as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, 'Cæsar, thou dost me wrong;' he replied, 'Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause:' and such like, which were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned."

We have already seen something of the position which, before 1598, Shakespeare had attained among the Stratfordians, in respect of money matters. It seems that Richard Quiney, whose son Thomas afterwards married the Poet's youngest daughter, was in London a good deal that year on business, for himself and others. Mr. Halliwell prints, for the first time, a letter directed thus: "To my loving son, Richard Quiney, at the Bell in Carter-lane, deliver these, in London." The following is a part of the contents: "If you bargain with Wm. Sha., or receive money there, or bring your money home, you may. I see how knit stockings be sold; there is great buying of them at Ayshone. Edward Wheat and Harry, your brother's man, were both at Evesuam this day se'nnight, and, as I heard, bestowed £20 there in knit hose: wherefore, I think, you may do good, if you can have money." This letter is without any date, but it evidently connects with another written to Shakespeare, as follows:

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Loving countryman: I am bold of you, as of a friend, craving your help with £30, upon Mr. Bushell's and my

2 For an explanation of this matter, see Julius Cæsar, Act iii. sc. 1, note 5. - One of the main points in this extract is supported by the editorial address of Heminge and Condell, prefixed to the folio of 1623: "The Author, as he was a happy imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and hand went together; and what he thought, he uttered with that easiness, that we have scarce received from him a blot in his papers." Jonson might well regret that the Poet did not blot a good deal more. Still we do not believe his writing was by any means so extemporaneous as many have supposed. Several of his plays are known to have been rewritten; and it is not known how many of thei

were not.

security, or Mr. Mytten's with me. Mr. Roswell is not come to London as yet, and I have especial cause. You shall friend me much in helping me out of all the debts I owe in London, I thank God; and much quiet my mind, which would not be indebted. I am now towards the Court, in hope of answer for the despatch of my business. You shall neither lose credit nor money by me, the Lord willing: and now but persuade yourself so, as I hope, and you shall not need to fear, but, with all hearty thankfulness, I will hold my time, and content your friend; and, if we bargain further, you shall be the pay-master yourself. My time bids me hasten to an end, and so I commit this to your care, and hope of your help. I fear I shall not be back this night from the Court. Haste: The Lord be with you, and with

us all, Amen!

"From the Bell, in Carter-lane, the 25th October, 1598. "Yours in all kindness,

To my loving good Friend and

"RIC. QUINEY."

Countryman, Mr. Wm. Shake

speare, deliver these."

Not a single private letter written by Shakespeare nas ever been found, and this is the only one written to him, that has come to light. Quiney's application for money seems to have met with a favourable response; for on the same day he wrote to Abraham Sturley, the Stratford alderman, whom we have already heard of; and on the 4th of November Sturley wrote him a lengthy reply, with a direction running thus: "To my most loving brother, Mr. Richard Quiney, at the Bell in Carter-lane, at London, give these." In this reply we have the following: "Your letter of the 25th of October came to my hands the last of the same at night, per Greenway; which imported a stay of suits by Sir Edward Greville's advice; . . and that our countryman, Mr. Wm. Shak., would procure us money, which I will like of, as I shall hear when, and where. and how; and I pray, let

not go that occasion, if it may sort to any indifferent conditions."

The good people of Stratford, it seems, were at that time unusually distressed, not only by reason of the dearth and scarceness already mentioned, but also because of some recent fires in the town. Besides these, there were yet other troubles: Sturley in one of his letters to Quiney informs him, "Our great hell is broken, and Wm. Wiatt is mending the pavement of the bridge." Quiney's business "towards the Court" is explained in another part of the same letter: "There might, by Sir Edward Greville, some means be made to the Knights of Parliament for an ease and discharge of such taxes and subsidies wherewith our town is like to be charged, and, I assure you I am in great fear and doubt, by no means able to pay. Sir Edward Greville is gone to Bristol, and from thence to London, as I hear; who very well knoweth our estates, and will be willing to do us any good." In their straits, they evidently thought it no small advantage to have a thriving countryman in London, whose recent doings were proof that he had not forgotten Stratford.

