“In a lower room of the public-house, which is part of the premises wherein Shakspeare was born, is a curious ancient ornament over the chimney, relieved in plaster, which, from the date 1606, that was originally marked on it, was probably put up at the time, and possibly by the poet himself; although a rude attempt at historic representation, I have yet thought it worth copying. In 1759 it was repaired and painted in a variety of colours by the old Mr. Thomas Harte before mentioned, who assured me the motto then round it had been in the old black-letter, and dated 1606. The motto runs thus:
Golith comes with sword and spear,
And David with a sling;
Although Golith rage and sweare,
Down David doth him bring.
“Mr. Harte, of Stratford, before mentioned, told me there was an old oak chair, that had always in his remembrance been called Shakspeare’s courting chair, with a purse that had been likewise his, and handed down from him to his grand-daughter Lady Barnard, and from her through the Hathaway family to those of the present day. From the best information I was able to collect at the time, I was induced to consider this account as authentic, and from a wish to obtain the smallest trifle appertaining to our Shakspeare, I became a purchaser of these relics. Of the chair I have here given a sketch; it is of a date sufficiently ancient to justify the credibility of its history; and as to farther proof, it must rest on the traditional opinion and the character of this poor family.”
CHAPTER II.
Shakspere’s After-Residence at Stratford-on-Avon.
The nearest reliable authority we have for any story connected with William Shakspere is the Vicar of Stratford-on-Avon, a man of literary tastes, who kept a voluminous journal, and it is he who gives us the account of “as I have heard, Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merrie meeting, and it seems drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a feavour there contracted” (was it at the house in Blackfriars? they are hardly all likely to have been at Stratford). Also in his Diary, “Remember to peruse Shakespeare’s plays and bee much versed in them, that I may not be ignorant in that matter. . . . Whether Dr. Heylin does well in reckoning up the dramatick poets which have been famous in England to omit Shakespeare?” Note here that Mr. Ward, although Vicar of the parish, and a man of high education, was not acquainted with the works of Shakespeare simply because he had not before realized the point that his parishioner, whose descendants and relatives lived in humble guise, was really the illustrious Shakespeare, whose praise was in all mouths, and that therefore it was not necessary he should be “up in them,” as they were not the subject of conversation in the town of his birth and youth and burial, clearly the pressure upon him to get them up came later on from without. He was not appointed to the Vicarage until 1662.
Diary of Rev. John Ward, from 1648 to 1679: “I have heard that Mr. Shakespeare was a natural wit, without any art at all,” and that is pretty well all the Vicar of his native place heard tell of him as a writer of these plays. He has nearly as much to say of “Edmund Alline, a stage-player, who founded the College of Dulwich.” “I have heard that Mr. Shakespeare was a natural wit without any art at all: hee frequented the plays all his younger time, but in his elder days lived at Stratford, and supplied the stage with two plays every year and for itt had an allowance so large that he spent at the rate of £1000 a year as I have heard.”—From Diary of Rev. John Ward. How came Shakespeare’s brother stage-player to be worth thousands, whilst the other’s income saved was only about £200 or at most £300 a year? Was he the trusted middle man, or Kemp, or both, in the secret?
Shakespeare’s Plays—Who Wrote them?
There is a quaint story printed by the Camden Society—Kemp’s “Nine Daies’ Wonder,” published 1600. Kemp was one of the leading performers in that company in which Shakespere had subordinate parts assigned him, and Edward Alleyne was chief manager. Nash was a friend of his, and his tract, “An Almond for a Parrot,” is dedicated to him, “Monsieur du Kempe.” He talks of another great journey, and signifies that he keeps it dark whether “Rome, Jerusalem, Venice, or any other place at your idle appoint” (p. 20). One of his letters begins, “My notable Shakerags,” mentions “a penny poet, whose first making was the miserable stolne story of Macdoel, or Macdobeth, or Macsomewhat.” In the Returne from Parnassus—dialogue, “Phil. What, M. Kempe, how doth the Emperour of Germany? Student. God save you, M. Kempe: Welcome from dancing the morrice ‘over the Alpes.’ Kempe. Is it not better to make a foole of the world as I have done than to be fooled of the world as you schollers are.” There is also that well-known allusion to “our fellow Shakespeare putting them all down, I and Ben Jonson too, and giving him a purge that made him beray his credit” (whatever that may mean). Also p. xiv, “The Travailes of the Three English Brothers, Sir Anthony, Sir Thomas, and Sir Robert Shirley, as it is now play’d by Her Majesties Servants,” the following scene is supposed to take place at Venice:—“Servant. An Englishman desires accesse to you. Sir Anthony. What is his name? Servant. He calls himself Kempe. Sir. Ant. Bid him come in; Welcome, honest Will, and what good new plays have you?” etc. Nash also speaks of Kemp as being at Bergamo, and an Englishman from Venice meeting him there and having a conversation on the “order and maner of our plays.” These allusions, whether feigned or otherwise, show there were communications going on between her Majesties players and foreign parts, which were understood to be connected with “new plays” and “plays of note.”
