young nobleman then only in his twentieth year, who about this time had commenced to exhibit a special disposition to encourage the rising authors of the metropolis.

Literature, in Shakespeare's time, was nearly the only passport of the lower and middle class to the countenance and friendship of the great. It was no wonder that the poet, in days when interest was all but omnipotent, should have wished to secure the advantages that could hardly fail to be derived from a special association with. an individual in the favoured position, and with the exceptionally generous character, of Lord Southampton. Wealthy, accomplished and romantic,-with a temperament that could listen to a metrical narrative of the follies of Venus without yielding to hysterics,—the young nobleman was presumably the most eligible dedicatee that Shakespeare could have desired for the introduction. of his first poem to the literary world. It is evident, however, that, when he was penning the inscription to Venus and Adonis, whatever presentiment he may have entertained on the subject, he was by no means sure that his lordship would give a friendly reception to, much less so that he would be gratified by, the intended compliment. But all doubts upon these points were speedily removed, and little more than a twelvemonth elapsed before the poet is found warmly attached to Lord Southampton, and eagerly taking the opportunity, in his second address, of tendering his gratitude for favours conferred in the interval.

Although the plague was raging violently in London at the time, and theatrical performances were forbidden, the companies do not appear to have entered upon their rural tours until shortly after the publication of Venus and Adonis. It is very likely, therefore, that

Shakespeare was in town when his manuscript was at the printer's, and not impossible that he glanced over the proof-sheets, besides superintending the general arrangement of the work. While the poet was or may have been thus engaged, it is curious that John Norden, the only really able surveyor of the day, should have chosen this dangerous season for the formation of an elaborate plan of the metropolis. Little could the worthy draughtsman have imagined that the main value of his labours would have consisted in their telling posterity something about the city that was traversed by the youthful poet. Yet so it was to be, and the nature of London, as it existed between the years 1587 and 1616, has become of national interest. There it was, with its dense mass of thicklypeopled houses within the walls, and, outside that limited area, what may perhaps be fitly described as partial suburbs of a like crowded description and scattered fragments of provincial towns. and a half would have taken the great dramatist from his apartment in Southwark right through London to the northern theatres, each termination of this little distance being practically in the country. however, being at this period Shoreditch, it is most likely that Shakespeare was then keeping away as much as possible from that locality, and that he was occupied elsewhere in completing his literary engagements in view of an approaching professional tour. Crossing the river by boat and landing at the Blackfriars Stairs, he would have been within a few minutes' walk of Field's printing-office, near Ludgate, where the types of Venus and Adonis were being set up. That house was close to all the leading publishers of the day, and a reference to Norden's map will show how very circumscribed was

A walk of about a mile

The deadly epidemic, especially virulent in

the space in which his metropolitan business of all kinds must have been transacted,-how small was the world to which his first poem was chiefly addressed. Although this interesting plan, here engraved in fac-simile, is not quite accurate in some of its measurements, there is no doubt of its general fidelity, and that it gives the reader a better idea of Shakespeare's London than could be conveyed by written description. It should be observed that the circular building, there noted as "the play-howse," is the Rose, the theatre in which his earliest dramas were produced. The Theatre and the Curtain stood in the fields to the left of the road which leads upwards from Bishopsgate, but most unfortunately the limits of the plan just suffices for the exclusion of those interesting

structures.

In the winter-season of 1593-4, Shakespeare's earliest tragedy, which was, unfortunately, based on a repulsive tale, was brought out by the Earl of Sussex's actors, who were then performing, after a tour in the provinces, at one of the Surrey theatres. They were either hired by, or playing under some financial arrangement with, Henslowe, who, after the representation of a number of revivals, ventured upon the production of a drama on the story of Titus Andronicus, the only new play introduced during the season. This tragedy, having been successfully produced before a large audience on January the 23rd, 1594, was shortly afterwards entered on the books of the Stationers' Company and published by Danter. was also performed, almost if not quite simultaneously, by the servants of the Earls of Derby and Pembroke. Thus it appears that Shakespeare, up to this period, had written all his dramas for Henslowe, and that they were acted, under the sanction of that manager, by

It