stop the watercourses which issue from these works and work-houses, so that the wheels of the other houses are so drowned in water they cannot turn. This is to the great impoverishment of the poor workmen and the many thousands who live by working the wire to divers uses, which is first made by these workmen. If these defendants are allowed to continue their oppressions, it will become a general harm to the whole dominion, for many depend on wire to make woolcards and many other things of great necessity, which cannot elsewhere be so plentifully had, except from foreign parts.
In tender consideration of their difficulties, seeing they cannot sue at common law because they have not the lease granted them by the Earl, and do not remember the exact dates, and also for the present necessity of the continuance and daily keeping up of the wire works and poor people at work, and as the action of the defendants is an intolerable offence not only to the plaintiffs, but to the commonwealth, and work may not be stayed or hindered a week without great loss all round; they therefore pray a privy seal to be sent to John Phillipps and Gwenllian his wife to appear immediately, and also an injunction to them to stop all their proceedings until they have answered this complaint.
Unfortunately the rest of the suit is not to hand, and we have no “answer,” “replication,” or “depositions” to supply further details, but they may be found yet. Meanwhile Dr. Owen might turn his researches to a practical use and excavate the site—perhaps even find the Company’s books, with the name of Bacon as a shareholder, a little further up the Wye, where the Anjou Brook enters it.
“Athenæum,” 24th June 1911.
XXII
“MR. SHAKSPEARE ABOUT MY LORDE’S IMPRESO”
Mr. Stevenson’s discovery among the lately calendared Belvoir MSS. of an apparent reference to the poet stirred the Shakespearean world. It encouraged us in the hope that somehow, somewhere, we might some day discover more important facts; but nevertheless it puzzled us. It did not quite seem to fit into the known facts of the poet’s career. There is an indefiniteness, too, about the wording of this entry which makes it different from the ordinary records of the Steward’s book of payments. It is not “for,” but “about an Impreso.” There is no suggestion of the material on or in which the device was worked, nor whether the idea, complete in some material, or only the design of it, was referred to.
The impresa was a private and personal device, as distinguished from the family coat of arms, and was especially used in tournaments and masques when there was some attempt at concealing one’s identity. A coat of arms told a man’s name as clearly as written or spoken words; an impresa, especially when used for the first time, would be known only to the intimate personal friends of the wearer.
The Belvoir impresa of 1613 was about to be used for the first time. Roger, Earl of Rutland, who, in company with the Earl of Southampton, in 1599 “went not to the Court, but only to see plays every day,” had died, and had been succeeded by his brother Francis, who was now preparing for a Court tournament.
There is nothing surprising in the poet’s being employed by the Earl of Rutland, nor in his being able to design a device, nor even in his using his hands in fashioning it. His association with Burbage seems to strengthen the fact. The players of the day knew about preparations for festivities, and all the Burbages seem to have been handy men. We know that the poet was interested in heraldry through the Sonnets and the plays, as well as through his method of securing arms for himself.
The Steward’s account in which the reference to Shakespeare occurs runs as follows: