The apprentice system was in vogue at Stratford in Shakespeare's time, and though the condition of apprentices was not always creditable to their employers, the system ensured a thorough knowledge of any business that a man sought to establish. The apprenticeship was a legal condition, precedent to setting up in business, and until a lad had fulfilled his indentures he could not open a shop on his own account or claim the rights of a freeman. Apprentices had their rights and privileges, including certain holidays, but they might not carry arms, might not visit ale-houses, and might not stay out after nine o'clock. For lads who did not care to settle down in business, or had not the means to establish themselves in one, there were other ways of securing a living. They could seek military service—there was always a demand for strong, athletic young men—or they could enter the big establishments of the great landowners, who employed scores of retainers, and, in peaceful times, did not overwork them. The wealthier lads went to the universities or to the metropolis, where no small proportion, freed from all restraint, went hopelessly to the bad. In Shakespeare's time, the Earl of Leicester, Lord Compton, Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, and a few others, were the chief men in the neighbourhood of Stratford to keep retainers in large numbers.
SHAKESPEARE MEMORIAL THEATRE, STRATFORD-ON-AVON
CHAPTER XIV
THE CLOSE OF LIFE
When Shakespeare settled down in Stratford to spend the last years of his life amid its familiar surroundings, he could without a doubt have aspired to the highest honours in the corporation's gift. He had restored his father's good name, and John Shakespeare in his palmy days had been Stratford's chief alderman. The early history of his escapades had apparently been forgotten; he was on friendly terms with the then owner of Charlecote Park, while other great landowners who passed a part of their time at Court were to be found among his acquaintances if not his friends. But he had not retired from the stress and strife of London to seek responsibilities that entailed heavy penalties for neglect. It sufficed him to take a friendly interest in the affairs of the corporation, and to remain right outside the council chamber. His own obligations might call him to town at any moment, and his own local affairs would have taken so much of the rest of his time as he would be disposed to give to business. Clearly he wished to enjoy his life, and from the scanty records in our possession there is reason to believe that he did so. Doubtless he added much to his ample stores of observation; the few last years could hardly have been wasted; but apparently he had no wish to set pen to paper when he had left the stage behind him. It may be that, had he been disposed to work in the later years, the Gunpowder Plot might have afforded him material for a stirring play. Ambrose Rookwood, who was closely associated with the conspiracy, lived in Clopton House near Stratford.
The Clopton family was closely identified with Stratford's history. Sir Hugh, of that family, had been Lord Mayor of London in 1492. He it was who built New Place, the house in which the poet was living. He built the stone bridge over Avon at Stratford, to take the place of a worthless wooden structure. He founded exhibitions at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In short, Sir Hugh made the reputation of the family for all time, and the scandal of Rookwood's residence in Clopton House, which is within easy reach of Stratford, must have been a considerable one.
There is a suggestion that the poet had not only given up his work, but that the taint of landowning under the existing conditions had corrupted him. As late as 1614 he was assisting one William Combe, a landowner and son of his old friend John Combe—who had left him five pounds by will—in an attempt to enclose the common lands round his estate at Welcombe. In the early days the poet had been a foe of those who attempted to rob the people, but it may be that by 1614 he was growing a little intolerant of the Puritans on the corporation council, and quite ready to vex them if he could. The Clerk to the Council followed Shakespeare to London, apparently in order to discuss the case against William Combe, and the corporation in council drew up a letter to the poet, begging him to aid them against the guilty landowner; but Shakespeare did not do so, and it was left for the London courts to settle the matter in favour of the corporation, after much litigation and long delays.