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own hands tied them together. Among these, in a most unpromising heap, chiefly of legal documents, Mr. Collier met with the majority of the new facts, which he has here submitted to the public, relying, for their interest, in "the magic of the name of Shakspeare.'

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To make the matter more intelligible, Mr. Collier carries the reader back to the period when our drama was first represented in regular theatres, the most ancient of which were "the Theatre," and "the Curtain," in Shoreditch, supposed to have been built about the year 1570. The Blackfriars Playhouse, (where, in the winter, Shakspeare's dramas were acted, the performances at the Globe, which was open to the sky, being necessarily confined to the spring, summer, and autumn,) was erected in 1576. As early as 1579, the City authorities endeavoured to dislodge the players from this refuge, to which they had been driven by the refusal of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, to allow dramatic representations within the boundaries of their jurisdiction. The Blackfriars was supposed to be a privileged precinct, to which the power of the Lord Mayor did not extend, the exemption being derived from times when the site was occupied by the dwelling and grounds of a religious fraternity. In the above year, the Corporation intruded there a regular police to eject the poor players; and, about the same time, certain inhabitants of the Blackfriars also presented a petition to the Privy Council, which, perhaps, led that body to require the opinion of the two Justices of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, upon the disputed question; and their decision is among the papers of Lord Ellesmere. It was in favour of the claim of the City magistrates, who, however, still allowed the players to be at the Blackfriars Theatre, backed, as they were, by the interest of the Earl of Leicester, who had obtained the Patent for them in 1574.

Shakspeare is believed to have joined this company, (Burbage's,) seven or eight years subsequently to 1579: he came to London for that purpose in 1586 or 1587, and did not begin to write for the Stage, even by the alteration of older plays, until 1590 or 1591. The earliest date at which Shakspeare's name has hitherto been mentioned in connexion with the Blackfriars Theatre, is 1596; but the MSS. at Bridgewater House enable Mr. Collier to furnish not only the name of Shakspeare, but the names of the whole company of sharers seven years earlier, and only two or three years after our great dramatist first made his appearance in London; Shakspeare, in 1589, having made such way in his profession, as to establish himself a sharer with fifteen others, in the Blackfriars Theatre.

cient contradiction to the story of Shakspeare having commenced his career by holding horses at the playhouse door; and, had such been the fact, he would hardly have risen to the rank of a sharer in 1589, as it indisputably appears he was, on the authority of a certificate, which must have been transmitted to Lord Ellesmere.

Mr. Collier then enumerates the company, of whom we shall only notice Thomas Green, a native of Stratford-upon-Avon, who is thought by Malone, to have been the immediate cause of Shakspeare's application to be admitted one of the Queen's servants; but Mr. Collier shows that Green's introduction was not necessary.

Next are John Taylor, probably the father of Joseph Taylor, an eminent actor in the reign of James I.; Anthony Wadeson, an author whose name occurs here, for the first time, as an actor; Thomas Pope; Nicholas Towley, or Tooley; William Kempe, and Robert Armyn; all known as Shakspeare's theatrical associates; and George Peele, the dramatic poet, who, Mr. Collier conjectured some years ago, was upon the stage early in life.

Thus, we see that in 1589, Shakspeare's name is placed twelfth in the list of the sixteen members of the company; in 1596, he had so far advanced that it was inserted fifth in a company of eight; in 1603, he was second in the new patent granted by King James I. on his accession: all which circumstances show that Shakspeare from the first was gradually making his way to greater prominence of station.

Mr. Collier next refers to the renewal of the Corporation attempts to dislodge the players; and one of the consequent inquiries throws a strong and certain light upon the interesting question of the amount of Shakspeare's property about five years before he retired to his native town, to enjoy, in tranquillity, the fruits of his genius and industry during the busy period of his life, extending from 1586 or 1587, when he probably first came to London, to 1612 or 1613, when he quitted it.

Defeated in the attempt to expel the King's Servants, (as the Blackfriars Actors were now called,) by force of law, the Corporation endeavoured to buy them out; and among the papers of Lord Ellesmere is a minute and curious account, showing the precise interest of all the principal persons connected with the Company in 1608, and among the rest, of Shakspeare himself; which document was drawn up to ascertain what sum would compensate the players for their removal. Hence we learn, that Shakspeare's property in the Blackfriars Theatre, including the wardrobe and properties, which were exclusively his, was estimated at more than 1,4007., which would be equal to 6 or This information, Mr. Collier thinks suffi- 7,000% of our present money : indeed, next to

Richard Burbage, the son of the builder of the Theatre, Shakspeare was the largest claimant.

