the early age of twelve years, 1596, a circumstance deeply lamented; the daughters were married, and had children. Our Poet's last lineal descendant was Lady Barnard, buried in 1670, at Abingdon, Berkshire. There are some poor relations still living at Tewksbury, and at Stratford. A proposal was recently made in the Monthly Magazine, by an edition of the Poet's works, to alleviate their penury.* Shakspeare," says Dr. Drake, "was now to all appearances settled in the country: he was carrying on his own and his father's business; he was married, and had a family around him; a situation in which the comforts of domestic privacy might be predicted within his reach, but which augured little of that splendid destiny, that universal fame, and unparalleled celebrity, which awaited his future career." Another event of equal certainty is his leaving his native town of Stratford at an early period of life. But the well-known story of his stealing deer, along with others, from the park of Sir Thomas Lucy, which has been usually assigned as a cause of his flight to the metropolis, is now discredited. Nor is the tale of his holding horses at the theatre as a means of subsistence when he first * The Monthly Magazine of December, 1817, contains the particulars of THE PROPOSAL ; and in the number for February, 1818, the admirer of Shakspeare will find several anecdotes gratifying to his curiosity. came to London, generally believed. An acquaintance with a celebrated comedian of the name of Green, may be deemed a more likely ground of his settlement in London. “No æra in the annals of LITERARY HisTORY," says Dr. Drake,"ever perhaps occurred of greater importance than that which witnessed the entrance of SHAKSPEARE into the metropolis of his native country. The office which he first held in the theatre, according to stage tradition, was that of call-boy, or prompter's attendant; but this statement is almost as questionable as the legendary tale of Pope, of his taking charge of horses ! all events, his continuance in that capacity was of very short duration." It is supposed that all his plays were written between the years 1590 and 1613; though Malone, Chalmers, and Drake, have different hypotheses on this subject. The number of his pieces are upward of THIRTY; and there are others not admitted to be genuine. But, however, sufficient proofs are left of the extent and splendour of his genius, which has rendered him the object of idolatry with the British nation. The names of the genuine plays are: Pericles ; Henry the Sixth, in Three Parts; A Midsummer Night's Dream ; Comedy of Errors ; Taming of the Shrew ; Love's Labour's Lost; Two Gentlemen of Verona ; Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet ; King John; Richard the Second ; Richard the Third ; Henry the Fourth, in Two Parts; Merchant of Venice; All's Well that Ends Well; Henry the Fifth; Much Ado about Nothing; As You Like It; Merry Wives of Windsor; Henry the Eighth; Troilus and Cressida; Measure for Measure; the Winter's Tale; King Lear: Cymbeline; Macbeth; Julius Cæsar; Antony and Cleopatra; Timon of Athens; Coriolanus; Othello; The Tempest; and the Twelfth Night. Shakspeare wrote some smaller poems distinct from his plays. Their names are, Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece; the Passionate Pilgrim; and a Collection of SONNETS. For the first, it is said the Earl of Southampton gave the Poet one thousand pounds! And QUEEN ELIZABETH, as well as her successor JAMES, honoured him with flattering attentions. SHAKSPEARE was also an actor for seventeen years, and appears to have sustained a character in several of his own productions, such as Adam in AS YOU LIKE IT, as well as to have ranked among the actors of Ben Jonson's play of Sejanus. He performed many years, but never enjoyed much popularity. The Ghost in HAMLET was his best exhibition, and his directions to the players in HAMLET are the subject of general admiration. "It may indeed be considered," says Dr. Drake, LL as a most fortunate circumstance for the lovers of dramatic poetry, that our Author, in point of execution, did not attain to the loftiest summit of his profession. He would in that case, it is very probable, have either sat down content with the high reputation accruing to him from this source, or would have found little time for the labours of composition; and consequently, we should have been in a great degree, if not altogether, deprived of what now constitutes the noblest efforts of human genius!” About three years previous to his decease, SHAKSPEARE quitted the theatre, and withdrew into retirement. He had acquired a share in the Globe Theatre, and his name occurs in the license granted, 1603, by King James for the exhibition of plays in this house, as well as in any part of the kingdom. The fortune of SHAKSPEARE when he retired, is estimated at two hundred pounds per annum; (the value of money since that time has been quadrupled) and he seems to have passed the scanty remainder of his days in much peace and comfort at Stratford. Rowe tells us, that "his pleasurable wit and good nature, engaged him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood." And Dr. Drake assures us, that “high in reputation as a poet, favoured by the great and accomplished, and beloved by all who knew him," SHAKSPEARE returned to his native Stratford. Here he expired, Tuesday, April 23, 1616, in the fifty-second year of his age. Not even the disease of which he died is mentioned. He was interred two days afterwards in the chancel of the parish church. Here a flat stone, as well as MURAL MONUMENT, are conse: crated to his memory. Upon the flat stone are these singular lines Good frend, for Jesus' sake, forbear And curst be he yt moves my bones ! It is said that "notwithstanding the anathema pronounced by the Bard on any disturbers of his bones, the churchwardens were so negligent a few years ago, as to suffer the sexton, in digging the adjoining grave of Dr. Davenport, to break a large cavity into the tomb of SHAKSPEARE! Mr. told the writer that he was excited by curiosity to push his head and shoulders through the cavity, that he saw the remains of THE BARD, and that he could easily have brought away his skull, but was deterred by the curse which THE Poet invoked on any one who disturbed his remains !" Few indeed are audacious enough to invade the peaceful silence, or to break the hallowed rest of the tomb. An anecdote is usually told of the ready wit of SHAKSPEARE, and the omission of it might be deemed defective in this cursory sketch of his biography. At Stratford there lived a gentleman of the name of Combe, wealthy, but avaricious in the extreme, "In a pleasant conversation amongst their common friends," says Rowe, “Mr. Combe told Shakspeare, in a laughing manner, that he |