at length, 
 fully confidered by the privy-council. The 
 wife men, who compofed the councils of Eli- 
 zabeth declared, that fldge- playing was not 
 evil in it/elf. They diftinguifhed between the 
 ufe, and the abufe, of falutary recreations, in 
 a well governed Jiate. And they determined, 
 " as her Majeftie fometimes took delight in 
 " feeing, and hearing the ftage plays," to 
 regulate the ftage, by reducing the number 
 of theatres, and increafing their ufefalnefs. 
 For thefe ends, the privy- council, v/ho did 
 not diftruft their own power, illued, on the 
 22d of June 1600, an order " for the reftraint 
 " of the immoderate ufe of play houfes,'' 
 
 <' with a colle6lor of the Borough-fide, and another of the 
 " Bankfide." As the playhouf^s were not put down, the 
 fame veftry tried to derive a profit from them, by tything 
 them ; and on the 28th of March 1600 : *' It was ordered, 
 " that the churchwardens (hall talk with the players for 
 " tithes for their pla) houfes, and for the reft of the new 
 ^ tanne houfes, near thereabouts within the liberty of the 
 " Clirjke, and for money for the poore according to the order 
 ^< taken before my Lords of Canterbury, London, aiidM'" 
 '* of the Revels." [Thefe curious extracts were copiad 
 fr6m the parifh-regifter.] 
 
 D d 3 which 
 
4-06 ^« APOLOGY [Of the Histort 
 
 which, as it does honour to their wifdom^ and 
 is curious in itfelf, I have fubjoined in a mar- 
 ginal note (/6). 
 
 In 
 
 (h) An order of the privy -council for the reftraint of the 
 number of playhoufcs. [From the council -regifter of the 
 22(1 of June 1600.] 
 
 « Whereas divers complaints have been heretofore 
 made unto the Lords and others of her Majefty's privy- 
 council, of the manifold abufes and diforders that have grow>i 
 and do continue by occafion of many houfes, ercded, and 
 employed /«, and about^ the city of London, for common 
 ftage plays : And now very lately by reafon of fome com- 
 plaints exhibited by fundry perfons againft the building of the 
 like houfe in or near Golding-lane, by one Edward Allen, 
 a fervant of the right honble the Lord Admiral, the matter 
 as well in general ty touching all the faid houfes for ftage 
 plays, and the ufe of playing, as in particular, concerning the 
 faid houfe now in hand to be built in or near Golding-lane, 
 hath been brought into qucftion and confultation among 
 their Lordfliips. Forafmuch as it is manifeftly known, and 
 granted that the multitude of the faid houfes, and the mif- 
 government of them, hath been and is daily occafion, of the 
 idle, riotous, and difTolute living of great numbers of people, 
 that leaving all fuch honell: and paiiiful courfe of life as they 
 ihould follow, do meet and afTem.ble there, and of many par- 
 ticular abufes and diforders that do thereupon enfue. And 
 yet neverthelefs it is coniidered that the ufe and exercife of 
 fuch plays (not being evil in itfjlf ) may with a good order 
 and moderation, be fuffered in a well-governed ftate : And 
 that her Majefty being pleafed fometimes to take delight 
 and recreation in the fight and hearing of them^ fome order 
 is fit to be taken, for the allowance and maintenance of fuch 
 
 perfons 
 
«F THE Stage.] /^r /-f^ B E L I E V E R S. 407 
 
 In this theatrical edict of the privy-council, 
 we fee the wifdom of Elizabeth's minifters. 
 
 Thev 
 
 perfons as are thought meeteft in thr;t kind to yield her Ma- 
 jefty recreation and delight, and confequently of the houfes 
 that muft ferve for publick playing to keep them in exercife. 
 To the end therefore that both the great abufes of the plays 
 and playing- houfes may be redreficd, and yet the aforefaid 
 yfe and moderation of them retained ; The Lords and the 
 reft of her Majefty*s privy-council, with one and full con- 
 fent have ordered in manner and form as folio weth : — 
 
 Firft — That there f];all be about the city tvvo houfes and 
 no more, allowed to ferve for the ufe of the common ftage 
 plays i of the which houfes, one (liail be in Surrey, in that 
 place which is commonly called the Bankjide or thereabouts, 
 and the other in Middlefex. — And for as much as their 
 Lordfiiips have been informed by Edm>und Tilney Efq"". her 
 Majefty's fervant, and Mafter of the Revels, that the houfc 
 now in hand to be built by the faid Edward Allen, is not 
 intended to ijicreafe fhe number of the playhoufes but to be 
 infiead of ano|:her (namely the Curtain) which is cither to 
 be ruined, and plucked down, or to be put to fome other 
 good yfj, as alfo that the fituation thereof is meet and con- 
 venient for that purpofe 3 It is likexvife ordered, that the 
 faid houfe of Allen fhall be allowed to be one of the two 
 houfes, and namely for the houfc to be allowed in Middlefex 
 for the company of players belonging to the Lord Admiral, 
 (<> as the houfe called the Curtain be (as it is pretended} 
 either ruinated, or applied to fome other good ufe. And for 
 the other houfe to be allowed on Suirey fide, whereas their 
 Lordfhips are pleafed to permit, to the ^company of players, 
 that Ihall play there, to make their own choice, which they 
 will have, of divers houfes that are there, choofing one of 
 ttiera and no more. And the faid company of players, being 
 
 D d 4 the 
 
4o8 ^;/ APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 Tney allowed the ufc of theatres, but endea- 
 voured, by corrective regulations, to prevent 
 the abiifes of them 5 acknowledging, in the 
 
 the fervants of the Lord Chamberlain that n.re to play there, 
 have made choice, of the houfe called 77?^ Globe ; it is 
 ordered, that the faid houfe ^»nd none other fliall be there 
 allowed : And efpecially it is forbidden that any ftage plays 
 fcali be played (as fometinies they have been) in any com- 
 mon inn for publick afl'embly in or near about the city. 
 
 Secondly—Forafmuch as thcfe ftagc plays, by the multitude 
 of houfes and company of plriycrs have been fo frequent 
 not ferving for recreation, but inviting and calling the peo- 
 ple daily from their trade and w^orlc to mifpend their time. 
 It is likewife ordered, that the two feveral companies of 
 players afligned unto the tu^o houfes allov^ed, may play each 
 of them in their feveral houfe twice a week, and no oftener ; 
 and efpecially they (hall refrain to play on the Sabbath-day, 
 upon pain of imprifonment and further penalty : And that 
 they {hall forbear altogether in the time of Lent, and like- 
 wife at fuch time and times as any extraordinary ficknefs 
 or infection of difeafe (ball appear to be in or about the city. 
 
 Thirdly— Becaufe the orders will be of little force and effect 
 unlefs they be duly put in execution, by thofe unto whoni it 
 appertaineth to fee them executed : It is ordered that feveral 
 copies of tbefe orders fliall be fent to the Lord Mayor of 
 London, and to the juftices of the peace of the counties of 
 Middlefex, and Surrey, and that letters (hall be written unto 
 them from their Lordfhips, ftriftly charging them to fee to 
 the execution of the fame, as well by committing to prifon 
 any owners of playhoufes, and players, as fhall difobey and 
 refill thcfe orders, as by any other good and lawful means 
 that. In their difcretlon they fhall find expedient, and to cer- 
 tify their Lordfhips from time to time as they fhall fee caufe 
 of their proceedings herein." 
 
 language 
 
OF THE Stage.] /?r //^^ B R L I E V E R S. 409 
 
 language of John Taylor, the water- poet: 
 
 " For, plays are good, or bad, as they are usM ; 
 " And, bell inventions often are abus'd." 
 
 For all the falutary purpofes of honsjl recrea^ 
 tion, they deemed two playhoufes fufficient ; 
 one in Middlefex, which was to be The For^ 
 tune ; and one in Surrey, to be T/je Globe : 
 And, forefeeing that thofe regulations would 
 be of little efFcdt, without enforcement, either 
 for enjoying the ufe, or correcting the abufe, 
 of many playhoufes, the privy-council wrote 
 letters from Greenwich, on the 22d of June 
 1600, to the Lord Mayor of London, and to 
 the juftices of Middlefex, and of Surrey ; 
 urging them, by every proper motive, to 
 carry thofe wife regulations into efFedual exe- 
 cution (/). Owing to whatever caufe, whe- 
 ther want of authority, in the magiftrates, or 
 want of inclination in the men, thefe orders 
 of the privy -council were not executed. The 
 diforders of the playhoufes rather increafed, 
 than diminiflied. The mayor, and aldermen 
 of London, felt the grievance, without being 
 able to apply the remedy : For, they were 
 neither urged, by the clamour of the multi- 
 tude, nor fupported, by the voice of the peo- 
 ple ; who now relifhed theatrical amufements, 
 
 (/) Council -regifter of the 22d June i6oo. 
 
 as 
 
4ib ^//APOLOGY [Of tks History 
 
 as they were better accommodated, in the 
 many new playlioufes, and better gratified by, 
 the reprefentation of Shakfpeare's dramas. 
 The privy-council did not fo much partake 
 of the fcenic enthufiafm of the people, as 
 they viewed the popular concourfe to fcenic 
 reprefentations, in the light of a political 
 diforder; which, having increafed under re - 
 flraint, required corredion, rather than coun- 
 tenance. In this fpirit, they wrote a ilronger 
 letter to the Lord Mayor, and aldermen, of 
 London, on the 3ifi: of Decernber 1601 ^ 
 reprehending part negledts, and requiring fu- 
 ture compliance with the former orders (/). 
 
 The. 
 
 (J) The following is a tranfcript of the letter to the Lord 
 Mayor and aldermen, from the council-regiiter of the 31ft 
 of December i6ci : 
 
 '« We have received a letter from you, renewing a 
 complaint of the great abufe and diforder within and about 
 the city of London, by resfon of the niultitudc of playhoufcSj^ 
 and the inordinate refort and concourfe of dillolute and Id]*? 
 people daily unto publick ftage plays ; for the which in« 
 formation, as wee do commend your Lordfliip becaufe it 
 betokcncth your care and defire to reform the di (orders of 
 the city j So wee muft let you know, that we did much ra- 
 ther expecSt to underitand that our order (fet down and pre- 
 fcribed about a year and a half fmce for reformation of the 
 faid diforders upon the like complaint at that time) had been 
 duly executed, than to find the fame diforders and abufes fo 
 much increafed as they are. The blame whereof, as we 
 
 cannot 
 
OF THE Stage.] /or //-^ B E LI E VE R S. 411 
 
 The privy- council, on the fame day, wrote, 
 with a (harper pen, to the juftices of Middle- 
 fex, and Surrey, letters of reproof, rather than 
 diredtions, in thefe energetic terms : ^* It is 
 in vain for us to take knowledge of great 
 
 cannot but impute in great part to the juftices of the peace 
 or fome of them in the counties of Middlefex, and Surrey, 
 who had fpecial direction and charge from us to fee our faid 
 order executed, for the confines of the city, wherein the 
 mod part of thofe playhoufes are fituate : So wee do wifh 
 that it might appear unto us, that any thing hath been en- 
 deavoured by the predecelTor of you the Lord Mayor, and 
 by you the aldermen, for the redrefs of the faid enormities, 
 and for obfervation and execution of our faid order within the 
 city : We do therefore once again renew hereby our di- 
 rection unto you, (as we have done by our letters to the 
 juftices of Middlefex, and Surrey) concerning the obfervation 
 of our former order, which wee do pray and require you tQ 
 caufe duly and diligently to be put in execution for all points 
 thereof, and efpecially for the exprefs and ftrelght prohi- 
 bition of anymore playhoufes, than thsofe tv/o that are men- 
 tioned and allowed in the faid order : Charging and ftraitly 
 commanding all fuch perfons as are the owners of any the 
 houfes ufed for ftage plays within the city, not to permit 
 any more public plays to be ufed, exercifed, or fhowed from 
 henceforth in their faid houfes : and to take bonds of them 
 (if you fhali find it needful) for the performance thereof, or 
 if they {hall refufe to enter into bonds, or to obferve our 
 faid order, then to commit them to prifon, untill they fhall 
 conform themfelves thereunto : And fo praying yoi^, as 
 yourfelf do make the complaint, and find the enormity, fo to 
 apply your beft endeavour to the remedy of the abufe," 
 
 abufes^ 
 
4ia -^//APOLOGY [Of theHistort 
 
 I T.. 
 
 abufes, and to give order for redrefs, if our 
 direaions find no better execution, than it 
 feemeth they do ; and we muft needs impute 
 the blame thereof to you, the juiliices of peace, 
 that are put in trull: to fee them performed ; 
 whereof we may give you a plain inftance in 
 the great abufe continued, or rather increafed, 
 in the multitude of playhoufes, and ftage plays, 
 in, and about, the city of London {k),'' 
 
 In thofe proceedings, for rcftraining the 
 number of playhoufes, and checking the po- 
 pular concourfe to fcenic entertainments, a 
 difcerning eye may perceive, that ftage plays, 
 rather than the Englifh ftage in general had 
 rifen to great, though not to the greatefi 
 fplendour. At the demife of Elizabeth, Shak- 
 fpeare had produced two and twenty of his 
 immortal dramas. The commiifion, which 
 Elizabeth eftabhflied, in 1589, for revifmg 
 plays, before Shakfpeare's appearance, as a dra- 
 matift, had an obvious tendency to form the 
 chaflity of his mufe ; as the chaftity of Shak- 
 fpearc's mufe had the fame tendency to reform 
 tlie popular tafte. To this pure fource of re- 
 finement, and of pleafure, we may trace the 
 popular paflion for theatrical reprefentations, 
 ^vKich the minifters of Elizabeth regarded as 
 
 (i) Council-regifter of that date. 
 I a diforder. 
 
OF THE Stage.] for the BELIEVERS. ^r'j* 
 
 a diforder, requiring neceflary reform. T\\6 
 concourfe of the people to the playhoufe 
 enabled the managers of them, hrft, to furnlfli 
 fimple accommodation, then to give greater 
 convenience, and laftly, to fuperadd ^^thV-j- 
 mental fplendour ; This progrefs of improve- 
 ment, we may remark, drevV ftill more th^ 
 popular refort ; while more ample recomf)enfe 
 iupplied the means of higher gratification to 
 the multitudes, who, at the demife of Eliza- 
 beth, found in theatrical rep re fen tations their 
 greateft amufement. 
 
 Such are the various views, which thofe new 
 notices give of the flage, in England, at every 
 ftep of its progrefs. As Scotland was inha- 
 bited, during every period, by people of the 
 fame lineage, its laws, its cuftoms, and its 
 amufements, were, in every age, nearly alike. 
 When the warlike fports of the field were 
 fafliionable among the valorous people of 
 England, tournaments, and other martial 
 paftimes, were the delight of the hardy inha- 
 bitants of Scotland (/). When London had its 
 abbot of mi/rule, Edinburgh had its abbot 
 
 (I) Arnot's Edin-. 71 : William the Lion, who died in 
 1212) gave to the citizens of Edinburgh a valley, on the 
 road to Leith, for the fpecial purpofe of holding tournaments 
 and other ftjanly feats of arms, 
 
 of 
 
4»4 -^« APOLOGY [Of theHistort 
 
 vf(m) tinreafon ; when the citizens of London 
 amufeci themlelves with the feftive feats of 
 Robin Hood, the citizens of Edinburgh di- 
 verted themfelves with the manly exercifes of 
 Robert (ji) Hude ; and v/hile the youth of 
 London rofe in tumult, when thtir fports 
 were reftrained, the {p) bairns of Edinburgh 
 ran into infurrecflion, when an attempt was 
 ^ made, at the sra of the Reformation, to 
 fupprefs the game cf Robin Hood. In Scot- 
 land, the drama held the fame courfe, as in 
 England, from rudenefs to refinement ; be- 
 ginning With fcriptural [p) mysteries ; im- 
 proving with moralities ; 2indi JiniJJoing off 
 with monarchicke tragedies (j'). 
 
 [m) Arnot*s Edin^ 77. In 1555, the parliament of 
 Scotland paffed an act " Ancntis Robert Hude and Abbot 
 " of Un-reafoii;" whereby it. was ordained, " that in all 
 " times cummyngj na maner of perfon be chofen Robert 
 " Hude, nor Little John, Abbot of Unreafon, Queenis of 
 " May, nor otherwife, nouther in burgh, nor to Landwart.'* 
 [Skenes A(5tes, 1597, p. 150.] Thofe fports of the field 
 were furely very harmlefs, perhaps falutary : But, the mo- 
 valitlei^ which, at that very epoch, were fet forth by Sir David 
 Lyndfay, were certainly in the higheil degree obfcene, in 
 their rep refentat ion, and immoral, in their tendency. 
 ■yn) Id. 
 
 \o) Let no minute commentator remark the Scott'icifm of 
 that good old Englifi word, which is fometimes ufed by 
 Shakfpeare, and Ben Johnfon, 
 
 {p) ib. 75. {q) Lord Stirling's Works, 
 
 It 
 
OF THE Stage.] /cr /^^ B E L I E V E R S. 415 
 
 It was not at Edinburgh alone, that the 
 Abhot ofVnreafon pradifed his rujlick revelry. 
 At Aberdeen, a city, noted in every age for 
 hilarity, they had in very early times, an Ab- 
 bot of (r) Bonne- Acorde, who gratified the 
 citizens with a play ; a fcriptural play, or 
 vrjjiery (j). About a century after the adling 
 of the myfiery of the Halibhide on the Wynd^ 
 myUbill, at Aberdeen, Sir David Lyndfay ex- 
 hibited his moralities upon the Caftlehill, near 
 Cowpar-in-Fife. The farcafm of the fatirift 
 
 (r) '^ 1445 April the 30th: The council and many of 
 ^ the gild-brethren for letting ^nd Jianching of divers enor- 
 " mities done in time bygone by the abLots of the burgh 
 '• called of bone acorde [propofed] that in time coming they 
 " win glue no fees to no fuch abbots ; and for this inftant 
 * year they will haue no fuch abbot, but that the alderman 
 " for the time and any baillie he chufes to take with (join til) 
 " him to fupply that faute (want)." [MS. extracts from the 
 city records of Aberdeen.] The Abbot of Bonne Acorde 
 was, however, fo agreeable to the people, that he continued 
 long after to gratify them yearly with public fports : And, the 
 fees, which were obje£led to, in 1445, were afterwards fet- 
 tled at ten merhyB. year. [City records, 7th Auguft 1486.] 
 
 (i) On the 22d of October 1445, Thomas Lawfon was 
 recefved, as a burgefs of Aberdeen, a privilege, which was 
 lately granted him, when he was abbot of bonne acorde, for 
 his expences laid out by him in a certain play [ludoj de ly 
 haliblude apud ly Wyndmyll hilL [MS. extracts from the 
 city records, which were written, in thofe times, partly in 
 lovv Latin, and partly in Norman French,] 
 
 was 
 
4i6 Jn AVOLOGY [Op the History 
 
 was chiefly levelled at the prelaws, the monks, 
 and the mms, who were exhibited, as extremely 
 
 ^ worthlefs : But, what muft have been the 
 coarfenefs of the barons, the dames, and the 
 monarch, who could hear fuch ribaldry, with- 
 out indignation, and fee fuch obfcenenefs, 
 without a blufli (/). 
 
 A reformation was, however, at hand, which 
 is faid to have been brought forward, full as 
 much by the moralities of Lindfay, as by th'e 
 
 ^fermms oi Knox. The Church of Scotland, 
 as it adopted its fundamental principles, from 
 the religious pradices of Geneva, at the fame 
 time alTumed its enmity to dramatic exhibi- 
 tions. It is, neverthelefs, certain, that a 
 company of players performed at Perth, in 
 
 (/) It appears fi-om Leland's Colle£lanea, vol. Iv. p. 300, 
 as Mr. Malone has indeed remarked, that when the marriage 
 of James the ivth with Margaret, the eldeft daughter of 
 Henry the viith, was celebrated at Edinburgh, in 1503, 
 *' after dynnar a moi'alitie was played by the faid Mafter 
 *' Ingliflie and hys companyons, in the prefence of the King 
 " and Qvvene, and then daunces were daunced." Yet, the 
 hiftorian of the flage feems not to have adverted, that Mafter 
 Inglifhe, and his companyons, with menftrells of mufick, ac- 
 companied Margaret from Wyndfor-caftle to Holyrood- 
 houfe. [lb. 267-280-289.] I have, however, fhown from 
 the evidence of records, the exiftence of fimilar plays, in 
 Scoland, upwards of half a century before that memorable 
 epoch* 
 
 June 
 
0^ tttE Stage.J for the feELlEVERS. 41^ 
 
 Juiic 1589. In obedience, indeed, to the adt 
 of the afTenibly^ which had been made, in 
 («) 1575, ^^y applied to the confiftcry of the 
 church, for a licence ; fhewing a copy of their 
 play : And, they were, accordingly, permit- 
 ted to a6l the play> on condition, however, 
 *' that no fwearing, banning, nor any fcur- 
 *^ rility fhall be fpoken> which would be a 
 " fcandal to religion, and an evil example to 
 " others [y)^ Thus, it appears, that the 
 church of Scotland adopted analogous mea- 
 
 (tt) " By the General Affembly begun and halden at 
 " Edinburgh the 7 th day of March 15745 
 
 " It is thoucht meit and concludit yat na clerk playes, co- 
 " medies or tragedies be maid of ye cannonicall Scriptures 
 *' alfweil new as auld on Sabboth day nor wark day in time 
 " coming. The contravenars hereof (if they be minifters) 
 ** to be fecludit fra y*^ fun6tion and if they be utheris to be 
 " punifliit be ye difcipline ofye kirk } and ordains an article 
 " to be given in to fick as fitts upon ye pjolicie yat for uthet 
 *' playes comedies tragedies and utheris profaine playes as 
 *' are not maid upon authentick pairtes of ye Scriptures, 
 " may be confiderit before they be exponit publidlie and 
 " yat they be not played upon ye Sabboth dayes." [From 
 the MS. " Buik of the Univerfal Kirk of Scotland quhairin 
 " y« heides and conclufiones devyfit be the minifters and 
 ** commiffioners of the particular kirks thairof are fpecially 
 *' expreflit and containit.'*] 
 
 (ir) An Account of Perth, 1796, p. 40^ by the Rev. Mr* 
 Scott, who quotes the old records for the fa6ls* 
 
 E c furcs 
 
4i8 An APOLOGY [Of the HxdTORy 
 
 furcs to the judicious regulations of the wife 
 minifters of England, at the fame epoch -, by 
 allowing the ufe^ but preventing the abufe of 
 dramatic exhibitions. As a fcholar, and a 
 poet, King James admired the drama. And, 
 fome Englijh comediaiis coming to Edinburgh, 
 in 1599, he gave them a licenfe to aft, though 
 he thereby offended the ecckfiajtics^ who 
 wanted not fuch provocation to difturb his 
 .government (w). 
 
 {w) Archbifliop Spottifwood gives the following account of 
 
 that tranfa£tion: " In the end of the year [1599] happened fome 
 
 '' new jars betwixt the King and the minifters of Edinburgh,; 
 
 '' becanfe of ^ company of Englifh comedians, whom the 
 
 "King had licenfed to play witliin the burgh. The minif- 
 
 " ters being oiFended with the liberty given them, did ex- 
 
 " claim in their fermpns againft ftage-players, their unruii- 
 
 ''^ nefs and immodeft behaviour ; and in their feffions made 
 
 ^' an a6t, prohibiting people to refort unto their plays^ under pain 
 
 ^*' ^ the church cenfures. The King, taking this to be a 
 
 Ji^ difcharge of his licenfe, called the feffions before the coun- 
 
 55 cil, and ordained them to annul their ad, and not to re- 
 
 '5 ftrain the people from going to thcfe comedies : Which 
 
 5' they promifed, and accordingly performed j whereof pub- 
 
 " lication was made the day after, and all that pleafcd per- 
 
 _♦'' mitted to repair unto the fame, to the great offence of thf 
 
 , jff^mjn/i|ers." [Hiftoryof the of Scotland, p. 4-57. J 
 
 ""In this account, there Teem to be implied two points; th^t 
 
 King James did not fend for the Englifh comedians; and 
 
 ■^^t tljcre .^^as; i)ot a^y company^ of 3Qottifli comedian^, in 
 
 , Scotland, dqfing hi$ reign, g^^^ \^[q .^ ^'^^_ ; \ 
 
 -.a Yet, 
 
^pf 7AR St AG^.] for de B'ELIKVEK S. 419 
 
 Yet, plays and players may be confidered, 
 2J^ Jigbtlefs fubjlancesy in Scotland, during that 
 age. Nor, has diligence been able to fhow in 
 the Scottifli literature, ariy thing like a come-. 
 die, hiftorie, or tragedie; from the revival of 
 learning, to the acceflion of King James. The 
 fcurrilities of Lyndfay can no more be confi- 
 dered as legitimate dramas, than the fcurril 
 jejis of Skeltorii ** a fharpe fatirift, indeed,'* 
 fays Puttenham, *' but with more rayling and 
 *^ fcoffery than became a poet taureat (^).** 
 PhilotuSi which, when orginally printed^^ itt 
 1603, was entitled, " Ane verie excellent, and 
 " delecStabill Treatife,'* was called a come die y when 
 it was republifhed, in 16 12* The marriage of 
 Philotus, as We fee it, in this rhapfodical col- 
 loquyi can fcarce be called a wedding mannerly 
 modeji : Nor, ought We to be furprifed, that 
 the church of Scotland preferred a fad funeral 
 fedji to the coarfe^ and immodeft dialogues, 
 which were prefented on the playfield to an 
 unenlightened people. But, Lord Stirling 
 was now weaving warp, and weaving woof the 
 winding-Jheet of obfcene plays : And, the mo-- 
 narchicke tragedies^ which mud be allowed to 
 have fentiments that fparkle, though no words 
 
 {x) The Arte of Englifh Pocfie, 1 589, p. 50. 
 
 E e 2 that 
 
420 ^« APOLOGY [Or THE History 
 
 that burn, were entitled to the honour of 
 James's acceptance, and to the higher ho- 
 nour of Shakfpeare's adoption. 
 
 The hiftorian of the EngUfh ftage has apt- 
 ly divided his fubjed: into three periods : 
 The Jirjl^ from the origin of dramatic enter- 
 tainments, to the appearance of Shalcfpeare^s 
 dramas; t\\t fecondy during the illumination 
 of the fcene, by the fun of Shakfpeare ; and 
 the third, from the time, that this great lumi- 
 nary ceafed to give light, and heat, and ani- 
 mation to the theatric world. Of the firft of 
 thofe periods, much has already been faid; 
 of the fecond, fomething remains to be added ; 
 and of the laft, little need be remarked: It 
 has been my conftant endeavour, as it will be 
 my fubfequent pradice, to add the new to th« 
 old, rather than to make the old feem new. 
 
 The demife of Elizabeth gave a different 
 order to the feveral parts of our theatrical ar- 
 rangem.ents. King James is faid "to have 
 " patronized the ftage with as much warmth, 
 '^ as his predeceflbr :" But, after all the in- 
 quiries, which have been hitherto made, it 
 has remained unknown, that a kind of theatric 
 revolution took pace, on the arrival of James 
 from Scotland. While he was beftowing 
 ^race ou every rank, he fhowed particular fa- 
 vour 
 
•f THE Stage.] /or the B E L I E V E R S, ^ti^ 
 
 vour to tie a5lors[^y) : He accepted tlie Lord 
 Chamberlain's fervants, as his own; the Queen 
 retained the Earl of Worcefter's fervants, as 
 her's; and Prince Henry took the Earl of 
 Nottinghani'g players, for his dramatic fer^ 
 vants. King James arrived, at the Charter- 
 houfe, London, on the 7th of May 1603 ; 
 w^hich may be deemed the epoch of that revo- 
 lution. On the 19th of May he granted the. 
 licenfe, which was firft publiflied by Rymer, in 
 1705, to his fervants y Laurence Fletcher, 
 William Shakfpeare, Richard Burbadge, Au- 
 guftine Phillipes, John Hemings, Henrie Con- 
 del, William Slye, Robert Armin, and their 
 affociates, " freely to exercife the faculty of 
 " playing comedies, tragedies, hiftories, in- 
 ** terludes, morals, paftorals, ftage plaies, as 
 
 {y) There is the following pafTage in Gilbert Dugdale's 
 Time Triumphant^ which was printed by R. B. [Robert 
 Barker] in 1604, ^lgn^ B : — '' Nay ; fee the bounty of our 
 '' all kind foveraigne ; not only to the indifferent of worth, 
 *^ and the worthy of honour, did He freely deal about thefe 
 " caufes : But, to the mean gave grace ; as talcing to him- 
 " felfthe late Lord Chamberlain's fervants, now the King's 
 ** a£lers \ the Queen, taking to her the Earl of Worjier^s 
 ^' fervants, that are now her a^ers \ and the Prince, their 
 " fonne Henry, Prince of Wales, full of hope, took to hini 
 *' the Earl of Nottingham his fervants, who are now his ac^^ 
 " ters ; fo that of Lord's fervants, they are now the fervants 
 «< of the King, Queen, and Prince." " :. "^* 
 
 pe^ • '' well 
 
422 ^« APOLOGY [Of theHistort 
 
 " well Within their now ufual houfe, called 
 ** the Globe, as within any convenient places, 
 " in any city, and univerfitic, within his 
 ^* kingdoms, and dominions." Ample, and 
 favourable, as this licenfe was to thoje fer^ 
 vantSy it did not give them any exclufive pri- 
 vilege, which could prevent the aftors of the 
 Queen, or the fervants of the Prince, from 
 adling fimilar plays, within his realms 5 though 
 they were thus diftinguifhed by the royal li- 
 cenfe. Of fuch players, who were ftill more 
 diftinguifhed, as the original aftors of Shak- 
 fpeare's characters, it may gratify curiolity, tq 
 know a little more of the life, and end. 
 
 . LAURENCE FLETCHER— 
 
 Of this perfonage, who now appeared, at 
 the head of the King^s fervants, in the royal 
 licenfe of 1603, Mr. Malone, the hiftorian of 
 our ftage, has faid nothing. Fletcher was, 
 probably, of St. Saviour's Southwark, where 
 feveral femilies of the name of Fletcher 
 dwelt, as, appears from the parifli regifter. 
 He was placed before Shakfpeare, and Richard 
 Burbadge, in King James's licenfe, as much 
 perhaps by accident, as by defign. Auguf^ 
 fine Phillips, when he made his will, in May 
 160 J, bequeathed io his fellow, Laurence 
 ^ Fletcher, 
 
OF THE Stage.] for tH ^ ELI EVE-R S. 
 
 Fletcher, twenty fliillings. Kwi^y.ihk fellm 
 of Phillips, and of Shakfpeare; was buried in 
 St. Saviour's, church, on the 12th of Sep- 
 tember 1608 (2;). It does not appear, that 
 he ever publiihed any work, either in profe, 
 or vcrfe. / 
 WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE :' 
 
 The great outlines of the life of this il- 
 luftrious dramatift are fufficiently known; 
 He was born on the 23d of April 1564/ 
 and died, where he was born, on the 23d 
 of April i6i6. Early in life, before he couid 
 have acquired any profeffion, he became a 
 huiband, and a father. Whether he ever*t^^ 
 moved his family to London is uncertain (^). 
 
 At 
 
 (z) The parifh-regifter records thatAV.e^t in the follow- 
 ing manner: " 1608, September 12^** [was buried] Lau- 
 '* rence Fletcher, a vian.^ in the church." I could not find, 
 in the prerogative-office, either a will of the deceafed, or 
 any adminiftration to his eftate. 
 
 {a) Aubrey has preferved a tradition, which is extremely 
 probable, that Shakfpeare ufed to travel, once a year, from 
 Stratford to London, and from LoHdofrt to Stratford : If 
 this tradition be admitted, as a fa6l, it would prove, with 
 ftrong conviction, that he had his family at Stratford^ and 
 his bufmefs in London. Jf docunnfents be produced to prove^ 
 that one Shakfpearej a player, relided iii St. Saviour's} pariilr, 
 Southwark, at theend of the fixteenth, or the beginnii^g of 
 the feventeen^h, century, this evidence will horbecohcJufive 
 »(■ ^ ^'^ £ e 4 proof 
 
4«4 -</« APOLOGY [Of theHistorv 
 
 At what time he firft vifited London is ftill 
 more uncertain. He certainly rofe to ex^ 
 cellence, as a player, before the year 1591 : 
 And, he began to produce thofe dramaa, 
 which have eternised his name, about the 
 year 1591. He was celebrated, as a poet, 
 in 1594: He became greatly diftinguiihed, 
 as a dramatift, before the demife of Elizabeth. 
 He was adopted as one of the theatrical fer- 
 vants of King James : And he was placed the 
 fecond, in the lift of thofe players, who were 
 fpecified in the royal licenfe of 1603, In 
 
 proof of the fettled refidence of Shakfpeare : For, it is a 
 faiSlj as new, as it is curious, that his brother Edmond, who 
 was baptized on the 3d of May 1580, became 2i player at the 
 Globe -^ lived in St. Saviour's 5 and was buried in the church 
 of that parifli : the entry in the regifter being without a 
 blur; " 1607 December 3r, [was buried] Edmond Shake^ 
 " fpeare^ a player^ in the church ;" there can be no difpute 
 about the date, or the name, or the profejfwn. It is remark- 
 able, that the parifh clerk, who fearcely ever mentions any 
 other dijftin6Hon of the deceafedj than a mariy or a zvomatiy 
 fliould, by I know not what infpi ration, have recorded Ed- 
 mond Shakefpeare, as a player. There were, confcquently, 
 two Shakfpeares, on the ftage, during the fame period; as 
 there were two Burbadges, who were alfo brothers, and who 
 a6ted on the fame theatre. Mr. Malone has, indeed, re- 
 XDarked, that the burial of Edmond Shakfpeare does not 
 appear in the parifh-regifter of Stratford-upon-Avon. I have 
 not been able to find any notice of Edmond Shakfpcarej, iv\ 
 the f rerogative-office. 
 
 1605, 
 
or THE Stage.} for fhe BELIEVERS. 425 
 
 1605, Auguftine Phillips, by his will, re- 
 ColIe<fted Shakfpeare, as his felhw, and be- 
 queathed hini " a thirty fhilling piece ia 
 ** gould,*' as a tribute of afFedlion. How 
 long he a<£led is uncertain ^ although he con- 
 tinued to write for the ftage till the year 16 14, 
 iji which year, be is faid to have produced 
 Twelftb-Nighty his thirty-fourth play. When 
 be retired from the ftage, he probably dif- 
 pofed of his property in the theatre i as there 
 is no fpecific bequeft of his fliare by the 
 teftament, which he m^de ot\ the 25th of 
 March 1616. 
 
 The will of Shakfpeare has been oftea 
 publifhed, though not always, with fufficient 
 accuracy. It is not eaiy to tell, who of all 
 the admirers of our illuftrious dramatift, firll 
 had the curiofity to look into his will. It is 
 even a point of fome difficulty to afcertain 
 when, and by whom, the will of Shakfpeare 
 was firft pubiifhed. Mr. Malone, indeed, ig 
 ftudious to reprobate Theobald, for publish- 
 ing it moft blunderingly. It was not pub- 
 lilhed by the player-editors, in 1623 i nor 
 by Rowe, in 1709 ; nor by Pope, in 1725, 
 or 1728 ; nor by Theobald, in 1733, or 1740; 
 and he died in 1742, if we may believe the 
 ^iographia Dramatica 5 nor was it pubiifhed 
 
426 ^« APOLOGY [Op the HigroRy 
 
 by Hanmer, in 1744; nor by Warburton, in 
 1747: But, it was certainly publKhed, with 
 the original errors, in the Biographia {h) Bri^ 
 tannica, 1763, for the firfl: time, I believe. 
 Why, then, does Mr. Malone accufe Theo- 
 bald, who was dead before the event, of that 
 publication,' and of thofe erroris (c ) ? The 
 fadt will be the accufer's - beft apology : He 
 did not look into the two firft editions of 
 Theobald, which were publiflied during his 
 
 [b) Volume the y?;ic^^ ; part I. 
 
 {c) Shak. vol. i. pp. 187 — 190 — 191. Mr. Malone fays, 
 ** that the name at the top of the margin of the firft fheet 
 *' was probably written by the fcrivener who drew the will." 
 [lb. 191.] The fadt, however, is, that this name was 
 written by the Entering clerk^ in the prerOgative-officef at 
 the time ; as the clerks of the prefent day afTured me 5 
 pointing at the Te [tej^a??ie?7tmn] which is prefixed to the 
 name j and (howing the fimilarity of the hand-writing to the 
 writing of the probat. It is true, as Mr, Malone lays, that 
 the name of Shakfpeare is fubfcribed on the margin of the 
 firft brief of the will j but, he ought to have added, what is 
 plainly the fa6i:, that the name is fubfcribed on the margin, 
 at the bottom of the fheet, on the left hand corner ; and was 
 obvioufly there fubfcribed by the teftator for want of room 
 on the right hand corner of the (heet. There is no other 
 ground for Mr, Mai one's infinuation, that this fignature 
 was not made by Shakfpeare, except that the three fignatures 
 ^o the will are very different in the manner, and fpelling ; 
 But, all the genuine fignatures of Shakfpeare are difTimilar, 
 [See before the plate, which faces p. aa^.J 
 
 life. 
 
©? ^iii JTAdf.] for Z;^ S E L I E y E R S. 437 
 
 life/ for ascertaining the truth ; but, had caft 
 a: heedlefs eye on a fpurious edition of Theobald, 
 that was printed, foon after 1763, with the 
 will, which was obvioufly republifhed from 
 the Biographia with all its errors, in refpeft^ 
 to the grit boxes, and the brown bed. The 
 ghoft of Theobald might cry out with the 
 armoufer^ in Henry vi : " Hang mcy if ever 
 " I publifhed the will : My accufer is my 
 ** prentice ; and ivhen I did correB him for 
 ^* his faulty he did vow, he 'would be even 
 ^* with me,'* 
 
 — RICHARD BURBADGE.. — - 
 This celebrated comedian, who was, pro-^- 
 bably, born before the year 1 570, in Holywell 
 flreet, and who rofe, by his talents, to the 
 higheft rank of his profeflion, was the fon 
 of James Burbadge, who died in February 
 I59y, and may be regarded as one of the 
 elders of the Engliil): ftage : Yet, he lived ta 
 enjbyonc of the greateft pleafures of a pa- 
 rent ; to fee his fon at the head of his pro- 
 feffion, and admired by the world. Richard 
 Burbadge, probably, appeared on the ftage, 
 as foon as he could fpeak. In the year 1589, 
 he reprefented Gorboduc^ and I'ereus, in ^arle^ 
 tonj Piatt jpf the Seven Deadlie Sinns, In 
 1597, Richard Burbadge played the arduous 
 
 charadter 
 
428 ^/; APOLOGY [Of the HisTour 
 
 charader of Richard iii> for the firft time 
 of its being performed. , In the Cambridge 
 comedy, called T!he Return from Parnajfus^ 
 which was probably written about the year 
 1602, he Is introduced, in his proper per fon ; 
 inftruding a Cambridge fcholar how to ad: 
 Richard in. He performed the moft difficult 
 parts in Shakfpeare's dram.as ; and was " fuch 
 " an ador," fays Sir Richard Baker, with an 
 unprophetic fpirit, " as no age muft ever look 
 *^ to fee the like/* He was an eminent part- 
 ner in the Globe, and Blackfriars, theatres; 
 fo that the adors, who performed there, were 
 called Burbadges Company. He was appointed 
 by Auguftine Phillips, in 1605, one of the 
 overfeers of his will. He continued to diftin- 
 guiili himfelf, and to amufe the lovers of the 
 drama, till March 1 6x1, when he was carried 
 off by the plague ; leaving his wife Winifrid, 
 pregnant with her feventh child, and executrix 
 of his nuncupative wilL An epitaph, which 
 was written for him, though not infcribed on 
 his tomb, has the following couplet : 
 
 This man hs-the now, (as many more pan telll 
 Ended his part j and he hath acted well [d), 
 
 ^-r AUGUSTINE 
 
 nr~. ~ 
 
 (d) He was buried in the parifh of St. Leonard's Shore- 
 ditch, as the regifter has recorded, on the i6^h of March 
 
Vr THE Stage.] for the BELIUVEH^, j^i^ 
 
 . AUGUSTINE PHILLIPS. 
 
 Was placed next to Richard Burbadgc, in 
 the royal licenfe, of 1603. He was an au- 
 thor, as well as an adlor : And left behind 
 
 him 
 
 i6||. — The fame regifter hath entered the baptifms, and bu- 
 rials of his children, as follows ; and the regifter, by recording 
 the truth, fhows the inaccuracy of Mr. Malone's ftate- 
 ment. [Shakf. vol. i. part ii. p. 185.] 
 
 Names Baptiz7ns. Burials, 
 
 I. Richard 
 
 la 
 
 a. Jul 
 -ji Frances 
 4. Ana 
 ^. Winifryd 
 
 6. July a 
 
 7. Sarah 
 
 1 6th Augufl 1607 
 1 2th September 1608 
 19th September 1604 
 
 14th Oftober 1616 
 15th Augufl 1615 
 
 2d January i6o| 
 1 6 th vjeptember 1604 
 
 8th Auguft 1607 
 loth Gclober 16 13 
 26th December 16 14 
 
 5th Auguft 16 1 9 
 
 Sarah is entered in the regifter as " the daughter of Wini- 
 frid Burbadge, widow." — The name of Julia was the 
 name given by the father, not Juliet : The name of Juliet 
 was afterwards impofed by the parifh clerk, when he recorded 
 the burial of the firft Julia, on the 12th of September 1608. 
 — This fa6i: proves, that Mr. Malone's obfervation, on this 
 point, is groundlefs. 
 
 Richard Burbadge had a brother Cuthbert, who did not 
 rife to his eminence, as a comedian, but was much refpe6led 
 as a man. He alfo lived in Holywell ftreet; and was buried 
 in the fame parifh, as appears by the regifler, on the 17th of 
 October 1636 : His wife, Elizabeth, was buried in the fame 
 cemetery, on the ifl of Otflober 1636 : And the grave- 
 ftone, which covered thein, was removed, when the new 
 church of St. Leonard's was built. They had three children : 
 James, who was buried, in the fame parifh, on the 15th of 
 July 1597 ; Walter, who was baptized, on the 22d of June 
 
 1595 i 
 
4}o Jn A?OLOGY [Of tjiz Hi|T,o|t jT 
 
 him fome ludicrous rhimes, which were eri» 
 tered in the Stationers' books, in 1593^ and 
 were entitled, 'T^e Jigg of the Slippers. In 
 Tarleton's Flatt of 'The Seven deadlie Sinnsy 
 Phillips reprefented the efFemiriate Sardana- 
 palusy in the year 1589. He is fuppofed to 
 have reprefented charaders in low life, with 
 Kempe, and Armine, rather than royal perfon- 
 ages, with Burbadge. W^iatever he vvere, in 
 the theatre, he certainly was a refpedtable 
 iiian, in the world. He amaifed conliderable 
 property by his prudence. And he died 
 at Mortlake, in Surrey, in May 1605 ; 
 and was buried, by his dying reqiieft, in the 
 chancel of the church of that parifh 5 leaving 
 his wife, Ann, executrix of his will^ with this 
 provifo, however, that if fhe married again, 
 John Hemynges, Richard Burbadge, William 
 
 1595 ; and Elizabeth, who was baptized, 011 the 30th of 
 December 1601 ; as the fame regifter records. — In the pa- 
 rifh-regifter, this celebrated name is fpelt three difrercnt 
 ways ; Burbidge, Burbadge, and Burbcge ; but, moft fre- 
 Qi^eutly Burbadge : in the regifler of the prerogative-office, 
 it is written Burbeige ; fo little uniformity was there, in 
 thofe times, on this head; and fo little foundation for criti- 
 cifm, on this point ! In fail, the celebrated comedian fub- 
 fcribed his name Richard Burhadgy if we may determine 
 ^om a fmglc autograph, No, xiy> in. plate ii. of Mr. Ma- 
 lone's Inquiry. 
 
 Slye. 
 
pr THE Stage.] for the B E L I E V ^.R S. 4^) 
 
 Slye, and Timothie Whithorne, fhould be his 
 executors. His widow did marry again : and 
 John Hemynges immediately proved the wilj, 
 on the 1 6th of May 1607; and afllimed the 
 truft, which Auguftine Phillips had repofed in 
 him. As the will of Phillipps has efcaped 
 Mr. Malone's refearches, and contains many 
 curious particulars, I fubjoia, in the note, a 
 copy, which was extracfted from the regiftry 
 of the prerogative- court [e). 
 