This information is important, considering how scanty have hitherto been all details regarding the pecuniary circumstances of our great poet. Till now all has depended upon conjecture, both as to the value of theatrical property, generally, in the time of Shakspeare, and as to the particular sum he may be supposed to have realized, as an author of plays, and as an actor of them. Malone "suspected that the whole clear receipt of a theatre was divided into forty shares," and proceeds to guess at the mode in which the money was distributed. Here, we have positive proof, that, at the Blackfriars, the profits was divided into twenty shares; and, though their value may have been overstated, yet, if each share produced on an average, or, (to use the terms of the document,)" one year with another," 331. 6s. 8d., the twenty shares would net an annual sum of 666l. Í3s. 4d., or somewhat less than 3,400%. of our present money. Shakspeare's annual income from the receipts at the Blackfriars Theatre, without the amount paid him for the use of the wardrobe and properties, would, therefore, be 1337. 6s. 8d. At about this date it appears, that from 127. to 157. were usually given for new dramatic productions. To the above income would be added the sums received by Shakspeare for either new or altered plays. We have a right to conclude that the Globe was, at least, as profitable as the Blackfriars: it was a larger theatre, and the performances took place at a season when, probably, playhouses were more frequented. At the lowest computation, therefore, Mr. Collier is inclined to put Shakspeare's yearly income at 3007., or not far short of 1,500l. of our present money. We are to recollect, that in 1608, he had produced most of his greatest works, the plausible conjecture being, that he wrote only five or six plays between that year and his final retirement from London. How, and for what sum, he previously disposed of his interest in the Blackfriars and Globe Theatres, it is useless to attempt to speculate. Among the shareholders of the theatres, it may be mentioned, are Hemminge and Condell, the editors of the first folio edition of Shakspeare, in 1623.

In connexion with the question of the property of Shakspeare, Mr. Collier notices a document of some curiosity, which has been pointed out to him among the fines preserved at the Chapter House, Westminster. It relates to the puchase in 1603, of a messuage, with barn, granary, garden, and orchard, at Stratford-upon-Avon, for 601. In May, 1602, as is stated in most of the recent memoirs of Shakspeare, he had bought 107 acres of land, which he attached to his house of New Place; and, in the same month of

the subsequent year, (as is no where mentioned,) he made the above additional bargain.

It is known that, in 1605, Shakspeare gave 4407. for the lease of a moiety of the great and small tithes of Stratford; so that the author of the anonymous tract called Ratsey's Ghost, (printed without date, but not earlier than 1606,) might well make his hero tell the poor itinerant Player, in obvious reference to the success of Shakspeare, "when thou feelest thy purse well lined, buy thee some place of lordship in the country, that, growing weary of playing, thy money may there bring thee to high dignity and reputation **** for I have heard indeed of some that have gone to London very meanly, and have come in time to be exceeding wealthy." Shakspeare came to London a penniless fugitive, and returned, weary of playing" and of plays, to spend his last years in his birth-place, comparatively in "high dignity and reputation," and, if not "exceeding wealthy," with a very comfortable independence.

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Another very interesting document, preserved at Bridgewater House, is the copy of a letter signed H. S., and addressed, as we must conclude, to Lord Ellesmere, on behalf of the Players at Blackfriars, when assailed by the Corporation of London. It has no date but evidently refers to the attempted dislodgment; and it was found in the same bundle as the paper of the claims of the shareholders for compensation. This letter personally introduces Richard Burbage and William Shakspeare, "two of the chiefe of the companie," who placed this document in the hands of Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. The initials H. S., Mr. Collier takes to be those of Henry Southampton, who was the noble patron of Shakspeare, and who, in this very letter, calls the Poet his " especial friend." It is natural to suppose that the young nobleman who had presented Shakspeare, (if such be the fact, and there is no sufficient reason to deny it,) with 1,000l. as a free gift, not many years before, would take the strongest interest in his welfare. Mr. Collier quotes this letter, and an excellent appeal it is for the "poore players."

Besides establishing the friendship of Lord Southampton and Shakspeare, this letter refers to the dramatist as "till of late an actor of good account," which may serve to settle his rank in the company; for, had Shakspeare deserved anything like the praise merited by Burbage, Lord Southampton would have spoken more highly of his performances; and we may reckon it a fortunate circumstance that his moderate success as an actor led him to apply himself with more assiduity to dramatic composition. The language of Lord Southampton certainly decides that our great poet had recently

quitted the stage; and we may conclude, therefore, contrary to the received opinion, that he remained a performer for some time after his name appeared in the list at the end of Ben Jonson's Sejanus, as acted in 1603.

