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nott be backe thys night ffrom the Cowrte. haste the Lorde be w'h yo" & w'h us all amen /

ffrom the Bell in Carter Lane the 25 October 1598 /.

(Addressed)

L.S.

yowrs in all kyndenes

RYC. QUYNEY.

To my Loveinge good ffrend
& contreymann m" wm
Shackespere dlr thees /.

44 1598. November 4. Extract from letter of Abraham Sturley to Richard Quiney. (Stratford Records.)

All health happines of suites and wellfare be multiplied vnto v and vr labours in God o' ffather bj Cĩ o' L. Vr ler of the 25 of Octobr came to mj handes the laste of the same att night p Grenwaj we imported a staj of suites bj Sr Ed. Gr. advise vntill &c., and yt onlj v should followe on for tax and sub. presentli, and allso vr travell and hinderance of answere therein bi ur longe travell and thaffaires of the Courte ; and that o' countrimã m" Wm. Shak. would pcure vs monej: w I will like of as I shall heare when and wheare and howe: and I praj let not go that occasion if it mai sorte to anj indifferent condicions &c. &c. v's in all love in the best bond.

ABRAHA STURLEJ

45 1598. Extract from Francis Meres' "Palladis Tamia."

As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweete wittie soule of Ovid lives in

mellifluous and hony-tongued Shakespeare; witnes his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends &c. As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for comedy and Tragedy among the Latines, so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage; for comedy, witnes his Getleme of Verona, his Errors, his Love Labors Lost, his Love Labours Wonne, his Midsummers Night Dreame, and his Merchant of Venice; for tragedy, his Richard the 2., Richard the 3., Henry the 4., King John, Titus Andronicus, and his Romeo and Juliet.

As Epius Stolo said that the Muses would speake with Plautus tongue, if they would speak Latin, so I say that the Muses would speak with Shakespeares fine filed phrase, if they would speake English. And as Horace saith of his; Exegi monumentü ære perennius, Regaliq: situ pyramidum altius.

Quod non imber edax: Non Aquilo impotens possit diruere: aut innumerabilis annorum series et fuga temporum: so say I severally of Sir Philip Sidneys Spencers Daniels Draytons Shakespeares and Warners workes.

46 1598. Extract from Barnfield's "Encomium of Lady Pecunia," 1598, the same lines occurring in the second edition of that work, 1605. In both editions the following verses conclude "A Remembrance of some English Poets":

And Shakespeare thou, whose hony-flowing Vaine, (Pleasing the world) thy Praises doth obtaine;

Whose Venus, and whose Lucrece (sweete and chaste)
Thy Name in fames immortall Booke have plac't-
Live ever you, at least in Fame live ever;

Well may the Bodye dye, but Fame dies never.

47 1598. Title-page of Ben Jonson's "Every Man in his Humour."

EVERY ONE IN HIS UMOR. This Comedie was first Acted in the yeere 1598 by the then L. Chamberleyne his servants. The principal Comedians were Will. Shakespeare, Avg. Philips, Hen. Condel, Will. Slye, Will. Kempe, Ric. Burbadge, Joh. Hemings, Tho. Pope, Chr. Beeston, Joh. Dyke. With the allowance of the Master of Reuells.

48 1598. Title-page of "Lucrece."

LUCRECE. At London, Printed by P. S. for John
Harrison. 1598. [18mo.]

49 1598. Title-page of " King Richard II."

THE TRAGEDdie of King RICHARD THE SECOND As it hath beene publikely acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his servants. By William Shake-speare. London Printed by Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules churchyard at the signe of the Angel. 1598. [4to.]

50 1598. Title-page of "King Richard III."

THE TRAGEDIE OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD. Conteining his treacherous Plots against his brother Clarence: the pitiful murther of his innocent Nephewes:

his tyrannicall usurpation: with the whole course of his detested life, and most deserved death. As it hath beene lately Acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his servants. By William Shake-speare. London Printed by Thomas Creede, for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Angell. 1598. [4to.]

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51 1598. Title-page of " Henry IV., Part I.”

THE HISTORY OF HENRIE THE FOURTH: With the battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henrie Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir John Falstalffe. At London, Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1598. [4to.]

52 1598. Title-page of "Love's Labour's Lost." A Pleasant Conceited Comedie called, LOVES LABORS LOST. As it was presented before her Highnes this last Christmas. Newly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespere. Imprinted at London by W. W. for Cutbert Burby. 1598. [4to.]

53 1598-9. February 4. A Return of the Quantities of Corn and Malt held by the inhabitants of the Ward in which New Place was situated. (Stratford Corporation Records, Miscellaneous Documents, vol. ii. No. 106.)

Stratforde Burrowghe, Warrwicke. The noate of corne and malte Taken the iiij.th of Februarij 1597 in

the xl.th yeare of the raigne of our moste gracious Soveraigne Ladie Queen Elizabethe, &c. Chapple Street Warde. Frauncys Smythe Jun., iij. quartersJhon Coxe, v. quarters. Mr Thomas Dyxon, xvij. quarters. Mr Thomas Barber, iij. quarters. Mychaell Hare, v. quarters. Mr Bifielde, vj. quarters. Hughe Aynger, vj. quarters. Thomas Badsey, vj. quarters, bareley j. quarter. Jhon Rogers, x. str. Wm. Emmettes, viij. quarters. Mr. Aspinall, aboutes xj. quarters. Wm. Shackespere, x. quarters. Julij Shawe, vij. quarters.

54 1599. Extract from John Weever's "Epigrammes in the oldest cut and newest fashion." 8vo. Lond., 1599. “Ad Gulielmum Shakespeare.” The fourth weeke. Epig. 22. (Malone, M. 904.)

Honie-tong'd Shakespeare when I saw thine issue
I swore Apollo got them and none other,
Their rosie-tainted features cloth'd in tissue,
Some heauen born goddesse said to be their mother;
Rose-checkt [sic] Adonis with his amber tresses,
Faire fire-hot Venus charming him to loue her,
Chaste Lucretia virgine-like her dresses,

Prowd lust stung Tarquine seeking still to proue her:
Romeo, Richard; more whose names I know not;
Their sugred tongues, and power attractive beuty,
Say they are Saints, althogh that Sts they shew not
For thousands vowes to them subjectiue dutie;
They burn in love thy childrẽ, Shakespear let the;
Go, wo thy Muse more Nymphish brood beget them.

D

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