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Article WILLIAM SHAKSPERE. ← Page 2 of 17 →
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William Shakspere.
destroy the Avorks of its chief ornament . So pcrseveringiy Avas this object followed out , that the feAV copies Avhich have been snatched from destruction were saved almost by miracle . Not content Avith this crusade against his Avorks , the most malicious falsehoods Avere invented to the prejudice of his fair fame . When the Avaves of this turbulent period began to subside
, and men turned their attention towards those great authors who had laid the foundations of our national literature , under Elizabeth and her successor , au eager desire for information respecting them Avas manifested . In the place , hoAvever , of authenticated history of their lives and characters , gossip and tittle-tattle AA'ere received as a substitute . Every scrap of idle
report , no matter IIOAV absurd it . might be , Avas gathered in and preserved . John Aubrey , of inquisitive memory , collected Avhat lie could glean in this respect of many illustrious men , leaA'ing his stores in manuscript , to this clay preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford . These piecemeal biographies , together Avith some letters Avritten by eminent persons in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries , Avere published iu 1813 , and from the second part of the second A'olume of this work we exti-act the folloAAing notice of the poet : —
" Mr . William Shakespear was borne at Stratford-upon-Avon , in the county of Warwick : his father was a butcher , and I have been told heretofore by some of tho neighbours , that when he was a boy he exercised his father's trade , but Avhen he killed a calfe he would doe it in a high style , and make a speech . There was at that time another butcher ' s son in this towne that was held not at all inferior to him for a natural ! witt , his acquaintance and coetanean , but dyed young . This Wm . being inclined naturallto poetry and actingcame to LondonI about eihteen
y , , guesse , g , and was an actor at one of the play-houses , and did act exceedingly well . ITow B . Jonson Avas never a good actor , but an excellent instructor . He began early to make essayes at dramatique poetry , which at that time was very lowe , and his playes tooke well . He was a handsome well shap't man , very good companie , and of a very readie and pleasant smooth witt . The humour of ... . the constable , in A Midsummer Night ' s Dreame , he happened to take at Grendon , * in Bucks , which is the roade from
London to Stratford , and there was living that constable about 1642 , when I first came to Oxon . Mr . Jos . Howe is of that parish , and knew him . Ben Jonson and he did gather humours of men dayly wherever they came . One time as he was at the tavern , at Stratford-upon-Avon , one Combes , an old rich usurer , was to be buryed , he makes there this extemporary epitaph : — ' Ten in the hundred the devill allowes ,
But Combes will have twelve , he sAveares and vowes : If any one askes Avho lies in this tombe , ' Hon ! ' quoth the devill , ' 'Tis my John o Combe !'' He was wont to goe to his native country once a yeare . I thinke I have
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
William Shakspere.
destroy the Avorks of its chief ornament . So pcrseveringiy Avas this object followed out , that the feAV copies Avhich have been snatched from destruction were saved almost by miracle . Not content Avith this crusade against his Avorks , the most malicious falsehoods Avere invented to the prejudice of his fair fame . When the Avaves of this turbulent period began to subside
, and men turned their attention towards those great authors who had laid the foundations of our national literature , under Elizabeth and her successor , au eager desire for information respecting them Avas manifested . In the place , hoAvever , of authenticated history of their lives and characters , gossip and tittle-tattle AA'ere received as a substitute . Every scrap of idle
report , no matter IIOAV absurd it . might be , Avas gathered in and preserved . John Aubrey , of inquisitive memory , collected Avhat lie could glean in this respect of many illustrious men , leaA'ing his stores in manuscript , to this clay preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford . These piecemeal biographies , together Avith some letters Avritten by eminent persons in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries , Avere published iu 1813 , and from the second part of the second A'olume of this work we exti-act the folloAAing notice of the poet : —
" Mr . William Shakespear was borne at Stratford-upon-Avon , in the county of Warwick : his father was a butcher , and I have been told heretofore by some of tho neighbours , that when he was a boy he exercised his father's trade , but Avhen he killed a calfe he would doe it in a high style , and make a speech . There was at that time another butcher ' s son in this towne that was held not at all inferior to him for a natural ! witt , his acquaintance and coetanean , but dyed young . This Wm . being inclined naturallto poetry and actingcame to LondonI about eihteen
y , , guesse , g , and was an actor at one of the play-houses , and did act exceedingly well . ITow B . Jonson Avas never a good actor , but an excellent instructor . He began early to make essayes at dramatique poetry , which at that time was very lowe , and his playes tooke well . He was a handsome well shap't man , very good companie , and of a very readie and pleasant smooth witt . The humour of ... . the constable , in A Midsummer Night ' s Dreame , he happened to take at Grendon , * in Bucks , which is the roade from
London to Stratford , and there was living that constable about 1642 , when I first came to Oxon . Mr . Jos . Howe is of that parish , and knew him . Ben Jonson and he did gather humours of men dayly wherever they came . One time as he was at the tavern , at Stratford-upon-Avon , one Combes , an old rich usurer , was to be buryed , he makes there this extemporary epitaph : — ' Ten in the hundred the devill allowes ,
But Combes will have twelve , he sAveares and vowes : If any one askes Avho lies in this tombe , ' Hon ! ' quoth the devill , ' 'Tis my John o Combe !'' He was wont to goe to his native country once a yeare . I thinke I have