Let us now hear Mr. Collier's own account of his ecstasy on finding these new, curious, and important particulars, "regarding a Poet who, above all others, ancient or modern, native or foreign, has been the object of admiration." He continues :

:

"When I took up the copy of Lord Southampton's letter and glanced over it hastily, I could scarcely believe my eyes, to see such names as Shakspeare and Burbage in connexion in a manuscript of the time. There was a remarkable coincidence also in the discovery, for it happened on the anniversary of Shakspeare's birth and death. I will not attempt to describe my joy and surprise, and I can only liken it to the unexpected gratification I experienced two or three years ago, when I turned out, from some ancient depositories of the Duke of Devonshire, the original designs of Inigo Jones, not only for the scenery, but for the dresses and characters of the different masques by Ben Jonson, Campion, Townshend, &c. presented at Court in the reigns of

our first James and Charles. The sketches were sometimes accompanied by explanations in the handwriting of the great artist, a few of which incidentally illustrate Shakspeare, who, however was never employed for any of these royal entertainments: annexed to one of the drawings was the following written description, from whence we learn how the actor of the part of Falstaff was usually habited in the time of Shakspeare.

'Like a Sr. Jon Falsstaff: in a roabe of russet, quite low, with a great belley, like a swolen man, long moustacheos, the sheows [shoes] shorte, and out of them greate toes like naked feete: buskins to sheaw a great, swolen leg. A cupp coming fourth like a beake-a great head and balde, and a little cap alla Venetiane, greay—a rodd and a scroule of parchment.""

The remaining pages of Mr. Collier's little volume relate to documents showing that Shakspeare endeavoured to procure the office of Master of the Queen's Revels, in 1603; having obtained which, he would have been at the head of a company of juvenile performers, styled "the Children of the Queen's Revels;" adding a list of plays which the little folks were to perform. At the foot of one of these documents is the subsequent enumeration of theatres at that time open in the metropolis and its neighbourhood. "Bl. Fr. and Globe

Wh. Fr. and Parish Garden
Curten and Fortune
Hope and Swanne

All in or near London."

The Hope and the Swan were both in Southwark, very near each other, and probably both in the hands of Philip Henslowe, the old pawn-broking manager, to whose

Diary we owe so many particulars regarding old plays, players, and playhouses.

We have only to add our acknowledgment to Mr. Collier for these details, which are in the form of a letter to his friend, Mr. Amyot, Treas. Soc. Ant. It is throughout a delightful piece of epistolary writing, independently of its association with the name of Shakspeare. It is brief-only sixty pages; but Mr. Collier, in the right spirit of enthusiasm, says, had he consulted his own inclination, he should have made it at least four times as long, by adding a great deal of other new matter relating to Shakspeare, his works, and his fellow dramatists and actors. Nor does Mr. Collier forget his personal thankfulness, and the obligations of literature, to Lord Francis Egerton, who, in allowing the documents to be transcribed, has laid open the manuscript stores of his noble family with a liberality worthy of his rank and race.

MISCELLANIES, NO. II.

By Washington Irving:

[We promised to return to this charming volume, and we do so in a few pages of the author's best manner: for, of a truth, he revels in greenwood, glade, and forest haunt.]

Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. During my sojourn at Newstead Abbey, I took great delight in riding and rambling about the neighbourhood, studying out the traces of merry Sherwood Forest, and visiting the haunts of Robin Hood. The reliques of the old forest are few and scattered; but as to the bold outlaw that once held a kind of freebooting sway over it, there is scarce a hill or dale, a cliff or cavern, a well or fountain, in this part of the country, that is not connected with his memory. The very names of some of the tenants on the Newstead estate, such as Beardall and Hardstaff, sound by some stalwart fellows of the outlaw gang. as if they may have been borne in old times

One of the first of my antiquarian rambles Wildman and his lady, who undertook to was on horseback, in company with Colonel guide me to some of the mouldering monufront of the very gate of Newstead Park, and ments of the forest. One of these stands in is known throughout the country by the name of "the Pilgrim Oak." It is a venerable tree of great size, overshadowing a wide area of the road. Under its shade the rustics of

the neighbourhood have been accustomed to assemble on certain holidays and celebrate their rural festivals. This custom has been handed down from father to son for several generations, until the oak had acquired a kind of sacred character. The old Lord Byron, however, in whose eyes nothing was sacred, when he laid his desolating hand on the groves and forests of Newstead, doomed, likewise, this traditional tree to the axe.

