Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. With An Historical Sketch Of The Origin And Growth Of The Drama In England , livre ebook

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. The Memories of a Friendship running, I believe, without interruption through a period of more than five-and-twenty years, prompt the inscribing of these volumes to you.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819940036
Langue	English

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SHAKESPEARE:
HIS
LIFE, ART, AND CHARACTERS.
WITH
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ORIGIN AND GROWTHOF THE DRAMA IN ENGLAND.
FOURTH EDITION, REVISED
.
BY
THE REV. H.N. HUDSON, LL.D.
VOLUME I.
GINN AND COMPANY
Entered according to Act of Congress, in theyear 1872, by HENRY N. HUDSON,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, atWashington.
TO
MR. JOSEPH BURNETT,
OF SOUTHBOROUGH, MASS.
Sir:
The Memories of a Friendship running, I believe,without interruption through a period of more than five-and-twentyyears, prompt the inscribing of these volumes to you.
H. N. HUDSON.
BOSTON, January 1, 1872.
LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE.
Shakespeare, [1] by general suffrage,is the greatest name in literature. There can be no extravagance insaying, that to all who speak the English language his genius hasmade the world better worth living in, and life a nobler anddiviner thing. And even among those who do not “speak the tonguethat Shakespeare spake, ” large numbers are studying the Englishlanguage mainly for the purpose of being at home with him. How hecame to be what he was, and to do what he did, are questions thatcan never cease to be interesting, wherever his works are known,and men's powers of thought in any fair measure developed. ButProvidence has left a veil, or rather a cloud, about his history,so that these questions are not likely to be satisfactorilyanswered.
The first formal attempt at an account ofShakespeare's life was made by Nicholas Rowe, and the resultthereof published in 1709, ninety-three years after the Poet'sdeath. Rowe's account was avowedly made up, for the most part, fromtraditionary materials collected by Betterton the actor, who made avisit to Stratford expressly for that purpose. Betterton was bornin 1635, nineteen years after the death of Shakespeare; became anactor before 1660, retired from the stage about 1700, and died in1710. At what time he visited Stratford is not known. It is to beregretted that Rowe did not give Betterton's authorities for theparticulars gathered by him. It is certain, however, that very goodsources of information were accessible in his time: Judith Quiney,the Poet's second daughter, lived till 1662; Lady Barnard, hisgranddaughter, till 1670; and Sir William Davenant, who in hisyouth had known Shakespeare, was manager of the theatre in whichBetterton acted.
After Rowe's account, scarce any thing was addedtill the time of Malone, who by a learned and most industrioussearching of public and private records brought to light aconsiderable number of facts, some of them very important, touchingthe Poet and his family. And in our own day Mr. Collier hasfollowed up the inquiry with very great diligence, and with noinconsiderable success; though, unfortunately, much of the mattersupplied by him has been discredited as unauthentic, by those fromwhom there is in such cases no appeal. Lastly, Mr. Halliwell hasgiven his intelligent and indefatigable labours to the same task,and made some valuable additions to our stock.
The lineage of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, on the paternalside, has not been traced further back than his grandfather. Thename, which in its composition smacks of brave old knighthood andchivalry, was frequent in Warwickshire from an early period.
