SHAKESPEARE’S ENVIRONMENT

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SHAKESPEARE’S ENVIRONMENT

BY MRS. C. C. STOPES DIPL. EDIN. UNIV., HON. F.R.S.L. AUTHOR OF “SHAKESPEARE’S FAMILY,” “SHAKESPEARE’S WARWICKSHIRE CONTEMPORARIES,” “THE BACON SHAKESPEARE QUESTION ANSWERED,” “WILLIAM HUNNIS AND THE REVELS OF THE CHAPEL ROYAL,” “BURBAGE AND SHAKESPEARE’S STAGE,” “BRITISH FREEWOMAN,” ETC., EDITOR OF SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS, ETC.

LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. 1914

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CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

ERRATA

P. viii, line 6, for “of” read “to.”

P. 206, lines 21 and 22, for “Royal Academy” read “National Gallery.”

P. 332, line 3, for “White Tanners” read “white tawers.”

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PREFACE

In this volume I have collected a few of my old papers which all contained something new at the date at which they appeared. They are all more or less connected with Shakespeare, and bear at least on my studies to try to understand the influences which affected his immediate predecessors and teachers, those which helped to mould his own thought and character, and those which showed something of his influence on his contemporaries and immediate successors. My period therefore extended from the accession of Henry VIII in 1509, to the national crisis in 1640. Little as each item of itself may seem to tell, every one helps to fill in, as with a touch of the brush, the colours in the background, which throw out more clearly the outlines of the central figure. For Shakespeare knew all about the training of the boys at school, all about the legal troubles of his relatives and friends and partners, he knew the contemporary history and literature of his time, and above all, its character. If perhaps I have made too prominent the story of his monument in Stratford, of which he could not

know, it was to draw attention to the contemporary[Pg vi] estimate of himself and his genius as recorded on that tomb; and to collect every scrap I could find to throw light on its subsequent history, the last touch of which was provided me by the kindness of Mr. Dugdale of Merivale.

I included the Introductory Chapter, which had never been printed, in remembrance of a special occasion, fully to be understood only by the members of the Shakespeare Societies. On a day of storm, snow, and sleet, in Stratford-on-Avon, the 23rd of April 1908, I had thought it my duty to travel to London to be present at the Commemoration Dinner at which Dr. F. J. Furnivall was to preside, and the guests of honour were to be Mr. Austin, then Poet Laureate, and Sir John Hare. They were each to deliver an address. When I was comfortably seated at dinner, Dr. Furnivall sent Mr. Hunt, then Hon. Secretary, to say that Sir John Hare had brought a written address which he now thought unsuitable to deliver on the occasion, and our President asked me to oblige him by filling the gap, as well as I could. Mr. Austin read an interesting paper on “What we can learn of Shakespeare from his plays.” I could only speak from my own heart, which was very full of Shakespeare that day. Mr. Austin came up to me afterwards and said: “If it is anything to you to know it, I would like to tell

you that I agreed with every word you said.” Our[Pg vii] dear old President was pleased that the possible hitch had been averted, and as my remarks had been taken down, he wished them preserved. So, though there is nothing new in it, I thought I might at the same time preserve a memory of that special day, and secure a good general introduction to the results of my work.

I thought that it was wiser to print these papers as they first appeared, with very trifling occasional alterations in construction, for the sake of clearness. What I have learned since on the subjects, I have put in the postscripts.

I had not calculated sufficiently for the expansion of magazine type when it takes book form, and I have had to withdraw a good many papers which I had hoped might have appeared. Therefore the links of connection between some of the later papers have occasionally had to be broken, and I have had to postpone republishing my special literary and critical Shakespearean articles, and to choose a title which fairly covers the bulk of those now produced.

