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In 1604, the Poet, not being able to get payment, filed in the Stratford Court of Record a declaration of suit against nim; which probably had the desired effect, as nothing more is heard of the matter. This item is of peculiar interest, as it shows him engaged in other pursuits than those relating to the stage.

We have purposely deferred till now any mention of the grant of arms to John Shakespeare, because there can be no doubt that the whole thing originated with his son William. The matter is involved in a good deal of perplexity and confusion; the claims of the son being confounded with those of the father, in order, apparently, that out of the two together might be made a good or at least a plausible case. Our Poet, the son of a glover, or of a yeoman, had evidently set his heart on being heralded into a gentleman; and, as his profession of actor stood in the way of his purpose, the application was made in his father's name. Nor can we avoid suspecting that the statement of " plain speaking Harrison," written some years before the time we are now upon, may be applied to this case: "Whosoever studieth the laws of the realiu, whoso abideth in the University giving his mind to his book, or professeth physic and the liberal sciences, or, besides his service in the room of a captain in the wars, or good counsel given at home, whereby his commonwealth is benefited, can live without manual labour, and thereto is able and wil' sear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman he shall for money have a coat and arms bestowed upon him by heralds, (who in the charter of the same do of custom pretend antiquity and service, and many gay things,) and thereunto, being made so good cheap, be called master, which is the title that men give to esquires and gentlemen, and reputed for a gentleman ever after."

The Heralds' College shows a draft of arms granted and confirmed to John Shakespeare by Sir William Dethick, in 1596. In this draft Sir William justifies the grant on the ground of his having been "sclicited, and by credible report

informed, that John Shakespeare's parents and late antecessors were for their valiant and faithful service advanced and rewarded by that most prudent prince, King Henry VII., since which time they have continued at those parts in good reputation and credit; and that the said John had married Mary, daughter and one of the heirs of Robert Arden, of Wilmecote, gentleman." Mary Arden's ancestors were indeed advanced and rewarded by Henry VII; but the records of that reign have been searched in vain for any trace of advancement or reward to any person named Shakespeare. There can be little question, therefore, that what was true of the Poet through his mother, was here, by accident or design, ascribed to his father. At the bottom of the draft are written several memoranda, as follows: "This John hath a pattern thereof under Clarencieux Cook's hand in paper, twenty years past. A justice of peace, and was bailiff, officer, and chief of the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, fifteen or sixteen years past. That he hath lands and tenements of good wealth and substance, £500.- That he married a daughter and heir of Arden, a gentleman of worship."

It appears that Dethick was afterwards called to account for having made improper grants of arms, and Shakespeare was one of the cases alleged against him; and the probability is, that these memoranda were added at that time, for the purpose of clearing up the case. At all events, his statements were good for that end, but they were not true. Robert Cooke, Clarencieux King at Arms, was in office from 1566 to 1592, and the records of that period contain no mention of any such draft of arms. Moreover, John Shakespeare was not a justice of peace by commission, as Dethick implies, but only so ex officio, as bailiff and head alderman of Stratford. Nor was he worth £500, though his son probably was.3

3 I have seen a long and curious statement of the complaints made against Dethick for granting arms improperly: "He com

A confirination of arms, it seems, was not final; one more step, called an exemplification of arms, was necessary before the grantee became a full-blown gentleman. John Shakespeare, as appears from a deed quoted in Chapter I., note 23, was described as "yeoman" in 1597. We subjoin the greater part of an instrument whereby he fully graduated out of the yeomanry state:

"DRAFT OF A GRANT OF ARMS TO JOHN SHAKESPEARE, 1599.

"To all and singular noble and gentlemen of all estates and degrees bearing arms, to whom these presents shall come, William Dethick, Garter, Principal King of Arms of England, and William Camden, alias Clarencieux King of Arms for the south-east and west parts of this realm, sendeth greetings.