The father of our Poet was JOHN SHAKESPEARE, who isfound living at Stratford-on-Avon in 1552. He was most likely anative of Snitterfield, a village three miles from Stratford; as wefind a Richard Shakespeare living there in 1550, and occupying ahouse and land owned by Robert Arden, the maternal grandfather ofour Poet. This appears from a deed executed July 17, 1550, in whichRobert Arden conveyed certain lands and tenements in Snitterfield,described as being “now in the tenure of one Richard Shakespeare, ”to be held in trust for three daughters “after the death of Robertand Agnes Arden. ”
An entry in a Court Roll, dated April, 1552,ascertains that John Shakespeare was living in Stratford at thattime. And an entry in the Bailiff's Court, dated June, 1556,describes him as “John Shakespeare, of Stratford in the county ofWarwick, glover . ” In 1558, the same John Shakespeare, andfour others, one of whom was Francis Burbadge, then at the head ofthe corporation, were fined four pence each “for not keeping theirgutters clean. ”
There is ample proof that at this period his affairswere in a thriving condition. In October, 1556, he became the ownerof two copyhold estates, one of them consisting of a house with agarden and a croft attached to it, the other of a house and garden.As these were estates of inheritance, the tenure was nearly equalto freehold; so that he must have been pretty well-to-do in theworld at the time. For several years after, his circumstancescontinued to improve. Before 1558, he became the owner, bymarriage, of a farm at Wilmecote, consisting of fifty-six acres,besides two houses and two gardens; moreover, he held, in right ofhis wife, a considerable share in a property at Snitterfield.Another addition to his property was made in 1575, — a freeholdestate, bought for the sum of £40, and described as consisting of“two houses, two gardens, and two orchards, with theirappurtenances. ”
Several other particulars have been discovered,which go to ascertain his wealth as compared with that of otherStratford citizens. In 1564, the year of the Poet's birth, amalignant fever, called the plague, invaded Stratford. Itshungriest period was from the last of June to the last of December,during which time it swept off two hundred and thirty-eight personsout of a population of about fourteen hundred. None of theShakespeare family are found among its victims. Large draughts weremade upon the charities of the town on account of this frightfulvisitation. In August, the citizens held a meeting in the open air,from fear of infection, and various sums were contributed for therelief of the poor. The High-Bailiff gave 3s. 4d. , thehead-alderman 2s. 8d. ; John Shakespeare, being then only aburgess, gave 12d. ; and in the list of burgesses there were buttwo who gave more. Other donations were made for the same cause, hebearing a proportionable share in them.
We have seen that in June, 1556, John Shakespearewas termed a glover. In November of the same year he is foundbringing an action against one of his neighbours for unjustlydetaining a quantity of barley; which naturally infers him to havebeen more or less engaged in agricultural pursuits. It appears thatat a later period agriculture was his main pursuit, if not his onlyone; for the town records show that in 1564 he was paid threeshillings for a piece of timber; and we find him described in 1575as a “yeoman. ” Rowe gives a tradition of his having been “aconsiderable dealer in wool. ” It is nowise unlikely that such mayhave been the case. The modern divisions of labour and trade werethen little known and less regarded; several kinds of businessbeing often carried on together, which are now kept distinct; andwe have special proof that gloves and wool were apt to be united asarticles of trade.
I must next trace, briefly, the career of JohnShakespeare as a public officer in the Stratford corporation. Afterholding several minor offices, he was in 1558, and again in 1559,chosen one of the four constables. In 1561, he was a second timemade one of the four affeerors, whose duty it was to determine thefines for such offences as had no penalties prescribed by statute.The same year, 1561, he was chosen one of the chamberlains of theborough, a very responsible office, which he held two years.Advancing steadily in the public confidence, he became an aldermanin 1565; and in 1568 was elected Bailiff, the highest honour thecorporation could bestow. He held this office a year. The series oflocal honours conferred upon him ended with his being chosenhead-alderman in 1571; which office also he held a year. The rulebeing “once an alderman always an alderman, ” unless positiveaction were taken to the contrary, he retained that office till1586, when, for persevering non-attendance at the meetings, he wasdeprived of his gown.
After all these marks of public consequence, thereader may be surprised to learn that John Shakespeare, the fatherof the world's greatest thinker and greatest poet, could not writehis name! Such was undoubtedly the fact; and I take pleasure innoting it, as showing, what is too apt to be forgotten in thesebookish days, that men may know several things, and may have wittychildren, without being initiated in the mysteries of pen and ink.In the borough records for 1565 is an order signed by nineteenaldermen and burgesses, calling upon John Wheler to undertake theoffice of Bailiff. Of these signers thirteen are markmen, and amongthem are the names of George Whately, then Bailiff, Roger Sadler,head-alderman, and John Shakespeare. So that there was nothingremarkable in his not being able to wield a pen. As Bailiff ofStratford, he was ex officio a justice of the peace; and twowarrants are extant, granted by him in December, 1568, for thearrest of John Ball and Richard Walcar on account of debts; both ofthem bearing witness that “he had a mark to himself, like anhonest, plain-dealing man. ” Several other cases in point are metwith at later periods; some of which show that his wife stood onthe same footing with him in this respect. In October, 1579, Johnand Mary Shakespeare executed a deed and bond for the transfer oftheir interest in certain property; both of which are subscribedwith their several marks, and sealed with their respectiveseals.
John Shakespeare's good fortune seems to havereached its height about the year 1575, after which time we meetwith many clear tokens of his decline. It is not improbable thathis affairs may have got embarrassed from his having too many ironsin the fire. The registry of the Court of Record, from 1555 to1595, has a large number of entries respecting him, which show himto have been engaged in a great variety of transactions, and tohave had m