My articles were formerly printed in circumstances which prevented my giving due thanks to many helpful friends. I cannot even now give expression to all the gratitude I felt and feel to many, but I must acknowledge some of it. A large share is due for their helpful kindness, especially to the officials of the Public Record Office, of the British[Pg viii] Museum, of the Bodleian Library; to Dr. Reginald Sharpe, Keeper of the Guildhall Records; to Mr. Richard Savage and Mr. Wellstood, curators of the Records at Stratford-on-Avon; to the late Mr. Kingdon, formerly master of the Grocers’ Company; to the Haberdashers’ Company; to Dr. Kitto and his son for giving me access to the general papers of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; to the Clergy and Churchwardens of St. Margaret’s, Westminster; and to Mr. Smith who did so much for research students there. I must also thank many clergymen for allowing me to see their registers, and Capt. C. W. Cottrell Dormer for admission to his private manuscripts. I owe much gratitude to Mr. Joseph Gray for photographing and enlarging Dugdale’s

engraving of Shakespeare’s tomb, and latest, not least, I must acknowledge the kindness of Mr. W. F. S. Dugdale of Merivale, in allowing me to see the sketch-book of his illustrious ancestor, which contains the drawings which he made from Warwickshire Tombs.

I have to thank, in another respect, for having given me permission to republish the articles previously inserted in their journals, the Editors of the “Fortnightly Review,” the “Field,” the “Yorkshire Post,” the “Stratford-upon-Avon Herald,” the “Pall Mall Gazette,” and the Editors of the German “Jahr Buch” and “Archiv.” I have also to thank[Pg ix] Mr. Murray the proprietor of the “Monthly Review,” Mr. Sinnet the proprietor of “Broad Views,” and especially Mr. J. E. Francis the proprietor of the “Athenæum,” from which review the greatest number of my papers have been borrowed. I have further to thank the Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature, for permission to reprint two of my Lectures from their Proceedings. And I thank cordially all those kind friends who encouraged me to work, and to write, and to publish, though that was long before any of us knew what terrors this fair month would bring. In Shakespeare’s environment, there was also the crisis of his century, and from his own experience he could write the brave

words that give us hope, “If England to herself will but be true.”

Charlotte Carmichael Stopes. Hampstead, August 1914.

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IINTRODUCTORYTHE FORTUNES OF SHAKESPEARE

IN REMEMBRANCE OF 23RD APRIL 1564-1616

It is so much the fashion to write and speak of Shakespeare’s misfortunes, his disabilities, disadvantages, and lack of preparedness for becoming great, that perhaps I may best fit my opportunity by touching upon what I believe to be his good fortunes. It is all very true to say, that “poets are born, not made,” but there is a converse possibility, too finely expressed in Gray’s elegy to need repeating. Shakespeare might have been born a poet, and he might have been drowned in the Avon, as his contemporary of the same name was drowned in 1575; or he might have been carried by compelling currents of his life, away from the fruition of the high possibilities of his genius, instead of directly towards them. The whole truth is, that great poets are both born and made, and it is worth pausing to dwell on some of the steps in the making of this “Maker.” In no life is it more clear than in his that

Shakespeare was fortunate in the place of his birth. Warwickshire was in the very heart of England. The[Pg 2] whole shire was haunted by legends and stories of a romantic past from the time when it was the Mercia of the Saxons down to the desolating Wars of the Roses. His birthplace was but seven miles from the castled city of Warwick, glorified by traditions of Cymbeline, Guiderius, Ethelfleda, Phillis, and Guy, one of the seven champions of Christendom. Stratford was not far from the tragic Vale of Evesham, from the holiday making of the Cotswolds, and it lay amid gently swelling hills and dales, the richly cultivated Feldon to east and south, the stretches of woodland to north and west, sufficient to satisfy an artist, a dreamer, or a poet. It was of much more relative importance in the sixteenth century than it is to-day. It stood at the crossing of the two great thoroughfares of the whole country, its Avon was another highway, for water transit was much more used in olden days than now. The river was spanned at Stratford by a noble bridge, safe even in

floods (thanks to Sir Hugh Clopton); it had important markets, a prosperous trade in wool, manufactures of cloth and leather and other things, and was rich in agricultural commodities. It was a spirited and independent little town, and many important families lived in its neighbourhood. The house in Henley Street in which the poet was born (three houses combined), made a roomy and comfortable home for his youth.

