SHAKESPEARE 815 beene my fault, because myselfe have seene his demeanor nor lesse civill than he exclent in the qualitie he professes; besides divers of worship have reported his uprightnes of deal- ing which argues his honesty, and his facetious grace in writting that approves his art." Thus we find Shakespeare at the age of 28, only be- tween six and seven years after his departure from Stratford, in possession of the regard of his equals, the respect of his superiors, the admiration of the public, and the consequent jealous hate of his inferiors. From this time to the end of his career in London our knowl- edge of his life is confined almost exclusively to the production of his plays and poems ; and the date at which these were written has in most cases to be inferred or conjectured. Before this time, in addition to his share in the old plays already named, and perhaps some others which are lost, including an older form of " The First Part of King Henry VI.," he had quite surely written " Titus Andronicus," "Love's Labor's Lost," "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," "The Comedy of Errors," and perhaps a part of an early and unpublished form of " Romeo and Juliet," and a part of " A Midsummer Night's Dream." In 1593 ap- peared his first published poem, " Venus and Adonis," in which the glow of youthful ardor is chilled, but not extinguished, by the cold and elaborate style in which, in imitation of the poets most in vogue at that time, he, going thus the way of all young authors, studiously wrote. This poem is filled with evidences of an intimate knowledge and genuine love of na- ture, and, apart from the attractiveness of its subject, it is not surprising that five editions of it were called for within nine years. It was dedicated to the earl of Southampton, who loved literature and the drama, and encouraged men of letters and even players. It is said that the poet received from him 1,000 as a free gift. As this sum at that time was equal to about $30,000 in America to-day, the amount has probably been much exaggerated, possibly by the addition of a cipher. Rowe, who first told this story, says that Southampton gave the money that Shakespeare " might go through with a purchase which he heard he had a mind to;" and it has been reasonably conjectured that this purchase was an interest in the com- pany to which Shakespeare attached himself soon after his arrival in London, and in which he became a principal owner. Mr. John Payne Collier produced in 1835, as one of several of a similar nature which he had discovered among the manuscripts of the earl of Ellesmere at Bridgewater house, a certificate dated " Nov'r 18, 1589," in which Shakespeare's name ap- pears as the 12th in a list of 16 " sharers in the Blacke Fryers play-house." This document has been pronounced spurious by some of the most eminent and respectable palseographists and English scholars in England. If it is genuine, and Shakespeare was indebted to his noble patron for any share in the company, the 736 VOL. xiv. 52 dedication was an acknowledgment of the gift, and not the contrary. In any case we may be sure that the poem was written some years be- fore it was printed. In the dedication Shake- speare calls it " the first heir of his invention," and promises his patron to take advantage of all idle hours until he has honored him with some graver labor. In 1594 Shakespeare published " Lucrece," which he also dedicated to South- ampton, saying : " The love I dedicate to your lordship is without end. . . . What I have done is yours ; what I have to do is yours ; being in part all I have devoted yours." Be- tween 1592 and 1596 he probably wrote, and In this order, " Richard III.," " All's Well that Ends Well " (which seems to have been first called "Love's Labor's Won"), "A Midsum- mer Night's Dream" in its latest form, "King Richard II.," and "The Merchant of Venice." With the two last named plays begin the indi- cations of that mental development of their author which has been called " the middle pe- riod" of his genius. "King John," the re- written " Romeo and Juliet," " The First and Second Parts of King Henry IV.," "The Merry Wives of Windsor," "As You Like It," "Much Ado about Nothing," "King Henry V.," " Twelfth Night," and " Hamlet " (found- ed probably upon an older play) seem to have succeeded each other rapidly from 1596 to 1600 inclusive. "The Second Part of King Henry IV." is perhaps the most complete ex- isting presentation of his many-sided genius. It is surpassed in some one respect by several of the comedies and tragedies ; but in no other single play does the supremacy of his powers as poet, dramatist, philosopher, wit, and hu- morist so manifestly appear. In this history the character of Falstaff attains its highest development. The great tragedies were the fruit of the first decade of the 17th century. As several of them were not printed until the publication of their author's collected works after his death, the order of their production is not easily determinable. They, with two com- edies, were probably produced in the following order: "Troilus and Cressida," "The Taming of the Shrew," " Measure for Measure," " Othel- lo," "King Lear," "Macbeth," "Julius Cae- sar," " Antony and Cleopatra," " Coriolanus ;" but the last named tragedy was not improba- bly written after 1610. "King Lear," the grandest exhibition of its author's genius, may be safely attributed to the year 1605, when Shakespeare was 40 years old. Between 1610 and 1613 "Cymbeline," "Timon of Athens," "The Winter's Tale," "The Tempest," and "King Henry VIII." were produced; and about the latter year Shakespeare ceased to write. It is remarkable that among his very latest productions were two plays, in one of which, " The Tempest," he preserves the uni- ties of time and place with classic tenacity, while in the other, " The Winter's Tale," he sets them at naught with a recklessness which has no parallel even in his pages. " Pericles,"
