The Public Record Office in London preserves the following: record of the purchase by John Shakespeare of two houses on Henley Street, Stratford-on-Avon (L. 8); record of a mortgage on an estate at "Awston Cawntlett" given to Edmund Lambert by John and Mary Shakespeare (L. 9); Bill of Complaint brought by John Shakespeare against John, son of Edmund Lambert, respecting an estate at Wilmecote, near Stratford (L. 15); Ms. accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber, "To Willm. Kempe, Willm. Shakespeare & Richarde Burbage, servaunts to the Lord Chamberleyne, upon the Councelles warrant dated at Whitehall xvto Marcij 1594 for twoe severall Comedies or enterludes shewed by them before her Majestic in Christmas tyme laste paste, viz: upon St. Stephens daye and Innocentes daye xiij.li. vj.s. viijd., and by waye of her Majesties rewarde vj.li. xiii.s. iiijd. in all xx.li." (L. 25); record of the purchase of New Place by Shakespeare (L. 32); papers in a Chancery suit relating to the estate at Wilmecote mortgaged to Edmund Lambert, and consisting of a Bill of Complaint by John and Mary Shakespeare against John Lambert for his refusal to accept £40 and reconvey the property to the complainants, John Lambert's answer, and the replication of John and Mary Shakespeare to the answer (L. 35); a subsidy roll showing William Shakespeare as a defaulter in respect of a tax of five shillings, October, 1596, and of thirteen shillings and four pence, October, 1598, based on an assessment made about 1598 or 1594, when the poet was living in St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, and paid after he had moved to Southwark (Athenæum, March 16, 1906, and L. 42); Royal Warrant for a Patent and the Patent Biographical Documentsitself (May 19, 1603) licensing the company of actors, "Laurence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemmings, Henrie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowly and the rest of their associates" as the King's Servants (L. 87, 88); the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, containing entries showing performances at Court of "The Moor of Venis," "The Merry Wives of Winsor," "Mesur for Mesur" by "Shaxberd," "the plaie of Errors" by "Shaxberd," "Loves Labours lost," "Henry the fift," and "the Martchant of Venis" by "Shaxberd" (twice, being "againe commanded by the Kings Matie"), all in 1604 (O.S.), of "the Tempest" and "ye winters nightes Tayle" in 1611, all by the King's men, and of the performance before the Court at Wilton, Dec. 2, 1603 (L. 96, 133, Notes in the History of the Revels Office under the Tudors, ed. by E. K. Chambers, and Supposed Shakespeare Forgeries, by Ernest Law); record of the purchase in 1610 of an estate in Old Stratford and Stratford-on-Avon by Shakespeare from William and John Combe (L. 127); three documents in a Chancery suit relating to the ownership of property in Blackfriars, April 26, May 15, May 22, 1615 (C. W. Wallace in Englische Studien, April, 1906, and Preface to New Edition of Lee's Life, xxii ff.); the grant for cloaks for the King's entry into London, March 15, 1604 (Ld. Chamberlain's Papers, No. 600); the documents in the law suit among the heirs of Richard Burbage (1635), relating to the ownership of the Globe and the Blackfriars theaters, and giving much information on the value of theatrical shares, actors' salaries, etc. (H.-P. i. 312-319); and the documents in the lawsuit of Bellots vs. Mountjoy (1612), including Shakespeare's deposition (New Shakespeare Discoveries, C. W. Wallace, Harper's Magazine, March, 1910).
4
The Shakespeare's Birthplace Museum in Stratford-on-Avon contains several documents of importance: record of the conveyance in 1602 of an estate in Old Stratford from William and John Combe to William Shakespeare (L. 79, H.-P. II, 17-19); extract from the Court Rolls of the Manor of Rowington, transferring from Walter Getley to William Shakespeare certain premises in Chapel Lane, Stratford-on-Avon (L. 81); the conveyance to Shakespeare from Ralph Hubande of the residue of a lease of a moiety of the tithes of Stratford-on-Avon, Old Stratford, Welcombe, and Bishopton (L. 99); the diary of one Thomas Greene, containing a reference to the dispute as to the inclosing of common lands (reproduced in facsimile in C. M. Ingleby's Shakespeare and the Enclosure of Common Fields at Welcombe, 1885).
5
The British Museum possesses the Ms. diary of John Manningham of the Middle Temple, which, under the date of Feb. 2, 1601, records a performance of Twelfth Night, and the anecdote recorded above, p. 44 (L. 77; Ms. Harl. 5353, ed. Camden Soc., p. 39); also the Mortgage Deed from Shakespeare to Henry Walker on the property in Blackfriars conveyed to Shakespeare and others on the day previous, March 10, 1612/13.
6
The Bodleian Library at Oxford has the Ms. diary of Dr. Simon Forman describing performances of Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, and Macbeth in 1610 and 1611 (L. 128; Ms. Ashmol. 208, fol. 201b); and the Accounts of Lord Stanhope of Harrington, Treasurer of the Chamber to James I, containing the following entry: "1613, May 20. Item paid to John Biographical DocumentsHeminges uppon the cowncells warrant dated att Whitehall xxo die Maii 1613 for presentinge before the Princes highnes the La: Elizabeth and the Prince Pallatyne Elector fowerteene severall playes viz ... Much adoe abowte nothinge ... The Tempest ... The Winters Tale, Sr John Falstafe, The Moore of Venice ... Cæsars Tragedye ... All wch Playes weare played within the tyme of this Accompte, viz pd the some of iiij. (xx.) xiij.li. vj.s. viij.d.
"Item paid to the said John Heminges uppon the lyke warrant dated att Whitehall xxo die Maij 1613 for presenting sixe severall playes viz. one playe called ... And one other called Benidicte and Betteris all played within the tyme of this Accompte viz pd ffortie powndes And by waye of his Matis rewarde twentie powndes In all ... lx li." (L. 138; Ms. Rawl. A. 239).
7
The Episcopal Register of the Diocese of Worcester contains the bond given by Sandells and others for the marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway (L. 12).