 JOHN 
 
 [c) Augustine Phillips's Will. 
 In the Name of God Amen, the fourthe daie of 
 May Anno Dm 1605 and in the yeres of the Rcigne of O*" 
 Sourigne Lorde James by the Grace of God Kinge of 
 England Scotland Fraunce and Ireland Defender^ of the 
 Faithe &s that is to fay of England Fraunce and Ireland 
 the thirde, and of Scotland the Eighte and thirtith, I Au- 
 guftine Phillipps of Mo'jtlack in the County of Surrey 
 Gent, beinge at this pte fick and weak in body, but of good 
 and pfecle mynde and remembrance thanks be given 
 unto Almighty God, do make ordeyne and difpofe this my 
 prte Teftam^ & laft Will in maiiri and forme followinge, 
 that is to fay, FIrfte and principally I comende my Soule 
 into th*ands of AUmighty God my Maker Savior and 
 Redeemer in whome and by the meritts of the fecond 
 pfon Jefus Chrift I trufte and believe afluredly to be favc4 
 and to have full cleire remiflion and forgivenefs of m^ 
 fiimes, and I comitt my body to be buried in the chaunceU 
 of the piftie Churche of Mo'telack aforefaid, and after my 
 body buryed and Funerall charge paide, Then I will that all 
 fuche Debts and Duetyes as I owe to any perfon or perfons 
 of Righte or in Confcience (hal be truely paide, And that 
 
 done 
 
45t A APOLOGY [Op tHE Histor^ 
 
 JOHN HEMINGES; -^— 
 
 The carlieft notice, with regard to this re- 
 fpedlable player, is his marriage, on the loth 
 
 of 
 
 (Jone then I will that all and fingr my Goods Chattels plate 
 Houfehold ftufFe Jewells reddy money and debts flial be de- 
 vided by my Executrix and o'feers of this my lafle Will 
 and Teftarn^ into three eqwall and indefFerente parts and 
 porcons whereof one equal parte I geve and bequeathe to 
 Anne Phillipps my Loveinge Wife to her owne prop ufe 
 and behoufe, One other parte thereof to and amongefte my 
 three eldefte daughters Maudlyne Phillipps, Rebecca Phil- 
 lipps, and Anne Phillipps, equally amongfte them to be de- 
 vided porcon and porcon like, and to be paide and deliverd 
 unto them as they and every of them fhall accomplifhe & 
 come to their lawful ages of Twenty & one yeres, or at their 
 daies of marriage, and ev'y of them to be others Heyre of 
 their faid pts and porcons, yf any of them (hall fortune to 
 dye, before their faid fevall ag* of twenty and one yeres or 
 dales of marriage and th*other pte thereof I refrve to my 
 felfe and to my Executrix to pforme my Legays hereaftei' 
 followinge, Item I geve and bequeathe to the poore of the 
 piihe of Mortlack aforefaid, Fyve pounds of lawfull money 
 of England, to be diftributed by the Churchwardens of the 
 fame pifhe within twelve monethes after my deccafe, Item I 
 geve and bequeathe to Agnes Bennett my loveinge mother 
 during her naturall life, ev*y yere yerely the Some of Fyvc 
 pounds of lawfull Money of England, to be paid her at the 
 four ufuall feafts or termes in the yere by my Executrix, 
 out of any parte and porcon refrved by this my prte Will, 
 Item I geve to my Brothers WiTlm Webb and James 
 Webb, yf they (hall be lyevlnge at my deceafe to eyther of 
 
 them 
 
•F THE Stage.] for f/j<r B E L 1 E V t R S. 45^^ 
 
 of March 158^, to Rebecca Knell, the widow;' 
 
 as 
 
 them the Some of Tenne pounds a peece of lawful Money 
 of England, to be paid unto them wthiii three yeres after 
 my deceafe, Item I geve and bequeathe to my Sifter Eliza- 
 beth Goughe the Some of tenne pounds of lawfall Money 
 of England to be paid her wthin One yere after my deceafe^ 
 Item I will and bequeathe unto Myles Borne and Phillipps 
 Borne two Sounes of my Sifter Margery Borne to eyther of 
 them Tenne pounds -a peece of lawfuli Money of England, 
 to be paid unto them when they (hall accomplifhe the full 
 age of IVenty and one yeres, Item I geve and bequeathe 
 unto Tymothy Whithorne the Sum of Twentye pounds of 
 lawfuli Money of England to be paide unto him within one 
 yere after my deeeafe. Item I geve and bequeathe unto and 
 amortgfte the hyred men of the Company w^*'. I am of^ 
 which (halbe at the tvme of my deceafe the Some of {yve 
 pounds of lawfuli Money of England to be equally diftributed 
 amongefte them. Item I geve and bequeathe to myFellowe 
 Wiilm Shakefpeare a thirty {hillings peece in gould, To 
 iTjy K^ellowe Henry Condell one other thirty (hillinge peece 
 in gould, To my Servaunte Ghriftopher Beefton Thirty (hil- 
 lings in Gould, 7'o my Fellowe Lawrence Fletcher twenty 
 (hillings in Gould, To my Fellowe Robert Armyne twen- 
 ty (hillings in Gould To my fellowe Richard Goweley 
 twenty (hillings in Gould To my fellowe Alexander 
 Co(5k twenty (hillings in Gould, To my fellowe Nicholas 
 Tooley twenty fnillings in Gould, Item Igeve to the Preacher 
 Wch. diall preache at my Funerall the Some of twenty lliillings, 
 Item I geve to Samuel! Giiborne my late apprentice, the Some 
 ofFortye (hillings and my moufe collourcd Vclvit hofe and a 
 White Taftcty Dublet a blacke taftety fute my purple 
 Cloke Sword and Dagger and my Bafe Viall. Item I geve 
 to James Sands my Apprentice the Someof Fortye (Inllings 
 
 F f atid 
 
434 -^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 as I conjedure, of WilHam Knell, the come- 
 dian. 
 
 and a Citterne a Bandore and a Lute, to be paid and de- 
 lived unto him at the expiracon of his terme of yeres in his 
 Ind^ of Apprencicehood. Item my Will is that Elizabeth 
 Phillips my youngeft daughter fhall have and quietlyeenjoye 
 for terme of her natural lyfe my Houfe and Land in Morte- 
 lacke w^h. I lately purchafed to me, Anne my wife, and to 
 the faid Elizabeth for terme of 0\ lives in full recompence 
 and fatisfa6lion of hir pre and porcon w*^^^. {be may in any 
 wife chalenge or demand of in and to any of my Goods and 
 Chattels whatfoever — And I ordaine and make the faid 
 Anne Phillips my loving Wyfe fole Executrix of this my 
 plent Teftamcnt and laft Will provided alvvaies that if th« 
 faid Anne my Wyfe do at any tyme m.arrye after my de- 
 ceafe, That then and from thenceforth fhee fhall ceafe to be 
 any more or longer Executrix of this my laft Will or any 
 waies intermeddle w^^. the fame, And the faid Anne to haivc 
 no pte or porcon of my Goods or Chattells to me or my 
 Executors referved or appointed by this my laft Will and 
 Teftament, and that then and from thenceforth John He- 
 mings Richard Burbage Wm Slye andTimothie Whithorne 
 {hal be fully and whollie my Executors of this my laft Will 
 and Teftament, as though the faid Anne bad never bin 
 named, And of the execution of this my prefent Teftament 
 and lafte Will I ordayne and make the faid John Hemings 
 Richard Burbage W^« Slye and Timothie Whithorne Over- 
 feers of this my prfent Teftament and laft Will and I be- 
 queathe unto the faid John Hemings Richard Burbage and 
 W™ Slye to either of them my faid Overfeers for theire 
 paines herein to be taken a boule of Silver of the value of 
 fyve pounds a piece. In Witnefs whereof to this my 
 prfent Teftament and lafte Will I the faid Auguftine Phil- 
 
 lipcs 
 
• FfHE Stage.] /or the B^LIEVURS. 43J 
 
 dian (/*). As early as November 1 597, he ap- 
 pears to have been the manager of the Lord 
 Chamberlain's company {g). This ftation, for 
 which he was qualified by his prudence, he held, 
 probably, during forty years. There is reafon to 
 believe, that he was, originally, a Warwickjljtre 
 lad\ 2l fliire, which has produced fo many play- 
 ers and poets; the Burbadges; the Shakfpeares; 
 
 lipes have put my hand and Seale the day and yeare above 
 written — 
 
 A: Phillips (LS) 
 Sealed and dd by the faid Auguftine Phillipes as his laft 
 Will and Teftament in the prelence of us Robert GoiFe, 
 Wm Sheperd.— ^ — [This will was proved, on the 13th of 
 May 1605, by Anne, the reli6^, and executrix ; and on the 
 l6th of May 1607, by John Hemynges, under the condition 
 mentioned in the will, by reafon of the marriage of Anne, 
 the widow, and executrix, before mentioned. — This will is 
 Written on two briefs, in two different hand writings : but 
 the laft brief only is figned by the teftator.] 
 
 {f) The regifter of St. Mary*s, Aldcrmanbury, which 
 records this marriage, alfo records the marriage of William 
 Knell with Rebecca Edwards, on the 30th of January 158I. 
 William Knell did not long furvive the celebration of this 
 marriage, though the regifter does not record his burial ; 
 But, it does record the burial of a William Knell, on the 
 24th of September 1578, who was, probably, the celebrated 
 a6lor; and the fecond William Knell, who married young 
 Rebecca Edwards, may, polTibly, have begn his fon, and alfo 
 a player. 
 
 {g) The council- regifter of that date. 
 
 F f 2 the 
 
436 * ^'//APOLOGY [Of THE HisTOR-f 
 
 tlie Greens; and the Harts. Of Heminges's 
 Cad of charaders, little is known : There is 
 only a tradition, that he performed the arduous 
 part of FalflafF. If this were true, it would 
 prove, what indeed is apparent in his life, that 
 he was a man of ftrong fenfe, and circiimfpedt 
 Rumour. He was adopted, v/ith Shakfi^eare, 
 by King James, on his acceffion, as one of 
 Bis theatrical fervants; and was ranked the 
 JiftA, in the royal licenfe of 1603. He feems, 
 indeed, to have been too bufy, or too wife, 
 during a long life, to write for the public; 
 though he left a fon, with m.uch lefs wifdom 
 a:nd more time, who did write. It is a flrong re- 
 commendation of his character, for difcretion, 
 and honefty, that he was called upon, by many 
 friends, to perform the trufi: of their executor. 
 He had the honour to be remembered in 
 Shakfpeare's will, and to be the fir ft editor of 
 Shakfpeare's dramas. He bft his wife, who 
 liad brought him thirteen children, in 
 i.6ii5i (/6J. He himfelf died, at the age of 
 feventy-five, m the parifh of St. Mary's, Al- 
 diermanbury, where he had lived refpedtably, 
 through life ; and was buried, as the parilh 
 regiPter proves, on the 12th of Odober 1630. 
 
 (h) She was buried, as the regifter of St. Mary's, Alder- 
 wianbury, records, on the 2d of Septcmberx6 J 9. 
 
 He 
 
437 
 
 »F tWe^tage.] f.r the B E hi EVtKS, 
 
 He left his fon William, the executor of ah 
 unexecuted (/) will ; and much jpropefty, and 
 
 (/) The will I's publifhed in Mai. Shak. vol. i. part. ii. 
 p. 191; and in Steevens's Shak. 1793, vol. ii." jfi 335. — 
 William Hemings w^as baptized on the 3d qf October 1602^; 
 and was educated at Chrift Church, Oxford, where he took 
 the degree of Matter of Arts, iii 1628; and in March 163} 
 he produced a comedy entitled Thd Courjing of the Hare, d\: 
 The Madcaps and afterwards wrote The Fatal ContraSiy 
 and The Jews Tragedy. ^ ...r. j 
 
 The following table, which was formed from theparife 
 reglfter, will fhow more accurately than has yet been 'done, 
 the births, and burials, of John Heminges's children; and 
 will alfo correct the inaccuracies of Mr. Malone, ' both iii 
 the dates, and perfons : He fpeaks of two daughters, whom 
 the regifter does not record ; Margaret, who is not men- 
 tioned by the regifter ; and Beatrice', whom, I fufpedl, he Has 
 confounded with Beavis,*ayi>«, who was baptized, in 1601 :— 
 
 Names. 
 
 Baptifins. ' 
 
 ' - Burials. ' 
 
 I Alc^s [who mar- 
 
 
 
 ried John At- 
 
 
 
 kins II Febru- 
 
 
 
 . ary i6if] - 
 
 ift November 1590 
 
 \. .r.:^v\ 
 
 2 Mary " - - 
 
 ythMay - 1592 
 
 9 Auguit 1592 
 
 ig). Judith - - 
 
 29th Aug^ft 1593 
 
 ^flt 
 
 4 rhomafyn - 
 
 15th January 159! 
 
 7 
 
 5 Jone 
 
 2d May - 159b 
 
 
 6 John 
 
 2d April - 1598 
 
 17 June 1598- 
 
 7 John 
 
 1 2th Auguft i599 
 
 1 
 
 ..^i>U... I 
 
 8 Beavis (a fon) 
 
 24.th May 1601 
 
 ■ .-^ "> • 
 
 9 William - 
 
 3d 061:ober i6d2' 
 
 :naVT 
 
 10 George - 
 
 1 2th February i6q|: 
 
 
 II Rebecca 
 
 4th February 160* 
 
 
 12 Elizabeth 
 
 6th March - i66|. 
 
 ■ " 
 
 ij Mary - - 
 
 2lft June - ~x4y; 
 
 ,2;^.July. i>6Tr^ 
 
 
 Ff3 '• 
 
 many 
 
43* ^APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 many kind tokens of remembrance to his re- 
 lations, ^x\A fellows. 
 
 HENRY CUNDALL. 
 
 The origin of this honeft man, rather than 
 great aftor, or celebrated writer, is unknown. 
 He does not appear fo prominent, on the page 
 of theatrical hiflory, as Heminges; though 
 he had appeared in the theatrical world, before 
 the year 15B9: He reprefented Fe?yrx, in 
 Tarleton's Piatt of the Seven Deadlie Sinns. 
 He formed one of the Lord Chamberlain's 
 company, and was adopted, with Shakfpeare 
 and Heminges, by King James, as one of his 
 theatrical fervants : He was ranked the Jlxth, 
 in the royal licenfe of 1603. In 1605, Au- 
 guftine Phillips bequeathed to him, as he did to 
 Shakfpeare, a thirty /hillings piece in gould. In 
 1606, Cundal feryed the parifh office oi Jickf- 
 man^ in St. Mary's, Aldermanbury. Before 
 the year 1623, he ceafed toad:; yet, retained 
 his property in the playhoufes. With He- 
 minges he fhared the honour of the recollec- 
 tion of Shakfpeare, in his will, and of the edi- 
 torfhip of Shakfpeare's dramas. The country 
 refidence of Cundal, for fome years before his 
 death, was Fulham. He died, however, in 
 St. Mary's, Aldermanbury, where he had liv- 
 ed 
 
•F THi Stags.] /or i^e B'EL lEV EK S. 439 
 
 ed long : And, here he was buried, on the 
 29th of December 1627. By his will he 
 appointed his wife, Elizabeth, his executrix, 
 and bequeathed much property, together with 
 his (hares in the Globe, and Blackfriars, thea- 
 tres, to his children ; befides many legacies of 
 
 friendfhip, and charity (k). 
 
 WILLIAM 
 
 (i) The will of Cundal is publiftied in Mai Shak. vol. i. 
 part ii. p. 199 : And in Steevens's Shale. 1793, vol. i. p. 
 344. John Heminges, and Cuthbert Burbadge, were two 
 of the ovej-fcers of the will of Cundal. 
 
 The following table, like the lad, which was formed 
 from the parifh-regifter, will ftiow with more precifion and 
 accuracy than Mr. Malone has done, the births, and burials, 
 of Henry CundalPs children ; and will alfo corred the mac- 
 curacies of Mr. Malone, both in the dates andperfons:— 
 
 Burials. 
 II April 
 26 July 
 
 Names. 
 
 1 Elizabeth - - 
 
 2 Ann - - - - 
 
 3 Richard — - 
 
 4 Elizabeth - - 
 
 5 Elizabeth - - 
 
 6 Mary 
 
 7 Henry - - - - 
 
 8 William 
 
 9 Edward - .. - 
 
 Baptifms. 
 27 February 1 59| 
 
 4 April - 160 1 
 18 April - 1602 
 14 April - 1606 
 2b October 1603 
 31 January l6o|- 
 
 6 May - 16 to 
 26 May - 161 1 
 22 Auguft 1614 
 
 159^ 
 
 1610 
 
 22 April - 1603 
 
 4 March - 
 23 Auguft 
 
 1629 
 1614 
 
 From the regifter, it thus appears, that Henry, and Eliza- 
 beth, Cundall,had m;zf children, inftead o{ eight, as ftated by 
 Mr. Malone J that their fon, Henry, was born in 1610, inftead 
 of 1600 J and thiit five children furvived Mr. Cundaily as he is 
 diftinguiOied in the regifter, inilead of three^z.% mentioned by 
 Mr. Malone,— .Candour cannnot delight to detedt thefe de- 
 
 F f 4 iiciencies 
 
440 An APOLOGY [Of THE History 
 
 __ WILLIAM .SLY. 7-— 
 '^'Of this pkyer muph lefs is known than^ of 
 Cundal. Before the- year 1589, Sly was an 
 ad:orj having in that year Tcpirefen ted P^r/^^^x-, 
 in Ta r 1 e ton ' s Flaii of ' th^ &even Deadlie Sin?2e^. 
 He was one of the Eord Chamberlain's com- 
 pany ; and, being adopted by King James into 
 his theatrical company, was placed th^fcveni/j 
 in the royal licenfe, amoi^g tide- royal players, 
 in 1603, Sly^was, in i6Q4, intrqduced per- 
 fonalty with fiurbadge, Cundal, and Lowin, in 
 Marfton's Makccntent, tq'adt an introdudtorf 
 prologue; which, by fatirizing, illuftrates 
 the manners of the age.(/); . He died, fays 
 
 ^ - ■ the 
 
 ficiencies in the diligence of Ivlr. Malone : And charity 
 wpuld have rather concealed thofe^dpfi^cts, if criticifm did nqt 
 require a fti:i<9: attention to the intgre0s of truth. Tb.e dull- 
 eft pen may copy extra6i:s from a parifh regifter j but it re- 
 quired the pen of Mr. Maione, to write notes on Shak- 
 fpeare ! Neverthelefs, it muft be recolletSfed, that one of his 
 accufations againft the believers is, "that theycannot read old 
 *' hand-writing :" Now, their applogy is, that they can read 
 (uch writing, fo well, as to have been able to corred: many 
 of the miftakes, which he has fallen into, for want of their 
 fpe£tacles, 
 
 (/) Enter William Sly; and a Tire-man ; following with 
 a ftool : — 
 
 ^' Tire-man ; — Sir, the gentlemeti.wiil be angry, if yoAi 
 
 fit here. 
 ^* Sly :— " Why ; w^ may fit upon the ftage, at the pri- 
 
 <* vate 
 
OF THE Stage.] fo:'\he B E L I E V E R S. 441 
 
 the hiflorian of . the fl:age, before the year 
 1612 [?n). In May 1605, Sly was appointed 
 by Auguftlne Phillips, one of the overfeers of 
 his will. He was hlmfelf obliged to make a 
 nuncupative will, on the 4th of AugufI: 1608, 
 which was pi-oved on the ?4th ; He thereby 
 bequeathed '' To Jane Browne, the daughter 
 *' of Robert Browne, and Sifely, his wife, the 
 " houfe, where he now dwelles to her &c for 
 " ever; to Robert Brown his part oiTheGlobe-^ 
 '' to James Saunder fortie pounds ; the reft 
 
 « vate houfe. Thou dos't not take me for a coun^ 
 <' try gentleman ; dos't think, I fear hiffing ? I'll 
 *« hold my life, thou took'ft me, for one of the 
 " players. 
 '< Tireman : — " No ; Sir. 
 
 f- Sly : — " By God's-flid, if you had, I would not have 
 
 " gwQn you Jfx pence for your fiool. Let them, 
 
 " that hdv2j?alefuitsy fit in the galleries. Hifs at 
 
 '' me ! He that will be laught out of a tavern, 
 
 » " {hall feldom feed well, or be drunk, in good 
 
 " Company. Where's Harry Condell, Dick 
 
 " Burbage, and Wiliiam Sly? Let me fpeak 
 
 " with fome of them." 
 
 Sly goes on to fvvcr.r moft irreverently. True, Indeed, 
 
 as CoUey Gibber would have apologized; Lowin reproves 
 
 him, and carries him off the ftage : But, the ftatute 3. 
 
 James i. ch. 21. prevented fuch apologies, by impofing 
 
 proper penalties, on all, who fhould profanely ufe the name 
 
 of God, in any play. 
 
 {m) Mai. Shak, vol.i. part ii. p. 205. 
 
 ^' to 
 
442 ^« APOLOGY [Of th2 Historv 
 
 •* to Sifely Browne ; making her his execu- 
 *' tfix («)/' By a codicil. Sly bequeathed bis 
 fword, and hat, to Cuthbert(^)Burbaige, and 
 forty fliillings to the poor of St. Leonard's, 
 Shoreditcb. Sly lived in Holy well- ftreet, among 
 the other players, and greater perfonages, who 
 then refided in that quarter, before it became 
 the more frequent refort of meaner men. 
 And, he was buried, in the cemetery of St, 
 Leonard's Shoreditcb, as appears by the regii- 
 ter, on the i6th of Augull 1608. William 
 Sly, the next of kin, difputed his will, which 
 
 (n) Brown, and Saunder, Were both players, though the^ 
 never rofe to much diftinc^ion. Saunder played Fidenay the 
 queen, in The Piatt of the Seven Dcadlie Sinns^ and is 
 confounded with Alexander [Saunders] Cooke, by Mr. 
 Malone, who thus appears not to have known, that Saunder 
 was a real a6lor, and a diftindl perfon. 
 
 (5) It was not fo much the hat^ as the feather^ which 
 coiiiHtuted the value of this legacy ; feathers being thcu 
 much worn, and in great requeft. Marfton, in The Male- 
 cofitenty ridiculed the fafhion. When Sly is on the ftage, 
 af^iii^ the prologue to the Malecontent, he puts his feather 
 in his pocket. Burbadge afks him : " Why do you conceal 
 *' your feather^ Sir \ Sly anfwers him : Why ! Do you 
 *< think rU have jefts broken upon me, in the play, to be 
 « laughed at ? This play hath beaten all young gallants 
 *' out of tho. feathers, Blackfriars hath almoft fpoik Black- 
 " friars for feather sJ*^ — It is to be remarked, that the 
 Blackfriars diftrid was remarkable, in thofe days, for bein^ 
 inhabited by feather-makers, 
 
 bears 
 
OF THE Stage.] /cr the B E LI'S. V EKS, 443 
 
 bears a very lafplcious (p) appearance ^ but, 
 was neverthelefs eftablifhed by the prert)ga- 
 tive court, though the teftator, when he made 
 it, was plainly in the hands of defigning per- 
 ibns. The legacy to Cuthbert Burbaige, who 
 was a refpedable character, and the bequeft 
 to the poor of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, were 
 mere artifices to cover the odious delign of 
 inipofing upon weaknefs {g), 
 
 ROBERT ARMIN. 
 
 My refearches have not enabled me to add 
 much to the little, which is already known, 
 
 with regard 
 
 " Tq honeft gamefome Robert Armin, 
 '* Who tickl'd the fpleen, Hke a harmlefs vermin.'* 
 He was certainly one of the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's players, at the acceffion of King James, 
 and was received, with greater actors, into the 
 royal company. He was ranked the eighth, 
 after Sly, in the King's licenfe of 1603. As a 
 fellow, Armin v/as affedilonately remembered 
 by Auguftine PhiUips, in 1605; who left 
 
 (/)) It was executed in the prefence of feveral women, 
 who could not fign their names, as witnefTes. 
 
 [q) John, the baftard Ton of William Sly, the player, 
 was buried in the parifh of St, Giles's, Cripplegate, on the 
 4th of 0<5l:ober 1606, as appears by the regifterj which 
 ftates, that John was bafe^ and the fon of the player. 
 
 him 
 
444 jt^ AVOLOGY [Op the History 
 
 Jbim a legacy of twenty (Killings. Armin was 
 an sruthor, as well as an ador : He produced, 
 in 1608, A Nejl of Nimries Jimp^y of themfelves, 
 wkbout Compound y in the fame year, Fhantaffn 
 the Italian Taylor arid kis boy -, 2ivA, in i^oa, 
 a comedy called^ "The- fwo Maids of Moreelacke, 
 [Mortlake] whether with iny'allufion to the 
 family of Auguftine Phillips, liis fellow, I 
 know not. He was not buried in St. SaviGur'&> 
 Southwark, as we may infer from the {ilence 
 of the regillier : Nor, hav.e \ been able to 
 difcover any will of Armin, or adminiflration 
 to his ettects. 
 
 RICHARD COWLEY 
 
 Is faid to have been an ador of a low clafs ^ 
 having performed the part of Vej'-ges in Much 
 ado about Nothing : He probably adled fuch 
 parts, 2ls gamefome Armin ; fuch charaiflers, as 
 required dry humour, rather than fplendid 
 Reclamation. In 1589, he reprefented the 
 character of Giraldus in Tarle ton's Piatt of 
 the Seven Deadlie Sinns.' He was, however, 
 adopted, from the Lord Chamberlain's com- 
 pany, by King James into his, and was ranked 
 the laft, in the royal licenfe of 1603. He 
 was recognized as a fellow by Auguftine Phil- 
 Kps, in 1 605, and diftinguifhed as a friend,, 
 
 by 
 
«*; T H B .St A G Ex] for thi BELIEVERS. 44^.; 
 
 by a 'legacy of twenty ihilling§. He lived' 
 among the other players, and among the 
 fafhionable perfons of that period, in Holy- 
 weil-ftreet. " I ^kaow not when this adior 
 *' died," fays Mr. Malone, the hiitorlan of 
 the ilage (r). He was buried;, fays the regifter 
 of the pari(h, in St.- Leonardos Shoreditch^ 
 on the i^th of March (j) i64-|., three days 
 before the great Burbadge iiniflied his ca- 
 reer, in the fame cemetery. But, my fearches 
 in the prerogative -office have not found 
 either his will, or an adminiftration to his 
 cftate* 
 
 Such were the nine patentees, who were 
 named in King James's licenfe of 1603 ^ and 
 who were, thereby, empowered to fhow their 
 ftage plays, to their heft commoditie. The royal 
 licenfe, however, was not only granted to the 
 nine J who were fpecified ; but, alfo ^' to the 
 
 (r) Shakf. vol. i. part il. p. 205. 
 
 (j ) The regifter caMs hira Richard Cowley, player. 
 His wife Elizabeth was buried, in the feme cemetery, on 
 the 2Sth of September 1616. By her he had a fon, Robeit, 
 who was baptized on the 7th of March 1 59^ ; a Ion, Cuth- 
 bert, on the 8th of May 1597 ; a fon, Richard, on the 29th 
 ©f. April 1599, who was buried on the 26th of February 160?- ; 
 and a daughter, Elizabeth, was baptized, on tlie 2d of Fc- 
 bruarjf 1604. 
 
 " r«ft 
 
44^ ^-« APOLOGY [Or tns Histort 
 
 •* reft of their ajjociates^ freely to exercife th& 
 " faculty of playing (/)/* 
 
 ALEXANDER COOKE. 
 
 It appears that this acftor was the heroine 
 of the ftage, even before the year 1589. He 
 adled as a woman in Jchnfon's Sejanus and in 
 The Fox : And, it is thence reafonably fup- 
 
 [t) One of thofe aflbciates, probably, and one of the a(Stors 
 of Shakfpeare's charadters was Richard Scarlet, player, who 
 was buried, fays the regifter, in St. Giles's Cripplegate, on 
 the 23d of April 1609: Yet, he is not mentioned by the 
 hiftorian of our ftage. Another of thofe aflbciates was Sa- 
 muel Gilburne, who is unknirMn^ fays Mr. Malorie. [Shakf. 
 Vol. i. part ii. p. 210]. But, we now know that, before 
 .May 1605, Samuel Gilburne, had ferved his apprenticefhip^ 
 as a player, with Auguftine Phillips, who bequeathed him 
 *' fortye fhillings, and my moufe- coloured velvit hofe, and 
 *' a white tafFcty dubiet, a black taffety fute, my purple 
 *« cloke, fword and dagger, and my bafe violl :" And, here- 
 in, we may fee the drefs, and accompaniments, of Auguftine 
 Phillips. Chriftopher Beefton was alfo an ad^or at The Globcy 
 and ths reprefentative of fome of Shakfpeare's characters. 
 He was the fervant of Auguftine Phillips, in May 1605^ 
 and was deemed worthy of a legacy of thirty fhillings in 
 gould. He became manager of the Cockpit theatre, in 
 Drury-lanCj in the year 1624, and continued in that ftatiort 
 till his death, in 1638-9. I have not found his will in the 
 prerogative- office, nor any adminiftration to his eftate. 
 He was fucceeded, as manager of the King and Queen's 
 com.pany in Drury-lane, on the 27th of June 1640, by 
 William D'Avenant, gentleman. 
 
 I pofed. 
 
OF THE Stage.] /or /i*^ B E LI E VE R S. 447 
 
 pofed, that Cooke repref#oted the lighter fe- 
 males of Shakfpeare's dramas. Thus far Mr. 
 Malone. Alexander Cooke was recolled:ed, 
 in 1605, as a fellow by Augufline Phillips, 
 and diilinguiflied as an intimate, by a legacy. 
 He outlived Phillips nine years. On the 3d 
 of January 1 6-;4> he wrote his will, with his 
 own hand, though he was " lick of body ;*' 
 appointing his wife his ( /^) executrix, and 
 Heminges, and Cundal, and Caper, his over- 
 feers of it : He died, in April 1614; leaving 
 his wife, pregnant ; and a fon, Francis ; and a 
 daughter, Rebecca. I fubjoin, in the note, 
 a copy of his will ; for it contains fome cu- 
 rious particulars (1;). 
 
 NICHOLAS 
 
 (a) The name of his wife is ndther mentioned in his 
 will, nor in the probatof it ; when (he was authorized, by the 
 prerogative-court, to a6t as executrix. 
 
 {v) The Will of Alexander Cooke, extra£^ed from 
 the regifter of the prerogative-court of Canterbury : It is 
 now printed, as he pointed it himfelf : 
 
 In the Name of the Father the Sonne, and the holyGhoftc 
 I Alexander Cooke, Tick of body but in perfect minde, doe 
 with mine owne hand write my laft Will and Tellament 
 Firfl I bequeathe my Soule into y*, hands of God my deer 
 Saviour Jefus Chrift who bought it and payd for it deerly 
 w^**. his bloud on y*. crofle next my body to y^. Earthe to be 
 buryed after the maner of Chriftian buryall Item I do give 
 2i\d bequeath unto my Sonne Francis the Some of Fifty 
 
 pounds 
 
44^ ^« APOLOGY [Of the HisTon-r 
 
 NICHOLAS TOOLEY 
 
 Was alfo another of the unnamed ajjociates 
 of Shakfpeare, Burbadge, and Hemings, at 
 ^he Globe ; and was one of the original adors 
 of Shakfpeare's charaders t He too reprefent- 
 ed women, as early as 1589, and a6led Rodope 
 in Tarleton's Piatt of the Seven Deadlie Sinns: 
 He performed m The Alchemijiy in the year 
 
 1610. 
 
 pounds to b^ delivered to him at the Age of Orxe an twenty 
 yeeres Item I doe Give and bequeathe unto my Daughter 
 Rebecca the Some of Fiftye pounds allfo to be delivered to 
 hir at the Age of Seaventeene years or at hir day of Mariage, 
 ■which it fhall pleafe God to bring finle, which Somes of 
 Money are bothe in One purfe in my Cuberd Item I doe 
 Give and Bequeathe unto the Chllde which my Wife now 
 goeth with, the Some of Fiftye pounds allfo, which, is in 
 the hand of my fellowes as my fliare of the flock to be de- 
 livered if it be a bov, at one and twenty yeres, if a Girlc, 
 at Seaventeene, or day of Maryage, as before all whiche 
 Somes of Moneyes, I doe intreate my Mailer Hemings, 
 M' Cundell^ and M"" Frances Caper ( for God's caufe) to 
 take into their hands, and fee it fafiye put into Grocers 
 Hall, for the ufe and bringinge up of my poore Orphants 
 Item I doe further give and bequeathe unto my Daughter 
 Rebecca the Windoy»;e culhens made of needle worke 
 together withe y'^. Window cioathe Court CuboardCIoathc^ 
 and Chimneye Cioathe, being all bordered about with needle 
 \vorke futable, and Greene hike fringe If any of my chil- 
 dren, dye ere they come to age, my will is y^ the Survivers 
 fhall have there parte^ equailye divided to y^ laii If all my 
 
 Children 
 
OF THE Stage.] for />^tf B E L I E V E R S. 449 
 
 16 10. Thus much from Mr. Malonc. 
 Tooley I fufpeft, from fome expreflions in 
 his will, had been the apprentice, or the fer- 
 vant, of Richard Bur badge (w). Tooley was 
 remembered by Auguftine Phillips, as a fellow^ 
 and diftingui(hed, by a legacy. He played his 
 part, as a witnefs, in the laft {ctx\Q of Richard 
 Burbadge's life, when the Rofchis of that age 
 
 Children dye ere they come to age, my will Is that my 
 Brother Ellis or his Children fhall have One halfe of ail, 
 the other halfe to be thus divided, to my five fifters, or 
 the! re Children tenn pounds apeece amongft them, my 
 Brother John's daughter other tenne pounds, y*^. reft to my 
 Wife if file live then, if not to Ellis and his, If my brother 
 Ellis dye ere this, and leave no Childe of his body, my will 
 is, it fhall all be equally diftributed amongft my Sifters and 
 the Children of there bodys, only my Wive's parte referved 
 if (he live : My Wife paying all charges of my buriall 
 performing my Will in every poynte as I have fet downe 
 my will is (he {hall injoy and be my full and lawfull Executrix 
 All my Goods, Chattels, Movables debbts, orwhatfoever is 
 mine in all the worlde/// This is my laft Will and Tefta- 
 ment / In Witnefs whereof I have fet to my hand January 
 the third 161 3 ^ By me Allex: Cooke : 
 
 [This will was proved on the 4th of May 1614, by 
 the relift, whofe name, however, is not mentioned in the 
 probat.] 
 
 (w) Tooley bequeathed legacies to the fifter, and daugh- 
 ter, of " my late Mr, [Mafter] Burbadge, deceafed :" And 
 he repeated this form of exprefiion, which (hows a grateful 
 remembrance of his W,z«^fr. 
 
 G g made 
 
450 ^« APOLOGY [Of the His-tory 
 
 made his will, on the 12th of March i6t|. 
 Tooley made his own will^ on the 3d of June 
 1623 'y appointing Cuihbert Burbadge, and 
 Henry Cundal, his executors. He died, fooa 
 after,, in the houfe of Cuthbert Burbadge, in 
 Holywell-ftreet ; to whofe wife, Eliziabeth,- 
 the teftator left a legacy of ten pounds '* as a 
 " remembrance of his love, in refpedl of her 
 " motherly care of him/' Tooley appears,, 
 plainly, to have been a benevolent man. 
 While he buftled in the world, he did many 
 kind ads : And, when he could no longer a<ft,. 
 he left confiderable legacies to the poor of the 
 two parifhes of St. Leonard's Shoreditch, and 
 of St. Giles's Cripplegate,. which, adminifter 
 to the comfort of the needy, even to the pre- 
 fent day. He was buried, as tlie parifli regif- 
 ter proves, on the 5th of June 1623, in Si. 
 Giles's, Cripplegate (.v).. 
 
 WILLIAM- 
 
 (x) Nicholas Tool £Y'sWM.L,extravEled from the re- 
 giflry of the prerogative court of Canterbury : As it con- 
 tains fonie unknown particulars of players,, it may be re- 
 garded as curious :-. — In the. Naine of God Amen I Nicholas: 
 Tooley of London Gentleman being ficke in body but of 
 perfect mynd and memorie praifcd be God therefore doe 
 make and declare this my laft Will and Teftament in forme 
 ft)llowing that is to fay Firft I comend my Soule into the 
 liands of Almightie God the Father trailing and afTuredlie 
 5 bclecving 
 
• f THE Stags.] /^r /^^ B E L I E V E R S. 4^ 
 
 WILLIAM KEMPE. ' 
 
 This player, who danced through Hfe on 
 light f ant ajlick toe, is neither mentioned in the 
 
 licenfe 
 
 bcleeving that by the merltt$ of the precious death and paf- 
 fion of his only Sonne and my only Lord and Saviour Jefus 
 Chrift I (hall obtaine full and free pdon and forgivencs of 
 all my Sinnes and fhall enjoy everlaftlng life In the Kingdom 
 of Heaven amongft the eleft Children of God My Bodie I 
 committ to the Earth from whence y* came to be buried in 
 decent manner at the difcrccon of my Executors hereunder 
 named My Worldlie fubftance I doe difpofe of as follow- 
 eth Lnpris I give unto my good friend M^ Thomas 
 Adams preacher of God*s Word whome I doe entreate to 
 preach my funerall Sermon the Some of tenn pounds Item. 
 I doe releafe and forgive unto my kinfwoman Mary Cobb 
 of London widdowe the Some of Fyve pounds w*^h Ihe 
 oweth me and I do give unto her the Some of {yvQ pounds 
 more Item I do releafe and forgive unto h^r Sonne Peter Cobb 
 the Some of Sixe pounds w^hhe oweth me Item I doe give 
 unto her Sonne John Cobb the Some of Sixe pounds Item 
 I do give unto her daughter Margarett Mofeley the Some of 
 Fyve pounds Item 1 doe give unto M'«. Burbadge the Wife 
 of my good friend M^. Cutbert Burbadge (in whofe houfe I 
 doe nowe lodge) as a remembrance of my love in refpecSl of 
 her motherlic care over me the Some of tenn pounds over and 
 befides fuch Somes of Money as I fhall ov/e unto her att my 
 deceafe Item I do give unto her daughter Elizabeth Burbadge 
 als Maxey the Some of tenn pounds To bepayd unto her owne 
 proper hands therew^*^ all to buy Her fuch thinges as Ihe (hall 
 thinke hiqH meets to weare in remembrance of me And my 
 
 G g 2 Will 
 
452 ^n APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 licenfe of 1603, by King James, as one of his 
 fervants, nor recognized by Auguftine Phil- 
 lips, 
 
 Will is that an acquittance under her only hand and Seal (ha! 
 be a fufEcient difcharge in Lawe to my Executors for payment 
 thereof to all intents purpofes and conftruccons and as fully as 
 if her pretended hufband fhould make and feale the fame w^** 
 her Item I give to Alice Walker the Sifter of my late Air. 
 ' Burbadgedeceafed the Some of tenn pounds tobepayd unto 
 her owne proper hands therew*'' all to buy her fuch thinges as 
 fhe fhall thinke moft meete to weare in remembrance of me 
 And my will is that an acquittance under her only hand and 
 Scale fhal be a fuificient difcharge in Lawe to my Executors 
 for the payment thereof to all intents purpofes and conftruc- 
 tions and as fully as if her hufband fliould make and feale the 
 fame w^^ her Item I give unto Sara Burbadge the daughter of 
 my faid late M"". Richard Burbadge deceafed that Some of twen - 
 ty and nyne pounds and thirteen fhillings w*^ is oweing unto me 
 by Richard Robinfon to be recouved detayned and difpofed of 
 by my Executors hereunder named until her marriage or age 
 of twenty and one years (w'^'' fhall firft and next happen) 
 w*''Out any allowaunce to be made of ufe otherwife then as they 
 in their difcrecons fhall think meete to allow unto her Item 
 I give unto ]s/h^. Condell the wife of my good friend M^ 
 Henry Condell as a remembrance of my love the Sum of 
 fyve pounds Item I give unto Elizabeth Condell the daugh- 
 ter of the faid Henry Condell the Some of tenn pounds Item 
 whereas I ftand bound for Jofeph Tayler as his furety for 
 payment of Tenn pounds or thereabouts My will is that my 
 Executors fhall out of my Eftate pay that debt for him and 
 difcharge him out of that Bond Item I do releafe and for- 
 give unto John Underwood and Willm Eccleflone all fuch 
 Somes of Money as they do feverally owe unto me Item 
 I do give and bequeath for and towards the ppetuall rcliefe 
 
 of 
 
©PTHE Stage.] /^r //^^ B E L I E VE R S. ^^- 
 
 lips, in 1605, as one of his fellows. Kempe 
 is faid to have been the fucceflbr of Tairleton, 
 
 who 
 
 ofthe poore people of the pariflie ofS^ Leonard in Shoreditche 
 in'theCountyofMidd under the Condicon hereunder expreffeci. 
 the Some of fourfcore pounds To remayne as a ftocke in the 
 fame parifli and to be fromtyme to tyme ymployed by the advife 
 ofthe parfon Churchwardens O verfeers for the poore and Vef- 
 trymen of the (liid pTiflie for the tyme being or the greater 
 nomber of them In fuch fort as that on everie Sunday after 
 Morninge prayer forever there may out of the encreafe 
 wch {hall arrife by the ymployment thereof be diftributed 
 amongft the poorer fort of people ofthe fame prifhe Thirtie 
 and two penny wheaten loaves for their reliefe provided all- 
 waies and my vi'ill &mynd is that yf my faid giftihalbe mif- 
 imployed or negleiSled to be pformed in aine wife contrarie 
 to the true meaning of this my Will Then & in fuch cafe 
 I give and bequeath the fame Legacie of Fourfcore pounds 
 for and towards the reliefe of the poore people ofthe prifhe of 
 St. Gyles wt^outCripplegate London to be imployed in that 
 priflie in forme aforefaid Item I doe give and bequeath for 
 and towards the p.petuall reliefe of the poore people of the 
 faid pri(he of S^ Giles without Cripplegate London under 
 the condicon hereunder expreffed the Some of twenty pounds 
 To remayne as a ftocke in the fame prifhe and to be from tyme 
 to tyme ymployed by the advife ofthe Churchwardens Over- 
 fecrs for the poore and Veftrymen ofthe fame prifhe for the 
 tyme being or the greater nomber of them in fuch fort as that 
 on every Sunday after Morninge prayer forever there may. be 
 out of the encreafe v*'ch fhall arrife by the ymployment thereof 
 be diftributed amongft the poorer fort of people of the fame 
 prifhe Eight penny wheaten loaves for their reliefe Provided 
 alwaies and my will and mynd is that yf my faid Gift fhalbe 
 mifimployed or ncgledled to be pformed in anie wife con- 
 
 G g 3 trarjc 
 
4$4 ^« APOLOGY [Or the History 
 
 who was buried on the 3d of September 1588, 
 as well ** in the favour of her Majefty as in 
 
 '' the 
 
 trarie to the true meaninge of this my Will Then and in fuch 
 cafe I give and bequeath the fame legacie of twenty pounds 
 for and towards the reliefe of the poorer people of the faid 
 pJrifhe of S^ Leonard in Shoreditehe to be imployed in that 
 priftie in forme aforefaid Item my will and mynd is and I doe 
 hereby devife & appoynt that all and fmguler the legacies be- 
 queathed by this my will (for payment whereof no certaine 
 tyme is otherwife limited) fhalbe truly payd by my Executors 
 hereunder named w^^in the fpace of oneyeare att the furtheft 
 next after my deceafe All the reft and refidue of all and fm- 
 galar my Goods Chattels Leafes Money Debtes and jifonall 
 Eftate whatfcever and wherefoever (my debtes legacies and 
 Funerall cha^^ges difchargedj I doe fully and wholly give & 
 bequeath unto my afoie named loving friends Cuthbert Bur- 
 badge and Henry Gondell to be equally dyvided betweene 
 them pte and pte like And I doe make name and conftitute 
 the faid Cuthbert Burbadge and Henry Condeil the Execu- 
 tors of this my laft Will and Teftament And I doe hereby 
 revoke & make voyd all former Wills Teftaments Codicills 
 Legacies Executors and bequefts whatfoever by me att any 
 tyme heretofore made named given or appoynted willing arid 
 mynding that theis prdts only fhall ftand and be taken for my 
 laft Will and Tedament and none other In witnefs where- 
 of to this my laft Will and Teftamcnt conteyningc foure 
 Sheets of paper wth my name fubfcribed to everie flieete I 
 have fett my Scale the third day of June 1623 And in the 
 one and twentith yeare of the Ruigne of o^ Soveraigne Lord 
 Kino; James ^'c Nicholas Tooley Signed Scaled pronounced 
 and declared by the faid Nicolas l'o(.)ky the 'i'eftator as his 
 laft Will and Teflament on the day and yeares above written 
 in the prcc of us tiie mice of Anne Afplin the markeof Mary -f 
 
 Cober, 
 
o? T HE St A G E.] for the BELIEVERS. ^55 
 
 *' the good thoughts of the general audience." 
 His favour with both arofe from his power of 
 
 pleafing. 
 
 Cober, the marke of Joane + Booth the mke of Agnes 
 Dowfon the nike of E B Elizabeth Bolton the mice of -f 
 Faith Kempfall the mke of ffabel Stanley Hum: Dyfon no- 
 tary public and of me Ro: Dickens Srv^. unto the faid Notary 
 Memorandum that I Nicholas Wilkinfon als Tooley of 
 Jyondon Gentleman have on the day of the date of thels 
 prets by the name of Nicholas Tooley of London Gentleman 
 made my laft Will and Teftament in writing conteyninge 
 four^fheetes of paper with my name fubfcribed to every flieete 
 and fcaled with my Scale and thereby have given and bequeathed 
 divers JJbnall legacies to divers pibns and for divers ufes and 
 therefore have made named and conftituted my lovinge friends 
 CuthbertBurbadgeand Henry Condeil the Executors as there- 
 by may more at large appeare nowe for the explacon cleering 
 avoyding & determinacon of all fuch ambiguities doubtes fcru- 
 ^jles queftions and variances about the validite of my faid laft 
 Will as may arife happen or be moved after my deceafe bj 
 ^reafon of omifiion of my name of Wilkinfon therein I doe 
 therefore by this my prete Codicil by the name of Nicholas 
 Wilkinfon aTs Tooley ratifie confirme and approve my faid laft 
 Will and everie gifte legacye and bequeft therein exprcfled 
 and the Executors therein named as fully and amply to all in- 
 tents purpofcs and conftrucons as If I had byn fo named in my 
 /aid laft Will any omiffion of my faid name of Wilkinfon in 
 my /aid laft Will or any fcruple doubt queftion variance mif- 
 interpretacon cavill or mifconftruccon whatfoever to be had 
 moved made or inferred thereupon or thereby or any other 
 matter caufe or thinge whatfoever to the contrarie thereof in 
 .any wife notwithftanding And I doe hereby alfoe further dc- 
 dare tliat mj Will mynd and meaning is that this my pTdte 
 
 G g 4 CodiciJ 
 
45^ ^« APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 pleaiing. As early as 1589, bis comic talents 
 appear to have been highly eftimated by thofe, 
 who were proper judges, being wits them- 
 felves [y). He ufually reprefented t/je clowns, 
 who are always very rogues -, and, like Tarleton, 
 gained celebrity, by his extempora/ wk ; whilft, 
 like other clowns, Kempe raifed many a roar 
 by making faces, and mouths, of all forts (z). 
 
 He 
 
 Codicil flialbe by all Judges Magiflrates and other pfons in 
 all Courts and other places and to all intents and purpofes 
 expounded conftrued deemed reputed and taken to be as 
 pte and pcell of my faid laft Will and Teftament As witnefs 
 whereof I have hereunto fett my hand and Seal the thirde 
 day of June 1623 and in the one and twentieth year of the 
 Raigne of O"" Soveraigne Lord King James he Nicholas 
 Wilkinfon als Tooley (LS j Signed Sealed pronounced Sc 
 declared by the faid Nicholas Wilkinfon als Tooley as a 
 Codicil to be annexed unto his laft Will and Teftament on 
 the daye and yeares above written in the prefence of us Se- 
 mon Drewe the mke of Ifabell I S Stanley the mke of + 
 Faith Kempfull Hum: Dyfon Notary public and of me Ro: 
 Dickens brvantxinto the faid Notary. — [It was proved in the 
 prerogative. court, on the 17th of June, 1624, by Cuthbert 
 Burbadge, and Henry Cundal.j 
 
 {y) The wifty Naflie, fpeaks of Kempe, in 1589, as the 
 comical and conceited jeflmonger, and vicegerent general to 
 the ghofi: of Dicke' Tarleton. [An Ahnondfor a Parrot.'] 
 
 (z) In the Cambrige comedy, called The Return from 
 ParnaJpiSy Kempe is introduced perfonally, and made to far : 
 
OF THE Stage.] for the BELIEVERS. 457 5 
 
 He probably performed Launce, in the Two 
 Gentlemen of Verona, in 1595; the Grave- 
 digger/ in iifo;72/(f/, in 1596; Lancelot, 
 in The Merchant of Venice y in 1598; and 
 Touchstone, \n As you like ity .>n 1600: 
 He appears, from the quarto plays of Shak- 
 fpeare, to have been the original performer of 
 Peter, in Romeo and fuliety in 1595; and 
 of Dogberry, in Much ado about nothingy in 
 1600. In the Cambridge comedy, called 
 The Return from ParnaJfuSy which is fuppofed 
 to have been written about the year 1602, 
 Burbadge, and Kempe, were perfonally in- 
 troduced, to entertain the fcholars at a low rate. 
 Kempe feems to have difappeared, at the ac- 
 ceffion of King James, when his fellows were 
 rifing to higher honours. Perhaps, as a 'uete^ 
 
 — -^'1 was once at a Comedy in Cambridge, and there I faw 
 " a parafitc make faces and mouths ofallforts^ on this Fa- 
 " SHION.'* — The Cambridge wit, we fee confidered Kemp, as 
 a proper comedian to raife laughter by making mouths on this 
 fajhion. When Burbage has inftru6led a ftudent how to adl 
 properly, and tells him : — " You will do well after a while j" 
 Kemp takes up the ftudent thus : " Now for you; methinks 
 " you fhould belong to my tuition; and yonrface^ methinks^ 
 " would be good for a foolifh mayor, or a foolifh ju/iice of 
 ^ peace : mark ?ne.'* — And then, Kempe goes on, to repre- 
 fent afifilifi mayor > making faccs^ for the inftru6lion of the 
 ftudent. 
 
 ran, 
 
45^ j^.? APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 rariy he had retired from " the loathed ftage :" 
 Perhaps, as a mortal, the peftilence of 1 603 put 
 an end to Kempe's ;//;z^ days ivonder. He was 
 certainly dead, in 1618, when his epitaph was 
 publiihedu — 
 
 <* Then, all thy triumphs, fraught with ftrains of mirth, 
 *' Shall be cagM up within a cheft of earth y 
 ** Shall be? they are: thou hafl dancM thee out of breath, 
 " And now muft make thy parting dance with death (tf )." 
 
