Chapter 14

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.

The opening days of 1616 saw the marriage of Judith Shakespeare, the poet's daughter, born with little Hamnet who had died twenty years before. Two months later the poet entertained Michael Drayton and Ben Jonson at New Place. Some biographers say that the meeting was associated with a drinking bout--there is no reason to believe that either of his distinguished visitors would have been averse from one. Others believe that the poet fell a victim to the prevailing lack of sanitation; his house was at the corner of a very dirty lane. Whatever the cause, there can be no doubt about the result. On the 23rd of April 1616, England's greatest dramatist died in the prime of life--he was just fifty-two years of age. Two days later he was buried in Stratford Church, near the north wall of the chancel. Fearful lest his bones should be added to the grisly burden of the charnel-house close by, he penned a curse upon those who should disturb his remains.

The corporation's leading members joined the funeral procession, and a banquet consoled the mourners. A monument was put up in the chancel a few years later, the work of a London sculptor living near the "Globe Theatre." It is not a very pleasing piece of work. By his will, the poet left substantial legacies to his daughters, a gift to Stratford's poor, and mementoes to many friends, but to his wife he left his "second best bedstead" and nothing more. Anne Shakespeare died seven years later, and was buried close to her husband. His neglect of her by will does not imply indifference to her future; doubtless he had expressed his wish that one or other of his daughters should look after her, but it is clear that he did not hold her in great affection.

So passed a great man from his world, leaving an imperishable monument for generations yet to come. The London he knew has passed beyond our ken; it is a buried city that will never be unearthed. But time has dealt more gently with Stratford and Shottery, Wilmcote and Snitterfield, and a large part of the surrounding country that made our national poet articulate. Much that he loved returns with the yearly pageant of the seasons, and with this we must be perforce content.

INDEX

Aberdeen, 32

"All's Well that Ends Well," 39

Ancient Pistol, 43

"Antony and Cleopatra," 53

Arden, Forest of, 47 " Mary, 9, 58 " Robert, 58

Ariosto, 47

Arnold, Matthew, 7

"As You Like It," 32, 47

Aston Clinton, 7, 9

Aubrey's "Lives of Eminent Men," 66

Avon, 5, 73, 75, 82

Barnard, Lady, 60 " Sir John, 60

Barnfield, Richard, 44

Bath, 30

"Bear's House," 25, 26

Beaumont, 41, 42, 44

"Bell, The," 43

"Bell Inn," 17

Bishopgate, 26, 27

Bishopton, 64

Blackfriars, 21, 70 " Theatre, 22, 62

Boar's Head, 40, 41

"Bohemia," 44

Boswell, 61

Brentford, 77

"Bull Inn," 27

Burbage, Cuthbert 62 " James, 22, 62 " Richard, 22, 32, 37, 49, 62

Burbie, Cuthbert, 35, 36

Cambridge University, 82

Chapel of the Guild, 72

Charlecote, 7, 12, 46, 56, 80 " Park, 81

Charles II., 29

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 43, 44, 68

"Children of the Chapel, The," 48

Clopton, Sir Hugh, 58, 60, 82 " Sir John, 60 " House, 82

Cobham, Lord, 46

College of Heralds, 57

Combe, John, 82 " William, 82, 83

"Comedy of Errors, The," 36

Compton, Lord, 80

Condell, 62

"Convivial Laws," 42

Coopers' Arms, 33

"Coriolanus," 53

Coventry, 30

"Cow Lane," 35

Cromwell, Oliver, 73

"Crosby Hall," 27

Crown Inn, 68

"Curtain, The," 21

"Cymbeline," 53

Danter, John, 36

Derby, Earl of, 22

"Devil Tavern," 41, 42

Drayton, Michael, 7, 44, 69, 70, 83

Droeshout, Martin, 67

Eastcheap, 40

Edward VI., 72

Elizabeth, Queen, 13, 32, 37, 39, 46, 50, 51

Essex, Earl of, 47, 48

"Falcon, The," 41, 60, 62

Falstaff, Sir John, 13, 46, 77

Faversham, 30

"Feverel, Richard," 16

Field, Richard, 20, 21, 35

Fletcher, 41, 42

Florence, 26

Flower, Edgar, 67

Folkestone, 30

Fulbroke Parks, 12

Fuller, 41

Gastrell, Rev. Francis, 59, 60, 61

"George, The," 41, 43 " I., 70

"Globe, The," 22, 48, 62, 84

Gower, 25

Grammar School, Stratford, 72

Gray's "Elegy," 1

Greene, Robert, 27, 36, 43, 71

Greenwich, 32, 38

Guild Hall, 72

Gunpowder Plot, 82

Hall, John, 66, 70 " Susanna, 62, 66

Halliwell-Phillipps, Mr. J. O., 61

"Hamlet," 31, 32, 48, 49

Hathaway, Anne, 11, 17, 18, 60

"Henry IV.," 13, 14, 39, 40, 46 " V.," 14, 47, 62 " VI., King," 36 " the Seventh, King, 57 " VIII.," 47, 53, 63

