103. Entries in Stratford Register (fac-similes) 104. Baliol College in the Sixteenth Century Note on Aubrey's Life of Shakspere ... CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 110. A Play at the Blackfriars CHAPTER I.-A NEW PLAY. ... ...... Note on Shakspere's occupations in 1593. ..... CHAPTER IV.-HOW CHANCES IT THEY TRAVEL. 100. Worcester Cathedral ................................................. 274 349 CHAPTER V.-THE GLOBE. 106. Christchurch in the Sixteenth Century.. 367 373 379 CHAPTER VI.-WIT-COMBATS. 140. John Donne .... 329 364 366 .... ..... CHAPTER IX.-LABOURS AND REWARDS. 161. Hall of the Middle Temple..... 162. Interior of the Temple Church 163. Autograph of William Combe ... 186. William Drummond.. 187. William Alexander, Earl of Stirling.... Note on the Conveyance to Shakspere in 1613 ... ....... 173. The Garden of New Place.. 174. Monument of Sir Thomas Lucy 176. Ancient Hall in the College....... 177. Fac-simile of entry in Parish Register of the Mar- riage of John Hall and Susanna Shakspere Note on the copy of a Letter signed H. S., preserved at Bridgewater House....... 405 146. Earl of Essex...... CHAPTER X.-REST. ..... 194. Chancel of Stratford Church 195. Monument of John Combe.... 196. Leicester's Hospital, Warwick...... 198. Fac-simile of entry in Parish Register of the Mar- riage of Thomas Quiney and Judith Shakspere... 529 477 486 ... 155. Linlithgow 159. Berwick 160. Alnwick Castle.. 167. Tenement at Stratford .... ....... 414 452 453 454 456 459 460 .......... 440 467 468 470 ADVERTISEMENT. THE two mottos which face the title-page express the principle upon which this Biography' has been written. That from Steevens shows, with a slight exaggeration of its author, how scanty are the materials for a Life of Shakspere, properly so called. Indeed, every Life of him must, to a certain extent, be conjectural; and all the Lives that have been written are conjectural. Our 'Biography' is only so far more conjectural than any other, as regards the form which it assumes; by which it has been endeavoured to associate Shakspere with the circumstances around him, in a manner which may fix them in the mind of the reader by exciting his interest. What we have proposed thus to do is shown in the second motto, from Mr. Carlyle's admirable article on Dr. Johnson, we having ventured to substitute the name of "Shakspere" for that of "Johnson." We might have accomplished the same end by writing a short notice of Shakspere, accompanied by a History of Manners and Customs, a History of the Stage, &c., &c. The form we have adopted may appear fanciful, but the narrative essentially rests upon facts. July, 1843. |