 Before the year 1609, Kempe had vaniflied 
 from the public eye ; as we may infer from 
 The GuVs Hornbooke ; although not, that he 
 was dead, as Mr. Malone decides from Gu/'s 
 authority : For, Kempe may have only retired 
 from the fcene. When Auguftine Phillips, 
 with fond recolleftion, remembered fo many 
 of bis fellows, in May 1605, he did not re- 
 member Kempe : Yet, at the fame hour, 
 Phillips forgot Lowen alfo, who outlived him 
 more than fifty years. — Amidft fo much un- 
 certainty, I have afcertained an important fad, 
 that on the 2d of November 1603, one Wil- 
 liam Kempe was buried, in the cemetery of 
 St. Saviour's, Southwark (^). Confidering 
 
 every 
 
 {a) Braithwayte's Remains. 
 
 (b) The parifh regifter merely ftates:— " 1 603, Novcm- 
 *« ber 2d Wjliam Kempe, a man.'' [was buried.] The flu- 
 
 pidity 
 
OF THE Stags.] fcr i/y£ BELIEVERS, 455 
 
 every circumftance, the time, the place, the 
 perfon, the name, the previous probability 5 
 I have little doubt, but that William Kempe, 
 the vicegerent of Tarleton, was then caged up 
 within a chejl of earth. I have not found any 
 will of Kempe, nor any adminiftration to his 
 effefts, in the prerogative-office. 
 
 Kempe was an author, as well as an adlor (c): 
 
 Yet, 
 
 pidity of the pari(h clerk has thus left a flight doubt, who thU 
 man was. There were buried in the fame cemetery, on the 
 19th of December 1603, Mary Kempe, a womari-y on the 
 13th of February i60y Cicelye Kempe, a child. There ap- 
 pears, however, in the parifh regilter of St. Bartholomew, 
 the Lefs, the marriage of William Kempe unto Annis How- 
 ard, on the lOth of February t6oJ; but, without any fur- 
 thei* notice of this couple, or their ifTue. On the other 
 hand, none of the parifh clerks, within the bills of mortality, 
 have found the burial of any other William Kempe, though 
 I ofFered them a fuitable reward, for a diligent fearch. On 
 the whole, itfeems to me more than probable, that William 
 Kempe, the fucceflbr of Tarleton, was carried ofF the ftage, 
 by the plague of 1603. I have laughed, in a foregoing page, 
 at the decifion of dogmatifm on the mere authority of The 
 GiiVs Hornbook^ with regard to the true date of the death of 
 Kempe, which it is fo difficult to afcertain j and which, after 
 the moft adtive inquiries, cannot be pofitively fixed. It is 
 unnecefTary to add, that if the death of Kempe, in 1603, be 
 admitted, as a fa<ft, any document, which mentions him, as 
 being alive, at a fubfequent period, mtifl be equally acknow- 
 ledged to be fpurious. 
 
 (f) On the 7th of September 1593, there was entered in 
 
 the 
 
460 An APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 Yet, he was as illiterate, probably, as he was, 
 certainly, jbcofe. The Cambridge fcholars 
 laughed at his grofs illiterature. In T^he Re- 
 turn fro7n Parnajfus Kempe is made to fay to 
 Burbadge : '^ Few of the univerfity pen plays 
 *^- well 'y they fmell too much of that writer 
 " Ovid, and that writer Met amor phojis^ and 
 " talk too much of Proferpina and Juppiten" 
 Philomufm fays fneeringly: *' Indeed Mafler 
 ** Kempe you are very famous : but, that is as 
 ** well for works, in print, as your part in 
 ** cue'' There was a fentiment then afiigned 
 to Kempe, which was known, perhaps, to be 
 His real opinion, that, it is better to make a fool 
 of the world, as I have done, than like you 
 fcholars, to be fooled of the world. The publi- 
 cation of T^he Orchejira of Davis, and Thf 
 Jigg of Kempe, about the fame time, fur- 
 
 the Stationers' books, A Comedie entitled ^^ J Knach how to 
 " know a Knave^ newly fet forthe as it has been fundri* 
 '? times plaied by Ned Allen and his company, with 
 " Kempe's applauded meniment of The Men of Gotham.''— -> 
 Kempc's New Jigg of The Kit chen-Jiuff woman was entered 
 in the Stationers* books, in 1595J and alfo "Kempe*s7V^w 
 " "J^^Z betwixt a Souldier and a Mifer aiid Sym the 
 '' Clowne."— In 1600, there was publiflied "Kempe'sMw 
 *' days wonder performed in a daunce from London to Nor- 
 ^' wich written by himfelfe to fatisfie his friends." In thofe 
 days, the word jigg fignified z/arce^ as well as a daunce. 
 
 niflied 
 
• F THE Stage.] /or //^^ B E L I E V R R S. ^51 
 
 niil^.ed Marfton the fatlrift, in 1599, with an 
 opportunity of joining Davis, Kempe, and per- 
 haps Shakipeare, in the fame laugh againfl 
 them : — 
 
 Prayfe but Orcheflra^ and ^zjklpping art^ 
 
 You (hall commaund him ; faith, you have his hart, 
 
 Even cap'ring in your fift. A hall^ a hall\ 
 
 Roome for the fpheres, the orbes celeftiall 
 
 Will daunce Kempe' s Jigg : They'le reuel with neatc 
 
 jumps ; 
 A worthy poet hath put on their pumps [d). 
 Such were the patentees of King James ; 
 and fuch the afTociates, who were adopted, 
 among the royal fervants ; and though they 
 were not named in the licenfe of 1603, yet 
 were the original a(flors of Shakfpeare's cha- 
 racters. We have feen, upon the accefiion 
 of King James, three companies eftabliflied, 
 by collefting the difcarded fervants of the 
 
 [d] The Scourge of Villanle^ 15995 %ri' H. 3. b. This 
 is Sir John Davis, the attorney-general of Ireland, who 
 wrote tlie two celebrated poems, Nofce Teipfum\ and the Or- 
 ihejlra^ in praife of dancing : I obferve, that Mr. Malone 
 fometimes confounds Sir John Davis, with Davis, the epi- 
 grammatift, who was a very different perfon. [Shakf. vol. 
 i. part ii. p. 63-66.] Sir John Davis is the firft of our 
 poets, who reafined in rhime \ yet the palm of logical pottry 
 has been afligned, by Johnlbn, to Dryden; though the lau- 
 reate of James ii. can boaft of nothing, which is comparable 
 to the Nofce Teipfwn of Davis, for concatenation of argument^ 
 and fubtilty of thought. 
 
 feveral 
 
462 y//r APOLOGY [Of the History 
 
 feveral noblemen. At the epoch of Shak- 
 ipeare's death, there were, probably, five com- 
 panies of players in London : viz. The King's 
 fervants, who performed at "The Globes and in 
 the Blackfriars ; the Queen's fervants, who 
 adted at 'The Red Bully and became afterwards 
 diftinguiilied as the Children of the Revels ; 
 the Prince's fervants, who played at The Cur-- 
 taine -, the Palfgrave's fervants, who exhibited 
 at T^he Fortune ; and the Lady Elizabeth's 
 fervants, who performed at the Cockpit, in 
 Drury-lane. During the fame period, there 
 were feven regular playhoufes, including three 
 on the Bankfide ; the Swa/i ; the Rofe ; and the 
 Hope ; which, however, were not much fre- 
 quented, and, early in the reign of James, fell 
 into difufe : Yet, one Roffeter obtained a pa- 
 tent, under the great feal, for erecSing a play- 
 houfe, without the "liberties of London ; and by 
 virtue thereof, proceeded to convert the houfe 
 of Lady Sanclair, on Puddle-wharfF, into a 
 theatre. The Lord Mayor and aldermen were 
 alarmed : They confidered this meafure, as an 
 infringe npient of their jurifdidlion ; and feared 
 the interruption of public worfliip, on the 
 week days, from its nearnefs to a church. 
 Thefe conliderations, upon complaint made 
 to the^, induced the privy-council to deter- 
 mine. 
 
#F THE Stage.] fcv the BELIEVERS. 4^^ 
 
 mine, that no playhoufe fliould be eredted in 
 tliiit place {e). But, it is always more eafy tc> 
 
 refolve^ 
 
 (^) An order was iiilucd to tiiat cfFe£l, on the 26th of 
 September 1615, in the following terms : — 
 
 " Whereas complaint was mack to this board by the 
 '* Lord Mayor and aldermen of the city of London, That 
 *' one RofTeter and others having obtained licenfe under the 
 " great leal of England for the building of a playhoufe have 
 '' pulled down a great mefTuage in Puddle- wharf which was 
 " fometimes the houfe of Lady Sanders within the precinct 
 '' of the Blackfryers^ are now erecting a new play-houfe in 
 " that place, to the great prejudice and inconvenience of 
 *' the government of that city. Their Lordfhips thought fit 
 '' to fend for Roffeter, to bring in his letters patents which 
 ** being {^^n and perufed by the Lord Chief Juftice of Eng- 
 " land [Coke]. For as much as the inconveniences urged 
 " by the Lord Mayor and aldermen were, many and of fome 
 " confequence to their government, and fpecially for that 
 " the faid playhoufe would join io near unto the church in 
 •' Blackfryers as it would difturb and interrupt the congrega- 
 -• tion at divine fervice upon the v/eek days. And that the Lord 
 " Chief Juificc did deliver to their Lordfliips that the licenfs 
 *' granted to the faul Rajfetery did extend to the building of a 
 ^' playhoufe without the liberties of London, and not within 
 " the city. It was this day ordered by their Lordlhips, that 
 *' there ihall be no playhoufe ercdted in that place, and that 
 " the Lord Mayor of London fliail ftraitly prohibit and for- 
 *' bid the faid RofTeter, and the reft of the patentees, and 
 *' their workmen to proceed in the making and converting 
 " the faid building into a playhoufe : And if any of the pa- 
 « tentces or their workmen {hall proceed in their intended 
 •«- building contrary to this their Lordfliips inhibition, that then 
 
 "the 
 
4^4 ^« APOLOGY [Of the Histort 
 
 refolve, than to execute. Roffeter feems not 
 to have been terrified by the threats of com- 
 mitment. Notwithftanding feveral prohibi- 
 tions, he proceeded, though with fome inter- 
 ruptions, to execute his purpofe. New com- 
 plaints were made; and frefh orders were 
 iffued. At length, in January 1617, the Lord 
 Mayor was direded to caufc Rofleter's play- 
 houie to be pulled down [f). Yet, fuch di- 
 rections are feldom executed, unlefs they be 
 
 " the Lord Mayor lliall commit him or them fo ofFending 
 « unto prifon, and certify their Lordfhips of their contempt 
 <^ in that behalf. Of which, their Lordfhips order the faid 
 " RofTetcr and the reft to take notice and conform them- 
 " feives accordingly, as they will anfwer to the contrary at 
 " their peril.'* 
 
 (/) A letter was written, by the privy-council, to the 
 Jvord Mayor of London, on the 26th January i6-Jy, in the 
 following terms: — 
 
 " Whereas his Majefty is informed that notwithftand- 
 *' ino" divers commandments and prohibitions to the con- 
 " trary, there be certain perfons that go about to fet up 
 *' a playhoufe in the Blackfryars^ near unto his Majefty *s 
 " TVardrohey and for that purpofe have lately ereded and 
 *' made fit a building v/hich is almoft if not fully finifhed : 
 " You fliall underftand that his Majefty hath this day ex- 
 " prefsly fignified his pleafure, that the fame ftiall be pulled 
 •^^ down J fo as it be made unfit for any fuch ufe. Whereof 
 <* wee require your Lordfliip to take notice, and to caufe it 
 << to be performed accordingly with all fpeed, and thereupon 
 " to certify us of your proceedings.'* 
 
 loudly 
 
WF THE Stage\'| /or the 'B^LIEYEI^S. 4^5. 
 
 loudly called for, by the public voice. At th'e 
 general pulling down of playhoufes, and Bear- 
 gardens, in 1648, Major General Skippon was 
 fent, with a body of horfe, to affift the leveU 
 'lers{g). 
 
 But, a new power was at hand, w^liich, 
 without diredion, or authority, could pull a 
 playhoufe down with armipotent fpeed. " On 
 *^ Shrove-tuefday, the fourth of March i6i-^, 
 ** faith Howes, the cbro7itcler of the times, many 
 *'^ difordered perfons, of fundry kinds, affem- 
 ** bled in Finfbury-field, Stepney- field, and 
 ** Lincoln's-inn-fields ; and in riotous manner 
 " did beat down the walls and windows of 
 ** many vidualling houfes, which they fuf- 
 " pecked to be bawdy houfes : and that af- 
 ** ternoon they fpoiled a ?iew playhoufe, and 
 ** lilcewife did more hurt in other places." 
 it was the playhoufe in Drury-lans, belong- 
 ing to the Queen's fervants, which was thus 
 fpoiled ; though the caufe of this outrage does 
 not appear. This foul dif order was deem^ed of 
 //i^;:^^r(?z^jconfequence. And the privy-council 
 diredled the Lord Mayor and aldermen of 
 London, and the Juftices of Middlefex, to 
 hold a fpecial feffions -, for inquiring, ftriftly, 
 
 [g) Com* Journal, 23d June 1648. 
 
 H h after 
 
4^6 M A?OLOGY [Of the History 
 
 after the offenders, and punifliing, exampla- 
 rily, the guilty (^). 
 
 Leaving 
 
 (h) The letter, which was written, on that occafion, Is 
 as follows : 
 
 " It is not i^nknown unto you what tumultuous outrages 
 J'* were ycflpr^ay committed near unto the city of London 
 " m divers places, by a rowte of lewd and loofe perfons 
 «' apprentices and others, efpecially in Lincoln's-inn fields 
 " and Drury*}ane, where, in attempt'n^ to pull d6wn a 
 ^' playhpufe belonging, to the Qyeeri's Majefty's fervants, 
 *' there v/ere divers pcrlbns (lain and others hurt and wound- 
 " ed, the multitude there aflembled being to the nurnber of 
 " many thoiifands as we are credibly informed. Forafmuch 
 " as> the example of fo foul and infolent a difcrder m.ay 
 " prove of dangerous confequence if this fhould efcape with- 
 ^' out {harp punifhment of the principal offenders ; Wee do 
 '' therefore in his Majefty's name exprefsly require your 
 *' Lordfhip, and the reft of the commiffioners of Oyer 
 *' and Terminer for the city of London and county of Mid- 
 *' dlefex, to take it prefently into your care, to have a ftri(5l 
 " inquiry made for fuch as were of the company, as well 
 <' apprentices or.others, and forthwith to hold a fpecial Sef- 
 *' fi on s of Oyer and Terminer for that purpofe, and there 
 *' with feverity to proceed againft fuch as (hall be found 
 " offenders as to law and juftice appertaineth. And for 
 <' that it was alfo obferved that amongft this crew of appren- 
 " tices there were an exceeding great multitude of vagrant 
 " rogues gathered together as there are always about this 
 ** city ready for any mifchief upon every occafion a great 
 /** dilhonour and fcandal to the government. Wee are there- 
 ** fore to recommend that, alfo unto you from his Majefty as 
 ** a fpecial charge, that you do think upon fome courfe, and 
 
 " put 
 
OF THE Stage.] for the BE LIE V E R S. 467 
 
 Leaving thofe direcftions behind him. King 
 James departed for Scotland, on the 14th of 
 March i644->'" taking fuch recreations by the 
 " way,*' fays the malignant Wilfon, *^ as might 
 " beft beguile the days, but lengthen the 
 " nights ; for what with hawking, hunting, 
 " and horfe-racing the days quickly ran away, 
 " and the nights with feafting, mafking, and 
 *' dancing, were the more extended/' Amid 
 Jik dauncing, and deray^ King James had three 
 plays aded before him, for preventing hearts 
 difcontcnt, and four affliBion (/)* 
 
 The 
 
 " put it in execution prefently for the difpatching of that 
 *' fort of people and removing of thetn far from about the 
 '' city of London and Weftminfler and the confines thereof, ^ 
 " efpecially at this prefent, when his Majefty and a great 
 " part of his council are to be abfent for fo long a time. 
 " And as providence and difcretion doth nov/ needfully re- 
 " quire, fince this v^^arning is given you, to have at all times 
 " hereafter an eye and viatch upon the apprentices likewife, 
 " who by this experience and the like where the reins of 
 " liberty are given them, are found apt to run into many 
 " unfufi^erable infolencies. Touching all thefe points his 
 '' Majefty will expect a ftri6t and particular account from 
 " you of your duties, whereof wee wifli you may acquit 
 " yourfelves as becometh you." [The councH-regifter of 
 the 5th of March 16I5.] 
 
 (z ) On the I ith of July 16 1 7, there ilTued a v/arrant for 
 payment to certain players, for three ftage- plays, that were 
 
 H h 2 aded 
 
^ ^/f APOLOGY [Of theKistory 
 
 The reign of James faw the Engliih ftage 
 advance to its full maturity, and to the greateft 
 fplendour ; not indeed in the external form, and 
 fcenic ceconomy, of the ancient, or prefent the- 
 atres, but in ingenuity of fable, felicity of dia- 
 logue, and fublimityof ftile, which then ani- 
 mated the Engliih dramas : Such were the hap- 
 py produd:ions of the creative genius of Shak- 
 fpeare ! When his influence was withdrawn, 
 by his retirement from the theatrick world, 
 the ftage as rapidly declined, till it was totally 
 fuppreifed, by violence, in 1648. Owing to a 
 rerharkable coincidence, or Angular fatality,- 
 the ftage was deprived of its principal pillars,, 
 about the fame period. Alexander Cooke died> 
 in 1614. Shakfpeaf^ ceafed to write, in 161 5* 
 Philip Henflow, the great patron of poets, and 
 of players, died in 1616. Edward Allen re- 
 tired, almoft immediately from the Bankfide 
 to Dulwich. On the 13th of March 167^, 
 Richard Cowley was buried in St, Leonard's, 
 Shoreditch. In three days, Richard Burbadge,. 
 the Ro fetus of his time, followed him to the 
 fame cemetery. Robert ilrmin departed be- 
 aded before his M^jefty, in his journey to Scotland^ fuch 
 fums of money, as is ufual in the like kind. — The fuch fums 
 were probably £» 10, for each play. [CounciUregiiter.] 
 
 Tore 
 
OF THE Stage.] for /be B E LI E V E KS, ^ 
 
 fore the year 1622. Nicholas Tooley, died in 
 1623. Heminges, and Candal, feceded from 
 the fta^e. about the fame time ; fatiated with- 
 praife, rather than with profit. There re- 
 mained, neverthelefs, f;^veral coQ:ipanies of 
 adors, who can fcarcely be traced in the ob^ 
 fcure annals of the ftage, as when Uttle has 
 been done, ]efs can be related: And the fuc- 
 ceifors of the race of Shakfpeare neither illu- 
 minated the fcene, by their brilliancy of ge- 
 nius, nor fupported the drama, by their pow- 
 ers of ad:ing. 
 
 Such, then, is r&e additional Apology , which the 
 believers beg leave to fubmit to the equity of 
 this court. It will be eafily recolleded, that 
 they are accufed of kyio^^ing nothing of the hi/- 
 tory of the Jiage ; of knowing nothing of the 
 hijiory of Shakfpeare -, q{ knowing nothing of old 
 hand-writing. You read thefe accufations, and 
 thefe grievous crimes ^ committed by the ring- 
 leadersy and their followers, in almoft every page 
 of the accufng Inquiry [Ji), Their apology is, 
 that, after all the labours of their accufer, they 
 have produced much information about the 
 ftage, which is as new, as it is important, and 
 kodies forth things unknown in the annals o£ 
 
 [k) P.p. 352--363-4* 
 
 H h 3 thQ 
 
470 ^//APOLOGY [Of the Histort 
 
 the^ theatre (/). Without arrogating a perfect- 
 knowledge of the hiftory of Shakfpeare, they 
 have added fomething to it, which was un- 
 known before ; and they have found his bro- 
 ther Edmond at the Globe, thouph he had 
 eluded the fearches of Mr. Malone. Without 
 pretending to know the whole fcience of old 
 hand-writingy they have fhown fufficient fkil], 
 at leaft in the reading of pariih-regifters, to 
 correct many miftakes of their accufer, in his 
 affertions, and dates. Here, might the be- 
 lievers yZw/ up their apology in meafurelefs con- 
 tent : But, as their grievous crimes feem to 
 admit of nojljadowy expiations, in the judgment 
 of their accufer, the believers, with the permif- 
 fion of this court, will advert to other thea- 
 
 (/) They refer in general to the many documents, which 
 they have produced from the public archives. The will of 
 Shakfpeare has, indeed, been the common property of com- 
 mentators, fince the year 1763. Mr. Malone puhlifhed the 
 iiuncupative will of Richard Burbadge, and the wills of 
 Keminges, Cundal, and Underwood : I have now produced, 
 notwithftanding many warnings, that no other wills of play- 
 ers, in Shakfpeare's age, could be found, the nuncupative 
 will of Sly, together with the wills of Phillips, Coolce, and 
 Tcpley, which are more inftru6livc than thofc of Heminges, 
 Cundal, and Underwood ; and I have moreover given the 
 fubftance of the wills of Pope, and of fJenflow ; and by af- 
 certaining many dates, have corrc6led feveral errors in Mr, 
 Malone's hiflory of the ftage. 
 
 trical 
 
OF THE Stage.] for i^ B E L I E V E R S. 471 
 
 trical topicks, which may incite attention* by 
 their nevvnefs, and repay perfeverance, by their 
 information : They will, therefore, fubmit ta 
 this difcerning court, as z.fupplemental Apology^ 
 a dramatical fubjedl, which the hiftorian of tha 
 ftage has fcarcely touched upon; and, from 
 its novelty, will evince, that Je^f-fiifficiency 
 may proceed from inexperience ^ at the end of 
 thirty years ft udy : It will hence follow, apo- 
 logetically^ that, — 
 
 " Seeing ignorance is the curfe of God ; 
 
 " Knowledge muft be th' wing, whereby we fly to heaven.'* 
 
 §x. 
 
 Of the master of the REVELS. 
 
 If we look into the King^s houfehold of 
 early times, for the fuperintendant of the royal 
 paftimes, we ftiall fee an officer of high dig- 
 nity, and exteniive power, who was called, in 
 all formal proceedings, Camerarius Hofpitij, and 
 is named, in the ad: of precedency, theKi?igs 
 Chamberlain [a). This great otficer, who is 
 called, in modern times, the Lord Cham- 
 berlain, had the diredion, and controul, of 
 the officers, belonging to the King's cham- 
 bers, except of thofe of the bedchamber, 
 
 [a) 31 Hen. 8. ch. 10, 
 
 H h 4 which 
 
472 ^« APOLOGY [Of the Master 
 
 which belongs, exclufively, to the Gtoom of 
 the Stole ^ and of the officers of the King's 
 wardrobe, in all the King's houfcs : The Lord 
 Chamberlain had alfo the fupcrintendence, 
 and government, of the King's hunting, and 
 Revels-, of the Co?nedmns, muiicians, and other 
 royal fervants, appointed either for uf^^ or re- 
 creation {b) : And he was the high fuper- 
 intendent of coronations, funerals, and caval- 
 cades. The Lord Chamberlain v/as of courfe, 
 by the original conftiiution of his ofKce, the 
 real MaJIer of the Revels -, the great director 
 of the fpcrts of the court, by night, as well 
 as of the fpo ts of the field, by day. This 
 fovereign jurifdidion, over the paftimes of 
 the court, the Lord Chamberlain continues to 
 enjoy, during the prefent times ; after many 
 changes of fafhion, and fome revolutions of 
 power. 
 
 It was in the capricious reign of Henry 8th, 
 who, in 1543, had prohibited by dCi of {c) 
 pariiauient religious paftknes, that a cyon^ 
 c/eped the Majier of the Revels, was firft grafted 
 
 (b) Cowell \n\o.'^-'Chamberlam\-^laZ^'S of Honour, 
 334 : ' Anil fee the Houfehold-book of Edward the ivth, 
 " A Chamber LAY N'/^r the King in houfehold, the grete 
 « olticer fitting in the Kiiige's chamber." 
 
 {c) 34-5 Hen. 8.. ch. I. 
 
 into 
 
OF THE Revels.] for the BELIEVERS. 473 
 
 into the ancient ftock. When we look into 
 the houfehold eftabliflimeuts of prior reigns, 
 W:e fee nothing of fuch an officer. In 1490, 
 there was indeed aii Abbot of Mifride, who 
 was faid to have well performed his office : 
 But;, ,he feems to have been merely a prede- 
 cefTor of the Lord of Pafimes of fubfequent 
 times ; a perfonage, who was only appointed 
 for the occafion, at great fe Rivals, to incite 
 mirth, by the effufions of his wit, and to re- 
 ftrain revelry, by the exercife of his pru- 
 dence (^). In the eitabliilirnent, which Henry 
 the 8th made of his houfehold, in the 17th of 
 
 (i) There is a curious paflage in Stow's London [Strype's 
 edit. 1754, vol. i. p. 304] which gives a particular account 
 of the Lord of Mijrule : — 
 
 " Firft— In the Feaft of Chrifl^mas there was, in the 
 " King's Houfe, wherefoever he was lodged, a Lord of Mif- 
 " ride^ cr Mafter of Merry Dif ports \ and the like had ye 
 " in the houfe of every Nobleman of Honour, or good 
 <' Worfhip, v/ere he fpiritual, or Temporal. Among the 
 " wliich, the Mayor of London, and either of the SherifFs, 
 ^' had their feveral Lords of Mifruk^ ever contending with- 
 '' out quarrel, or offence, who fhould make the rareft paf- 
 *' times to delight the beholders. Thefe Lords beginning 
 '' their rule at AlhoUand Eve, continued the fame till the 
 " morrow after the Feaft of the Purification^ commonly 
 " called Candlemas Day : In all which fpace, there v/ere 
 " fine and fubtle Difguifings, Maflcs, and Mummeries, with 
 " playing at Cards for Counters, Nails, and Points, more 
 f' for paftimes, than for gain." 
 
 § his 
 
474 ^//APOLOGY [Of the Master 
 
 his reign, [1525] and which he afterwards 
 augmented, we fee not a trace of the Mafier 
 cf the Revels [e). It was in the year 1546, 
 while William Poulet, Lord St. John of Ba- 
 , ling, was Lord ChamberJain, that the office of 
 Majler-of the Revels was created. The origin 
 of the word is as uncertain, as the nature of 
 the thing has hitherto been obfcure. ^'Revels J* 
 fays Minfiieu, ** feemeth to be from the French 
 ** Reveiller, excitari to awaken, or to be raifed 
 " fromfleep; and fignifieth, with us, fports 
 ^^ of dauncing, mafiving, comedies, tragedies, 
 *^ and fach like, ufed in the King's houfe, 
 " the houfes of [the inns of] court, or qf 
 " other great perfonages (y)." Skinner fol- 
 lows the derivation of Mmfheu ; but Lye de- 
 rives the word revel from the Dutch raveeleity 
 to rove about, which is much countenanced, 
 fays Johnfon^ by the old phrafe ravel-rout^ or 
 
 (^) Sec a collection of ordinances and regulations for the 
 government of the royal houfehold, which were printed by 
 the Antiquary Society, in 179O. 
 
 (/) Guide to the Tongues^ 161 7, in Vo. Revels, Min- 
 fheu has to revel^ or riot ; a reveller^ or roifter ; rioter, 
 fwaggerer, glutton. Skelton has the following lines, which 
 are quoted by Warton, as nervous, and manly : 
 ** Ryot and Re'vell be in your Court roules, 
 ** Mayntenaunce and Mifchefe thefe be men of myght, 
 ♦• Extorcyon of you s ceunted for a knyght.'* 
 
 tumultuous 
 
OF THE Revels.] for- the B E LIE V E RS. 475' 
 
 tumultuous feftivity. The t/jing, and the word, 
 were both perfedly known to Shakfpeare : — 
 
 Sir Andrew fays: " I delight in majks, and revels^ fometimes 
 
 altogether." 
 Sir Toby afks: "Art thou good at thefe kickfaws^ 
 
 knight [g) ? 
 
 It was in 1546, that Sir Thomas Cawerden, 
 who appears in the houfehold eftablifhments 
 of 1525, as a gentleman of the privy (>6) 
 chamber, was appointed to the office of 
 Majier of the (/) Revels-, '' offichim magijiri 
 f* jocorum, revelorum, et mafcorum,'' vulgarly 
 called, fays the patent, revels, and majks^ 
 Henry the eighth might have now faid: — 
 
 <c . Go Cawerden ; 
 
 « Stir up the Londinian youth to merriments ; 
 
 " Awake the pert, and nimble fpirit of mirth; 
 
 « Turn melancholy forth to funerals : 
 
 " That pale companion is not for our pomp." 
 
 At that epoch, our paftimes were rather joy- 
 ous, than delicate; our dramas were yet un- 
 formed; and our aftors v/ere but children. 
 Herxry the 8th, who thus eftablifhed a parti- 
 cular officer, as *' his ufual manager of mirth,'* 
 
 (^g) Kickfaw^ fays Johnfon, is a corruption of the French 
 quelque chofe ; fomething fantaftical, or ridiculous. 
 
 (Z?) Houfehold Ordinances^ publifhed in 179O, p. 165, 
 and 169, wherein he is called Canerden ; fo difficult is it, in 
 eld writings, to diftinguifh the n from the u ; and in p. 216, 
 h^ is called Garden \ fd little correfpondence was there, in 
 thofe times, between the fpelling, and the pronunciation. 
 
 (/) Rym. Feed. torn. xv. p. 62. \\Zj\ 
 
47^ Jn AVOhOGY [Of the Master 
 
 had the fame eftablifliment, as his father had, 
 of players, and [k) muficians, whp contribu- 
 ted, according to their feveral faculties, to ex- 
 hilarate his court, — 
 
 «' By pomp, and feaft, and revelry^ 
 " With majky and antick pageantry.** 
 
 The court of Edward the Sixth was too 
 much occupied with religious refoi'm, or am- 
 bitious projeds, to relifh much the captivating 
 pleafures of antick pageantry. Yet, during 
 the youthful reign of Edward, there was fome- 
 times, at Chriftmas, a Lord of Paftimes, and 
 at other times, a Lord of Mi/rule ; whofe 
 
 [k) The following eftablifhment, from a document in the 
 Paper-office^ will enable us to form a judgment of the rela- 
 |iye importance of each of the feveral officers: — 
 
 The Mafter of the Revels - - - - -£,10 — . — 
 
 The Yeoman of the Revels -----926 
 
 8 players of interludes at ^.3. 6. 8. each 
 
 per annum » - - - -- - 2613 4 
 
 3 fmgers at £,(). 13. 4. each - - - 20 — — 
 
 2 fmgers at 9. 2. 6, each - - - 18 5 — • 
 
 a Harpers, one at 18. 5. — 
 
 the other at 20. — — - 
 
 , . . 38 5_ 
 
 A bag piper ---------1234 
 
 2 flute players— one at ^. 30 — • — 
 
 the other at - - - 18 s — 
 
 . . 48 5 -- 
 
 A ferjeant trumpeter, and 15 other trumpeters 
 
 at ;^.24. 6. 8. each - - - -_4£3_i3__4 
 
 duty 
 
OF THE Revels.] for the 3 E L I E V E R S. ^.^^f 
 
 duty appears to have been, to awake the pert, 
 <ind nimble, fpirit of mirth. On the 28 th of 
 January 155*, Sir Thomas Cawerden was 
 directed to fupply William Baldwin, who was 
 the great dramatitl: of that day, and who was 
 appointed " to fet forth a play, before the 
 *' King, apon Candlemas day, at night," with 
 approrpriate apparel, and the accuftomed re- 
 quifites. The whole expence of the revels, 
 during the reign of Edward the fixth, who 
 continued his father's eftablifhment of players, 
 amounted yearly to about £, 325 (/). It was 
 a period, indeed, when there were feldom 
 heard, or feen, the 
 
 " Unwelcome r^i;^//(?rj whofe lawlefs joy 
 
 *' Pains the fage ear, and hurts the fober eye." 
 
 During the gloomy reign, which fucceeded 
 the untimely demife of Edward the fixth, we 
 may eafily fuppofe that, in the abfence of 
 
 unwelcome revellers, the mafler of the revels 
 
 (/) On the i8th of December 1552, there ifTued a war- 
 rant to Sir John [Thomas] Cawerden the Mafter of the Re- 
 vels for £, 300. — On the i8th of January 155-3, there was 
 iflued to M^ Garden, [Sir Thomas Cawerden] ^. 328. 6. 
 towards the defrayment of charges, due within his office, the 
 5th year of his Majefty's reign.— 20th January I55*> there 
 iflued to Sir Thomas Cawerden, for the charges of the Lord 
 of Mifrule, at Chriftmas laft, jr. 326. [From the Council- 
 reg^'.] 
 
 had 
 
47^ ^« A P O L O G Y [Of the Master 
 
 had probably little power, and lefs profits 
 During that unhappy period, the privy coun- 
 cil, who engroffed all power, exerted their 
 unbounded authority, in prohibiting lewd flays ^ 
 and reftraining irreverent fports. There were, 
 in thofe days, no fettled theatres, while the 
 Queen had an eftabliihment of players , and 
 the ordinary was the licenjer of the Jiage: Yet, 
 in that reign, private gentlemen gave licences 
 to- players, in the country, for preventing fuch 
 players, from being deemed ^vagabonds [m). 
 Mary, however, did fometimes comfort her- 
 felf with the regall difport of mailcing : And, 
 on St, Mark's day, in the year 1557, there 
 was prefented before her, by her fpecial com- 
 mandment " a notorious majke of Almaynes, 
 " Pilgrymes, and Irifhemen :'' — 
 
 i« What mafking fluff \% heref 
 
 « Why; what o'devirs name, Caw*rden, cairn thou this («)?" 
 
 Sir 
 
 [m) Lodgers lUuftrations, vol. i. p. 212. 
 
 («) The Queen's warrant for delivering to Sir Thomas 
 Cawarden certain necefTaries, for a mafk. [From the ori- 
 ginal in Mr. Craven Ord's collection.] 
 Mar YE the queue, 
 Truftie and welbeloved we grete you well And whereas o*" 
 welbeloved S'ThomasCawerden knight M"". ofo^ RevellsTry- 
 umphes and Mafkes upon o^. fpeciall comaundem* to him fig- 
 nified by our vizcbamblain dothe fhewe and fet forthe on Saint 
 
 Markes 
 
OF THE Revels.] /^ /.&^ B E L I E VE R S. 479 
 
 Sir Thomas Cawerden, who had the ma- 
 nagement of this mafk, r.s mafter of the re- 
 vels, did not long furvive thedemife of Mary; 
 for he died, in December 1559; and was 
 buried^ according to his dying requeft, in his 
 
 Markes daye next comge to o''. Regall difport recreacion and 
 comfort a notorious mafke of Almaynes pilgrymes and Iriflie- 
 men w^ their infidents and accomplifhes accordingly And 
 -dorhe for that purpofe lack certayne filks to his fantafie for 
 the better furniture and garniihinge thereof: our pleafure is 
 furthwt. upon the recept of theis p ". Ires ye delyver or caufe 
 to be delyved more for the fame of fuche ourftuite remayn- 
 inge in yo". charge and cuftodie theis pcells underwritten 
 vidz of Redde velvett twentyfyve yds / of Carnacion velvet 
 £efteneyds/ of purple gold farcenet nyne yds didi q^. / [half 
 and half quarter] of yellow farcenet twenty fix yds di di q''* 
 of Redde farcenet fortye nyne yds di / of whight farcenet 
 thirtie three yds di di q^ / and of clothe of filver wt workes 
 fower yds/ And his Iiand teftifeng the recept of theis pcells 
 before written w^ this o''. warrant fig ned fhalbe to you a fuf- 
 ficient difcharge in that hehalfe / Yeoven under o^ fignet at 
 o*" palayce of Weftm'". the laft of Apriil in the thirde and 
 fourthe yeres of o^. Rcignes / 
 
 Thies pcells above written 1 To o^ Right ti-udieand wel- 
 ar receved the day above ! beloved Counfailoi" S"^ Ed- 
 written by me S^ Thoms 1 ward Walgrave knight and 
 Cawerden knight M'' of the > M^ of o^ great Wardrobe or 
 Kinge and quene their Mats to his Deputie or Deputies 
 Tryumphes Malks and Re- thear / 
 yells to the ufe abcfaid/ By me 
 
 Th Cawerden 
 
 parifli 
 
4^o ^7 APOLOGY [Of THE B^AST¥k 
 
 parKh chtirch of Blechingley {o). Meantime, 
 tlie acceffion of Elizabeth gave frefh vivacity 
 ■to paftknes. Lord Howard of Effingham was 
 then Lord Chamberlain, though he feems to 
 have neither reviewed plays, nor licenfed 
 players. Sir Thomas Benger was appointed 
 Mafter of the Revels, in the room of Cawer- 
 den, on the i8th of January 1559-60 (^).. 
 Yet, he was not the firft Mailer of the Revels, 
 
 (0) His will was proved in the prerogative office, before 
 Dr. Walter Haddon, on the 29th of December, 1559, by- 
 Elizabeth, his widow, and William Moore, an executor. He 
 died feifed of the manor of Wyllye, in the fame county: and 
 being Ma/ier of the Tents he bequeathed " to Richard Leigh 
 « of Black/nVrx London, all the ft ufF and lumber, belonging 
 " to the Office of the Tents^ in the Black/Vj^rj;" So little 
 attention was there then paid to precifion of fpelling, that 
 Sir Thomas was fometimes called Garden^ and in the fubfe- 
 quent patent to Benger, Carwerden» — Aubrey, in his Survey 
 of Surrey, vol. iii. p. 74, fajps, that in the chancel of Ble- 
 chinglychurch there ftood a handfome free ftone monument, 
 fupported by Ionic pillars /^/"<i' to belong to Sir Thomas Car- 
 werden, Knt who was bcw-bender to Henry viii, but that no 
 infcription remained. 
 
 (/)) Rym. Feed. torn. xv. p. 565: Mr. Malone calls him 
 Thomas Benger ; forgetting, that he was a knight ; and 
 dates his patent on the i8th of January 1560-61 ; not ad- 
 verting that Rymer fays it iffued in the fecorid year of Eli- 
 zabeth. Fie was, in 1553, ^^ fecond day after the corona- 
 tion of Mary, made a Knight of the Carpet, by the name of 
 Sir Thomas Berenger, [Strype*s Mem. vol. ii. apx. ii.] 
 
 during 
 
OF THE Revels.J /of't^t t E LlEV E R S* 4f| 
 
 during Elizabeth's reign, as Mr. Maione (j') 
 aflerts ; for Cawerden lived till December 
 J5'>9« When the Earl of Leiceftdr obtained 
 the firft general licenu) for his theatrical fer- 
 vants to ac!^ ftage-v -^ys* in any part of Eng- 
 land, there was added this provifo, " that the 
 ** faid commedies, tragedies, enterludes, and 
 ** ftage-plays be, by the Majier of our Revels^ 
 ** for the time being, firft feen and allow- 
 " ed (r)/* This circumfpedl claufe, which 
 does honour to the prudence of Elizabeth, 
 feems never to have been copied by any of 
 her fucceflbrs, when fuch circumfpedion had 
 become much more necefTary, from the pro- 
 grefs of revel-rout. The Mafter of the Re- 
 vels had, before this epoch, authority over the 
 paftimes of the court : He was now, for the 
 firft time, inverted with authority over the 
 paftimes of the country. While the dramas 
 of the court were ftill inelegant ; while few 
 plays were yet produced; while the gentle- 
 men of Greys-inn, and the Children of St. 
 Paul's, were the moft frequent adors before 
 the Queen ; the office of Mafter of the Revels 
 could not be either important, or profitable. 
 
 {q) Mai. Shale, vol. i. part ii. p. 45. 
 
 (r) This licenfe may be feen in Steevens's Shak. 1793, 
 vol. ij. p, 156. 
 
 Ii Sir 
 
48a ^/r APOLOGY [Of the Maste* 
 
 Sir Thomas Benger lived to fee the eftablifli- 
 ment of two regular theatres, about the year 
 1570 j and to obfervc the introducSion of Ita-t 
 lian players into London ; but he lived'not to 
 behold the brilliant [an of Shakfpeare, which 
 was deftine^ to illumine England, fooh after 
 iis eye did homage otherwhere. Sir Thomas^ 
 died in March [s] 1577; leaving, as he con- 
 feffes, in his will, many deksy with very few 
 goods to pay them. 
 
 Edmond Tilney, the fon of Philip Tilney, 
 Gentleman Uflier of the privy chamber, to 
 Henry the Eighth, was appointed Mafter of 
 the Revels, in the room of Sir Thomas Benger, 
 on the 24th of July, i ^79 (/). Thomas 
 
 RatclijS; 
 
 {s) His will was proved in the preFogatfve-office^ on the 
 27th of March 1577, ^7 Thomas Fugal, his chaplain, and 
 exeeator. Sir Thomas Benger had, with the office of the 
 Revels, a grant oi fines on alienations^ which, as he complain- 
 ed, did not add much to his confequence, or his wealth. 
 
 [t) Mai. Shak. partii. p. 45".— Philip Tilney was the fon 
 of Sir Philip I'ilney of Shelley Hall, who v^as treaftirer to 
 the army, which invaded Scotland under the Earl of Surrey,, 
 in the 5th of Henry viiith, by Joane Tey, his fecond wife. 
 The eldeft' (on of Sir Philip, by Mafgaret Breufe, his f.rft 
 wife, was Thomas Tilney of Shelley Hall, who,, marrytng 
 Margaret Barret, had Frederick Tilney of Shelley Hall, that 
 married Margaret Buckc, the aunt of Sir George Buckc. 
 —Agnes, tPiC After of Sir Philip Tilney, married Thomas 
 
 Howaxd> 
 
OF THE RfivELi.] for the BELIEVER S. 4^5' 
 
 RatcIifF, Earl of SuiTex:, was then Lord Cham- 
 berlain. During the long rule of Tilney, the' 
 privy council exercifed, as we have feen, an 
 authority, legiflative, and executive, over the 
 dramatic world. The privy council opened, 
 and fhut, playhoufes ; gave, and recalled, li- 
 cenfes; appointed the proper feafons, when 
 plays ought to be prefented, or withheld ; and 
 regulated the conduft of the Lord Mayor of 
 London, and the Vice-chancellors of Oxford, . 
 and Cambridge, with regard to plays, and 
 players. The privy council gave Tilney, in 
 1589, two coadjutors, a fiatefman, and a di- 
 vine, to affift him, in reforming *' Comedyes 
 •* and Tragedyes (//)." 
 
 Among 
 
 Howard, the Duke of Norfolk. — There was alfo another 
 Dutchefs of Norfolk of the Tilney family, namely j Ehza- 
 beth.the only daughter, and heirefs, of Sir Frederick Tilney 
 of Bofton, in the county of Lincoln: — From this Dutchefs, 
 the prefent Duke of Norfolk is defcended; from the former, 
 the Effingham branch is fprung. 
 
 (&) The following letters from the Lords cf the privy 
 council, which were copied from the council- regitters, 
 cftablifh a moft curious facSl, at the very moment, that Shak- 
 fpeare's dramas were about to appear : 
 
 'A letter to the Lord Archb: of Canterbury: '•'That whereas 
 *' there hathc growne fome inconvenience by comon playes 
 '* and enterludes in and about the cyttle of London, in [as 
 '* nyuch as] the players take uppon [them] to handlein their 
 
 I i 2 " plaiei 
 
4S4 ^« APOLOGY [OftheMaster 
 
 Among other revolutions of the ftage. Til- 
 ney, who was an obfervant officer, and a 
 
 fplendid 
 
 *' plaies ccrten matters of DIvinytIc and of State unfitt to ba 
 *« fufFered: For redrefle whereof their Ldhps have thought 
 ". good toappointe fome pfones of Judgment and underftand- 
 " ing to viewe and examine their playes before they be pmit- 
 " ted to pfent them publickly, His Ldfp is defired that 
 '* fome fytt pfone well learned in Divinity be appointed by 
 *' him to joyne wtb. the M: of the Revelies, and one oth'". 
 " to be nominated by the L: Maio"^. and they joyntly w'^. 
 " fome fpede to viewe and confider of fuch Comedyes and 
 ^' Tragedies as are and fhall be publickly played by the 
 " Companies of players in and about the Cittie of London^ 
 ^^ and they to geve allowance of fuche as they (hall think 
 " mecte to be played and to forbyd the reft." Dated the 
 I2th of November, 1589. 
 
 A letter on the fame day to the Lord Mayo^ of London : 
 *•' That whereas their Ldfhps have already fignifyed unto 
 " him to appoint a fufficient pfone learned and of Judge- - 
 " ment for the Cittie of London to joyne w.h, the M^ of the 
 *^ Revelles and with a Divine to be nominated by the hi 
 '' Archb: of Cant: for the reforminge of the plaies daylie 
 ^ cxercyfed and pfented publickly in and about the Cittie of 
 ** London, wherein the players take upon them w^^.out 
 ^^ Judgment or Decoru. to handle matters of Divinltie and 
 "■ State. Be is req^uired if he have not ?ls yet made choice 
 " of fuche a pfone, that he will foe do forthwith, and thereof 
 " geve knovv'ledge to tiie L: Archb: and the Mr. of the Re- 
 '^ velles, that they may all meet accordingly." 
 
 A Cre on the fame day to the Ma"", of the Revells ; " re- 
 " quiring him wth. twooth's, the one to be appointed by the 
 " L: Archb: of Canterb: and the othr. by the L: Maio^. of 
 " London, to be men of learning and Judgment, and to call 
 
 *' before 
 
•F THE Revbls.5 for the BEL I'E VERS. 4^5- 
 
 fpiendid man, had the happinefs to behold the 
 riiing fun of Shakfpeare, and to fee it blaze out 
 with meridian brightnefs, but faw not its fet- 
 ting beams. He had the fatisfadlion, how* 
 ever, of licenfing thirty of Shakfpeare*s dra- 
 mas; beginning with Henry vi, in 1590, or 
 1 59 1, and ending with Anthony and Cleopatra^ 
 in 1608. While dramatifts increafed, Tihiey 
 affifted, in 1600, to regulate the ftage, and to 
 reftrain the number of playhoufes. He faw 
 the players raifed to new honours, at the com- 
 mencement of a new reign; but to increafe in 
 licentioufnefs, as they rofe in privileges. He 
 died, in October (^') 1610, at Leathcrhead, in 
 
 Surrey, 
 
 *' before them the fev^ral companies of players (whofe fer- 
 
 *' vaunts foever they be) and to require them by authorytie 
 
 *' hereof to deliver unto them their books that they may 
 
 " confider of the matters of their Comedyes and Tragedyes, 
 
 '^ and thereuppon to ftryke out or reforme fuche ptc and 
 
 *' matters as they (hall fynd unfytt and undecent to be 
 
 " handled in plaies, bothe for Divinltieand State, comanding 
 
 <* the faid Companies of players in her Mat?, name, that they 
 
 ■" forbear to prefent any play publickly any Comedy or 
 
 " Tragedy other then fuche as they three fhall have fecne 
 
 « and allowed, w^*^. if they (hall not obferve, they {hall lett 
 
 ^ them knov/e from their L^^p^^ that they fhalbe not onely 
 
 <' f^vearly punifhed but made [in] capable of the exercifc 
 
 " of their profeffion for ever hereafter," 
 
 (^) His will was proved in the prerogative-office, by 
 
 I i 3 Thomw 
 
4^6 ^« APOLOGY [OftheMaster 
 
 Surrey, where his father had died before hira j 
 and was buried on the 6th of Odlober, by his 
 own dire6tions, in the church of Streatham. 
 Sir George Buck afferted, after the death of 
 his kinfii:ian, that Edmond Tilney enjoyed, 
 thirty-five pounds, yearly, for a houfe, as 
 Maftcr of the Revels, and a hundred pounds ci 
 year, for a better recompence {w), 
 
 Thomas Tilney, one of his executors, on the 17th of Oc- 
 tober J 6 10. The tcftator regrets, in his will, *' that he had 
 ^' fpent too much on fine cloathes j" but, as an atonement, 
 he bequeathed many charities : And, he ordered a monu- 
 ment to be ere(Slcd for hi mfelf and his father. The infcrip-r 
 fion records, as the laft tribute to vanity, his alliance vvitl> 
 Howard, the Duke of Norfolk. [Lyfon*s Environs of Lon- 
 don, vol. ii. p. 485-8.] Stow fpeaks of one, Mr. Tilmy^t 
 without adverting that he was the Mafter of the Revels^ 
 v/ho procured an order from the Lord Treafurer to prevent 
 the players of the Lord Admiral, and Lord Strangej frpi:^ 
 ailing in the city; ^' coijceiving an utter diflike to them." 
 [Strype*s edit. 1754., vol. ii. p. 331.] We fee here only a 
 glimpfe of the truth; and, indeed, we have nothing, with re- 
 gard to the ilage, in Stow with the fupplcment of Strype, 
 but mt):t fnakhcs of fi^hty when we look for fccnic hif- 
 .tory. 
 