He was fortunate in the date of his birth, on or about 23rd April, 1564. I say on or about, as it might have been a day or two earlier or later. He was baptized on the 26th, and it was then usual enough to baptize infants on the third day after birth. Tradition has always given us the 23rd as the birthday, St. George’s day. In those days, before the reformation of the Calendar, the 23rd of April fell later in the season than it does to-day. There were twelve more days of sunshine to open the May blossoms, and to encourage the nightingales to sing in welcome of another[Pg 3] sweet singer. The poet always loved the spring; he was a May-blossom himself.

He was fortunate also in the period in which he arrived. England’s heart was heaving. Great spiritual movements had stirred men’s souls to their depths, and given them inspiration to think for themselves amid diverse creeds; the literary renaissance had brought their intellects in touch with the great minds of other times, and diverse countries; learning had become a hunger as well as a fashion; students translated, imitated, emulated the philosophers and poets of Greece, Italy, and France. England was in the high tide of fervour through its emancipation from the Pope’s authority, its new sense of independence, its command of the sea, and its ever-widening geographical horizons; the romance of a maiden Queen, fortunate since her accession, made a new development in the spirit of patriotism. Poets born in the previous reigns shed their glories on Elizabeth’s. The very atmosphere was charged with negative poetical electricity, which only waited for a positive stimulus to flash forth in light.

He was fortunate in his parents. We know only too little of them, but we do know something. John Shakespeare had sprung from an honest yeoman family, which evidently had seen better days. It had contributed a Prioress and a Sub-Prioress to the venerated Priory of Wroxall, and it had its family legends concerning royal service and royal grants, not necessarily unfounded, but frustrated somehow, perhaps by an Empson or a Dudley. There is a possibility that he had had a Welsh mother, and inherited blue blood from a Cymric past. He evidently had some special charm in person, manner, or wit, because all his life he seems to have been popular among his fellows, and he managed to win the heart and the hand of the youngest daughter of a “gentleman of worship” in the neighbourhood, who was the ground landlord of his father’s farm in Snitterfield. The[Pg 4] only definite notice we have of him is “that he was a merry-cheeked old man who said ‘Will was a good honest fellow; but he darest have crakt a jesst with him at any time’”

(Dr. Andrew Clark, from the Plume MS. at Maldon). John had risen through all the grades of honour in the town, had shown his predilection for the drama by his payments to players, a predilection not shared by the majority of his townsmen, and we may take it he could tell a story and be good company. The mothers of men are more important to their youth than their fathers are. Mary Arden had descended from the Ardens of Park Hall, a storied Saxon line, counting amidst its ancestors no less a hero than King Alfred. She evidently had the Saxon virtues, was prudent and capable, or her father would not have left her executrix at his death. She is said to have been beautiful; we may believe it, if we realize the verbal descriptions, not the painted portraits of her son. A strong woman, whom we see reflected in the poet’s noble women’s characters, and yet romantic enough to marry where she loved, though doubtless many men of better position and of greater wealth in the country, would have been glad enough of such a well-dowered gentle bride.

Hers was evidently a happy marriage, and she ensured her son the benefits of a happy home.

He was fortunate in his school. Stratford had once had a College of Priests with its Collegiate Church, an honourable Guild of the Holy Cross, and a notable grammar school; but all had vanished before the exterminating Henry. John Shakespeare and many of his contemporaries had suffered through the suppression, and had grown up weak in English, lacking in Latin, and unable to write, for their sovereign’s sins. But the school had been restored by King Edward VI, and was in good working order by the time John’s eldest son was ready for it. The post of the master of the Stratford Grammar School was one of the plums of the profession, as he had twice the salary of the[Pg 5] Master of Eton. We are sure from the Chamberlain’s accounts, that the best men to be had, graduates in a university, were selected by the town councillors. The grammar school was free to all the sons of burgesses, so that no consideration of expense could have kept back William Shakespeare from its advantages, even at the time of his father’s difficulties. He would meet there not only the boys

of the town about his own age, but the sons of the neighbouring gentry. We know from several sources the books then in use for each form of a grammar school, and we may reckon what training would be offered young Shakespeare in classic literature to form his English style. A little better than the average, we should presume it to have been. Becon, some years before, had proclaimed Warwickshire to be the most intellectual of the English Counties, and there is some witness to show it still could hold its own.

