butcher,"-perhaps to his own father, who is variously described as " a dealer in wool," "a glover," "a husbandman," "a butcher," and the like.

1582. In November of this year William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who it would seem was the daughter (otherwise called Agnes) of Richard Hathaway, husbandman of the little village to the west of Stratford called Shottery; he had died during the year, his will, dated September 1, 1581, being proved on July 9, i.e. some four months before the marriage.

Anne Hathaway was twenty-seven years old, and William Shakespeare nineteen, when they became man and wife. The marriage did not take place at Stratford, but

possibly at Luddington (three miles from Stratford and one from Shottery), or at Temple Grafton (about four miles from Stratford),-the registers of the old churches. have disappeared. It is curious to note that in the Episcopal registers at Worcester there is a record of a license for a marriage between "Willielmum Shaxpere and An

nam Whateley de Temple Grafton" dated 27th of November, 1582, where "Whateley" may be an error for "Hathwey," due to some exceptional accident or intended disguise; possibly (but less likely) the entry refers to some other "William Shakespeare." There is, however, preserved in the Bishop's Registry at Worcester, a bond dated November 28, 1582, " against impediments," in anticipation of the marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway-" William Shagspere one thone parte, and Anne Hathwey of Stratford in the dioces of Worcester, maiden"; by this deed Fulke Sandells and John Richardson, husbandmen of Stratford (but more specifically farmers of Shottery, the former being "supervisor" of Richard Hathaway's will) bound themselves in a surety of £40 to "defend and save harmless the right reverend Father in God, John Lord Bishop of Worcester" against any complaint that might ensue from allowing the marriage between William and Anne with only once asking of the banns of matrimony. There is no reference to the bridegroom's parents; and all considerations seem to point to the conclusion that the marriage was hastened on by the friends of the bride.

1583. May 26; under this date we find the baptism of Susanna, daughter of William Shakespeare; on February 2nd, 1585, were baptised his twin children, Hamnet and Judith, named after his Stratford friends. Hamnet and Judith Sadler.

1587. On April 23rd of this year was buried Edmund Lambert, the mortgagee of Ashbies; in September a formal proposal was made that his son and heir, John, should, on cancelling the mortgage and paying £40, receive from the Shakespeares an absolute title to the estate. "Johannes Shackespere and Maria uxor ejus, simulcum Willielmo Shackespere filio suo," were parties. to this proposed arrangement, which, however, was not carried out, as we learn from a Bill of Complaint brought

by the poet's father against John Lambert in the Court of Queen's Bench, 1589. There is no evidence that William was at Stratford at the time of the negotiations. In this same year, 1587, no less than five companies of actors visited Stratford-on-Avon, including the Queen's Players and those of Lord Essex, Leicester, and Stafford. Between the years 1576 and 1587, with the exception of the year 1578, the town was yearly visited by companies of players.

It may be inferred that these visits of the actors to Stratford stimulated Shakespeare's latent genius for the drama, and so caused him, under stress of circumstances, to seek his fortunes with the London players. According to a well-authenticated tradition, borne out by allusions in his own writings, the direct cause of his leaving Stratford was the well-known poaching incident-the deer-stealing from the park of Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlecote, about four miles from Stratford. "For this" (according to Rowe's account in 1709) "he was prosecuted by that gentleman, as he thought, somewhat too severely; and in order to revenge that ill-usage be made a ballad upon him, and though this, probably the first essay of his poetry, be lost, yet it is said to have been so very bitter that it redoubled the prosecution against him to that degree that he was obliged to leave his business and family in Warwickshire and shelter himself in London." It is just possible that the lampoon on Lucy may be more or less preserved in the following rather poor verses, recorded by Oldys, on the authority of a very aged gentleman living in the neighbourhood of Stratford, where he died in 1703:

"A parliament member, a justice of peace,

At home a poor scare-crow, at London an asse:
If lousy is Lucy, as some volk miscall it,
Then Lucy is lousy, whatever befall it:
He thinks himself great,

Yet an ass in his state

We allow by his ears but with asses to mate.
If Lucy is lousy, as some volk miscall it,
Sing lousy Lucy, whatever befall it."

It is noteworthy that Sir Thomas Lucy was a bitter persecutor of those who secretly favoured the old Faith, and acted as Chief Commissioner for the County of Warwick, "touching all such persons as either have been presented, or have been otherwise found out to be Jesuits, seminary priests, fugitives, or recusants vehemently suspected of such." In the second return, dated 1592, John Shakespeare's name is included among nine who "it is said come not to church for fear of proc

or

ess of debt," but he was possibly under suspicion for some worse fault.

We have no separate information concerning Shakespeare between 1587 and 1592, and we cannot fix with absolute certainty the date of his leaving Stratford; but in all probability it may safely be assigned to 1585-7. He may have been in London at the time of the national mourning for Sir Philip Sidney at the end of 1586, and may even have seen the famous funeral procession. It

and busy themselves with the endeavours of art that could scarcely latinize their neck-verse, if they should have need: yet English Seneca, read by candle light, yields many good sentences, Blood in a Beggar, and so forth; if you intreat him fair in a frostie morning, he will afford you whole Hamlets, I should say handfulls of tragical speeches, &c." This is the best evidence we have for the existence of a lost play on "Hamlet" at this early date: its author was almost certainly Thomas Kyd (born 1558, died 1594), famous as the author of "The Spanish Tragedy." In Menaphon Greene indulges in his sarcastic references to Marlowe, which are also found in his Perimedes the Blacksmith (1588). Peele, on the other hand, was held up, in Nash's Preface, as primus verborum artifex. It is clear that at this time Greene regarded Marlowe and Kyd as dangerous rivals; Shakespeare was not yet an object of fear. Greene was chief writer for the Queen's men, Marlowe and Kyd for Lord Pembroke's, Peele was joining Greene's company, leaving the Ad

miral's.

1591. In this year Florio, subsequently the translator of Montaigne's Essays, published Second Fruites-a book of Italian-English dialogues. A sonnet entitled Phaeton to his friend Florio may possibly have been written by Shakespeare; but there is no direct evidence.

In this year the Queen's players made their last appearance at Court; Lord Strange's men made the first of their many appearances at Court.

"The Troublesome Raigne of King John," the original of King John, was published this year; it was reissued in 1611 as written by "W. Sh.," and in 1622 as by "W. Shakespeare."

1592. On February 19, Lord Strange's men opened the Rose Theatre on Bankside, erected by Philip Henslowe, theatrical speculator. It would appear that they had generally acted at the Cross Keys, an inn-yard