 {w) As appears by a dacurrunt in the paper-^Jfice. This 
 afiertion of Sir George Buck is confirmed, by what Mr. 
 Malone found at the Exchequer, that tht^re v/as paid, in 
 1j6i i, to Edmond 7^ilney*s executor, /". 120, a 8. 3, as the 
 arrears, duetto him, at his death, [bhak. vol. i. part ii. 
 p- 45-] 
 
 >Jot\vith landing 
 
cr THE Revels.] for //^^ B E L I :E VERS. 487 
 
 Notvvithftanding all the reftraints of pre- 
 vious re vifal, and of fubfequent reprehenfion, 
 the comedians conduced their theatrical re- 
 prefentations, like men, who regard profit, 
 rather than propriety. In December 1604, 
 the King's players brought upon the ftage the 
 tragedy of Go wry, introducing the real aciors^ 
 which was attended " with exceeding con- 
 ** courfe of all forts of people /* and which 
 was followed by the difpleafure of *^ fome 
 ^ great counfellors(A;)/' From exhibiting re- 
 cent tranfadions, the comedians went on to 
 reprefent on the ftage " the whole of the 
 *' prefent time(^) : But, though the players 
 be the brief chronicles of the time^ they ought 
 to exhibit the part, with only a reflexive 
 glance upon the prefent fcene. 
 
 Before the demife of Elizabeth, the office 
 of the Revels, owing to its greater importance, 
 and better recompencc^ had become an objed: 
 
 {x^ Winwood's Mem. vol.il. p. 41 : — Chamberlaine's 
 jetter to Winwood, dated the i8th of December 1604. 
 
 {^y) The players, faid Calvert to Winwood, on the aSth 
 of March 1605, do not " forbear to prefent upon their 
 " ftage the whole courfe of this prefent time, not fparing 
 *' either the King, ftate, or religion, in fo great abfurdity, 
 ^' and with fach liberty, that one would be afraid to hear 
 ^' them." [Winwood's Mem. vol. ii, p. 64.] 
 
 114 of 
 
4S8 ^» APOLOGY [Of the Master 
 
 of defire to feveral competitors, John Lylly, 
 the dramatiil:, had lolicited for a reverlionary 
 grant of it, tiiough without fuccefs ; becaufe 
 he Wcts oppcfed by alt the Howards. George 
 Buck, however, obtained a reverfionary patent 
 for the office of Mafter of the Revels, on the 
 23d of Jufie 1603 ; and foQn after this favour, 
 Kiiig James gently laid knighthood on his JIjouI^ 
 der. Our biographers have raifed, rather than 
 gratified, curiofity, in refpe<ft to Sir George 
 Biicke. He w^s born at Ely, the eldeft foa of 
 Robert [z) Bucke, and Ehzabeth, the daugh- 
 ter of Peter Lee of Brandon-ferry ; the grands 
 fon of Robert Bucke, and Jane, the daughter 
 of Clenient Higham j the great gfandfon of Sir 
 John Eiicke, who, h^.ying helped Richard to a 
 horfe, on Bpfworth- field, vy as attainted for his 
 2eal. Sir George Bucke was, at t!ie epoch 
 Cif that grant^ appointed one of the gentlemen 
 of the privy- chamber ^ while Thomas How- 
 ard, the Earl of Suffolk, was Lord Chamber- 
 lain. The death of Edmond Tilney put Sir 
 
 (z) When Robert Bucke gave his pedigree to the he- 
 ralds, Vv'ho vifited Camlrridgefhire, in i 575, he called him-? 
 feif Bucke \ yet his fon George fpelt his name Buc ; fo little 
 attention was tlicre then paid to iyftematic accuracy. Wil| 
 our biographers never form a league of amity with our he- 
 ralds, which would t)e fo ^feful, in prompting biographical 
 knowledge ! 
 
 George 
 
o^ THE Revels.] for the B% tinVEKS. 489 
 
 George in poiTeffion of this envied office, 
 though he probably ad:ed in it a twelvemonth 
 beibre his deceafe, But, fuch is hfe, that its 
 fweeteft enjoyments, are not to be long pof* 
 feffed, v^ithout fome mixture of bitternefs. 
 The houfe of St. John's, which belonged to 
 the oiiice of the Revels, was foon after grant- 
 ed, by an eafy monarch, to Lord Aubeny, an 
 importunate favourite (^). Sir George Bucke 
 folicited, and obtained, from the Lord Trea- 
 furer Salilbury, thirty pounds a year, till an- 
 other houle ihould be affigned to him for the 
 accommodation of his office [i). In addition 
 
 to 
 
 (a) Heywood, In his- Jpolo^y for ASlon^ 1612, fign. E. i. 
 relates, " that when Edward, the fou.- c'l, would fhow him- 
 " felf in publick liate to the view of the people, hee repaired 
 ^^ to his palace at St. Johnes, where he was accuftomed to 
 " fee the citty actors ; and fince then, by the princes free 
 ^* gift, hath belonged to the oifice of the Revels, where 
 *• our court playes have bcene in late daies yearely re- 
 " herfed, perfected, and corrected, before they came to the 
 ^* publicks view of the prince, and the nobility." — It was 
 this, palace, or rather fome apartments in it, which had been 
 ^fligned- to the Mafter of the Revels, for his office \ and 
 which were now given away to another. 
 
 [h) Amidft the penury of information, with regard to the 
 office of the Revels, I fubmit to the reader, a reprefentation 
 of Sir George Buc, to the Lord Treafurer; and the order 
 ^efeon, by the E?.ri of Salifbury and Sir Julius Casfar, the 
 
 Chancellor 
 
490 ^^ A P O L O G y [Of the Master 
 
 to this accommodation, his office, probably, 
 produced him about a hundred pounds a 
 
 year. 
 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, which were found in the pa- 
 per-office ; and which will throw a little Jight on this obfcure 
 fubjea:— 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Earl of Salifbqrj, 
 
 L: High Treafurer of England, Szc, 
 
 Moft humbly I pray your Lordfhip to have favourable 
 
 confideration of the rating of an annual allowance for mc, 
 
 and for rooms for the office for thefe few juft, and honoura^ 
 
 hlc^ confidcrations, and reafons : — * 
 
 1. Imprimis — For the more honourable accommodating 
 of his Majcity's office of the Revels, and for the bettex 
 means of fervice to be done to his Majefty therein. 
 
 2. Item — In regard of the cxceffive dear rate of houfes 
 now to be hired, fit for fuch purpofes and fervices. 
 
 3. Item — In confideration that the houfe granted to me 
 by the King's letters patents is worth with the appurte- 
 nances ^ ann. £, 50. 
 
 4. Item— In confideration that the Lord of Suff : [oik] 
 Lord Chamberlain hrdh enjoined me in provide fit room$ 
 
 for the office I and whereunto were affigned 
 
 and large rooms in S^ Jones [S^ Johns] ; and which I 
 
 have according! V performed. 
 
 5. Item — In confideration that the late Mafler of the 
 Revels had allowance of ^. 35. ^ ann. for thefe pur- 
 pofes, hefides £, 100. for a better recompcnce, &c. 
 
 36. Item — In confideration that the yeomen and other 
 inferior officers have allowance of ^f. 15. dir' ann. for 
 their houfes j after which rate proportionably the Maf- 
 ter is to have treble, &c. (at the leaft) double allowance 
 according tp the honourable cullpm in like cafes &c : 
 
 G. ^\ic. 
 
 After 
 
OF theRevels.] >-/;.^ belie vers. 49t 
 
 year(^). Sir George Backe had the honour 
 to licenfe Timoa of Athens, in 1609; Corio- 
 
 After our hearty commendations : Whereas Sir George 
 Buck Knight Mafter of his Majefty^s Revels is by his let- 
 ters patentes under the greate feale of England, to have 
 fiich a houfe and iodginges as annciently belonged unto his 
 place. Ant' whereas by his Majefty's gifte of the houfe of 
 S*. John's to the Lord Ooigney, he hathe been difpofTefled of 
 the houfe and Iodginges formerly appointed to his office, 
 and by means thereof forced to provide himfelf of another 
 for a yearly rent, until feme other place fhalbe affigncd 
 unto him for that purpofe, and thereupon he hath been a 
 fuitC unto us for fome allowance^ in regard of his faid houfe 
 and Iodginges as we in oijr difcretions fhould think meete 
 and convenient for him. — Theis are therefore to will and 
 require you to allowe unto him the fum of thirtie pounds by 
 the yere in his accomptc to be yerely pafTed before yo"** in 
 refpecl of his faid houfe and Iodginges fo taken for him as 
 -aforefaid by his Majefty's faid graupt to the Lo: Obigney, 
 zna according to the iame rates of ^^.30, by the yere unto, 
 him, to make atiovvance of two whole years ended at the 
 feaft of All Saints lall paft. And the fame lo continue here- 
 iifter yerely until he fhall be otherwife provided for by his 
 Highnefs— And this fhalbe your warrant and difcharge in 
 that behaujfe.— From Whitehall the laft of Maye 161 1. — 
 Your loving frindes. R. Salisbury. — Jul. C^sar. 
 
 (c) In 16 J 2, the oiiicc of the Revels v/as on St. Peter's 
 hill, whence he dedicated his treatife on the third Umverfity 
 to Sir Edward Coke. [See Howe's Chron. p. 1061.] On. 
 the 13th of June J 61 3, a commilTion ilTued to Sir George 
 Buck ^* to take up as many paynters^ embroiderers, taylors, 
 *.^ &c. as he {hall think ncccflary for the office of the Revels." 
 [Lyfon's Environs, voj. i, p. 92. J 
 
 lanus. 
 
492 An APOLOGY [0» the Maste* 
 
 lanus, In 1610; Othello, in 161 1 ; the Tern- 
 peft, in 161 2; and Twelfth Night, in 1614, 
 which he lav^/ in the manufcript, without a biot^ 
 and *^abiohite in their numbers, as Shakfpearc 
 *' conceived them/' This honour, however, 
 he did not. enjoy, without the reprehenfion of 
 his (^) fuperiors, and the ^xivy of his equals. 
 Mean time, Sir John Aftley, one of the gen- 
 tlemen of the privy-chaniber, obtained a re- 
 verfionary grant of the office of Mafter of the 
 Revels, on the 3d of April 161 2. Benjamin 
 Johnfon obtained a fniillar grant, on the 5th 
 of October 1621 : Yet, this was not old Ben, as 
 it feemeth, who died in 1637, but. young Ben, 
 who died in (^) 1 635 ; and who was thus tanta- 
 lized 
 
 (i) As a proof, is fubmittcd the following letter ^' to Sir 
 ^' George Buck, knight, Madcr of the Revels," from the 
 Lords of the privy-council : — 
 
 *' We are informed, that there are certain players, or 
 '' comedians, we know not of what company, that go 
 *' about to play feme interlude, concerning the late Marquis 
 « D'Ancre, which, for many refpedls, we think not fit to 
 '' be futFered : We do therefore require you, upon your 
 *' peril, to take order, that the fame be not reprefent* 
 ^ ed, or played, in any place about this city, or elfewhere, 
 ^* whexc you have authority. And hereof have you a fpecial 
 " care.— -And fo &:c. — Dated, the 22d of June 1617/* 
 
 {e) Steeven's Shak. 1793, vol. ii. p.311 : and Mai, Shak. 
 part \u p. 45, v/hcrcin it i_s aiiHakingly faid, that Ben John^ 
 
 fon, 
 
OF THE Revels.] for th^ B E LI EVKKB. 493. 
 
 lized with profit, and with pleafure, which he 
 was never to obtain. The bad health of Sir 
 George Bucke induced him to relign his of- 
 fice to Sir John Aftley, in 1621, for a valuable 
 confideration, no doubt ; and he died on the 
 22d of (y) September 1623, feven years after 
 the fwan of Avon had ceafed to fing ; and 
 the fame year, in which Shakfpeare's Comedies, 
 Hijiories, and T'ragedies, were publillied by 
 Heminge, and Condell. 
 
 While the Britan?iia endures. Sir George 
 Bucke will be remembered, as the friend of 
 Camden; who is ftudious to avow the affiftance, 
 which he had received from him; and who 
 praifes Sir George, as " a man well learned, and 
 ** well read." Howes, alfo, acknowledges, how 
 much he had been obliged to Sir George, for^ 
 particular help, in compiling his Chronicle, 
 Among other difquifitions. Sir George Bucke 
 
 fon, the poet, obtained the reverfionary grant, in 162 1. 
 Dekker, in his Satirofrmjiix^ fneers at Johnfon, by making 
 Sir Vaughan fay : " 1 have fome coflen-germans at court 
 * fhall beget you the revcrfion of the Majier of the King' s 
 « Revels^ or elfe to be his lord of mifrule nowe at Chrift- 
 " mas." [Wart. Hid. of Poetry, vol. ii. p. 393 ; and Hawk. 
 Old Plays, vol. iii. p. 1 56.] 
 
 (/} Mai. Shak. vol. i. part ii. p. 157 : My refearches 
 have not enabled me to find the will of Sir George Bucke, 
 nor to difcover any adminiftratlon to his eftate. 
 
 "Y wrote 
 
494^ ^>'' APOLOGY [Of the Mastes 
 
 wrote a treatiie — ^* of Foets and Muficians^'* 
 which recent Inquirers have not been able to 
 find. Ke wrote ajfo a trad: on the third Ufif^ 
 rjerjity of England, which he dedicated to Sii^ 
 Edward Coke ; and which was pubiifhed by 
 Howes, in 163 1, as a fiipplement to his Chro- 
 nicle ; in order to ihow how much was taught 
 in London. In this work. Sir George treated 
 « of the Art oi Revels,'' which, he fays, " re- 
 '^ quireth knowledge in grammar, rhetorick, 
 *• logick, philofophie, hillory, mufic, mathe- 
 *' maticks, and knowledge in other arts (^)/' 
 On this interefting fubjed, he compofed a 
 particular treatife, Vv^hich unhappily has not 
 yet, by any diligence, been found. But, he 
 did not , write, as it feems, " the celebrated 
 '* Hiftory of Richard the 3d,'' which is faid to 
 have been written, after his death, by George 
 Bucke, his fon(/6). 
 
 Sir 
 
 [g] Sir George Bucke defcribes the arms of the office 
 of the Revels, as follows > though 110 grant of them by 
 the College of Arms can now be found : — *' Gules, a crofs 
 <' argent ; and in the firft corner of the fcutchcon a Mer- 
 ^' curies petajus argent ; and a lyon gules in chief or.*'' 
 See the title-page of this Jpology, 
 
 (h) Mai. Shak. vol. i. part ii. p. 47. Among the con- 
 ten)porary wits, George Bucke prefixed to Beaumont aod 
 Fletcher's plays, when they were publiihed in 1647, fonie 
 
 verfes 
 
or THE Revels.] for the BELIEVERS. 49^^ 
 
 Sir George Backe was fucceedcd, as Mafter 
 of the Revels, by Sir John Ailley, one of the 
 gentlemen of the privy-chamber. However 
 ambitious of the honours of the office, or de- 
 firous of its. .pio£ts,v he appears to have beea 
 little folicitous, about the performance of its 
 duties. In Auguft 1623, he appointed Sir 
 Henry Herbert, one of the gentlemen of the 
 privy-chamber, his deputy ; ii-iduced, partly 
 by a valuable (/) coniideration, although per- 
 haps as much by the influence of Philip, Earl 
 of Pembroke, the Lord Chamfcerlain, who re- 
 cognized Sir Henry, as his kinfman ; and partly 
 by the interefl: of George Herbert, the cele- 
 
 verfcs ** To the defert of the author [Fletcher], in his moft 
 " ingenious pieces :*' — 
 
 " Let Shakfpeare, Chapman, and applauded Ben^ 
 
 " Wear the eternal merit of their pen ; 
 
 ** Hsre, I am love-fick; and were I to chufe 
 
 " A millrefs Corrival, 'tis Fletcher's mufe.*' 
 This preference of Fletcher's mufe of flippancy to Shak- 
 fpeaie's mufe of fire was common to the wits of that age. 
 
 (/) Sir Henry fays in his reprefentation to the Lord Chan- 
 cellor and Lord Chamberlain, dated the 1 ith of July, 1662, 
 « that he had purchafed Sir John Aftley's intereft in thefaid 
 " office; and obtained of the late King*s bounty a gfant 
 « under the great feaj of England for two lives/' [Stee- 
 vens's Shak. vol. ii. p. 418.] 1 he allufion here was proba- 
 bly to the reverfionary grant, dated the J2thof Auguft 1629, 
 to lilmfelf, and Simon ThelwaJL 
 
 brated 
 
4^5 An APOLOGV [Of the MASTEit 
 
 brated orator of Cambridge Univerfity, who 
 had familiar intercourfe with King James. 
 Yet, Sir John Aftley continued in the office, 
 though he did not officiate, till his death, in 
 January, 1639-40: and when he made his 
 will, his pride of power induced a vain man to 
 call himfelf, in his tejlamenty the Majier of the 
 Revels {k). 
 
 Mean while, in Auguft 1623, Sir Henry 
 Herbert was received, as Majier of the Revels, 
 by his Majefty at Wilton ; and together with 
 the Lord Chamberlain, and the privy-council, 
 he foon after incurred the King's difpleafure, 
 for allowing the Spanifh court to be brought 
 upon the ftage (/). In order to m^^^ furety 
 
 more 
 
 {k) Mr. Malone %s, Sir John Aftley calls himfelf the 
 Majier of the Revels^ m the probate of his will, in the pre- 
 rogative-ofnce. fMal. Shale, vol. i. part ii. p. 46.] The 
 probat always follows the deceafe of the teftator. The wiW 
 was dated the 3d of January, and was proved on the lOth of 
 February 1639-1O, by WilHam Harrifon his executor^ who* 
 fays not, that the tefbtor had been Mafter of the Revels, 
 Sir John Aftley was of Maidftone, in Kent, and was the 
 coufin of Sir Jacob Aftley, who is remembered in hiftory^ 
 for his a^Slions i,n the field, 
 
 (/) The fubjoined letters will clearly explain that tranf- 
 adion, which is remarkable both in the political, and the 
 theatrical, worlds : — 
 
 Mrr 
 
OF THE Revels-I for the BELIEVER S. ^5jf 
 
 movQ fecure^ Sir Henry obtainedj, on the 12th 
 
 Auguft, 
 
 Mr. Secretary Conway's letter to the privy-council : — 
 '' May it pleafe your Lordfhips ; — His Majefly 
 ^^ hath received' information from the Spanifti Atn- 
 *' baflador of a very fcandalous comedy afled publicklj 
 "" by the King's players, wherein they take the bold- 
 *' nefs, and prefumption, in a rude, and difbonourable, 
 *' fafhion, to reprefent, on the ftage, the perfons of his Ma- 
 '' jefty, the King of Spain, the Conde de Gondomar, thfe 
 " Biftiop of Spalato &c. His Majefty remembers welF, 
 *' there was a commandment, and reftraint, given againft 
 *' the reprefenting of any modern Chriftian Kings in thofe 
 " ftage plays ; and wonders much both at the boldnefs novi^ 
 *' taken by that company^ and alfo that it hath been per-^ 
 ^' mitted to be fo a6ted, and that the firft notice thereof 
 *' fhould be brought to him by a foreign ambaflador, while 
 " fo many minifters of his own are thereabouts, and cannot 
 " but have heard of it. His Majefty's pleafure is, that your 
 " Lordfhips prefently call before you, as well the poet that 
 " made the comedy, as the comedians that a6ted it : And 
 " upon examination of them, to committ them, or fuch of 
 " them, as you fhall find mofl faulty, unto prifon, if you 
 ^' find caufe, or otherwife take fecurity for their forthcorrt- 
 ^ ing ; and then certify his Majefty, what you find that co- 
 ♦' medy tobe, in what points it is moft ofFenfive, by whom 
 '?' it was made, by whom licenfed, and what courfe you 
 " think fitteft to be held for the examplary, and fevere pu- 
 '' nifhment of the prefent offenders, and to reftrain fuch in* 
 '' folent, and licentious, prefumption, for the future. — This 
 " is the charge I have received from his Majefty, and with 
 *' it I make bold to offer to your Lprdfhips the humble fer- 
 <' vice of &c.— From Rufford, Auguft 12*^ j 1624." 
 
 K k The 
 
\^^ Jft A? OLOGY [Of THE Master 
 
 Auguft, 1629, for himfelf, and Simon TheU 
 
 wall. 
 
 The anfwer to Mr. Secretary Conway from the privy* 
 council :-^ 
 
 " After our hearty commendations &:c. — According to 
 <' his Majefty's pleafure fignified to this board by your letter 
 « of the I2'\ Auguft, touching the fupprefling of a fcanda- 
 <' lous comedy acSted by The King's players, we have called 
 ^' before us fome of the principal a6lors, and demanded of 
 <' them by what licenfs and authority they have prefumed to 
 *' a£l the fame ; in anfwer whereto they produced a book 
 *' being an original and perfect copy thereof (as they af- 
 « firmed) feen and allowed by Sir Henry Herbert Kn^ 
 " Mafter of the Revells, under his own hand, and fubfcribed, 
 " in the laft page of the faid book : We demanding further, 
 *' whether there were not other parts or paflages reprefented 
 ** on the ftage, than thofe exprefsly contained in the book, 
 " they confidently protefted, they added, or varied, from the 
 " fame, nothing at all. — The poet, they tell us, is one Mid^ 
 *' dleton, who fhifting out of the way, and not attending the' 
 <« board with the reft, as was expelled ; we have given 
 « warrant to a meffenger for the apprehending of him.— 
 «' To thofe that were before uSj v/e gave a found, and (harp, 
 '' reproof, making them fenfible of his Majefty's high dif- 
 *' pleafure herein, giving them ftraight charge, and com- 
 *' mands, that they prefumed not to a<5^ the faid comedy any 
 " more, nor that they fufFered any play or interlude what- 
 " foever to be a6led by them, or any of their company until 
 *' his Majefty's pleafure be further known. We have caufed 
 « them likewife to enter into bond for their attendance upon 
 «' the board whenfoever they {hall be called. As for our 
 " certifying to hisMajefty (as was intimated by your letter) 
 " what paflages in the faid comedy we fhould find to be 
 « ofFenfive and fcandalous j We have thought it our duties 
 
 « for 
 
9^ THE Revels.] for the B ELI E VERS. 49^ 
 
 wall, a reverfionary grant of the office, which 
 was to commence at the deaths, or refignation 
 
 of 
 
 *' For his Majefty's clearer Infoi-matlon, to fend herewithall » 
 
 " the book itfelf, fubfcribed as aforefaid by the Mafter of 
 
 *^ the Revells, th^t fo either yourfeli^ or fome other, whom 
 
 « his Majefty (hall appoint to perufj the fame, may fee the 
 
 " paflages themfelves out of the original, and call Sir Henry 
 
 " Herbert before you, to know a reafon of his licenfing 
 
 " thereof (who as we are given to underftand) is now at- 
 
 « tending at court ; So having done as much, as we con- 
 
 " ceived agreable with our duties in conformity to his Ma- 
 
 '' jefty's royal commandments, and that which we hope 
 
 *' fhall give him full fatisfadlion ; we fhall continue our hum- 
 
 " ble prayers to Almighty God for his health and fafety — . 
 
 '« and bid you very heartily farewell." [Dated the 21ft of 
 
 Auguft 1624.J 
 
 Mr. Secretary Conway's reply to the privy-council : 
 - " Right Honourable 5 — His Majefty having received fa^ 
 « tisfadlion in your Lordlhips endeavours, and in the figni- 
 ^^ fication thereof to him byyour's of the 21" of this pre- 
 " fent, hath commanded me to lignify the fame to youi 
 <' And to add further, that his pleafure is, that your Lord- 
 " fhips examine, by whofe dire<fl:ion, and application, the 
 " perfonating of Gondomar, and others was done ; and that 
 " being found out, the party, or parties to be feverely pu- 
 " niftied. His Majefty being unwilling for one's fake, and 
 '• only fault, to punifh the innocent, or utterly to ruin the 
 '' company. The difcovery on what party, his Majefty's juf- 
 '' tice is properly, and duly, to fall, and your execution of it, 
 " and the account to be returned thereof, his Majefty leaves 
 "^ to your Lordfhips wifdoms, and care. And this beino' 
 " that I have in charge, continuing the humble offer of my 
 
 K k 2 " fervice 
 
560 An APOLOGY [Op the Master 
 
 of Sir John Aftley, and Benjamin Johnfon* 
 This place, fays Ifaac {tri) Walton, required 
 
 « fervice and duty to the attendance of your command- 
 « ments&c. — From Woodftock, the 27**. Auguft 1624." 
 
 N. B. There is indorfed on Mr. Secretary Conway's let- 
 ters, by a hand of the time : « Touching the play, called, 
 « Game at Chess^." — In the council-regifter of the 30th 
 Auguft 1624, there is the following entry :-^This day Ed* 
 ward [Thomas] Middleton of London, gent, being formerly 
 fent for by warrant from this board, tendred his appearance, 
 wherefor his indemnitie is here entered into the regifter of 
 counceil caufes : neverthelefs he is enjoyned to attend the 
 board, till he be difcharged by order of their Lordfliips. 
 
 In a copy of a play, fays Mr. Malone, [Shak. 1790^ vol.i. 
 part ii. p. 154.] called a Game at Chefsy 1624, which was 
 formerly in poireflion of Thomas Pearfon, Efq. is the fol- 
 lowing memorandum in an old hand : — " After nine days, 
 «' wherein I have heard fome of the a6lors fay they took fifteen 
 " hundred pounds, the Spaniih fadlion, being prevalent, got it 
 « fuppreffed, and the author, M' Thomas Middleton, com- 
 " mitted to prifon." According to <« this ftatement they re- 
 « Ceived above jf. 1 66. 1 2J. on each performance* Thefore- 
 ^' going extrads fhcw, that there is not even a femblance of 
 " truth in this ilory.'* — We fee, however, from thofe ftate- 
 papers, that the ftory had a great femblance of truth in it 3 
 The only improbability in it is the receiving of^. 1500, at the 
 theatre, for nine reprefentations. — This play, which is never 
 more to be forgotten, was written, as we know from record 
 evidence, by J^Vzt;<?r^[ Thomas] Middleton; and was aded 
 nine days fucceilively at The Globe^ upon the Bankfide.— 
 Of the Game at Chefs there have been two editions, without 
 the dates of their publication. 
 
 (m) Life of George Herbert. 
 
 " a diligent 
 
OF THE Revels.} for the B E LI ZY%VL S, 50^ 
 
 '^ a diligent wifdom, with which God hath 
 ** blefTed Sir Henry Herbert." Certain it is, 
 that he executed that office, and with this 
 wifdom, for fifty years, during giddypaced 
 times ; when diligent wifdom was hardly a fafe- 
 guard for property, or perfon. 
 
 Of fuch a man, executing fuch an office, 
 who would not wifh to know fome further 
 particulars ? I will endeavour to gratify a rea- 
 fonablc curiofity, by adding a few notices, 
 with regard to a perfon, who left behind him 
 cffice-hooks^ which have greatly illuftrated the 
 hiftory of the Revels. Henry Herbert was 
 born towards the clofe of the fixteenth cen- 
 tury, in the caftle of Montgomery, which was 
 then a place of Jiate and Jhength ; and had 
 been long poffeft by the Herberts together 
 with a plentiful eftate. His father was Rich- 
 ard Herbert, who was defcended, through a 
 fucceffion of many knights, from the memo- 
 rable William, Earl of Pembroke, who died in 
 the reign of Edward the 4th. Henry Her- 
 bert's mother was Magdalen, the youngeft 
 daughter of Sir Richard Newport of High 
 Arkol, in the county of Salop, the happy 
 piother of feven fons, and three daughters, 
 which fhe would often fay, was 'Job's number \ 
 and, at the fame time, fraife God that they 
 
 K k 3 were 
 
502 An APOLOGY [OftheMaster 
 
 were defeBive^ neither in their pap es nor in their 
 reafon. This charming woman is celebrated, 
 by Dr. Donne, in his poems, as the Autumnal 
 beauty. Sir Edward Herbert, the famous Lord 
 Cherberie, was her eldeft fon, George Her- 
 bert, the admirable orator of Cambridge, was 
 her fifth fon, and Henry Herbert, the Mafter 
 of the Revels, was the fixth fon of this Au^ 
 tumnal beauty {7i). Of his brother Henry, 
 Lord Herbert relates, " that after he had been 
 ^* brought up in learning, as his other brothers 
 ** were, he was fent by his friends to France,. 
 *^ where he attained the language of that 
 '* country in much perfection, after which 
 *' time he came to court, and was made gen- 
 *' tleman of the King's privy-chamber, and 
 " Mafter of the Revels, by w^hich means, and 
 " alfo by a good marriage, he attained to 
 ^* great fortunes : He hath given feveral 
 " proofs of his courage, in duels, and other- 
 ** wife, being no lefs dextrous in the ways of 
 ^' the court (<?)," 
 
 Sir 
 
 («) Walton's Life of George Herbert, 1670. — Walton 
 informs us, that on the nth July 1627, he faw, and heard, 
 Dodtor Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's, weep, and preach, 
 the funeral fermon of that excellent woman, the celebrated 
 mother, of celebrated men, in the parifh church of Chelfea, 
 where (he now refts, in her quiet grave. [lb. p. 19.] 
 
 (^) His own Life, p. 13. Lord Herbert fettled o^i each 
 
 of 
 
OF THE Revels.] for the BELIEVERS, 503 
 
 Sir Henry Herbert owed his preferment to 
 the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke, the 
 Lord Chamberlain. When he became ading 
 Mafterof the Revels, in 1623, he was affifted 
 by William Hunt, who continued his yeoman 
 till September 1639; when Jofeph Taylor, 
 the well known manager of various theatres, 
 the firft player of Hamlet, and the able repre- 
 sentative of lago, was appointed Yeoman of 
 the Revels (/>), Notwithftanding the able. 
 
 of his fix brothers an annuity of thirty pounds, during their 
 lives, and gave each of his three fifters a thoufand pounds. 
 
 rib. 52.] 
 
 (/>) To the Clerk of the Signet attending : Thefe are to 
 fignify unto you his Majefty's pleafure, that you prepare a 
 bill for the royal fignature for a patent to be granted to Jo- 
 feph Taylor of the office or place of Yeoman of the Revels 
 to his Majefty in ordinary, in the place of William Hunt 
 deceafed ; to have and enjoy the faid place together vi^ith the 
 fee of fixpence p. diem, payable quarterly in the receipt of 
 his Majefty's exchequer, and all other fees, profits, emolu- 
 ments, and advantages vi'hatfoever to the faid place belong- 
 ing to him the faid Jofeph Taylor, during his life, in as am- 
 ple, large, and beneficial a manner, as the faid William Hunt 
 or any other before him ever had and enjoyed the fame : 
 And to commence from th? day of the deceafe of the faid 
 William Hunt. And this &c. Dated the -21 ft of 06^. 
 1639, [Copied from a MS book in the Lord Chamber- 
 lain's office.] Taylor is faid to have died at Richmond, in 
 1653, or 1654: But, I have not been able to difcover his 
 will, or any adminiftration to his elFeds, 
 
 K k 4 help 
 
504 ^n APOLOGY [Of the Master 
 
 help of Taylor, there was allowed to be a6ted 
 by the Mafler of the Revels, a play called The^ 
 Whore New Vamped, which drew the attention 
 of the privy-council, and involved them both 
 in merited difcredit {q): 
 
 In 
 
 {q) " Whereas complaint was this day [29th September 
 « 1639] made to his Majefty fitting in council, that the 
 *' flage players of the Red Bull have lately for many days, 
 '' together, adted a fcandalous and libellous play, wherein. 
 '' they have audacioufly reproached in a libellous manner,, 
 *' traduced, and perfonated, not only fame of the Aldermen 
 " of the City of London^ and other perfons of quality ; but alfo 
 <' fcandalized and defamed the whole profe/Iion of Pro6^ors 
 " belonging to the Court of Civil Law, and reflected upon 
 " the prefent Government : It was Ordered, that Mr. At- 
 *' torney General fhould be hereby prayed, and required, 
 *' forthwith to call before him, not only the poet that made 
 " the iaid play, and the ailors that played the fame, but alfo 
 *' the perfon wholicenfed it, and having diligently examined 
 " the truth of the fame complaint, to proceed foundly againft 
 *' fuch of them, as he fhall find to be faulty, and to ufe fuch, 
 *' efFe6lual expedition to bring them to fentence as that their 
 *' exemplary punifhment may prevent fuch infolentcys be- 
 "" times." 
 
 Exceptions :>— In the play called The Whore New Famp\l 
 where there was mention of the New Duty upon wines, one 
 that perfonates a juftice of the peace, fays to Cane, Sirrah, 
 Fll have you before the alderman ; — whereto Cane replied in 
 thefe words, viz. The alderman ! The alderman is a bafe, 
 drunken, fottifh knave, I care not for the alderman ; I fay the 
 alderman is a bafc, drunken, fottifh knave ; another faid, 
 liow now. Sirrah, v>'hat alderman do you fpeak of? Then 
 
 Cane 
 
OF THE Revels.] for ihe BE LIE VERS. ^o^ 
 
 In the mean time, the paffion of the court 
 for theatrical entertainments required a flridier 
 attendance, both at Whitehall, and at Hamp- 
 ton-court, of the officers of the Revels, than 
 had been ufual, during t^e Jlealing hours of 
 time ; and they were • allowed for a larger fer- 
 vice, a fuitable allowance (rj. The fame 
 
 paffion 
 
 Cane faid, I mean alderman, the bJackfmith, in Holborn: — > 
 iliid th'other, was he not a vintner ? Cane anfwered, I know 
 no other. — In another part of the fame pWy, one fpeaking of 
 projects, and patents, that he had gotten amongft the reft, 
 faid that he had a patent for twelve pence a piece, upon every 
 proclor and proftor's man_, that was not a knave: — Said an- 
 other, was there ever known any proctor, but he was an ar- 
 rant knave ? 
 
 It does not appear, that The Whore New Vamp'd was ever 
 publiftied, at leaft it is not mentioned, either in the Biogra* 
 phia Dramatica, or in Egerton's Remembrancer : Nor, is 
 this circumftance much to be regretted ; as it appears to 
 have been very libellous, and very dull. This is probably 
 the laft time, that the privy-council ever fat for the purpofe 
 of correding the dulnefs of the ftage : For, in the fubfequent 
 year, the ancient jurifdidion of the privy-council, over per- 
 fons, and property, was retrained within falutary bounds, 
 by the adl i6 Cha. i. ch. lO, for regulating the privy-coun-- 
 cil, and for taking away the court of ftar-chamber : This a6l 
 forms an epoch in dramatic hiftory. 
 
 (r) After my very hearty comendations : Whereas the 
 
 officers of the Revells have [attended] by my command at; 
 
 Hampton-court about his Majefty's fervice thefe three years. 
 
 ^aft beginning the laft of October 1632, and ending the laft 
 
 ^ of 
 
5o6 Aa APOLOGY [Of the Mastej^^ 
 
 paffion alfo led to the introdud:ion, and encou- 
 ragement, of French comedians, and Spaniih 
 players, during the year 1635 (i-). And that, 
 
 paffion 
 
 ©f Odober 1635 A mcyith fooner than their Ordinary time 
 of attendance \ Thefe are therefore to pray and require you, 
 that for every year within the faid time, you give aHowance 
 to the Mafter of 8^./ per diem, which cometh to ^. 12. — . 
 To the Clerk Comptroller, Clerk and Yeoman f^, 3. 6. 8. 
 apiece; which cometh to^T. 10:— And to the Cjroofn 
 f^. I. 13. 4, which cometh in all to ^. 23. 13. 4. yearly.. 
 And for {o doing &c. Dated the 2 5^h May 1636. 
 
 After my very hearty comraendations : — Whereas the 
 Mafter and Officers of the Revells were commanded by his 
 Majefty to begin their attendance yearly at the Feall of St. 
 Michael the Archangel, which is above a month before their 
 ufual time of waiting, and demand allowance for the three 
 laft years, beginning the lafl: of Odlober 1630, and ending 
 the laft of Odober 1632, a month fooner than their ordinarj 
 time of attendance : Thefe are therefore to pray and require 
 you, that for every year within the faid time, you give 
 allowance to the Mafter of 8 ^/ per diem, which cometh to 
 ^. 12: To the Clerk Comptroller, Clerk, and Yeomabi 
 /. 3. 6. 8. a piece, which cometh to ^, 10 : And to the 
 Groom ^T. I. 13. 4. yearly J and fo continue the fame from 
 time to time yearly until you have warrant to the contrary. 
 And for fo doing &c. Dated the 1 3th February 163^-. — To 
 my loving friends the Auditors ofhis Majefty's Impreft, or 
 to any one of them whom it may concern. [From a MS. 
 book in the Lord Chamberlain's office.] 
 
 {s) There is the following entry in a MS. book in the 
 Lord Chamberlain's office : 18 April 1635 : His Majefty 
 hath ccmmanded me to fjgnify his royal pleafure, that ^he 
 
 French 
 
OF THE Revels.] for the BELIEVERS. 507 
 
 paffion of the King and Queen created a great, 
 and extraordinary expence, at a time, when they 
 enjoyed but a very fcanty revenue : The adt- 
 ing of Cartwright's Royal Slave, on Thurfday 
 the 12th of January 163-^-, before the King 
 at Hampton-court, coil one hundred and iifty- 
 four (/) pounds, exclufive of forty pounds, 
 
 which 
 
 French comedians (having agreed v^rith Monf. le Febure) 
 may ere6t a ftage, fcaffolds, and feats, and all other accom- 
 modations, which ihall be convenient, and act and prefent 
 interludes, and ftage plays, at his houfe, in Drury-lane, 
 during his Majefty's pleafure, without any difturbance> hin- 
 drance, or interruption. And this fhall be to them, and 
 Mr. le Febure, and to all others, a fufficient difcharge, &:c. 
 [The addrefs is wanting.] 
 
 [t) Id: — The following lift of payments, which was 
 compiled from the fame MS. book, will alfo (how how much 
 the expence for theatrical entertainments was increafed, 
 fmce the frugal reign of Elizabeth y as, indeed, the price of 
 all things had rifen : — 
 
 ayth April 1634 — A warrant for ^.220, unto John Lowen, 
 Jofeph Taylor, and Elliard Swanfton, for them- 
 felves, and the reft of their fellows, the King's 
 players, for 22 plays by them a6led before his 
 Majefty within a whole year. 
 25th Auguft 1634 — A council-warrant for £, 100, for the 
 Prince's players for their attendance abroad, during 
 the progrefs of the court. 
 31ft Decem"". 1634 — A warrant for ^. 70, unto Chrifto- 
 pher Beefton for himfelf, and the reft of th^ 
 Queen's players, for plays a(^ed by them in 1 633. 
 
 i8th 
 
^0^ Jn AVOhOGY [Of THE Master; 
 
 which Sir Henry Herbert fays the King gave 
 the author. The King and Queen's pafilon 
 
 for 
 
 :^?th Janry 163* — A warrant for^f. 140O unto Mr. Edmund, 
 Taverneijlobe employed towards the charge of a 
 mafquetobe prefented before his Majedyat Vv^hite- 
 hall at Shrovetide next, the fame tobe taken wi!:hout 
 imprefl:, account, or other charge, to be fet upon 
 him his executors or afligns. [This is the mafque, 
 which Sir Henry Herbert records the ading of 
 " On Shrave-tuefday night, the 1 8th of February : 
 « It was the nobleft mafque of my time j the beft 
 " poetry; the beft fcenes ; and the beft habitts."] 
 
 24th Jaary 163I — A warrant for yf. 30 unto William Bla- 
 grave for himfelf and the reft of his company, for 
 three plays a6^ed by the Children of the Revelis at 
 Whitehall in 1631. — Mem. — Their bill was fign- 
 ed by Sir Henry Herbert, Mafter of the Revelis, 
 and pafled. 
 
 30th Janry 163-1 — ^ warrant for j{^*. 30, unto William Bla- 
 grave, for himfelf and the reft of his company, for 
 three plays, aded by the Children of the Revelis,^ 
 in 1631. — 
 
 ^Oth May 1635 — A warrant for £. 30, unto Monf. Jofias 
 Floridor for himfelf and the reft of the French 
 players, for three plays ailed by them, at the Cock- 
 pit.— 
 
 24th May 1635 — A warrant for £. 250, unto John Lowen, 
 for himfelf and the reft of the King's players, for 
 twenty plays (whereof 5 at j^. 20, a piece, being at 
 Hampton - court) by them adled between 13th 
 May 1624, and the 30th of March 1626. 
 
 lOthDecem^ 1635 — A warrant for £, 100 to the Prince's 
 
 comedians — viz. £. 60 for 3 plays a6led at Hamp- 
 
 6 ton* 
 
OF THE Revels.] /^r /i5^ B E L I E V E RS. 509 
 
 ^ for plays fhowed itfelf in their kindnefs 
 
 to 
 
 ton-court at £. 20 for each play, in September, 
 and October 1634. — 'And ;^. 40, for four plays 
 at Whitehall, and the Cockpit^ in January, Febru- 
 ary, and May following, at^. 10 for each play. — 
 Mem. — Their bill was figned by Sir Henry Her- 
 |; ^ bert, Jofeph Moore, Andrew Kayne [Kane] 
 
 and Ellis Worth, 
 ii^d Decemr. 1635— A warrant for j^. 10 unto John Na- 
 varro, for himfclf and the reft of the company of 
 Spanifh players, for a play prefented before his 
 Majefty. 
 8th Jafiry 163-I— *-A warrant for £. 10* unto Jofias Floridor^ 
 for himfelf and the reft of the French players, for 
 a tragedy, by them acted before his Majefty iit 
 December laft.— 
 24th March 163^— A warrant for £. 90, unto M*". Chrifto- 
 pher Beefton, for 8 plays a6led by the Queen's 
 players at court, in 1634, whereof one at Hamp- 
 ton-court, 
 loth May 1636 — A warrant for £, 180, unto the King's 
 
 players, for plays, a6led in 1635, 
 8th FTbry 1637 — A warrant for £. 50, unto Richard He- 
 ton, for himfelf and the reft of the company of the 
 players, at Saiift»ury- court, for 3 plays a6ted by 
 them before his Majefty, in Odober^ and Febru- 
 ary 1635 (viz.) Two at £.20 a piece, being at 
 Hampton- court ; the other at £. 10, being at 
 St. James's. 
 15th March 163^— A warrant for £. 240, unto his Majef- 
 ty's players — viz. ^\ 210. for 21 plays, a6led by 
 them at ;£. 10 a play;.— And £, 30 more, for a 
 Dew play called the Royal Slave, 
 
 iQth 
 
5tC> ^» APOLOGY [Of THE Master 
 
 to the players, who as royal fervants 
 
 were 
 
 •»> 
 
 lOth May 1637 — A warrant for the payment of j^". 150, un- 
 to Mr. Chriftopher BeejRron, for plays a6ted by 
 the Queen's fervants — (viz.) Four at Hampton- 
 court, at £*io per play, in 1635. — Five at 
 Whitehall in the fame year j and tv/o plays acSted 
 by the New Company. 
 15 March 163I— A warrant for £, 150 unto John Lowen, 
 Jofeph Taylor and Eiliardt Swanfton, or any of 
 them, for themfelves, and the reft of the company 
 of his Majefty's players, for 14 plays a(3:ed before 
 his Majefty, between the 30th of September and 
 the 3d of February following^ 1637. — One whereof 
 was at Hampton-court, for which £. 20 is allow- 
 ed; the reft at the ufual allowance of ^. 10 ^ 
 play. 
 2 ift March 163I- — A warrant for £, 40 unto Jofeph Moorcj 
 for himfelf and the reft of the Prince's players, for 
 three plays a^led before his Highnefs, &c. in No- 
 vember, and December laft : One whereof was 
 at Richmond, for which was allowed £. 20, in 
 confideration of their travel, and remove of goods. 
 12th March 163I — Forafmuch as his Majefty's fervants, the 
 company at the Blackfryers, have by fpecial com- 
 mand, at divers times within thefpace of this prefent 
 year 1638; adled 24 plays before his Majeftyj fix 
 whereof have been performed at Hampton-courtj 
 and Richmond, by means whereof, they were not 
 only at the lofs of their day at home, but at extraor- 
 dinary charges, by travelling, and carriage of their 
 goods; in confideration whereof they are to have 
 £, 20 a piece, for thofe plays ; and ^Z^. 10 a piece, for 
 the other 18 aded at Whitehall, which in the 
 
 whole 
 
io* THE Revels.] Jhr the ^ E L I EV E RS. 51! 
 
 were protefted from arr2iT:s, by frequent 
 
 interpofitions 5 
 
 \ ^ . I 
 
 whole amounteth to the fum of £. 300.' — Thefe 
 are therefore to pray and require you out of his 
 Majefty's treafure, in your chargCj to pay or caufc 
 to be paid unto John Lowen, Jofeph Taylor^ and 
 Eliiardt Swanfton, or any one of them, for them- 
 felves, and the reft of the aforefdid company, of his 
 Majefty's players, the faid fum of ^. 300, for act- 
 ing the aforefaid 24 play s.-^ And thefe &:c; 
 6th March 1639/40— A warrant for ^.80, unto Henry 
 Turner &c. the Qiieen's players, for feven plays 
 by them a6led at court in 1638, & 1639 ; where- 
 of j^. 20 for one play at Richmond. 
 4:th April 1640 — A warrant for £. 230, unto John Lowen, 
 Jofeph Taylor, and Eliiardt Swanfton for them- 
 felves and the reft of the company of the players, 
 for one and twenty plays, acSted before their Majef- 
 ty's, whereof two at Richmond, for which they are 
 allov/ed ^T. 20 a piece; and for the reft £. to a 
 piece ; all thefe being aded between the 6th of 
 Auguft 1639, and the nth of Febry following. 
 4th May 1640 — A warrant for £. 60 unto the company of 
 the Prince's players (viz.) to Jofeph Moore and 
 Andrew Kayne [Kane, or Cane] for themfelves 
 and the reft, for 3 plays by them a6ted at Rich- 
 mond, at £, 20 each play, in confideration of their 
 travelling expences, and lofs of the days at home, 
 thefe in the month of November. — Mem. — Their 
 bill was teftified by Mr. Ayton, the Prince's Gent. 
 Uftier. 
 20th March 1640/1 — A warrant for £. 160 unto the King's 
 players, for plays acted before his Majefty, the 
 Qjeen, and Prince, between the lOth of Novem- 
 ber 
 
5t2 ^/APOLOGY [OftheMaster 
 
 {u) interpofitions 5 and who, in return, ad- 
 hered to the King*s fide, during the civil wars, 
 which involved all, in a common ruin. Sir 
 Henry Herbert enjoyed his full fhare both 
 of the pleafures, and difti-effes, of thofe times. 
 The Mafter of the Revels feems to have 
 exercifed an authority over the prefs, as well 
 as over the players : And, by virtue, of fome 
 power, which he probably derived from the 
 Lord Chamberlain, Sir Henry Herbert often 
 iicenfed, during that period, the printing of 
 plays, and poetry. The fame Earl of Pem- 
 broke, the Lord Chamberlain, who patron- 
 ized Shakfpeare, as the player-editors inform 
 us, alfo endeavoured, though without fuccefs, 
 to prevent the ftealing of his manufcripts> 
 the corruption of his writings, and the dif- 
 grace of the poet, by furreptitious printing. 
 Lord Pembroke's brother, and fucceflbr, in 
 office, made a new effort, in 1637, on the 
 complaint of the players, to prevent the illicit 
 printing of the plays, which they had piir^ 
 chafed at dear rates, by addreffing an official 
 
 ber 164O5 and the 22d of February 1 640/1 to be 
 paid to John Lowen, Jofeph Taylor, and EUardt 
 Swanlton or any of them. 
 