He was fortunate in his seeming misfortunes. It was all very well to be born in the little town, with its sweet country surroundings, but Shakespeare would never have been the world-poet had he spent his life in Stratford. The place was not big enough for his expansion. But the cloth manufacturers of Stratford suffered heavily from the importation of foreign manufactured goods, and the great farmers and engrossers did what they could to kill its trade in wool. John Shakespeare lost heavily, he sold Snitterfield, probably meant as the portion of his younger children, he mortgaged and lost Asbies, destined by him as the inheritance and future living of his eldest son. And young Shakespeare was thus saved from being a little country farmer, and forced to go to seek his fortunes in London, where he developed into what was in him to be. In London was literary culture from books and men. In London also he was faced with difficulties. He had hoped for so many things; nothing happened to him which he expected or[Pg 6] desired; no door was opened to him except that of the

stage. Though he pitifully cries:

yet that led him to the very line of life in which he was best fitted to excel, through which he became what he was.

He was fortunate even in his marriage. I know that an opposite view is generally accepted, but I do not believe it. The only reason suggested is that Anne Hathaway was seven years older than himself. Did any one ever meet a bold, masterful, well-grown lad of eighteen whose first love was not a woman older than himself? Many happy marriages have been made with this difference of age, and I do not think Shakespeare’s an exception. I believe she was a timid, delicate, fair-haired girl, type of the submissive wives he paints. There is reason to believe that he took his family with him to London as soon as he found a home. When fortune came he bought them the best house in Stratford, and came to dwell beside them, as soon as he could give up the acting part of his work. There he died among them, away from the world of business, envy, and of strife. There is nothing to warrant the blot on his good name and that of his wife so much insisted on by those who have not studied the question. Mr. J. S. Gray, in “Shakespeare’s Marriage,” is the only writer who has put

it straight, and he speaks with authority.

There is nothing derogatory in the legacy of the second-best bed; it was evidently her own last request. She was sure of her widow’s third; she was sure of her daughters’ love and care, but she wanted the bed she had been accustomed to, before the grandeur at New Place came to her.

He was fortunate in the family she brought him, though unfortunately, his only son was a twin, apparently delicate[Pg 7] like his mother, and he died young. For his sake Shakespeare called all boys sweet. His daughters lived a longer life, the elder is recorded as “witty above her sex,” because she was like her father, a devoted daughter, a loving wife, a public benefactor. She brought him for his son-in-law the physician Dr. John Hall, great not only in his own county, who first used anti-scorbutics. He must have been a congenial companion to his father-in-law. Then the little granddaughter came, who must have been his joy.

He was fortunate in his friends. London was then but a little city, after all; it could easily be crossed and compassed on foot; its inhabitants did not reach the sum total of 300,000. On arrival he would study London and Westminster, twin-cities, so great and so story-laden, the clear shining Thames, its haunted Bridge, its Tower, its Churches, and the Northern and Southern heights, where he could revel in Nature, as he did at home. He may have gone to London with high hopes, and many introductions. We do not know of those who mocked him, of those who gave him no direct help. We do not know what he aimed at, but we know he failed. Perhaps he hoped to be made a Yeoman of the Privy Chamber, like Roger Shakespeare and Robert Arden, a Royal Messenger like Thomas Shakespeare, a Royal Letter Carrier, like Edmund Spenser. Possibly he meant to volunteer his help against the Spaniard, but they did without him. Possibly his ambitions sank to a share in the grocery business of Sadler and Quiney at Bucklersbury. Long waiting at the doors of negligent