Playhouse, but had received many marks of Royal esteem from Queen Elizabeth herself, upon whose suggestion, indeed, he created the character of Falstaff in love, as exhibited in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'; this Sir John being modelled upon a townsman of Stratford-on-Avon, with whom the Poet had had some trouble in regard to the conveyance of some land adjoining property of his own there, which he wished to purchase, and which this 'fat and greasy citizen' would not sell. Shakespeare had thus reached the loftiest point possible of man's material greatness and knowing that his family at home in Warwickshire, and especially his father, were falling upon rather evil days, he decided to leave London and return again to the 'proper little mercat towne' on the brim of the Avon which he so much loved.

In the summer of 1596, therefore, he set out from the City of Fortunatus, whither he had gone eleven years earlier, with a heart full of high hopes, which had been completely realised, to go back to the sweet scenes of his childhood and youth, and to be a prop to the lives of those who

were nearest and dearest to him, and who now needed his loving care.

The way home would be full of the sweetest thoughts to him. He was now a man of good estate, henceforward to be called 'William Shakespeare of Stratford-onAvon, Gentleman'; no more was he to know the pinch of penury, no more to commit the indiscretion of his youth by the stealing of Sir Thomas Lucy's deer. In point of fame he was now that doughty knight's superior; and when, in the course of his journey, he again entered the grateful shades of the Forest of Arden in the neighbourhood of Stratford-on-Avon, and heard the musical murmurings of his own native Avon, it is easy to understand how his heart would swell with a pride of conquest over Fortune, which would make it almost too big for his scarlet doublet. Probably that fair shrew of an Annie, too, would meet him, as Rosalind met Orlando, in the skirts of the Forest, together with the Susanna that he loved; and thus his welcome home would have such a tone of sweetness in it as would beggar all description.

THE POET AT NEW PLACE.-Imme

diately upon his return to Stratford-onAvon, Shakespeare, as a good son and husband, set about repairing the shattered fortunes of his family. This he was now well able to do, as quite apart from his own earnings as a dramatist and a shareholder in the Globe and other Theatres in London, he had the almost princely friendship of the Earl of Southampton, whose great liberality to the Poet cannot be measured.

In the day-dreams of his early life, and before his brilliant career in London had made such dreams even remotely possible, he had had a great desire to be possessed of the house of the Cloptons, which stood within the shadow of the Tower of the Guild Chapel, at the corner of Chapel Lane, and was originally the property of the Clopton Family as early as 1490. This was 'the pretty house of brick and timber' spoken of by Leland, the famous antiquary, who passed through Stratfordon-Avon in 1540, and was built by that Sir Hugh Clopton to whose largess the town owes its splendid Bridge, and many other good things that came to it.

After he had been a year at home and

had set his father on more comfortable ground, which enabled him to apply to the Heralds' College for a Grant of Arms, Shakespeare proceeded to establish his own position by the purchase from William Underhill, in 1597, whose property it was at that time, this old House of the Cloptons, near the Guild Chapel. Whether it was for this purpose is not clear, but Davenant relates that in order to enable the Poet to complete a purchase, the Earl of Southampton at once presented him with the princely gift of a thousand pounds. In any case, he became possessor of the House, at that time the most respectable mansion in Stratford-on-Avon, and after having gone to considerable expense in altering and repairing the fabric, which was much decayed, he took residence there with his family and renamed the House New Place.

Having thus once more established himself and family, this time in a very secure position, in his native town, Shakespeare divided his time between New Place and his house in Blackfriars, London, for some years after his purchase of the estate, and did not come to reside per

manently at his country house in Stratford-on-Avon until the year 1607, when his daughter, Susanna, was married to Dr Hall, a famous physician in Warwickshire at that period. Then this remarkable Poet, the heirloom of the ages, gave himself up to the charms of a country life in full and grateful measure, planting with his own hands a Mulberry-Tree in a portion of the extensive pleasure Gardens attached to the house; under which tree, then grown to a considerable size, the Sir Hugh Clopton of that period entertained the actors Garrick and Macklin in 1744. Here in the plenitude of his wonderful mental powers, environed with every good thing which the harvest of his toil could furnish for him, and surrounded by a circle of close friends, including Michael Drayton, his very intimate countryman, Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, John Combe, his friend and neighbour, and Richard Burbage, this great Warwickshire, and the world's, dramatist, contentedly passed the lag end (for, alas, such it proved to be) of his strenuous life; obtaining at New Place, and in the fair scenes of his own native