 («) In the fame MS book, there are many tickets of pri- 
 vilege to the players, and the dependants on the players 
 
 edia 
 
t)t tHE Revkls.] /^r /i-^ B E lie VE R S. 513 
 
 edi^t to the Mafter and Wardens of the Sta- 
 tioners' company {v), 
 
 (y) The Loj'd Chamherldtri's ediSf a^altiji printing plays, 
 [From a MS. book in his office.] 
 
 After my hearty commendations : —Whereas complaint 
 was heretofore prefented to my dear brother and predecefTor 
 by his Majefty's fervants the players, that fome of the Com- 
 pany of Printers and Stationers had procured publiflied and 
 printed divers of their books of Comedies Tragedies 
 Interludes Hiftories and the like which they had (for the fpe- 
 Cial fervice of his Majefty and for their own ufe) bought and 
 provided at very deare and high rates : By means whereof 
 not only they themfelves had much prejudice, but the books 
 much corruption to the injury and difgrace of the authors ; 
 And thereupon the Mafter and Wardens of the Company of 
 Printers and Stationers were advifed by my brother to take 
 notice thereof and to take order for the ftay of any further 
 impreffion of any of the plays or Interludes of his Majefty's 
 fervants j without their confents ; which being a caution given 
 vVith fuch refpe6t, and grounded on fuch weighty reafons, 
 both for his Majefty's fervice, and the particular intereft of 
 the players, and fo agreable to common juftice, and that in- 
 different meafure, which every man would look for in his 
 own particular, it might have been prefumed that thert 
 would have needed no further Order or direction in the buii- 
 nefs: Notwithftanding which I am informed that fome Co- 
 pies of Plays belonging to the King, and Queen's Servants, 
 the players, and purchafed by them at deare rates, having 
 been lately ftolen or gotten from them by indirect means are 
 now attempted to be printed and that fome of them are at 
 your prefs, and ready to be printed, which if it fhould be fuf- 
 fered would directly tend to their apparent detriment and 
 great prejudice and to the difenabling of them to do their 
 
 L \ Majefties 
 
514 ^« APOLOGY [Of the MAsrstt 
 
 • The printers, however, were not the only 
 perfons, who furreptitioufly appropriated the 
 goods of other owners. The players, and the 
 dlredors of players, ftole from one another. 
 
 Majeflies fervice : For prevention and redrefs whereof, it 
 is defired that Order be given and entered by the IMailer 
 and Wardens of the Company of Printers and Stationers, 
 that if any plays be ah-eady entred, or fhall hereafter be 
 brought unto the Hall, to be entred for printing, that no- 
 tice thereof be given to the King's and Qiieerfs fervants the 
 players, and an inquiry made of them to vi^hom they do be- 
 long. And that none be fuffered to be printed untill the 
 ailent of their Majefty's faid f,;rvants be made appear to the 
 Mafter and Wardens of the Company of Printers and Sta- 
 tioners by fome Certificate in Writing under the hands of 
 John Lowen and Jofeph Taylor for the King's fervants, and 
 of Chriftopher Biefton for the King's and Queen's young, 
 company or of fuch other perfons as fhall from time to time 
 have the direction of thoie Companies, which is a courfe that 
 can be hurtful! unto none, but fuch as go about unjuftly to 
 avail themfdves of others goods, w^ithout refpecl of Order, 
 or good government, whicli I [am] confident you will be 
 careful to avoid : And therefore 1 commend it to your fpecial 
 care and if you (hall have need of any further authority or 
 power either from his Majjlfy or the Council-table the bet- 
 ter to enable you in the execution thereof, upon notice given 
 to me either by yourfelves or by the players, I will endeavour 
 to apply that further remedy thereto which Ihall be requifite. 
 And lb &c. Dated the loth of June, 1637. P.[embroke] 
 and M.[ontgomery%] 
 To the Mafter and War- 
 . dens of itie Company of 
 Printer*: r^ad Stationers. 
 
 The 
 
 i 
 
OF THE feEVfeLS.}" for iU B £ tf^I^VfrR S. ^Xf. 
 
 The Mafter of the Revels tried, without fuc- 
 cefs, to prevent this petty larceny, Cortf^' 
 plaitits were made, when other meafures fail-*- 
 cd, to the Lord Chamberlairi, who fuppofcd- 
 himfelf, becaufe he was fa ppofcd by others, 
 to be omnipotent over the theatric world* 
 And, he iffued to the puny rulers bf the cfra- 
 matic ftatcs, his imperative mandates, which,' 
 as they were fometimes enforced by impri- 
 fonment, were generally obeyed" '' as ^/V/)?g- 
 laws{w), - . > 
 
 Yet, 
 
 (zf) Whereas Wnnabi BieftonGent. GoverHor&c. of the 
 King's and Queen's Young Company of Players at the Cock- 
 pit In Drury Lane, hath reprefented unto his iviajefty, that the 
 feverai plays hereafter mentioned (viz.) Witt without 
 Money J The Night Walkers ; The Knight of the burning 
 Peftillj Fathers owne Sonne; Cupids Revenge 5 The 
 Bondman; The Renegado; A New way to pay Debts; 
 The Great Duke of Florence; The Maid of Honor ; The 
 T ray tor ; The Example; The Young Admirall; T^e, 
 Opoitunity; A Witty fayre one; Loves Cruelty; Tte^ 
 Wedding ; The Maids Revenge ; The Lady of Pleafure'; 
 The Schoole of Complement ; Ifhe gratefulServant ; The 
 Coronation ; Hide Parke ; Philip Chabot Admiral of 
 France; A Mad Couple well mett; AlPs lofs by Luft j 
 The Changeling; A fayre Quarrell ; TlTe Spanifli Gypfle; 
 The World ; The Sunnes Darling ; Love's Sacrifice; Tis 
 Pitty {hee*s a Whore; George a greene ; Loves Miftrefs; 
 The Cunning Lovers ; The Rape of Lucrefe ; A Trick to 
 cheat the Devill ; A Foole and her Maydenhead foon part- 
 ed ; King John and Matilda; A Citty Night Cap; The" 
 
 L 1 2 Bloody 
 
^i6 Jn APOLOGY [Of THE Master 
 
 . Yet, it Ibmetimes required the authority of 
 the Lord Chamberlain, and the penalty of 
 imprifonment, to oblige the managers of play- 
 houies to obey the accuftomed . powers of the 
 Mafter of the Rev.els; fo obiKnate is intereft, 
 when oppofed to duty. William Beeflon, who 
 leems to haye.fucceeded his father Chriilopher 
 Beeflon, iji .. the,, management of the young . 
 pI^yfKl at;f the .C^ckpit;^ in Drury-lane, was. 
 tj;\lj:^s indiiced, .tO' difobey the orders of the 
 Mafter of the Revels ; performing a forbidden 
 play, " which had relation to the paffages of 
 ** . the King's journey into tlie North ; whereof 
 "^jhis Majefty complained " to Sir Henry Her- 
 
 Bfoody Banquett ; Cupid^s Vagaries ; The Conceited 
 ErifkeV and Appins and Virginia ; do all and every of them 
 properly and of right belong to the faid houfe ; and confe- 
 quently, that they are all in his propriety. — And to the end 
 that any other companies of aclors in or about London fhall 
 not prefume to a6l any of them to the prejudice of him the 
 laid William Bicfton and his company.~His Majefty hath 
 fignified his royal pleafure unto me thereby requiring me to 
 declare fo much to all ether companies of adors hereby con- 
 cernable, that they are not any ways to intermeddle with, or 
 a(5t any of the above mentioned plays.— Whereof I require 
 all' mailers and governors of playhoufes, and all others whom 
 It may concern to take notice and to forbear to impeach the 
 faid William Eicfton in the premifTes as they tender his 
 M-ajefly's difplcafurc, and will anfwer the contempt. Dated 
 the iCth of Auguft 1639. [From a MS. book in the Lord 
 Chumbrrlain's office.] 
 
 bert. 
 
OF THE Revels.] /or //^^ B E L I E V R P. S. 517 
 
 bert. The Lord Chamberlain • iflueS his of- 
 ficial edid againft him {x). Beeftcn was com- 
 mitted to the Marflialfey, by virtue of his 
 warrant, for playing without a licenfe ; yet, 
 }ie was in a few days difcharged, on making 
 a formal fubmiffion to fcenk power. 
 
 (.v) The following is a copy of the Lord Chamberlain's 
 order, from a MS, book in his office; — 
 
 Whereas William Biefton and the compaqy of players of 
 the Cockpit in Drury-lane have lately a6ted a new play 
 without any licenfe from the Mafter of his Majsfty's Revells, 
 ^nd being commanded to forbear plaj'ing or a^ing of the 
 lame play by the faid Mafter of the Revells^ and commanded 
 Jikewife to forbear all manner of playing, have notwithftand- 
 ing in contempt of the authority of the faid Mafter of the 
 Revells and the power granted unto him under the great feal 
 of England acted the faid play and others to the prejudice of 
 his Majefty's fervice and in contempt of the o^ce of the Re- 
 vells [whereby] he, and they, and all other companies, ever have 
 been and ought to be governed and regulated ; Thefe are 
 therefore in his Majefty's name and fignification of his royal 
 pleafure to command the faid William Biefton and the reft 
 of that company of the Cockpit players from henceforth and 
 upon fight hereof to forbear to a6t any plays whatfoever un- 
 til they fhall be reftored by the faid Mafter of the Revells 
 unto their former liberty. Whereof all parties concernable 
 are to take notice and conform accordingly as they and 
 every of them will anfwer it at their peril. Dated the 3'*. of 
 May 1640. 
 To W"^ Biefton, George Eftoteville-j 
 
 and the reft of the Company of Players > 
 
 at the Cockpit in Dfury-lane. J 
 
 L 1 3 But, 
 
5i8 An APOLOGY [Of the Master 
 
 - But, his rebellion againft authority feems 
 not to have been foon forgotten. He was not 
 long after fuperfeded in his management, by 
 a perfon, who had more intereft than Beefton; 
 becaufe he knew better hovv to pleafe. This 
 was William D'Avenant, the lawful fon of 
 John D'Avenant, vintner, in Oxford, the fop-- 
 pofed(ot\ of Shakfpeare, and the opponent of Sir 
 Henry Herbert. D'Avenant was born, in Fe- 
 bruary i6o4-; and entered of Lincoln poUege^^ 
 Oxford, in 1621 : But, leaving the univeriity, 
 without a degree, became firft the page of 
 the Duchefs of Richmond, then an attendant 
 on Lord Brook, and afterwards a fervant of 
 the Queen. As a dramatic writer, he pub- 
 lifhed Albovme, in 1629 ; the Cruel Brother, 
 in 1630 ; the Juji Italian, in 1630 ; the Tem- 
 ple of Love, in 1634; the I'rmmpks of the 
 ^prince D' Amour, in 1635 ; the Platonic Lovers^ 
 in 1636; the Wits, in 1636 j Britannia Tri^ 
 iimpkans, in 1637 : -^^d, on the 13th of De- 
 cember, 1638, an annuity of ^. 100. was fet- 
 tled on him, by Charles the firft ^ " in con- 
 ** iideration of feryices done, and to be done." 
 On the 26th of March 1639, he was autho- 
 rized, by a patent under the great feal, as we 
 learn from Rymer, to ered: a playhoufe, in 
 Fleet-ftreet ; But, from this project, D'Ave- 
 nant 
 
OF THE Revels.] for iJ5e U E LI E V Z RS. 519 
 
 nant foon defiiled ; becaufe his attention was 
 immediately drawn to an objecl of lefs rifqne, 
 and of more eafy execution. On the 27th of 
 June 1640, he was appointed by the Lord 
 Chamberlain to take into his government the 
 theatre, called the Cockpit, in Drury-Iane (y). 
 
 But, 
 
 (y) The following appoifiiment w^s copied from a MS. 
 book in the Lord Chamberlain's office. Mr. Malone has 
 mifdated this document, in 1639, inilead of 164C. [Shak. 
 vol. L part ii. pag. 237.] 
 
 ^' Whereas in the playhoufe or theatre comnionly called 
 the Cockpit in Drury-lane there are a company of players 
 .or aclors authorifed by me ( as Lord Chamberlain to his 
 Majefty) to play or act under the title of the King's an4 
 .Queen's fervants, and that by reafon of fomedlforders lately 
 amongft them committed they are difabled in their fervice 
 and quality : Thefe are therefore to fignify that by the fame 
 authority I do authorife and appoint William Davenant 
 Gent, one pf her Majefty's fervants, for me, and in my name, 
 to take into his government and care the faid company of 
 players, to govern, order, and dlfpofe of them for adion and 
 prefentmerjts and all their affairs in the faid houfe as in hi3 
 difcretlon {hall feem beft to conduce to his Majefty's fervice 
 in that quality. And I do hereby enjoin and command them, 
 all and every of them, that are fo authorifed to play in the 
 faid houfe under the privilege of his or her Majefty's fer- 
 vants, and every one belonging as prentices or fervants to 
 thofe a6lors to play under the faid privilege, that they obey 
 the faid M^ Davenant and follow his orders and diredions 
 as they will anfwer the contrary; which power or privilege 
 Jie is to continue and enjoy during that leafe which M". Eli- 
 
 L 1 4 zabftl) 
 
520 Jn APOLOGY [Op THE Master 
 
 But, this authority, however agreeable to him, 
 he did not long enjoy ; being involved in the 
 contefts of the times, which ended in accu^- 
 fation, and imprifonment. 
 
 In all thofe meafures, whether favourable, 
 or adverfe. Sir Plenry Herbert enjoyed his ap«- 
 propriate fhare. During that period, he par- 
 took of the mingled pleafure of corredling 
 every new play before it was prefented , and 
 received a fee of forty fhillings, for his pains. 
 He received aifo, as Mafter of the Revels* 
 from the eftabliflied playhoufes, a Summer, 
 and a Winter, benefit, which yielded him nine 
 pounds each, according to an average of years. 
 in Oftober 1629, by an agreement with thp 
 King's company, which lafted till the civil 
 wars began, he received, in lieu of benefits, 
 ten pounds at Chriftmas, and the fame fum 
 at Midfummer. He was paid alfo particular 
 gratuities for fpecial fervices, which he re- 
 ceived for the laft time, in June 1 642 ; as the 
 civil war was already begun. And, he pofTeft 
 what ieems to have been a necelTary append- 
 
 zsbetb Biefton alias Huchefon hath or dotji hold in the faid 
 playhoufe : Provided he be ftill accountable to me for his 
 care and well ordering the faid company — Given under my 
 hand and feal this if^. June 1640." 
 
 P.[embroke] and M.[ontgomery.] 
 
 age 
 
©p THE Rbvels.1 /o^ //^^ be L I E VE RS. 521 
 
 age of his office, an appropriate box in the 
 cftablifhed theatres (z). 
 
 In the period, from 1623 to 1643, the mo- 
 narch of the Revels exercifed, hke the mo- 
 narch over the ftate, unbounded authority 
 over the dramatic world. During the unhappy- 
 times, from 1642, to 1660, his authority over 
 paftimes ceafed ; while all lawful power was 
 impugned, and all innocent paftime was de- 
 cried. With the reftoration of the conftitu- 
 tional magiftrate, the Mafter of the Revels, 
 aflfumed his former jurifdid:ion, but was fur- 
 prifed to find, that the unqualified licentiouf- 
 nefs of recent times had given men new habits 
 of reafoning, notions of privileges, and pro- 
 penfities to refiftance. During this fenfation, 
 he applied to the courts of juftice for redre fs; 
 but the contradictory verdicts of juries left 
 contention^ by contraries ^ to execute all things. 
 The ruler of the paftimes now appealed to the 
 ruler of the ftate ; but without receiving re- 
 drefs, or exciting fympathy. Mutual vexations 
 produced at length, in the dramatic world, 
 mutual agreement -, as the fame caufe had 
 already produced the fame efrecl, in the po- 
 litical world. But, like other difputed jurif- 
 
 (z) Mai. Shak. vol.i. partii. pp. 144— 153-154 — 237. 
 
 dictions. 
 
522 ^« APOLOGY [Of THE Master 
 
 diftionSj and other weak governments, the au- 
 thority of the Mafter of the Revels continued 
 to be oppreffive in its fuperintendance, un- 
 til the Revolution taught nev/ leiTons to all 
 parties. 
 
 Soon after his advancement to the vice- 
 royalty of the Revels, Sir Henry Herbert fet^ 
 tied with his family, at Woodford in Eilex ; 
 where, he kindly received; in 1629, his bro^ 
 ther George, who was afflided with an ague ^ 
 as Walton inform us.. Sir Henry refided at 
 Chelfca, during the civil wars (^). And in 
 
 thofe 
 
 (^) It appears, froin the parifh regiflerof Chelfea, fay§ 
 Lvfons, [Environs, vol.li. p. 127,] that Richard, the fecond 
 foil of Sir Henry Herbert, was baptized, on the 25th of Fe- 
 bruary 1657, and died under age. There is an anecdote 
 prefer ved by Wood [ Ath. vol. ii. col. 700,] which, as it is 
 charadleriftic of Charles iftj during the trying fcenes of his 
 laft days, and docs honour to Sir Henry, ought to be re- 
 membered : " It may not be forgotten," fays Wood, " that 
 " Sir Henry Herbert, Mafter of the Revels, a gentleman in 
 " ordinary of his Majefty's privy-chamber (one that cor- 
 " dially loved and honoured the King, and during the war, 
 « had fuffcred confiderably in his ellate by fequeftration and 
 ^ otherwifc) meeting M^ Thomas Herl^rt his kinfman in 
 " S' James's park, firlt inquired how his Majefty did, and 
 " afterwards prefenting his duty to him, with aflurance, that 
 ** himfelf with many other of his Majefty's fervants did 
 « frequently pray for him, defired that his Majefty would 
 *' be pleafed to read the fecond chapter of Ecclefiajlicin ; 
 
 "for 
 
OF THE Revels.] /./• //^^ B E L I E V E R S. 523 
 
 thofe times, he acquired, though I know not 
 by what means, the manor of Ribbesford, ia 
 Warwickfliire. By the influence^ which he 
 thereby obtained over Eewdley, he was chofen 
 by that borough a member of the parliament, 
 which rnet in 1661 ; though he immediately 
 vacated his feat, for the accommodation of his 
 fon Henry, who long reprefented this town, 
 wherein they had many me images. Sir Henry 
 kept the office of the Revels in Cary-Houfe, 
 during his difputes with Thomas Killigrew, 
 Sir Wilham D'Avenant, John Rhodes, and 
 the other proprietors of theatres, in 1660, 
 1 66 1, and 1662. Killigrew, who probably 
 had caft his eye on the fam.e office, entered 
 into an agreement of amity for life with Sir 
 Henry 3 promifed payment of damages for the 
 paft ; and fubmiffion to fcenic authority for 
 the future : — Sir Henry engaging, to fupport 
 Killigrew, if neceffity fhould require affift- 
 
 ;" for he fliould find comfort in it, aptly fuiting to his pre- 
 " fent condition. Accordingly M' Herbert acquainted the 
 *' King therewith, who thanked Sir Harry, and commended 
 " him for his excellent parts, being a good fcholar, foldier, 
 " and accompliflied courtier ; and for his many years faith- 
 " ful fervice much valued by the King, who prefently turned 
 f to that chapter, and read it with much fatisfadion." - 
 
 ancc. 
 
5^4 ^//APOLOGY [Or the Master 
 
 anee (^). The other theatrical managers were 
 more litigious ; becaufe they had lefs to hope, 
 and more to fear, than Killigrew. The liti^ 
 gants might liave all exclaimed with Con- 
 itance : - V/hen law can do no right, let it 
 " be lawful, that law bar no wrong." Tjbe 
 truth is, that on the ont fide, there was a pa- 
 tent, under the great feal, with ancient cufr 
 torn, and a fenfe of injury;- — on the other fide, 
 there was a licenfe, under the privy fignet, 
 with aew modes of thinking, fenfibility of 
 oppreilion, and feelings of v/ant.-— While the 
 ancient authority of the ruler of the Revels 
 WiS thus fhakerj to its bafe, he was neither 
 fapported by the King, v/ho had m.any claim- 
 ants to gratify; nor countenanced by the Lord 
 Cham.berlain, the Earl of Manchefter, who 
 was no friend to paliimes, and probably 
 looked at the office with envy (^). 
 
 [b) See the agreementj which is curious, in Mai. Shak. 
 vol. i. part ii. p. 262. 
 
 {c) The Mailer of the Revels was obliged to relinqulfh 
 his claims, in confequence of thofe litigations, fays Mr. Ma- 
 lone, and his office ceafed to be attended with either autho- 
 rity or profit. [Shak. vol. i. part ii. p. 258.] This pofition 
 js too broad : His authority was certainly fhaken, without 
 overthrow ; and his profits were leflened, without being ah- 
 folutely loiL 
 
 Sir 
 
OF THE ReVIels.] for the BELIEVERS. 5^5 
 
 Sir Henry Herbert was now well ftrickea 
 in years ; he was mortified by difcountenancei 
 and irritated by oppofition. He retired, ac- 
 cordingly, to his independent feat at Ribbef- 
 ford, leaving a deputy, no doubt, to exercile 
 a difputed authority, and to receive htigated 
 fees. He here enjoyed a relpeded old age, 
 during the happieil period of his life. And, 
 he died on the 27th of April 1673 j leaving 
 to his fon confiderable poffeflions, and to two 
 daughters handfome (^) fortunes 5 including, 
 
 {d) Hiswiil is dated on the ifl: of Jaiiry 167!; a codicil 
 was added on the 9th of April ; and boih were proved, in the 
 prerogative-court, on the r5th of May, by Henry Herbert, 
 Sir Francis Lavviey, and William Harbord his executors. 
 Sir Henry Herbert married, for his fecond vi'ife, Elizabeth, 
 a daughter of Sir Robert OfHey of High Arcol. His foil 
 Henry was created Lord Herbert of Cherbery, by a patent 
 tlated the 28th April 1694 ; the elder branch having failed in 
 1691 : This peerage became^ again extindt, on the death 
 of Sir Henry's fon, Henry, without ifTue in 1 738. The 
 manor of Ribbesford, thereupon, pafied to Henry Morley, 
 a defcendant of the Mafter of the Revels, who took the name 
 and arms of Herbert. In confequence of all thofe family 
 failures, there remained at Ribbesford nothing of the Her* 
 bert's hut the Old Cheft^ which contained the life of the fa- 
 mous Lord Herbert of Cherbery, that was publifhed by the 
 Earl of Orford ; and the office-book of Sir Henry; con- 
 taining many fcenic particulars, that were given to the 
 world by Mr. Maldne i being enabled to gratify curiofity, by 
 the liberal communication of Mr. Francis Ingram of Rib^ 
 besford. 
 
 by 
 
5^^ Jn AVOLOGY [Of THE MASTEpi 
 
 by fpecial bequeft, the debts, due to him from 
 Charles ift, and Charles 2d ; which were 
 paid, during the reign of Anne. 
 
 The office of the Revels was immediately 
 filled by Thomas Killigrew, one of the grooitis 
 of the King's bedchamber ; by means, pro- 
 bably, of a reverfionary patent. The new 
 Mafter of the Revels v/as the fon of Sir 
 Robert Killigrew, chamberlain to the Queen ; 
 and Vv^as born at the manor of Han worth, in 
 February 1 6 1 1 . Of Thomas Killigre vv. Wood 
 delights to tell, that he was not educated at a?2y 
 unrocrjity. He was appointed page of honour 
 to Charles ift ; to whom, in his various 
 fortunes, he faithfully adhered. Attending 
 Charles 2d in his exile, he contributed, by 
 his convivial hum.our, to alleviate the pref- 
 fures of penury. In this fituation, he culti- 
 vated dramatic poetry, though Vv^ithout much 
 fuccefs, whatever were his diligence. In 1651, 
 Kiliigrew was fent to Venice, as reiident am- 
 baffador ; contrary to the advice of the graver 
 fervants of Charles 2d, lays Clarendon. As a 
 negotiator, he did neither honour to his mailer, 
 nor credit to himfelf. His return was cele- 
 brated by Denham, in the following airy 
 verfes -, v/hich are at once chara<fteriilic of 
 the writer, and of the fubje(fl; : — 
 
 * " Our 
 
or THE Revels.] /^r //^/ B EL I ^ V £R 5. ^2/ 
 
 " Our refident Tom 
 
 " From Venice is come, 
 " And has left all the ftatefman behind him; 
 
 " Talks at the lame pitch, 
 
 " Is as wile, is as rich, 
 " And juft where you left him, you find him, 
 
 " But, who fays he's not 
 
 " A man of much plot, 
 " May repent of this falfe accufation ; 
 
 '' Having plotted^ and penned, 
 
 " Six plays to attend 
 ** On the Farce of his Negotiation [e)" 
 
 Killigrevv returned to England at the Rejlo- 
 ration ; when his conviviaUty was at length 
 heightened by enjoyment, and his profpecfls 
 .were brightened by hope. He was loon ap- 
 pointed Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles 
 2d; and, continuing in high favour with the 
 King, he is faid to have had accefs, which 
 his office doubtlefs gave him, at times when 
 peers were denied. While Wood commemo- 
 rates his many generous adls to the fuffering 
 Cavaliers, he fourly remarks, that Killigrew 
 was the King*s Jejler, During that joyous 
 feafon, paftimes were revived, with double 
 reliili. A patent, under the King^s privy fig- 
 
 (e) The Biog. Dram, gives the titles of ^w» dramas, 
 which were WTitten by Thomas Kiiligrew, in his exile ; one 
 of them was probably compofed after the Farce of his A^^- 
 gotiation. 
 
 net. 
 
J28 -^7/ APOLOGV [Of THE MASTftft 
 
 net, was granted, on the 1 1 th of Auguft 1 660, 
 to Thomas KiUigrew, and Sir Wiiham D'Ave- 
 nant; empowering them to eredt new play- 
 houfes, and to embody two companies, with 
 the fole right of regulation, and the ex- 
 clufive privilege of ad:ing. Under this [f) 
 patent, oppofed as it was by Sir Henry Her- 
 bert, two Companies of a6tors were immedi- 
 ately formed : Killigrew's was called ^e 
 King's Company ; D'Avenant's, tAe Duke of 
 Tork^s Company. Kiiligrew appointed Ma- 
 hun. Hart, and Lacy, the fuperintendants of 
 the King's company; which, removing from 
 the Red-biiii to Vere-ftreet, where they began 
 to a6l, on the 8th of November j66o, after-' 
 wards fettled in Drury-lane, where they open-* 
 ed their theatre, on the 8th of April 1662* 
 But, faccefs fcon begat difcontent. The roy* 
 al company complained to the King, of the 
 obftrudion of the Mafter oi the Revels, and 
 of the oppreffion of the Mafter of the Thea- 
 tre. This complaint was referred to the 
 1 .ord Chamberiain,the Earl of Lauderdale, and 
 Sir John Denham, who reported their opinion 
 
 (/*) This grant is publiflied in Mai. Shak. voL i. part ii< 
 p. 244. Stecvens's Shak. vol. ii. p. 3-97. 
 
 to 
 
OF THE Revels.] /or //^ B E L I E V E R S. 52J 
 
 to be, that the complaint was groundlefs (g). 
 With this judgment^ ia his favour, and the 
 
 agreemeat 
 
 {g) The petition of Mohun, Shatterel, Hart, and other 
 players, aguinil Sir Henry Herbert, and Thomas Killigrew, 
 may be feen in Mai. Shale, vol. i. part ii. p. 248, and in 
 Steevens's Shak. 1793, vol. ii. p. 402 : The fubjoined Re- 
 port, from a copy in the paper-office, in anfwer to it, will 
 form a proper fupplement to the petition ;— 
 " May it pleafe your Maj efty : 
 
 " According to your Majefty*s Command Wee have 
 " heard M"". Killigrew concerning tlie complaints made 
 " againft him by the Company in exercifmg a power beyond 
 « your Majefty's Graunt [21ft Auguil: 1660] And wee 
 *' find by your Ma^'es. Letters Patent, that your Mati*^. hath 
 *' granted to him full and abfolute power to make and con- 
 *' ftitute a Company of A£lors or Flayers, to be under his 
 " fole government and authority ; and that he fhall give 
 " them refpedively fuch allowances as he fhall tliink fit; 
 *' and that he hath power to take in, and eie£t whom he fhall 
 " think meet. And wee do find that he hath been fo far from 
 « abufing this power, that he hath made very little ufe of it 
 " hitherto : Only in giving Letters of Attorney to Moone 
 '' [Mohun] Hart, and Lacy, to be fuperintendants over the 
 *' refl, who by virtue of that power have taken in one fbare, 
 " three quarters of which they have enjoyed thefe ten months, 
 *« and impofed on the Company £, 200 ji ann. for two hired 
 /' men; fo that having upon complaint of the reft of the 
 " Company recalled that Letter of Attorney, and given up 
 *' the three quarters of the fliare to the Company, which 
 " faves them the ^. 200 p ann, all, that he pretends to, is 
 " only the fhare of Bird, who is dead, by which the Company 
 " are gainers j for had the Letter of Attorney continued, the 
 
 M m ^' Company 
 
536 ^« APOLOGY fOp the Master 
 
 agreement of amity with Sir Henry Herbert, 
 in his pocket, Killigrew found leifure to pub- 
 iifh his dramas in 1664, with his pi5iure pre- 
 fixed to them ; as Wood remarks. He now 
 paffed his time merrily ; being pleafed him- 
 )felf, and endeavouring to pleafe {h) others ; 
 till the Mafterihip of the Revels was ad:ually 
 transferred to him, by thedemife of Sir Henry 
 Herbert. He imrhediately announced his ac- 
 ^;effion to this power ; which he was aftiva 
 
 5!; Gompany had not only loft the profit of that fhare, but this 
 ." alfo. For by his power they that took the other fhare 
 i" would have enjoyed this ; The unreafonablenefs of thek 
 .*' exceptions is, they have profited thefe twelve months by 
 .** that lame power, which now they difpute ; which if he 
 *' can give, he may certainly enjoy. All which power he 
 *' pretends to^ is confefTed under their hands and feals, and 
 I" they have a(5led by it thefe ten months. 
 
 *' E. Mancheftei:. 
 '' Lauderdaill. 
 c « Jo. Denham." 
 
 {h) In a document, which is preferved in the paper-oiEcc, 
 I obferve theToTlowirig payments in 1667 : — 
 
 To the keeper of the theatre at Whitehall ^.30 
 
 To the fame f6r keeping clean that place, 
 
 jx ann. - - ------. 6 — > — » 
 
 To Mr. Thomas KilUgrew^s bill for plays, 
 
 acSted before his Majefty - - - 560 — — 
 To Sir William D'Avenant for plays a6led 
 
 before the King ----- 450 — 
 
 to 
 
CF THE Revels.] for tie BE L IE V ER 5, 53! 
 
 to enforce, by the nioft effeftual means (/). 
 "The union of the two fundions, of Mafter of 
 
 (/) In the London Gazette, N" 778, from Thurfdajr 
 May I ft to Monday May 5th, [1673] appeared the following 
 advertifement : — 
 
 " The office of the Mafter of the Revels, void by the 
 " death of Sir Her.ry Herbert, vi^ho deceafed on the 27th of 
 ^* April laft, is now enjoyed by Thomas Killigrew, Efqr. 
 " one of the Grooms of his Majefty's bedchamber, at whofe 
 " lodgings in Whitehall, any Perfon, or Perfons, may be in- 
 " formed, where thofe who had any licenfes from the faid Sir 
 '* Henry, or are otherwife concerned in the faid Office of 
 " Mafter of the Revels, may make their applications for re- 
 << newing of former, or taking out of new licenfes, or what 
 '* elfe relates unto the faid office." — This advertifement 
 was repeated in the Gazette N° 780.— And in N° 782, there 
 was the following advertifement, which was repeated in the 
 Gazette N° 785. — " That all Juftices of the Peace and others 
 *' his Majefty's Officer?, u'hom it may concern, do take care 
 •' that all perfons, that prefent publickly any playes, (howes, 
 ** or operations, upon any ftage &c. may produce their li- 
 " cenfe, under the hand and /^^Z, of Thomas Killigrew, Efqr. 
 " nov/ Mafter of the Revels; and in cafe they want fuch li- 
 " cenfes, that they be lay'd hold on, and the faid M*". Killigrew 
 " certified of the fame. " — Thtfeal^or father they?^^«;)of Kil- 
 ligrew, as Mafter of the Revels, has come down to the prefent 
 time. The wooden hkck^ which formed t)\\sjiamp has been re - 
 trieved by the aftive difcernment of Mr. Douce, who kindly 
 permitted me to have a new ftamp made for a tail-piece 
 to this A-poiogyj thinking tlie imprefficn might gratify the 
 lovers of the drama. The double eagle difplayed, and the 
 lion, are the arms, and creft of the Killigrews. The legend 
 is copied from the formal words of the ancient commlffioris 
 to the Mafters of the Revels. See Carew*s Cornwall. Ed. 
 1769,?. 150. 
 
 M m 2 the 
 
j3? -/^APOLOGY [OfthbMastek 
 
 the Revels, and Manager of a Theatre, gave 
 
 Killigrew a pretence to do mifchief, without 
 
 any incitement to do good. He lived to fee 
 
 •the two companies united, in 1682; after 
 
 various accidents, from the plague, and fire, 
 
 and feveral revolutions, from the changes of 
 
 fafhion, Thomas Killigrew, died in March 
 
 168^3-; and was buried, by his dying requeft, 
 
 in the vault under Weftminfter-abbey ; near 
 
 'his beloved wife, and his fifter, Lady Shan- 
 
 nDou (k), Denham has left a couplet, which 
 
 acutely difcriminates the faculties of two o£ 
 
 the wittieft men of that age : — 
 
 *' Had Cowley ne'er fpokey Killigreiu ne'er wrlty 
 " Combined in one, they'd made a matchlefs wit." 
 
 After a while, the fceptre of the Revels 
 was delivered into the hand of Charles Killi- 
 
 (i) His will is dated on the 15th of March, and was 
 proved in the prerogative-court, on the 19th of the fam« 
 month, by his fon, Heny, his executor, and refiduary lega- 
 tee. He left fome houfes in Scotland-yard ; and he fpeaks 
 of a penfion from the King, which may pofTibly have been 
 an extra-falary, as Mafter of the Revels. He is faid> by the 
 biographers, to have had two wives ; but he fpeaks in his 
 will of only one beloved wife. In the will, there is no j eft, 
 Thomas Killigrew was uncle to Henry Bennet, the firft Earl 
 of Arlington, who fucceeded the Earl of St. Albans, as Lord 
 Chamberlain, on the iith of September 1674. The con- 
 viviality of the one, and the power of the other, may have 
 promoted each other's views, 
 
 grew* 
 
OP THE Revels.] for th BE LIE V EKS. ^^y 
 
 grew. He was born, in 1650 ; but of what 
 parentage, I could not learn, in the college of 
 heralds. He was early in life appointed Gen- 
 tleman Uilier to Queen Catherine, while Sir 
 William Killigrew, the elder brother of the 
 former Mafterof the Revels, was Vice-cham- 
 berlain to the fame Queen. This coincidence 
 of appointment and name fhows a proximity 
 of blood, and famenefs of intereft. The un- 
 fuccefsful complaint of the King's company, 
 againft 'Thomas Killigrew, probably induced 
 him to place Charles Killigrew at the head of 
 his difcontented troop, as their fuperintend- 
 ant. Charles Killigrew appeared, as the chief 
 of that company, when they complained of 
 Dryden about the year 1678, for his breach 
 of (/) contrad:, in furnifhing his goods. Charles 
 Killigrew was, afterwards, appointed Comp- 
 troller of the receipts and payments of the 
 Receiver General of the Cuftoms. He feems 
 to have been too prudent a man to diftinguifli 
 himfelf, like the other Killigrews, either as a 
 writer, or a wit. But, he diligently attended 
 to the difcharge of his feveral trufts, and the 
 accumulation of confiderable wealth. He 
 
 (/) Steevens's Shak. vol. ii. p. 286. 
 
 M m 3 died 
 
534- ^»APOI,0,Gy [Of THE Masteh 
 
 died. In January 1725, when he had advanced . 
 to feventy-five (m) years of age. 
 
 Ading a3 Ruler of the Revels, during five 
 
 reigns, he lived to fee various changes of 
 
 tnany coloured life. He probably exercifed 
 
 fuch power only, from 1683 to 1689, ^^ had 
 
 been left him by his predeceiTor. But, the 
 
 Revolvution gave a new call to the feveral 
 
 parts of our government; in the church; in the 
 
 ftate ; and in our paftimes. While the power 
 
 of the King was foftened into influence, the 
 
 authority of the Lord Chamberlain remained, 
 
 without reftrid:ion, over the theatre; opening, 
 
 and ihutting, playhoufes; imprifoning, and 
 
 liberating, players ; correcfting, and rejefting, 
 
 plays : The fcenic world looked up to the 
 
 Lord Chamberlain, as the fun of their fyftem. 
 
 In their heavens^ the Maft^r of the Revels 
 
 twinkled, only, as a ftar of the lower order. 
 
 Yet, this ftar continued ftill to have its influx 
 
 {m) Charles Killigrew, who reflded in Somerfet-houfc, 
 made his will on the 30th of May 1723 ; which was proved 
 in the prerogative- office on the 4th of January 17!-^ by his 
 fon Guilford, his executor. His wife Jemima, and his other 
 fon, Charles, furvived him. Among feveral manors, his 
 refident manfion was Thornham- hall in Suffolk; he had 
 Jarge fums in the public flocks : And he had an intereft in 
 the patent of the theatre-royal, in Drury-lane 5 as appears 
 by his wilU 
 
 ence 
 
or TH« Revels.] />r /^^ B E L I E V E R S. 535 
 
 ence in the revolutions of the drama. The aid 
 of the Mafter of the Revels contributed greatly 
 to the celebrated conqueft, which Collier 
 gained over the immorality ^ and profanenefsy of 
 the ftage, at the conclufion of King WiUiam's 
 reign. Even modeft Cibber acknowledges, that 
 " the Mafter of the Revels, who then licenfed 
 " all plays for the Jlage, affifted this reforma- 
 *' tion, with a more zealous fe verity than 
 " ever (72). This utility of the office ceafed, 
 however, on the acceffion of George ift; 
 when a new patent, which wa§ made out with 
 as little caution, as any preceding grant of the 
 fame kind, was conferred on Sir Richard Steel, 
 Colley Cibber, and their affociates ; for adt- 
 ing plays, without fubmitting them to the li- 
 
 («) Apology 225 : " He would ftrike out," continues 
 Cibber, '' whole fcenes of a vicious, or immoral chara6ler, 
 " though it were viflbly fhown to be reformed, or punifli- 
 " ed J a fevere inftance of this kind falling upon myfelf 
 " may be an excufe for my relating it; When Richard tht 
 " third (as I altered it from Shakfpeare) came from his 
 « hands to the ftage [1700] he expunged the whole firft 
 " a6i:, without fparing a line of it. He had an objection to 
 *' the whole a6t, and the reafon he gave for it was, that the 
 *< diftrefles of King Henry the fixth^ who is killed by 
 *' Richard^ in the firft adl, would put weak people too 
 ^ much in mind of King ^j^^w^j then living in France; a 
 ** notable proof of his zeal for the government!"— Well 
 might Pope cry out, modeft Cibber? 
 
 M m 4 cenfc. 
 
536 An APO^L-OGY [Of the Master 
 
 cenfe, or revlfioh, of any officer. Charles Kil- 
 ligrew, as Majfterofthe Revels, demanded his 
 fee of forty fliillings, on prefenting every nev/ 
 play. With affecSed independence of his 
 authority, they refufed his demand, and de- 
 nied fubmiffion to his power. The patentees 
 fent Colley Cibber, as envoy-extraordinary, 
 to negotiate an amicable fettlement with the 
 Sovereign of the Revels. It is amufing to 
 hear, how this flippant negotiator explained 
 his own pretenfions, and attempted to invali- 
 date the right of his opponent ; as if a fub- 
 fequent charter, ^mder the great feal, could 
 fuperfede a preceding grant under the fame 
 authority. Charles Killigrew, v/ho was now 
 iixty-five years of age, feems to have been 
 opprefled by the infolent civility of Colley 
 Cibber. " And from that time," fays the 
 apologift for his own life, '* neither our plays 
 ** or [nor] his fees, gave either of us any fur- 
 " ther trouble (^)." 
 
 The unfortunate iffue of this negotiation 
 did not, it fhould feem, make the office of 
 Mafter of the Revels lefs defirable, though it 
 was certainly lefs profitable, and important. 
 On the 25th of June 1725, Charles Henry 
 Lee was placed on the difputed throne (/>), 
 
 {q) Apolugy, p. 227-8. {p) Hift. Regifter. 
 
 During 
 
OF THE Revels.] /?/• /-^^ B E L I E VE R S. jjy 
 
 During his reign of nineteen years, the new 
 ruler exercifed fuch authority, as was not op- 
 pofed, and received fuch fees, as were willingly 
 paid. And, in January 1744, he died, as ob- 
 fcurely, as he had (y) lived ; leaving a minor 
 widow, without children. 
 
 It was during his feeble government, that 
 an event occurred, which formed a new epoch 
 in dramatic ftory. Then it was, that the adt 
 for licetijing the Jiage was pafled (r). The 
 origin of this falutary meafure has been traced 
 up to various fources : — To the adling of Paf" 
 quin at the Haymarket- theatre, without a li- 
 cenfe, by Henry Fielding ; in oppolition to 
 cuftom, and in defiance of power {/) : To a 
 Farce, called the Golden Rump ; which, having 
 been brought to Gifford, the mafter of the 
 
 (q) I have not feen his death mentioned in the printed 
 regiikrs. But, on the 24th of January J 744, adminiftration 
 was granted of the efFecls of Charles Henry Lee to Eliza- 
 beth D'Aranda, widow, the mother, and curatrix, affigned 
 to Martha Lee, the widow of the deceafed, for the ufe of the 
 minor-widow. [Minute-book in the prerogative-office.] 
 
 (r) 10 Geo. 2. ch. 28, which took place on the 24th of June 
 1737. This a£l was extended to houfes and gardens of en- 
 tertainment, which, in future were not to be kept without a 
 iicenfc. [25 Geo. 2. ch. 36. § 2.] 
 
 (j) Gibber's Apology, 231 ; Biog. Dram. Introd. xli. 
 
 theatre 
 
5381 An APOLOGY [Of the Master 
 
 theatre in Lir;icoln's-inn-fields, was by him 
 carried to the proper magiftrate ^ thinking it 
 a (/) Hbel, or a trap. Thefe occurrences were 
 probably the oftenfible, rather than the real, 
 caufes, which produced that parliamentary re- 
 gulation. The fad is, that Sir John Barnard, 
 on the 5th of March 1734-5, moved the 
 Houfe of Commons, for leave to introduce a 
 bill, for reftraining the number of playhoufes, 
 and for regulating common players. As he 
 was fupported by all parties, his motion pafTed 
 unanimoufly. But, the bill was no fooner in- 
 troduced, than it was relinquiihed ; ** when a 
 ** claufe was propofed for enlarging the power 
 " of the Lord Chamberlain, with regard to 
 ** licenfing plays [u]*' The Lord Chamber- 
 lain's power had been long exerted, with ca- 
 pricious irregularity; his real authority had 
 been felt ^ but when that power drew on it 
 
 (f) Timbeiland's Debates, 1742. vol. v. p. 2ii: And 
 fee the article of The Golden Rump^ in the Biog. Dram, 
 vol. ii. 
 
 («) Chandler's Debates, vol. ix. p. 93-4: It was faid, 
 in the Houfe of Commons, on that occafion, that there were 
 then no fewer than fix playhoufes ; " The opera-houfe, the 
 " French playhoufe in the Kayniarket, and the theatres in 
 *' Covent- garden, Drury-lanc, Lincoln's-inn- fields, and 
 ^ Goodman's-fields ; and that thefe were double the nuni- 
 « ber, which, at the fame time, e?;i{lcd in Paris." 
 
 the 
 
©F THE Revels,] /or //^^ B E LIE VERS. 539 
 
 the eye of jealoufy, it was found to be unequal 
 to the ufeful purpofe of fcenic fuperintend- 
 ance : And, the imprudence of former grants 
 to theatrical managers was, probably, now 
 recolle<Si:ed with official regret. 
 
 Owingto all thofe caufes, the bill for licenf 
 ing the Jiage, though under a different name, 
 was, on the aift June 1737, haftily pafled, 
 after various debates, which difclofed little in- 
 formation about the hiftory of the theatre : 
 It was argued, without contradiction, that a 
 power was to be given by it to the Lord 
 Chamberlain, which he had never exercifed, 
 during the exiftence of his dramatic govern- 
 jpnent, from the firft regulations of Elizabeth, 
 to the introdudiion of this neceflary law. 
 The fpeech, which Lord Chefterfield made 
 againft that unpopular, but ufeful, meafure, 
 has been, fingly, put by TUme into his wallet ^ as 
 alms for oblivion. During thofe debates, it was 
 forgotten, that a period never exifted, when 
 the ftage was not fubjed: to fuperin ten dance ; 
 when players were not licenfed ; when plays 
 were not reviewed and corrected, allowed or 
 rejeded. The wife regulations of Elizabeth, 
 for allowing the ufe, but correding the abufe, 
 pf the ftage, were equally forgotten ; though 
 ihe had been advifed by Walfmgham, and af- 
 
 fifted 
 
54.0 -rf?;* APOLOGY [Of THE Masteb.' 
 
 fifted by Burghley. The fafts, which I have 
 detailed through every reign, evince, w^ith 
 lufficient convidiion, that this ad: of parlia- 
 ment merely reftored to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain the ancient authority, which he poflefled, 
 before the appointment of the Mafter of the 
 Revels ; armed him with legal power, in the 
 place of cuftomary privilege ; and enabled him 
 to execute, by warrantable means, the ufeful, 
 but invidious trufts, which experience had 
 long required, and policy at length conferred. 
 Nor, was this the firft time, that the parlia- 
 ment exercifed its legiflative authority over 
 the ftage, from its infancy under Henry 8 th, 
 to its manhood under George 2nd {v). This 
 licenfing ad:, however, neither noticed, nor 
 alluded to the Mafter of the Revels, any more 
 than if he had not exifted. Having neither 
 licenfed players, from the days of Sir Henry 
 
 (v) In i54p the 34-5 Hen. 8. ch. i. was pafTed for 
 *' purging the kingdom of all religious play?, interludes, 
 " rhymes, ballads, and fongs, which were peftiferous to the 
 « common-weal :" — The 39 Eliz. ch. 4. which was ex- 
 plained by I Ja. I. ch. 7. and 7 Ja. i. ch. 4, gave a very ex- 
 tenfive jurifdi<5lion over players. — The 3 Ja. i. ch. 21. im- 
 pofed a penalty on any perfon, profanely ufing the name 
 of God in a play. — The 1 Cha. i. ch. 2i. prohibited plays 
 on the Lord's day. — And the long-parliament fupprefTed 
 ptayboufes and players, [Scobell, 1647 — 97 — 106 — 109.] 
 
 Herbert, 
 
/©F THE Revels.] for the BELIEVERS. 541 
 
 Herbert, nor reviewed plays, fubfequent to 
 Colley Gibber's polite altercation with Charles 
 .Killigrew, the Mafter of the Revels feems, 
 like more mighty potentates, to have h^^n grated 
 to dufty nothing. 
 
 At this epoch, Charles, Duke of Grafton, 
 was Lord Chamberlain. A new arrangement 
 now became nccelTary, for executing his re- 
 novated power : And, William Chetwynd, 
 who had been envoy at Genoa, during the 
 reign of Queen Anne, was, in April 1738, 
 fworn in Licenfer of the Stage, with a falary of 
 four hundred pounds a year ; while Thomas 
 Odell, a perfon, who is better known in 
 theatrical annals, was named his deputy; with 
 a yearly allowance of two hundred pounds {w). 
 Yet, in April 1744, Solomon Dayrolle was 
 appointed Mafter of the Revels, in the room 
 of the deceafed Charles Lee, though nothing 
 feemed now to remain, either of power, or of 
 profit, but the ancient fee of ;^. 10, which had 
 been ufually paid at the Exchequer, and a 
 lodging. As this office was no longer recorded 
 in the red-book, nor looked at in St. Ste- 
 phen's chapel, with envious eyes, it feems to 
 
 [yj) In the Biog. Dramatica, there is a good account of 
 Odell, who held this invidious office, till his death, in May 
 1749- 
 
 have 
 
54^ ^« APOLOGY [OftheMaste* 
 
 have efcaped notice, at the great epoch of the 
 fuppreflion of offices (x). The Mafter of the 
 Revels, however, when he looked up from his 
 ftate of degradation to the pre-eminence of the 
 Lord Chamberlain, might have repeated what 
 was faid by the tribune, Brutus, when ^/je 
 bleqrd Jights were fpe5tacled to fee Coriolanus 
 enter Rome : — 
 
 " Then, our office may, 
 
 " During his power, go fleep." 
 Such was the early origin, the irregular 
 progrefs, and the obfcure demife of the Maf- 
 ter of the Revels ! And, this theatrical de- 
 dudion, the believers bee leave to fubmit to 
 the conjiderate eyes of this court, as a fupple- 
 mental apology, for their imputed ignorance 
 of the hiflory of the ftage. Yet, fuch is the 
 aftivity of the public accafer's pleafure, or 
 revenge, that he npt only profecutes them, in 
 -his waking hours, but, when he dreams, his 
 wall-eyd wrath infifts, " that each of thefe 
 '" credulous partifans of folly and impojiure 
 1* {hould remain — Sacred to ridicule his whole 
 ** life long (_)')•" Though dreams are the chil- 
 
 {x) In 17825 by the 22 Geo. 3. ch. 82. Mr. Dayrollc, 
 whoftill retained his ftation, died in 1786, and was fucceeded 
 in his degraded office by John Charles Crowle, who did not 
 thereby enjoy either the gratification- of pov/er, or the bene- 
 fits of profit. 
 
 {y) Inquiry, pp. 355--366- 
 
 dren 
 
OF THE Revels.] for the B E L I fi V^ R S. |« 
 
 dren of an idle brain ; yet, for this once, I wiU 
 
 be fquared by his padow of a dream : And, 
 
 accordingly, with the leave of this court, I 
 
 \vill fuperadd, what is not unprecedented iii 
 
 his own prad:ice. An Appendix to this Sup^ 
 
 plemenlal Apology : — 
 
 cc _.«,_ For, pleafiire, and revenge, 
 
 « Have eais more deaf, than adders, to the voice 
 
 ** Of any true dec'ifion,** 
 
 - .. r^^ 
 
 — §xi. — 
 
 Of the studies of SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 • I f r .^ M 
 
 'I -- 
 
 On opening Mr:' Mai one's attempt to afcer- 
 tain the order, in "which the plays of Shakfpeare 
 were written, we may obferve the Inquirer's 
 lamentation that, " after the moft diligent in- 
 ** quiries very few" particulars have been re- 
 " covered of Shakfpeare's private life, or lite- 
 **i^fary hiftory/' Amidft this penury of in>r 
 formation, and regret of criticifm, every notice, 
 which can illuftrate his literary hijiory, ought 
 to be feduloufly fought for, and attentively 
 confidered. Where he ftudied, who inflruded 
 him, and what he read, are inquiries, that 
 have fometimes been made, without obtaining 
 very diftindl; anfwers. The great controverfy 
 hitherto has been about the learning of Shak- 
 5 fpeare. 
 
544 ^» APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 fpeare, without much inquiry about hh philo- 
 logy, or his knowledge. The conteft about his 
 learning is clofed for ever. The means, where- 
 by this atchievement was performed, chiefly 
 confifted, in producing tranjlations of the va- 
 rious claffics, to which he alluded; and in 
 reafoning, that Shakfpeare probably read fuch 
 tranflations, as he might have read them. 
 The fame means, and the fame argument, I 
 defign to ufe, in the little, that I have to fay 
 about the Studies of Shakfpeare. 
 
 It was in the free-fchool of Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, that Shakfpeare probably learned his 
 fmall Latiuy and lefs Greek, It is of full as 
 much importance to inveftigate, whence he 
 derived his knowledge of the Englifh lan- 
 guage, his exchequer of words 'y thcjiyle^ which 
 is never to become obfolete ; the coloquy, which 
 is above gfoffnefs and below rejinement^ where 
 propriety rejides : And, whence he formed that 
 poetic didiion, which, among his other ex- 
 cellencies, invites every reader to ftudy Shak- 
 fpeare, as one of the original mafters of our 
 language [a). It ought, moreover, to be re- 
 membered, that, as early as 1598, Shakfpeare 
 was diftinguifhed, among the poets, who had 
 mightily enriched the Englijh tongue, and gor-^ 
 
 {a) Johnfon's Preface. 
 
 geoujly 
 
o*' SHAitsptARB.] for fie B E LI EV^RS. 545: 
 
 geoujly invejied it in rare ornaments, and re^' 
 fpkndent habiliments {b\. 
 
 Fruitlefs it, probably, would be, to learch 
 for " the A-B-C-book," which Shakfpeare, 
 while he yet prattTd poefie, was taught by — 
 
 " ■ ' the matron old, 
 
 " Who boafts unruly brats with birch to tame (c).'* 
 
 When this extraordinary genius was entered 
 in thtfree-fchool of Stratford, the mafter could 
 be at no lofs for philological injlitntes. The 
 grammar, which Henry the 8th had direded 
 to be ufed, generally, in fach fchools would, 
 no doubt, continue to be taught in the 
 country, long after particular feminaries had 
 
 {h) Wits Commonwealth, 1598, p. 619. 
 
 (^) There was, indeed, printed for Lant, in 1 547, The 
 A,B,C, with the /Paternofler, Ave, Creede, and Ten 
 Commandments, in Englyihe, newly tranflated and fet forth 
 at the Kinges moft gracyous commaundment : It begins' 
 with five different alphabets. — In 1552, John Day had a li- 
 cenfe to print the Catechifm, which Edward the 6th had 
 caufed to be fet forth. — In 1553, 1-^'^y printed " A fhort 
 " Catechifme, or playne inftruftion, conteyning the fume of 
 *' Chriftian learninge, fett foorth by the Kings Majeftie's 
 " authoritie, for all Scholemaifters to teache." There was 
 prefixed an injun5iion to all teachers of youthe to teach this 
 catechifme in their fchooles. — In 1570, Day printed a Cate- 
 chifme, or firft inflruftion and learning of Chriftian Re- 
 ligion : Tranflated out of Latin into Eng-lifhe. It was dc- 
 dicated to the Archbil^ops and Bifhops. 
 
 N n adopted 
 
54-6 ^« APOLOGY [Or the SruaiEi 
 
 adopted \hc inftitutes of their founders : As 
 Wool fey 's Rudimefifa [d) Grammatices, in his 
 fchool at Ipfwich ; and Collet's grammar, in 
 the feminary of his foundation, in St. Paul's- 
 churchyard^ There feems to be, indeed, po- 
 iitive proof, that Lilly was the inftrudor of 
 Shakfpeare, in the Latin language, at fome 
 period of his life U)» So much had the claffic 
 languages been cultivated, from the revival of 
 learning till the epoch of our poet's birth, 
 that fuch a learner as Shakfpeare could eafily 
 gratify his curiofity, ftore his memory, and 
 improve his intellect : Grammars and diftio- 
 naries ; the artes of rhetorick and criticifm ^ 
 treatifes of logick and moral philofophy ; had 
 all been publifhed by eminent mafters. The 
 polite languages of the neigbouring continent 
 had been familiarized to the fludents of Eng- 
 land {/)• Shakfpeare had alfo a fair oppor- 
 tunity 
 
 {^d) This curious grammar was printed in 1536. 
 
 [e) Mai. Shak. vol. iii. p. 263 ; in which it is fhown, by 
 Johnfon, Farmer, and Steevens, that the poet had borrowed 
 from tlie grammarian, and not from Terence. The Floures 
 for Latine Spehyng^ printed by Berth elet, in 1 538, p. 35 b, 
 ftrengthens their fentiment^ by proving, that Shakfpeare 
 had not drawn his latlnity from this fountain, 
 
 {/) I will here fubjoin fuch a Lift of Gvarrwtarsy Di£iio» 
 
 nariesf 
 
T)y Shakspeare.] /.r />&^ B E L I E V E R S. 54^: 
 
 tumty of acquiring a flight knowledge of the 
 
 BritiiTi 
 
 Tjaries^ and j^rtes of Rhetor tque^ as Shakfpeare probably 
 might have ufed, either when a boy, or a man : 
 I 537— Certain brief rules of the regiment or conftrudlion 
 of the eight partes of Speche in Engiifti and Latin. 
 It has no author's name, but is joined with a piece 
 of I'averners. 8vo. 
 15^4.— An Introduction of the eight partes of Speche and 
 the conftru6tion of the fame, compyled and fet 
 forthe by the Commaundement of our moft gra- 
 cious Soueraygne Lorde the Kyng. 4to. 
 
 i^^y— A (hort introdu6tion of Grammar generallie to be 
 ufed. Compiled and fet forth, for the bringyng 
 up of all thofe that intend to attaine the know- 
 ledge of the Latin Tongue. — Imprinted again in 
 1569 ; — and again in 1577. 
 
 1559 — Lilly's Latin Grammar. — The 2nd edition in 1564. 
 
 156I — An Orthographic contaynynge the due Order and 
 Reafon how to write or paint th' image of mannis 
 voice moft like to the life or nature. Compofed 
 By Jfohn] H[art] Chefter Heralt. 
 
 1571— The Scholemafter : Or plaine and perfite way of 
 teaching Children, to underftand, v/rite, and fpeak, 
 the Latin tong. — By Roger Afcham :— The 2nd 
 edition in 1589. 
 
 I5?g^_ — Xhe Engliih Schoolmaftcr, fet forth by James Bellot 
 for teaching of Strangers to pronounce Englifh. 
 
 15B0 — Bullokars Booke at large for the Amendment of Or- 
 thographic for Englifh Speech : wherein a moft 
 perfect fupply is made for the wantcs and double 
 founde of letters in the Olde Orthographic, with 
 examples for the fame. Imprinted again in 1^86. 
 
 1582-^The firft part of the Elemental ie, which entreateth 
 
 N n 2 chiefly 
 
54^ ^« APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 Britifh tongue, which, in that age, had its 
 
 grammars, 
 
 chiefly of the right writing of our Englifh Tongue, 
 — By Richard Mulcafter. 
 
 1585 — The Latin Grammar of P. Ramus, Tranflated into 
 Englifh. 
 
 1590 — A Grammar with a Di6lionary, in three languages, 
 gathered out of divers good Authors, very profita- 
 ble for the iludious of the Spanifli Tongue. By 
 R. Perciyall. 
 
 1594— 'Grammatica Anglicana, praecipue quatenus a La- 
 tina Differt, ad Unicam P. Rami method um con- 
 cinnata. Authore P. G. — Cantab, Ex ofEcina. 
 J.Legatt. 
 
 1538 — The Dictionary of Syr Thomas Elliot Knyght ; 
 declaring Latin by Englifh. In 1545, Biblio- 
 theca Eliotae, Latine, et Anglice. — The 2nd edi- 
 dition enriched by Cooper, in 1552. — Again by 
 Cooper, in 1559. The 4th edit, in i56|. The 
 5th edit, in 1573. 
 
 J ^52 — AbecSdarium Anglico Latinum, pro tyruncuHs, Ri- 
 chardo Huloeto excriptore. — Reprinted and en- 
 larged in 1572, and entitled Huloet's Di6lio- 
 ft^ry &c. 
 
 1558 — The Short Dixtionary. 
 
 I ^^9 — A Little Dictionary compiled by J. Withals. — The 
 2nd edition imprinted by Wykes in 1568.— 
 The 3d in 1572, entitled A fhorte Dictionarie 
 moft profitable for yong beginners, the fecond 
 tyme corrected and augmented with diverfe Phra- 
 fys and other thlnges necefTarie thereunto added. — 
 By Lewys Evans. It was again reprinted for 
 Evans, in 1579. 
 
OF Skakspeare.] /or the believers. 549 
 
 grammars, and difliDnaries. It is, however, 
 
 more 
 
 1 562 — The brefe Dyxcyonary. 
 
 1575 — Veron's Didionary, Latin, and Englifli. — Again in 
 1584, entitled A Didionarie in Latine and En- 
 glifh, heretofore fet forth by Mafter John Veron, 
 and now newlie corre6ted and enlarged, for the 
 utilitie and profit of all yoong f]:udents in the La- 
 tine toong as by further fearch they (liali find :— 
 By R. W. 
 
 1580 — An Alvearie, or Quadruple Di61:ionarie, containing 
 foure fundrie tongues : namelie, Englifli, Latine, 
 Greeke, and French. Newlie enriched with va- 
 rietie of wordes, phrafes, proverbs, and divers 
 lightfome obfervations of Grammar: — By J. 
 Baret. 
 
 T 589-— Rider's Di6lionary, Latine, and Englifh. 
 
 1592 — A Didionary, Geographicall, Aftronomicall, and 
 Poeticall — Imprinted by Wolfe. 
 
 1567 — Salefbury's Welfti Grammar. 
 
 1593 — Grammatica Britannica in ufum ejus linguae ftudiO'- 
 forutn fuccincla methodo et perfpicuitate facili 
 Gonfcripta ; Sc nunc primum in lucem edita : 
 Henrico Salefburio, Denbighienfi Autore, 
 
 '595— Pany's Weifli Grammar. 
 
 J 547 — A Dictionary in Englifh and WelHi, moche necef- 
 fary for all fuche Welfhemen, as wil fpedily learne 
 the Englyflie tongue ^c, whereunto is prefixed a 
 little treatyfe of the Englifli pronounciation of 
 the letters : By Wyllyam SaleflDury. 
 
 1560 — A Treatyfe Englifli and French right neceflkrye and 
 
 profitable for all young Children. 
 1560 — Principal Rules of the Italian Grammar &c, Newly 
 
 N n 3 corre(5^cd 
 
SS^ ^n APOLOGY [Of THE Studies 
 
 more than probable, that he did not embrace 
 
 this 
 
 corrected and imprinted by Wykes : — And again 
 
 in 1567. 
 1561 — The Italian Grammar and Dictionary : By W. 
 
 Thomas. 
 1578— Lentulo's Italian Grammar, put into Englifh : By 
 
 Ry. Grentham : — And again in 1587. 
 1590 — A Spanifh Grammar &c. By Thomas D'Oyley. 
 15QO— Bibliotheca Hirpanica, cotayning a Gramar, v/ith a 
 
 Didlionary in three languages, gathered &c. By 
 
 R. Percivall. — Reprinted again in 1 591. — Again 
 
 in 1592. — And again in 1599. 
 ^593*^-^ Dictionary, French, and Englifh : By Claudius 
 
 Hollyband. 
 1598 — A Worlde of Wordes, Or moft copious, and exact 
 DiCtionarie in Italian and Englifh: colle6ted by' 
 
 John Florio. 
 
 1532 — The Arts or Crafe of Rhctoryche :— By Leonard 
 Cockes. 
 
 1 547 —A Treatife of Moral Philofophy :— By W'". Bald- 
 weyn. The 2nd edit, imprinted in 1550: — The 
 3d edit, in 1560. 
 
 1548 — The Art of Memory, or The Phoenix. 
 
 J552«— The rule cf rfeafon conteining the Arte of Logique. 
 Set forth in Englifh, and newely corrected by 
 Thomas Wilfon. Reprinted in 1567. 
 
 3553 — The Art of Rhetorique, for the ufe of all fuch as are 
 ftudious of Eloquence, fet forth in Englifh, by 
 Thomas Wilfon : and newly fet forth again in 
 1567. — and Imprinted by George Robinfon in 
 1585. 
 
 1555— 'A Treatife of the Figures of Grammar and Rheto- 
 
 6 X\\Zy 
 
•F Shakspiarb.] /cr /^^ B E LI eve RS. ^51 
 
 this opportunity, even to gain a knowledge 
 of the energies of the Britifh alphabet (^). 
 
 But, our maternal EiigliJJ? remained un- 
 formed, and uncultivated, when Shakfpeare 
 began to lifp in numbers ; for the numbers 
 came : Yet, while he was flill a Jrejh and 
 
 rike, profitable for a1 that be ftudious of Elo- 
 quence, and in efpeciall for fuche as in Gramme^ 
 Scholes doe reade mofte eloquente Poetes, and 
 Oratours, 
 
 J. 563 — A boolce called the Foundation of Rhetoricke, be- 
 caufe all other partes of Rhetorike are grounded 
 thereupon, every parte fet forth in an Oracion 
 upon queftions, verie profitable to bee knowen 
 and redde : By Richard Rainolde. 
 
 J 593 — Arcadian Rhetorike, or The Precepts of Rhetoricke, 
 made plaine by examples Greeke, Latyne, En- 
 glifshe, italyan, Frenche, and Spanifhe. By Abr, 
 Fraunce. 
 
 1599 — The Arte of Logick, plainly taught in the Englifh 
 Tongue : By Blundvill. 
 
 {g) This will appear, by comparing Salefbury's Welfh 
 Grammar, 1567, with the language of Sir Hugh Evans, 
 and Captain Flluellen : Got for God, goo/ for good : 
 Now, the Englifhmen, and Welfhmen, pronounced the d 
 exa<3:ly in the fame manner : Pribbles — /> rabbles, /)eat for 
 ^eat : Now, the genius of the Welih does not admit of the 
 converting of the b into ^, though it allows, in compofition, 
 the converting of the ^ into b : Thefe, then, v/ere egregious 
 blunders, which proceeded from compleat ignorance of the ' 
 Welfh grammar. The obje£l, however, of the dramatift 
 was to create laughter by blunder, and mimickry. 
 
 N n 4 Jlainkfs 
 
5'53 ^» APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 Jiainlefs youths its genius was diligently exa- 
 mined, its rules were more clearly afcertained, 
 and both its deformities, and beauties, were 
 elaborately difplayed. In the Englifli lan- 
 guage, Shakfpeare appears to have been a di- 
 ligent ftudent. How much our poet had ftu- 
 died it, before he came out upon the ftage, 
 appears from the accuracy, the elegance, and 
 fplendour of his didtion, though it he. mellowed 
 by the Jlealing hours of time, Ke wrote the 
 language of his country, as it was then fpoken, 
 and written, without afFeding the antique, or 
 afpiring to terms italianate [Jo), 
 
 {J7) I will fupport that fcntinient by a few examples : 
 Shakfpeare has cankerW Bolingbroke ; canker'* d country : 
 Lyly's Euphiies^ 581, p. 7, fays that, Naples is a canker'* d 
 ftorehoufe of nil ftrife. — Queen Elizabeth and Burleigh, in 
 their Declaration of the Caufes for fupporting the Nether- 
 lands againft Spain, which was printed by Barker in 1585, 
 fay : " However malicious tongues may utter their cankered 
 '* conceits to the contrary."— Shakfpeare has the Couniie 
 Paris. Q^ Elizabeth and Biirleigh fay, in the fame Decla- 
 ration, " of the chiefeft of the nobilitle none was more af- 
 *' fedted to the religion than the valiant Count ie of Egmond." 
 Shakfpeare fays " the play pleafed not the mil/ion :*' In the 
 council-regiflers of that age, I have feen the fame expreiHon 
 of the million for the many. And, as an authority, fee the 
 Chauceriana^ which are annexed to the Grammatica Angli- 
 cana^ 1594) for a choice collection of poetical words, which 
 as they are now cbfoletc, only obfcure the pages of Shak- 
 fpeare, which they formerly illumed, 
 
 Shakfpeare 
 
OF Shak«peare.] /tfr /^^ B E LI E V E R S. 555 
 
 Shakfpeare was carried by Rowe from the 
 free-fchool, " where it is probable he ac- 
 *^ quired what Latin he was mailer of;'' and 
 was placed, at home, as an aflidant to his fa- 
 ther, who from his narrow circumftances, and 
 increafing family, required the help of fuch 
 a fon : Mr. Malone places the afpiring poet 
 ** in the office of fome country attorney, or 
 ** the fenefchal of fome manor court (/):" 
 and, for this violation of probability, he pro- 
 duces many paiTages from his dramas to evince 
 Shakfpeare's technical Jkill in the forms of law ^ 
 although our commentator admits, " that the 
 ** comprehenfive mind of our poet embraced 
 ** almofh every objedl of nature, every ai-t, the 
 " manners of every defcription of men, and 
 ^* the general language of almoft every profef- 
 " fion [k)J" But, was it not the pradice of 
 the times, for other makers, like the bees, 
 tolling from every flower the virtuous fweetSy 
 to gather from the thifiles of the law the fweet^ 
 eft honey ? Does not Spenfer gather many a 
 metaphor from thefe weeds, that are moft apt 
 to grow \\\ fatt eft foil ? Has not Spenfer his 
 law terms : His capias, defeofaiice, and durejfe ^ 
 his emparlance-, his enure, eft^oyne, and ef-- 
 cheat ; his folkmote, for eft all, and gage ; his 
 
 (i) Shak. voLi. parti, p. 104. [k) lb. 306-7. 
 
 livery 
 
554 Jit AYOhOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 livery and feafity w^^^, and waif {I). It will 
 be faid, however, that whatever the learni^ig 
 of Spenfer may have gleaned, the law-books 
 of that age were impervious to the illiterature 
 of Shakfpeare. No : fuch an intelled;, when 
 employed on the drudgery of a woolftapler, 
 who had been high-bailiff of Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, might have derived all that was nccef- 
 fary from a very few books : From Totell's 
 PrefidentSy{m)i ^j2 ; from Pulton's Statutes,(;?) 
 1578; and from the Lawier's Logike, 1588 {a).. 
 It is one of the axioms of the Flores Regii^ 
 that, jTt? an/were aii improbable imagination is 
 to fight againfl a vaniJJoing fiadoiu, 
 
 (/) See the Gloflary to Spenfer*s Works, 1788. 
 
 [m) '' A Booke of Prefidents exa6lly written in manor 
 ** of aRegifter, newly correded, with additions of divers 
 ^ neceflary Prefidents, mecte for al fuch, as defirc to learne 
 « the fourme and maner howe to make all maner of evi-^ 
 *' dences and inftruments." The Preftdenis were printctJ 
 both in Latin and Englifh, which was the moftqommodious 
 form for fuch a fcholar, 
 
 («) An Abi1:ra6l of all the Penal Statutes, which be ge- 
 neral in force and ufe: Moreover the audhoritie and dutie of 
 all Juftices of Peace, Sherriffes, Coroners, Maiors, Baitijje^y 
 Guftomers, Comptrollers of Cuftome, Stewardes of Leets 
 and Liberties, Aulnegers, and Purveyours. 
 
 {0) The Lawier's Logike, exemplifying the prspcepts of 
 Logike by the pra£iife of the Common Law 5 by Abraham 
 f raunce. 
 
 Neither 
 
OP Shakspeare.] fortU BELIEVERS. 55^ 
 
 Neither the forms of law, however, re- 
 preffed the genius of Shakfpeare; nor have 
 the follies of criticifm yet obfcured the fplen- 
 dour of his mufe : As he was born a poet, 
 we may eafily prefume, that he began early 
 to indulge his natural propenfity, Mr. Ma- 
 lone has remarked what I think is likely to 
 be true, that the fugrd fonnets are among 
 the earlieft of our poet*s labours. There is 
 a date in the one hundred and fourth fonnet, 
 which, when it fhall be explained by other 
 dates, will lead to important information about 
 his firft journey to London, and his fubfequent 
 career, as a public writer: — 
 
 " To me, fair friend, you never can be old : 
 
 " For, as you were, when firft your eye I ey'dj 
 
 " Such feems your beauty ftill. Three winters^ cold 
 
 " Have from the forefts ihook three fummers* pride j 
 
 « Three he^iuteous fprings to yellow autumn turn'd; 
 
 « In procefs of the feafons have I feen; 
 
 " Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd; 
 
 " Since /r/? I faw you frefh, v/hich yet are*green." 
 
 Three years elapfcd, then, from Shak- 
 fpeare's firft arrival at London, when he firft 
 faw the fweet hue of Elizabeth, till the writing 
 of the fonnets, which were wrote to no other 
 pafsy than of her graces and her gifts to telL 
 But, the poet himfelf calls his Venus and 
 Adonis^ which was certainly written before 
 
 April 
 
55<5 Jn A?0laOGY [Of the Sturje* 
 
 April 1 593, and publifhed, probably, in 1594, 
 tbejirji heir of his invention. It was, however,, 
 the Rape of Liter ece, which firft gained him 
 pjabhc celebration, as foon as it appeared : 
 And, it was in Willobie's Avifa^ that Shak- 
 fpeare was thus celebrated in verfes, whicli, 
 as they feem to have efcaped the commenta- 
 tors, when they were fearching for encomiaf- 
 tic poetry, are here, fubjoined (/») : 
 
 In Laulne Land though Liuie bofl-, 
 There hath beene feeiie a conftant dame : 
 Though Rome lament that fhe have loft 
 The Gareland of her rared fame, 
 
 Yet now we fee, that there is found, 
 As great a faith in Englilh ground. 
 
 Though Collatine have deerely bought. 
 
 To high' renowne, a lafting life, 
 
 And found, that moft in vain have fought, 
 
 To have a faire, and conftant w^ife, 
 
 Yet Tarquyne pluckt his glifterlng grape,, 
 And Shah-fpeare points poore Lucrece rape. 
 
 (/)), Willobie his Jvifa [yfmans. /'xor. /nviolata. ^S'em- 
 per. -//manda] was imprinted by Windet, in 1594. The man- 
 ner, in which Windet printed our poet's name, Shake-fpcm-f^ 
 ihows clearly how this celebrated appellation was, in his 
 own age, pronounced Shake-fpeare, \vith a lengthened tone, 
 and not Shack(ptiQ^ with a fnappifti (hortnefs : The verfes 
 in praife of Shakfpeare, which were written, as I conjecfture, 
 by Hadrian Dcrrel, the editor of VVillobie's Avife, are, there- 
 fore, doubly curious. 
 
 Though 
 
or Shakspeare.] /ca- /Zv B E L I E VE R 3. 557 ^ 
 
 Though Sufan fhhie in faithfull prailb. 
 As twincklnig Starres In Chriftall Skie, 
 jPenelop's fame though Greekes do raife, 
 Of faithfull wives to make up three, 
 
 To thinke the truth, and fay no lefle. 
 Our Auifa (hall make a mefTe. 
 
 This number knits fo fure a knot. 
 
 Time doubles, that ihe (hall adde no more, 
 
 Unconftant nature hath begot, 
 
 Of Fleting Feemes, fuch fickle ftore. 
 
 Two thoufand ycares have fcarcely feenc, 
 Such as the worft of thefe have beene. 
 
 Then Aui- Sufan joyne in one. 
 
 Let Lucres- Auis be thy name,, 
 
 This Englifli Eagle fores alone, 
 
 And farre furmounts ail others fame, 
 
 Where high or low, where great or fmall, 
 This Brytan Bird out-flies them all. 
 
 Were thefe three happie, that have found, 
 Brave Poets, to depaini there praife ? 
 Of Rurall Pipe, with fweeteft found. 
 That have been heard thefe many dales, 
 Sv/eete Willoby his Avis bleft. 
 That makes her mount above the refl. 
 
 We can now afcertain, though not with ab- 
 
 folate precifion, the appearance of this glorious 
 
 Jhiry in the poetical heavens [q). Puttenham 
 
 did 
 
 {q) When difcuffing the queftion about the firfl appear- 
 ance of Shakfpeare, in the fcenic world, Mr. Malone aflerts : 
 f Shak. voL i. part ii. p. 130.] " Coaches, in the time of 
 « Queen Elizabeth were pofTefled but by very few. They were 
 
 " not 
 
5^8 ^« APOLOGY [Of theStudies 
 
 did not diitinguifh Shakfpeare, when he pub- 
 lilhed his Arte of Engltfh Poejicy in 1589, as 
 Mr. Malone has, indeed, remarked. Our 
 poet was obfcurely noticed in 1592. He was 
 hailed by the voice of gratulation, in 1594. 
 And, before the effluxion of 1598, Shakfpeare 
 was acknowledged, by the fuffrages of his 
 countrymen, to be among them, the 7noJl ex- 
 celknt dramatift in both kinds ; for Commedy, 
 and for Tragedy^ if we may rely on the decla - 
 ration of Meres, in his Wits Commonwealth y 
 which has, indeed, been confirmed by fubfe- 
 quent experience, x^nd, it is furely natural 
 to inquire by what artifices of ftudy Shak- 
 fpeare obtained this pre-eminence over very 
 powerful competitors. 
 
 We have feen what grammars probably in- 
 ftruded his infancy ; what dictionaries afiifted 
 his youth; and what treatifes of criticifm im- 
 proved his manhood. It is, indeed, more 
 than probable, that Shakfpeare had ftudied, 
 
 " not in ordinary ufe till after the year 1605. See Stowe's 
 « Annals, p. 867-" Yet ; fee the Lords Journals^ vol. ii. 
 p. 229; on the 7th of November 1601, a bill was intro- 
 duced " to reftrain the excejfive 2Xi^ fuperfluous ufe of coaches.^ 
 <' within this realm." Thus it is, when the blind follow 
 the blind ! Marfton fays, in his Cynicke Satire^ 1599 • 
 ** Peace cynick, fee what yonder doth approach, 
 ** A cart i a tumbrell ? no a badged coach." 
 
 with 
 
OF Shakspeare.1 /.r ri'/r believers. 551^ 
 
 with great attention, Wilfon's Art ofRhetorique^ 
 which was publiflied, for the third time, ia 
 1.585. It is fufficiently known to the readers 
 of Shakfpeare, that he had unbounded curi- 
 ofity, from nature, and vigilance of obfervation, 
 from habit : And, it was natural for fuch a 
 poet, who early felt -the ambition of authorfhip, 
 to infpe6t, and to ftudy, the Art of Rhetorique^ 
 which was popularly known, while his inqui- 
 fitive mind was on the wing. From this 
 fountain of knowledge, both hiftorical, and 
 critical, fuch an intellect muft neceiTarily have 
 quaffed abundant draughts of inftrudion; both 
 of ancient lore, and modern attainments : In 
 it, he mufl have {^tn, as in a fpecious mirror^ 
 the whole miftery of writing, the good, ex- 
 emplified, and the bad, exploded. In the Art 
 ofRhetorique, he alfo favv charad:ers pourtrayed, 
 which as a dramatift, he muft have viewed 
 with pleafare, and recollected with advan- 
 tage : Herein, he muft have feen Tymon of{r) 
 
 (r) Art of Ret. 1585, p. 56: Tymon a deadly hater of all 
 Company: " Now, I thinke he is moft worthie to bee de- 
 " fpifed above all other, that is borne, as a man would fay, 
 " for himfqjf, that liveth to himfelf, that fpareth for himfelf, 
 •* that loveth no man, and no man loveth him. Would 
 *' not one think, that fuch a monfter were meet to be caft 
 " out of all men's companie (with Tymon that careth for no 
 " man) into the middelt of Ae fea." 
 
 Athens^ 
 
55o Jn APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 Athens^ and the Pedantkk Magijlrate (/) : 
 He, herein, difcovered the charaBer-y but he 
 found, in his own invention, the conjlable : 
 He now became acquainted v^'ixki the mayor \ 
 but he afterwards fhook hands with Dogberry 
 at Credenton. 
 
 In the fame manner, it is more than pro- 
 bable, that Shakfpeare had diligently ftudied 
 Afchatns Scholemajlery which muft have fup- 
 plied fuch an intelledl with fome claffical 
 knowledge, and fuch an intuitive difcernment 
 with much critical remark. The preface 
 opens with Afcham's thankful recolleftion of 
 the converfation, which he had heard, in 
 1563, at Lord Burleigh's table, when dining 
 with him, at Windfor, in company with Sir 
 William Peter, Sir John Mafon, Dr. Wotton, 
 Sir Richard Sackville, Mr. Haddon, Mr. John 
 Aftley, Mr* Bernard Hampton, and Mr. Ni- 
 cafius. Mr. Secretarie, as his wont was, on 
 fuch occafions, to lay 2X\dizJl ate- affair s^ opened 
 
 (j) Art of Ret. p. 167 : " Another good fellowe of the 
 " countrey, being an officer and mayor of a toune, and de- 
 '* firous to fpeak like a line learned man, having jufl: oc- 
 " cafion to rebuke a runnegate fellowe, faid after this wife, 
 *' in a greate heate : — Thou yngraine and vacation 
 " knave, if I take thee any more within the circumcifion of 
 *^ my dampnation ; I will fo corrupt thee, that all other vaca^ 
 !« tion knaves (hall take ilf ample by thee." 
 
 the 
 
OF Shakspeare.] /^r /^^ B E LI E VE R S. 561, 
 
 the converfation, at dinner, by faying: He 
 had flrange news brought him that morning, 
 '' that diverfe fchollers of Eaton, be runne 
 awai from the fchole, for fear of beating:" 
 Whereupon, Mr. Secretarie tooke occafion 
 to wifhe, that fome more difcretion were in 
 many fcholemafters, in ufmg corredion than 
 commonlie there is : who, many times, pu- 
 niflie rather the weaknes of nature, than the 
 fault of the fcholer. — Mr. Peter, as one fome- 
 what fevere of nature, faid plainlie, that the 
 rodde onlie was the fworde, that muft keep the 
 fchole in obedience, and the fcholer in good 
 order. Mr. Wotton, a man milde of nature, 
 faid the fcholehoufe fliould be in deede, as 
 it is called by name, the houfe of play and 
 pleafure, and not of feare and bondage. Mr* 
 Mafon, after his maner, was verie merie with 
 both parties ; pleafeantlie playing, both with 
 the flirowde touches of many courfte boys, 
 and with the fmall difcretion of many leude 
 fcholemafters. Mr. Haddon was fuUie of 
 Mr. Peter's opinion 5 and faid, that the befl 
 fcholemafter of our time (naming him) was 
 the greateft beater. Afcham now gave his 
 own opinion, being courteflie provoked by 
 Mr. Secretarie : Though it was the good for- 
 tune of that fcholemafter to fend from his 
 
 O o fchole 
 
562 ^« APOLOGY [Of THE Studies 
 
 fchole unto the univerfitie one of the beft 
 fcholers of our time, yet wife men do thinke, 
 that this was rather owing to the great toward- 
 nes of the fcholer than the great beating of the 
 mafter : For, yong children are foner alured 
 by love, than driven by beating, to atteyne 
 good learning/* 
 
 Does not this converfation at Burleigh's 
 dinner bring to our recolled:ion the celebrated 
 table-talk of Shakfpeare ? The fifth acl of 
 Love's Labours Loji opens with the entry, after 
 dinner, of Holofernes, the fchoolmafter. Sir 
 Nathaniel, and Dull : I praife God for you. 
 Sir, fays Nathaniel to Holofernes : Your rea- 
 fons [difcourfe] at dinner have been iharp, and 
 fententious -, pleafant, without fcurriiity ; wit- 
 ty, without affed:ation j audacious, [fpirited] 
 without impudency; learned, without opinion; 
 and ftrange, without herefy. Of this JiniJJjed 
 reprefentation of colloquial excellence ^ Jphnfon 
 remarks that, it 'is very difficult to add any 
 thing to this character of the fchoolmafler's 
 table-talk ; and perhaps all the precepts of 
 Caftiglione will fcarcely be found to compre- 
 hend a rule for converfation, fo juftly de- 
 lineated, fo widely dilated, and fo nicely li- 
 mited (/). 
 
 (/) Steevens's Shak. 1793, vol. V. p. 301. 
 
 Weighing 
 
brSHAKSPBARE.] >r /i&r B E L I E V E R S. 5^3 
 
 Weighing all circumftances, I have per- 
 fuaded myfelf that, when Shakfpeare drew 
 hi^fifiified reprefentation of colloquial excellence y 
 he had in his fumd's-eye the converfation at 
 Burleigh's table, by the mofl learned, and 
 able, men, in England. The characfter of Ho- 
 lofernes was probably drawn by Shakfpeare 
 from the notion, which he had formed, in 
 reading the Scholemafter of Afcham, who had 
 been dead upwards of twenty years. It was 
 not, confequently, drawn from the poet's en- 
 mity to Florio, as Warburton infiiis, in his 
 own Jiyle, In difcuffing this opinion, Mr. 
 Malone doubts, whether the firji edition of 
 Florio's Worlde of Words y which was dedicated 
 to Lord Southampton, during his travels ^ were 
 publiflied, in 1598 : But, this doubt, merely 
 arofe, from not knowing, in what year his 
 LordChip had travelled, though our critic had 
 publifhed anecdotes of his life. 
 
 From the talk of Holofernes, thus learned, 
 without opinion, and ilrange, v^ithout herefy, 
 we may perceive the fentiments of Shakfpeare, 
 with regard to language ; that he abhorred 
 the rackers of orthography ; and regarded in- 
 novations in our fpeech, as abhominable infanie. 
 Spenfer avowed the fame opinions, in his 
 Tihree Proper Letters, which Shakfpeare had 
 
 O o 2 probably 
 
564 ^n APOLOGY [Of THE Studies 
 
 probably perufed. It is curious to remark, 
 that two of the greatefl poets, in any age, 
 ihould,. in the fame manner, have concurred, 
 in abhorring the rackers of orthography, and 
 in ridiculing innovators of their maternal En- 
 glifi. Shakfpeare, like a wife man, frequently 
 avows his diflike of innovation, and his con- 
 tempt for innovators. It is to be obferved,. 
 however, that thofe illuftrious makers did not 
 always pradlife their ow^n precepts, with rigid 
 attention to a falutary principle. 
 
 When Shakfpeare had thus fettled his ftyle,, 
 which proceeded partly from the vigour of 
 his own imagination, and formed his tafte, 
 which he improved, by reading the Artes of 
 Poejie of Webbe, and of Puttenham, the 
 Grammatica AngUcana would come too late,, 
 in 1594, to (how him w^hat he had already 
 found, or to teach him what he even then 
 knew\ But, this rare book, as it contains a- 
 Chauceriana, does not come too late even, in 
 1796, to clear fome obfcarities in Shakfpeare, 
 which arife more from our forgetfulnefs of 
 the language of our fathers,, than to his in- 
 attention to the ufage, and idiom, of his own 
 times. And, thefe Chauceriana^ as they con- 
 fift of a collection of poetical expreffions,, 
 whiclx were known, in 1594, immih contem* 
 
 porary 
 
«T Shakspeare.] fcr the BELIEVERS. $65 
 
 porary explanations of no fewer than nine 
 words in Midfummer-lSlights Dreamy which is 
 faid to have been written, in 1592 : (i.) To 
 CARROL ; to liDg ; to dauuce, [Chaucer.] " No 
 " night is now with hymn, or carol bleil/' 
 [Mid. N. D.] Hymns and carols are faid to 
 have been Jungy in the time of Shakfpeare, 
 every night at Chriftmafs. But, our poet un- 
 derftood the double meaning of the word, 
 though we have forgotten it ; and intended 
 to fay : " No night is now w'ith fongs, or 
 ** dauncesy blefr." Every explanation, when 
 given from contemporary authority, ought to 
 be admitted, which gives clcarnefs, and ener- 
 gy, to our majier{u). (2.) To deare; to 
 trouble ; to grieve. [Chaucer.] '* If I have 
 " thanks, it is a dear expence.'* [Mid. N. D.] 
 John Ton, indeed fays, that deer feems to be 
 fometimes ufed in Shakfpeare for fad, hateful, 
 grievous, [Di6l. in Vo. Dear.^ And, our poet 
 meant to fay^ z fid expence : For, Helena, who 
 
 [u) In Henry the vth, we have " unfeen, yet crefcive, in 
 " \i\s faculty ." — Johnfon explains /^jw/Zy to mean, " In- 
 " creafing in its proper pov/cr :" Yet, would I prefer Nor- 
 den's explanation, in his Surveyor* s Dialogue^ 1607, p. i :— . 
 
 " Q^ Call you it [the profefTion of land-furveying] a 
 " Faculty ? What mean you by that word I 
 
 <' A. Ability to perform a thing undertaken,^' 
 
 O o 3 is 
 
566 -^;; APOLOGY [Of THE Studies 
 
 is fpeaking, is refolved to betray to her dif- 
 dainful lover thtfecret of the fair Hermia, her 
 friend : and feeling the compun(ftIon of a well- 
 inftrudted mind, for this odious breach of truR, 
 fhe reafons ; *' And for this intelligence, if I 
 " have thanks, it is a de^zre [fadj expence." 
 This explanation of the u^ord dearcy at once 
 gives clearnefs to the expreffion, and incul- 
 cates an ufeful moral. (3.) Cointe ; quaint ^ 
 nicely Jlrange, [Chaucer.] *' And, the quaint 
 " mazes, in the wanton green, for lack of 
 '* tread, are undiftinguifhable.'' [Mid. N. D.] 
 ** The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, and 
 ** at our quaint fpirits.*' [Id.] (4.) Woode ; 
 madde "y furious 'y outrageQus. [Chaucer.] " Thou 
 ** told'ft me they wxre ftorn into this wood : 
 " and, here am I, and woody within this 
 
 ** wood,'' [Id.] (5.) To WEN1>; to go ', to 
 
 turne. [Chaucer.] " And back to Athens ihall 
 " the lovers wendJ' [Id.] (6.) I^^eve ; Ji/l. 
 [Chaucer.] " Give me your neif, Monf. Muf- 
 ** tardleed/' [Id.] (7 ) Antique : auncient. 
 [Chaucer.] *' I never may believe thefe ^7;?- 
 ^' tiqiie fables, nor thefe fairy toys/* [Id.] 
 (8.) Quell ; to abater to kill. [Chaucer,] 
 *^ Quail, crulh, conclude, and quelle [Id.] 
 (9.) MoNE ; lamentations y forrowy way lings. 
 [Chaucer.] '^ And thus Q^ moans.'' [Id.] 
 
 Let 
 
oif Shakspeare.] for the BELIE V E R S. 567 
 
 Let thefe few examples fuffice, to fhow how 
 much our bard may be illuftrated, and our- 
 felves enlightened, by tbe Chauceriana (1;). 
 
 I cannot 
 
 {v) This elegant, and ufeful, Grammatlca Anglkana^ to 
 which thofe Chauceriana were annexed, was printed at 
 Cambridge, by JohnLegatt, in 1594; and the Chauceriana^ 
 confifting oi five pages^ ought, in juftice to the admirers of 
 Shakfpeare, to be annexed to every future edition of his 
 works, even if fome of the lumber, which now obftruds 
 the reader's way, were difmifled to the ftalls. In order to 
 fupport that fentiment, I will fubjoin a few more examples : 
 Recke; to care'i regard', or account of . [Chaucer.] "The 
 " Great Globe itfelf ; yea, all which it inherit fhall diflblve ; 
 
 " and leave not a rack behind." [Tenipeft.] Every 
 
 one knows how much learning has been wafted, without 
 fuccefs, to explain the meaning of racky in this celebrated 
 paflkge. (i.) But, it is, plainly, a mifprint for recke : 
 (2.) Shakfpeare, merely, meant to fay, that the Globe, and 
 All, which it inherit, (hall dilTolve, without leaving a recke^ 
 an account of memorial, or notice, behind. 
 
 Reede ; X.oJhezu\ tell; declare-, expound. [Chaucer.] 
 
 Ophelia fays, ^" But, good my brother, 
 
 " Do not, as fome ungracious paftcrs do, 
 " Shew me the fteep and thorny way to heaven ; 
 " Whilft, like a puff'd and recklffs libertine, 
 " Himfelf the primrofe path of dalliance treads, 
 <^ And recks not his own read^ [Hamlet.] 
 Now ; Shakfpeare, knowing the various meanings ofall chof^ 
 words, meant to make Ophelia lay j whilft carelep liber- 
 tines tread the primrofe path, and regard not their own 
 recdcy declarations^ or expofitions. — Moreover ; the fortune- 
 tellers reede the deftinies of the maidens of the villagry^ even 
 to this day. 
 
 Oo 4 To 
 
368 Jn APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 I cannot quit The Midfummer-Nighf s Dream, 
 without mentioning, that I have feen in the 
 parifli-regifter of St. Saviour's, Southwark, 
 ** A teftimonial, in 1569, of the age of Jofeph 
 " Botthomy' who had been born, in that pa- 
 riih, the haunt of Shakfpeare, who may have 
 noted the Botthoms, ao fit objeds of his mufe. 
 Whatever there may be in this, it is cer- 
 tain, though our critic has furnlfhed no do- 
 cuments to enable us to afcertain the fad:, 
 that Shakfpeare was not only mafter of great 
 vigilance of obfervation, but of equal dili- 
 gence of notation. He allowed nothing to 
 efcape him, which occurred to his eye, his 
 memory, or his intclled : But, noting down 
 what he faw, recolledcd, or inferred, dili- 
 gently prepared to write for immortality. We 
 may be convinced of this, by a curious, but 
 unnoticed, pafTage, in Marfton's tenth fatire, 
 entitled Humours : — 
 
 " Lufcus, what's play'd to day ? fayth now I know 
 I fet my lips abroach, from whence doth flow 
 
 To SHEND; to hlatne ; or reproove. [Chaucer.] " Wefhall 
 « be ^WJhent.'' [M.W.W.] « I 2.mjhent for fpeaking to 
 *' you." [Twelfth Night.] « He Jhent our meffengers." 
 [Troil. and Cref.] Now; I fufpecSl, thaty^^w/, which plain- 
 ly means bla?ne^ reproof, is either a mifprint, or a different 
 form of the fame verb.-^Thefc examples fhall fuffice, for 
 the prefent. 
 
 Naught 
 
ofShakspeare.] /or ri;^ be LI ever S. 569 
 
 Naught but pure Juliet and Romeo. 
 
 Say ; who ac!-s beft ? Dnifus^ or Rofclo ? 
 
 Now, I have him^ that ne're of Qught did fpeake. 
 
 But, when of playes, and pliiiers, he did treate. » 
 
 H'ath made a conwion place^booke out of phayes^ 
 
 And fpeakes in print, at leaft what'ere he fayes 
 
 Is warranted by curtaine plaudities. 
 
 If ere you heard him courting Lefbias eyes ; 
 
 Say (courteous Sir) fpeakes he not movingly 
 
 From out fome neto pathetique tragedie P 
 
 He writes, he railes, he jefts, he courts, what not; 
 
 And aH from out his huge long-fcraped Jiock 
 
 Of well-penrCd playes" 
 
 Romeo and Juliet is faid by Mr. Malone to 
 be the Jirji tragedy^ which Shakfpcare pro- 
 duced ; to have been written in 1 595, printed 
 in 1597? and reprinted, in its prefent form 
 two years afterwards (w). Well, then, might 
 Marfton alk, in 1599, IVhafs played to day? 
 Nought but pure Juliet and Romeo ; and 
 might, fitly, of the author exclaim. Speaks he 
 not movingly f'om out fine new pathetique tra- 
 gedie ! Shakfpeare was already in the fatirift's 
 mind, when he cried out in the preceding 
 njerfe^ A hall, a hall, and in Marfton's eye, 
 when he opened a preceding fatire, by ex- 
 claiming, A man, a man, a kingdom for a man ! 
 
