Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/376

 of ‘The Comical Gallant’ (1702), noted that the ‘Merry Wives’ was written at the queen's ‘command and by her direction; and she was so eager to see it acted that she commanded it to be finished in fourteen days, and was afterwards, as tradition tells us, very well pleased with the representation.’ In his ‘Letters’ (1721, p. 232) Dennis reduces the period of composition to ten days—‘a prodigious thing,’ added Gildon (Remarks, p. 291), ‘where all is so well contrived and carried on without the least confusion.’ The localisation of the scene at Windsor, and the complimentary references to Windsor Castle, corroborate the tradition that it was prepared to meet a royal command. An imperfect draft of the play was printed by Thomas Creede in 1602 (cf. Shakespeare Society's reprint, 1842, ed. Halliwell); the folio of 1623 first supplied a complete version. The plot was probably suggested by an Italian novel. A tale from Strapparola's ‘Notti’ (ii. 2), of which an adaptation figured in Tarleton's ‘Newes out of Purgatorie’ (1590), another tale from the ‘Pecorone’ of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino (ii. 2), and a third, the Fishwife's tale of Brainford in ‘Westward for Smelts’ (said to have been published in 1603, although no edition earlier than 1620 is known), supply incidents distantly resembling episodes in the play (cf. Shakespeare's Library, ed. Hazlitt, I. ii. 1–80). The buoyant country life was the unaided outcome of Shakespeare's own experience.

The character of Prince Hal offered to its creator as many attractions as Falstaff offered to the queen, and in ‘Henry V’ Shakespeare, during 1598, brought his career to its close. The play was performed early in 1599, probably in the newly built Globe Theatre. Again Thomas Creede printed, in 1600, an imperfect draft, which was thrice reissued before a complete version was supplied in the first folio of 1623. The dramatic interest of ‘Henry V’ is slender. The piece presents a series of episodes in which the hero's manliness is advantageously displayed as soldier, ruler, and lover. The topic appealed to patriotic sentiment. Besides the ‘Famous Victories,’ there was another piece on the subject, which Henslowe produced for the first time on 28 Nov. 1595 (Diary, p. 61). ‘Henry V’ may be regarded as Shakespeare's final experiment in the dramatisation of English history. For ‘Henry VIII,’ which was produced very late in his career, he was only in part responsible.

In the prologue to act v. of ‘Henry V’ Shakespeare foretold for Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, ‘the general of our gracious empress,’ an enthusiastic reception by the people of London when he should have ‘broached’ rebellion in Ireland. He had set out on that disastrous mission on 27 March 1599. The fact that Southampton went with him probably accounted for Shakespeare's avowal of sympathy. But Essex's effort failed, and when he sought in 1601, again with the support of Southampton, to recover his position by stirring up rebellion in London, the friends of the rebel leaders sought the dramatist's countenance. They paid 40s. to Augustine Phillips, a leading member of Shakespeare's company, for reviving at the Globe ‘Richard II’ (beyond doubt Shakespeare's play), in the hope that its scene of the deposition of a king might encourage a popular outbreak. The performance of ‘Richard II’ took place on Saturday (7 Feb. 1601), the day preceding that fixed for the rising. The queen, in a conversation with William Lambarde [q. v.] on 4 Aug. 1601, complained that ‘this tragedie’ had been played with seditious intent ‘forty times in open streets and houses’ (, Progresses of Elizabeth, iii. 552). Phillips gave evidence against Essex and his friends, and Southampton was imprisoned until the queen's death. But no proceedings were taken against the players.

For several years Shakespeare's genius as dramatist and poet had been acknowledged by critics and playgoers alike, and his social and professional position had become considerable. Inside the theatre his influence was supreme. When, in 1598, the manager of the company rejected Ben Jonson's ‘Every Man in his Humour,’ Shakespeare intervened, according to a credible tradition (reported by Rowe but denounced by Gifford), and procured a reversal of the decision. He took a part when the piece was performed. Jonson, despite his difficult and jealous temper, which may have led to an occasional coolness, cherished esteem and affection for his benefactor till death (cf., Examination of the Charges … of Jonson's Enmity towards Shakspeare, 1808).

Tradition reports that Shakespeare joined, at the Mermaid Tavern in Bread Street, those meetings of Jonson and his associates which Beaumont described in his poetical ‘Letter’ to Jonson. ‘Many were the wit-combats,’ wrote Fuller of Shakespeare in his ‘Worthies’ (1662), ‘betwixt him and Ben Johnson, which two I behold like a Spanish great gallion and an English man of war; Master Johnson (like the former) was built far higher