Fortunately, the good people of Nottingham heard of the danger of their favourite oak, and hastened to ransom it from destruction. They afterwards made a present of it to the poet, when he came to the estate, and the Pilgrim Oak is likely to continue a rural gathering-place for many coming generations. From this magnificent and time-honoured tree, we continued on our sylvan research, in quest of another oak of more ancient date and less flourishing condition. A ride of two or three miles, the latter part across open wastes, once clothed with forest, now bare and cheerless, brought us to the tree in question. It was the Oak of Ravenshead, one of the last survivors of Old Sherwood, and which had evidently once held a high head in the forest. It was now a mere wreck, crazed by time and blasted by lightning, and standing alone, on a naked waste, like a ruined column in a desert.

"The scenes are desert now, and bare Where flourish'd once a forest fair.

*

You lonely oak, would he could tell The changes of his parent dell: Since, he so grey and stubborn now, Waved in each breeze a sapling bough: Would he could tell how deep the shade, A thousand mingled branches made. Here, in my shade, methinks he'd say, The mighty stag at noontide lay, While doe and roe aud red-deer good Have bounded by through gay green wood." At no great distance from the Ravenshead Oak is a small cave, which goes by the name of Robin Hood's Stable. It is in the breast of a hill scooped out of brown freestone, with rude attempts at columns and arches. Within are two niches, which served, it is said, as stalls for the bold outlaw's horses. To this retreat he retired, when hotly pursued by the law; for the place was a secret even from his band. The cave is overshadowed by an oak and alder, and is hardly discoverable even at the present day; but when the country was overrun with forest it must have been completely concealed.

Another of these rambling rides in quest of popular antiquities, was to a chain of rocky cliffs, called Kirkby Crags, which skirt the Robin Hood Hills. Here, leaving my horse at the foot of the crags, I scaled their rugged sides, and seated myself in a niche of the rocks, called Robin Hood's Chair. It commands a wide prospect over the valley of Newstead, and here the bold outlaw is said to have taken his seat, and kept a look-out upon the roads below, watching for merchants and bishops, and other wealthy travellers, upon whom to pounce down, like an eagle from his eyrie.

Descending from the cliffs, and remounting my horse, a ride of a mile or two farther along a narrow "robber path," as it was called, which wound up into the hills between perpendicular rocks, led to an artificial cavern

cut in the face of a cliff, with a door and window wrought through the living stone. This bears the name of Friar Tuck's cell or hermitage, where, according to tradition, that jovial anchorite used to make good cheer and boisterous revel with his freebooting comrades.

Such were some of the vestiges of Old Sherwood and its renowned "yeomandrie," which I visited in the neighbourhood of Newstead. The worthy clergyman, who officiated as chaplain at the Abbey, seeing my zeal in the cause, informed me of a considerable tract of the ancient forest, still in There existence, about ten miles distant. were many fine old oaks in it, he said, that had stood for centuries, but were now shattered and "stag-headed;" that is to say, their upper branches were bare and blasted, and straggling out like the antlers of a deer. Their trunks, too, were hollow, and full of crows and jackdaws, who made them their nestling-places. He occasionally rode over to the forest, in the long summer evenings, and pleased himself with loitering in the twilight about the green alleys and under the venerable trees.

The description given by the chaplain made me anxious to visit this remnant of old Sherwood, and he kindly offered to be my guide and companion. We accordingly sallied forth one morning, on horseback on this sylvan expedition. Our ride took us through a part of the country where King John had once held a hunting seat; the ruins of which are still to be seen. At that time the whole neighbourhood was an open, royal forest, or frank-chase as it was termed for John was an enemy to parks and warrens and other inclosures, by which game was forced in for the private benefit and recreation of the nobles and the clergy.

Here, on the brow of a gentle hill that commanded an extensive prospect of what had once been forest, stood another of those monumental trees, which, to my mind, gave a peculiar interest to this neighbourhood. It was the "Parliament Oak," so called in memory of an assemblage of the kind held by King John beneath its shade. The lapse of upwards of six centuries had reduced this once mighty tree to a mere crumbling fragment, yet, like a gigantic torso in ancient statuary, the grandeur of its mutilated trunk gave evidence of what it had been in the days of its glory.

