In this volume I have collected a few of my old papers which all contained something new at the date at which they appeared. They are all more or less connected with Shakespeare, and bear at least on my studies to try to understand the influences which affected his immediate predecessors and teachers, those which helped to mould his own thought and character, and those which showed something of his influence on his contemporaries and immediate successors. My period therefore extended from the accession of Henry VIII in 1509, to the national crisis in 1640. Little as each item of itself may seem to tell, every one helps to fill in, as with a touch of the brush, the colours in the background, which throw out more clearly the outlines of the central figure. For Shakespeare knew all about the training of the boys at school, all about the legal troubles of his relatives and friends and partners, he knew the contemporary history and literature of his time, and above all, its character. If perhaps I have made too prominent the story of his monument in Stratford, of which he could not know, it was to draw attention to the contemporary estimate of himself and his genius as recorded on that tomb; and to collect every scrap I could find to throw light on its subsequent history, the last touch of which was provided me by the kindness of Mr. Dugdale of Merivale.
I included the Introductory Chapter, which had never been printed, in remembrance of a special occasion, fully to be understood only by the members of the Shakespeare Societies. On a day of storm, snow, and sleet, in Stratford-on-Avon, the 23rd of April 1908, I had thought it my duty to travel to London to be present at the Commemoration Dinner at which Dr. F. J. Furnivall was to preside, and the guests of honour were to be Mr. Austin, then Poet Laureate, and Sir John Hare. They were each to deliver an address. When I was comfortably seated at dinner, Dr. Furnivall sent Mr. Hunt, then Hon. Secretary, to say that Sir John Hare had brought a written address which he now thought unsuitable to deliver on the occasion, and our President asked me to oblige him by filling the gap, as well as I could. Mr. Austin read an interesting paper on “What we can learn of Shakespeare from his plays.” I could only speak from my own heart, which was very full of Shakespeare that day. Mr. Austin came up to me afterwards and said: “If it is anything to you to know it, I would like to tell you that I agreed with every word you said.” Our dear old President was pleased that the possible hitch had been averted, and as my remarks had been taken down, he wished them preserved. So, though there is nothing new in it, I thought I might at the same time preserve a memory of that special day, and secure a good general introduction to the results of my work.
I thought that it was wiser to print these papers as they first appeared, with very trifling occasional alterations in construction, for the sake of clearness. What I have learned since on the subjects, I have put in the postscripts.
I had not calculated sufficiently for the expansion of magazine type when it takes book form, and I have had to withdraw a good many papers which I had hoped might have appeared. Therefore the links of connection between some of the later papers have occasionally had to be broken, and I have had to postpone republishing my special literary and critical Shakespearean articles, and to choose a title which fairly covers the bulk of those now produced.
My articles were formerly printed in circumstances which prevented my giving due thanks to many helpful friends. I cannot even now give expression to all the gratitude I felt and feel to many, but I must acknowledge some of it. A large share is due for their helpful kindness, especially to the officials of the Public Record Office, of the British Museum, of the Bodleian Library; to Dr. Reginald Sharpe, Keeper of the Guildhall Records; to Mr. Richard Savage and Mr. Wellstood, curators of the Records at Stratford-on-Avon; to the late Mr. Kingdon, formerly master of the Grocers’ Company; to the Haberdashers’ Company; to Dr. Kitto and his son for giving me access to the general papers of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; to the Clergy and Churchwardens of St. Margaret’s, Westminster; and to Mr. Smith who did so much for research students there. I must also thank many clergymen for allowing me to see their registers, and Capt. C. W. Cottrell Dormer for admission to his private manuscripts. I owe much gratitude to Mr. Joseph Gray for photographing and enlarging Dugdale’s engraving of Shakespeare’s tomb, and latest, not least, I must acknowledge the kindness of Mr. W. F. S. Dugdale of Merivale, in allowing me to see the sketch-book of his illustrious ancestor, which contains the drawings which he made from Warwickshire Tombs.
I have to thank, in another respect, for having given me permission to republish the articles previously inserted in their journals, the Editors of the “Fortnightly Review,” the “Field,” the “Yorkshire Post,” the “Stratford-upon-Avon Herald,” the “Pall Mall Gazette,” and the Editors of the German “Jahr Buch” and “Archiv.” I have also to thank Mr. Murray the proprietor of the “Monthly Review,” Mr. Sinnet the proprietor of “Broad Views,” and especially Mr. J. E. Francis the proprietor of the “Athenæum,” from which review the greatest number of my papers have been borrowed. I have further to thank the Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature, for permission to reprint two of my Lectures from their Proceedings. And I thank cordially all those kind friends who encouraged me to work, and to write, and to publish, though that was long before any of us knew what terrors this fair month would bring. In Shakespeare’s environment, there was also the crisis of his century, and from his own experience he could write the brave words that give us hope, “If England to herself will but be true.”
Charlotte Carmichael Stopes.
Hampstead,
August 1914.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| I. | Introductory: The Fortunes of Shakespeare | [1] |
| II. | Shakespeare’s Aunts and the SnitterfieldProperty | [11] |
| III. | Shakespeare and Asbies: A New Detail in John’sLife | [37] |
| IV. | Mary Arden’s Arms | [47] |
| V. | Stratford’s “Bookless Neighbourhood” | [55] |
| VI. | “Mr. Shaxpere, One Book,” 1595 | [61] |
| VII. | John Shakespeare, of Ingon, and Gilbert, ofSt. Bridgets | [62] |
| VIII. | Henry Shakespeare’s Death | [66] |
| IX. | “Mrs. Shaxspere” in the Law Courts | [72] |
| X. | “Honorificabilitudinitatibus” in Warwickshire:Pillerton Registers | [74] |
| XI. | Shakespeare and the Welcombe Enclosures:A New Detail in His Life | [81] |
| XII. | Other William Shakespeares | [91] |
| XIII. | The True Story of the Stratford Bust | [104] |
| XIV. | Sixteenth Century Locks and Weirs on theThames | [123] |
| XV. | The Friends in Shakespeare’s Sonnets | [135] |
| XVI. | William Hunnis, Gentleman of the ChapelRoyal | [161] |
| XVII. | Burbage’s “Theatre” | [176] |
| XVIII. | The Transportation of Burbage’s “Theatre” | [193] |
| XIX. | Early Piccadilly | [205] |
| XX. | Literary Expenses in St. Margaret’s, Westminster,1530-1610 | [215] |
| XXI. | Old Workings at Tintern Abbey | [225] |
| XXII. | “Mr. Shakspeare about my Lorde’s Impreso” | [229] |
| XXIII. | “The Queen’s Players” in 1536 | [235] |
| XXIV. | Mary’s Chapel Royal and Her CoronationPlay | [238] |
| XXV. | Sir Andrew Dudley and Lady MargaretClifford, 1553 | [247] |
| XXVI. | Jane, the Queen’s Fool | [258] |
| XXVII. | Elizabeth’s Fools and Dwarfs | [269] |
| XXVIII. | The Roll of Coventry: The Arrest of PrinceHenry | [275] |
| XXIX. | The Stratford Poet | [285] |
| XXX. | Sixteenth Century Women Students | [295] |
| Notes Terminal: | ||
| To Art. III | [331] | |
| Art. VII | [332] | |
| Art. XI (1) | [336] | |
| Art. XI (2) | [343] | |
| Art. XIII | [346] | |
| Index | [355] | |
Shakespeare’s Environment