 (w) The Chronology of Shak. Plays. — Romeo and Juliet 
 was printed for Cuthbcrt Burby, in 1599. Herb. Typ. An. 
 vol. ii. p. 1283. My edition oi Marjlon's Saiyres, from which 
 I quote, was alfo publilhed in the iame year, 1599. 
 
 All 
 
570 ^/f APOLOGY [Of the Stui>ie^ 
 
 All thofe circumftances, clearly, evince, that 
 Marfton meant to give a minute defcription 
 of Shakfpeare, in the before-quoted paflage, 
 which is now fubmitted to the curious reader 
 for the firft time. Drujus was, neceflarily, in- 
 tended for Shakfpeare, as Rofcius had been, 
 already, appropriated to Richard Burbadge : 
 And, the comparifon, between thofe illuflrious 
 adrors, which was thus inftituted by Marftoi:, 
 who knew them both intimately, is honoura- 
 ble to all parties. But, our curiofity is gra- 
 tified the moft, by what the fatirift fays of 
 our immortal bard, as a man^ and as a maker. 
 We now perceive, that Shakfpeare 's table-talk 
 turned chiefly on his profeffion -, that he nere 
 of ought didfpeakey but^ when ofplayes, cr play- 
 ersy he did treate. We at length perceive, 
 that Shakfpeare had difcernment \,o know the 
 value of a common-place book to a profeffed 
 writer : He made a common- place book out of 
 .plays : He writes ^ he railes, he jejisy he courts, 
 what net ; and all from out his huge long" 
 f craped Jiock of well-penrfd playes. This is 
 fuch a delineation of our dramatifl, as his ad- 
 mirers have never feen before. It was, in- 
 deed, known, that Shakfpeare adopted freely, 
 but amply improved, preceding plays, cha- 
 rafters, fentiments, and language : Yet, our 
 
 critic. 
 
^fShakspeare.] /cr /^^ B E LI E VE RS. 57^ 
 
 critic, > when he fhows his aBive prafiice^ is 
 not fiifficiently ftudious to tell, that, fuch wa§ 
 the ufage of the times, without the imputation 
 of plagiarifm, and the cuflom of the greateft 
 poets of the age ; as when Spenfer adopted 
 the Colin Chut of Skelton. The fuccefs of 
 5hakfpeare*s dramas, at the theatre, is alfo ce- 
 lebrated by Marfton, when the rival-dramatift 
 aflirms that, 
 
 " — — • What ere he fayes 
 
 "Is warranted by cur tain e plaudit ics (^)." 
 
 Such, then, are the lights, which the pen- 
 cil of Marfton has thrown on the Jtudies of 
 Shakfpeare ! We m^iy now perceive difl;ind:Iy, 
 that our dramatiil was in the habit of reading, 
 not only the plays and poetry, but the books 
 and pamphlets, which a teeming age brought 
 forth ; and in the practice of common-placing 
 whatever was curious, or might be ufeful. 
 Mi-ich illuftration, indeed, was given to the 
 pbfcurities of Shakfpeare, by Theobald, and 
 flill greater help has been afforded to oqr 
 own unfkilfulnefs, by other editors, during the 
 lait thirty years, from the perufal of all fuch 
 READING as was never read, — but by Shak- 
 
 (a-) Curtaine and theatre were fynonlmous expre^ons, for 
 the J} age ^ in that age, as we learn from Northbrook, and 
 Stubbs. 
 
 fpeare. 
 
572 An APOLOGV' [Of the Studies 
 
 fpeare, to whom. Pope owed it, as a poet, and 
 a critic, to have been fomewhat more moduli 
 in exception {y). But, though much has been 
 done, by clearing away obilrudtions, to vindi- 
 cate our mafters claim to immortality; yet, 
 much remains to be done by the efforts of di- 
 Jigence, rather than the feoffs of high-blown 
 pridcy and by the inveftigations of judgm^ent, 
 rather than the backbites of habitual malignity ^ 
 to make his obfcurities intelligible to the 
 meaneft capacity, and his beauties relifhable 
 by the greateft genius. 
 
 In purfuance of this fentiment, I will add a 
 mite, or two, to the common flock of ufeful 
 illuftration. The whole condud, fentiment, 
 and language of the Ghoji in Hamlety which 
 have created fo much embarrafsment, may be 
 cleared, and the explanations of the moil in- 
 telligent commentators confirmed, by a pafTage, 
 in The Book of the {z) Fejiivaly a church book 
 
 of 
 
 (v) See Wartcn on Spenfer, ad ed. p. 264. 
 
 [%) It was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1532: 
 But;, I tranlcribe. the padage from Strype's Mem. vol. i. 
 p. 1 39 : The priefl, fpeaking of the hiirlal of the dead, aflerts 
 the walking of their ghojis^ in the following manner : " Many 
 '' walk on nights, when buried in holy place : But, that is 
 " not long of the fiend, but of the grace of God, to get 
 « them help. And fome be guilty, and have no reft. Four 
 
 '* men 
 
«F Shakspeare.] /or //^^ B ELI E VE R S. 573 
 
 of the priefts, which was read to their pa- 
 riHiioners, during particular feafons. Shak- 
 fpeare may have, poffibly, found feme edition of 
 this book, in his own family, and have, thereby, 
 learned the popular notions of the times, with 
 regard to the ^walking of ghojisy and to the 
 houfcling of fick men, by the adminiftration of 
 thefacrament. 
 
 From Batman's Doo?ney warning all men to 
 
 « men ftale an abbot's ox to their larder. The abbot did a 
 *' fentence, and curfcd them : So three of them were 
 '' fl)riven^ and afked mercy : The fourth died, and was not 
 « ajjiiledy and had not fargivenefs : So, when he was dead> 
 *' the fpirit went by nighty and feared all the people about, 
 '^ that none durft walk after fun down. Then, as the 
 «' parifh prieft went on a night with God^s body to houfel a 
 " fick man, this fpirit went with him, and told him what he 
 " was, and why he went [walked] and prayed the prieft to 
 ^ go to his wife, that they fhould go both to the abbot, 
 " and make him amends for his trefpafs; and fo to afToil 
 " him ; for he might have no reft : And, anon the abbot 
 '' aflbiled him j and he went to refty and joy for evermore.'* 
 — In The Doomeywarning ta judgement of Mr. Profeflbr Bat- 
 man, 1 581, p. 420, which Shakfpeare had certainly read, 
 there is the print of a ghoft, who " not many yeres pafte, in 
 '• Bohemia, appeared to one that was afleep :" This ghoft is 
 a goodly perfonage; and is all naked, indeed, except his 
 lolnsy which are ygirdled with Mr. Malone's leathern pilcb. 
 The moft intelligent ghoft of the prefent day xm^t fnatch a 
 grace from the attitude, which is really fine, of the Bohemian 
 
 ghoft of ProfefTor Batman. 
 
 //. 
 
574 A APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 the judgemeJite y and containing almoft all the 
 Jlrange prodigies^ hapned in the worlds Shak- 
 fpeare acquired much knowledge, which is 
 fcattered about in his dramas : Herein he 
 found the hiftory ** of fundry monfters of men, 
 " in divers forms ;" fuch as the Cynnaminiiy 
 or dog-keepers, the Sperniathophagi^ who lived 
 on fruite, the Ilophogiy who dwelt in trees, and 
 leaped from branch to branch, like fquirrelles, 
 the Hermafj^oditce, that is, people of both 
 kinds, the Ltchthyophagi, or fifh-eaters, the 
 Tandordy who live two hundred years, the 
 Nigritcty who are all black, and whofe nether 
 lips hang down as low as their breafts, the 
 JEthiopeSy a black people, who have four {a) 
 eyesy the Hippopodesy whofe nether parts are 
 like to horles, the Arimajpiy who have but 
 one eye in their foreheads, the Anthropo- 
 PHAOr, who eat man's flefh, and live without 
 law, and from thefe men eaters proceed the 
 Canibalsy who are fo called from their eating 
 man's {U) flefli, the Pygmies, who are fo called 
 
 for 
 
 {a) " ^/Z>/c/>j of their fvveet complexion crack." [Love's 
 Labour Lofl.] " Such Ethlop words, blacker in their efFe6t, 
 " than in their countenance." [As you like it.] 
 
 {b) Othello tells Defdemona,— Of the Canibalsy that 
 each other eat, the Jnthro^ophagi^ and mcJi-f whofe heads do 
 
 grow 
 
e? SnAKiTtAKE.] /or ibf BELIEVERS. sYS 
 
 for their iliortnefs of ftature. Yet, among all 
 thofe wonderful nations, the Profeflbr feems 
 not to have found that celebrated people, 
 wi)ofe heads do grow beneath their poulders. 
 
 The hiftory of thefe fingnlat meny may be 
 eomprefled into a very little volume. Mr. 
 Profeffor Batman, after reading every Greek, 
 and Latin, author, after perufing the writings 
 of the Italian, German, French, and Spanifh 
 dodors, who had ti-eated oi wonderful wonder s^ 
 had almoft puhliflied his own work, without 
 faying a word about that memorable race [c)* 
 But, there happily were fent him from abroad 
 fome additional relations oi monjiers^ which he 
 caufed to be tranflated, for the inftrudlion of 
 his readers.^ — " In the woddes of Afia," he 
 {d) fays, '* are men called Monopoli, who have 
 
 " no 
 
 grow beneath their Jhoulders. — *^ He*ll fpeak, like an Anthro- 
 " pophaginian unto thee." [Merry Wives of Windfor.] 
 Here, is a word, which was plainly coined, in order to throw- 
 contempt on fuch wonderful men; as> indeed, there is much 
 of the fame purpofe in Othello's celebrated relation, which, 
 at the fame time, evinces the poet's infight into human 
 nature. 
 
 {c) He gives a very long lift of all the books, which he 
 had read over,, to difcover things out of nature. In this lift, 
 may be feen the name of Nicolaus Geilerus Ludi Bafilien- 
 fis moderator, 
 
 (d) The Dome, p. 389 : And yet, Batman, when he 
 was upon the fearch> might have found in Pliny, the natural- 
 
 ift, 
 
5/6 An APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 '* no heady but a face in their breafie : They go 
 ** naked, covering thenifelves [their no-heads] 
 *' with a cap, by reafon of the fun's great 
 " heat : They gather pepper, and barter it 
 " with the merchants of Mecha; and the 
 " wares which they have for it, they fend to 
 *^ the Antipodes [e) : They are verye conti- 
 " nent and modefbmen ; neither are they ever 
 " heard to utter an ill word; they are very 
 " upright, and have a good confcience," ac- 
 " cording to their law." Luckily, Sir Wal- 
 ter Raleigh found, in Guiana, a few years 
 after, a kindred generation, whom he intro- 
 duced to the Englifh people, in 1596. While 
 the wits of England, Hall, Marflon, and (y) 
 Shakfpeare, were laughing at the marvels of 
 
 ift, lib. vii. cap. 2 : " Ferfus occ'identem ad montem Milo in 
 " Jlfta^ vivere genus hominum, fine capitibus, habentes 
 " occulos in peclore intra axillas.*' Nayj thofe famous 
 men were delineated in the Mojaic Pavements of the Ro- 
 mans. [Divus Auguft. De Civit. Dei, Lib. xvi. cap. 8.] 
 
 (^) Shakfpeare often mentions the Antipodes. [Much 
 Ado About Nothing; Merchant of Venice; Richard 2d: 
 " Thou art as oppofite to every good, as the Antipodes are 
 '* unto us.'* 3 H. 6.] Shakfpeare thus appears to have 
 known the Antipodes full better than Batman. 
 
 (/) In the Merry TFives of Windjor^ 1601, from the 
 witty tongue of Falftaff: " She is a region of Guiana-^ all 
 " gold and bounty." 
 
 Raleigh^ 
 
OF Shakspeare.] /^r /^'^ B E LI fe VE RS. ^yfi 
 
 Raleigh, the fcholars of the continent adopt-^ 
 ed his fidiions. Our Voyager*s narrative was 
 tranflated into Latin, and publifhed at Nurem- 
 berg, by Levin Hulfe, in 1599, with a map 
 by HoNDius, having upon it the faid meh, 
 hunting, and fighting, with tBeir heads beneath 
 their JJjoulJers, The learning of Shakfpeare, 
 I grant, did not enable him to read this Brevis 
 & admiranda defcriptio Regni Gviancey auri 
 abimdantiffimi, in America ; but it muft be 
 equally allowed, that the fights of Shakfpeare 
 enabled him to fee, in the fculptured title- 
 page, the men imth their heads beneath their 
 Jfjoulders, bodied forth to the dimmeft eyne^ 
 The fame piBure alfo fhowed to the natiiralifis 
 of that age, what muft have appeared very 
 notable, that the Monopolian women were 
 made in all refpedls, like unto- other women. 
 We now perceive, from this brief hiftory, that 
 thofe Monopoli were very familiar to the un- 
 derftandings, and the eyes, of Englillimen, 
 before Shakfpeare brought them out upon the 
 ftage, when, as old acquaintances, the men, 
 ivhofii heads do grow beneath their Jhoulders, 
 muft have been received with loud applaufe. 
 We are, in this manner, carried forward ta 
 the queftion, which has been agitated, about 
 
 Pp the 
 
578 ^« APOLOGY [Of the Stuuie* 
 
 the epochy and the origijty of the T^empeft. 
 Theobald afferted, that this noblejl effort of the 
 fublime imagination of Shakfpeare muft have 
 been written, after 1609, becaufe the Ber« 
 niuda iflands, which are mentioned in it, were 
 unknown to the EngHih until that year. The 
 ignorance of that ufeful editor has been pro* 
 perly correfted, by a reference to Hackluyt's 
 Voyages, 1600, for May's defcription of Ber- 
 mudas, where he was fhipwrecked in 1593. 
 But, \^e muft go a ftep further back. And, 
 we fhall find, in Raleigh's Narrative, which 
 Shakfpeare had read, and noted, the true 
 fource of our maker s knowledge, about the 
 Jiill'Vex'd Bermoothes [g). In difplaying the 
 advantages of Guiana, Raleigh fays, with 
 premature dogmatifm, " the Channel of Ba^ 
 " hamay coming from the Weft Indies, can^ 
 " not be paffed in the winter y and when it is 
 " at the beft, it is a perilous, and a fearful, 
 " place : The reft of the Ltdies for calms, 
 " and difeafes, are very troublefome ; and 
 
 {g) The Difcoverie of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Em^ 
 pre of Guiana^ with a relation of the Great and Golden 
 Citie of Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado. 
 Performed in 1595 by Sir W. Ralegh. Imprinted at London 
 by Rob. Robinfon, 1596. The book was dedicated, by Ra- 
 leigh, to the Lord Admiral Howard, and to Sir Robert 
 Cecyll. 
 
 ''the 
 
OF Shakspeare.] for the BELIEVERS. 57^ 
 
 *' the Bermudas, a hellifli fea, for thunder^ 
 V* lighteningy and JiormsJ' Subfequent mifad- 
 ventures, in thofe feas, and pofterior publi- 
 cations, in London, kept the Jlill-vex'd Ber^ 
 moot Acs conftantly before the public eye. 
 Jaurdan, who accompanied Sir George So- 
 mers, when he was (hipwrecked on Bermudas, 
 in 1609, publiihed, in i6(io, A Difcovery of 
 the Barmudas, otherwife called, the ijle of Di^ 
 vels [h). A fhip, named the Plough, failed 
 from the Thames, in April 161 2, with ad- 
 venturers for Bermudas, who, having a fair 
 and comfortable pajfage^ eftablifhed the fr'fi 
 colony in the ijle of Devils, on the 1 1 th of 
 July 1612. This enterprize was followed, 
 by the publication, in 161 3, of ^ Plaine De-* 
 fcription of the Barmudas 7iow called Sommer 
 ijlands{i). During the months of Odober, 
 
 November, 
 
 {h) It was printed by Windet for Barnet in St. Dunflan's 
 Churchyard. 
 
 (/) This pamphlet was printed by W. Stanfby fpr W. 
 Welby : And, it is merely a republication of Jourdan's 
 TraiSt, with an addition, containing the voyage and fettle r. 
 ment, under Majier R. More, the deputie governor, with 
 a change of the name, and a foftening of the defcription, as 
 to the hellijhnefs of the thunder, lightening, and ftorms ; yet^ 
 retaining the following pafiage in Jourdan's pamphlet, which 
 is very material to remember, and very curious to remark 
 nowj as it has never been remarked before : *' For the 
 
 P p 2 , *« Ifland* 
 
5^ y/« AFOLOGY [Of the Sxuoits 
 
 November, and December, 1612, there was 
 a continued tempejl^ as Stowe informs us, 
 which wrecked many Ihips along the coafts 
 of England. Shakfpeare's Tempeft was ad:ed 
 in the beginning of the year 161;^. And, 
 Ben Johnfon, with unlucky f elf -fa fficiency^ fcof- 
 fed at this fublime effort of the human genius, 
 in his Bartholomew-fairy 1614. Now, thefe 
 dates, and thofe circumftances, fix the true 
 epoch of the Tempeft, not in 161 2, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Malone's chronology, but in 1613, 
 according to the evidence. Shakfpeare's no- 
 tion of the hellijlonefs of the Bermudean fea, for 
 thunder^ ligbteningy znA, forms, was plainly de- 
 rived from Raleigh, and his idea of the fill- 
 vex'd Bermoothesy being an inchanted place^ 
 which made every mariner avoid it, as Scylla, 
 and Charydis, was obvioufly taken from Jour- 
 dan, when his tradl was republiflied, in 1613 (>J). 
 
 Thefe 
 
 « Iflands of the Barmudas, as every man; knoweth, that 
 " hath heard, or read of them, were never inhabited by any 
 « Chriftian, or heathen, people, but ever efteemed, and 
 « reputed, a moft prodigiouSy and inchanted^ placey afFoording 
 « nothing but gufts, ftormes, and foul weather; which mad(? 
 " every navigator and mariner to avoid them, as Scylla and 
 ^ Charydis, or as they would ftiun the Devil himfelfe." 
 
 (yf) In the Plain DefcriptioHy when printed, in 16 1 3, 
 there is a fuperaddition to the original paflkge, which is very 
 
 remarkable ; — 
 
Of Shakspeare.] for the BELIEVERS. 581 
 
 Thefe pofitions may be fupported by other 
 fads, and confirmed by additional reafonings, 
 which will, at the fame time, open new 
 profpefts to the inquifitive eye. Knowing 
 the common opinion, that the Bermudean ifles 
 were enchanted, and governed by fpirits, our 
 maker fhowed great judgment, in caufing, by 
 enchantment,' the King's fhip to be wrecked 
 on the ftill'Vexd BermootheSy with allufions to 
 the fhipwreck of Sommers, and the govern- 
 ment by fpirits. He goes on to fliow his 
 own contempt for the marvels of voyage- 
 writers, in that age of voyages, by faying ; 
 " But, the rarity of it is, which is indeed 
 " almoil beyond credit ; as many 'vouch'd ra-- 
 ** rities are.'* Showing thus the redlitude of 
 his own faculties, he proceeds to ridicule, by 
 the moft marked farcafm, T^he Plain Defcrip^ 
 
 remarkable : — '' It Is reported, that the land of the Barmudas 
 *< with the many iflands about it are inchanted, and kept 
 " with evil and wicked fpirits ; it is a moft idle and falfe 
 *' report.'*— 'To this the writer of the fupplemental account 
 adds : " For, our inchanted iflands, which is kept as fome 
 *' fay whh fpiriu^ will wrong no friend, nor foe." Three 
 mariners, who had been left on Bermudas in 16 10, were 
 found by the planters, in 161 2, more civil thzn favage^ and 
 more induftrious than idle : For, they had planted corn, 
 wheat, beans, tobacco, and melons. We now fee how 
 many hints Shakfpeare gained from thofe Bermudean 
 pamphlets. 
 
 P p 3 tion 
 
582 .^« APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 tion of Bermudasy 1613 (/) : " Though this 
 " ifland feem to be defert ; — Ha, ha, ha! 
 ** Uninhabitable, and alnioft inacceffible ; yet, 
 
 (/) Who did not thinkj fays the writer, till within thefe 
 four years, but that thofe iflands had been rather a habita- 
 tion of devels, than fit for men to dwell in ? Who did not 
 hate the name, w^hen he was on land, and fhun the place 
 when he was on the feas. The writer, then, fpeaks of the 
 B.ermudas as defert^ yet fays it was inhabited by three men ; 
 who were more civil, than favage ; that they were furrounded 
 by dangerous rocks, lying feaven leagues Into the fea, yet, 
 there are many good harbours in it : They found the ayr fo 
 temperate, and the country fo abbundantly fruitful of all fit 
 necefTaries for the fuftentation of man's life ; and though 
 this ifland has been, and is, accounted, the moft dangerous, 
 infortunate, and moft forlorne place in the world, it is in 
 truth, the richeft, healthfuUeft, and pleafingland, and merely 
 natural, as ever man fet foot upon. The ground is the rich- 
 eft to bear fruit, whatfocver one ftiall lay on it, that is in the 
 world, and very eafy for digging ; for it is z fat fandy ground-i 
 and of colour a brown red : Many feeds were fown, the 
 cowcumber and the melon among others, and they were 
 feen above the ground on the fourth day : They went into 
 thebird-iflands ; and without Jilck^ Jione-hoiv^ or gun^ they 
 took up the birds with their hands, fo many as they u'ould. 
 Fifti of every kind fwarm about thofc iflands. And for fach 
 extraordinary weather, for thunder and lightning, as is re- 
 ported, I can fee no fuch matter, but better v/eathcr than 
 they have in England; and, if we had bccji zvct by wcathevt 
 or by wading^ we may lay us down^ fo wet^ to feep^ with a 
 palm-tree leaf or two under us, and one over us, and we 
 flcep foundly, without any taking cold ; your airs in Eng- 
 land arc for more fubjcdl to difea(es than thefe iflands are. 
 
t)r Shaksi«eare.] for /;^.' B E L I E V E R S. 585 
 
 *' yet ; — He could not mifs it : It muft needs 
 ** be of fubtle, tender and delecate tempe- 
 " ranee : Ay, and fubtle : The air breathes 
 *' upon us here moft fweetly : — as if it had 
 '* lungs, and rotten ones : — or as if 'twere 
 '* perfumd by a fen. Here, is every thing 
 *' advantageous to life : — True ; fave means 
 " to live. How lufli, and lufty the grafs 
 *' looks. T^he ground is indeed tawny ^ — -with an 
 *' eye of green in it. But, the rarity of it [all] 
 " is, that our garments, being, as they were, 
 ** drench'd in the fea, hold, notwithftanding, 
 " their frefhnefs.'' 
 
 After laughing, in this manner, at fuch 
 abfurd defcriptions, Shakfpeare continues to 
 laugh at the colonial policy of that age, which 
 made the colonies fubjed, yet fovereign, de- 
 pendent, yet independent, taxable, yet not 
 taxable, obedient, yet difobedient : — " Had I 
 a plantation of this ijle^ fays Gonzalo, an 
 honeft old counfellor^ and ijoere the king of it, 
 
 r the co7nmonwealth^ I would, by contraries. 
 Execute all things: For, no kind of traffick, 
 Would I admit; no name of magiftrate ; 
 Letters (hould not be known ; no ufe of fervice, 
 Of riches, or of poverty; no contra<^s, 
 Siicceffioiis ; bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none L 
 No ufe of metal, corn, or wine, or oil: 
 No occupation ; all men idle, all ; 
 And women too, but innocent, and pure : 
 No fovereign ty:— 
 
 Pp4 AU 
 
5^4 Jn AVOhOGY [Of THE Studies 
 
 All things, in common, nature ihould produce, 
 Without fweat, or endeavour : treafon, felony, 
 Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine. 
 Would I not have J but nature (hould bring forth, 
 Of its own kind, all foizon, all abundance, 
 To feed my innocent people. 
 I would with fuch perfection govern. Sir, 
 To excdl the golden age {•;«). 
 
 In 
 
 {m) Mr. Malone has clearly (hown, that Gonzalo's dif- 
 courfc, both in fentiment, and language, was borrov/ed fron^ 
 Florio's Tranjlation of Alontaigne's EJJhies^ which was pub- 
 liihed, in 1603; [Shak. vol. ii. p. 38.] but our critic did not 
 , advert to amateriaj circumflance, in this queftion, that the 
 fecond edition of Florio'sTranflation waspubliilied, in 1613: 
 And, our commentator is egregioufly miftaken, in fup- 
 pofmg, that Shakfpeare was led, by the perufal of this book, 
 to make l^efcene of the Tcm-pejl in an unfrequented ifland ; as 
 I have evinced from theBermudean pamphlets, and other 
 documents, though it is probable, that Shakfpeare, when he 
 was writing the Tempeft", in the winter of 16 12-13, "^'^Y 
 have thrown his eyes on the fecond edition of Florio, and, a^ 
 he often did, caught at the above-quoted words, which were 
 fuitable to his purpofe. Shakfpeare, as I have already 
 fhown, was perfe<5lly acquainted v/ith the camnhailes^ before 
 he could have feeu that tranflation: and he undoubtedly 
 faw much about that man-eating 'people^ in the improved edir 
 tion of Hgckluyt's voyages, 1598-1600: Yet, I think it 
 probable, that Shakfpeare may have anagramati^ed canibal 
 into Caliban. \x, is, moreover, to be obferved, that there is 
 \y annexed to the Plaine Defcripticn of the Eermudas, 161 3, 
 
 i what would be called, at prefent, the fundamental conjiiiution 
 
 of the colony, containing fome of the contrarieties, which 
 Shakfpeare ridicules j particularly, their engagement to defend 
 mapfully the commonivdalth we live in^ if any foreign powe^: 
 
 (liould 
 
OP Shakspeare.] for the BELIEVERS. 585 
 
 In the 'Tempejt, which has fo many refer- 
 ences to the new-found, and new-fettled, 
 world, there is an allufion toz dead Indian ^ that 
 has defied the commentators Ikill. Trinculo 
 fays, with more farcafm, than truth, that, in 
 England, when they will not give a doit to re-- 
 lieve a lame beggar ^ they will lay out ten^ to fee 
 a dead Indian («). It muft be remembered, 
 that Shakfpeare wrote this, in 1 644> when he 
 was catching at contemporary topicks. I will 
 endeavour to fhow the ftreet, where the Indian 
 died, though I pretend not to know the 
 
 fhould attempt to dirpoflefs them, — without jword^ pike, 
 knife^ or gun. The opening of Gonzalo's fpeech, Had I a 
 plantation of this iJJe^ points his difcourfe to that enchanted 
 fpot, and the ftrain of his fentiments fhows how much his 
 farcafm was levelled at the projects of colonization, which, 
 in the reign of James, were daily circulated by the chartered- 
 companies : The adventurers to Bermudas were fent out by 
 proje6lors, who had bought the Bermudas from the Vir- 
 ginia Company, to whom the planters promifedy^Z/and /^r-y/V^. 
 Trevet had written of antartic France^ or the Caribbee 
 tflands, before Montaigne : And, Profeflbr Magini, who 
 publifhed, in 1597, ^^^ Geographiae Vniverfae Opus^ has 
 an exprefs chapter, in vol. ii. p. 291 : — Canibalorum^ feu 
 Caribum Infulae, which includes the whole of the prefent 
 Vv^eft-Indies. Magini fays, that the inhabitants of thofe 
 iflands are dark coloured, without hair, fierce, cruel, and 
 finthropophagi, 
 
 (k) Steeyens's Shak. vol. iii. p, 78. 
 
 houfe, 
 
5^6 >/« APOLOGY [Of THESruoisi 
 
 houfe, wherein he was to be feen, when dead. 
 Lord Southampton, and Sir Francis Gorges, 
 engaging in voyages of difcovery, fent out, in 
 l6ii, two veffels under the command of 
 Harlie, and Nicolas, who failed along the 
 jMew England coaft, where they were fome- 
 times well, and often ill, received, by the na- 
 tives ; and returned to England, in the fame 
 year, with ^ve favages, on board {o). In 
 1 6 14, Captain Smith carried out to New 
 England, one of thofe favages, named Tantum; 
 Captains Harlie and Hopfon tranfported, in 
 the fame year, two other of thofe favages, 
 called Epenow, and Manawet 'y one of thofe 
 favages adventured to the European continent; 
 and the Jifth Indian^ of whom no account is 
 given, we may eafily fuppofe died in London, 
 and was exhibited for a fhow(/>). In 1613, 
 Pocahonfasy the daughter of Powhatan, the 
 King of Virginia, marrying Mafter John 
 Rolf, went with him to London, where fhe 
 
 (0) Prince's New Eng. Chron. 33. Prince is very dull, 
 but very accurate. Agavi^am, where Harlie, and Nicolas 
 were well received by the natives, was afterwards called 
 Southampton. To inok fivages^ Stephano may allude, when 
 be fpeaks of favages and men of Ind, All America was 
 then denoaiinated Ind. 
 
 (/>) lb. 39; Smith's N. Eng. 204. 
 
 was 
 
cfShakspeare.] /or /i^* belie vers, 5S7 
 
 was noticed by the King and Queen, was 
 much vifited by the fashionable world; and 
 unhappily died at Gravefend, on her return to 
 her native kingdom, in 1617 : But, Pocahon- 
 tas, who is greatly praifed for her accomplifh- 
 ments, died regretted by every one ; and cer- 
 tainly was not expofed for haplefs gain {q). 
 "Y\it juggling witchcraft y which 
 
 <c ' — fafely in harbour, 
 
 " [Laid] the King's fhip; in the deep (r) nook^ where once 
 
 « Thou 
 
 {q) Stith's Hift. Virg. 123. 
 
 (r) The before-quoted C/;5//^m<3«<7, 1594, has ^^nooh\ 
 *' corner, or angle:" And, Shakfpeaiehas alfo, ^^ nookjhotten 
 *• ifle of Albion.'* [Henry 5.] In the Tempefi^ Miranda 
 
 lays,— 
 
 *' O my heart bleeds ; 
 " To think o' the teen, that I have turn*d you to, 
 ** Which is from my remembrance." 
 
 Mr. Steevens fays " teen is forrow, grief, trouble." So 
 in Romeo and Juliet: "to my teen be it fpoken." The 
 contemporary Chauceriana explains teene^ to be revengcfull 
 ivrath\ inveterate malice. Mr. Steevens was the firft, 
 who, with his ufual recoUecStion, fhowed, that Shakfpeare 
 had borrowed the well-known pafTage in the Tempejly 
 which was converted into a motto for his monument, from 
 Lord Stirling's Darius: 
 
 " And let this worldly pomp our wits enchant, 
 
 *' Ail fades, andfcarcely leaves behind a token,'' ^ Darius. 
 
 ** And, like this unfubftantial pageant, /W^^, 
 
 ** Leave not a rack behind*^'* Te m p e s t . 
 
 The 
 
5gS ^« APOLOGY [Of THE SruDxts 
 
 <* Thou call'ft me up, at midnight, to fetch dew 
 « From theJlllUvex'd Bermoothes^'' 
 
 feems ftill to dired: the T'empeji, with ArieFs 
 wand, and hath left ajleep the commentators, 
 'with a char772y joifid to their fufferd labour. 
 When the ever-moralizing Gonzalo is com- 
 forting the King, by fhowing him, that other 
 mortals were fubjed; to fimilar fhip wreck, he 
 adds, as Mr. Malone, and Mr. Steevens, 
 concur to make him fpeak : 
 
 a _ «« Our hint of woe 
 
 *' Is common ; every day, fome failor's wife, 
 " The ?nafters of fome merchant^ and the merchant^ 
 " Have juft our theme of woe." 
 Seeing the difficulty, Mr. Malone ihut his 
 eyes {s). The vigilance of Mr. Steevens faw 
 fome corruption^ in the paffage, while his acu- 
 men tried, with unlucky diligence, to purge 
 this cholery without letting blood, " We muft 
 " fuppofe,*' he remarks, " that by /?7^^rj- our 
 ** author means the owners of a merchant ihip, 
 " or the ojicers to whom the navigation of it 
 
 The comparifon of thefe fimilar paffages demonflrates, 
 that my amendment of rack^ which is only a mifprint for 
 r^Ci^f 5 was right ; and that Shakfpeare meant only to fay, as I 
 have obferved, that this globe would fade, and leave not a 
 token behind. 
 
 (5) Shak. vol. i. part iL p. 33. 
 
 " bad 
 
or SHAfcsPEARB.] for /^v B E L I EVE RS. 589 
 
 " had been trufted (/)/' Yet, the corruption 
 will be found not to fefter in the word majlers^ 
 fo mucli as in the nonfenfe, merchant^ and 
 the mercha?it. I will print, and poi?it^ Gon- 
 zalo's fpeech, which contains ufeful confola- 
 tion, as I prefanne to think Shakfpeare in- 
 tended it fhould be underftood : — 
 
 Beieech youy Sir, be merry: You have caufe; 
 Soj have we all, of joy: for, our efcape 
 Is much beyond our lofs: Our hint of woe 
 Is common : every day, fome failor's wife; 
 The mafler of fome merchantman ; die merchant ; 
 Have juft our theme of woe : but, for the miracle; 
 I mean our prefervation, few, in millions. 
 Can fpeak, like us: then, wifely, good Sir, weigh 
 Our forrow with our comfort." 
 
 As this fine fpeech is now printed, and poi?ited, 
 the rhythm^ and thtreafony go hand-and-hand 
 together. Shakfpeare was thinking, in the 
 concrete form, of the failor's wifey not wives ; 
 of tbe merchant y not merchants : And, if pro- 
 priety require, that w^e fhould continue his 
 concatenation of thought, we mud fay the 
 majler of fome merchant-man^ not majiers of 
 fome merchant -men. We now perceive, that 
 this faulty line was corrupted, by con- 
 founding letters, at the prefs, [S, S,] and 
 
 (/) Shak, 1793, vol. iii. p. 52. 
 
 mifprinting 
 
590 -4« APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 mifprinting merchant andy for merchant-- 
 man (u). 
 
 The punctuation of Shakfpeare's text is cer- 
 tainly in the power of every commentator, as 
 Johnfon obferved, though the pradlice muft 
 be regulated, by the context, and the prin- 
 ciple governed, by fyftem. This is a curious 
 fubjed:, if it did not apply fo pertinently to 
 the Studies of Shakfpeare. The celebrated 
 Caxton introduced w^ith the typographic art 
 
 («) Nautical language was not very familiar to the 
 printers of that age : For, we may fee, in Hackluyt's 
 Voyages, conftant apologies, by the writers of his ac- 
 counts, for ufmg failors' terms. It was, however, com- 
 mon, as we may learn from that curious, and inftrudive, 
 collection, to call a Jhip of war^ a man of war^ a French 
 Jh'ip^ a Frenchman, a Hamburgh fhip, a Hamburger, a 
 vidualling fhip, a viBualler : But, in glancing my fpec^ 
 iacled eyne over thofe voyages, I did not fee merchant-mariy 
 for a merchant- fhip. We all know how happily our 
 maker could compound words, as when he fays j " And, 
 '' not one veflel 'fcape the merchant-marring rocks.'* 
 [Merchant of Venice.] And, the genius of Shakfpeare 
 only improved, with his ufual happinefs, the exifling phrafe- 
 ology, when he called a merchant-^//>, a merchant-/«^« ; 
 a term, which from that epoch, has continued in our naval 
 language. Majler was the appropriate word for the com- 
 mander of a merchant-man, as we may learn from Hack- 
 luyt, and indeed from the opening fcene of the Tempeji^ in 
 which the chief officer is called the majier both by the 
 boatfwain, and the King, 
 
 the 
 
ofShakspeare.] /or //^^ believers. 591 
 
 the Roman pointing, as it was ufed, on the ' 
 continent, by the original race of printers {y). 
 Berthelet, the ** printer unto the Kinges noble 
 " grace,** who began to print, in 1529, and 
 died, in 1555, feems to me, to have been the 
 firft, who introduced the modern points, with 
 the exception of the femicolon. In this ftate, 
 the pradice of pointing continued, when the 
 learned Hart, the Chefler-Heralt, publifhed 
 his Orthographic y in 1569 ; and Shakfpeare 
 was beginning to prattle ivildly. In a parti- 
 cular fed:ion, Hart ** brieflye writes of diftinc- 
 " tion ; or pointing, which (well obferved) 
 ** maye yeelde the matter, much the readier 
 '^ to the fenfes, as well to the eie as to the 
 ** eare. For it fliewethus how to reft : when 
 ** the fentence continueth, and when it end- 
 *^ eth : how to underftande what is written, 
 
 [v) Pinfon, the difciplc of Caxton, who bad the honour to. 
 introduce the Roman letter, printed, without the yere-, '< Af- 
 *' cenfius declynfyons with the piayne expofition,'* a gram- 
 matical tra6t, which treats, among other topicks, " Of the 
 « craft of poynting." A (hort extract will (how the manner 
 of our firft printers : " Therbe fiue maner poyntys /and di- 
 <' uifios moft vfide with cunnyng men: the which /if they 
 " be wel vfid : make the fentens very light / and t{y to be 
 *' vnderftod both to the reder / and the herer. & they be 
 « thefe : virgil / come / parethells / playni point / and in-* 
 '^ terrogatif." [Herb. Typ. An, vol. i, p. 301.] 
 
 " and 
 
59* ^« APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 ^ and is not needeful to the fentence : what 
 ** fome tranflatour or new writer of a worke, 
 " doth adde more than the author did at firft 
 *^ write : and alfo what fentence is afking : 
 ** and what is wondering : their number is 
 " feuen, whofe figures folow. The firft marked 
 *< thus [,] Comma, and is in reading the ihorteft 
 " reft. The fecond marked thus [:] Colo?!, 
 ** which fhows that there is more to come. 
 '* And the laft of thefe three is a pricke 
 thus [.], or period, to fignify the end of a 
 perfed fentence. — Tht parent hefis [ () ] 
 which fignifieth interpofition.— No more do 
 I fay of the interrogative [ ? ] or admira- 
 tive [ ! ] but that they are moft full kn^ 
 " tences of themfelves. There refteth yet to 
 ** faye fomewhat of thefe laft [], which differ 
 " from the proprietie of the parenthefis : for 
 " it is never ufed of the author, but in tran- 
 " flations, commentaries, and expofitions." 
 
 Thus far the intelligent Chefter-Heralt ! 
 Now ; it is apparent, that he does not notice 
 thtfemicoloriy any more than if it did not exift : 
 In faft, it did not exift, at that epoch. Biillo^ 
 kars Booke for the Amendment of Orthographic 
 for Englijh Speech [1580] does not make any 
 ufe of \\\^ femicolon, although he has the other 
 points, which were recommended by Hart : 
 ^ Neither 
 
 <i 
 
 cc 
 
 << 
 
t)r SMAKSPfiAftB.] /or /y^^ BELIE VERS. 5^^ 
 
 Neither does Stockwood, in his Englijh Acci- 
 dence, 1590? recognize the femicolon, either 
 by his pradice, or inftrudlion. Add to all thofe 
 fafts, that The Bible, which was printed, in 
 1592, by the Deputies of Chriftopher Barker^ 
 printer to the Queene's moft excellent Ma^ 
 jeftie, is not pointed wixhfemicolons^ though it 
 be printed with appropriate accuracy. 
 
 We are now arrived, by an illuftrative pro- 
 grefs, at the epoch, when Shakfpeare began 
 to write for the world. And, it is a queftion, 
 which is curious in itfelf, and may be ufeful 
 in the refult, how our great ?najier pointed 
 his immortal dramas. He, undoubtedly, had 
 read the Orthographies of Hart, and Bullokar^ 
 though he, probably, did not regard them 
 with approbation, as far at leaft, as they pro- 
 pofed innovations. In Loves Labours Lojiy 
 1594, our dramatift fpeaks, contemptuoufly, 
 of ** fuch rackers of orthography , as to fpeak, 
 " douty fine, when they ihould fay doubt:'' 
 In Much Ado about Nothings 1 600, Shakfpeare 
 reiterated his farcafm, by making Benedidl fay; 
 " He was wont to fpeak plain, and to the pur- 
 " pofe, like an honeft man, and a foldier; but, 
 " now he is turned Orthographer ; his words 
 " are a very fantaftical banquet, jull; fb many 
 '* ftrange di(hes :" And, it wa^ indeed, very 
 
 Q^q fantajikal 
 
594 ^« APOLOGY [Of the Studied 
 
 fantajlical in Bullokar to propofe the change 
 of the eftabhflied fpelling, the new modelling 
 of the whole pradice of printing, and the 
 entire alteration of the founder's types. From 
 thofe coniiderations, we may rationally infer, 
 that Shakfpeare pointed his dramas on the 
 principles of Hart, without femicolons, and 
 without regarding the innovations, which, at 
 that epoch, began to gain ground on former 
 pradice* It is equally reafonable to fuppofe, 
 that Spenfer*s ufage was the ('Z£') fame ; as both 
 thofe great poets concurred> in oppofing inno- 
 
 {iv) The firft edition of The Faerie ^leene^ I590> ^^^^ 
 ih£ femicolon fcwnetimes introduced by Ponfonbie, the printer j 
 for Spenfer was at a diftance from the prefs : and, there is 
 not a femicolon either in his prefatory letter to Raleigh, or 
 in the recommendatory verfes by Raleigh and others to 
 Spenfer.— Such was the progrefs of literature, in the age 
 of Shakfpeare, that when Charles Butler publilhed his En- 
 gUjh Grammar^ \i\ 1633, he treated particularly Of Points \ 
 and {liGws diftindtly, that tho^ femlcolon had been then intro- 
 duced into our pra6tice, and was perfectly underftood r 
 " Semicolon^ fays he, is a point of imperfect fenfe, in the 
 " middle of a colon^ or period : commonly, when it is a 
 *' compound axiom ; whofe parts are joined together, by a 
 " double, and fometime by a fmgle conjundion : and it con- 
 *' tinues the tenour or tone of the voice to the laft word', 
 " with a cehn paiife; As Rom. xi. 16. If the firft fruit be 
 «; holy ; the lump is holy : and if the root be holy ; fo are 
 " the branches." 
 
 vatbns 
 
o'if Shakspeare.] for the BELIEVERS. 59^ 
 
 rations in language, and in obftriidling the 
 changes of life. 
 
 Whatever there may be in thofe truths, cer- 
 tain it is, that fyflenfiatic pointing is of the 
 greatefl importance to the text of Shakfpeare, 
 both for the clearnefs of his fenfe, and the 
 energy of his ftyle. For the attainment of 
 thofe objed:s, fomething has been done, though 
 with not much fuccefs. Bat, it would be 
 invidious to apply too rigid rules to the prac- 
 tical failures of felf-fufficiency, while a great 
 deal depends on the context, and not a little 
 upon tafte. One example fhall, however, be 
 given, to illuftrate difquiiition, rather than to 
 correct pradice. Mr. ( ;c ) Malone, and Mr. 
 (^) Steevens concur> in giving the w^ell-known 
 fpeech of Gonzalo, as follows : — " That our 
 ** garments, being as they were, drenched in 
 " the fea, hold notwithftanding their frefh- 
 " nefs, and gloffes; being father new dy'd, 
 " than ftain'd with fait water." Now; for 
 want of a comma, after hold^ and another, 
 after notwithfiandmgy the fenfe is obfcured, 
 and the ftyle enfeebled : Compare the fame 
 fpeech with itfelf, as pointed, in the following 
 manner:-^-" That our garments, being as 
 
 (a:) Shak. vol. i. part ii. p. 35. 
 (v) Shak. 1793, vol. ill. p. 55. 
 
 CLqi « they 
 
59^ ^« APOLOGY [Of the Studies 
 
 ** they were, drench'd, in the fea, hold, not- 
 ** withftanding, [their drenching] their frefh- 
 " nefs, and glolles ; being rather ne'w dy'd, 
 *' than ftain'd, with fait water.'* Recent ex- 
 amples have evinced, with fufficient convic- 
 tion, that the text of Shakfpeare is not yet fet- 
 tled : And, this inftance affords equal proof, 
 if a thoufand pailages did not confirm it, that 
 the pundluation of Shakfpeare may ftill be 
 improved by the help of the fcholars, anti- 
 quaries, and heralds, whofe imputed igno- 
 rance, the commentators are ftudious to pro- 
 claim. But, of Shakfpeare, and his editors, 
 there is no end ; of admiration of the one, or 
 of correal ion -of the others. The Believers 
 will fubmit to a candid court the foregoing 
 fpecimens, few as they are, to flbow how well 
 they could write annotations on that great 
 poet, if they were to ferve a thirty-years 
 apprenticefhip to fo ufeful a trade [z). 
 
 When 
 
 (s) As a confirmation of that fpntiment, the believers 
 will fubrait one more note. Every one knows how much 
 learning has been wafted on the cur, Brae he. [Mai. Shale, 
 vol iii. p. 245.] In Dugdale's Bar. vol. i. p. 264, there is 
 mention of a Cliarter by Robert, Earl of Ferrers, in the 43d 
 of Henry 3d ; granting " to Sir Walter Releg, and his heirs,- 
 ^^ liberty to hunt and courfe the fox and hare within the 
 " prcciix9:s of his for^il of Needwoo^r v/ith eight BrachfSy 
 
 « and 
 
 ft 
 
 ^ 
 
OF SftAKSPlSARE.] /or /;ff S E L I E V E R S. ^^7^ 
 
 When wc look back on the ftudies of 
 Shakfpeare, we may readily perceive, that the 
 poet, who could, in five-and- twenty years, 
 produce iive-and-thirty dramas, never had lei- 
 fure for** the fuperintendence of a playhoufe," 
 whatever Mr. Malone m^y fay, Mr. Steevens 
 
 I repeat i or the Mifcellaneous Papers re-echo (^). 
 Shakfpeare never was the manager of his own^ 
 theatre y if we may believe record-evidence, 
 rather than loofe affertion. The council-re - 
 gifters, and the office-book of Sir Henry 
 
 fc Herbert, concur to demonflrate, that He- 
 minges had the fiiperiniendefice of the Lord 
 Chamberlain's company, and was the Manager 
 of the Globe, When the licenfe was granted 
 to the players, in 1603, Shakfpeare v/as not 
 placed at the head of the lift. In 1605, Phil- 
 lips regarded cur poet as a fellow ^ in 1616, 
 
 [ * aiid four greyhounds." — Crompton on Courts, 1594, 
 r 5. 167 ; treating of what beafts a man may take in the foreft, 
 (ays : " It is no matter how he do take them, whether it be by 
 *' hounds, brachds^ or by engins." The believers concur v,'ith 
 Mr. Steevens, that Brach^ merriman, means merely merri- 
 man, the Brack : And, what is immediately added oixh^deep^ 
 'mouthed brach (hows, that Shakfpeare underftood the word 
 in the fenfe of Earl Ferrers's Charter, as a deep-mouthed 
 hound^ and not a greyhound. The hrachets were probably 
 little hounds, or beagles, 
 
 {a) Mai. Shak. vol. i. part i. p. 265 ; Steevens's Shak. 
 ?793, voLi. p. 477. 
 
 (^ q 3 Shakfpeare 
 
59^ An APOLOGY [Of t^ie Studied 
 
 Shal^fpeare confidered himfelf as a feliow : 
 And, when the player editors dedicated his 
 (Jramas to the Earls of Pembroke, and Mont- 
 gomery, they call him by the equal appella- 
 tion of their friend y and fellow. The ftudies 
 of Shakfpeare, diligent, and attentive, as they 
 were, appear thus to have been never inter- 
 rupted by the fuperi72teiidence of a play hoi fe. 
 