A ride of a few miles farther brought us at length among the venerable and classic shades of Sherwood. Here I was delighted to find myself in a genuine wild wood, of primitive and natural growth, so rarely to be met with in this thickly peopled and highly cultivated country. It reminded me of the aboriginal forests of my native land. I rode through natural alleys and greenwood glades carpeted with grass and shaded by lofty and

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beautiful beeches. What most interested me, however, was to behold around the mighty trunks of veteran oaks, the patriarchs of Sherwood Forest. They were shattered, hollow, and moss grown, it is true, and their "leafy honours were nearly departed; but, like mouldering towers, they were noble and picturesque in their decay, and gave evidence, even in their ruins, of their ancient grandeur. The horn of Robin Hood again seemed to sound through the forest. I saw his sylvan chivalry, half huntsmen, half freebooters, trooping across the distant glades, or feasting and revelling beneath the trees. I was going on to embody, in this way, all the ballad scenes that had delighted me when a boy, when the distant sound of a woodcutter's axe roused me from my day-dream. The boding apprehensions which it awakened were too soon verified: I had not ridden much farther when I came to an open space where the work of destruction was going on. Around me lay the prostrate trunks of vener. able oaks, once the towering and magnificent lords of the forest, and a number of woodcutters were hacking and hewing at another gigantic tree, just tottering to its fall.

Alas for old Sherwood Forest! it had fallen into the possession of a noble agriculturist, a modern utilitarian, who had no feel

ing for poetry or forest scenery. In a little while and this glorious woodland will be laid low; its green glades turned into sheepwalks, its legendary bowers supplanted by turnip fields, and merry Sherwood" will exist but

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in ballad and tradition.

"Oh, for the poetical superstitions," thought I," of the olden time! that shed a sanctity over every grove; that gave to each tree its tutelar genius or nymph, and threatened disaster to all who molested the hamadryads in their leafy abodes. Alas! for the sordid propensity of modern days, when every thing is coined into gold, and this once holyday planet of ours is turned into a mere "working-day world.""

My cobweb fancies put to flight, and my feelings out of tune, I left the Forest in a far different mood from that in which I entered it, and rode silently along, until, on reaching the summit of a gentle eminence, the chime of evening bells came on the breeze across the heath from a distant village. I paused to listen.

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tain Dale, where he had his encounter with that stalwart shaveling Friar Tuck, who was a kind of saint militant, alternately wearing the casque and the cowl.

"The curtal fryer kept Fountain Dale
Seven long years and more;
There was neither lord, knight, or earl,
Could make him yield before."

The moat is still shown which is said to have surrounded the stronghold of this jovial and fighting friar, and the place where he and Robin Hood had their sturdy trial of strength and prowess, in the memorable conflict which "From ten o'clock that very day

lasted

Until four in the afternoon,'

the hardy feats, both by sword and trencher, and ended in the treaty of fellowship. As to performed by this "curtal fryer," behold, are they not recorded at length in the ancient ballads, and in the magic pages of Ivanhoe?

The evening was fast coming on, and the twilight thickening, as we rode through these haunts, famous in outlaw story. A melancholy seemed to gather over the landscape as we proceeded; for our course lay by shadowy woods, and across naked heaths, and lonely roads, marked by some of those dismal names, with which the country people in England are apt to make dreary places still more dreary. The horrors of "Thieves' Wood," Hag Nook," had all to be encountered in the to beset our path with more than mortal peril, gathering gloom of evening, and threatened Happily, however, we passed all these omiat the portal of Newstead Abbey, highly nous places unharmed, and arrived in safety satisfied with our greenwood forays.

and of" the Murderer's Stone," and of" the

Notes of a Reader.

FACTS RELATING TO INDIA.

(From Mr. Thornton's recent Work.) European Influence.-The British authority in India is paramount. That of the French is almost annihilated. They still occupy Pondicherry, and one or two other places of small importance, but they no longer dispute with the English the dominion of the East. The Portuguese linger in a few spots, the scenes of their former commercial grandeur. The Danes have possession of a few settlements, neither extensive nor important. The Dutch retain Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and some other islands: but from none of these has Britain at this time any thing to fear. Her rivals have fallen before her, and left her in possession of the most gigantic dominion that ever was appended to a foreign state.

Irrigation.-The culture of a large portion of India depends upon irrigation. To promote this, tanks have been constructed in immense numbers, and the repairs and, re,

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