There is no fact more gratifying to the lovers of Shakespeare, than, putting aside the refuted story of deer-stealing, that nothing has come down to us, written or traditionary, to subvert our faith in his honesty, his modest bearing, his harmless mirth, and his brilliant wit in conversation, together with his character of "gentle," bestowed as his distinguishing mark. That epithet "gentle" had, in his day, a grander meaning than merely mild or meek; it signified nobility of mind, in the same way as its compound sense is or ought to be understood at present in the word gentleman. Milton's nephew calls him, with the same feeling, but less comprehensively, "unvulgar."

Greene urged nothing against him when he enviously called him "Shake-scene" and "upstart crow." Such appellations might have offended Shakespeare; but with us they signify no more than his success as a dramatist. Greene is supposed to have died in 1592, and Henry Chettle edited the Groat's worth of Wit, containing the offensive words. Chettle afterwards apologized in these words; to which it must be premised that the first, alluded to separately, was Marlowe, whose private character was not good, and "the other" was Shakespeare.

"About three months since died Mr. Robert Greene, leaving many papers in sundry booksellers' hands; among others his Groat's worth of Wit, in which a letter, written to divers play-makers, is offensively by one or two of them taken. And because on the dead they cannot be revenged, they wilfully forge in their conceits a living writer; and, after tossing it to and fro, no remedy but it must light upon me.

The

With neither of them that take offence was Iacquainted, and with one of them I care not if I never be. other, whom at that time I did not so much spare, as since I wish I had; for that as I have moderated the hate of living writers, and might have used my own discretion (especially in such a case, the author being dead,) that I did not, I am as sorry as if the original fault had been my fault; because myself have seen his demeanour, no less civil than he excellent in the qualities he professes. Besides, divers of worship have repeated his uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty, and his facetious grace in writing, that approves his art."

Thus a faint attack on him, at the commencement of his career, was the occasion of our being possessed of such evidence,-" his demeanour no less civil than he excellent in the qualities he professes!" Then his farther character, given by persons of repute, stood in these strong terms,-" uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty his honesty!" Every thing proves his

right to the title "gentle."

Frugality, and consequent accumulation of property, have been indeed mentioned in his disparagement by one, judging from his style, of that numerous class who desire to live by others; and the complaint against him is appropriately put in the mouth of one Ratsey, a noted highwayman. Shakespeare's husbandry was good and wise; but we may be certain he was not deficient in generosity. We hear neither of his parsimony nor extravagance. Moderate in his own wants, and possibly deaf to the applications of spendthrifts, he was industrious, but not greedy,

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because he was upright in his dealings. He had great claims on his filial as well as paternal affection, in the poverty-stricken state of his father with a large family, and in the support of his own children. Spendthrifts ought to have begged in vain from him. Without injury to others, he was careful first to provide for those he best loved, and to acquire and maintain his independence; afterwards he made a provision for his daughters in marriage. The elder became the wife of Dr. Hall, a physician; and the younger of one Quiney of Stratford, shortly before his death. We may gather from his Will there were just fears of Quiney's prosperity, or of his prudence in money affairs; while equal reliance seems to have been placed on Dr. Hall as on his daughter Susannah. Thence has arisen the notion that Susannah was his favourite.

His friends appear to have been hearty and steady, but, for the reason I have given, not eulogizing. It is almost to be regretted that he possessed the perfect virtue of not making enemies. Had he been attacked, during the zenith of his fame, a score of friends might then have rushed forward in his defence, bequeathing to us, in their warmth, many valuable facts, anecdotes, and allusions. As it is, we must be happy in a belief, which nothing contradicts, that he was beloved by his partners in the theatre, his fellow-poets, and every one with whom his interest or his society was concerned. Rowe affords us the following information in his Life, and Rowe lived near enough to his time to attain this sort of general knowledge, though too distant for particulars :-" What particular habitude

or friendships he contracted with private men, I have not been able to learn, more than that every one, who had a true taste of merit, and could distinguish men, had generally a just value and esteem for him. His exceeding candour and good-nature must certainly have inclined all the gentler part of the world to love him, as the power of his wit obliged the men of the most delicate knowledge and polite learning to admire him."

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How much have we to grieve there was no Boswell among the poets and literary men who frequented the club, established by Sir Walter Raleigh, at the "Mermaid," in Friday-street! Fuller tells us, Many were the wit-combates betwixt Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, which two I behold like a Spanish great galleon and an English man-of-war: Master Jonson, like the former, was built far higher in learning; solid, but slow in his performances. Shakespeare, with the English man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention." Mr. Leigh Hunt, after quoting this passage in the Indicator, adds,"This is a happy simile, with the exception of what is insinuated about Jonson's greater solidity." But the two poets appeared to Fuller as they have appeared to many others, not good judges. Take an act from Julius Cæsar or Coriolanus, and place it by the side of an act from Catiline or Sejanus, and then the question of the greater solidity will be settled. The simile also is more appropriate than Fuller imagined; for should we ask a competent judge of

ship-building, if a Spanish great galleon was built with higher learning and greater solidity than an English man-of-war, the competent judge could not forbear to smile at our ignorance.

Speaking of these great men, Mr. Leigh Hunt truly observes," Their intimacy, dashed a little, perhaps, with jealousy on the part of Jonson, but maintained to the last by dint of the nobler part of him and of Shakespeare's irresistible fineness of nature, is a thing as notorious as their fame." This should be always borne in mind. If they were rivals, they were not, with all Ben's faults, unworthy of each other.

We have more news of the "wit-combates at the Mermaid," but without any mention of individuals. It is in the poetical Letter from Beaumont to Ben Jonson: :

"What things have we seen

Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been

So nimble, and so full of subtile flame,

As if that every one from whence they came

Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,
And had resolved to live a fool the rest
Of his dull life."

There was wine, but we are not told every one was inspired by it. Beaumont, in this letter from the country to his friend, rather sickishly complains of "your full Mermaid wine." Ben Jonson afterwards formed a club in a room called the Apollo, at the Old Devil Tavern, Temple Bar. For this club he wrote Leges Convivales," and penned a welcome over the door of the room to all those who approved of "the

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