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Transcriber's Note.

A list of the changes made can be found at the end of the book.
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                          WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

                     _PLAYER, POET, AND PLAYMAKER_




[Illustration]




[Illustration: W. Heydemann, Sc.

EDWARD ALLEYN.]




                          A CHRONICLE HISTORY

                                 OF THE

                             LIFE AND WORK

                                   OF

                          WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

                     _PLAYER, POET, AND PLAYMAKER_


                                   BY

                          FREDERICK GARD FLEAY


                     With Two Etched Illustrations.


                                 LONDON
                             JOHN C. NIMMO
                 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C.
                                  1886

                        [_All rights reserved_]




                              Dedication.


                                   TO

                      THE SHAKESPEARE OF OUR DAYS,

                           _ROBERT BROWNING_,

                          A PERMITTED TRIBUTE

                                  FROM

                       HIS EVER-DEVOTED LIEGEMAN,

                         FREDERICK GARD FLEAY.


    To him, whose craft, so subtly terse,
       (While lesser minds, for music's sake,
       From single thoughts whole cantos make),
    Includes a poem in a verse;--

    To him, whose penetrative art,
       With spheric knowledge only his,
       Dissects by keen analysis
    The wiliest secrets of the heart;--

    To him, who rounds us perfect wholes,
       Where wisdom, wit, and love combine;
       Chief praise be this:--he wrote no line
    That could cause pain in childlike souls.




CONTENTS.


                                                                   PAGE
  INTRODUCTION                                                       1

  SECTION I.
  THE PUBLIC CAREER OF SHAKESPEARE                                   7

  SECTION II.
  THE PERSONAL CONNECTIONS OF SHAKESPEARE WITH OTHER POETS           73

  SECTION III.
  ANNALS ON WHICH THE PRECEDING SECTIONS ARE FOUNDED                 83

  SECTION IV.
  THE CHRONOLOGICAL SUCCESSION OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS                175

  SECTION V.
  ON THE MARLOWE GROUP OF PLAYS                                      255

  SECTION VI.
  ON THE PLAYS BY OTHER AUTHORS ACTED BY SHAKESPEARE'S COMPANY       284

  SECTION VII.
  EARLY ENGLISH PLAYS IN GERMANY                                     307

  APPENDIX                                                           319
  TABLES                                                             324
  I. QUARTO EDITIONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS                          324
  II. QUARTO EDITIONS OF OTHER PLAYS PERFORMED BY SHAKESPEARE'S COMPANY
                                                                     326
  III. NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES AT COURT, 1584-1616                    327
  IV. ENTRIES OF PLAYS IN THE STATIONERS' REGISTERS, 1584-1640       328
  V. TRANSFERS OF COPYRIGHT IN PLAYS, 1584-1640                      350
  SUPPLEMENTARY TABLE OF MOSELEY'S ENTRIES IN 1653 AND 1660, AND
  WARBURTON'S LIST                                                   358
  INDEX                                                              361
  NOTE ON ETCHINGS                                                   364




[Illustration: W. Heydemann, Sc.

SHAKESPEARE'S FONT.]




                             INTRODUCTION.


IT is due to the reader of a new work on a subject already so often
handled as the Life of Shakespeare to tell him at the outset what he
may expect to find therein, and to state the reasons for which I have
thought it worth while to devote nearly ten years to its production.
Previous investigators have with industrious minuteness already
ascertained for us every detail that can reasonably be expected of
Shakespeare's private life. With laborious research they have raked
together the records of petty debts, of parish assessments, of
scandalous traditions, of idle gossip; and they have shown beyond
doubt that Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon, was married, had
three children, left his home, made money as an actor and play-maker
in London, returned to his native town, invested his savings there,
and died. I do not think that when stript of verbiage, and what the
slang of the day calls padding, much more than this can be claimed
as the result of the voluminous writings on this side of his career.
For one I am thankful that things are so; I have little sympathy with
the modern inquisitiveness that peeps over the garden wall to see in
what array the great man smokes his pipe, and chronicles the shape and
colour of his head-covering. But on the public side of Shakespeare's
career little has been adequately ascertained; and with this we are
deeply concerned. Not for a mere personal interest, but in its bearings
on the history of English literature, we ought to ascertain so far as
is possible what companies of actors Shakespeare belonged to, at what
theatres they acted, in