1602.
On 18th January The Merry Wives of Windsor was entered on S. R.: a surreptitious issue. On 2d February, Twelfth Night was performed at the Readers' Feast at the (?) Middle Temple, "much like The Comedy of Errors or the Menechmi in Plautus, but most like and near to that in Italian, called Inganni" (Manningham's Diary).
On 19th April 1 and 2 Henry VI. (evidently the Quarto plays on which 2 and 3 Henry VI. were founded) were assigned by Millington to Pavier, salvo jure cujuscumque, S. R. This entry is important. It shows that the remodelling of the old Quarto plays under the new name of Henry VI. instead of The Contention of York and Lancaster had taken place; it indicates a doubt or fear as to whether the copyright might be disputed by some publisher, authorised by the Chamberlain's men to produce the amended version.
In May, Shakespeare bought for £320, from the Combes, 107 acres of arable land in Old Stratford. The indenture was sealed and delivered in his absence to his brother Gilbert.
On July 26 the surreptitious Hamlet was entered on S. R., and on August 11 The Life and Death of the Lord Cromwell.
On 28th September, at a Court Baron of the Manor of Rowington, Walter Getley transferred to Shakespeare a cottage and garden in Chapel Lane, about a quarter of an acre with forty feet frontage, possession being reserved for the lady of the manor till suit and service had been personally done for the same.
Two plays were performed by the Chamberlain's men at Court this Christmas, one at Whitehall 26th December, one at Richmond 2d February.
1603.
February 7. Troylus and Cressida, as performed probably in 1602 by the Chamberlain's men, not the play by Dekker and Chettle, was entered on S. R.
The Taming of the Shrew as we have it was probably produced in March.