These notices, slight as they are, enable us to form some tolerable conjecture as to how the Poet was getting on at the age of thirty-four. Such details of money transactions may not seem very interesting in a Life of the greatest of poets; but we have clear evidence that he took a lively interest in them, and was a good hand at managing them. He had learned by experience, no doubt, that "money is a good soldier, and will on ;" and that, "if money go before, all ways do lie open." And the thing carries this good, if no other, that it tells us a man may be something of a poet without being either above or below the common affairs of life. Shakespeare was doubtless apt enough for any occasion whereby an honest penny might be turned: the chamberlain's accounts for this year show an entry of 10d. “paid to Mr. Shakespeare for one load of stone;" used, perhaps,

by Mr. Wiatt in "mending the pavement of the bridge." And he appears to have been driving his pecuniary interests in other quarters hitherto not heard of. Mr. Hunter lately discovered at Carlton Ride a subsidy roll of 1598, in which the Poet was assessed on property of the value of £5 13s 4d., in the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate. Mr. Hunter infers from it that he then lived in that part of the metrop olis; but his name has affid. written against it, which Mr. Halliwell thinks may have been intended to mark him as one who was required to produce a certificate or affidavit of non-residence.

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That we may not have to recur too often to the rather unpoetical subject of money, it may be well now to follow out the Poet's dealings in that line till some years later. On the 1st of May, 1602, was executed a deed of conveyance, whereby he became the owner of a hundred and seven acres of arable land in the town of Old Stratford, bought of William and John Combe, for the sum of £320. Besides the land itself, there was also a right of "common of pasture for sheep, horse, kine, and other cattle, in the fields of Old Stratford," attached to it. The Poet was not in Stratford at the time, as appears by the lack of his signature, and by the memorandum on the deed, "Sealed and delivered to Gilbert Shakespeare, to the use of the within-named William Shakespeare, in the presence of" five witnesses, whose names are subscribed. Which shows that the business was transacted by Gilbert for his brother William. It also ieaas us naturally to the presumption that the Poet's Stratford affairs generally were left in the care of his brother, when himself was in London. On the 28th of September, the same year, ne became the owner of a copyhold house in Walker-street, near New Place, surrendered to him by Walter Getley. This property was held under the manor of Rowington: the surrender took place at a court-baron of the manor; and it appears from the Court Roll, that the Poet was not present at the time, there being a proviso that the property should

remain in the hands of the Lady of the manor till the pur

chaser had done suit and service in the court. In November following, he made another purchase of Hercules Underhill for £60. The original fine levied on the occasion is preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster, and describes the property as consisting of "one messuage, two barns, two gardens, and two orchards, with their appurtenances, in Stratford-upon-Avon."

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The next purchase by him, that has come to light, was made three years later. It appears from the letter of Sturey, quoted near the close of our preceding Chapter, that in 1598 it was thought “a very fit pattern to move him to deal in the matter of our tithes." This was a matter wherein very much depended on good management; and, as the town had a yearly rent from the tithes, it was for the public interest to have them well managed; and the moving of Shakespeare to deal in the matter sprang most likely from confidence in his practical judgment and skill. The great tithes of “ corn, grain, blade, and hay," and also the small tithes of "wool, lamb, hemp, flax, and other small and privy tithes," in Stratford, Old Stratford, Welcombe, and Bishopton, had been leased as far back as 1544 for the term of ninety-two years: consequently, in 1605, the lease had thirty-one years yet to run. On the 24th of July, that year, this unexpired term of the lease was bought in by Shakespeare for the sum of £440. In the indenture of conveyance, he is styled "William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, gentleman." A receipt contained in the deed shows that the purchase-money was all paid before the deed was executed. The vendor was Ralph Huband, Esquire, of Ippesley. Both the indenture and the "bond from John Huband to William Shakespeare for the due performance of contract" are printed at length ir. Haiwell's Life.

One more item will dispose of money matters for the present. One Philip Rogers, it seems, had at several times bought malt of Shakespeare, to the amount of £1 15s. 10d