High Wycombe, 20

Holinshed's "Chronicles," 33, 52, 53

Hunt, Wm., 61

Hythe, 30

James I., King, 22, 24, 29, 51, 77

Johnson, Robert, 53

Jones, Inigo, 29

Jonson, Ben, 7, 41, 42, 43, 67, 70, 83

"Julius Cæsar," 48

Keere, Peter Van den, 24, 25

Kemp, William, 32

Kenilworth, 39

"King John," 37 " Lear," 52

"King's Servants, The," 51

"Lambeth Marsh," 25

Lee, Dr. Sidney, 10, 31, 32, 49, 52, 67

Leicester, Earl of, 13, 21, 39, 80

Leyton, Edward, 61

Lichfield, 61

Loggin, Mrs., 61

Lollard, 46

"Love's Labour's Lost," 35

Lucy, Sir Thomas, 12, 13, 46, 80

"Macbeth," 51, 52

Manasseh ben Israel, 73

Marlborough, 30

Marlowe, Christopher, 27, 36, 37, 43

Masuccio, 33, 36

"Measure for Measure," 51

"Merchant of Venice, The," 37

Meredith, George, 16

Meres, Francis, 44

"Mermaid, The," 41, 42, 44

"Merry Wives of Windsor," 13, 40, 46

"Midsummer Night's Dream, A," 13, 39

Milton, 7

Miranda, 53

Moorfields, 21

"More Feyldes," 25

Mountjoy, 33

"Much Ado about Nothing," 47

Naseby, 5

Nash, Elizabeth, 60 " Thomas, 62

Newington Butts, 22

New Place, 58, 59, 61, 62, 64, 69, 70, 82, 83

New Place Museum, 62

New Romney, 30

Nimrod, 13

Norman William, 5

Oldcastle, Sir John, 46

Old Stratford, 11, 64

"Othello," 51

Oxford, 20, 30, 68

Oxford University, 82

"Palace of Nonsuch, The," 38

Peele, 36

Pembroke, Earl of, 51

"Pericles," 52, 53

Phillips, Augustus, 22, 62

"Phoenix and the Turtle, The," 48

Plautus, 36

"Play House," 25

Plutarch's "Lives," 33, 48, 53

Ponte Vecchio, 26

Prospero, 53, 54

Quiney, Mr. Thomas, 66

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 42

"Rape of Lucrece, The," 37, 38

Rhodes, Cecil John, 2

"Richard II.," 37, 47

"Richard III.," 27, 37

Richmond, 38

"Romeo and Juliet," 36

Rookwood, Ambrose, 82

"Rose, The," 22

Rowe, Nicholas, 70

Rye, 30

Saffron Walden, 30

Saxon Harold, 6

Senlac, 5

Severn, 5

Shakespeare, Edmond, 24, 69 " Gilbert, 69 " Hamnet, 66, 69 " Joan, 69 " John, 9, 10, 57, 58, 64, 66, 72, 76, 81 " Judith, 66, 83 " Richard, 69 " Susanna, 12, 60, 66

Shallow, Mr. Justice, 13, 40, 46

"Shepherd's Garland," 69

Shoreditch, 21

Shottery, 7, 11, 16, 17, 18, 84

Sidney, Sir Philip, 29

Smith, Miss, 61

Snitterfield, 6, 9, 10, 64, 84

Southampton, Earl of, 37, 39, 47, 48, 63

Southwark, 22, 26, 27, 42

Spanish Armada, 42

Spenser, Edmund, 41

"Spittlefeyldes," 25

St. Helen's, 26, 27

"St. Marye Overyes," 24, 25

St. Saviour's, Church of, 24, 25

Stratford Church, 83

"Tabard, The," 41, 42, 43, 44

"Taming of the Shrew, The," 39

"The Tempest," 53, 69

"Theatre, The," 21, 22, 62

Thorpe, 38

"Timon of Athens," 52

"Titus Andronicus," 37

"Troilus and Cressida, 49

"Twelfth Night," 47

"Two Gentlemen of Verona, The," 35

"Venus and Adonis," 37, 38

Walker, Sir Edward, 60

Welcombe, 64, 82

Westminster Abbey, 24

White, William, 35

Whitehall, 38, 51, 52

"White Hart, The," 43

Wilmcote, 6, 9, 10, 18, 58, 84

Wilton, 51

"Winter's Tale, The," 53

Wotton Wawens, 7

Wriothesley, Henry, 39, 50, 63

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.

Illustration captions are indicated by =caption=.

End of Project Gutenberg's William Shakespeare, by Samuel Levy Bensusan