In the office of this person, who was immediately connected with the corporation, having a salary of seven pounds per annum, a part of which was given "for assisting the bailiff and chief alderman with his counsel, in affairs appertaining to their office," or with Mr. William Court, who appears to have been occasionally employed by Mr. John Shakspeare, I suppose our poet to have been placed for two or three years; and I think it very probable that his friendship with Mr. Francis Collins, who, I believe, was nearly of the same age, and afterwards was an eminent attorney at Stratford, commenced at this early period, in consequence of their passing some time in the same office. The comprehensive mind of our poet, it must be owned, embraced almost every object of nature, every trade, and every art, the manners of every description of men, and the general language of almost every profession but his knowledge and application of legal terms, seems to me not merely such as might have been acquired by the casual observation of his allcomprehending mind; it has the appearance of technical skill; and he is so fond of displaying it on all The successive town clerks of Stratford, in our author's time, were Mr. Henry Higford, 1560. Mr. John Jefferies, jun. 1586. Mr. Thomas Greene, 1603. The principal attorneys of Stratford about the year 1580, were Mr. Henry Rogers above-mentioned, Mr. Thomas Trussel, Mr. William Court, alias Smith, Mr. Richard Spooner, Mr. Edward Davies, Mr. Richard Symmons, and Mr. William Bott. occasions, that there is, I think, some ground for supposing that he was early initiated in at least the forms of law. Of this notion, which perhaps professional habits first suggested to me, I shall subjoin below, I will not say the proofs, but such circumstances as seem to me to render it extremely probable 2. 2 66 for what in me was purchas'd, 66 Falls upon thee in a much fairer sort." King Henry IV. P. II. Purchase is here used in its strict legal sense, in contradistinction to an acquisition by descent. "Unless the devil have him in fee-simple, with fine and recovery." Merry Wives of Windsor. "He is 'rested on the case." Comedy of Errors. 66 with bills on their necks, Be it known unto all men by these presents," &c. As You Like It. "who writes himself armigero, in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation." Merry Wives of Windsor. "Go with me to a notary, seal me there "Your single bond." Merchant of Venice. Say, for non-payment that the debt should double." Venus and Adonis. On a conditional bond's becoming forfeited for non-payment of money borrowed, the whole penalty, which is usually the double of the principal sum lent by the obligee, was formerly recoverable at law. To this our poet here alludes. "But the defendant doth that plea deny; "A quest of thoughts." Sonnet 46. In Much Ado About Nothing, Dogberry charges the watch to keep their fellows' counsel and their own. transferred from the oath of a jury-man. "And let my officers of such a nature This Shakspeare "Make an extent upon his house and lands." As You Like It. "He was taken with the manner." Love's Labour's Lost. 66 Enfeof'd himself to popularity." King Henry IV. P. I. . However this may have been, our poet appears to have continued at Stratford at least till the year "He will seal the fee-simple of his salvation, and cut the entail from all remainders, and a perpetual succession for it perpetually." All's Well that Ends Well. 66 "Why, let her except before excepted." Twelfth Night. which is four terms, or two actions ;—and he shall laugh without intervallums." King Henry IV. P. II. "keeps leets and law-days." King Richard II. "Pray in aid for kindness." Antony and Cleopatra. No writer but one who had been conversant with the technical language of leases and other conveyances, would have used determination as synonymous to end. Shakspeare frequently uses the word in that sense. See vol. xvii. p. 183, n. 3; and vol. xx. p. 235, n. 8. "From and after the determination of such term," is the regular language of conveyancers. "Humbly complaining to your highness." King Richard III. "Humbly complaining to your lordship, your orator," &c. are the first words of every bill in chancery. "A kiss in fee-farm! In witness whereof these parties interchangeably have set their hands and seals." Troilus and Cressida. "Art thou a feodary for this act?" Cymbeline. See the note on that passage, vol. xiii. p. 100, n. 6. "Are those precepts served?" says Shallow to Davy in King Henry IV. Precepts in this sense is a word only known in the office of a justice of peace. "Tell me, what state, what dignity, what honour, "Can'st thou demise to any child of mine?" K. Richard III. hath demised, granted, and to farm let," is the constant language of leases. What poet but Shakspeare has used the word demised in this sense? "This fellow might be in his time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries." Hamlet. Perhaps it may be said, that our author in the same manner may be proved to have been equally conversant with the terms of 1585. Upon his leaving school," says Mr. Rowe, "he seems to have given entirely into that way of living which his father proposed to him; and in order to settle in the world in a family manner, he thought fit to marry, while he was yet very young." Our poet, like many other persons at that period, entered into the matrimonial state when he was little more than eighteen years old; but that this measure was proposed to him by his father, we have no evidence whatsoever, nor is it very probable. His writings, as well as the testimony of his contemporaries, afford abundant proofs of the warmth, the tenderness, and the sensibility of his disposition; and this, much more than any recommendation of his father, was the occasion of his wishing, at an early period of life, to participate in "the sweet silent hours of marriage joys;" for I believe it will be found invariably true (and I wish to impress this truth on the minds of my fair countrywomen), that the most beautiful part of the creation have ever experienced the most ardent attachments in the bosoms of men whose manners were elegant, and divinity or physick. Whenever as large a number of instances of his ecclesiastical or medicinal knowledge shall be produced, what has now been stated will certainly not be entitled to any weight. MALOne. A large addition might be made to this list of the instances in which legal language has been used in Shakspeare. But as this notion, after it had been suggested by Mr. Malone, originally in a note appended to his Essay on the Chronological Order of Shakspeare's Plays, Art. Hamlet, was adopted both by Mr. Steevens and Mr. Ritson, these gentlemen have called the attention of the reader to many passages of this description in the course of their comments. Boswell. whose understandings and taste were vigorous and refined: in the gentlest 3 hearts Imperious love hath highest set his throne 4." Anne Hathaway, whom our poet married, probably in June or July, 1582, was then in her twenty-sixth year, that is, seven years and a half older than her husband: a disproportion of age, which seldom fails, at a subsequent period of life, to be productive of unhappiness, and which, perhaps, about thirteen years afterwards, gave rise to a part of the following beautiful verses on the subject of marriage; which no man who ever felt the passion of love, can read without emotion: "Ah, me! for aught that I could ever read, "The course of true love never did run smooth; "Or else misgraffed in respect of years, "Or else it stood upon the choice of friends, "Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, "So quick bright things come to confusion 5." Perhaps, indeed, the same feeling suggested the 3 Gentle was used by Spenser and his contemporaries with the sense of generosus, bene moratus. 4 To the truth of this sentiment our author himself bears testimony in his Two Gentlemen of Verona : |