Was there any distant connection between Will Kempe and Sir A. Sherley? His mother’s name was Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe, and had three sons—Thomas, Anthony, and Robert. “No three persons of one family ever experienced adventures at the same time so uncommon or so interesting” (from a book “The Sherley Brothers,” by one of the same house, for Roxburghe Club, Evelyn Philip Shirley). Sir Anthony married a first cousin of the Earl of Essex, “who had oftentimes to befriend him.” He was sent on embassies to every quarter of the known world. Was ofttimes in communication with Burleigh. We hear of him most in Italy, “sent by Emperor of Germany as ambassador to Morocco”; “hired horses to pass the Alpes” (see Kemp, p. 16); writes to Anthony Bacon, a friend of Essex (p. 22). It appears that he wrote many letters at this period to his patron Earl of Essex, Mr. Anthony Bacon, and Mr. Secretary Cecil. He is found everywhere, sometimes employed as ambassador, sometimes on special missions, sometimes in questionable ventures. Milan, Venice, where at one time he seems to have resided for several years, Rome, Persia, Cyprus, Antioch, Syracuse, Prague, Arabia, Tripoli, Aleppo, Bagdad, Constantinople, Portugal, Spain. Sir Anthony appears (Annals of the Shirley Family) with his brother Sir Robert to have always been in debt and difficulty, “sometimes like to starve for want of bread,” profuse and extravagant when money was to be had, utterly careless how it was obtained. Mention is made of “Henry Sherley, kinsman of Mr. James Sherley, the play-wright, and who did also excel him in that faculty.” Henry Sherley was the author of the following plays never printed: Spanish Duke of Lerna, Duke of Guise, Gasaldo the country lover (p. 270, Annals of Shirley Family). Sir Anthony was ever aiming to get reinstated at Court, and if he had been known to have been mixed up with these plays, it would have been fatal to his chance with Elizabeth. Clearly he had something to do with Will Kempe, a member of Alleyn’s company, who acted the prominent parts in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merchant of Venice, etc. Was not “Will Kempe” the go-between the manager and the author? Was it not necessary, in order to keep the secret, that the MSS. should not pass from hand to hand, or be entrusted even to the ambassador’s bag? Lansdowne MSS. 1608, Milan, Sir Anthony Sherley to his sister, Lady Tracy, “you will say, I should have written; it is true, but there are such intercepting of my poor papers that before God I dare commit nothing to paper, and now less than ever.” The extraordinary capacity and knowledge of languages and familiarity with places and scenery by Sir Anthony Sherley, especially in Italy, were clearly unequalled. What share had he in what may be a joint-stock company for the production of these plays? It is now acknowledged that many of the plays are translated from Italian plays and other novels. Did he bring this grist to the mill, find novels and stories, translate them, and forward them by his trusted kinsman Kempe to others to ship-shape them and fit them for the stage? May not the name of Sherley have oozed out amongst “the playwrights,” and thence “Henry Sherley, who excelled in that faculty,” been spoken of as the man who wrote them. Sir Anthony keeps up his friendship with Anthony Bacon, whom no doubt he knew in earlier days at Court. How fond they all were of the name of Anthony. A greater knowledge of men and manners and languages and the leading men and courtiers of the day or such a master of travel existed not in his time. Strange also is it that “The Travailes of the three English Brothers, Sir Thomas, Sir Anthony, and Mr. Robert Sherley,” should be presented on the stage by this same company of which Kempe was a member. How were they acquainted with them?
These are all singular coincidences, and as I write I have been perusing Donnelly, and I find nothing to contradict, but much to back up my theories. His chapter ix. vol. i. p. 171, also x. and others passim, might fit Sherley as well as Bacon. (Shylock, p. 224.) Sherley borrows money wherever he could get credit and at other times spends it freely.