"Yff yow bargen with Wm. Sha... or receve money therfor, brynge youre money homme that yow maye; and see howe knite stockynges be sold; ther ys gret byinge of them at Aysshome. Edward Wheat and Harrye, youre brother man, were both at Evyshome thys daye senet, and, as I harde, bestowe 20li ther in knyt hosse; wherefore I thynke yow maye doo good, yff yow can have money."

November 4, 1598. Abraham Sturley writing to Richard Quiney, begins with this:

"All health, happines of suites, and welfare be multiplied unto u and ur labours in God our Father bi Christ our Lord. Ur letter of the 25. of October came to mi handes the laste of the same att night per Grenwai, which imported a stai of suites bi Sr. Ed. Gr. advise, untill &c., and that onli u should followe on for tax and sub. presentli, and allso ur travell and hinderance of answere therein bi ur longe travell and thaffaires of the courte; and that our countriman Mr. Wm. Shak. would procure us monei, which I will like of as I shall heare when and wheare and howe; and I prai let not go that occasion if it mai sorte to ani indifferent condicions. Allso that if monei might be had for 30 or 407., a lease, &c., might be procured."

Mr. Phillipps believes, with Pope, that Shakespeare was investing money to provide against future want. He not only advanced money, but negotiated loans through other capitalists. Richard Quiney applied to the dramatist for the loan of thirty pounds. "Not a single fragment of any of the poet's own letters has yet been discovered, and the following is the only one addressed to him which is known to exist." This is the address:

"To my loveinge good ffrend and contreymann Mr. Wm. Shackespere deliver thees."

And this is a copy of the letter:

Loveinge contreyman, -I am bolde of yow, as of a ffrende, craveinge yowr helpe with xxx. ll. vppon Mr. Bushells and my securytee, or Mr. Myttons with me. Mr. Rosswell is nott come to London as yeate, and I have especiall cawse. Yow shall ffrende me muche in helpeing me out of all the debettes I owe in London, I thancke God, and muche quiet my mynde, which wolde nott be indebeted. I am nowe towardes the Cowrte, in hope of answer for the dispatche of my buysenes. Yow shall nether loase creddytt nor monney by me, the Lorde wyllinge; and nowe butt perswade yowrselfe soe, as I hope, and yow shall nott need to feare butt with all hartie thanckefullenes I wyll holde my tyme and content yowr ffrende, and yf we bargaine farther, yow shal be the paiemaster yowrselfe. My tyme biddes me hastene to an ende, and soe I commit thys [to] yowr care, and hope of yowr helpe. I feare I shall nott be backe thys night ffrom the Cowrte. Haste. The Lorde be with yow and with vs all, Amen! ffrom the Bell in Carter Lane, the 25 October, 1598.

Yowrs in all kyndenes,

RYC. QUYNEY.

Sturley writes to Quiney, November 4,

"Your letter of the 25th of October came to my hands the last of the same at night per Greenway, which imported that our countryman, Mr. William Shakespeare, would procure us money, which I will like of as I shal hear when and where and how; and I pray let not go that occasion, if it may sort to any indifferent conditions."

Mr. Phillipps says that "the Greenway nere mentioned was the Stratford carrier, the good people of that town being well contented in those days if they received letters from the metropolis once in a week."

The "Merchant of Venice" was played in London in or before the month of July, 1598.

"One of the most interesting of the recorded events of Shakespeare's life occurred in the present year. In September, 1598, Ben Jonson's famous comedy of 'Every Man in his Humor' was produced by the Lord Chamberlain's company, and there is every probability that both writer and manager were indebted for its acceptance to the sagacity of the great dramatist, who was one of the leading actors on the occasion. His acquaintance with Ben Jonson,' observes Rowe, 'began with a remarkable piece of humanity and good nature. Mr. Jonson, who was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of his plays to the players in order to have it acted, and the persons into whose hands it was put, after having turned it carelessly and superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an ill-natured answer that it would be of no service to their company, when Shakespeare luckily cast his eye upon it, and found something so well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Jonson and his writings to the public.' The statement that rare Ben was then absolutely new to literature is certainly erroneous, however ignorant the Burbages or their colleagues may have been of his primitive efforts; but he was in a state of indigence, rendering the judgment on his manuscript of vital consequence, and the services of a friendly advocate of inestimable value. He had been engaged in dramatic work for Henslowe some months before the appearance of

the new comedy, but about that time there seems to have been a misunderstanding between them, the latter alluding to Jonson simply as a brick-layer, not as one of his company, in his record of the unfortunate duel with Gabriel. There had been, in all probability, a theatrical disturbance resulting in the last-named event, and in Ben's temporary secession from the Rose. Then there are the words of Jonson himself, who, unbiassed by the recollection that he had been defeated in at all events one literary skirmish with the great dramatist, speaks of him in language that would appear hyperbolical had it not been sanctioned by a feeling of gratitude for a definite and important service: 'I loved the man, and do honour his memory on this side idolatry, as much as any.' This was a personal idolatry, not one solely in reference to his works, moderately adverse criticisms upon which immediately follow the generous panegyric. It may, then, fairly be said that the evidences at our disposal favour, on the whole, the general credibility of the anecdote narrated by Rowe." (H.-P. i. 170.)

In the same month, September, the "Palladis Tamia" of Francis Meres appeared. This writer was born in Lincolnshire, and educated at Cambridge. He first mentions Shakespeare's sonnets, "his sugared Sonnets among his private friends."

1599. The earliest notice of the "Merry Wives of Windsor" is an entry on the register of the Stationers' Company, in January, 1602, when a defective copy was issued; but it probably was written in 1599, and produced before the death of Shallow's prototype, Sir Thomas Lucy. This play, and the Second Part of "Henry the Fourth," include scenes, says Mr. Phillipps, "that could not

have been written exactly in their present form if the great dramatist had not entertained an acute grudge against Sir Thomas Lucy. Stratford-onAvon and Henley-in-Arden are towns that are faintly veiled under the names of Stamford and Hinckley. Hence also the direct and practically undisguised banter of the Lucys in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," for no one in Warwickshire could possibly have mistaken the allusion to the luces, the fishes otherwise termed pikes, that held so conspicuous a position in the family shield."

In May or June the play of "Henry the Fifth " was completed. It contains a compliment to the Earl of Essex, who left London on his expedition to Ireland in the month of March. Lord Southampton was General of the Horse in the Earl's army. The play was produced at the Curtain Theatre during the summer. The character of Pistol was relished by audiences, and the play was sometimes known under the title of "Ancient Pistol." Breton's "Poste with a Packet of Madde Letters," 1602, says: "It is not your hustie rustie can make me afraid of your bigge lookes, for I saw the plaie of Ancient Pistoll,' where a craking coward was well cudgeled for his knavery; your railing is so neere the rascall that I am almost ashamed to bestow so good a name as the rogue uppon you." Spurious editions of the play were published about the year 1600, and in 1602 and 1608.