paper relating to this subject is preserved at Dulwich College :

Shakespeare was still a very young man, and probably had not been familiar to a metropolitan audience for more than ten years, when, turning to the revered scene of his nativity, he meditated the first investment in property his professional gains enabled him to accomplish. The persecution of the great may have driven the poet from the home of his youth, and an undue exercise of power might, as in many other cases, have been an instrument for raising the oppressed, and indelibly marking the memory of him who

was

"drest in a little brief authority." Be this as it may, it is certain that Shakespeare's departure from Stratford arose in no action of his own that would materially diminish the esteem and respect of his early neighbours and friends, for had this been the case, it would have been difficult to imagine the anxiety with which he seems to have established himself once more in his native town, on the first opportunity that presented itself. Early in the year 1597, he purchased one of the best houses in Stratford, a dwelling-house called New Place, described as consisting of one messuage, two barns, and two gardens, with their appurtenances. The exact period at which this purchase was

made has never before been ascertained, although Mr. Collier by a course of reasoning concludes that it was in 1597. Shakespeare bought New Place of William Underhill in the Easter Term, 39 Eliz. 1597, for £60, as appears from the following foot of the fine, levied on that occasion, preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster.

Inter Willielmum Shakespeare quer. et Willielmum Underhill generosum deforc. de uno mesuagio, duobus horreis, et duobus gardinis, cum pertinentiis, in Stratford super Avon, unde placitum convencionis sum. fuit inter eos &c. scilicet quod prædictus Willielmus Underhill recogn. prædicta tenementa cum pertinentiis esse jus ipsius Willielmi Shakespeare ut illa quæ idem Willliclmus habet de dono prædicti Willielmi Underhill, et ill. remisit et quietclam. de se et hæred. suis prædicto Willielmo Shakespeare et hæred. suis in perpetuum ; et præterea idem Willielmus Underhill concessit pro se et hæred. suis quod ipsi warant. prædicto Willielmo Shakespeare et hæred. suis prædicta tenementa cum pertinentiis in perpetuum. Et pro hac &c. idem Willielmus Shakespeare dedit prædicto Willielmo Underhill sexaginta libras sterlingorum. [Pasch. 39 Eliz.]

The annexed plan exhibits the site of New Place (A), with the extensive grounds (F) originally connected with it. In the garden (marked F) was the celebrated mulberry-tree said to have been planted by Shakespeare, a scion of which now flourishes on the site of the parent stock. It has been generally said that Shakespeare, having repaired the house when he purchased it of Underhill in 1597, changed its name to New Place. This must be an error, for in a survey taken in 1590, preserved in the Carlton Ride Record Office,

we are told that

Willielmus Underhill gen. tenet libere

quandam domum vocatam the newe place cum pertinentiis per reddit. per annum xij.d. sect. cur." It seems to have been one of the best houses in Stratford; and early in the sixteenth century, when it belonged to the Clopton family, it was called the great house. In the eighteenth century it was again in the possession of the Cloptons, and it was thoroughly repaired, and a modern front added, by Sir Hugh Clopton, who died there in 1751. The next possessor, a Rev. Francis Gastrell, pulled down the house, and destroyed the celebrated mulberry-tree. The tale has been too often told to need repetition, and the perpetrator of the mischief has already been sufficiently abused for his want of taste. No record has been preserved of the appearance of New Place as it existed in Shakespeare's time, but the following woodcut exhibits the house as it appeared after the alterations made by Sir Hugh Clopton.

There seems to be every reason for believing that New Place was not purchased by Shakespeare as a mere investment, but that it continued to be the residence of himself and his family till his death in 1616; and I am inclined to believe that any abode he occupied in London after 1597

was merely for his temporary convenience. A curious manuscript list, formed during a period when there was a great scarcity of grain, containing an account of corn and malt in Stratford in February, 1598, mentions Shakespeare as holding the large quantity of ten quarters, and it is further of importance, because it exhibits him as residing in Chapel-street ward, the part of the town in which New Place was situated. As a kind of negative evidence against the probability of John Shakespeare being then in good circumstances, it may be mentioned that his name does not occur in this list. The MS. is mentioned by Mr. Knight and quoted by Mr. Collier, but it is sufficiently curious to merit publication, and the reader will thus be enabled to judge of the proportion of corn held by Shakespeare in comparison with the quantity possessed by others:

Stratforde

The noate of corne and malte taken the iiij.th of ffebruarii, 1597, Burrowhe, in the xl.th yeare of the raigne of our moste gracious soveraigne Warrwicke. ladie Queen Elizabethe, &c.