"Know ye, that in all nations and kingdoms the record and remembrances of the valiant facts and virtuous dispositions of worthy men have been made known and divulged by certain shields of arms and tokens of chivalry; the grant and testimony whereof appertaineth unto us by virtue of our offices from the Queen's most excellent Majesty, and her Highness' most noble and victorious progenitors. Wherefore, being solicited, and by credible report informed, that John Shakespeare, now of Stratford-upon-Avon in the county of Warwick, gent., whose parent, great grandfather, and late antecessor, for his faithful and approved service to the

mitted very many and grosse abuses, as, namely, the giveing of armes, yea, and of some of the nobilitie, to base and ignoble persons; as Yorcke Heraulde hath at large sett downe in a booke delivered to the King's majesty. He falsefyed pedegrees alsoe, as that of Harbourne being of xii. descents, wherein he made vi. knights which God nor man never knewe; nor the name himselfe, when hee was called before the commissioners, could justify no further then his grandfather, who was reputed to be an honest man, but of mean fortune." Ashmolean MSS. It is quite apparent from this that statements ir Dethick's grants are not historical evi dence of any worth.-HALI IWELL.

late most prudent prince, King Henry VII., of famous memory, was advanced and rewarded with lands and tenements given to him in those parts of Warwickshire, where they have continued by some descents in good reputation and credit; and for that the said John Shakespeare having married the daughter and one of the heirs of Robert Arden, of Wilmecote in the said county, and also produced this his ancient coat of arms, heretofore assigned to him whilst he was her Majesty's officer, and bailiff of that town; in con sideration of the premises, and for the encouragement of his posterity, unto whom such blazon of arms and achievements of inheritance from their said mother, by the ancient custom and laws of arms, may lawfully descend; we the said Garter and Clarencieux have assigned, granted, and confirmed, and by these presents have exemplified unto the said John Shakespeare and to his posterity, that shield and coat of arms, &c. In witness and testimony whereof we have subscribed our names, and fastened the seals of our offices. Given at the Office of Arms, London, the day of in the fortysecond year of the reign of our most gracious sovereign Lady Elizabeth, &c., 1599."

Shakespeare had now grown so strong in popular favour as to have the offspring of other men's brains fathered upon him. We refer to The Passionate Pilgrim, which was published as his by W. Jaggard in 1599. It is evident enough that the publisher, having got hold of a few of the Poet's Sonnets, as these were floating about "among his private friends," and having extracted two or three more from one of his printed plays, bundled them up with some work of other writers, and set the whole forth as Shakespeare's. In 1612, he issued a third edition of the same, adding two pieces from a volume published by Thomas Heywood in 1609. In 1612, Heywood published his Apology for Actors, with an epistle to his publisher prefixed, in which, after referring to his former volume, he has the following: "Here, likewise, I must necessarily insert a manifest injury done me

in that work, by taking the two Epistles of Paris to Helen, and Helen to Paris, and printing them in a less volume, under the name of another; which may put the world in opinion I might steal them from him, and he, to do himself right, hath since published them in his own name. But as I must acknowledge my lines not worthy his patronage, under whom he hath published them, so the author I know much offended with Mr. Jaggard that, altogether unknown to him, presumed to make so bold with his name."

A similar trick was played upon the Poet in 1600, in an edition of the Life of Sir John Oldcastle. But the publisher, in this case, seems to have been overhauled in season, and forced to cancel Shakespeare's name, as several copies of the edition are known to be without it. The same year, 1600, five more of his plays came from the press. These were A Midsummer-Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing, The Second Part of King Henry IV., and King Henry V. It appears, also, that As You Like It was then written; for it was entered at the Stationers' for publication, but locked up from the press under a "stay." It is probable that The Merry Wives of Windsor was also then in being, though no edition of it came out till 1602. This, as well as the edition of King Henry V., two years before, was very imperfect, and manifestly fraudulent, as may be seen from our Introductions. The same is true of the first edition of Hamlet, which appeared in 1603; but another issue, made the next year, in which the play was given

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enlarged to almost as much again as it was," shows no signs of being from a "stolen and surreptitious copy." Mr. Collier thinks that all the issues we have thus far mentioned were compassed by stealth and fraud. We can perceive no sufficient warrant for this; but it seems pretty clear that at least after 1600, with perhaps the single exception of Hamlet, the company did their best to keep Shakespeare's plays from getting into print.

A recent discovery has ascertained that Twelfth Night was

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