752 " The Biglt Hon. B. H. Madden [May 20, 



in humbler abodes ; bis familiarity with ancient literature ; bis 

 knowledge of foreign languages, sbown by bis use of French and 

 Italian books of whicb no translations are known to bave existed ; 

 and tbe fact tbat, in Coleridge's words, " be w^as not only a great 

 poet, but a great pbilosopber." 



Tbe Shakespeare of 1592, as we discern him, was on bis way to 

 tbe attainment of these great qualities, but he had not as yet attained. 

 He bad lived for six years in London under tbe intellectual influence 

 of Marlowe, and probably on terms of intimacy with him. Marlowe 

 was killed in 1593, and a few years afterwards Sbakespeare, quoting 

 a line from ' Hero and Leander,' addressed the author as " Dead 

 Shepherd," in terms suggestive of personal attachment. In 1593 he 

 published ' Venus and Adonis,' dedicating this " first heir of his in- 

 vention " to the Earl of Southampton. Tbat this dedication was as 

 prudential and successful as his other speculations we may infer from 

 tbe very different language which be used a few years later in his 

 dedication of ' Lucrece.' He had then become on terms of iatimacy with 

 Southampton, which he described as ' love,' a word at that time de- 

 scriptive of warm friendship. If tradition speaks truly this sentiment 

 was returned in tbe substantial form of a gift of one thousand pounds. 

 The Karl of Pembroke and the Earl of Montgomery are stated by 

 tbe editors of tbe folio of 1623 to have prosecuted tbe plays and 

 " their author living " with much favour, a statement of which an 

 interesting illustration may be found in a note to Mr. Wyndbam's 

 recent edition of the Poems. The flights of tbe Swan of Avon, 

 according to Ben Jonson, " did so take Eliza and our James," 

 that we may fairly conclude tbat be was not neglected by their 

 courtiers. Fuller, who was born in 1608, probably derived bis know- 

 ledge of tbe wit combats at the Mermaid Tavern at first hand, from 

 those who had witnessed or taken part in them. It was by the 

 publication of the Poems that Shakespeare was first introduced to the 

 polite society of the capital. Meanwhile bis fame as a dramatist 

 grew apace, for in 1598 Meres ranked him first in both tragedy and 

 comedy. 



Of bis life in London, of tbe men and women with whom be con- 

 versed, of the books which be studied, of the scenes which he wit- 

 nessed, we may conjecture much, but we know little or nothing. If 

 there was something (as many have conjectured with Hallam) which 

 changed tbe sweet and sunny nature of Sbakespeare to gloom, tbat 

 something must always remain buried in mystery. It can derive no 

 clear or certain illustration from sonnets written (so far as can be 

 learned from external evidence) before the advent of this gloom 

 became traceable in bis other writings. His love of rural sports, and 

 a desire, like that of Scott, to attain a position of consequence in the 

 country, may explain his abandonment of London life ; but it can 

 never solve tbe riddle of bis total neglect of tbe greatest of all lite- 

 rary productions. One fact, however, is certain. The Shakespeare of 

 1592 was, in the course of a quarter of a century of London life, 