Woode Street Warde.

Jhon Sadler malte iij. qrs. malt.

Townesmens corne.

Wm. Slatter and Wid. Parrott iiij. quarters malte.

Rychard Pyncke malte and bareley v. quarters, of wheate j. quarter.

George Roase malte iij. quarters.

Mr. Jhon Lane jun. ix. quarters, myle corne ij. quarters d.,* beanes iij. quarters.

James Elliotts viij. quarters wheat, iij. strikes.

Thomas Hornbie ij. quarters vj. strickes, myle corne j. quarter.

Thomas Lemster with hym iij. quarters.

Mr. Parsons malte viij. quarters, wheate ij. quarters d., woates xij. quarters, ffetches j. quarter, myll corne ij. quarters.

Jhon Tubbe xiij. quarters ij. stricks.

Thomas Wylkenson x. quarters.

Robert Sperpoynt in hys howse x. str.

Jhon Smythe draper ix. quarters d., mylecorne ij. strickes.

Jhon Page in hys howse iij. quarters, barley j. quarter.

Mr. Sturley v. quarters.

*This of course stands for a half. The numbers to each are repeated in the margin for the sake of casting up the total, but these do not seem to be worth giving.

Cicely Bainton vid. viij. quarters, barley iiij. quarters.
Rafe Lorde iij. quarters, myle corne viij. st.

Straingers malte.

Mr. Lyttleton xij. quarters att Sadlers.

Mr. Smythe of Wotton xj. quarters.
William Gibbarde ij. quarters.
Rychard Gibbarde j. quarter d.

Mr. Anthonic Nashe att George Roases howse, malte vij. quarters, pease iij. quarters.

Att Tubbes of one Walter Smythes j. quarter, and of William Yockesalls j. quarter.

Att Tho. Wylkensons of Mr. Antho. Nashes x. strickes.

Of Mr. Myddlemores iij. quarters.

Smythe of Rychard Astons j. quarter d.

Of Rychard Smythes of Roweington j. quarter halfe.
Att Mr. Sturleys

Sir Thomas Lucie xij. quarters d.

Of Mr. Anth. Nashe viij. quarters d.

Of Mr. Rychard Wyllyes iij. quarters.

Att Rafe Lordes of Sir John Conwayes vij. quarters d.

Henley Street Warde. Townesmens corne.

Edwarde Hunte xij. quarters 6 st. of brede corne.

Jhon Wheeler v. quarters of brede corne, xij. stricks.
Of olde William Caudreys iiij. quarters.

Robert Jonsons vij. strickes.

Jhon Wylmer xij. quarters, mylne corne xiiij. strickes.

Valentyne Tawnte iij. quarters.

Rycharde Hornbie iiij. quarters, myle corne ij. quarters.

Robert Willson jun. viij. quarters, brede corne ij. quarters, pease and beanes ij. quarters.

Ancker Aynsworthe xviij. quarters, myll corne xiiij. strike.

Thomas Allen baker, malte xxij. str. bred corne iiij. quarters.

William Green v. quarters.

Robert Brookes vj. quarters.

William Smythe ij. quarters, bredcorne iij. quarters.

Straingers.

Att Jhon Wheelers of Mr. Cowrtes of Oulborrowghe x. str.

Of George Bartons iij. quarters.

Att John Wyllmers of John, Sir ffowlke Grevyles cooke, xij. quarters.

Att William Greens of Mr. Barnes of Clyfforde ix. quarters.

Att Robert Brookes of one Jhon Coxe hys viij. quarters.

Of William Coxe hys xj. str.

Of another mans iij. quarters d.