 The ftudies of Shakfpeare were as little 
 obftrudted, by his attenda7ice at court y as they 
 were, at any time, by his vexations, as the 
 manager of a theatre. His editors have too 
 eafily admitted the aiTertion, that Shakfpeare 
 was a court^pcet. While he was yet animated 
 by better hope^ our poet addrelied his fugrdfon- 
 nets to Queen Elizabeth : But, he did not, like 
 Churchyard, follow the court from London tq 
 Nprwich, and from Norwich to Hampton- 
 court ; nor, like Ben Johnfon, daily drudge, 
 in providing mafques, and wammets, for the 
 unadvifed revel of a new reign. As a man of 
 the world, Shakfpeare ovi^ garnifo d and decli dy 
 in modejl compliment , his new-year s giftSy when* 
 he kifs'd his f over eign s hand y or as a dramatift 
 merely caught at temporary topic|cs, to pleafe 
 the million. But, of his adulatory verfes to the 
 greaty if we exclude the fonnets, we have 
 hardly any evidence ; and of his encomiaftic 
 
 verfts 
 
OF Shakspeare.] /cr //^^ B E LI E VE RS. 599 
 
 verfes to fellow poets, we have fcarcely an 
 example, as the editors have, indeed, re- 
 marked, i 
 
 The lladies of Shakfpeare appear, to have- 
 gained him, in his own age, lefs diftinguifhed 
 patronage, than popular applaufe, and reafon- 
 able profit. For his fonnets, he feems not to 
 have obtained, from the thrifty EHzabeth, any 
 greater recompence, than her epi/iolary praife, 
 which /' the world's volume is valued nothing. 
 The letter of King fames y in our poet's com- 
 mendation, has only induced unbelievers to 
 mock at an ancient tradition. The celebrated 
 patronage of Lord Southampton was too much 
 cumber 'd, with domejiick fury, and ferce civil 
 Jlrife, to yield the poet and the player aught, but 
 fad invention. Whether Lord Eflex were 
 the patron of Shakfpeare, amidft his giddy 
 conrjes, I doubt, if there be any evidence, what- 
 ever Mr. Malone may have found. But, we 
 have pofitive evidence, that the incomparable 
 paire of brethren ^ William, Earl of Pembroke, 
 and Philip, Earl of Montgomery, did profecute 
 with much favour our poet's dramas ^ and their 
 author living {h). We have already feen fatis- 
 factory proof, although the editors are filent, 
 
 (^) The Player Editors Dedication. 
 
 Qjj 4 that 
 
^OQ Jn AVOLOGY [Of THE Studies 
 
 tliat the Earl of Pembroke, as Lord Charnher- 
 lain, endeavoured to proted; his writings from 
 furreptitious publication, and tried to tranfmit 
 his fame to eternal date. 
 
 We are now arrived at the memorable epoch, 
 when Shakfpeare's writings were deUyered 
 pver to the bookjellers^ who are the great patrons ^ 
 in modern times. The puhlica^on of iom folio 
 <sditions of Shakfpeare*s dramas, during two- 
 and- lixty years of civil wars, exploded paftimes, 
 and of changeful fafhions, evince, that our 
 poet continued to exhilarate the ancient halls ; 
 to Jhake off downy Jleep , death's counterfeit y and 
 tp help his votaries to hok on death itfelf But, 
 ij was not among the gay, alone, that Shak- 
 fpeare found perufal, or among the ferious, 
 that h.p enforced admiration : The learned 
 yielded him a tribute of applaufe, which }s of 
 higher value far, than the encomiaftic verfes, 
 which the editors have been diligent to col- 
 lect. It was at Oxford, where a dramatic 
 tafte of a very different kind prevailed, than 
 at London ; and where that tribute was paid, 
 by the award of learning, to the effufions of 
 genius. "A great deal of falfe wit, and 
 *' forced humour, which had been the delight 
 ** of our metropolitan multitude, was only 
 ff rated there [Oxford] at its bare intrinfic 
 \ " value ^ 
 
* OF Shakspeare.] /or /^^ believers. 6ot 
 
 *^ value; applaufe was not to be purchaied 
 ** there, but by the true fterhng, t]\Qfal Atti^ 
 *' cum of a genius : Shakfpeare and Johnlbn 
 ** had there a fort of dajjical authority ; for 
 *' vvhofe mafterly fcenes they feemed to ha\^ 
 ^* as impUcit a reverence, as formerly, for the 
 ^* Ethicks of Arlftotle j and were as incapable 
 ** of allowing moderns to be their competitors, 
 " as of changing their academical habits, 
 " for gaudy colours, or embroidery (t-)." — 
 But, of cominendation, both in verfe, and 
 profe, let this fuffice : " The rather will I 
 *< fpare my praifes towards him; knowing 
 ** him is enough !" 
 
 While Shakfpeare was thus admired, by 
 the learned, during a period, when the editors 
 will hardly allow, that he was read, an edition 
 of his works was undertaken by Rowe. He has 
 been clamour oujly blamed, hysjohnfouyfornot per- 
 forming what he did not undertake. He engaged 
 to publilli the works of Shakfpeare ; yet, he only 
 gave in7&; volumes, the ^r^/^^tfj- of Shakfpeare : In 
 
 [c) Such is the teftimony of Colley Gibber, who is an 
 indubitable witnefs, for fuch a fa6t. [Apology, 385. J As 
 the dramatical hiftorian of his own times^ he is fpeaking of 
 the reigns of King William, and Queen Anne, when fuch 
 worfhip was offered to Shakfpeare, at Oxford. 
 
 Jeven 
 
6o2 uf« APOLOGY [Of THE Studies 
 
 Ji've/z volumes, fays Mr. (^) Malone, in oppo- 
 fition to the firft page, and the laft, which 
 fpeak ofjlx. But, whence this averment again ft 
 the record? The anfwer is, bcedlefs attention 
 to th& outjide of books. Edmond Carl), feeing 
 with quicker eyes, added to the fix zfpurious 
 volume, in 17 lo, conlifting of Shakfpeare's 
 Mifcellaneous Poems, with critical remarks. 
 Pope, Hanmer, and Warburton j all engaged 
 to publilTi the works of Shakfpeare, without 
 performing what they undertook : And, they 
 all feem to have thought very feebly of trutby 
 and very contemptuoully, of the dull duty of an 
 editor, Theobald, by having F ope for his ene- 
 my, has alone efcaped, with reputation, from this 
 undertaking y although he too engaged to 
 publilli the Wijrij' of Shakfpeare, and perform- 
 ed his engagement, by reprinting only his 
 dramas, Theobald's edition, in 1733, may 
 be confidered as a national work : P'or, it was 
 fupported by a numerous lift of fubfcribers ; of 
 all that were high in rank, dignified by virtue, 
 eminent in place, refpedtable for learning, and 
 amiable in life : Walpole tooky/Ar fets of the 
 royal paper, exclufive of the copies, which 
 
 (//) Shakfpeare, vol. i. parti, p. 230. 
 
 were 
 
4D.F Shakspeare.] /'r /^^ believers. 603 
 
 were fubfcribed for by his family [e). Of 
 this general concurrence, let not the purity be 
 fufpeded, by fappofing that, in the veneration 
 for Shakfpeare, and fupport of Theobald, there 
 may have been a little enmity to Pope, who 
 had lately indulged, in quaffing Englifli ale — 
 unexeisd by kings. 
 
 This fpirit of admiration fpread into Scot- 
 land, and into Ireland. The editions, which 
 were publifhed there, are treated zsfpurious by 
 Mr. Malone, though I know not the caufe. 
 In 1753, the bookfellers of Edinburgh pub- 
 Jifhed the works of Shakfpeare ; in which the 
 beauties obferved by Pope, Warburton, and 
 Dod are pointed out ; together with the au- 
 thor's life, a gloffary, indexes, and a lift of 
 the various readings, in eight volumes. They 
 too profeiTed to publifh the works, though 
 they only intended to re-publifli the dramas of 
 Shakfpeare. But, the great fault of this ele- 
 gant edition confilts, in paying more regard to 
 Pope, than to Theobald, and adopting for the 
 text the whimfies of Warburton. The ghjfary 
 might, perhaps, be ufefuUy preferred to theglof- 
 farial index of the late editions, which, whatever 
 
 (^) The fubfcribers names were properly publiftied in the 
 firft edition of Theobald, but unfitly left out of the fubfequ£nt 
 editions, 
 
 may 
 
6o4 ^« APOLOGY [Of thb Studiis 
 
 may have been its original value, has, in the 
 progrefs of improvement, been fuperleded, by 
 a fimilar work of greater ufefulnefs : Ayf- 
 cough's index is, indeed, of fuch value, that 
 the ftudent of Shakfpeare cannot eafily be 
 witliout what is fo helpful to the ignorant, and 
 commodious to the Ikilful. " The diftin- 
 '* guifhed charadler of Shakfpeare, as a dra- 
 *^ matic writer, the great demand for his 
 " works, among the learned and polite, and 
 ** a laudable zeal for promoting borne manufac- 
 " turesy fays the Edinburgh editor, *' were 
 " the principal motives for undertaking an 
 ** edition of his works in Scotland." This 
 laudable zeal has feldom been avowed, though 
 it always has its influencial fhare, in every 
 edition of Shakfpeare. Thus the ftudies of 
 Shakfpeare, in addition to their other merits, 
 have greatly promoted home mannfaBures. 
 But, kere ?nuji our revels end ! 
 
 Such is the Appendix^ to the fufplemental 
 Apology y which the believers prefume to fub- 
 mit to the true decifion of this equitable court. 
 They were accufed, as it will be eafily re- 
 membered, of knowing nothing of the Jludies of 
 Shakfpeare, a fubjed:, which, though allowed, 
 by their accufer, to be fufficiently obfcure, has 
 been little enlightened, by his labours. Their 
 
 apology 
 
OF Shakspeare.] /;r /^^ B ELIEVERS. 605 
 
 apology is, that they have been able, without 
 pretenfions to knowledge, to throw new lights 
 on the more retired ftudies of Shakfpeare ; that 
 they have illiiftrated the dark, and difintangled 
 the knotty ; that they have even had the luck, 
 rather than the talents, to red:ify the halluci^ 
 nations of their accufer himfelf, notwith- 
 ftanding his pretences to accuracy. In thefe 
 views of their apology, they will, with hope, 
 fubmit to this court that, 
 
 " Now muft your confcience their acquittance feaV* 
 
 § XII. 
 
 The general CONCLUSION. 
 
 The queftion, which is now under the con- 
 confideration of this court, is not without its 
 iir.portance, whether it relate to the reputation 
 of the fcholars, antiquaries, and heralds, in 
 pretending to judge of a fubjedt, that they did 
 not underftand ; or it refer to the charafter 
 of their accufer, in bringing a charge, and 
 cafting imputations, that he has failed to 
 fupport. 
 
 In an age of difcovery, when the minds of 
 intelligent men are inflamed with an ardour 
 of inquiry, Mifcellaneous Papers^ which were 
 attributed to Shakfpeare, were exhibited to 
 the eye of curiofity, and offered to the judg- 
 ment 
 
666 ^//APOLOGY [The General 
 
 ment of intelled", with all the appearances of 
 age, and the ufual concomitants of authenti- 
 city. The believers applied to thofe Papers 
 the fame maxims of inveftigation, as are fafely 
 ufed in daily life ^ becaufe they are natural to 
 man : And, they were thus induced to argue 
 of and concerning thofe papers, upon principles 
 of PROBABILITY ; bccaufe religion, law, and 
 life admit of no other principles of reafoning, 
 than thofe of probability. On the other 
 hand, the public accufer argued wholly from 
 fuggeflions of possibility j continually cry- 
 ing out, without infpedion, or examination, 
 that thofe Mifcellaneous Papers could not pof- 
 fbly\yz genuine. The parties are at ilTue upon 
 this point. And the believers fubmit to this 
 court, that they are right, and he is wrong ; 
 becaufe, the fame logic, and philofophy, which 
 are always applied to phyfcs, and metaphyfcs, 
 muft neceffarily be applicable to Shakfpearej 
 and his editors. 
 
 But, waving fuch confiderations, the pub- 
 lic accufer infills, " that there is no external 
 " evidence, that can give any credibility to 
 " thofe manufcripts, or entitle them to a fe* 
 ** rious confideration." The believers are 
 now at iflue on a faB, Without difputin^ 
 with him, at this late hour, about what is 
 
 properly 
 
Conclusion.] for the BE LI EVER S. 607 
 
 properly ext,ernal evidence^ they fubinit, that 
 the vaft volume of Frokgomcna, which is now 
 prefixed to the dramas of Shakfpeare, is ex^ 
 ternal evidence ; particularly thofe documents^ 
 whence Mr. Malone inferred himfelf, and in- 
 duced others to infer, that Mifcellaneous Papers 
 of Shakfpeare do exift, and may yet be found; 
 the confeffion of faith of John Shakfpeare is 
 external evidence ; the Sonnets, which were 
 addreffed by Shakfpeare to Elizabeth, are ex- 
 ternal evidence; every document y which, forming 
 no part of the Mifcellaneoiis Papers exhibited, 
 could induce the believers to argue upon prin- 
 ciples of probability, is external ^v\d,^\\Q^y what- 
 ever illogical ?ninds may think upon the point. 
 When the Mifcellaneous Papers pafled from 
 Norfolk-ftreet to the world, every one could 
 examine at leifure, what they had izo^n in 
 hafte, or heard of from report. The public 
 accufer now racked their orthography^ criti- 
 cifed their language ; and examined their dates. 
 The believers again joined iflue with him 
 on thefe points : They have met him face to 
 face, and foot to foot : To this court they fub- 
 niit, that they have reBiJied his own dates ; that 
 they have difproved his allegations, about the 
 language of Shakfpeare*s age ; that they have 
 
 fhown, 
 
6o8 ^« APOLOGY [The General 
 
 fhown, there was, in that period, no fyftem 
 of orthography, which could forrri 2Ljiandard, 
 If, on thofe fcveral heads of difcuffion, the 
 public accufer did not know, that his aflertions 
 were ungrounded, he comes with a very bad 
 grace into this court to afk for judgment 
 againft others, on an accufation of ignorance : 
 If he did know, that his affertions were 
 groundlefs, he comes with a ftill worfe grace 
 to pray for f>unifhment of others on a charge 
 of crimes. 
 
 The public accufer, however, confidently 
 accufed the believers of ignorance of the 
 hiftory of the Stage -^ of their ignorance of 
 the fludies of Shakfpeare : On thefe feveral 
 charges, they are in the judgment of this 
 court, who will determine, which of the par- 
 ties have made the moft difcoveries on thofe 
 fubjecfts, and have thereby ihown the moft 
 accurate knowledge ; he, whofe days and 
 nights have been occupied about Shakfpeare, 
 during thirty years ; or they, who read Shak- 
 fpeare, as a relaxation of lire. 
 
 In their turn, the believers will appeal io 
 the equity of this court, both as to his matter, 
 and manner : They fubmit, that he has failed 
 egregioufly in both : And they pray, that in 
 
 confideration 
 
Conclusion.] for the B E LI EY EK S, 609 
 
 confideration of his bad pleadingy he be ad- 
 judged, by this critical court, to new write his 
 Prolegomena to Shakjpeare ; to corredt his opi- 
 nions, by the documents^ which the believers 
 have put into his hands j and to adjuft his 
 daies^ by the records^ that the objedls of his 
 profecution have quoted. 
 
 On the w^hole ; the believers flatter them- 
 felves that, in making their Apology, they have 
 done an ufeful fervice to Shakfpeare, and to 
 truth, by the difcoveries, v^hich they have 
 certainly made, and the corrections, that muft 
 neceflarily enfue : They have brought docu- 
 ments enow into court, to prove incontroverti- 
 bly, that notwithflanding the daily aflertions 
 cf Shakfpeare's editors, much curious matter 
 has been found, which had efcaped their 
 thirty years refearches. The believers are fo 
 confident, in the truth of this pofition, that 
 they will humbly pray this court, for an in- 
 iunftion of filence on the faid editors, that 
 they do no m.ore boaft, in their daily habits, 
 of their own fufficiency, and of others igno- 
 rance ; of nothing to be found, about Shak- 
 fpeare, after their difcoveries j on fuch pain, as 
 may thereupon enfue ; of the contempt of the 
 wife, and the ridicule of the flippant. The 
 
 R r believers 
 
/Sio An APOLOGY [The Gen EitAt 
 
 believers, finally, fubmit their Apology, by ac- 
 eommodating to this profeculion Othello's 
 well-known fpeech : 
 
 « Let him do his fpite : 
 
 « Our fervices, which we have hereby done toShakfpears 
 « Shall out-tonge his complaints. *Tis yet to know, 
 «' Which, when we know th'<n boafting is an honour, 
 *< We {hall promulgate." 
 
 .~. ujt*i l OB « 
 
 TliE 
 
CiJNCLUsioN.] /or /^^ B E L I E VE RS. 6ii 
 
 THE APPENDIX. 
 
 OiNCE the foregoing flieets were printed off, 
 I have received from Edinburgh the fubjoined 
 ordinances of King James and his council 
 Anent the IngHjhe Commedians, which arc fub- 
 joined ; as they are curious in themfelves; 
 •and illuftrate the obfcure hiftory of the Scot- 
 ti(h ftage. [See before, page 418.] Arch- 
 bilhop Spottifwood is fo accurate, in his ac- 
 count of what paffed, in confequence of the 
 3icenfe given to the Inglijhe Commcdlans, that 
 we may fuppofe he had fcen the two follow- 
 ing ordinances, which are now pubhfhed from 
 the ABs and Decreets cf the Secrete Council^ 
 No- 6. fol. 1^5-1 59. My adive, and intelli- 
 gent, correfpoadcnt, at Edinburgh, could not 
 diicover; in any of the records there, the Li-- 
 cenfe to the IngliJJje Cofmnedians, which would 
 have ftiov/n the names of the players, and the 
 motives of their appearance at that city. 
 There is, however, enough of evidence to 
 
 R r 2 imsfy 
 
6i2 ^« APOLOGY [The Appendix'. 
 
 iatisfy accurate minds, that there is no proba- 
 bility in the furmife of Mr. Malone, *^ that 
 " King James folicited Queen Elizabeth, in 
 " I599> to fend a company of EngUili co- 
 " medians to Edinburgh/' [Shak. vol. i. 
 part ii. p. 39.] 
 
 Ordinance agatnfl the foure Sessions of the 
 Burgh of Edin^. 
 
 Apud Hallruidhous odiavo Novembrls lxxxxlx°, [1599]. 
 
 The Kings Majeftie ami Lords of his Secret Counfall 
 Confidering the lait Contempt and indignitie done to his 
 hienes be the foure Seiliones of the Burgh of Edinburgh in 
 taking upon thame be a public A61 to contramand the war- 
 rant and libertie grantet be his hienes to certain Commedians 
 to play within the faid Burgh and in ordaining thair Minif* 
 teres publicklie to difcharge thair flokes to repair to the faidis 
 Commedies They having nawayes acqweinted his Majefty 
 of before with ony lawful Caus or ground moving thame 
 thereunto Nor no uther wayes acknowledging his hienes 
 as they Aucht and Sould have done afoir thay had la avow- 
 edlie opponet thamielfis to his Majefties warrant and direc- 
 tion forefaid Therefore his Majeftie and tlie faidis Lordis 
 ordainis an OfHcer of Arms to pas to the Mercate Crocc 
 of Edin^ and thair be open proclamation in his hienes 
 name and authority to Command and Charge the hail per- 
 fones of the faidis foure Seffiones Becaus they are an mul- 
 titude to convene thamefelfis in thair accuilomat place of 
 convening within three hours next after the faid Charge 
 And thair be ane fpecial A 61 to cafs annul! and Difcharge 
 the uther Ad: forefaid And with that to gif ane fpecial 
 
 ordinance 
 
N* I.] for the BELIEVERS. 613 
 
 ©rtii nance and direction to thair hall Minlftres that they 
 after thaIr Sermond upon the next Sonday publicklie admo- 
 fiefhe thair awne flockis to reverence and obayhis Majefty 
 and todeclair to thame that thay will not reftreane nor cenfure 
 ony of thair flockes that fall repair to the faidis Comedies and 
 Playis confidering his Majeftie is not of porpofe or intention 
 to authoiife allow or command ony thing quhilk is prophane 
 or may carry ony offence or inlander with it. And to 
 charge thame hereto under the pain of rebellion and putting 
 of thame to the home And to charge the faidis Minifters 
 that thay after their faids Sermonds conforme tharaefelfis 
 to the direction and ordinance to be fet doune be the faidis 
 Sefliones hcreanent under the faid pane of rebellion kc and 
 gif ony of the faidis perfones difobays to denunce the dif- 
 Cibeyanes Rebellis 5cc. 
 
 Jnent the Inglishe Gommedians. 
 
 Apud Haliruidhous decimo Noven>bris lxxxxix°, [1599.] 
 
 Forfameikle as the Kings Mjyeftie having granted an 
 Warrant & Libertie to certain Inglifche Gommedians to 
 play within the Burgh -of Edinburgh Zit upone fum finif- 
 ter and wrangous Reporrt made to the foure Seffions of the 
 Kirk of Edinburgh be Gertain Malicious and Reifies Bodyes 
 wha upon every licht occafioun mifconftroweis his Majef- 
 tys hail doinges and minfmterpreitis his heines guid inten- 
 liones quhatfumcvir The faidis foure Sefliones were 
 movit very rafchlie and unadvifedly to contramand be 
 ane publick A61 his Majeftics faid Warrand And thair- 
 withall ordainit thair Minifters to publiflie the faid Gontra- 
 mand and to threaten the Genfure of the Kirk agalnes the 
 Gontravenars thereof unacquainting his Majeftie of befoir 
 with ony lauchful Ground or Gaus moving thame thereto 
 with the quhilk thair errour and overficht they being now 
 
 R r 3 better 
 
6i4 An APOLOGY - [The Appendix. 
 
 better adviflt and having all convenit on thts mater and 
 willing nawife to be contentious with his Majeflie,. hot in 
 all reverence and humilitie to obey his hienes as becumes 
 gude and obedient fubjeftes In refpetSt of the pruif quhilk 
 they have ever had of his Majeftie that his hienes has not 
 commandit nor allowit any thing carrcying with it ony of- 
 fence or Sclander They after the dew acknowledging of 
 their former errour rafche and unadvifed proceedinges have 
 now be another A6t cafTed annullit and difcharged thair 
 former A£t forefaid And hes ordainit the fame to be inef- 
 fedual hereafter with the admonitiones given conforme 
 thereto be the Minifteres to their flockis in manner forefaid 
 fa that now not only may the faidis Commedians freely enjoy 
 the benefite of his Majefties libertie and warrant granted to 
 thame Bot all his Majefties fubjefts inhabitants within the 
 faid Burgh and utheres quhatfumever may freelie at thair 
 awin plefour repair to the faidis Comedies and Playes with- 
 out ony pane fkaith cenfuring reproach or fclander to be 
 incurrit be thame thairthrow or to be ««cenfureit or fund 
 fault with be the Minifteres Magiftratcs or Seftionis of the 
 faid Burgh in ony wyfe notwithftands* the hrft KQi forefaid 
 and admonition given conform thairto or ony others the like 
 A6ls and admonitiones to be maid and geven hereafter with-r 
 out his Majefties confent and allowance And ordaines Offici- 
 ares of Arms to pafs to the Market Croce of Edin^ and thair 
 be open proclamation mak publication hereof Quhairthrow 
 nane pretend ignorance of the fame. 
 
 Aberdeen, 13 May 1635, 
 Licence was granted to George Jamcfon, painter, to 
 build, make policy, and plant, In and about that plot of 
 ground, called the Play-field, belonging to the town, where 
 comedies were ivont to be a£ted ofold^ near the well of Spaw, 
 and a life rent leafe thereof was given him. He was to build 
 and plant upon it, and to fortify it ^gfiinft the violence of 
 
 fpeats^ 
 
N<» II.] for ihe BELIEVER S, 64^ 
 
 fpeats, [floods] all on his own charges, and at his death, it was 
 to belong to the town. [MS. extra-ils from the records of 
 the city of Aberdeen.] It feems he improved it to excellent 
 advantage. Jamefon built a fummer-houfe of timber in his 
 garden, which he adorned with painting, which was much 
 admired in that time, But^of this, there is not now [ 1 750] 
 the leaft veftigc. That fpot of ground, which lies low to 
 the weft of the well of Spaw, Woolman, or Woman Hills, 
 is^ now a bleaching-green. Formerly the ftudents at the 
 grammar-fchool played there at the butts, and the vicSlor, got 
 the filver arrow, which was kept in the fchool. [MS. Notes^] 
 
 N'^ iL — - 
 
 The fubjoined extracts, from Sir Henry Her- 
 bert's office-bookj which was found in the old 
 chejiy at Ribbesford, came to hand after the 
 foregoing flieets were printed ; and are now 
 added as ufeful notices, in refped: to his 
 
 life :— 
 
 I was fworn King James his fervant by S' George Reeve 
 on ordinary Gentleman of his Privy Chamber. 20th March 
 1621, at Whitehall. — It pleafed the King att my Lord 
 Chamberlanes motion to fende for mee unto his bedchamber 
 by James Palmer and to Knighte mee with my Lorde Mar- 
 quis Hamilton's fworde. He was pleafed likewife to be- 
 ftowe many good words upon mee 5( to, receive mee as M' 
 of his Revells, att Wilton, this 7 of Aug. 1623.— I fente 
 the certificate of my Knitehood under my Lord Chamber- 
 lines hande to the Earle Marfhall & hereupon he certified to 
 the Office of the Harolds & twas entered in their booke the 
 14'*^ Aug". 1623. The Harolds had no fee, but the Lord 
 Marfhals Secretary 10'. 
 
 Rr4 N^IIL 
 
6^6 JftA?OLOGY [The Appendix. 
 
 N° III. 
 
 In the accounts of Henry the 7th are the 
 fpUowing items : — 
 [1492] ^th year — to my Lorde of Oxon 
 
 pleyers in revvarde 20 5-. 
 
 [1494.J 9th — to the Kings Pleyers for 
 
 a reward - - - 5 31, 4V/. 
 
 —■to Walter Alwyn for the 
 
 Revells at C'tenmes ;^. 1 3 6 s, ^d. 
 —To Walter Alwyn in 
 full payment forthe 
 difguyfing made at 
 Chriflenmes - - ;^. 14. 13 J- 4^. 
 «— to the Pleyers of Wym- 
 
 borne JVIynyftre -: 7.0 s, 
 
 [ J 495] 10 —to three Pleyers of Wy- 
 
 combe in rewarde 131. ^d, 
 
 — to the Frenfhe Pleyers 
 
 in rewarde - - 40/. 
 
 14 —to the Pleyers with mametts 
 
 [puppets.] 
 16 • — to the Pleyers at Pvlyles 
 
 Ende _ - _ \. 35. 4^. 
 
 [1502] 17 —to John Engliftie, the 
 
 Pleyer - - - - lo^. 
 
 [1503] 18 — to the Pleyers of St. AI- 
 
 bones - - - - loj. 
 
 • — to the Pleyers of Eflex 
 
 in rewarde - - 20 j. 
 
 In the accounts of Henry the 8 th are the 
 following items : — 
 l^^SJ^S] 4 Nov^ 5 year— to W^illni Wyn- 
 neftjery lorde of Myf- 
 
 tule 
 
N^IIL] /?/• /^^ B E LIE VERS. 6r7 
 
 rule opon a Warr. 
 
 figned for his bufynes 
 
 this Criftemes next £,12' vjj, Bd, 
 [15 14] 6 y^ I Jany — Item to therle of 
 
 Wiltysfhir Players 
 
 that fhulde have play- 
 
 ed in the Kings hall 
 
 pppon Thurfdaye 13X. 4^. 
 
 — to the Kings olde Play- 
 ers in rewarde - £. 4. 
 7 Jaiiy — Item to the Kings Play- 
 ers in rewarde - 66 j. 8^. 
 [1516] 8th y^ 8 Mar—To Mr. Cornifhe 
 
 of the Chapell for his 
 
 rewarde for a play 
 
 which was plaid upon 
 
 Sheroftewifday - ^.6. 13/. 4^, 
 
 ^4em: John Englifb, the player, who was paid te?t 
 fliillings by Henry the yth, in 1502, is the fame comedian, 
 who, with his company ons^ accompanied the Lady Margaret 
 from Windforto Edinburgh, in 1503; and played moralities 
 at her marriage with James, the fourth. [See before, p. 416.] 
 And, it is curious to remark, that John Englifh, who is now 
 introduced to the lovers of the drama, is the earlieft manager^ 
 of players, who has hitherto been difcovered. 
 
 Aberdene, 1503, July 24. 
 Ten pounds were afligned to the common inevJiraUs^ to 
 furnifh them to the paflage [for their journey] v/ith the Al- 
 derman, and other honourable neighbours, to thtfeaji of the 
 Kings marriage^ at command of his highnefs, and to the 
 pleafure of his Majefty. [MS. extrads from the city-records 
 of Jterdeen.} 
 
 N» IV. 
 
6iS M APOLOGY [The Appendi.t, 
 N» IV. — 
 
 There is a witchery about the name of 
 Shakspeare, which gives an intereft to ^v^- 
 ry thing, that is, in any manner, conned:ed 
 with him. V/e naturally wifh to know the 
 il'ate oi the towity where he was born, in 1564, 
 and died, in i6i6, while he was yet little de- 
 clined into the vale of years. In 16 14, much 
 of Stratford-upon-Avon was burnt. The fub- 
 joined letters from the council-regifters will 
 fliow the caufe of that calamity, which in- 
 volved our poet, in danger, and the mea- 
 fures, that were taken to prevent fimilar mif- 
 fortunes : 
 
 A Letter from the Privy Council to the Bailiff, chief 
 Alderman, and Town Clerk, for the time being, of 
 Stratford-upo-Avon ; dated the |6th March 1618. 
 Wee fend you here inlofed a petition exhibited unto us,. 
 on the behalf of that Borough of Stratford upon Haveriy 
 wherein is humbly reprefented unto us, the great and la- 
 mentable lofs happened to that Town by cafualty of Fire, 
 which, of late years, hath been very frequently occafioncd 
 by means of thatched Cottages, Stacks of Straw, Furzes, 
 and fuch like combuftible ftufr, which are fuffered to be 
 erefted and made confufedly in moft of the principal parts of 
 the Town without reftraint. And which beino; IHU conti- 
 nued cannot but prove very dangerous, and fubjecl to the 
 like inconveniences j and therefore we have thought meet 
 for the better fafety and fecuring that Town from future 
 Danger, hereby to authorize .ai\d. require you to take Order 
 ^ rT that 
 
N* IV.] for the BELIEVERS. 6i9 
 
 that from hence forward there be not any houfe or Cottage, 
 that {hall be credeJ by any Owner of Land or other fufFcrcd 
 to be thatched, nor any Stacks or piles of Straw or Furzes 
 made in any part of that Town either upon the Streets or 
 t'lfewhere that may any way indanger the fame by Fire as 
 formerly, but that all the houfes and Cottages to be here- 
 after built within the Town be covered with Tyles or Slates, 
 2.\\^ the forefaid Stacks and Piles removed to fit and conve- 
 nient places withoqt the Town. And for the houfes a:id 
 Cottages already built and covered with Straw there, uee 
 do likewife require you to caufe the fame to be altered and 
 reformed, according to thefe dirs6lions with as much expe- 
 dition as m.ay (Vand with convenience and as the fafety and 
 welfare of that Town may any way require. Herein Wee 
 require you to take Order accordingly, in cafe of any oppo- 
 fition to thefe our directions whereby the performance of 
 the fame may be interrupted or ftayed to make Certincate 
 unto us of the Names of fuch as (liall not conform thcmfelves 
 ;iccordingly that fuch further Order may be taken therein as 
 (hall be expedient. And fo ^c. 
 
 But, thofe falutary orders of the privy- 
 council were not altogether obeyed. And, 
 George Badger, William Shawe, and John 
 Beefeley, alias Coxie, inhabitants of that bo- 
 rough, were brought before the privy- coun- 
 cil, on an accufation of difobedience : Yet, 
 they were foon difcharged ; as they were not 
 rigoroufly profecuted : Thefe fa<5ts, we may 
 learn from the fubjoined Z/e'r/^r of the Frhy- 
 council^ dated the 26th of November, 161 9 : — 
 
 You (hall underftand that complaint was made unto us 
 J)y a petition in the name cf the Bailiff and purgelTes of the 
 
 Town 
 
izo ^« APOLOGY [The Appendix. 
 
 Tov/n of ^ir^i^oxdi-upon-Haven^ That whereas there was 
 an Order lately made at this Board reftraining the ufe of 
 thatching of houfes and Cottages in that Town, to prevent 
 and avoid the danger and great lofs by Fire that of late time 
 hath often happened there by means of fuch thatched houfes 
 to the utter ruin and overthrow of many the Inhabitants. 
 Thefe three parties George Badger William Shawe and 
 John Beefie)', refufnig to conform themfelves to our faid 
 Order, had in contempt thereof erecled certain thatched 
 houfes and Cottages to the ill example of others and the en- 
 dangering of the Town by the like cafualty of fire. Where- 
 upon they being convened before us, for as much as they do 
 abfolutely deny that they have fhewed any fuch difobedience 
 at all to our faid Order, nor committed any manner of A6t 
 contrary thereunto fmce the publication of the fame in that 
 Town : And that the party that exhibited the Complaint 
 againft them in the name of the Town, did not appear to 
 make good his information. Wee have thought good to 
 difmifs the faid Badger, Shaw, and Beefley for the prefent. 
 And withal to pray and require you to take due examinations 
 of the forefaid Complaint which you fhall receive here in- 
 clofed and upon full information of the Truth thereof to 
 make Certificate unto us, of what you find therein, that 
 fuch further Order may be taken as fnall be meet. And 
 fo &c. 
 
 During the age of Shakfpeare, howcyer, the 
 other towns of England were in the fame ftate 
 of wretchednefs. On a complaint from the 
 Univerfity of Cambridge " that much cafualty 
 *•' hath happened by fire, in that town, oc- 
 '* cafioned by houfes, and cottages, being 
 " thatched "with reed, and JiraWy' the privy- 
 council. 
 
K** v.] /;r M^ B E L I E V E R S. 621 
 
 council, on the 2d of June 1619, i^^^d an 
 order, •' that no houfcs, cottages, &c. be built 
 " without the builders thereof engage to 
 ** cover the fame with flates, or tiles/' [Coun- 
 cil-reg'.] Let us now look at hondon : In 
 1567, the Royal Exchange was firft built. 
 In 1 571, f^Vdpping was firft begun to be built 
 on Its fcabank. In 1571, about which time 
 the Curtain theatre was erected. White-chapel 
 wixsf.rji paved. In 1590, London was inha- 
 bited by about 160,000 people. In 1603, 
 London and Weftminfter, which were once 
 a mile afunder, wxre, about this time, gra- 
 dur.Uy joined together, by buildings. In 1 60 j, 
 the Village, called St. Gyles's in the fields 
 remained ftill unconnefted with the town • 
 and v/as now, as well as Drury-lane, firft 
 paved. In 161 3, Weft Smithfield was firft 
 paved. In 16 18, the fuburb, called Lincoln's- 
 inn-fields, was firft adorned. [Vid. the Chron, 
 Index to Anderf. Commerce. Art. London.] 
 
 N"V. 
 
 All the art, and induftry, of the commen- 
 tators have been ufed to free Shakfpeare from 
 the imputation of having poifoned the hour of 
 confidence andfefiivity, by writing a malignant 
 2 epitaph 
 
6zi /f,; APOLOGY [The Appendix^ 
 
 epitaph on John-a-Gombe, who bequeathed 
 our pest a legacy of five pounds. This wa^ 
 John Combe of Welcoinbe, in tlie pariili of 
 Stratford-upon-Haven, who made his will, oii 
 the 28th of January 16 12-13, which was 
 proved November 10, 1615; and who was 
 buried at Stratford, on the nth of July 1614, 
 at the premature age of jfifty- three. His eldeft 
 fon, and heir, was William Combe of Wel- 
 combe, who died> at the fame place, January 
 30, 1666-7, aged eighty: His fecond fon was 
 Thomas Combe, to whom Shakfpeare be- 
 queathed Ms fword^ and who died alfo at 
 Stratford, in July 1657, ^§^^ fixty - eight* 
 Shakfpeare, w^e may recollect, devifed to his 
 daughter Sufannah all his hereditaments, lying 
 '^ within the towns, hamlets, villages, fields, 
 " and grounds of Stratford-upon-Avon, Old 
 '^ Stratford, Bilhopton, and Welcombe." [Mai* 
 Shak. vol. i. part i. pag. 121: Steevens's Shak* 
 179^, vol. i. p. 22-97.] Now; weighing all 
 thofe circumftances, with the following docu-^ 
 mcnts, which were copied from the council- 
 regifters, it appears to me more than probable, 
 that John Combe, attempting to inclofe, and 
 to turn to pafture, four hundred acres of land, 
 to the prejudice of the poor y thereby made him- 
 felf odious to the people ; and was, therefore, 
 9 libelled. 
 
N° v.] for tht B E L I E V K R S. 62 j 
 
 libelled, In various veifes, by the minor pods of 
 Stratford : And, William Combe, continuino- 
 his father's meafures, was oppofcd by the 
 BailifFe and Burgeffes of Stratford - upon - 
 Haven, who obtained the fubjoined interdid 
 from the privy-council : — 
 
 A Letter from the Privy- council to the Mafter of the 
 Rolls, and Sir Edward Coke, Knight \ dated the 
 14th February 1618. 
 
 By the inclofed petition you (hall perceive the complaint 
 made unto us on the behalf of the Bailiffs and Burgeffes of 
 Stratford upon Haven in the County of Warwick concern- 
 ing an inclofure of 400 Acres of Arable land intended to be 
 turned into pafture by William Combe of Welcombe in the 
 faid parifh [of] Stratforde to the prejudice of the Tithes of 
 Corn and Grain employed to divers charitable ufes the par- 
 ticulars whereof will by the petition appear unto you.— • 
 Forafmuch as we find that you are already acquainted with 
 this caufe, and that at the Aflizes in Lent 13^^ of His Ma- 
 jeffy upon a petition there exhibited, it was then ordered 
 that no fuch Inclofure fhould be made there, nor any decay 
 of Tillage admitted ur.till good caufe fhould be fhewed 
 to the Judges, in open AfTizes to the contrary. And that 
 the fame Order was likewife confirmed by the Judges there 
 i'^^ of The iCing.-^We have thought meet hereby to prav 
 and require you taking to your affiflance the Juftices of 
 Aflize of the County of Warwick, if you fliall fo think 
 fit, to call as well the faid Combe, as the petitioners before 
 you, and upon hearing of the caufe, to order fuch a coudl- 
 therein for the relief of the petitioners, as fliall be agreeable 
 to Juftice, or otherwife to certify us your opinion of the 
 fame, that fuch farther Order may be taken as fhall be meet. 
 And fo Uq. 
 
 A L-t^i- 
 
<^-4 ^/: APOLOGY [The ApPENDisr. 
 
 A Letter from the Privy- council to William Combe 
 E^q^ of Welcombe, in the County of Warwick, 
 dated the 12th March 1618: — 
 
 It Is not Unknown unto yoii what courfe hath been held 
 here in the examination of the complaint exhibited to this 
 Board againft you, on the behalf of the Bailiffs and Burgefles of 
 the Town of Stratford upon Haven concerning the inclofing 
 of a certain quantity of Arabic Land converting the fame into 
 pafture, and other proceedings of yours therein, to the great 
 prejudice both of the Church and the Poor of that Town, 
 in taking away the Tithes of Corn and Grain employed to 
 divers charitable and public ufes there. And forafmucE as 
 it appeareth that there have been certain Orders conceived 
 and fct down in this Cafe by the Juftices of AiTize of that 
 County with confent of all parties ;*.rohibiting the Incrofure 
 of tliefe Lands, converting the Arable Ground into pafture, 
 and ploughing up of the' green Sward of the Meeres and 
 JBanks : It is held meet and Juft, that thofe Orders be con- 
 firmed, and that whatfoever hath been fince committed or 
 done contrary to the fame be forthwith reformed. And 
 therefore we do hereby ilraitly charge and require you, to take 
 prefcnt Order, that the inclofures contained in the Certificate of 
 Sir Richard Verney &c and which have been made contrary 
 to the afoi-efaid Orders fet down in open AfTizes be forth- 
 with laid open as formerly they were. As alfo that the 
 Land converted into pailure be again made Arable for Corn 
 and Grain according to the courfe of Hufoandry there. And 
 laftly that the Meeres and Banks be reftored and made per- 
 fe6l. Whereof we require you to have that due care as i$ 
 meet, and to fee thefe direftions fully accomplifhed and ob- 
 ferved until fuch time as the Juftices of Aflize for that County 
 fhall upon judicial hearing take other Order therein.— 
 Whereof you may not fail as you will anfvver the contrary at 
 your peril. And fo &c. 
 
 N«VL 
 
!»^ VI.] />r //^tf B E L I E V E R S. 6x5 
 
 — ^ ^- VI. — ^ 
 
 it was deemed a proper attention to Mn 
 Malone^ and to Mr. Waldron, to republifh, 
 in this Appendix, their retraftions, and expla- 
 nations, as far as they have appeared in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine :-i- 
 
 15th April. 
 Mr. Urban, 
 
 In my late inquiry into the authenticity of the pretended 
 Shalcfpeare MS S. ( p. 3 1 8^ n. 193)5! have faid that the French 
 had not the words " deranger nor derangement" in the time 
 of Shalcfpeare. Bat this wa%a miftake, into which I was led 
 by booking into Cotgrave's didionary for thofe words as 
 tliey are now fpelt. He has, I find^ " defrange and defranger'* 
 (which was the fpelling of his time), but not defrangement- 
 This, however, does not at all afFe6t my principal argument 
 in that place 5 for, all that I was bound to (hew was, that 
 \ve had not the Englifh words formed from them till above 
 a century afterwards ; and this I have fhewn. [From this 
 ertibarrafTment, Mr. Malone might have more eafily extri- 
 cated himfelfi by lookirig into the Interpreter of Cowel, who 
 was the contemporary of Shakfpeare, in Vo. Deraign^ or 
 Dereign. — " Laftly, in fome places, the fubftantive deraign^ 
 " merit Is found ufcd in the very literal fignification of the 
 '^' French derayer^ or difranger^ that is, turning out of 
 *< conrfe,]" 
 
 At the fame time that I mention this flight overfight, per- 
 mit me to notice two errors which efcaped me w^hen I was 
 making the table of errata. In p. 93, 1. ult. of text, for no- 
 viciate read novice j and^ in p. 254, 1. 15, for twenty read 
 
 twenty-feven. E. M. 
 
 I— ——I I ■< 
 
 Sf 25th 
 
6i6 ^« APOLOGY [The Appendix. 
 
 25th April. 
 One word more, Mr. Urban, with your leave, on the 
 Shakfpeare forgery. I was perfectly aware (as I have 
 mentioned in my book) of the difficulty of eftablifhing a 
 negative proof} and, therefore, was not furprifed to find 
 that I had been miftaken in the objection made in p. 164 
 to ^^heaveri* being employed in one of thefe fpurious 
 A4SS. as a difTyllable. I now recoUedt that it is fo ufed in 
 Macbeth : — 
 
 " Hear it not, Duncan ! for it is a knell, 
 *' That fummons thee to heaven, or to hell/* 
 The infipidity, however, of the water- gruel compofition 
 Vv'here this word is found, remains ftill perfe6l and un- 
 rivalled* 
 
 [A thirty -years -critic on Shakfoeare might have known, 
 without recolledlion, that our majler generally ufes heaven-^ 
 as a rnojiofy liable^ and but fometimes as a dijjyllabk. Such a 
 critic might have alfo known, that Spenfer, with the poetic 
 licenfe, ufes heaven-^ both as a monofyllable, and as a diflylla* 
 ble, very frequently, in The Ruins of Time : 
 
 *' The world's late wonder, and the heavens new joy. 
 " Yet, *ere his happy foul to hewven went.'* 
 The infipidity of water- gruel is nothing to the perufal of 
 the fribble of a critic, who pretends to know every things 
 without knowing any thing diftin(Sl:ly.] 
 P. 85. 1. 8, for Anglise, r. Anglis. 
 P. 226. 1. 14, dele Henry; for I find he was chriftened 
 by the names of Henry Frederick. 
 
 E.M. 
 
 • 20th Mij, 
 
 By an error of the prefs, one of the corrcftions of the 
 
 " Vindication of Shakfpeare," which 1 fcnt you laft month, 
 
 couid not be underftood. The reference was to p. 22.9,' 
 
 where Henry Prince of Wales, is faid to have had but one 
 
 ^ , ChriRiau 
 
N» VI.] for th BELIEVERS. 627 
 
 Chriftian name ; whereas, in truth, as appears from a paf- 
 fag3 in Camden's Remains, 4*^ 1605, Vv'hich had efcaped me^ 
 he was baptized by the names of Henry- Fredericki 
 
 [Yet ; even with the hdp of Camden, our critic docs not ' 
 depart from his groundlefs pofition, that there were not, in 
 the age of Shakfpeare, any irtftances of tvjo names of bap- 
 tifm : Nor, does he recollect, that the baptifm of Henry- 
 Frederick was fet forth in Birch's Life of Henry^ Prince of 
 JVales^ 1760.] 
 
 A& I have thus once more had occafion to {^^ a word on 
 this fiibje6t, and I am defirous of giving as Httle trouble as 
 may be to whoever may anfvver the '' Vindication '" (if at 
 the end of eight weeks an Anfwerer (hall come into the 
 field), I beg leave to add a few more correcStions. 
 
 P. 96. 1. 2, Coripheseus* r. Coryphaeus 5 p. 138. I. 5, 
 from the bottom, for Chinfc^, r. Chinefe ; p. 189. 1, 2, for 
 have, r. haue ; and in p. 190. 1. ic, the fame corre6tion 
 fnouid be made. In p. 193 1. 8 and 10, the word " and " 
 is twice printed by the miftake of the Compofitor, inftead 
 of the abbreviation &. P. 33B, n. for Anderfocn alls (the 
 letters have been mifplaced at the prefs) r. Anderfon calls. 
 
 In p. 79, I have exprefled a doubt concerning the anti- 
 ♦juity of the word excellence, as apphed to written compo- 
 fitions, but lately have found reafon to believe that this word 
 was thusufed in Shakfpeare's time. E. iM. 
 
 Feb. 7. 
 Mr. Urban, 
 Having only truth In viev/, I am anxious to acknowledge 
 the fmalleft error I may have fallen into. In pp. 11, 12, of 
 « Free Reflections on Mifcellaneous Papers and Legal In-r 
 *' ftrumfents, under tije Hand and Seal of W^iiliam Shak- 
 <• fpvfare ;" I have faid that ** V/himzies," Uc, the title of 
 a book printed in 163 1, " is the earlitft inflance I can re- 
 *' collevfl of any word like Whymfycalle." Since the pub- 
 lication 
 
62S 
 
 ^« A P O L O G y> &c. [The Appendix. 
 
 lication of that pamphlet, I have obferved that Whimfey 
 occurs fo early as in the firft edition of " Ben Johnfon his 
 ^' Voipone, or the Foxe." 4to, 1607* the third a£t of which 
 
 begins thus : 
 
 Mofca. 
 *' I feare, I (hall begin to grow in love 
 ** With iriy deare felfc, and my itiofl profp'roiis j>artsi 
 *« They do fo fpring, and burgeon ; I can feele 
 " A whimfey 1* my blood." 
 I avail myfelf of this opportunity to inform the fcveral per- 
 fohs who have honoured me with their enquiries^ that the 
 entire MS. of " The Virgin Queen/' from which fome 
 extracts have been printed, is in the poiTeflion of your con- 
 ftant reader, F. G. Waldron^ 
 
TXY ^ 
 
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