The latter monarch was present at the representation of many of his pieces, and is stated by Lintot to have written an amicable letter to Mr. Shakspeare,' in return, as Dr. Farmer supposes, for the compliment paid to him in Macbeth, where allusion is made to the kingdoms of England and Scotland being united under one sovereign, and to James's pretensions of curing the malady of the king's evil by his royal touch. This letter is said to have remained long in the possession of Sir W. Davenant, who was by some persons thought to be an illegitimate son of our author, if the following traditionary anecdote be worthy of credit :

That Shakspeare was accustomed to pay an annual visit to his native place has been already noticed; and we learn from Antony Wood, that in performing these journeys, he used to bait at the Crown Inn at Oxford, which was then kept by J. Davenant, the father of the poet. Antony represents Mrs. Davenant as both beautiful and accomplished, and her husband as a lover of plays, and a great admirer of Shakspeare. The frequent visits of the bard, and the charms of his landlady, appear to have given birth to some scandalous surmises; for Oldys, repeating Wood's story, adds, on the authority of Betterton and Pope, that their son, young Will Davenant, afterwards Sir William, was then a little school-boy in the town, of about seven or eight years old, and so fond also of Shakspeare, that

whenever he heard of his arrival, he would fly from school to see him. One day, an old townsman, observing the boy running homeward almost out of breath, asked him whither he was posting in that heat and hurry. He answered, to see his god-father Shakspeare. There's a good boy,' said the other;

but have a care that you don't take God's name in rain.' It has been also said that Sir William had the weakness to feel gratified by the publicity of this supposition.

In the year 1596 Shakspeare's feelings as a father were put to a severe trial, by the loss of his only son, Hamnet, who died in August, at the age of twelve.

Shakspeare was now residing, it would appear from evidence referred to by Mr. Malone, near the Bear Garden in Southwark; and in the following year, 1597, he purchased of Wm. Underhill, Esq. one of the best houses in his native town of Stratford, which, having repaired and improved, he denominated New Place. Whether this was the purchase, in which he is said to have been so materially assisted by Lord Southampton, cannot positively be affirmed; but as he had not long emerged from his difficulties, it is highly probable that, on this, as well as on subsequent occasions, he was indebted to the Lounty of his patron.1 It must be gratifying to

'A late neviewer has observed, in estimating the genius of Byron and Shakspeare, that the former could never claim

every reader to reflect, that one, to whom mankind has been so largely indebted for the pleasure and instruction which his writings have afforded, was not, while he was administering to the delight of others, himself laboring under the pressure of poverty; and we are rejoiced to find him, at the close of life, leaving his family in a state of comparative affluence.

The commencement of the intimacy between our author and Ben Jonson has been commonly assigned to the year 1598. We are informed by Mr. Rowe, that his friendship began with a remarkable piece of humanity and good nature. Mr. Jonson, who was at that time altogether unknown to the world,

equal talent with the latter in his delineations of high life; since Shakspeare never had the advantage of mixing in such society, while Byron was bred and educated in the midst of it. The same opinion has indeed been generally adopted, and some Commentators have even considered that Soakspeare always lived in a state of comparative obscurity. Such however cannot be the fact; for with the acknowleged patronage of such men as Lords Southampton, Pembroke, and Montgomery, it cannot well be doubted that he was introduced to the society and intercourse of great as well as good men. Is it not a little surprising that Lord Byron should have disparaged the genius of Shakspeare, whca every great poet and philosopher has so universally and unequivocally admired and extolled? The excessive praise bestowed by Byron on Pope suggests many reflections, whic more properly belong to his own biography; though perhaps euch extreme approbation may have had some reference to his own occasional controversies relative to that poet.

had offered one of his plays to the players to have it acted; and the persons into whose hands it was put, after having turned it carelessly and superciliously over, were just on the point of returning it to him with an ill-natured answer, that it would be of no service to the company, when Shakspeare luckily cast his eye on it, and found something so well in it, as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Jonson and his writings to the public.'

That this kind office was in perfect unison with the general character of Shakspeare will readily be admitted; yet there is much reason to conclude that the whole account is without foundation. Both Mr. Malone and Dr. Drake concur in disbelieving the story; and that Jonson was altogether un known to the world,' remarks Mr. Gifford, is a palpable untruth. At this period, 1598, Jonson was as well known as Shakspeare, and perhaps better. He was poor indeed, and very poor, and a mere retainer of the theatres; but he was intimately acquainted with Henslowe and Alleyn, and with all the performers at their houses: he was familiar with Drayton, Chapman, Rowley, Middleton, and Fletcher; he had been writing for three years, in conjunction with Marston, Decker, Chettle, Porter, Bird, and with most of the poets of the day; he was celebrated by Meres as one of the principal

writers of tragedy; and he had long been rising in reputation as a scholar and poet among the most distinguished characters of the age. At this moment he was employed on Every Man out of his Humor,' which was acted in 1599; and, in the elegant dedication of that comedy to the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, he says, 'When I wrote this poem, I had friendship with divers of your societies, who as they were great names in learning, so were they no less examples of living. Of them, and then, that I say no more, it was not despised.' And yet Jonson was, at this time, altogether unknown to the world!' and offered a virgin comedy, which had already been three years on the stage, to a player, in the humble hope that it might be accepted!'

Neither are the charges of enmity, which have been so often preferred against Jonson by Rowe and others, better deserving of credit. Mr. Gifford, after successfully overthrowing the long prevalent stories of the hostility which is said to have subsisted between these two great men, thus remarks: It is my fixed persuasion, not lightly adopted, but deduced from a wide examination of the subject, that Jonson and Shakspeare were friends and associates till the latter finally retired;-that no feud, no jealousy ever disturbed their connexion;—that Shakspeare was pleased with Jonson, and that Jonsc loved and admired Shakspeare.'